Shay Elliott

Punkcyclist

Does anyone know where to find information on the life and times of the great Irish cyclist Seamus Elliott. I know very little -that there is a plaque for him near Blessington or Ballymore eusatce or something. that he left the peloton broke and defeated. ive heard he commited suicide but amnt sure about this. that there is some RTE footage of him thats supposed to be amazing. can anyone direct me to some writings about him or where i might get hold of this footage (ok RTE archives is a good place to start but what was the programme?). its seems tragic to me that such a great man could be pretty much forgotten about. i do remember reading something in the Irelands Own when i was a kid about him this was about '87 when Roche won, and Kelly was the man!
cheers, Anto

Victor

http://www.google.ie/search?q=Shay+Elliott&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=cr%3DcountryIE

http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22Seamus+Elliott%22+-GAA&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22Shay+Elliott%22&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

uberwolf

the first english speaking rider to wear the coveted yellow jersey afaik, a legend on the continent and Irelands biggest one day race is his name.

cyclopath2001

Shay Elliott whose contribution to world cycling and Irish cycling, in particular, will never be forgotten.

He blazed new trails and opened up new frontiers for English speaking riders when he went across to France and joined ACBB. Thanks to him, Boulogne-Billancourt club would become a nursery for English speaking riders, grooming them for greatness -• stars like Tom Simpson, the affable and talented Aussie, Phil Anderson, and that Angel of the Sky - Robert Miller. Then there was Stephen Roche but, as they say in Gaelic, sinn scéal eile, or translated into the vernacular, that's another story.

An unhealthy relationship with Jean Stablinski - he even married Stablinski's sister - would prevent the Dubliner from realising his own true potential. Elliott should have won the world championship in Salo in 1962. Instead he helped Stablinksi, a four time French champion of Polish origin, to win the title, and he, himself settled for the silver medal.

That year he had finished third in the Tour of Spain - a race Sean Kelly would eventually win - to highlight his form and, in a break, his sprint would make him a favourite. But he elected to look after the interests of Stablinski in this break alongside RoIf Wolfshohl of Germany and Jos Hoevenaers of Belgium. Stablinski's plan to send Elliott up the road and sap the remaining energy from the other two was to succeed. Despite the fact that he was the best sprinter of the four, the Irishman would follow his friend across the line at 1:22 with Hoevenaers another 22 seconds down.

The following year Elliott became the first Irishman to wear the coveted Maillot Jaune in the Tour de France and rounded off the season with victory in the Het Volk.

A failed marriage, the tragic death of his son in a traffic accident and financial problems ruined what might have been a happy retirement. Despite all this, he had big plans for Irish cycling. Before he could implement them, however, he was found dead in his Dublin home in 1971.

A monument to him was erected by freinds and stands on the hard climb from Drumgoff Bridge towards Laragh. A race in his memory is run by the Bray Wheelers every year.

GlennaMaddy

Apparantly Shay had a team mate who was Irish, anybody know his name?

twylyte

I'm writing this with some disbelief on my own part...

I work in a hospital in Dublin City. One of my duties is to accompany patients to their homes on 'Home Visits' to assess their living conditions at home prior to discharge... e.g. making sure the patient can access their bathrooms, bedrooms etc. imagine is the person is elderly or has had a stroke... so it's important they can adjust to their current short term or long term prognosis.

Well I visited a house with a gentleman and met his wife. While in their house I noticed a statue of the Virgin Mary with tears of blood tracing her cheeks.. it was a typical statue that's found in many Irish homes. I mentioned this to the lady and she just casually said that the 'bleeding' started by itself and there were other statues in the house with the same signs. I saw them. There was about 15 statues in a room in the house and all but one or two were covered with rivulets of blood coming down below the eyes of either Jesus or Mary!!! The tears were dry... the lady showed me folder after folder of images of the bleeding... she showed me picture frames of the Sacred Heart with blood inside the glass... she told how tears of oil or water came down the mass cards people sent to her husband in the hospital ward, the first time such an experience happened outside their home...

