Saturday, 23 June 2012

Flipper Challenge

Whilst we travel this years course and in this Olympic year, we'll be testing the sporting prowess of our hosts. Last nights contestant, lovely Karen O'Thingymajig of the Bantry Bay Hotel managed 3 beer mats in the Irish flipper challenge and currently heads our leaderboard. Well done Karen! The convent will be proud.
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We're off

Top of the morning to you. So the great day has finally arrived. Seven finely honed athletes and Dave "The Van" have arrived at Bantry base camp and are about to begin this years infeasable challenge. Back in December when we first coined this idea, most of us had never ridden a bike in anger but in about an hours time we'll embark on a 400 mile roadtrip that will take us from end to end of the Emerald Isle. Wish us luck and read all about it here, first, even before the Garda and The Bantry Bay Gazette.
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Isle of Anglesey-20120623-00724.jpg

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Thursday, 21 June 2012

Thanks

Fundraising update. Including gift aid we've now raised £2681.60. Thanks to everyone who's donated so far. Your money will help to Mend Broken Hearts and for that we love you x
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just read this in the irish web site



4.0 Magnitude Earthquake off the coast of Co. Mayo

The Mayo Earthquake was analysed at Met Eireann's Seismic monitoring station at Valentia Observatory, Caherciveen, Co. Kerry.





and we haven’t even started falling off yet!!
Regards
Mark

With only days to go until the big push off, our Chris completes his rigorous training regime!

Friday, 18 May 2012

Training Update

Training Update

Hello from Operation Leprechaun & Guinness HQ

I can’t believe it! Five weeks tomorrow and we’ll be on our way to the Emerald Isle and we still have a full complement of nine supreme athletes!

So having spoken to most of the team over the last few weeks I can inform you of the progress we’ve been making. I bumped in to Elliot last week in Didsbury. Now ordinarily this would’ve been a very hazardous experience. People have, after all, been known to bump in to Elliot and rebound several meters in to the path of vehicles but…no more. Ell’s training program has delivered a finely honed Adonis and a future candidate for the front page of Mens Health. Ryan has also approached training with the same degree of vigour and has taken to cycling shorts like a Geordie lass to a lycra boob-tube.  I dropped off some collecting tins at Marks bars where his staff were obviously in awe of his endeavours. Posters adorn the walls announcing the coming of Heaton Moors very own Chris Hoy. Unfortunately Mark wasn’t there to meet me as he was sleeping off a hangover; so it seems his training is going very much to plan. I’ve heard that Dave has also been putting the miles in but with the cost of petrol these days he’s trying not to overdo it. Jonny “Boyband” Leslie started his training in February and has covered 70 miles a week ever since. He’s now reached Dubrovnik! Jonny, you should turn around and head back now! Meanwhile back in Gods County, I spoke to Chris the other day. He’s an experienced rider and sees no reason to change a successful training regime. He’s focussed on those flat short sections with the occasional canal bridge he can get off and push over. Simon has approached the event with typical Olympian vigour and has just completed the infamous Pocklington 100k in which cyclists compete to ride exactly 100 times further than Eddie has in his training regime so far this year! Eddie, Chris said you can pick your bike up from his house anytime but that you may need to scrape the barnacles off it before you try riding!

Keep it up lads. We’ll be in the hills before we know it.