The Rás Tailteann is an 8 day stage race in the Republic of Ireland held each May since 1953. A particularly gruelling race, some say it is Ireland’s ‘Tour de France’ and it is a much cherished tradition, far more so than the Tour of Ireland. John Herety, Directeur Sportif of the Rapha-Condor road racing team and formerly DS of Recycling.co.uk talks about the modern Rás. We also tell the story of possibly the greatest legend of the Rás: ‘Iron Man’ Mick Murphy, the blood-drinking, fire-eating hard man who won the 1958 race in quite extraordinary circumstances. Peter Woods is a documentary-maker at RTÉ and tracked down Murphy (pictured above, at his home-made stone gym) and tells the story of one of sport’s living legends. Woods’s 40 minute documentary is compulsory listening. You can find it on the RTÉ website.
Photo credit: Kieran D. Murray.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Alison Chaiken // Mar 12, 2009 at 4:26 am
Great show! I wish I had the strength of character to participate in No-Bike Week, but it’s spring here now . . .
2 stevboss // Mar 12, 2009 at 9:24 am
This was a fantastic show!
Gotta remember Mick’s tactic of throwing a lump of cheese at rivals to incapacitate (or just confuse) them…
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