Alan Heary in conversation with
SANDRA O'CONNELL
I’M A PERSONAL trainer and sports psychologist. In 2008 I wanted to prove what you can do with the right training and motivation, so I put together a team of four amateur cyclists and prepared them for the Race Across America, a cycle endurance marathon of about 3,000km. We came second.
It was so great I decided to organise Race Around Ireland, which is billed as Europe’s toughest cycling challenge. We held the inaugural event last year, and it was a huge success. We start in Navan and head up to Malin Head, round by the Cliffs of Moher, through the Ring of Kerry, down to Mizen Head and back up through Wicklow.
At the moment I’ve to fit my day job around my work as race director. I’m up for my first appointment at 7am and spend all my time between sessions checking e-mails and answering queries from riders. The most determined will cycle for 22 hours a day for the six-day event.
Last year, of the 90 competitors 11 were solo riders, and only four of them finished, including the current woman’s world champion, Caroline van den Bulk. There’s no prize, only the glory of winning.
Last year, including crew and friends, we brought about 500 people into the country. This year we are expecting to treble that. We got great coverage on Sky Sports, because their commentator Graham Little was in the team that came second.
I’ll get queries about logistics and accommodation, or from people looking to put teams and crews together, so I’m busy organising all that. Lunch is either in my office or in the gym. In the afternoon I’ll check our Facebook page, to see what’s going on there. People use it to give all sorts of help and advice.
At the moment I’m developing sponsorship packages, but at some stage in the afternoon I’ll get out on my bike myself, for anything from 90 minutes to five hours. It’s where I get my best ideas, and it clears my head.
After that I’ll be back in the gym with a couple of clients, and two evenings a week I train a local football team. That finishes up at about 10pm. By the time I get to bed it will be midnight. I’d very rarely spend an evening watching TV with a packet of digestives. But it does happen.
- Alan Heary is director of Race Around Ireland (racearoundireland.com)