What's the relevance?? well I asked if she had seen visions or dreams of things or people, as coincidentally i have been reading a huge amount of material about these stories as reported all over the world by lay people and 'mystics' etc.

She basically said people come to her to ask her for prayers but said it was dead people who come to her!!!! I am naturally very very very pessimistic about everything so I asked 'do you mean family members who have died, like your parents or neighbours appear to you?'... the example she gave me was that Shay Elliott, the Irish cyclist, appeared before her in the kitchen next to where I was standing in a pair of shorts, a yellow jersey, a peaked up hat, a beautiful smile on his face and a bicycle!!!!! I didn't know who he was (and this was the only time I met this lady) and she told me he'd been the first Irish person to wear the Yellow Jersey... I'd heard of the race of course and knew only of Stephen Roches' success in the event... so I asked 'well why him?'... she told me two parts of the story but ultimately she said that he asked her to pray for him because he had committed suicide and needed prayers!!!!

I went back to the hospital absolutely amazed by the experience. I went online and looked up google and finally found only one picture of the man and i was stilled by him... i saw a black and white image of him with the Yellow Jersey on and him sitting in a childs pram way back in the 60's or whenever he won the race.... i was shocked to learn he did indeed committ suicide in 1971 i think it said (i read from some other site about 2 months ago so forgive me if I'm wrong) and he was smiling in that picture...

No matter how much I have struggled with religion and the Catholic Church in Ireland as a child (I was born in 1980) and though I've been in many ways describing myself as 'expelled from paradise' or atheist or lost throughout my life, i looked at him on the screen of my computer, and while it hummed, I prayed for him... i prayed fervently and deeply for his salvation for whatever it's worth. I always will pray for Shay Elliott...

I have no idea how the experience relates to me, if at all... i try to analyse everything but it's hard to rationalize this one... and ultimately this woman's overall fear seemed to be that they keep their experience quiet as they have lost friendships with old friends who saw her/called her and her husband as crazy... the 'bleeding' began in 1989 March 14th according to her... from how she explained the appearance of Shay Elliott to her as a ghost in complete physical form in her kitchen it sounded like it had happened very very recently... but from what she said it definately happened after 1989 as they'd lived in a different house at the time the 'bleeding' started... and only moved to their new home in the past few years, the one I was now standing in, baffled, amazed and touched by his story.

I welcome any comment or feedback on this... for I am as lost as I ever was, entrigued as ever, and beguiled by this.

in honour of shay elliott, may he be at peace upon the cloths of Heaven

garo

You can find some info here: http://www.dublinwheelers.com/viewpage.php?page_id=12

Ghost Rider

Who knew this would turn into the strangest thread ever on the cycling forum...?

Raam

Ghost Rider wrote: »

Who knew this would turn into the strangest thread ever on the cycling forum...?

I got as far as

...rivulets of blood coming down below the eyes of either Jesus or Mary!!!

Is it worth finishing?

King Kelly

Its worth reading just so you can get to the end and say "What the F**K was that all about?

Quigs Snr

I think you are looking for the christianity board. That or some sort of magic mushroom board mate.

ba

thanks for sharing twylyte.

E@gle.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=526

try one of these boards mate, and aslo this could get thread of the year for the 2008 rewards

oobydooby

E@gle. wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=526

try one of these boards mate, and aslo this could get thread of the year for the 2008 rewards

It's from 2003 so it might get two awards - certainly a blast from the past
Lovely stories about Shay Elliot though, and googlefound a picture of him riding in a pram from back in the day.

Ghost Rider

I reckon so.

Raam wrote: »

Is it worth finishing?

Capt'n Midnight

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seamus_Elliott

Zampano

twylyte wrote: »

I'm writing this with some disbelief on my own part...

