The wheels of fate

He was a household name in championship cycling throughout most of Europe in the 1990s and early 2000s, and retains a real love for the bike. And now although involved in the town's business world, Morgan is also now mentoring athletes in cycling skills. He comes from one of the largest and most prolific sporting families in the midlands, and his late grandfather, Frank 'Culch' Dolan was a competitive rower on the Corrib and Shannon rivers, and was also a shooter and founder member of the Athlone Anglers Association. Football has always been big among the Dolan GAA dynasty - Morgan's uncle is Des Dolan Snr, manager of Clann na nGael and his cousins are Dessie and Gary of Westmeath GAA fame, and Frankie of Roscommon GAA. Morgan is the son of Tommy Fox, and Pat (nee Dolan), daughter of the late 'Culch'. Pat trains the women of the Athlone Hockey Club. Morgan's brothers, Robbie, Mark, Damien and Alan have played gaelic and soccer with different local teams over the years. His other brother is Keith, who was Coventry City FC physio, and currently is the Connaught Rugby head physio, and also runs 'Action Physio' in Monksland. Morgan's sporting pursuits were pointed in a different direction from most of the Fox and Dolan family members, although as a young lad in the 1980s he did play football. However the influences of champion cyclists Stephen Roche and Sean Kelly made their mark on him, leading to him training as a cyclist. "When Roche won the Tour de France in '87, it influenced me greatly, and I got a bike from Mickey White's shop, and I trained all around Athlone," said Morgan. "I probably trained too hard as a young fellow, and there was no bypass and the road system back then wasn't great, but I remember it as a lot nicer time to ride a bike on the road. People had more respect for cyclists then, probably because a lot of drivers had been cyclists themselves. There is not many children cycling to school today, and rightly so, because parents are reluctant to let them go on bikes." Morgan joined Shannonside cycling club in the late 1980s, and it was through this Athlone club that he experienced his first racing pursuits. Morgan worked his way up through the underage ranks in cycling, and following his Leaving Cert at Marist College, he went to Dundalk IT to study Manufacturing Engineering. After getting his degree, Morgan believed that France was the country to give him a better chance of developing his cycling potential, and bring him closer to major races. He was still an amateur when he went to France in 1997, and he worked hard there to support himself, and as he famously said in interviews with local papers at the time, he had to win races so he could eat. "I had to race to eat, so I had to win to eat, and that happened a lot," he said laughing. 1997 proved to be Morgan's breakthrough year in championship cycling, and when he returned to Ireland that summer, he performed highly at the RAS championship and won a King of the Mountains award, and a few weeks later he won the Irish National Cycling Championship. Morgan went professional as a cyclist in early 1999, and made a lot of personal sacrifices on the road of that journey. "I put my family under pressure when I went to France and when I went pro, but I felt I had no choice and that I had nothing else to fall back on, and I got great encouragement from my mother, father, and brothers," said Morgan, who was given a Civic Reception by Athlone UDC due to his achievements. In 1999, Morgan won nine times in Belgian Elite Classic races, and he was the first Irish rider to win races of that calibre since Sean Kelly. His cycling training at the time included six hours a day plus, although he was struck down in June 2000 with glandular fever. He had just been selected for the Irish Olympic team of 2000, so it was a double blow for the Athlone champion. However he recovered after recuperating back at home, and he returned to France for more competitions in 2001, but near disaster faced him again, this time in the town of Sainte Baun, near Marseille, in the foothills of the Pyrennes. Morgan suffered a serious crash, when his bike went off the mountain road. However another more serious accident happened in 2008, in China which also proved to be near fatal. He stopped breathing for two minutes, but was saved by the nearby paramedics, although this time it took him much longer to recover, and he has not cycled competitively since then. Throughout his cycling years, Morgan developed skills in the business world, and ran the gadget shop, Gizmos, on John Broderick Street, Athlone for about five years. "I ran Gizmos at the time when I was racing, and it was a business similar to shops that I had seen on the continent, and it was flying for a few years when people had extra money to spend, but then people hadn't the money, and we closed up," he said. These days, Morgan, who by trade is a mechanical engineer, and his former cycling mentor, PJ Nolan, is working in Renewable Energy, and selling solar panels, high efficiency logs, and helping to bring older houses up to green standards. "There is much demand and a lot of that is in rural areas, and our company, 'Resolutions' has nationwide distribution of agents and 10% of our business is done in the Athlone area," said Morgan. "It's an alternative to fossil fuels, and we employ twelve people between our premises in Blyry and premises in Kells." Morgan says that his health is a lot better now than when he was riding his bicycle and that in those championship days he was three stones lighter. Morgan is married to Dundalk native, Maria, whom he met when she was studying Accountancy in AIT, and the couple now reside in Coosan. Recently Morgan has been coaching triathletes of all ages. "I'm advising and training the athletes on a one to one basis, and it's fairly intensive, and nobody gets involved unless they feel they can, and I wouldn't be soft on them, and they would know that." Morgan works on all aspects of training with the athletes, and goes out into the field with them. "Dave Warby and Jarlath Naughton are helping me with the swimming training this year, and if the athletes don't do their training, I'll come down hard on them," said Morgan laughing. "I had a great career in cycling in Europe with my current business partner, PJ Nolan, who was a huge influence on me, during my athletic years, and is still an influence on me, in the business world." Currently Morgan is training the Irish Time Trial Champion, Aaron Buggle from Enfield who is 21 years of age. Morgan said he would love to return to cycling, but he is currently spending his spare time, working on a post-grad degree in Renewable Energy at AIT. Soon the old magic of the Fox will shine again, either when he returns to the bike himself or through the talent of his protégés.