Sé O'Hanlon
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There has been a lot of articles on Sé O'Hanlon, an incredible cyclist in the 60's and 70's. He was without doubt, one of the best Irish cyclists ever. I'm not going to write about that.
I came into cycling in 1973 and I did not get to see much of Sé and his successes, because I joined a cycling club that was affiliated to a different organisation. People might not understand, that in the 70's there were three cycling organisations in Ireland, the National Cycling Association (NCA), the Irish Cycling Federation (ICF) and the Northern Ireland Cycling Federation (NICF).
I had joined the ICF, I didn't know of the existence of the NCA or NICF. As time went on I learned of the divide between them. I'm not going to go into the past and talk about what I learned. I was lucky because in 1973, behind the scenes a few people got together, and put the past behind them and worked hard over the following seven years to join the three associations together, so all cyclists on the island of Ireland could race in each others races.
Kieran McQuaid and Sé O'Hanlon enjoying a pint at the launch of Tom Daly's Ras Book in 2003.
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Two people who were instrumental in this, Sé O'Hanlon and Kieran McQuaid they got the ball rolling and persisted with bringing the executive boards together with the help of similar cyclists in the north of Ireland.
In 1978, the three associations agreed, to form an Irish Cycling Tripartite Committee starting in 1979 which would be made up of five members from each of the three associations. This would oversee the sport for all cyclists in Ireland, they each had there own fixtures calendars open to all. The following year 1980, they produced a combined calendar of events and most importantly everything was open to all.
The Tripartite committee would also have overall responsibility to select the cyclists that represent Ireland in international events. It was also agreed that future Irish championships would be called 'All Ireland Cycling Championships' and if you look at Cycling Ireland records, championships are only listed back as far as 1979.
Sé O'Hanlon racing in one of the first open races in north Dublin in March 1979
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For the following years, the three associations operated separately and competed in each other's events. It worked great, and the next step was to formally set up a new single cycling governing body for all. In 1988 this happened with the formation of the Federation of Irish Cyclists (FIC) with it's own offices in Dublin.
Sé O'Hanlon gave an enormous amount of time helping with this process, seeing it through. The FIC would later be renamed as Cycling Ireland that we know today.
For the last 30 years or more, most cyclists today would not know past history, it doesn't really matter. What does matter is that cyclists today have a much better sport for all, thanks to Sé O'Hanlon and Kieran McQuaid.
With the passing of Sé a few days ago, I would like to extend my Deepest Condolences to Sé's family and friends. It was a pleasure to have known him. And 'I say Thank You Sé' for giving our sport a better future.
May he rest in peace
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