Dunboyne start to remember Healion

Two Meath teams will take part in this year's FBD Insurance RAS which gets underway from Dunboyne on Sunday with a scheduled midday start featuring a commemorative lap of the town to honour the late Paul Healion who died tragically last year. Healion won the sixth stage of last year's Ras into Castlebar. Paul and was a native of Dunboyne. Ttragically, he lost his life in a car accident last August. Following that neutral lap at around 12.30, the cyclists will race in earnest over the opening route which will take the riders from Dunboyne to Dundalk. Cyclists from Meath Engraveit.ie and Meath Martin Donnelly will take their place at the start line and also included in the race line up will be Dunboyne cyclist Mark Cassidy who returns to familiar ground as part of the An Post Sean Kelly team. Cassidy's family has a rich tradition in the race as his father Philip twice won the race. Up to 170 riders from all over the world are expected to take part in the famous race. Professional teams from New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Japan, Germany, Spain, Sweden, America, Belgium, England, Wales and Isle of Man will be competing. There will also be 17 inter-county teams including the two from the Royal County. The Meath Engraveit.ie team includes Stephen O'Sullivan, Eugene Moriarty, Mark Dowling, Tim O'Regan and Andrew Meehan. The team will be managed by Philip Cassidy. The Meath Martin Donnelly selection will be headed by Colin Robinson and he will be joined by Tony Brady, who once again returns from America for this year's event. Brady's team-mates are Colm Quinn, Stuart Cox and Niall Brosnan. The team will be managed by Stamullen man, Seamus Gough. Plans were unveiled for this year's Ras at the official launch in Dunboyne on Wednesday night of last week which was hosted by the Dunboyne/Engraveit.ie club. "It was a night of nostalgia, with photographs displayed on huge billboards of Meath cycling teams and riders going back to the early 1950s," explained Kay Howard from the Stamullen M Donnelly Cycling Club. Also present were four of Meath's past Ras winners, Philip Cassidy who won the Ras in 1983 and again in 1999, Colm Nulty who won it in 1971, Seamus Kennedy in 1978 and Brian Connaughton in 1969. The late Ben McKenna, who won the Ras in 1959, was also the first county Meath rider to claim victory, was represented at this function by his wife, Grace." Mass times in Dunboyne will be changed next Sunday to facilitate the start and the 34 teams taking part will be represented by local schoolchildren who will carry the flags of the various nationalities involved.