I work in a hospital in Dublin City. One of my duties is to accompany patients to their homes on 'Home Visits' to assess their living conditions at home prior to discharge... e.g. making sure the patient can access their bathrooms, bedrooms etc. imagine is the person is elderly or has had a stroke... so it's important they can adjust to their current short term or long term prognosis.

Well I visited a house with a gentleman and met his wife. While in their house I noticed a statue of the Virgin Mary with tears of blood tracing her cheeks.. it was a typical statue that's found in many Irish homes. I mentioned this to the lady and she just casually said that the 'bleeding' started by itself and there were other statues in the house with the same signs. I saw them. There was about 15 statues in a room in the house and all but one or two were covered with rivulets of blood coming down below the eyes of either Jesus or Mary!!! The tears were dry... the lady showed me folder after folder of images of the bleeding... she showed me picture frames of the Sacred Heart with blood inside the glass... she told how tears of oil or water came down the mass cards people sent to her husband in the hospital ward, the first time such an experience happened outside their home...

What's the relevance?? well I asked if she had seen visions or dreams of things or people, as coincidentally i have been reading a huge amount of material about these stories as reported all over the world by lay people and 'mystics' etc.

She basically said people come to her to ask her for prayers but said it was dead people who come to her!!!! I am naturally very very very pessimistic about everything so I asked 'do you mean family members who have died, like your parents or neighbours appear to you?'... the example she gave me was that Shay Elliott, the Irish cyclist, appeared before her in the kitchen next to where I was standing in a pair of shorts, a yellow jersey, a peaked up hat, a beautiful smile on his face and a bicycle!!!!! I didn't know who he was (and this was the only time I met this lady) and she told me he'd been the first Irish person to wear the Yellow Jersey... I'd heard of the race of course and knew only of Stephen Roches' success in the event... so I asked 'well why him?'... she told me two parts of the story but ultimately she said that he asked her to pray for him because he had committed suicide and needed prayers!!!!

I went back to the hospital absolutely amazed by the experience. I went online and looked up google and finally found only one picture of the man and i was stilled by him... i saw a black and white image of him with the Yellow Jersey on and him sitting in a childs pram way back in the 60's or whenever he won the race.... i was shocked to learn he did indeed committ suicide in 1971 i think it said (i read from some other site about 2 months ago so forgive me if I'm wrong) and he was smiling in that picture...

No matter how much I have struggled with religion and the Catholic Church in Ireland as a child (I was born in 1980) and though I've been in many ways describing myself as 'expelled from paradise' or atheist or lost throughout my life, i looked at him on the screen of my computer, and while it hummed, I prayed for him... i prayed fervently and deeply for his salvation for whatever it's worth. I always will pray for Shay Elliott...

I have no idea how the experience relates to me, if at all... i try to analyse everything but it's hard to rationalize this one... and ultimately this woman's overall fear seemed to be that they keep their experience quiet as they have lost friendships with old friends who saw her/called her and her husband as crazy... the 'bleeding' began in 1989 March 14th according to her... from how she explained the appearance of Shay Elliott to her as a ghost in complete physical form in her kitchen it sounded like it had happened very very recently... but from what she said it definately happened after 1989 as they'd lived in a different house at the time the 'bleeding' started... and only moved to their new home in the past few years, the one I was now standing in, baffled, amazed and touched by his story.

I welcome any comment or feedback on this... for I am as lost as I ever was, entrigued as ever, and beguiled by this.

in honour of shay elliott, may he be at peace upon the cloths of Heaven

I just stumbled across this thread when I was doing some research on Shay Elliott. I'm actually producing a documentary on his life for Setanta and today we were working on the episode surrounding his death. Needless to say if the above story is genuine, and I don't deny its veracity, then I'm blown away. Pardon the awful pun, it wasn't intended.

Shay did in fact commit suicide although friends and family find it difficult to accept, even 37 years after his death.

He was a remarkable talent, a pioneer and trailblazer, whose achievements deserve wider recognition. He enjoyed many triumphs but also tragedies, which utlimately led to his premature death.

