Phil O'Brien inducted into Cycling Ireland Hall of Fame

Cycling Ireland is very proud to acknowledge Phil O’Brien as one of our 2023 Cycling Ireland Hall of Fame inductees.

O’Brien was honoured at the recent Bray Wheelers AGM by President of Cycling Ireland, Dr. Tom Daly, making him the third Bray Wheeler to join the Hall of Fame alongside Peter Crinnion and Peter Doyle.

O'Brien joined Bray Wheelers in May 1957 in his early teens and enjoyed a distinguished competitive racing career having raced with the Co. Wicklow club across a 17 year long career. 

His first major win was Leixlip Grand Prix in July of 1964, and he enjoyed continued success as a competitive rider both as an individual and a member of the Bray Wheelers team who won the national team prize seven times in-a-row from 1965 to 1972. Phil became the National Road Race Champion in July of 1969 in Kildare and the Time-Trial Champion in Belfast in October 1972. He rode ten Tours of Ireland in which his Bray Wheelers team enjoyed huge success.

After he stopped racing, he became a team manager with Bray and did that for eight years – even getting a chance to manage both Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche in a race in Germany in 1978. Sean Kelly had just turned professional and Stephen Roche would go on to win the Rás the following year.

After his racing and management career Phil also had a distinguished 31-year career as a commissaire, primarily leading the Rás as moto commissaire. Beginning in 1984, he officiated countless races, including the National Championships, the Gorey Three-Day (23 consecutive years), and major international events like the Nissan Classic. 

O’Brien was also a member of the tripartite executive responsible for uniting Irish Cycling and Vice president of the Irish Cycling Federation and is now a Life President of Bray Wheelers

His retirement from officiating in 2015 marked the end of a remarkable chapter in Irish road racing, having been a consistent figure in the road racing scene for almost 60 years in Ireland as both competitor, manager, administrator and commissaire. He remains involved with Bray Wheelers.

Bray Wheelers recently produced a podcast series, with Phil O’Brien featuring in Episode 1. The Podcasts are available on the Bray Wheelers website at www.braywheelers.ie/podcasts or from Spotify or Apple Podcasts.