Magee Donegal Bay Spring Sportive Saturday 18th April

ednwireland · 11-03-2015 10:12pm #1

Magee Spring Sportive

The “Spring Sportive” will take place on Saturday April 18th this year with World famous Magee of Donegal stepping in to become the title sponsor of the event.

The “Spring Sportive” was first run in 2013 and proved very popular attracting 200 participants. With the option of three routes, there is something for everyone. Taking in the scenic roads of South/South West Donegal, our Sportive offers stunning scenery, challening routes, good organisation and great hospitality.

For the 2015 Magee Spring Sportive, there have been some changes from previous years with the event moving to a Saturday for the first time giving those who have traveled quite a distance the opportunity to stay in Donegal and make a weekend of it rather than rush back home for work the following day. The other change for this year is the Registration/Start/Finish venue which will now be the St.John Bosco Centre in Donegal Town.

Once again there will be three routes on offer 50/100/150km over the same roads as last year with food/refreshment stops on all three routes. There will also be refreshments provided before and afterward at the St.John Bosco Centre. We once again look forward to welcoming a large crowd of enthusiastic cyclists for this most enjoyable day out.

Magee Donegal Bay Spring Sportive Details

Saturday 18th April

Registration 8.30-9.30am St.John Bosco Center, Donegal Town

Event Starts: 10am Magee Shop, The Diamond, Donegal Town

3 Scenic Routes: 50/100/150km

Food/Refreshments Stops & Support vehicles on all three routes

Parking/Showers/Refreshments available at the St.John Bosco Center

Entry: 50km: €10 100/150km: €15 A €2 supplement will apply to non Cycling Ireland members to cover insurance. If you are a Cycling Ireland Member, be sure to bring your membership card.

Helmets Mandatory

Cee-Jay-Cee · 11-03-2015 11:50pm

Excuse my ignorance of my home county but does the 150km route go up or down glengesh? I'm near sure the arrows suggest you do down it. If it down it I'll probably do the 150, if it's up I'll give it a miss and donthe 100km route.

ednwireland · 11-03-2015 11:54pm

its down, basically you head out through killybegs round the coast to glencolumbcille then back down glengesh to ardara

gambeta_fc · 13-03-2015 11:42pm

Good stuff, will be giving this a go.

sy · 14-03-2015 1:49am

Any profile of the route ? Thanks

martyoo · 14-03-2015 7:55am

Apart from the distance is it a tough 150k?

at1withmyself · 14-03-2015 9:57am

I attempted it last year and found the route tough, there was some nice sharp climbs heading out the coast but mainly the westerly wind was unreal. By kilybegs I had the Broom Wagon behind me which was tough for my man pride but by the first water stop I had caught one or two. At the turn to Malinmore I had enough of the wind and headed straight for Glencolmcille and from there the wind pretty much blew us over the climb and at the food stop I went straight to the finish rather then the top loop. This gave me about 115km I think.

Overall it is good value for money and a tough day in the saddle but the scenery is fantastic and makes it worthwhile.

Some recommendations for this year would be too improve the food stop with some chocolate snacks and some sugar drinks like Coke as I found it poorly stocked last year, entry is cheap so up the cost if required or reduce the food at the end maybe. Also get some of the club riders to form a group at the back as the number of riders on the 150 was low last year so anyone who couldn't keep up with the front group got spat out the back so a lot of people cycling by themselves out against the wind. I'm not saying to keep everyone in a group or at a certain pace but it might encourage more to do the big one if there's a 'slow' group up to the first water stop. Something like a leisurely paced starting group?

I will be aiming to do again this year and hoping to make a weekend out of it cycling in Donegal, beautiful place.

cavan4sam · 14-03-2015 10:02am

Whats the 100 like ?is it a tough ride ?

talkabout · 14-03-2015 1:20pm

The 100km is a lovely route with some steady climbs and hilly in parts. Last year it was blowing a gale which made it very tough heading out but at least you had the wind at your back heading for home. Its well worth a visit. Its similar to the Tour of Sligo 100km route.

DonegalBay · 14-03-2015 10:04pm

sy wrote: »

Any profile of the route ? Thanks

Unfortunately I cannot post links or profiles etc but there are safety maps with the profiles on the Sportive page on the club website donegalbaycyclingclub.com

ednwireland · 16-03-2015 9:24am

Routes profiles and safety instructions on this page
http://www.donegalbaycyclingclub.com/leisure/

Iwernia · 16-03-2015 7:51pm

martyoo wrote: »

Apart from the distance is it a tough 150k?

