JOE managed to catch up with Paul Cook from D.I.D Electrical for a quick interview on the Cycle4Life charity event taking place on May 19 in aid of Temple Street Children’s Hospital. Here’s everything you need to know from how to get involved to pre-event training.
JOE: Hi Paul, so how did the D.I.D Cycle4Life charity get started?
Paul Cook: Hi Oisin. Well, a couple of lads from D.I.D, myself included, decided to do a few charity cycles – like the Wexford Charity Cycle – and after awhile we thought ‘why don’t we do something like this ourselves?’
We have a number of stores and employees around the country, plus we deal with companies that have a lot of corporate help, so we thought surely we could do something. That’s really where it all came from.
JOE: So why choose cycling?
PC: I don’t know really, it just clicked with us. We noticed that a lot of people are really into it. You only have to go outside the house on a Sunday to see groups of lads (and ladies) out cycling in their Lycra, so there’s a huge amount of support there.
Darragh Lynch, the managing director of D.I.D, and his brother Cian, who cycles for Dunboyne Cycling club, were really behind getting Cycle4Life in motion. We all talked about it and thought it would be a great idea so Darragh said ‘we’re going to do this, but if we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it right’.
The reason the cycle is in Dunboyne, apart from the fact that we have a close affiliation with the club, is the fact that the An Post RÁS starts from Dunboyne the day after our charity cycle, which is on May 19 by the way. So there’ll be a lot of colour and what not set up in preparation for the RÁS.
It’s not just a day out for people who enjoy cycling. You don’t need a carbon fibre bike, fancy Lycra and the ability to go off and do 147 kilometres in four hours. Some people will go off and do that, but we also have a five-kilometre loop that people can do with their kids. Apart from the smaller five-kilometre loop we also have a 67k cycle and a 147k cycle.
JOE: Would it be wise to do some training before the cycle?
PC: Well, we have a page on Cycle4Life.ie that gives people advice on training before a cycle. When you’re doing anything above 20 or 30k, it’s important to have some element of fitness. Most people who have a moderate or general level of fitness should finish the 67k cycle easily enough. It’s a flat route and there’s no crazy hills or climbs – there’s the Hill of Tara, but that’s not too severe.
JOE: Will there be more events like this in the future?
PC: Yes, hopefully. We want to arrange this on a yearly basis. So this is something that we want to do again and again and every time we want it to get bigger and better.
Lots of people have already signed up and we have the likes of Sean Kelly getting involved. Stephen Roche is also going to be there for the day and we hope to get Dan Martin from Team Garmin-Barracuda involved too. So we already have some of the biggest Irish names in the sport involved in the event.
There’s certainly a good vibe about the cycle and our main target at the moment is to make people aware that it’s happening and to get them registered. It’s only €79 to do the medium or long cycles and all of the money goes to Temple Street Children’s Hospital.
For your registration fee of €79, you get a Cycle4Life cycling jersey and a little goodie bag that has some really cool bits in it. You also get your fuel and liquid for the day too, which will be given out on the route.
The event will be fully marshalled and we even have Garda outriders while St. John’s Ambulance will be there too, so it’s a properly organised event. Like we said, if we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it right.
JOE: Any particular reason behind choosing Temple Street?
PC: Well, I suppose there are many worthy charities out there, but a number of people who we cycle with said they had previous dealings with Temple Street. We had to pick one and Temple Street seemed like a really good idea.
The aim is to buy equipment for them, so we’ll be giving them an actual physical piece of equipment and not just money that could be lost in the back rooms or through red tape.
It really is a great cause and people should go on to Cycle4Life.ie where they can register today. They don’t have to pay the fee up front and they can get a sponsorship card to help cover the €79.
They can also set up a page on MyCharity.ie where their Facebook friends can donate if they want to cover the cost that way. Anyone can go onto MyCharity.ie and make a donation of whatever they can afford, or they can drop into any of the D.I.D Electrical stores and donate a euro or a few quid while they’re in there – it all adds up.
If someone doesn’t want to cycle but they’d still like to volunteer there’s a section on our Cycle4Life website where people can leave their details if they want to get involved.
JOE: Paul, thanks very much and best of luck with the event on May 19. It’s a great cause and we’re sure a few lads will be signing up to show their support.
Paul: Cheers Oisin, thanks for that. All the best.
For more info on the Cycle4Life charity event taking place in Dunboyne, Co. Meath, on May 19 head over to the Cycle4Life website.
