Ballyshannon man’s remarkable recovery from injury to set world cycling record

Karol McNern’s world record cycle from Malin Head to Mizen Head and back to Malin last weekend in normal circumstances would be a momentous feat, but when you strip beneath the surface and find what the Ballyshannon-native has gone through to just get back on a bike, it is truly amazing.

McNern was always into ultra-cycling but it almost led to his demise in 2017 when he collided head-on with a car in Grange in Co Sligo while out on a training spin.

The injuries sustained were life-changing, including major injuries to his arm, something that would have put others off returning to the sport of cycling.

But return he did after a year and on last weekend he wrote his name into the world record books with the first ever unsupported cycle from the top of Ireland to the bottom and back again.

It was his third attempt having been forced to abandon the trip on two occasions within a couple of weeks at the beginning of June.

He had to abandon the first attempt when the seat post on his bicycle crumbled in Galway. Two weeks later he was on the road again but he hit railway tracks in Limerick and had to again abandon the attempt.

But on Friday morning of last weekend he set out for the third time at 7 a.m. from  Malin Head and this time he was successful, returning to Malin Head at 11.45 a.m. on Sunday morning - a time of 53 hours and 28 minutes.

The cycle was completed as part of a fund-raiser for the Bundoran Lifeboat, something that is close to  Karol’s heart as he was a volunteer on the boat prior to suffering a life-changing injury in 2017.

The total length of the cycle is 1,180 kms - all done in just over two days without any sleep.

Anyone wishing to donate to the charity linked to the cycle can do so by visiting the Bundoran RNLI webpage.

Speaking to DonegalLive this week, McNern was taking a few days off the bike to recuperate but was really happy with the outcome.

“I went Friday morning again and finished on Sunday. With a good few in Croke Park it left the roads in Donegal a bit quieter. Most people had gone especially from Letterkenny on when I was hitting it (on Sunday morning)

“It took 53 hours and 28 minutes. That has to be confirmed but give or take a minute or two there won’t be much difference in it. When the World Records are sanctioning it they go through all the files and there could be a small change between the three devices.

“There was no previous attempt in this, the unsupported category. There is a supported record and it’s on a shortest route. I went the longest route because it was taking me through Ballyshannon and the fact that I was doing it for the Lifeboat, passing through Bundoran. You are talking two hours longer.

“The supported record, Joe Barr holds it I think, is 45 hours and 45 minutes,” said McNern.

The cycle does not use motorways. “I used the dual carriageway at Tuam which is allowed. Then you go along the old road by Claregalway.”

For mere mortals something of this magnitude would be impossible for McNern, he just took it in his stride, going without sleep over the entire cycle.

“It was good. I got through the two nights without any sleep. I had to stop for about three or four minutes under a bridge on the bypass. I had to put on clothes at night as it got very cold. I just lay down on the grass verge to stretch out. I got a wee bit of water on the face again and went away again.

“I had no plan or equipment with me for sleep as I wanted to get the best time that was possible.

“On the first leg I started at 7 a.m. and I was down in Mizen at 7.05 a.m., 24 hours and five minutes. It was a slower ride on the way back as I was into  a northerly breeze. It wasn’t an overly strong wind, but it was constant.

“When you had 24 hours in the legs, you had to be careful not to burn out either. I just went with a heart rate and kept the pace that I knew was manageable. I was roughly five hours more coming back. I had to take a few more stops on the way back getting stuff. And then you would forget something and you would have to stop in the next shop.”

Asked if it was tougher on the way back because on a map it would seem to be uphill, he laughs.

“That’s a good question but the middle section is probably the easiest section with gradual hills whereas Donegal and Cork at both ends have the short, sharp hills which take out of the legs.

“From Charleville in Cork into Mizen and then back to Charleville is 320 kilometres of very aggressive terrain. The road surface on those Cork roads we would be using wouldn’t be great also,” said McNern, who said that apart from normal road traffic, you have to look out for animals at night, a badger coming out in front of you.

