Noreen Vaughan

Post-pandemic, Noreen Vaughan’s aim is to go cycling with her mother and daughter - three generations of females enjoying exercise and the countryside together.

Her daughter Erin Neville is 10, Noreen is 43 and mother Mary Vaughan recently turned 71.

They certainly don’t lack for scenery or motivation in their home place of Curraghaviller in Ballina, Co Tipperary, overlooking the shores of beautiful Lough Derg.

But what makes this family trio unusual is that Erin’s mother and grandmother are only recent converts to the bike - and her granny took it up first.

“Yes, mum got me into cycling. I figured if she could take it up in her late 60s, I could too,” said Noreen.

Mary, a keen gardener who also took up beekeeping in recent years, even managed to keep cycling despite the confines of lockdown and steep rural terrain.

“Basically, we live on the side of a hill, but she found a spot higher up which is flatter and quieter and she would go over and back on it a few times.

“That is where she cycled in the beginning, to get the feel of it again. Mum always had it in her head that she would like to start cycling.

"She has had a knee replacement, so she would not be going walking too much, but, back in 2017-2018, she did a ‘Bike for Life’ course through Pat Sexton of Clare Sports Partnership. Fair play to her, she took off at her own pace.”

‘Bike for Life’ is Cycling Ireland’s eight-week introductory programme to safe, social cycling, run by many local sports partnerships on a county-by-county basis.

Noreen’s mother Mary’s experience inspired her to sign up in 2019, despite being particularly busy. She works full-time in computer services at Limerick IT, and her second child, Zoe, was just a year-old.

“I am terrible. I say,’ I will do this, that, or the other’ at home, but the reality is I do not. I need to have something to turn up to. But having a set place to go to meet other people really motivates you.

 “I had not been on a bike since I was a teenager and had initially borrowed one from a woman in mum’s cycling group in case I hated it.

“I cannot say I did not find it hard at the start. I was at the heaviest I’d ever been and was not fit, but it was great craic.”

Her efforts were rewarded by completing 50K in the ‘Tour Through East Clare’ in October 2019, something Noreen never thought she would achieve.

“Five of us from our group did it. I borrowed a racing bike, it rained for most of it and there were a lot more hills than we were led to believe. There was quite a lot of cursing.

“But Pat stayed with me for most of it. Having company makes everything so much easier. I was amazed I did it.

“I thought I would be in bits the day after, but I actually was not. I had been doing a bit of gym work before that, during my lunch breaks, which obviously helped.”

Noreen has since bought her own wheels and while lockdown and a knee injury have curtailed her cycling in the past year, she is now a keen advocate of the bike. She also swims regularly and practices yoga.

Noreen and Mary feel strongly about misconceptions and biases which make it harder for some people to take part in sport.

“Mum and I are larger women. There is a stereotype out there that larger people do not exercise, are not fit and would not be able for things, but that is just wrong.

“Everyone can be active and I am really keen to teach that to my daughters. Bodies of all shapes, sizes and abilities should be respected.

“Mum and I have gone out and done 10-12K at our own pace in the cycling lane on the old Dublin Road.

“It was just great to get out together, so I am really hoping to get back cycling this summer.

“Mum’s big goal before lockdown was to cycle the Great Western Greenway in County Mayo.

“I would really love to do it with her, so that is the long-term plan now.”