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GAZETTE
SEPTEMBER 1987
The Mara-Cycle
Fundraising for
The Solicitors' Benevolent Association
Brendan Walsh, colleague, Dublin
raconteur and philosopher, moun-
tain climber and cyclist, agreed to
raise money for the Solicitors'
Benevolent Association, if I sat on
a bicycle to Belfast and back. Bren-
dan had concluded that people's
charitable instincts would more
likely be aroused by the thought of
my trying to cycle that distance
and by the likelihood of my expir-
ing in the process. In fact, the first
sum committed by Diarmuid Barry
of Killybegs, was conditional upon
the production of an affidavit from
the cycle manufacturers, Peugeot,
averring that their bicycles were
strong enough to carry my lithe
frame that distance. Diarmuid
Barry's cynical query was the first
of many, all of which strengthen-
ed my resolve to successfully com-
plete the Mara-Cycle.
I learned, after many preparatory
training weeks pounding the by-
roads of Wicklow under the un-
compromising supervision of Bren-
dan Walsh that my odyssey would
be made easier by putting out of
mind how far I had to go. This serv-
ed me well on my journey north-
wards until some distance outside
Belfast, when stewards announced
that there were ten miles to go.
From then on, every mile was
announced with tiring regularity:
"Nine miles to go, eight miles to go
. . . " , the dragging miles were
ultimately only made shorter by the
encouraging announcement of one
wag: " A pint for less than a pound
in Belfast".
Included among the 3,200-odd
cyclists who left Dublin at 8 a.m.
on Saturday, June 27, 1987 were
some 1,000 Northerners who had
cycled down the previous day.
They were readily recognisable as
they were the ones who obeyed
the traffic lights and who skidded
on the oil (sponsored by CIE, et al?)
as the 'peleton' entered West-
moreland Street.
North to Balbriggan the route
was littered with cyclists fixing
punctures. As I entered the quiet
backwater(?) of Balbriggan, I
wondered whether this was still
the bailiwick where the McGowan
Writ ran?.
I thought of the late Gerry
McGowan, who was known as
'the Mayor of Balbriggan', and of
Joe McGowan and the oft-recalled
by
Frank O'Donne ll
Solicitor (and Cyclist)
north County Dublin case of
Rogan
v. Hogan.
Apparently, Mr. Hogan,
while driving his car in the early
hours of the mo r n i ng, had
demolished Mr. Rogan's shed ad-
joining the main Skerries Road. Mr.
Hogan, in his evidence, tried to
suggest that the shed appeared to
have moved out in front of him.
This was a very novel and radical
theory at the time, as moving
statues were not yet in vogue. Joe
McGowan, in cross-examination,
enquired of Mr. Hogan as to the
speed his car was travelling at the
time of impact. Mr. Hogan replied:
"Between 25 and 30, Sir". Mr.
Rogan stood up at the back of the
Court and interjected: " If so, my
shed was doing 6 0 " ! Rogan trium-
phed and McGowan flourished. A
postscript to that forensic tale is
that Mr. Hogan's solicitor was the
then youthful and enthusiastic
Dublin-based Denis McDowell,
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