Donegal Ultra 555 Race Organisers Sean McFadden & Michael Black preview next week’s event…
is €120. But the great news I have for all the listeners here this Sunday afternoon is we are giving away a four ball team on today’s show. And all you have to do is to tell me who is the current manager of of Fenharps first team. Who’s the current manager of the FHAS first team? I’ll give you a we clue. You knew the back of the net was. So, uh, text your answer and name, text or WhatsApp 086 6025,000 and this competition will be closing at 5. I will announce the winner just before just before the end of the show at um at 6:00 this evening. Delighted to say the focus of attention for the next number of minutes will be the big event that’s taking place next weekend. That’s a Donnal Ultra 555 cycling race. And I’m delighted to say joining me live in studio now, two key members of the large organizing committee that is Shan Mc Shan McFaden and Michael Black. H welcome to the airways of it. Lan, we’re going to start off with you. First of all, tell us about some key information regarding this year’s event in relation to dates and venues and stuff like that there. I suppose this year is a massive it’s a massive uh milestone for myself and Michael and the organizers of the 555. It’s our our 10th edition and as normal we haven’t changed a lot in the last 10 years cuz everything ran as normal and worked very well. So we kept it the same and every year we keep getting competitors back. So this year we’re starting off on Saturday morning at the Mount Argo Hotel again at 5 5:00 a.m. first riders away and uh hopefully we see everybody back at the ramp on uh Saturday afternoon and early hours of Sunday morning for the 555 competitors. So yeah, that’s it really. And Sean, you talking about 5:00 a.m. Can people come along and watch the people take off and people can come along and watch the event from the start? Of course. We have a lot of crowds gathering like and it’s it kind of comes in waves. You know, you’ll have people starting at say the 555s away first and they’ll have the families and friends there and then they’ll be on the road and they’ll go and support them. Then you the 333s and then the 222. So the ramp really never uh quietens. It’s a busy kind of time for me and Michael. People think when they leave the ramp that we’re having a lot to do, but there’s a lot to be done there. You know, when the people leave the ramp, you know, looking after people and seeing where they are, make sure they’re not going wrong and getting things ready. And before you know it, some of the 222 riders will be coming back and then the 333 riders and then before you know it, the 555 boys are landing. So there it’s ups and downs, you know. It’s it’s it’s good, you know. I mean, we get a bit of a break and then we’re ready to go again. You know, it’s going to be a long weekend. You know, we’re myself and Michael’s awake for nearly for odd 30 odd hours or more. Michael, talk to me about the 555 route and talk to me about the route itself and obviously there’ll be some challenging aspects of the route. Yeah, the route itself obviously anybody is familiar with Don Gaul in the northwest coast. Um it’s quite challenging even to to drive around there and obviously weather conditions can play a massive part in that. But the terrain and the the road style of the roads in Donnagal, anybody’s been cycling there um it’s very very tough. It’s it’s abrasive tire. It’s sticky kind of tire. The roads are abrasive and it doesn’t make for easy cycling. It’s not free rolling in that sense. So riders will start off from the MGL and they’ll do all that big loop around the peninsula first. Um everything from up More Gap coming down by Glen Gish coming back through um uh Don back over Mamour or back over Barnsmore Gap back into Buffet back into letter Kenny where you’ve got that whole side of the the county done up there and that in itself is a is a massive massive look for anybody to to complete. Um you’re not even halfway at that stage by the time you pass the ramp again, which is the which can be the tough thing when you pass you’re passing the start and finish again and you look in and we give them a quick wave and they head then to the other side of the county where we head to Remlton Rat Mad Hornhead Don Fan and you can imagine anybody that knows that and has driven some of them beautiful coastal roads of Nocala Hornhead and Don Fan um down around the roads of Fann. They’re beautiful on a lovely day. Um they’re beautiful on a bike as well, but um these these girls and boys who will be on it be uh supported, unsupported or part of a team um or a solo venture. Uh they’ll probably not to be taken in much of the sights. They’ll be just to trying to survive um and get back to the Malle as quickly as possible. So it’s a it’s definitely a challenging route. When you’re describing that there Michael, a few words came to mind. Not for the faint hearted to say the least. Sean, back to you. Um that’s the 555 route. There are two other routes as well, Sean. Yeah. Well, we’ve introduced the 222 and the 333 this last couple years, you know, and the 222 route, I suppose, is a it’s a I wouldn’t say it’s an easier route, but it’s a skinner feeder route and for people to either do the 555 or do the 333. And also, we’ve seen over the years we’ve had a lot