Tile Merchant is going to Paris. In Lycra.

Earlier this year, a cycling jersey was designed in the Tile Merchant office and made by Velo Revolution in Co. Kilkenny.

In a few weeks' time, two Dublin women will wear it while cycling 750 kilometres from Paris to Nice to raise funds for ovarian cancer research. 

In 2026, we can sequence the human genome in under 12 minutes, grow a human ear in a lab, and detect over 50 cancers from a single drop of blood — but we still can't detect ovarian cancer before it kills you.

7 in 10 women are diagnosed too late, not because they ignored the signs, but because there is no reliable way to detect the disease early.

Which is why Monica Sood and Annemarie Corcoran said yes to a challenge that, by their own admission, was totally outside their comfort zone.

Monica hadn't been on a bike in more than 30 years, while Annemarie's cycling experience extended little further than the occasional commute to work. Today, they're training for six-hour rides, climbing mountains across Dublin and Wicklow and preparing to spend six consecutive days cycling across France.

And yes... they'll be doing it in Tile Merchant jerseys.

Tour de Tile Merchant? We quite like the sound of that.

"I hadn't been on a bike in over 30 years," Monica laughs. "In fact, I didn't even own a bike when I agreed to do it."

Annemarie wasn't exactly a seasoned cyclist either. Her regular cycling stretched little further than the occasional commute to work.

So why would they sign up to cycle 750 kilometres?

For Annemarie, a public health nurse, the challenge is about making more survivors.

"I'm a nurse, but I'm also a mum, a wife, a sister and a daughter", she says. "You can't separate those things. Ovarian cancer isn't just a statistic. It's somebody you love."

Ultan Bannon spearheaded the initiative after losing his wife Attracta to ovarian cancer three years ago. She was 55, and had been diagnosed just 14 months earlier.

Today, Ultan leads a team of eleven riders taking on Paris2Nice to raise money for the Attracta O'Regan PhD Scholarship in partnership with Breakthrough Cancer Research. Monica and Annemarie are two of the group.

"He's a gentleman who has taken on the mantle of early detection research," says Annemarie. "He's the person who really motivates us all. Every single day he's in touch, 100% behind us, and he knows we can do it."

The group is pedalling hard to raise funding for a four-year PhD scholarship at Trinity St James's Cancer Institute dedicated to developing an early detection test for ovarian cancer. Every euro goes directly to the research, and the ride itself is entirely self-funded, with riders paying their own flights and accommodation on the tour.

Annemarie and Monica will do the pedalling. At Tile Merchant, we're proud to play a small part in getting them there.

Call it girl math if you like, but Monica had no idea what 750 kilometres actually looked like.

"At first, it didn't really compute," she laughs. "Then we did our first training ride in March, which was 30 kilometres to Enniskerry. I came home absolutely shattered, went straight to bed, woke up afterwards, divided 750 by 30 and thought… oh s**t."

Since March, the bike has quietly become a part-time job, with two or three training rides a week, around 200 kilometres on the saddle.

"Monday night we cycled up Stocking Lane in Rathfarnham," Monica says. "It's about a seven-kilometre climb. It's absolute hell. But then you go on up to the Featherbeds, and that's absolutely beautiful."

But the biggest surprise wasn't the hills, it was discovering that white bread had suddenly become health food.

"It's all about fuelling," says Annemarie. "Carbohydrates one to two hours before. Then every single hour you keep eating; dates, bananas, whatever sustains your energy. Otherwise you won't conquer those hills."

Monica laughs. "You're not going to lose weight, which is a bit heartbreaking, actually. White bread. Carbs, carbs, carbs. You have to carb load."

Ask either woman what keeps her going, and neither talks about the finish line, they talk about the people.

"The camaraderie has been incredible," says Annemarie. "Everyone looks out for each other. There are days when you're tired and your legs are heavy, but somebody always has a word of encouragement. You keep going because you're doing it together."

For Monica, the challenge is mental as well as physical.

"You spend six hours on a bike with your own thoughts," she says. "There are moments when you're climbing another hill and everything in you wants to stop. Then you realise you can do hard things because nothing is harder than this."

That mindset has carried them through every early morning, every long climb and every ride when getting out the door felt like the hardest part.

"It's very liberating," Monica laughs. "My four children are used to me being at home waiting on them hand and foot. Now suddenly Mum's gone for six hours and they're emptying the dishwasher and making their own dinner."

Annemarie smiles.

"Emotionally, physically and spiritually, it's been absolutely wondrous," she says. "We've seen parts of Dublin and Wicklow we'd never have experienced otherwise. There have been mornings in the mountains when you just stop and think, wow. That lifts you. It keeps you going."

Family and friends have embraced the challenge too, supporting the fundraising, cheering them on through training and accepting that weekends now revolve around the bike.

"There have been tantrums. There have been tears. There have been buckets of laughter," says Annemarie. "But there are about 50 of us doing this, and it's amazing how people lift your spirits. You're laughing together, talking together and helping each other through the hard parts."

Annemarie cried in a deli in Ranelagh.

She'd gone into "The Best of Italy" to ask about a raffle prize, started explaining what the cycle was for and didn't make it to the end.

"Before long, they were crying too."

That's more or less how the last five months have gone.

Ballyboden St Enda's GAA Club handed over its hall for a table quiz. Brookfield Tennis Club hosted a Pink Lunch. Ciaran Nevin Hairdressing, Do Canapés, Velo Revolution and a long list of local businesses donated raffle prizes, sponsorship and support.

"We didn't have to beg for anything," Monica says. "It was, 'We appreciate this cause, delighted to support you.'"

Almost everyone they met had a story of their own. A wife. A mother. A sister. A daughter.

Every week, women walk through our showroom doors planning kitchens and bathrooms. They’re our customers, colleagues, neighbours, sisters, mums.

Over 400 women in Ireland are diagnosed with ovarian cancer every year. Seven in ten are diagnosed too late.

Supporting Monica and Annemarie's ride was a small way for us to get behind a cause that matters to the people who matter to us.

And by now, Tile Merchant jerseys have become a familiar sight on the roads around Dublin and Wicklow.

"People are honking, their horns at us," laughs Annemarie.

Monica isn't having it.

"They're not honking at the jerseys. They're honking at our legs."

Either way, it's a reminder that people remember the businesses that show up for their community. "You can't track it in Google Analytics," says Monica, "but by God, you'll notice it. It's word of mouth. Friend telling friend. Neighbour telling neighbour. There's no marketing more powerful than that."

So, if you spot two women in Tile Merchant jerseys somewhere between Rathfarnham and the Featherbeds over the next few weeks...

Give them a honk.

In a few weeks, the months of training, fundraising and preparation give way to the ride itself.

Two bikes, two determined women, seven hundred and fifty kilometres. Neither of them knows exactly what the road to Nice will bring. There will be climbs they've never seen, long days in the saddle and mornings when every pedal stroke has to be earned.

But they'll roll out of Paris knowing they've already earned their place on that start line. The months of training and fundraising are behind them and ahead lies six unforgettable days across France.

Allez, ladies. We'll be cheering every kilometre.

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You can support Monica and Annemarie at idonate.ie/fundraiser/monicafahy and https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/annemariecorcoran. Every euro raised funds research into an early detection test for ovarian cancer.