John Madden gets underway in Derry for his ride to Belfast and breaking the 50-year-old record set by Morris Foster

 

 

Former international triathlete turned champion time trial rider, John Madden has taken on the train from Derry-Londonderry to Belfast and beaten it over the 72 mile journey.

The 49-year-old head teacher and multi Irish time trial record holder was aiming to break the place to place record that has stood for 50 years since being set by legendary Morris Foster MBE back in 1964.

However, in order to spice things up and to create some publicity about how poor the train service is between the two cities in Northern Ireland, a friend of Madden’s left Derry-Londonderry at the same time to set up what seemed like an impossible man versus machine race of endurance.

On the bike was obviously Madden and on the train was Limavady-based solicitor and well known triathlete Peter Jack.

“I told him the record was 2 hours and 38 minutes and he pointed out the train was only slightly quicker,” said Madden,

“So we came up with a Top Gear-style challenge to leave at the same time.”

The point-to-point record must begin at the Guild Hall post office in Derry-Londonderry and end at the post office on High St in Belfast.

Both men began from the same point at 9:15am on Sunday; Jack running to the train station around five minutes away and leaving himself with another five minutes to buy a ticket and get on board before the train rolled out.

At the other end, Jack again dashed from the train station in Belfast Central to Madden’s finishing point outside the High St post office in Belfast; a 15 minute run.

Madden said by the time his friend reached the post office in Belfast, he had finished and had had a coffee. And having broken Foster’s record that stood for half a century, he was “cracking open the champagne”.

“The win win was that there was the PR factor of showing how rubbish the train service is and the publicity has gone,” said Madden ahead of a number of media engagements scheduled for today.

 

Madden on his way to taking six minutes off the national 100 mile TT record back in 2012 with a time of 3:45:05 (Photo: Marian Lamb – Cycling Ulster)

 

The fact the bike was quicker has already caused something of a political storm, with a number of local politicians holding up the result as evidence that the train service is sub standard.

Sinn Fein East Derry MLA Cathal Ó hOisín has called for the rail link to be upgraded “before the North becomes a laughing stock across Europe.”

Madden said he was just delighted to have broken the record. He clocked a time of 2hrs 37mins and 33secs; an average of 27.4mph for the 72 mile course. It was just about faster than Foster’s 2hrs 48mins.

“I never thought it would be broken,” said Madden.

“I was thinking about this record for two years and planning for it. And when I was speaking to Morris he said there was four sets of traffic lights when he broke it and there must be 40 now.

“And then you have other road furniture and the amount of traffic; it’s pretty different to his day.

“Maurice is a legend and he’s just gone into the Cycling Ireland hall of fame. But back then he did it old-school; a non aero bike, non aero helmet. There was none of the modern equipment I had.

“So I liked the idea that while I had all of the road furniture and other things, I had the equipment. So that really appealed to me, to take it on and try it. It just captured my imagination.”

Madden is no newcomer to time trialling and is the current Ulster 100 mile champion and Irish veteran record holder at 50 mile and 100 mile.

He has also in the past held the 25 and 10 mile time trial national veterans’ records. Until last year he also held the 50 and 100 mile elite records, which were broken by Marcus Christie and Bryan McCrystal respectively.

He was also on the Irish triathlon squad for 10 years and is a former national champion in the swim, bike and run game, having competed seriously at that from 1991 to 2000.

For the record breaking ride he rode a Cervelo P5 with disc and tri-spoke wheels, 170 cranks and a 56 chain ring.

“Even on the 56X11 I spun out going down Glenshane Pass, I was hitting 55 miles per hour going down there.

“I focussed on hitting 360-370 watts up that because I knew I’d get a breather going down it. I averaged about 335 watts for the entire 72 hours and the average heart rate was 159. I couldn’t have gone any harder; it was max effort.”

 

John Madden in victory mode in his triathlon days before he switched to cycling to focus on his time trial riding.

 

Because he could not use motorways, the route Madden took was almost exactly the same as Foster’s 50 years earlier.

While now aged 49 years he said he has gone faster this year than ever over many distances. He believes being coached by former Rás winner and ex-pro Stephen Gallagher of Dig Deep Coaching is a big part of his success.

“He picked the day we’d attempt the record based on my form,” he said of Gallagher’s involvement at the end of the coaching process.

Madden also said Maurice McAllister of Ballymoney CC had been of huge assistance in putting in place the logistical back up needed for a place-to-place record.

Much of his preparation involved cycling the 80 mile round trip between his home in Ballycastle, Co Antrim, and his teaching job in Larne, Co Antrim.

“I’d do that at least four times a week; that’s the kind of commitment you need to put in to get the miles in to do something like this,” he said.

“On a good day I will do it under two hours. If I have a head wind against me it can take 2½ hours.”

Getting a massage as he spoke to stickybottle, he said he was “walking a bit like John Wayne” but would recover quickly.

“You don’t get up at 5am to ride 40 miles to work unless you have a goal like this and I really just love riding the bike,” he said.

“I’m 49 and you would think that after 40 you would diminish a bit but I have actually set personal bests this year. I think it’s the coaching and just generally looking after myself.

“The demographic in the sport is changing towards riders who are a bit older and looking for something to challenge them.

“When the personal bests stop I don’t know what I’ll do. But I’m hoping 50 will be the new 40 and 60 the new 50 and I’ll keep at it.”