of triathletes coming to do the 222 because it’s good training for the likes of an iron man or or 70.3 or half iron man as they say, you know. So they are they they’ve talked legs. You know the 555 is a tough tough tough route and it’s a tough course. It’s a 7,000 m of climbing it. So you know we’ve had to kind of go with the other advances in the country. We’re making smaller races. Not smaller races but shorter races and a we bit more you know easier races for people. I wouldn’t say easier cuz Donny G is not easy at all but you know himself. So we’ve gone with the 222 and the 33 and it’s been a really good success. you know, our numbers are up and we’re very happy the numbers that we’ve had this year again. You know, at the start of the year, you think, “Oh, people won’t come back again.” But soon as you open entries, you’re kind of blown blown away by the the demand of people coming to put themselves through this pain. Torture. That’s what it is to me. It’s torture. Again, I’ve done a lot of racing myself over the years and I did the or the M2M from Mason to Mal and I it was tough, you know, and I thought to myself, 555 7,000 m of climbing just goes up and go down and up and go down like there’s more up than there is down, you know. So, yeah, but no, we’re we’re happy with the 222 and the 33. It’s very, very good and it’s going to be a very competitive race. In terms Sean, in terms of numbers overall so far, I know you’re still another six days or whatever to register for the event, but in terms of the last 10 years, we’ll talk about that 10 for this. We’ll talk about that in just a second. Talking about numbers, are you satisfied? Of course, we’re satisi satisfied. You know, in general, Michael will tell you, Michael’s part of cycling Ireland in general cycling races, the numbers have gone down and even know you know the youth tour that used to be in church hills and dair people are not traveling no more. So numbers have dropped over the board for everything. Um but for us to hold that 100 mark of people on the road, you know, we’ve had big numbers at the early stages 160 and we’ve had 130 and last year with only 92 and this year we’re back up to 100 again, you know. So to hold that 100 mark and thereabout and I always kept saying I’ll say it to Michael, I’ve said it to a few people, you know, people say, “Oh, is this the last year?” And I’ll say, “Well, you know, we’ve talked about it being the last year.” and for millions of times, but when people keep turning up and coming back, it’s very hard not to put the event on. You know what I mean? Like if we were down to 10 or 12, I think, right, it’s that’s, you know, the course is it’s done. It’s over. But at the moment, we’re still up on 100 riders. Like, so you can’t you can’t take that away, you know? And people love it. And it’s the amount of people that do it for charity and raising money and family and friends coming out and it’s a it’s a it’s a race and it’s a and not a race at the same time, you know, because people come out to do this challenge that don’t want to do bike racing. They just want to ride their bike and maybe somebody in their mid60s that doesn’t want to race a bike in a big bunch and they want their family to come out and support them and see their kids riding their bike and going up more gap and see them in pain. So yeah, we’re going to keep going and that’s that’s it. Just an example, a glass half full. Michael, I’m sure an event like this, I’m sure backups such as mechanical teams and emergency crews and not forgetting your energy drinks and all that down, water, all that’s vitally important. Yeah. You don’t you don’t uh go into such an event like this here uh with less than full preparation from your own training. Um your support crews, which a lot of the people will have, they’ll have fallen vehicles with them. So we’ll have a vehicle, we’ll have people um who have a background in cycling themselves. People have a little bit of mechanical knowledge if something goes wrong. Um that psychological aspect too because you need to when you’re on the bike that long, you forget maybe to eat cuz you’re you’re sleep deprived. So you need somebody in your ear all the time just to say, “Look, keep going. You need to keep eating. You need to keep drinking, turn left, turn right.” Um and when the we hours go down there and it gets dark and it gets cold and things, it’s it’s a different place where people maybe have not been before. So that support network during the race is really really important. Um and yeah obviously then we want to have everybody back as safe uh to the finish line. Um and that’s for us is as the key element of making a race first and foremost. So of course we need to have people out there to be very very aware of that and I would I would put that out to people. There going to be 100 additional people on the road over the weekend. So, I would put that out to people just to keep an eye out, support them, give them a little bit of space. Um, and and just I suppose um yeah, a little clapper, a little shout along goes a long way for someone that’s been out on the bike for that long. So, yes, it takes a hell of a lot more people. We’re only two people here, but a hell of a lot of other people behind the scenes that make this thing move. Bit of encouragement to beat Michael in terms use the key word