Sean Kelly's Hat

"This signed hat by Irish cyclist Sean Kelly has some story to tell. At the time, the country was cycling mad as Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and Martin Earley were at the top of their game on the world stage. The Nissan International Cycling Classic was a 5 day event which started and finished in Dublin. The first stage in 1990 was from Dublin to Waterford and took place on the 10th of October. It was the day of German reunification and all the German cyclists were given a presentation. I had just started 1st year in De La Salle College and we were all on a half day so that we could go and see the stage finish into Waterford City on the Mall. I was with some school mates and were nicely positioned just after the finish line. One of the lads dared me to get Sean Kelly's hat and I set about in doing this. He was riding for PDM Ultima at the time and the gear was very much in vogue. Less than 2 mins after Kelly had crossed the line in 5th place I grabbed his hat and even after being in the saddle for hours he still chased me. He caught up with me and was very annoyed. One of the lads fathers who was with us persuaded Kelly to leave me the hat and I had won. Later that evening we headed up to the Ard Ri hotel where all the teams were staying overnight. We saw Kelly come in and I asked him would he sign the hat he did with a rueful smile. Now that's a classic and that is a National Treasue of a story to tell."