Successful fundraising cycle for brave Sophie Breen

The sun shone down on participants in the recent fundraisng cycle for Sophie Breen, which was organised by Lower Ormond Cycling Club.

Sophie is a fantastic eight-year-old girl from Borrisokane who is fundraising for a life changing operation in the USA. The target of €100,000 would mean that Sophie can finally have the surgery, which will improve her movement and endurance; it will also allow her to be more active and hopefully be able to get involved in sports and activities like all her friends (which she wants more than anything) but most importantly it will save her from pain and discomfort.

For the event a group of cyclists of all ages and abilities (some having never cycled any more than a few kilometers) gathered at the Fair Green in Borrisokane to cycle and fundraise for Sophie's Wish. From 12 to 70 years of age, covering three different routes, 50, 100 and 150km, North Tipperary was alive with smiles on Sunday, none as big as Sophie's.

At 9am, the guest of honour was there to wave everyone off at the start, led out by Borrisokane Fire Service and the professional team from BikeMarshals.ie, whose motorbikes and sirens made quite an impact through the Main Street.

The whole event went off without incident, but that was not accidental. The organising committee worked hand in hand with Cycling Ireland to ensure a good safe event.

The outstanding work by the professional motorbike marshals from Bike Marshals Ireland, combined with the local volunteers, made everything run like clockwork on the day. More importantly over €4,000 was raised for Sophie, with sponsorship still coming in to the Go Fund Me page www.gofundme.com/f/cycle-for-sophie

Lower Ormond Cycling Club would like to thank Bike Marshals Ireland, Borrisokane Fire Service, as well as the event sponsors: Nudest Foods, Ballyhaden Enterprises, David and Brian Dunne, The Country Kitchen, Milne Foods, Tesco Nenagh and Advantech Ireland for sponsoring the Bike Marshals.

Thank you to all the local volunteers, especially the the van drivers and the family members who organised all the food and refreshments; without you these events could not happen. Most importantly we would like to thank Spar Birr, Spar Roscrea and Casey's Toomevara for the refreshment stops, a welcome break on all routes. Thank you to everyone that cycled, Nenagh Tri Club, Nenagh CC, Keeper CC, Portumna CC, An Tur CC and anyone that spun pedals on the day.