there, training. What would be I know there’s no right or wrong to this answer, but what would be key training? like would do people would there be people cycling like thousands of kilometers a week over six days in the months in the lead to event I think a lot of people that that take on this come from various kind of backgrounds um but the vast majority would have some endurance kind of training done be that through running or cycling or triathlon or some sort of endurance sports um you may be surprised that you don’t you don’t need to be doing hundreds and thousands of kilometers to complete an event like this um um anyone can complete that Um, and as that’s why the 222 is introduced to give you a bit of a taste of what it might be like and move up in that. Um, you’ll have obviously very experienced people who have been in the cycling world for a long long time and have got hundreds of thousands of miles behind them over 20 30 years. Um, but that doesn’t make it any easier. So, it just depends on the person. Some people have that um ability to u mentally switch off and just keep turning the pedals and they may not have that many miles on to their counterpart and they could get on way way better. So from this I feel in these endurance events it’s not so much about the miles you’ve done which is important but it’s how you can psychologically put yourself in that position to say I just need to keep the pedals turning I just need to keep them turning I just need to have another revolution I’ll get to the next town where sometimes when you’re you might have all the miles done if your head goes in the middle of the night and think I’ve got 200k to go you’re gone you know and no matter amount of training you can do your body just shuts down and says right home I’ve seen people who have got very very little training done and they do that in a short loop and they come past those after 10 12 hours and they’re smiling and you’re going this person so and there could be someone right beside them way fitter in a sense physically fitter but these people can just tap it out and tap it out. Sean let’s go back to the start we are in the 10th year for this fantastic event. Talk to me. How did the idea come about and how how did the first year go for you? Yeah. Well, say 10 years. It’s hard to believe like 10 years without missing one year between co and everything else and me being away and coming back and all. So, we’re here. Um, how did it come about? Um, it come about from us doing a race called race around Ireland as a team and we went back the following year to enter the team and was sold out and um we thought there must be something that we could do to replicate race around Ireland that if people wanted to train for that we would uh organize our own race as such. So we come up with the idea of the 555. So shouting out to Sean Stewart was the I suppose the first guy on board himself and Sean would have did a lot of races and you know did that and we took it on board and Sean we drove the course and Sean text me he said I’ll have a course straight away we have 555 km and that’s where it come from you know and it’s moved on from there and and Shawn has moved on and and started up his own race and different things and then we had Eugene McGidd again for a couple of years there and Eugene was struggling with work commitment and up and down to bal Shannon And then Michael, I suppose me and Michael’s been friends probably over 20 years now more. So, you know, it was always an easy target for to get Michael to come on board and help out because he’s he’s a great man like and you know, you need you need boys like this that understand cycling in general and you know that kind of way. So, that’s where it’s come in the last 10 years. But the amount of people that’s gone through the 555 and the amount of money that it’s raised for charities, I just I’m blown away by it by to be fair, you know, and I keep asking people why do you keep coming back and just say Donny Gall is so beautiful out there on the good days. You could not come back to Donnie go, you know, we’ve we’ve had some great riders, we’ve had some professional riders, we’ve had global network here, GCN has been here. So listen, we’re we’re ready to go and we can’t wait till next Saturday. Nintend have a vast majority of them. Yeah. From around the the county or the Northwest and region, but you know, we’ve had people traveling from far as America, UK, um other parts of the country. Um New Zealand this year, New Zealand this year, you know. So um yeah, Don is a great tourist destination as well. So you’ll the word travels fast here. The White Atlantic Way has helped us massively in that the work that poor fal do and tourism Ireland to put the D on the map. Um and as I say it’s different up here. It is different up here and you come and experience it. No matter if you’re doing a sporting event like ours or coming to visit or just seeing the scenery or holidaying it is different. We’re lucky that we can we can express that through through a sporting event. Um we’re very lucky to be able to do that. But competitors come from everywhere. And as Sean says, we’re we’re delighted that people keep coming back here. And we possibly shouldn’t be surprised every year that there is people traveling from everywhere. Um, but they do keep coming back. And as I say, yeah, once