Oldest Cycling Club in Ireland.

studiorat

Reading in another thread about cycling clubs I noticed some fantastic names "Reservoir Cogs" "GasPipes Touring" etc. This got me thinking about old clubs like Les Leunes, Hibernia and Sorrento and clubs in foreign like Brighton Excelsior, all with excellent names.

So I'm wondering, what's the oldest cycling club in Ireland? And does it have a cool name. And why do the newer clubs seem to have crap names? I can think of one or two I won't mention.

Planet X

studiorat wrote: »

Reading in another thread about cycling clubs I noticed some fantastic names "Reservoir Cogs" "GasPipes Touring" etc. This got me thinking about old clubs like Les Leunes, Hibernia and Sorrento and clubs in foreign like Brighton Excelsior, all with excellent names.

So I'm wondering, what's the oldest cycling club in Ireland? And does it have a cool name. And why do the newer clubs seem to have crap names? I can think of one or two I won't mention.[/quote

Ha.
Was in Hibernia CRC & and now in Sorrento CC.

HivemindXX

studiorat wrote: »

And why do the newer clubs seem to have crap names?

Resevoir Cogs is a very new club as far as I know...

studiorat

Planet X wrote: »

Ha.
Was in Hibernia CRC & and now in Sorrento CC.

I remember Hibernia had those really nice black and yellow jerseys. Some friends of mind rode with them as school boys.

Lumen

studiorat wrote: »

And why do the newer clubs seem to have crap names? I can think of one or two I won't mention.

South Side Wheely Wheelers? :pac:

Beasty

Newer clubs tend to want to include their location to attract locals

More established clubs tend to want to inclide a sponsor's name to attract cash

Anyway some names from the current club list:

Black Rose Racing (check out their club gear - no hi-viz required;))
Rusty Chain
Fat Heads CC
Headstrong
Rocky Mountain
Unlaoised MTB
Over the Hill CC

hardCopy

I've no idea how old they are, but I always thought Well Oiled Wheelers CC was a great name

laraghrider

HivemindXX wrote: »

Resevoir Cogs is a very new club as far as I know...

Tis indeed. Started last summer but officially 2013 is the first year registered with CI. We could easily have gone with Blessington Wheelers or BCC or something like that but the call was for something different and personally I think it rocks

Beasty

hardCopy wrote: »

I've no idea how old they are, but I always thought Well Oiled Wheelers CC was a great name

WOW - that's a good one

morana

It may be an old club of mine Lorraine CC. I think they were formed around 1890 and afaik they are still in existence

shaka

Lumen wrote: »

South Side Wheely Wheelers? :pac:[/

Great club

shaka

Well oiled wheelers is one of my favourites, nice crowd too.

thesimpsons

the Biscuit Club - think they down around Waterford area. saw them at the Atlantic challenge and loved their jersey

shaka

thesimpsons wrote: »

the Biscuit Club - think they down around Waterford area. saw them at the Atlantic challenge and loved their jersey

Was trying to think of them, they are the ones with a Cookie Monster on jersey aren't they ?

thesimpsons

ya, yellow and blue jersey. just found them on facebook - one of their spin groups is called the Marietta group. seems like a fun group.

edit : another fun club is Finuge Freewheelers in Kerry.

c50

almost certain Blarney down here in Cork is the oldest. not sure on date but it was 1800's anyway. cool name? well if you consider blarney a cool place i suppose :P

studiorat

Blarney CC was reformed.



Dungarvan Ramblers CC - proper name, proper attire.

GlennaMaddy

Any former members of Barrytown Wheelers on here?

bcmf

morana wrote: »

It may be an old club of mine Lorraine CC. I think they were formed around 1890 and afaik they are still in existence

That was my club as well. My Da only ressurected the jersey from the attic a few weeks back.
Gathtering in Foster place on a Sunday Morning.
I think it was named after the first person to fly across the channel or something like that.
Will post pic of the jersey when I get home.

MajesticDonkey

I think Killarney Cycling Club is one of the oldest in the country. Fermoy Cycling Club is also fairly old.

fat bloke

The Irish Road Club is pretty old. 1890. You'd want to have had your foot in the door first to justify a name like that in fairness .

I want to know though the provenance of the Dub clubs habit of referring to each other as "The Orwell" , "The Lucan", "The Usher" etc.

BognarRegis

studiorat wrote: »

So I'm wondering, what's the oldest cycling club in Ireland? And does it have a cool name. And why do the newer clubs seem to have crap names? I can think of one or two I won't mention.

Oldest surviving club is probably the Irish Road Club.

The Irish Road Club was formed in the Wicklow Hotel. Dublin. On April 18th, 1890. It was founded by a group of enthusiasts who wished to put Road Racing in the same pre-eminent position which Irish " Path" Racing then enjoyed. The first membership roll included some of the greatest names in the annals of Cycling-R. J. McCredy. founder of the Club, A. J. Faed Wilson, F. T. Bidlake. M. Dudley, T. W. Murphy. happily still hale and hearty, and a host of others.

It gets a mention in the book Victorian Cycling in Ireland.

Back in the day, there would have been divisions between road racers, grass-track racers and tourists with some clubs aligned with the GAA/NACA/NCA for political reasons. Others being a bit more tweedy or anglo.

'Les Jeunes' popped up in Ballymun around 1975.

Other names of the last century would be Dublin Wheelers (1933), Emerald (by invitation if you're not a McQuaid), Fingal Ravens, Round Tower, Obelisk, Sutton Road Cliub, Eagle CC...