I hope the documentary inspires interest in the great man. 'Legend' is a word bandied around far too easily these days, but in Shay's case it is well deserved.

ROK ON

Zampano wrote: »

I'm actually producing a documentary on his life for Setanta and today we were working on the episode surrounding his death.

I work around the corner from Setanta sports. On the building that houses setanta sports there is a plaque to Shay Elliot. It was a former home.

sy

twylyte wrote: »

the example she gave me was that Shay Elliott, the Irish cyclist, appeared before her in the kitchen next to where I was standing in a pair of shorts, a yellow jersey, a peaked up hat, a beautiful smile on his face and a bicycle!!!!!

Surreal! This blows Lance's story out of the water!

sy

Zampano wrote: »

He was a remarkable talent, a pioneer and trailblazer, whose achievements deserve wider recognition. He enjoyed many triumphs but also tragedies, which utlimately led to his premature death.

I hope the documentary inspires interest in the great man. 'Legend' is a word bandied around far too easily these days, but in Shay's case it is well deserved.

Looking forward to seeing this Zampano.When do you think we can see this documentary about the great man?

Zampano

All going to plan the documentary will be broadcast early in the New Year. The documentary will not be your standard one hour, but an extended 80 minute version. Shay's life is so fascinating that to do it the justice it deserves the extra time needed to evaluate it properly. Hope it meets with everyones approval.

SACH Central

Paul Kimmage wrote a great article on Shat Elliott when he still worked for the Sunday independent. I think it was in 1998 around the time the Tour started in dublin. It was a typically brilliant article, as you might expect. His 'angle' was on the 'forgotten' hero of Irish cycling - there little or no mention of Elliot or indeed any other Irish cyclists other than Roche in Dublin in '98.

His story was, as others have posted, ultimately tragic. He married a French woman, bought a hotel (invesed his life savings/winnings at that point, by all accounts) in Brittany. The breakdown of his marriage and the fact that the hotel venture was not a success led to him returning to Dublin. From what I remember of the article, he opened a garage off Pearse St. He lived in poverty in Dublin. I think he lived in/over the garage As Paul Kimmage put it; He died by his own hand, they found his shotgun by his side.

As I said the article was brilliantly written, full of respect and admiration for the man who paved they way in professional cycling for Kimmage himself and others.

I don't know if the Sunday Independent have on-line accessable archives, but it would be great to source the article and post it here.

Zampano

I'm very familiar with Paul's article on Shay. In fact it is that article that motivated me to make a documentary on Shay's life. Its just a shame that our national broadcaster saw no merit in commissioning one.

Fortunately Setanta with the support of the Broadcasting Commission Of Ireland saw differently. Now ten years later we reach the point where the documentary is nearing completion and soon Irish people will get to learn about this man's extraordinary life.

Ghost Rider

Excellent. Please keep us posted regarding the broadcast date or any theatrical screenings. Did you shoot on digibeta?

Zampano wrote: »

I'm very familiar with Paul's article on Shay. In fact it is that article that motivated me to make a documentary on Shay's life. Its just a shame that our national broadcaster saw no merit in commissioning one.

Fortunately Setanta with the support of the Broadcasting Commission Of Ireland saw differently. Now ten years later we reach the point where the documentary is nearing completion and soon Irish people will get to learn about this man's extraordinary life.

BaBiT

"Paul Kimmage wrote a great article"..Now THAT is even less believable than the story of the bleeding statues...

Zampano, please tell me Kimmage isn't in the documentary...You should think about releasing it on dvd though aswell as airing it on tv, pity you'll miss the christmas market..

TinyExplosions

BaBiT wrote: »

"Paul Kimmage wrote a great article"..Now THAT is even less believable than the story of the bleeding statues...

Not a fan then I presume....

Zampano

"Paul Kimmage wrote a great article"..Now THAT is even less believable than the story of the bleeding statues...