Yes it is a bloody good challenge for so early in the year and you will have nearly 100k cycled on the wild atlantic way so it is going to be lumpy on the coast but what a coast, it is nothing short of spectacular. I think there are cut off points this year at certain points to try to keep as many together as possible.

Cee-Jay-Cee · 17-03-2015 11:08am

Iwernia wrote: »

Yes it is a bloody good challenge for so early in the year and you will have nearly 100k cycled on the wild atlantic way so it is going to be lumpy on the coast but what a coast, it is nothing short of spectacular. I think there are cut off points this year at certain points to try to keep as many together as possible.

What do you mean cut off points? I'm going to do the 100km route, I think the 150km is just too tough for so early in the year.

DonegalBay · 17-03-2015 8:31pm

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

What do you mean cut off points? I'm going to do the 100km route, I think the 150km is just too tough for so early in the year.

The food stop is in the village Ardara at around the half-way point in the 100/150km. From Ardara both routes do a loop through Glenties-Narin-Portnoo and back to Ardara. Basically if you reach the Food stop and don't fancy the full distance, you can skip the loop and head straight back to Donegal Town.

A previous poster already mentioned this is what they did last year. It cuts about 30km of the total distance on both routes.

Fr D Maugire · 06-04-2015 7:10pm

Really looking forward to this event. Hopefully the weather will be like today and the scenery on offer will be amazing. Just realising that the 150km route follows the Wild Atlantic way for over 100km of its course, the 100km also covers quite a bit of the WAW.

Also really liked this piece on the facebook page on how to deal with crazy sheep:pac:

http://www.donegalbaycyclingclub.com/two-day-workshop-on-how-to-avoid-donegal-sheep/

ednwireland · 11-04-2015 10:31am

a week to go !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

at1withmyself · 14-04-2015 8:04pm

ednwireland wrote: »

a week to go !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Registration on the morning OK, can't see anything about pre registration on the website??

DonegalBay · 14-04-2015 8:46pm

at1withmyself wrote: »

Registration on the morning OK, can't see anything about pre registration on the website??

Registration on the day, 8.30-9.30.

Starts at 10am

ednwireland · 15-04-2015 8:13pm

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i'll shut up now promise !

Iwernia · 17-04-2015 10:10pm

Weather is looking great for this one, there will be some scenic views on the 150k

ednwireland · 18-04-2015 3:24pm

Joe barr just completed the 150km in 4 hrs 46 min !!!!!!!

FirstinLastout · 18-04-2015 7:52pm

Well that post race chicken curry dinner was worth putting the hammer down for.
Great day out, great weather, great scenery and great event!!

gambeta_fc · 18-04-2015 9:50pm

ednwireland wrote: »

Joe barr just completed the 150km in 4 hrs 46 min !!!!!!!

Holy moly!! That's seriously impressive on the route today. Thought I was going grand until the climb out of Glencolmcille introduced a reality check :P

Fully agree with FirstinLastout, that was an excellent event. The weather played a big part but the organisation and helpfulness of all involved really made the day for me.

Tip of the hat to all involved and no better man to handle that whistle!

Leroy42 · 19-04-2015 8:53am

Amazing day. Weather was incredible. Views around the bay, Killybegs, everywhere really were stunning. Ireland (South Donegal!) in all it beautiful glory. Roads were not as bad as I thought they might have been. A lot of the route is on the Wild Atlantic way.

Great organisation. Great HQ, plenty of parking. Plenty of marshalls, most drivers were courteous and patient and road signage was spot on and curry at the end was perfect.

As in all these things, the weather can really make or break the day as the memories of this on a windy, rain soaked freezing day would be different, but on all the things that Donegal Bay CC can control they did a great job.

Well done to all those involved.

DonegalBay · 20-04-2015 9:27pm

Thanks to everyone who came to the Magee Spring Sportive. Was a majestic day and I guess we always designed our routes with days like that in mind. When the sun shines, Donegal is truly a sight to behold, we just want to share it with everyone.

The feedback has been great so thanks to everyone for their comments. We try our best to put on as good as show as possible but it is still a club run event so it makes us feel good to hear the positivity.

It was hard to keep track of everyone on the day but I saw people from clubs all around Ireland, even as far away as Belfast, Dublin and even Clare. Thanks for making the journey.

Have to say Joe Barr absolutely hammered it on the 150km route, seriously impressive for a man who had been ill during the week in Italy. His words on finishing were "savage route". Cycling legend.

Magee Donegal Bay Spring Sportive Saturday 18th April

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