Turning a passion into a profession

Galway man Conor Madden moved to Kinvara seven years ago, where he is now turning his love of sport into a business opportunity.
The sailing and cycling enthusiast, along with two friends Andrew Deakin and Eoin Ryan, set up an outdoor experience company, which this week holds its first sprint triathlon, Tri the Burren.
The set-up at Dolmen Events is unusual, with Conor living in South Galway, Bunratty man Andrew living in Limerick and Eoin based in Dublin.
“The key thing we do is a weekly Skype call. Everything is on email and we use technology very well. We have common drives where we store files. It was a bit of a challenge initially but when you get into the pattern of using all those technologies then it gets easier. We all meet up then a couple of times a month at various things,” explains Conor.
After studying at home, where he was an accomplished whitewater kayaker, Conor spent five years living in San Francisco, where he began mountain biking. He was also a regular snowboarder at Lake Tahoe and participated in sailing events in San Francisco Bay.
Cycling and sailing are his duel passions.
“I grew up in Salthill in Galway, so I was always a water baby. I swam in Salthill, kayaked on the Corrib and so on. I always wanted to sail and when I moved to San Francisco I figured if I didn’t learn there I never would. I’ve sailed ever since,” he outlines.
“As for the bike, it gave me freedom as a kid. It made my world so much bigger I’ve never really put it down since. In the States I did some off-roading and loved the thrill of it. Since moving to Galway I’ve got into the road bikes because the Burren has so many miles of fabulous, spectacular road and of course it also keeps the pot belly down,” Conor continues.
Andrew and Conor set up Dolmen Events two years ago.
“Myself and Andrew set up the company. We started sailing together. Then the Volvo Ocean Race came over and we thought there must be an angle for corporate entertainment. So we chased it and ultimately Lets Do It Galway asked us to do their on-the-water corporate entertainment. We got as many boats as possible from the west coast, got their skippers on board with the idea and ended up with 2,000 people out on the boats over the course of the three days. That is how we started. That effectively got us up and running,” Conor recalls.
“That was last June. Since then, both Andrew and I have looked at number of different events and are very interested in growing adventure sports. Triathlons seem to be exploding. Both of us are on bikes the whole time so we decided to bring Eoin in. He was a mutual friend and he is more into the biking end of things than Andrew and I. At Christmas, we hammered out a three-year plan and are starting to put some events together. All three of us have other jobs at the moment and we are looking at trying to grow this into a bigger business. We are also looking at another area in terms of adventure sports products,” Conor says.
“We are chasing a passion here. This is something we love. They say if you find a job you love you’ll never have to work a day in your life. That is what we are all doing,” he adds.
The three decided to kick things off with a sprint triathlon in North Clare incorporating Ballyvaughan and the Burren, which takes place this weekend.
“We love this part of the world and see the massive opportunity in the wilds of Clare and the west coast. It has everything one would want, with the remoteness, the friendliness and the scenery. It is a great place to bring people,” he continues.
“Triathlons have grown so much and the Burren didn’t have one so we decided to take that on. The inaugural event is on this year but we are hoping to grow that into a bigger event in the years to come,” Conor states.
Conor and his fellow entrepreneurs are hoping to organise a mountain-biking event in Clare later this year but the group have other plans involving locations countrywide.
“We are looking at South Galway and North Clare for an adventure race. This would involve hill-running and mountain-biking, just to appeal to people who aren’t technically adept but what to get out and have a bit of craic in a safe way,” outlines Conor.
According to the Kinvara-based sports man, organising outdoor events isn’t all plain sailing.
“From an organisational point of view the swim is the most challenging element. The swim for the Tri the Burren is in the sea so you have to have a sheltered area with clean water. We had to do a lot of water testing. That was the biggest thing but we did it and it allowed us to hold the event in Ballyvaughan,” explains Conor.
Registration for teams and individuals taking part in Tri the Burren takes place on Friday from 6pm to 9pm and from 7.30am to 9.30am on Saturday, with the race beginning at 11am at the New Pier in Ballyvaughan.