Forty years ago, Joe Barr won the cycling award at the Donegal Sports Star Awards but as a mark of his longevity in the sport, he has just won his first World title.
Now aged 58, the Newtowncunningham native, who now lives in Eglinton, was crowned the 500-mile world champion in 2017.
The UMCA championships are calculated on an accumulation of distance and time during a calendar year.
Barr won his category in two 500-mile races in the Race Across Italy and the Silverstate 500, while he broke the record for the Malin Head-Mizen Head-Malin Head cycle.
“For the first time ever, I’m on the top of the world,” Barr – pictured above by Geraldine Diver – said.
“It’s been a long year. To gather up the energy and for the team to gather the energy, it turned out fantastic, but we’ll go again in 2018.”
Barr was speaking at the launch of the 2017 Donegal Sports Star Awards this week, 40 years on from when he was named as the cycling award winner.
He said: “It’s incredible. I can’t believe that it’s been this length of time.
“It’s when I come to events like this that I realise what it meant. I was only three years into my career in 1977. The awards are still hanging in my mum’s house.
Listen to the full interview below …
https://soundcloud.com/donegalsportstalk/joe-barr-reflects-on-long-and-distinguished-cycling-career
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