Mullingar cyclist's global adventure features in new documentary
In 2010, Mullingar man Larry Mulligan had the dream of cycling around the world in under a year, and he along with fellow former St Finian’s student Kevin McHugh from Navan did just that, crossing 27 countries and five continents in just 10 months. Now, his epic journey has been made into a documentary.
“I had been cycling for most of my life and then I got into the more long distance cycling and loved it. There was something about travelling along at 20km an hour and how you’d take in the environment around you,” explains Larry, a trainee solicitor in Galway.
“I had read a book by Mark Beaumont that put the thought into my head and I did a cycle around Ireland to see if I’d be able for it, and the idea just took root from there.”
“Vinny [McEntee] shot some of it at home, when I was working in Dublin and the west, comparing my life here to life out on the road.”
Was there ever a time where you just felt like packing it all in and coming home?
“One time in India I got very sick and I really wanted to just come home. Every day was a struggle and we found moving from place to place so quickly caused us some problems psychologically. There were places that we would have liked to have stayed and spent some time and take it all in but we had said we wanted to be back within the year.
“We had a budget and it wasn’t a never-ending pot. In the end we did it in just over 10 months and covered 26,000kms on the bikes.” Any plans to take on another big adventure?
“I’d like to cycle Mont Ventoux and the mountains covered in the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia, but just for a holiday this time.”
Vincent McEntee, who plans to enter Endure in various film and documentary festivals, said: “I think people will like it, it’s not something that’s been done before and Larry and Kev have such a charm about them.
“There are three or four big dramas, particularly when the lads camp beside a river, thinking that flooding has subsided, only to wake up and find themselves in a foot of water.
“But while these things happen, it’s the way both Larry and Kevin deal with it, they’re quite calm.”