Press Release
In 1858 Our Lady appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes and so in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the apparition and to raise awareness of the Limerick Lourdes Pilgrimage a group of people from Limerick and surround came together to organise a charity cycle from Nantes to Lourdes to coincide with the Limerick Diocesan pilgrimage. The 800km cycle took place between the 14th to 20th June 2008.
Some 12 months ago three members of the team made the suggestion to redo the Charity Cycle to raise funds but this time for three charities, Limerick Lourdes Invalid Fund , Motor Neurone and The Cliona Ring Foundation.
No one thought that this cycle would entail 800km of road , logistic organisation , medical teams and alot of goodwill and sponsorship.
In fact this is what has happened , from a very ordinary conversation has come a very extra ordinary group of people and support by even greater people to make this cycle happen.
Again this year(after a three year absence) 2011 , some of the original cyclists and backup team , along with some new recruits will once again take on this journey.
The cycle will take place between June 13th – 18th travelling 800km through Nantes , La Rochelle , La Royan , Bordeaux , Toulouse , Tarbes and into Lourdes
This year we are supporting three charities :
- Limerick Lourdes Invaild Fund
- Motor Neurone – Limerick
- The Cliona Ring Foundation
The cyclists themselves vary in fitness , size ,age and gender. This years cycle see’s our first female participant
The youngest being 19 and the most senior be 66 years of age
All of our team are in active training in order to complete this cycle and arrive in Lourdes(safe and sound) on June 18th.
Our thanks go out to our Main Sponsor - SpecSavers and to all the individuals and small business who have supported us on this journey
All of the team are actively working on different fundraising ideas, from a Coffee Morning with Paul O’Connell , Come Dine with me , Cycles, Cinema Days , Golf Classics
Our thanks also go out especially to our families and friends who questioned and supported (eventually) this idea
To the people who have turned up and contributed on every fund raiser either by their monetary contributions , their time or their support we Thank You so much.....
To the Back up team , Logistics and Medical teams who are giving of their time and energy in supporting 12 ageing and not so ageing cyclists....Thank You
And to the three charities we Thank You for giving us the privilege of supporting your organisations
You will all be remembered in our prayers when we get to the Grotto in Lourdes this year,
