Phil O'Brien is one of the country's best known, well-respected and experienced commisaires. But his days of riding the motorbike at the head of the country's biggest races have come to an end after 31 years.
By Brian Canty
The An Post Rás has lost one of its true giants from his key role at the event after race veteran Phil O’Brien decided to call time on his 31-year career working as moto commissaire 1.
The 72-year-old father of five and grandfather of 13 will still work on the race but his days at the head of affairs on the motorbike are over.
He rode at the head of the field for over three decades and leaving the job wasn’t a decision he took lightly.
“It’s mainly because of age,” he said. “I’m 72 years old now, I’ve five kids and 13 grandkids.
Advertisement
“Cycling is a huge part of my life so leaving the race as moto comm after so many years is a big lump gone.
“I started on the motorbike in 1984, did all the Nissans on the moto, did comm for hundreds of races here like the National Champs and the Rás, so I got to travel quite a bit as well.
“The Rás would be the big one for me, though the Nissans and the Nationals were big too.
“I’ve done 23 Gorey Three-Days in a row as commissaire and was pretty much part of the furniture there.”
O'Brien, far left, managing the Irish team at the 1975 Tour of Ireland won by Pat McQuaid. Left to right: O'Brien, Alan McCormack, Tony Lally, Pat McQuaid, Ollie McQuaid and a young lad who sank without trace called Sean Kelly (Photo: John Pierce)
Having raced with Bray Wheelers all his life, O’Brien achieved most of what he set out to in a superb 17-year career.
“We had a great team in the 60s and 70s and I was lucky enough to have ridden 10 Tours of Ireland.
“I won the national road race championships in ‘69 and the time-trial in 1972 so when I finished I suppose I just drifted into doing officiating and various other roles.
“But we had a great base in Bray. We were the best team in the country at the time.
"And with the likes of Paul Elliot, Harry Dawson and Peter Crinnion managing us we’d a lot of success.
“We won the national team prize seven times in-a-row from 1965 to 1972.”
After he stopped racing he became a team manager with Bray and did that for 8 years – even getting a chance to manage both Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche in a race in Germany in 1978.
“Kelly had just turned pro and Roche would go on to win the Rás a year later, but no one knew how good they’d become.
Related News
“I had two winners of the Tour of Ireland with Pat McQuaid in 1975 and Billy Kerr in 1982 so you could say I’ve had a very fulfilling career.”
However, few things gave him as much satisfaction as carrying out his role as moto comm 1 with such precision, something that’s almost impossible to do given the fluid nature of races.
Phil O'Brien doing what he did best at the head of affairs during the country's biggest stage race, the An Post Rás.
“Safety was always my top priority and that comes before anything” he said.
A big enough job in itself, but it’s far from just that he’s got to take care of on any given day.
“I always did the commentary and would be giving info to radio tour," he explained.
“I worry about things like oncoming traffic so I try to keep vehicles over to their own side of the road as much as possible.
“But it’s not easy with the speed the riders go downhill at.
"I’ve to move forward and get away from them so I don’t really be looking at the races, I only look at the numbers and feed them back to radio tour and the team cars.
“The gaps between the break and the bunches are another part of what I did and it was my job to decide when to bring in the neutral service cars and the team cars.
“You have to be wary because team managers are always mad to get up the road to service their rider and they’re always pushing the limits.
“It gets tough when you’ve 10 cars behind a 10-man break, for example, because you have to keep that area clear (between break and bunch) and it's not a big gap.”
In his career he’s fallen three times and quick as a flash says, “but never have I taken down a rider”.
“Normally it’s my own fault, I remember one time when I fell I was just counting the numbers (of the riders in the break) and drifted towards the hedge and down I went.”
The job, he said, was never a chore and he always did it because he loved it.
“I love cycling and I always have. It’s been a huge part of my life. When I got married I cycled and I even raced better because I wasn’t out at night.
“I can have no regrets. You don’t think about your career and how good it's been until it's over and that day for me as a moto comm is now.”
Topics
