Strabane Lifford Cycling Club 10 Year Anniversary

2020 is a special year for Strabane Lifford Cycling club (SLCC) as it celebrates its tenth anniversary. The current health crisis meant many of the club’s planned 2020 events out on the roads of the North West have had to be cancelled or postponed.

However even with the curtailment of cycling events the club has been celebrating and marking their tenth anniversary with a lookback at the history and phenomenal growth of the cycling club over the last decade.  Over the 
next few weeks Club Secretary Simon McCarron will chart that growth with a series of articles, starting with how SLCC came about in the first place.

The Beginning of SLCC

The idea of the cycling club came from local cycling legend Brendan Patton.  Brendan has been involved in cycling all his life and when doing one of the famous Ballina to Lifford Charity Cycles he began to think that there should be a local cross border cycling club catering for riders in Strabane and Lifford and the surrounding areas of Donegal and Tyrone.

So in early 2010 Brendan put his idea into practice and created Strabane Lifford Cycling Club, the club was registered with Cycling Ireland and a committee was formed with Brendan as Chairman, Helena Phelan as club Secretary and Jean Patricia Mc Ginley as treasurer. 

These three founding members worked very hard and enthusiastically to get things up and running and during 2010 people began to join up and become members of Strabane Lifford CC.

The first official club event took place in May 2010 when the Strabane to Donegal Town cycle took place, around 30 riders cycled to Donegal Town, stayed the night and then cycled back to Strabane the next day.This cycle summed up the ethos of the club that Brendan formed, it was about bringing people together to enjoy their cycling in a club 
setting and also to having a bit of craic and enjoyment for club members and their family and friends. The club’s first year in 2010 was a success, a success that was to be built upon in the years that followed.

The Racing Team

Back at the start of 2011 around 25 local racing cyclists who had been racing with Omagh Wheelers made the decision to join their newly formed cycling Club Strabane Lifford CC.  This move transformed the club and put it on the start of a great racing journey over the last decade.

FULL STORY IN YESTERDAY’S STRABANE CHRONICLE OR SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS A DIGITAL COPY