WE ARE LESS than a week away from Ireland’s number one cycling event. The Rás Tailteann, more commonly known as An Post Rás, an annual eight-day cycle race, staged from the 17-24 May.

The race began in 1953 outside the GPO, Dublin and over the years it has delivered some special, not to say unbelievable moments.  The race is unusual in cycling terms, it is a pro-am pitting the best Irish based riders, usually amateurs, against a field of international pro cyclists. The racing style is open and fierce, unlike other races, victory is open to any rider with the grit and determination to win.

Every rider, stage and year has its own story to tell. From the diet and training tactics of ‘the Iron Man of cycling’ to the man who ‘rode alone’ and won, we look back at the legendary ‘Men on An Rás’.

Gene Mangan

Gene Mangan after his win in 1955. An Post An Post

Gene Mangan is known as the greatest cyclist in the history of the race. Although he only ever won one Rás — in 1955 at the age of 18, making him the youngest ever winner — he competed throughout the 60s and 70s and his performances established him as the most amazing of all great Irish bikemen.

One of Mangan’s greatest performances came in the fifth Rás Tailteann, which is considered to be the greatest race to date. The memorable moment from that race came as the participants raced toward Glengariff. Mangan’s fellow Kerryman and teammate Mike Murphy crashed and damaged his bike. Without one moment’s hesitation, Mangan jumped from his own bike and handed it to his team-mate and with it he handed over whatever chance remained of winning Rás Tailteann. It was a truly magnificent gesture of sportsmanship.

From there on Mangan and Murphy rode together. The last four stages of the Rás saw the Killorglin man perform probably the greatest cycling feat Ireland has ever known. From Tralee to Dublin, it was the fabulous Gene Mangan all the way; a clear-cut winner at every one of the last four stages.

Mangan won countless titles and went on to have a spectacular career. His legend only grew as he continued to compete in the Rás, winning 12 stages in total.

This was done despite an international suspension. Irish politics was still volatile and sport including cycling was used to highlight the Republican cause. Nationalist riders gave up the chance to represent Ireland at international competition. Mangan’s suspension was as a result of being caught up within this split in Irish cycling. After winning the 1958 Rás he was part an ‘alternative team’ to the official Irish team at the World Cycling Championships, ending in a row, putting Mangan in an Italian jail and making international headlines.

Shay O’Hanlon

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Four outright wins, 24 stage win and 37 Yellow Jerseys powerfully demonstrate Shay O’Hanlon’s stature as the most successful Rás rider ever. Known as ‘the man who rode alone’, a look back at his Rás career shows his combination of acumen and athletic ability which, arguably, produced the most dominant rider ever in Irish domestic cycling.

The Phoenix Park, 1962, is one such scene. It is the end of the final stage of the Rás and O’Hanlon rides into the park, on his own, wearing the yellow jersey. He is well ahead of the field and almost twenty minutes clear of the next-placed rider on GC.

He then retains this jersey for a full three years. From the first stage in 1965, to the final stage in 1967, the combined efforts of all of his rivals are unable to wrest the Jersey from his back and no other man wears it in the Rás for these three years.

The 1961 Rás provides what is, perhaps, the most telling image of all. Looking at the standings, O’Hanlon sees that there are 18 men ahead of him. The 19-year-old ticks off the names, one by one, and promises to overtake each of the 18 over the next seven stages. And he essentially achieves it, getting to within 1-minute 40 seconds of the leader, Tom Finn, at the Wicklow Gap on the final day. That was as close as he got though, as his manager then instructed him to help Finn, his team-mate take the race title.

Early in the season, he created a sensation by breaking the 2-hour barrier in the 50-mile time trial. This had never been achieved in Ireland and was only achieved in Britain in 1947.

In the 1962 Rás, O’Hanlon made a solo, all-out, frontal attack on the race, charging relentlessly from the front, every day. It was a tactical approach that could only have been contemplated by somebody who was either very naive, desperate, or self-assured regarding his ability. He held the race lead for seven days, won four stages and finished 19 minutes 4 seconds in front – the biggest winning margin ever. It was the finest individual display ever produced in a Rás. He is one of just two men to lead the race from start to finish.

Paddy Flanagan

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Paddy Flanagan was one of the top Irish cyclists of the 1960s and 1970s. He rode his first Rás in 1958 and came 11th. The following year he came second. He won in 1960 and again in 1964, the first to win twice. He had two stage wins and three top five finishes in the years to 1969.

Only Shay O’Hanlon, with 4 wins, has a better record in Ireland’s premier stage race but in some ways Flanagan surpassed the Dubliner, notably in the span of his time at the top, 16 years between his first win in 1960 and his third in 1975.

That race in 1975 was perhaps his best performance of them all. After a week of racing, Flanagan, O’Hanlon and Cork’s Mick Cahill were tied together at the top. This deadlock was finally broken on the 86 miles stage through the Wicklow Mountains to Naas with Flanagan ending the day on his own in the lead.

Flanagan showed that even had it gone down to the final day he would still have won his third Rás when he won the Sunday morning time-trial with 9 seconds advantage.

Paddy Flanagan died in 2000, Paul Kimmage in the Irish Independent described him as: “ one of cycling’s true gentlemen, one of the greatest racers the country has ever known, a gritty road man.”

Mike Murphy

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Mick Murphy went from a small hillside farm in Kerry to joining the circus aged 12. Mixing with performers and learning nutrition and training he became an advocate of raw food, including cow’s blood and meat to improve his strength.

In 1958 he won Ireland’s premier cycle race in an amazing performance during which he managed to bounce back from breaking his bike twice. Eyewitness reports also confirm that three times during the race he bled the vein of cow into his water bottle to sustain him on the road

Known as the ‘Iron Man of Irish Cycling’, Murphy only took up the sport a year before that victory.

Leading the race on the second day, Murphy’s bike broke and he was forced to borrow  one from a local farmer. Despite this, he still managed to regain the yellow jersey by the end of the day. On another day, he crashed and broke his collarbone. But still rode the second half of the race and rode into Dublin the winner.

Both work and money were scarce, but he did compete again in 1959 and 1960. He recalled his defence of the title in 1959 as follows: “After getting to Dublin, I slept on the street and then took my place at the start the following day. I won two stages.” He finished third overall in 1960 and was crowned King of the Hills as well.

Like many others, he was forced to emigrate to England in 1960. Racing legends of the Rás keep in contact with Irish cycling and with the race. They remain heroes to the riders who have followed their wheels to ride the Rás.

The 2015 An Post Rás, eight day stage race starts this Sunday, (May 17-24) with 180 Irish based and international riders competing over 1,200km and 21 categorised climbs for race glory. Be part of the action and join An Post Rás along the route or at a stage finish www.anpostras.ie

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