Ultra Marathon Cycling Association World Cup Event Comes To Ireland
This Tuesday will see the start of the inaugural Race Around Ireland. The race will be one of the most grueling and unique sporting events ever to be held in this country and is sure to be one of the toughest cycling events in the world.
The Race Around Ireland is a 1,350 mile non-stop bicycle race that loops around the entire country, passing some of Ireland’s most famous landmarks, taking in magnificent scenery and crossing no less than 25 major climbs as well as many smaller hills. It will be the ultimate test of endurance, strength and mental toughness for elite and leisure cyclists alike.
Teams are not made up of professional racers but ordinary people wishing to take part in not just a race but an adventure, an experience and a test of true human spirit. The race has been sanctioned by the Ultra Marathon Cycling Association (UMCA), who have been suitably impressed with the course, to place the race on their International World Cup Series. It is in fact the second longest event in the world, after the legendary Race Across America.
The Race Around Ireland organisers see this event as a tremendous challenge for all competitors, no matter what the fitness level or cycling experience. It is designed to test each rider and team, and to bring out a sense of camaraderie and feeling of accomplishment second to none. However, it is not only about the riders, but a fantastic opportunity for clubs, organizations and communities to become part of this very unique challenge.
ROUTE: The course will start and finish in Navan, Co. Meath and travel through no less than 22 counties. Some of the highlights of the course include Newgrange, Giants Causeway, Malin Head, Connemara, The Burren, Ring of Kerry, Mizen Head, Carrick on Suir and the Wicklow Mountains.
As the race is run in a one stage format a number of Time Stations will be positioned around the course. Time Stations are a critical link between Race Around Ireland, the racers and crews, and the communities on the route. The team crew must phone in to headquarters from the Time Station to report the arrival of their racer. This is used to track the racers, whose position will be regularly relayed to the public through the media.
Time Stations for the race are:
TS01 Ballymascanlan Service Station, Ballymascanlan, Co. Louth
TS02 BP Spar Service Station, Malone Rd, Belfast
TS03 Giants Causeway Hotel, Giants Causeway, Co. Antrim
TS04 Malin Head, Co. Donegal
TS05 Dry-Arch Service Station, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal
TS06 Innisfree Service Station, Pearse Rd. Sligo, Co. Sligo
TS07 Sweeney Oil Service Station, Westport, Co. Mayo
TS08 Clifden Station House Hotel, Clifden, Co. Galway
TS09 Oranmore Service Station, Oranmore, Co. Galway
TS10 Caseys Centra Quickstop, Dock Rd, Limerick City
TS11 Centra Menavalley, Brinkhall, Tralee, Co. Kerry
TS12 Sneem Hotel, Sneem, Co. Kerry
TS13 Mizen Head, Co. Cork
TS14 Actons Hotel, Kinsale, Co. Cork
TS15 Ticknock Service Station, Cobh, Co. Cork
TS16 Carraig Hotel, Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary
TS17 Lawless Hotel, Aughrim, Co. Wicklow
TS18 Powerscourt Arms Hotel, Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow
SOLO RACERS: Solo Riders will start from the Civic Space Navan Co. Meath at 8pm on Tuesday 15th Sept. Racers will set off at 5 minute intervals.
THE RACERS ARE:
411 Just Sweat No Tears (2 person. Brian Welsh & Stacey Eccles) (UK)
102 Fabio Biasiolo. (Italy) Current Ultra Marathon World Number 1. Former Italian MTB Champion. He has raced in RAAM 11 times.
103 Mark Pattinson (UK). 2nd in RAAM 2008
104 Stephen Bugbee (USA) 4th Overall Ultra Marathon World Cup 2008
105 Joe Barr (Derry) Former Irish End to End record holder. Joe is aiming to raise £100,000 for the Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children. He will have a camera crew with him for the race and will be posting live video updates as the week progresses.
106 Holger Roethig (Germany) 3rd Kraftwerk Trophy 2009
107 Stewart Wilson (UK) 4th RAAM (4-person) 2005
108 Eoghan Clifford (Galway)
109 Paul Nolan (Meath)
111 Sean O’Hiarnain (Galway)
112 Richard Church (UK)
101 Caroline van den Bulk (Canada) Current Ultra Marathon World Number 1. 1st Race Around Slovenia 2009. North American 24hr Champion 2007.
TEAMS: Teams will start from the Civic Space Navan Co. Meath at 8pm on Wednesday 16th Sept. Racers will set off at 5 minute intervals
THE RACERS ARE:
4-person
401 An Post Team Connaught (Padraig Marrey, Daire Mooney, Noel Brady & Michael Brady)
The Team will be working with a group of researchers and scientists from Dublin City University, CLARITY: Centre for Sensor Web Technologies, and NUI Maynooth will be undertaking research into the effect this event will have on competitors and their environment.
402 Team No Prior Experience (Graham Little, Simon Janes, Robert Goldsmith & Colm Laverty). Team leader Graham is a presenter on Sky Sports and the team will have a camera crew following them for the duration of the race.
403 Team Tailteann (Noel Tonge, Eoin Ryan, Neil O’Brien & Brian Heffernan)
404 Swords CC (Shaun Gilbride, Karl Twomey, Derek Fagan & Henry Crowley)
405 The Wacky Racers (Sean Doherty, Owenie McKinney, Paddy McDaid & Patrick McLaughlin)
406 Team GTF (Ady Green, Mark Jones, Chris Holden & Paul Day)
407 Beara 4 (Doug Corrie, Ian Geraghty, Shay Murphy & Ciaran Crehan)
408 Midlife Cyclists (Anthony Cullen, Joe Conway, David Fitzpatrick & Nigel Swanwick)
409 LMFM (Darren Rubotham, Paul Hayes, John Tormey & Davy Harrison)
410 Bikedock Belles (Julie Watt, Cathy Thompson, Andrea Harrower and Taryn McCoy) The Bikedock Belles are the only ladies team in the race.
8-person
801 Team Youghal (Ger Flanagan, Tommy Roche, Christy McCarthy, Eoin Whyte, Kieran Kroeger, John MacCormack, Stephen McGovern & Michael Hines)
The time limit has been extended by 12 hours which means that solos will now have 108 hours and teams will have 132 hours to complete the race.
The Civic Space in Navan will be closed to traffic for both days and people are invited to come along and enjoy the music and the fun. The Zone will have a marquee for entertainment including paintballing and mini go karting. The Civic Space will also be used during the day for the inspections of the racers bikes and vehicles. The introduction of the cyclists will begin at 6pm before the race is officially started by Navan Town Mayor Joe Reilly.
The Race is a registered Cycling Ireland event and is being organised in association with Navan Road Club, The Irish Sports Academy, Meath Local Sports Partnership and Navan Town Council. The race is also supported by The Ritz Carlton Powerscourt, Zipfit, Ordnance Survey Ireland, and Brookdale Partners.
The Official Charity Partner of the race is the Ciaran Maree Cancer Research and Development Fund. Many of the racers are also raising money for various charities
CONNACHT CYCLING
