Saturday/Rāhoroi
In the morning we were driven back from Cushendall to Portrush - on a shorter route than we had cycled. We listened to the All Blacks - Springboks game - none of the pubs opened early enough for us to be able to watch it.
Then Bill had spotted the Armoy annual motorcycle road races in the local paper. He wanted to go. I agreed to give it a go. With all the roads closed all around, Bill navigated us to get to the town of Armoy.
We bought a programme. This is Frank Kennedy on the cover. He was part of the "Armoy Armada" who helped put the tiny Antrim village of Armoy on the map. The village population is 700 and Frank along with Joey and Jim Dunlop and Mervyn Robinson' all from Armoy, won 250 motorcycle racing trophies between them. Joey Dunlop won 26 races at the Isle of Man TT races, which Bill knows quite a lot about because the Kermodes came from the Isle of Man. In the programme it says the "Armoy Armada" sails despite injuries. And at a price! It occurs to me like this - motorcycling is incredibly dangerous and exhilarating, and addictive, and I am not about to take it up.
A guy told us about the first race we watched, Race 7. It was won by Michael Dunlop, who is Joey Dunlop's nephew. (Joey was killed in a motorcycle race in 2000.) Michael was racing 15 days after suffering a broken pelvis and other fractures in a race. As the local paper said afterwards "It is an astonishing result considering he signed himself out of Nobles Hospital on the Isle of Man on July 12 and required crutches to walk around at Armoy, steps to aid getting onto the MD Racing Honda, and had to pass a medical." Amazing. This is Michael.
Then Race 8 started.
This is the doctor who follows the field around.
A local boy from Ballymena Neil Kernohan won on a McCloy Kawasaki. Race 9, we moved for a better view.
Then all sirens and the race was stopped. There was an accident. Just beyond where this biker was. (The track is 3.3 miles long.) This is another medic on bike, though it seemed the biker needed more attention than he could give. He went to hospital.
There was a 45 minute break because of the accident. I read the programme cover to cover. I listened to the conversation nearby and took photos around me. The shop that put Armoy on the map. Most of the motorcycle racers were also mechanics.
Bill found a pub with the horse races on, he knew there was a big race on - the King George at Ascot. (This is what his newspaper reading is for.) So we watched the race - a champion horse called Enable won his 13th race in a row. Already winning it twice, this was his third win. His jockey, Frankie Dettori, is famous for his dismount.
Back to the motorcycles - Michael Dunlop can't walk, but he can ride, and was cheered as he won the big race of the day. We watched one more race and then went to find Joey's Bar in Ballymoney.
Then to complete a full day and night of watching Irish sports, we settled into the bar at Portrush to watch the first All Ireland hurling semi final, now we know the rules.
It was Limerick v Kilkenny. Limerick were the favourites and last year's champions. But Kilkenny, the underdogs, won in a thriller. That is sport. Kilkenny were hungry for it I thought. As we knew the rules we totally got in to it, even though mostly I could hardly see the ball (sliotar). It was small, and the game so fast. Having had a go I appreciate how fit and strong you have to be. These guys are super athletic for sure. Final score Limerick 23 Kilkenny 24. This is Kilkenny celebrating after their win.
