The 2026 Cycle for Palestine departing from the University of Galway Quadrangle
Is féidir an t-alt seo a léamh i nGaeilge anseo! ¦ You can read this article in Irish here! Machnamh ar an Turas Rothaíochta ar son na Palaistíne
“The note of hope is the only note that can help us or save us from falling to the bottom of the heap of evolution, because, largely, about all a human being is, anyway, is just a hoping machine.”
Woody Guthrie wrote that, a folk singer and hard traveller who knew the road as intimately as anyone; someone who touched the crossroads of freedom and oppression constantly. The freedom of the railway car, or the long walk- and the necessity of travel; for wages, for survival. During the 3 days of cycling between Galway and Cork, these were two themes; provoked by Guthrie’s traveling ballads, which tempted me to reflect on the Cycle for Palestine.
The plan for the cycle grew from stemmed from 2 sources: a cycling trip around Ireland undertaken by Ainle ó Caireallain and Stephen Loughran in 2024 in aid of the Lajee Center in the West Bank; and the Gaza Sunbirds Paracycling club, whose feats and commitment to their sport, despite the genocide surrounding them, is remarkable. The Gaza Sunbirds are a competitive paracycling and cycling club who provide coaching for people with disabilities.
Since the current genocide began, they have pivoted to aid distribution, helping deliver over $450 thousand worth of essential aid to communities around Gaza. Members of the Sunbirds were present at another Cycle for Palestine this August from Dublin to Belfast. It was always the intention to focus our student cycle through the prism of solidarity, volunteerism, and aid.
We had laid a plan out to depart on the morning of 13 May from the Quad; 20 cyclists from different corners of student society had taken on the challenge; cafés, campsites, and local solidarity campaigns had given their all to support us on our way and kept the wind on our backs. We had decided to donate the funds raised by each of us to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, a longstanding Palestinian charity whose work involves providing emergency medical evacuations to Palestinian children who need surgeries unavailable in the occupied territories.
As of writing this there are no hospitals left standing in Gaza, and the number of injured children needing emergency medical aid. Half of Gaza’s 2 million people are under 18 years of age. This absolute health crisis that has been inflicted through this genocide by the Zionist project cannot be understated.
It is difficult in writing this, to try and describe the excitement and genuine camaraderie that was found between here and Cork, in contrast with the unbearable misery of why we needed to raise this money. My perspective on this has developed, however. In an interview with GalwayBayFM after the cycle, I recalled the words of a Palestinian student who had bravely chosen to speak out at a protest against the Technion contract in February this year. He said that “living a good life to the fullest is not a privilege, it is a right. Every single person in Palestine deserves to study, to enjoy their lives, as we are, but they are being denied it.” In this way, by exercising this right, and by contributing that camaraderie, and that effort to a cause which isn’t trivial, or banal, we carried those words with us.
The cyclists take a breather by the sea.
So there were many moments scattered across the cycle. The first stop at Kinvara, congregating underneath the iconic Palestinian flag hanging off the mast of a scuttled boat at the dock there. Tea and bakery treats provided by Siar Café; the winding ascent from Doolin up to the Cliffs of Moher, reaching 50km/hour on the way down from the cliffs into Lahinch. Camping at Milltown Malbay with the whole team, chatting to people in the market square in Kilrush and packing the bikes onto the Tarbert ferry to cross the Shannon to Kerry. Steadily climbing the Cork and Kerry mountains; then arriving finally at Izz Café and being treated to a feast of authentic Palestinian Musakhan, lamb, beef and spinach.
By the end of that day in Cork, just before midnight, we hit €15 thousand. None of that could have been achieved, neither the cycling nor the funds raised, without our pobal ar an bóthar, the ‘community on the road’ that we formed somewhere in the hills around Oughterard in the weeks before we set off. Taking in so much of our landscape, all down through Clare, Kerry and Cork prompted a need to explain that feeling of community and solidarity through our relationship to the land.
I found this poem by Mahmoud Darwish much later:
“To our land, and it is the one tiny as a sesame seed,
a heavenly horizon… and a hidden chasm.
To our land, and it is the one surrounded with torn hills,
the ambush of a new past.”
All of the team are among the best people I’ve met, and each deserve to be credited which I have added in the acknowledgements at the end. The sheer commitment from each person at every step, the willingness to give their time to this, and the refusal to give credence to any notion of quitting kept the cause at the heart of this trip. Car emergencies, tyre punctures, sorting food and accommodation and many other potential hiccups which we breezed past were all down to them.
I want to acknowledge a few people specifically. Dave Wright, for reigning us organisers together and reaching out to every café or bike shop from Galway to Cork, Sarah Fleming, for providing road safety training which likely saved each of us individually at some point, Orla Deasy, who forfeited cycling for driving when we needed someone to, Roan Naughton, who raised €2,500 on his own and Maisie Hall, for organising and reaching out to newspapers. We’re very grateful to an Meitheal Rothar, particularly Sam, for taking us for a group session and for all the valuable advice. Siar Café in Kinvara, Eco Camping in Milltown Malbay and Izz Café in Cork were also incredibly generous in helping us.
One person who truly turned this from an idea into a reality was Lara Dwyer, whose contagious positive attitude and friendly organisational prowess emboldens everyone around her. Míle buíochas for all her help.
The team: Caelan Sheahan, Macdara Caffrey, Brendan Gaughan, James Healy, Niall Howard, Maisie Hall, Oisin Mac Aindreasa, Orla Moroney, Oisin Naughton, Sarah Fleming, Dave Wright, Roan Naughton, Oisín Kelly, Orla Deasy, Donal O’Sullivan, Senan O’Leary, Conor Enright, Lara Dwyer, David Heffernan, and Quinn McCart
