Evelyn Kimmage is saddling up with her famous father and looking to put him under pressure!
There's no shortage of them, but one name has been added to the Kimmage cycling legend; Evelyn.
She's the daughter of former pro and broadcaster Paul and she's saddling up for a good cause.
She never went down the competitive route like grandfather Christy, father Paul or uncles Ray, Kevin and Christy Jnr.
But the physiotherapist from Co Dublin she still plans to show what she can do this summer when she teams up with her father for a 600km challenge.
The father and daughter are taking on 600km from Porto to Lisbon for the Irish Hospice Foundation’s 'Nurses for Night Care' service.
The event is headed by the Kimmages but anyone can go along and if you're interested you'll get all the information you need by following this link.
Advertisement
The riders are split into teams and Kimmage rides with all of the teams to get to know all of the participants. Paul also awards a yellow jersey to the rider he feels merits it on the last day.
Evelyn, who works un Cappagh Orthopaedic Hospital in Finglas in their rehabilitation unit is one of three siblings, along with brothers Eoin (24) Luke (19).
Father and daughter were speaking to Ray D’Arcy on his RTE 1 Radio show and the conversation obviously turned to person matters and family life.
Evelyn said she read Rough Ride when she was about 10 years old and found in “kind of shocking”.
And when she had expressed an interest in cycling, her father was not too keen because she was so competitive.
Related News
However, while she never took to the competitive end of the game, she still cycles and is looking forward to getting stuck into the event in Portugal in June.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” she said. “I’ve roped in my best friend Bláithín to do the cycle with me.
“She’s never cycled before so I’m fearful for her but I’m excited myself to participate in it.”
Kimmage said while Evelyn is cut from the same cloth as him, he joked he’d need to get DNA testing done on his sons to find any traces of himself.
When he encouraged them to cycle; they not only didn’t take to it but actually hated it.
When Evelyn’s single status came up, her father acknowledged she, and any future serious boyfriend, may have their work cut out for them with him as a father.
“She has to meet the right man, Ray. You know he’s going to have a job. And she’s going to have a job to get him by me!”
Later in the interview Evelyn said she believed her famously fiery father had mellowed down the years and was perhaps “a lot less angry” now.
“I say to dad sometimes; I think sometimes he just likes to be controversial. I’ll give you an example of the Rory McIlroy piece.
"There was great response to it and I’m like ‘yes, dad, you’re finally getting a good response to something’.
"And the next day he comes out and makes this outrageous statement about something else. And I’m like ‘oh no, not again’. You don’t like being liked sometimes I think.”
Kimmage replied by saying it wasn’t his job to be popular, saying that when the issue of CJ Stander and others playing for Ireland under the residency rules for foreign born players arose he had to give his honest opinion.
It is a great interview showing a side of Kimmage that we don’t often see. It’s well worth a listen, and you’ll access it by following this link.
Topics
