{"id":557304,"date":"2026-07-19T10:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T10:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/557304\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T10:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T10:33:10","slug":"cycling-legend-joe-barr-attacked-while-training-in-donegal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/557304\/","title":{"rendered":"Cycling legend Joe Barr attacked while training in Donegal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Donegal cycling legend Joe Barr suffered an attack on Saturday afternoon while training in the county.<\/p>\n<p>Barr, who just last month had a record-breaking ride across Route 66 in America, was cycling on the N14 between Letterkenny and Lifford when the incident occurred around 2.30pm,<\/p>\n<p>A bucket of water was thrown over Barr, who was cycling alone at the time.<\/p>\n<p>A group of men passed the 67-year-old and hung out the window dousing Barr in water.<\/p>\n<p>Initially, Barr, a former professional cyclist, wasn\u2019t sure what he had been covered in.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been riding these roads for over 50 years, and I&#8217;ve watched that second group grow,\u201d Barr said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI used to be able to proudly say that Irish roads were safe. I can&#8217;t say that anymore.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d genuinely rather be chased by wild dogs in New Mexico. At least they&#8217;re just being wild dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-sans font-semibold text-xl md:text-[30px] leading-9 text-primary w-full\">\n        You may also be interested in\n    <\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.donegaldaily.com\/sport-lead\/donegal-duo-ogara-and-mcilwaine-shine-at-european-u18-championships-642286\" class=\"block w-2\/5 shrink-0\" aria-label=\"Donegal duo O&#039;Gara and McIlwaine shine at European U18 Championships\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/donegal-duo-o-039-gara-and-mcilwaine-shine-at-european-u18-championships.png\" class=\"max-w-full w-full h-full object-contain relative z-10\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\"  alt=\"Donegal duo O'Gara and McIlwaine shine at European U18 Championships\" \/><\/p>\n<p>            <\/a><\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.donegaldaily.com\/news\/works-at-south-donegal-quarry-granted-substitute-consent-642099\" class=\"block w-2\/5 shrink-0\" aria-label=\"Works at south Donegal quarry granted substitute consent\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/works-at-south-donegal-quarry-granted-substitute-consent.png\" class=\"max-w-full w-full h-full object-contain relative z-10\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\"  alt=\"Works at south Donegal quarry granted substitute consent\" \/><\/p>\n<p>            <\/a><\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for BarrUltra said that the Newtowncunningham native, who now lives in Co Derry, didn\u2019t know initially what had been thrown on him and was concerned it could have been bleach, beer or urine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThankfully, it was only water,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cBut in that split second, Joe had no way of knowing that.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat&#8217;s the reality many cyclists now face. Thankfully, he kept the bike upright. Thankfully, the car didn&#8217;t hit him as it accelerated away, with lads hanging out of the windows laughing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Barr managed to pull over and a woman who witnessed the incident with her son stopped to assist.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, a day before his 67th birthday, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.donegaldaily.com\/sport\/donegal-ultra-cyclist-joe-barr-sets-stunning-route-66-world-record-638411\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Barr completed the gruelling 2,448-mile journey across Route 66<\/a> &#8211; setting a new World record having taken 10 days, 12 hours and three minutes.<\/p>\n<p>That journey, from west to east, saw him start at Santa Monica Pier and end in Navy Pier, clocking 200 miles a day and sleeping for only four hours a night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donegal cycling legend Joe Barr suffered an attack on Saturday afternoon while training in the county. Barr, who&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,235662,43],"class_list":["post-557304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-joe-barr-attacked-in-donegal","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}