“In terms of visibility we are fairly visible with lights and the gear that we wear and we wouldn’t have any fear in that regard.”

He was thankful for the support and encouragement he got, especially along the roads on the return trip.

“All through the night, especially on the way back up the road, there were people everywhere. When I got back to Ballyshannon, there were small groups of people out,” said McNern, who added that it was around 5 a.m. when he came back through Ballyshannon.

“That was a big shock to me to see people out at that time of the morning. I wasn’t expecting it at all.”

The cycle and record attempt had a fund-raising link with something close to McNern’s heart.

“I was fund-raising for the Bundoran Lifeboat as I used to be a crewman on the boat. But after the accident I had to come off the boat. I just wanted to do something for the Lifeboat and it tied in with the record attempt.”

Karol surrounded by family at the finish of his cycle

ACCIDENT

Mention of that accident which McNern brings the magnitude of the achievement at the weekend even more into focus.

“It was in 2017 in Grange. I was just out on a training trip; I was training for the Race Around Ireland at the time. It was just a freak accident, the guy turned across in front of me and we hit head on. It was life-changing injuries. The arm is badly damaged and the hand doesn’t really work.

“I had only taken over the barber shop from dad (Tommy) at the time, so that was gone. I was three years in the shop before the accident. My career path suffered, but I was told that any long stuff that I wanted to do, to do it now because in time the arm will start to go backwards again,” he said.

But it didn’t hold McNern back and even though it took more than a year, he was back on the bike again.

“Look, I had good people around me at the time, people like Tony Cummins. They encouraged me so much to get back on the bike and I will be forever grateful to them for that.

Prior to the accident he had been really immersed in the sport. “I love it.  This year in the unsupported category it’s another step up. It’s easy to give up when things get hard because normally you would have a crew with you to encourage you when things get difficult.”

Asked about what it takes to go over 53 hours non-stop on the bike and the pain that has to be endured, he says: “You go through the pain barrier, mentally and physically. The physical pain, I always say, is the easy pain. You can manage it and you have to become comfortable with that. But it’s the mental side, because things can change very quickly. Because in a short time you can be fighting without yourself to not pull out and keep going,” said McNern, who said in difficult periods during cycles it’s a matter of breaking it down into 1 kilometre sections and you eventually pull out of it.”

After the accident, getting back on the bike was not straightforward.

“I would have been about a year off the bike. The accident was in June and I suppose the big thing was that we discovered in October  after the pain killers were being stopped, I started to get a very sore leg and we found out that there was a leg break that was missed. 

“It was no fault of anybody because the concentration was on the arm because it was so bad. I ended up in a full cast for two months and six weeks with one up to my knee.

“Mentally, that set me back again.

“Eventually I did get going and Tony Cummins gave me the lend of his mountain bike telling me that it would give me more confidence with the wider wheels. We were living in Tullaghan at the time and I just did runs between the two roundabouts on the bypass building up again.

“I started to challenge myself then but the injury to the arm and hand meant I wasn’t able to handle gear changing and brakes. I got a bike built then with electric gears and hydraulic brakes which really got me going again.”

Cycling has been part of McNern’s life from when he was very young. “At De La Salle I played a bit of football but not with Aodh Ruadh. I liked watching football but I wasn’t a football person. I liked to do a bit of swimming, but other than that the bike was the main thing. I always had a bike back then but not in a competitive way. I  would have been out every day on the bike and I always felt a bit of freedom on it,” said McNern.

Apart from the thrill of setting a world record and helping out the Bundoran Lifeboat, McNern also has a new fan club at home with his wife and daughters Róise and Cassie.

“The two girls along with Paula were on the road on Sunday and were with me all the way up to Malin Head, cheering along the road and then moving on another few miles to do the same.

“I will take a few days off now to get the body back to normal but hopefully will be back doing a few miles on Wednesday or Thursday.”

The cycle that Karol McNern completed at the weekend will probably be undertaken in the future and his record may be broken, but the Ballyshannon man’s name will always go down as the first to hold the record.