Give it SOCKS Cycle 2014

Posted August 22, 2014

The 3rd Annual Frances Tobin Monaghan to Dublin Give It SOCKS Cycle takes place on Sat. 13th September 2014.

This charity cycle is organised by the Tobin Family in memory of Frances who lost her life to Ovarian Cancer in 2011. Leading up to Frances 1st Anniversary Shane had the brainwave that to pass the 1st anniversary day that the family, Pat, Leisha, Cillian and himself would do a relay cycle (one bike, one car, 4 cyclist) from Fran’s birthplace, Three-Mile-House Monaghan to Portmarnock, a journey of 140km (84 miles).

A number of friends who heard about our intention offered to join us. As we had approx. 15 riders we thought that it would be nice to use the event to raise funds for charity and so set about identifying a suitable charity.  When Leisha was registering for the Womens Mini Marathon she came across the organisation SOCK (Supporting Ovarian Cancer Knowledge & Research) and they proved to be the ideal fit for our chosen charity. Some 40 cyclist took on the challenge of cycling from Monaghan with a further 40 joining in Balrothery for the final stage. In second year 60 cyclist went to the starting line with again around 40 joining in Balrothery.

Event Details

Cyclist are bussed and bikes trucked to Monaghan from Naomh Mearnog Club House on the morning of the Fun Ride.

The cycle is broken into 3 stages.
– Stage 1: starting at Sean McDermott’s GAA Clubhouse in Three-Mile-House to St Mary’s GAA Club in Ardee with both Clubs providing tea/coffee, sandwiches & cakes for the cyclist and support people.
– Stage 2: Ardee to Balrothery.
– Stage 3: Balrothery to Naomh Mearnog GAA Club Portmarnock. The cycle is supported by a lead car, break down van, first aid, motor cycle outriders and traffic stewards at various junctions along the route.

Gala night

On the night a Gala Event is held in the Clubhouse comprising BBQ, Auction, Raffle, Music and a few sociable drinks with proceeding being expertly MC’d by Aongus Mhor McAnally who in addition also regales us with humor and song. There is no cover charge and everybody is welcome to attend and to support this fundraising charity event. Amongst the items for auction is a Dublin jersey signed by the current All Ireland Senior Football Champions.

Sponsorship

There is no entry fee levied but all cyclists particularly those completing the full course, requested to raise sponsorship funds. All funds raised through cyclist sponsorship, donations and at the Gala night go direct to SOCK Ireland. Excluding funds received from our generous sponsors to cover staging costs a total of €50,000 has been raised in the past 2 years.

Costs of staging the event include jerseys, bus and bike transport, vans, motorbike, first aid, stewarding, BBQ food, auction items, raffle prizes, cycle goodie bags food, water etc. Costs of items associated with the cycle and the gala night are covered by our financial sponsors, the goodwill of local businesses and family friends. Costs include the cost of providing each rider undertaking the full cycle with a commemorative designed cycle jersey (cyclist from Balrothery receive a SOCK T-shirt), medals presented to all participants, bus and truck hire.

Please lend your support to the fund raising efforts for 2014.

Get Involved!

To take part go to www.giveitsockscycle.com or phone 0860227337.

To view the cycle web page go to www.giveitsockscycle.com, the SOCK website go to www.sock.ie.
To make a donation please go to www.mycharity.ie/event/give_it_socks_2014.

The Tobin family enormously appreciate the support of all involved, the generous cyclists, sponsors, benefactors, different support groups and the various clubs.