Another successful year for the Ballylanders Annual Pattern Cycle

Saturday 11th August our Annual Pattern Cycle set off from the Church grounds. In near perfect weather conditions as the rain just about held off, the crowd turned out early with some people in position since 9am for the 10am kick off for our 60km cycle with others cycling in from Mitchelstown and Knockainey. We had participants from near and far and plenty of locals who had led the way last year! The event received great reviews from all our experienced local cycling clubs who were more than impressed with the professional set up, logistics and coordination with which the event was run.

Shortly after 10am with almost 30 stewards and Red Cross in place the tour began. We headed for Galbally, onto Emly where unfortunately one of our group was forced into an early pit as she was literally stopped her in her tracks by the Dublin Cork train. We were soon on the road again and reached our midpoint stop off of Knockainey Community Centre (after managing to circumventive the roadworks in Hospital Village), where we were met with a huge welcome and more refreshments than we could devour for which we must offer a huge thank you to Knockainey Community Centre for use of the facilities and Geraldine O'Sullivan and her crew for their home baking and freshly made sandwiches. The stewards faced a quick turn around here to get on the road again ahead of the cyclists to ensure everyone’s safety was prioritised.

While all this was happening in Knockainey our 10K/5k Cycle/Walk event was starting to take shape back on the church grounds in Ballylanders with Collette Frewen and her team taking registrations for the event. The bigger tour headed for Bruff, Killmallock, Kilfinane and back home to Ballylanders via Garryspillane.

It was great to see the participants from both events coming back into the village to enjoy further refreshments in the Daycare Centre and thanks to the team there for all their input prepping and cooking the food for the refreshments. Huge thanks to all the stewards on both events who ensured everyone returned safely. All our food that was kindly donated by Sean Fitzgeralds Family Butchers, Ballylanders, Hayes Mace, Ballylanders, Hanleys Butchers, Mitchelstown, Tesco, Mitchelstown and Supermacs, Mitchelstown.

We would like to thank all those people and businesses for their support. We would like to thank all our stewards for both events on the day and The Red Cross who were on hand to cover any medical needs. We thank the cyclists who made the event such a great success and all the local cycling clubs who joined us on the day.

Finally thanks to the committee who organised the event who first met last May who went about their business diligently over the past 4 months as they liaised with the local bodies to ensure it tied in with all other activities around the Pattern. A cycle of this size and nature boasts an amount of logistical challenges. Special mention to John Kelly and Sean Irwin who were the driving force of that committee. It was great to hear all the positive feedback from the experienced cyclists on the day who commended the professional set up of the cycle. The funds raised are going towards the Church Refurbishment Fund and we will be making a donation to Limerick Suicide Watch who we would like to thank for both taking part and stewarding on the day.