Zampano, please tell me Kimmage isn't in the documentary...You should think about releasing it on dvd though aswell as airing it on tv, pity you'll miss the christmas market..[/quote]

I happen to think Kimmage is a fine journalist and writer. Tastes are subjective anyway!

I would like to release a DVD but there isn't a large enough market to justify the extra production costs. Film archive is very expensive!

BaBiT

Not a fan then I presume....

Eh, no, can't say I am

I would like to release a DVD but there isn't a large enough market to justify the extra production costs. Film archive is very expensive!

Pity that, but sure if you keep us posted I'm sure there would be plenty of viewers from here...No chance it would sell if advertised in magazines like Cycling Weekly or Plus (they're always advertising dvd's on Simpson and Hoban)

Zampano

Just want to let you all know that the documentary on Shay Elliott's life will be screened at 7.45pm 26th July on Setanta Ireland. It has been a long time in gestation, but I think the wait will be worth it.

Those interviewed include Jean Bobet (1955 Paris-Nice winner) brother of Louison Bobet (Three time Tour de France Winner), Andre Darrigade (1959 World Champion), Rudi Altig (1966 World Champion), Raymond Poulidor (Vuelta a Espana winner), Brian Robinson (2 Stage wins in the Tour) William Fotheringham (The Guardian) and many more. The documentary also features a lot of archive film footage never before seen in Ireland.

I hope you can all tune in.

Bunnyhopper

Looking forward to it. Thanks for letting us know.

Rex Manning

Zampano wrote: »

Just want to let you all know that the documentary on Shay Elliott's life will be screened at 7.45pm 26th July on Setanta Ireland. It has been a long time in gestation, but I think the wait will be worth it.

Those interviewed include Jean Bobet (1955 Paris-Nice winner) brother of Louison Bobet (Three time Tour de France Winner), Andre Darrigade (1959 World Champion), Rudi Altig (1966 World Champion), Raymond Poulidor (Vuelta a Espana winner), Brian Robinson (2 Stage wins in the Tour) William Fotheringham (The Guardian) and many more. The documentary also features a lot of archive film footage never before seen in Ireland.

I hope you can all tune in.

Anything in the pipeline for it being broadcast in the UK or it being accessible to UK folk? Sounds like it should be an interesting doc about an interesting guy.

Ghost Rider

Looking forward to this - cheers for reminding us.

brayblue24

Zampano wrote: »

I hope you can all tune in.

Yup, I'll be there

Just read twylyte's (solitary (no pun intended)) post-again! Is there an icon for "speechless"?

GlennaMaddy

Zampano wrote: »

Just want to let you all know that the documentary on Shay Elliott's life will be screened at 7.45pm 26th July on Setanta Ireland.

Thanks for the notification, if you hear of a re-broadcast on another channel in the future please come back let us know, many of us don't have Setanta Ireland :-(

blorg

Cough... torrent? Cough

LastGasp

Zampano, well done on the documentary - fascinating piece of work ! Really enjoyed the whole thing. Elliott was a real pioneer. It's a great shame he hadn't a bit more luck on his side.

Zampano wrote: »

I just stumbled across this thread when I was doing some research on Shay Elliott. I'm actually producing a documentary on his life for Setanta and today we were working on the episode surrounding his death.
He was a remarkable talent, a pioneer and trailblazer, whose achievements deserve wider recognition. He enjoyed many triumphs but also tragedies, which utlimately led to his premature death.

I hope the documentary inspires interest in the great man. 'Legend' is a word bandied around far too easily these days, but in Shay's case it is well deserved.

happysnappy

A sad story alright. Shay was my cousin and just to correct a small error. Shays son Pascal died in a motorcycle accident some years after Shay died. Shays brother Paul who was another cyclist drowned in a fishing accident late 70s early 80s and their Mum Nelly died tragically whilst in Hospital for treatment some years after. R.i.p