How this man won his first ever race (at the age of 61 years)

Tom Daly has a bike-length to spare on John Aherne (De Ronde Van Cork) at the end of the Newcastle West Classic in Limerick. The 61-year-old O’Leary’s Stone Kanturk man said the secret to his success is quality training and his wife’s cooking! (Photo: Eamon Walshe)

Bunch sprints are no place for the feint-hearted and anyone who has ever emerged triumphant from one will know it’s a feeling like no other.

And one Kanturk man managed to do it for the first time in his career yesterday; 61-year old Tom Daly.

The well-known author and respected coach edged John Aherne (De Ronde Van Cork) and Philip Fitzgerald (Limerick CC) at the end of the A4 event in the Newcastle West Cycling Classic for what was the first win of his career.

Daly might be in his seventh decade but he’s a relative newcomer to cycling having really only taken it up in his 50s.

He trains for around eight hours a week – though three of those are what he calls “maintenance hours” on his ageing body.

“I never won a road race before yesterday,” he told stickybottle. “I had a brief spell cycling in my 40s but then I gave it up and I took it up seriously in my 50s.

“I got a few seconds and thirds and was upgraded to A3 but when I turned 60 I was able to come down to A4 again.

“Yesterday was my first time over the line in first place. Things come to those who wait, right?”

Daly was part of the 60-strong peloton who took to the course in Newcastle West for the 76-kilometre event held in near perfect racing conditions.

His tactic was to sit tight as long as he could and just follow the moves.

At his age, he knows he hasn’t the power of a younger rider so he had to use his matches very wisely.

“I try a lot of things with training and I’m naturally curious,” he said.

“I set out a couple of years ago to find a way I could become competitive. I made a project out of it to prepare myself as best I could.

“That involved training smartly, recovering smartly and just doing everything right.”

And eating right.

“I have two rules; don’t eat rubbish and keep your hand down from your face!

“I’m lucky in that my wife is interested in food and she’s a great cook, so that helps. I think I must be the best fed man in Ireland.”

The race played out perfectly for him and he knew he had a chance late in the game when it was still all together.

“I’m good for positioning myself in the races and yesterday, I played the race well.

“It was a steady race which suited me and that meant it didn’t take the power from my legs. I just held my place coming to the finish.

“I don’t have a big engine, I’m not naturally talented so being smart about it is the way to combat that.

“And yesterday I just timed the effort right. That was it. The strongest guy doesn’t win and I proved that. I am just an ordinary guy.”

Asked did he ever consider pulling the pin on it when the bunch sprint approached, Daly’s response was interesting.