Picture Page 33
The Great Honda 50 Run.
Write-up by Ciaran Meyler, pictures by Marian Murphy and Steve Saunders.
Sunday the 30th. of October 2005, at 12 noon the greatest
Honda event in the world was due to kick into action on this little Island of
ours.
Who would have thought that Ireland, with a population of four and a half
million people and one third of them under the age to hold a driving licence
would have been the venue for this great event?
But there I was a 5.30 in the morning having my shower and thinking to myself.
Am I mad, have I lost all sense of reason, will anybody turn up for this great
Honda event?I looked out the window and could not see the lovely view I am use
to seeing. Why? It was dark and the rain was coming down so heavy it was
impossible to see anything. I thought to myself once again am I mad, have I got
a screw loose? I answered myself; "yes I am mad, screw loose, missing
something upstairs in the brain dept."
I got myself dressed and had a bit of breakfast, said my goodbyes to the boss,
who was sleeping soundly as usual and put on my rain gear and took my lovely
shiney 1800 (having spent all day sat polishing) out of the garage and started
her up. Off I went into the dark cold very wet morning heading for a little
small village called Summerhill in County Meath, a trip of around 80 miles from
my home. I kept telling myself "no yer not mad, this is all for a good cause,
lots of people will turn up, everything will be ok and yes the rain will stop .
This great event I am talking about was the attempt to break and set a new world
record for the longest line of Honda 50cc motorcycles in the world! I met Dermot
King, another winger in Dublin at around 7.30 am. He was the official scrutineer
for the event. It was his job to check every bike to make sure it was an
official 49cc Honda.
We arrived in Summerhill around 8am and the rain had stopped and the sky was
starting to clear up. So that cheered me up a bit. Now all was needed was 181
honda 50s to break the existing record of 180 and to travel in a line for 3
kilometers. This great event was being held in conjuction with and part of the
all Ireland chulchie/redneck festival. Every year this festival takes place in
different parts of Ireland and this year it was the turn of Summerhill. By the
end of it the king of the culchies /redneck is crowned, it is a hilarious
festival with such things as wheelie bin parking, welly throwing, culchie
olympics etc etc. all for fun and this year Paddy Rock and Brendan Morrisey
(the organisers) decided to throw in the Honda 50 run. This was because
in the past, farmers /culchies/rednecks used the Honda 50 as the main form of
transport. It was offically christened the "culchie camel."
As we pulled into the main car park I was astonished to see that there were
trucks/trailers and tractors everywhere all unloading their beloved Honda 50s.
We had hoped to get 181 but by 9 o'clock we had passed the 200 mark. I don't
know where they got them from but they just kept coming. I had organised the
Goldwing Owners club of Ireland to marshal and chaperone all the Hondas safely
around the course which had been extended to 6 miles now. 40 Goldwings turned
up, which was great and the lads seemed to be enjoying themselves and having a
ball looking at all the different shapes and sizes of Honda 50 which had turned
up.
10 o'clock came and went and they kept coming, ,by 12 oclock we had an
astonishing 541 Honda 50s on site. Boy what a collection, some had sidecars,
there was a trike and one young man had chopped his beloved 50 and it was
streets ahead of any Harley. They all had arrived with culchies/redneck on
board, some with chicken and hens in back boxes, some with picnic baskets and
some had the ever popular bale of hay /straw tied on the back. Why even Jesus
turned up for the event on a Honda 50 as you can see from the photos. The banter
and the jokes were flying and we all had a great laugh watching them trying to
bump start and then stop the bikes. I don't know how some of them made it out of
the carpark, never mind the 6 mile run that was ahead of them. I was just
getting the Wings organised when I saw a coffin passing me with a dog in it
barking away, I took a second glance and it was a Honda 50 with a coffin as its
sidecar and the rednecks sheep dog sitting in it. Then the order was given and
all were warned, NO RACING OR OVERTAKING. No sooner was this announced when all
the culchies started up their camels and revved the hell out of them again all
in the spirit of fun. We funnelled them out of the car park to the start line
and that in itself was a major job. Then we were off. I was in front of the pack
on the wing while Chris Scanlon (our chairman) and Martina
held all the 50s at bay, Chris was the pace setter while I went on ahead
to make sure the roads were all closed and clear. All the wingers did a great
job, every road /side lane and gateway had been blocked by a wing and the
wingnut Steve Saunders and DYLAN (who is almost a tall as the wingnut now) took
up positions to take great photos of the event.
Well what a sight, 541 Honda 50's tearing through the Irish countryside at break
neck speeds of almost 30 mph. We got past the halfway marker and all were
running well. lots of smoke and noise but still going, we came around to the
finish line and there were thousands of people there to welcome home all the 50s
and culchies. The record was well and truly broken and will be in next years
Guinness book of records. We all had a great day and the athmosphere was
fantastic.
THANK YOU TO EVERYBODY WHO PARTICIPATED IN THIS WONDERFUL EVENT.
As I took a break and a cup of well earned coffee after everything had died down
,I asked myself again "am I mad "and this time the answer was "no not at all"
this is what biking is all about and this is what I enjoy...It was a wet and
cold start but the weather held out with sunshine and warmth for the whole event
..
I was just wondering was Jesus a biker? Cheers Ciaran. Pictures from the day are
below, Steve Saunders took a few of them (before the actual run) before handing
his camera to Marian Murphy. Marian took the rest of the pictures. ;
Click on the thumbnails to view the larger images.
About 40 Goldwing owners turned up for the event with their machines. Rain had been forecast for the whole weekend, but this Sunday was dry and sunny.
Waiting around as usual.
Honda 50's of all types and ages were in the run. Some of them were modified by their owners.
