By Paul O’Donovan
Mullingar cycling club, Lakeside Wheelers, paid tribute to two of its best cyclists when Damien Shaw and Jenny Fay-Blair were made honorary lifetime members at a special ceremony held at the Market Square, Mull-ingar, last Monday morning.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Lakeside Wheelers’ Chairman, Mick Reynolds, paid tribute to the two outstanding cyclists. “Both Jenny and Damien are natives of Mullingar and are fantastic cyclists. They both started their cycling career with the Lakeside Wheelers and went on to achieve fabulous results. Jenny went on to win every race in Australia on the mountain bike circuit and in endurance racing, and Damien, as you know, has won every race in Ireland and a few abroad, and is the current national champion as well. Damien began cycling at the lower echelons of cycling, at the A4 races, and worked his way up through the ranks to become national champion. So it is a great honour to be able to say that these cyclists came through the ranks in Lakeside Wheelers, but we want these cyclists to be always associated with Lakeside Wheelers, so that is why the committee made this decision to honour them with lifetime membership,” said Mick.
Mick went on to explain about the development of the Wheelers Club. “The Lakeside Wheelers have grown from a small club to become the biggest and one of the best cycling clubs in Ireland. We hope to continue to do that and to continue to nurture cycling from our sprocket rocket programme for kids, up to youths, up to elite racing and everything in between, which includes leisure cycling and just keeping fit,” said Michael.
A GREAT HONOUR
National Cycling champion, Damien Shaw from Mullingar, was delighted to be made honorary member of the club saying, “The Lakeside Wheelers are a massive club and they are very good to their members, and this shows that they can think outside the box. This is a great honour for me. This is where I started cycling and I would have a lot of time for them,” said Shaw, a former Paralympian cyclist and current national champion of Ireland.
Meanwhile Jenny Fay, from Mullingar, but now living in Canberra, Australia, was also extremely pleased and proud to receive her award from the Wheelers, saying, “It is just such a proud moment to be accepted and made honorary life member of the Lakeside Wheelers. I remember my first outing with the Lakeside Wheelers was fifteen years ago in 2000, so fifteen years later, I didn’t think I was going to be honoured with this award, so I am really happy and it is a proud day for me and my family. The club have always been so friendly and I was accepted straight away as a girl on two wheels. The club recognised that I wanted to push myself in races and they pushed me, so every time I come home, I still go out for a cycle with the club,” said Jenny, National Mountain Bike Cross Country champion of Australia, before she returned to Australia with her new husband, Andrew Blair.
It certainly was a proud day for Damien, Jenny and all associated with Lakeside Wheelers Cycling Club.
