Naas woman(70) taking on mammoth 180km cycle to raise funds for local theatre

Most people like to take things a bit easier when they reach the age of 70, but then again Kathleen Smith is not like most people. The Naas woman is the theatre manager of the Moat Theatre in the town, and she is always striving to bring the popular venue from strength to strength.

This Saturday morning she will be going the extra mile for the theatre, or the extra 112 to be exact. She and seven of her family members will be taking on the Ring of Kerry on their bicycles, aiming to complete the mammoth 180km circuit all at once.

Kathleen may never have cycled the Ring of Kerry, but her brother has, and it was while she was visiting him in his adopted home of Connecticut, USA, that they came up with the idea of cycling the circuit together. Kathleen joked that like all great ideas, this one came after a 'couple of bottles of wine'.

Joining her on the cycle will be her partner Tom McGrath, her two sons Darren and Ciaran, her sister Teresa Whittaker, her brother Michael Nyland and his wife Mary.

"We're looking forward to it and we'll give it our best shot and sure we'll see how we get on then," Kathleen told KildareNow.

"We're setting off at 6am on Saturday morning and we're booked in for dinner that evening at 8pm so hopefully we'll make it back for that and we'll be hungry by then," she said.

Kathleen has decided to raise money for the Moat Theatre as part of the cycle, and if you would like to donate you can do so here.