Road Club's fun tour cyclists raise £900 for the Chernobyl Children appeal

Monday, December 14, 2015
The mayor of Mid and East Antrim council Mr Billy Ashe hosted a reception for the Ballymena Road Club – Chain Reaction Cycles - fun tour cyclists in the town hall last Monday evening.
He presented medals and certificates of merit to the successful participants, including four riders who had achieved full attendance of all thirteen tours.
John Duffin, from the Chernobyl children appeal NI, was also in attendance. The charity fund reached an impressive total again this year with £900 being donated to the Chernobyl Children’s appeal NI.
2015 was the tenth successive year during which the club supported the CCA. During that time the cyclists have donated £7575.50 to this very worthwhile cause.
This year’s series, which fell foul of a few very wet days, did not reach the record figures of the 2014 series, when 943 took part, but still attracted a total participation of 786 over the 13 weeks (average 60 per week) during which 150 different cyclists completed at least one tour. This was the second best ever series as far as total attendance was concerned, beating one of the previous records of 779 from 2012.
This year four riders achieved full attendance, they were Alan Donegan, Rhonda Donegan, Pius McKernan and Paddy Mooney.
Alan was given a special mention as he had raised an impressive £1111 for Marie Curie Cancer Care following his very successful participation in the Dublin marathon.
The four youngest participants – John Elliott, Sarah Elliott, Danielle Gillespie and Shannon Millar each received one of the council’s goody bags.
There were 28 gold medallists who completed at least 11 tours: 14 silver medallists, who had at least 8 tours and 30 bronze for 5 tours.
The full list of the 2015 series medallists reads:
Gold for thirteen tours; Alan and Rhonda Donegan, Paddy Mooney and Pius McKernan.
Gold for twelve tours; Sammy Kerr, Jim Burns, Sammy Connor, Sean Elliott, William Jackson, Jackie Knowles, Bernie Monaghan, Francis O’Kane, Martin Ruddy and Richard Wilson.
Gold for eleven tours; Alex Bonar, Bobby Currie, Ryan Currie, John Elliott, Sarah Elliott, Iris Grant, Ronnie Grant, Patsy McGurk, Harold McKinney, Alastair Petticrew, Gary Simms, Peter Simpson, Peter Smyth and Jonathan Wylie.
Silver for ten tours; Alan Blair, Michael Diamond, Hazel Hughes,
Silver for nine tours; Bert Kernohan, Darren McDonald.
Silver for eight tours; Jane Deering, Stephen Dempsey, Stephen Little, Owen McLaughlin, Beresford Millar, David Rankin, Maria Shannon, Eugene Tohill and Sean Wright.
Bronze for seven tours; Geoff Allen, Eilis Boland, Graham Bonner, Christina Clarke, Ricky Cromie, Claire Gillespie, Adrian Kirkpatrick, James McBride, Geoff McMurray, James Stewart and Andrew Wills.
Bronze for six tours; Dale Bonnar, Danielle Gillespie, Paul McWilliams, Lori Phillips, John Shaw and Gary Worthington.
Bronze for five tours; Desi Agnew, G.B., Laura Blair, Rex Bonar, Eileen Burns, David Currie, Peter Cuthbert, Derek Dougan, Niall Hopkins, John Maxwell, Shannon Millar, Kay Rainey and Wilnor Worthington.
The mayor said he was pleased to hear that the tours had once again been very successful and that they had been completed safely and without any difficulties. He praised the resilience of all the participants and congratulated them on their fund raising efforts.
Ballymena Road Club’s touring committee member Richard Wilson thanked the mayor for his hospitality in hosting the reception which formalised the medal presentation and also for the council’s continued support of the fun tours. Richard also praised the "orange clad” Pius McKernan, Maria Shannon, William Jackson, Peter Simpson, Patsy McGurk and Maurice Carruthers who had acted as travelling marshalls during the weekly rides.
Anyone who was unable to attend the presentation should contact Richard Wilson on 07808 865688 to arrange to collect their medals and certificates.