you go out there yourself and you see it on a especially on a good day, and we haven’t had always good days, on a fantastic day, you’d be surprised going through a small town like Brock or something at 2:00 in the morning and there’s people standing outside, you know, and you want a cup of tea, you don’t go to sleep much down in that part of the bounty. That’s right. No one’s country for a reason. Sean, I’m sure an event just cost money. In terms of sponsorship, is there anybody you’d like to thank? Yeah, listen. Um, this event, it it takes a lot of as Michael said, it’s just not me and Michael. Like, we have a new sponsor on board this year and the sponsor is that Erical group up in Manahan up there. Um, we’ve been very lucky. Um, for the last couple of years, they’ve come with three, four teams every year. Um, and it’s a contact that suppose I reached out to is a very good friend of ours, Lorraine Olarchi from Dubai. It’s her sister that works in the company. Um, so, uh, we contacted them year to see if they come out and they’ve been very generous. But like we’ve had so many sponsors over the years. The Mount Eragal, LK Bikes, Fr. I’m going to miss out somebody here. I thought you’re gone. You know, we’ve we’ve had so many sponsors and you know yourself to put this event on, you need sponsors, you need help, you need the local community, you need the local businesses, you need all that to help to help, you know, and I couldn’t thank them enough, you know? cuz I said 10 years it’s it’s massive and it wouldn’t be without them. It wouldn’t be without yourselves radio for one and Michael and everybody else that’s helped out. I I can’t thank them enough. And listen, we’re 10 years. Will it be another will we have 20 years? Will we have 15 years people keep coming back the 555 will be here you know it’s a legacy as I see at the minute you know. So yeah thank you to everybody that’s helped out yourselves and all sponsors been amazing. Michael, if there was one key goal for this year’s event, what would that key goal be? I think we’re always looking to try and obviously promote the race first and try and make it as accessible to everybody. You’ll have the the ordinary people who come back who are quite successful in the event, enjoy the event from a competitive point of view. But for us, that participation sort of um element of it is is the key for us, you know, to be able to say, look, this is achievable for a lot of people. There’s so many different options be it a small event or small distance sorry a team event two person four person um and we really want to highlight you know the participation through through females as well through women of sport um that it can be very heavily dominant in terms of the male participants. So if people want to come out um as Sean says from the malle on that time we’ll be there for well over 24 hours. If you want to come and see it, drive around the route, get a glimpse of what it’s like, speak to us before um or speak to some of the competitors, especially the females that have done it. It is a fantastic event. It’s very much a family event, too. Um we don’t leave anybody out in course. We’ll get you to the finish line one way or another. So, yeah, that female participation or participation in general, it’s not a competitive race. We don’t do that first and foremost. people make it competitive for themselves and that’s great but the vast majority of these races um are about participation and uh as I say the female participation element and the family element is is really important and if we continue to put on this that would be one of the the key goals for years to come as well for us finally to the race director Sean McFaden if there was a listener tuning into radio today and they’re they’re sitting on the fence they’re 50/50 and they never did it before but they would like to do it what would your message be to those I would just back up what Michael says that you know I mean there is three events there now you know and there’s the 222 and the 333 and um 555 is a monster and we’ve had people that on the 555 that hasn’t done a lot of cycling and you know they finished it um Bridget Fre going to reach out to there Bridget didn’t do a lot of cycling over the years and you know Bridget yourself and she come and she finished it and it was a massive achievement for Bridget to finish that race so it was amazing so it is very doable as I said you know come along have a chat to me Michael for maybe 2026 and and and see how you get on. But listen, um yeah, we’ll we’ll look forward to 2026. We’ll get 2025 out of the way and then uh we’ll talk about it again, I suppose. Yeah. And just before I let you go, is online entry still open or unfortunately not. They’re not open. It closed a couple of days ago for myself and Michael and the tracking system to try and get everything in place. People are looking for their start times, what time they’re leaving at. And as Michael said, Michael need abuse on the phone at this stage. When are we leaving? What time we leaving it? So unfortunately they closed, but um yeah, it’ll be 2026 now before we could take anybody else. Just give us gives us and organizers a bit of time to confirmed here in H radio Sunday. There will be an 11 edition. So thank you so much to Sean McFad and Michael Black for joining us. Thank you. It’s