Etape Hibernia - August 22 2010

Chips Lovell

ktz84 wrote: »

Was the Kellogg's Tour of Ireland not done on rolling road closures?

I'd forgotten about the Tour of Ireland. I think you might have a point there.

WolfeIRE

Slideshowbob wrote: »

<snip> organisers:

what's all this antibritish sentiment about and when did this become the Republic Of Irish Cycling forum?

This thread is littered with some poor commentary on the British involvement in the event. If IMG were not involved you would not have had the event. Either way, there were a vast number of local agencies that supported this event.

I think IMG will learn from any mistakes it made including the commercialism, entry fee, registration on Saturday only etc...but to knock an event because of its Britishness? Constructive criticism of an event is fine, casting a slight on a company from another nation organising an event in Ireland is another thing. It's 2010 not 1910.

Be lucky you have a choice of cycling events in Ireland and that IMG bothered their behind even attempting something as ambitious as this, whether they organised a good event or not.

Cabaal

WolfeIRE wrote: »

what's all this antibritish sentiment about and when did this become the Republic Of Irish Cycling forum?

its a cycling forum hosted on boards.ie, the .ie shows that its an Irish website and as such its going to have a large Irish propulation posting on it. Accordingly the site will obviously reflect the views of this large Irish population.

You'd get the same on a American website etc, all very obvious

Atleast if you arrange a event in Ireland use km instead of miles in fairness,

Twin-go

People of Clare, I thank you. Your support was amazing and will live long in the memory.

For me the support received, the cheers, the claps, the words of encouragement far out weigh any cons around the event.

gav07

Had a great day! My small group of 3 all thought it was well run.

Yes there were things that we would have improved and there was excessive commercialism - but the closed roads were organised really well and turns signalled clearly and were well marshalled.

On the British argument, if it takes a British company to come in and run such an event, so be it. Yes, it's a shame it didn't have more of the qualities of an Irish sportive. But I think all the people cheering us on made up for that - it felt pretty special riding up Lahinch main street and into Ennis town with "crowds" behind barriers on either side.

For me, I loved the slightly more competitive feel of this one. 4h19m for me with 2 chain-drops (only costing 2 mins though).

As we were 10 mins late, thanks to the guy from the North who drove a really fast train for the first 30k.

Road surface was better than I was expecting for the west - comparable with Wicklow.

Jawgap

Think it might be time to update this to include the Etape Hibernia:)

http://vimeo.com/1553083

Roads were grand - some nice tarmac and some horrible tarmac - and in spots - no tarmac!!! Overall about what I'd expected considering it was 83 miles (sorry, 133km) of roads in the Wesht.

Local hospitality made the event and certainly the cheering crowd in Lehinch had me out of the saddle and sprinting through the town for all I was worth!

I'm coming round to the idea of doing it again, but the big put off for me was the Saturday registration - if they could eliminate that I'd go again for no other reason that to experience the welcome and the encouragement of the people lining the roads.

shg101

As one of those who criticised the 'Englishness', I just want to clarify a bit.

Firstly, if the event had ticked a couple of more boxes (ie cheaper and/or included a decent jersey or t-shirt) I would have been singing its praises AND looking on the foreign nature as a positive - ie how come a foreign company can give us such good value when local ones can't?

Us Irish will criticise our own quicker than we will criticise the Brits, and if so many of us didn't think it was bad value then the Britishness wouldn't have been an issue, probably would have been a positive. Put the two together though ... it can feel we're being taken advantage of.


EDIT: Self-modding here, deleted some stuff that could derail the thread.

Lumen

WolfeIRE wrote: »

I think IMG will learn from any mistakes it made including the commercialism, entry fee, registration on Saturday only etc...but to knock an event because of its Britishness? Constructive criticism of an event is fine, casting a slight on a company from another nation organising an event in Ireland is another thing.

Why should criticism be constructive? This event is a commercial product, and like any other product I exercise my right as a consumer to bitch and moan about it as I see fit.

That has no bearing on my opinion of Clare, or the people of Clare. As myself (and the other "begrudgers") have posted, the local support was great. As it happens, Clare is my favourite county and I have enjoyed a number of great family holidays in and around Ennis.

Raam

ktz84 wrote: »

Was the Kellogg's Tour of Ireland not done on rolling road closures? Though it certainly wasn't closed roads for hours on end in the way this event was however I think I remember reading the blurb when it was running that they had rolling road closures.

There was a rolling blockade of sorts, but all the roads were open as normal. The Kellogs TOI was a very well run sportive by the way. Shame it is gone.

ktz84

Raam wrote: »

There was a rolling blockade of sorts, but all the roads were open as normal. The Kellogs TOI was a very well run sportive by the way. Shame it is gone.

Ah right. That explains it. Yeah never heard anyone complain about that event though having said that I've seen nothing in this thread that would put me off doing the Etape Hibernia in the future. To me the criticisms are minor issues and it wasn't like you couldn't have worked out what it was going to be like before you started so it sounds much like I expected it to be.

ashleey

Can all those anti British/sky people clarify if they have a sub to sky tv or support man u etc please? Come on guys. There are things to criticise with the event but where you are born is pretty low on the list.

Chips Lovell

What on earth does supporting Manchester United have to do with anything?

rayr

WolfeIRE wrote: »

Be lucky you have a choice of cycling events in Ireland and that IMG bothered their behind even attempting something as ambitious as this, whether they organised a good event or not.

It is my understanding IMG are a commercial company with a profit motive and good luck to them. So it is no wonder that they have spotted a commercial opportunity considering the growth of cycling in Ireland. So I for one do not feel privileged that they came to organise an event.

I enjoyed the day even though had two punctures and a slow/flat for the last 50k. The people of Clare were fantastic with their support of the event and I really enjoyed the finish into Ennis.

Would I do it again - No. The tour de Burren in June was a far superior event overall (see previous Boards thread). The closed roads do not justify the additional cost or significantly enhance the experience. Most people I saw still cycled on the left and even in June on the main roads (coast) traffic wasnt an issue.

Glad to have done it but unless significant improvements will stick to Ballyvaughan. Nice to meet up with Lumen the night before.

RobFowl

el tonto wrote: »

What on earth does supporting Manchester United have to do with anything?

nak

I didn't think the entry fee was expensive, only a tenner more than the Wicklow 200, with the added bonus of closed roads. Road closures are very expensive and I felt it took a lot of stress out of the ride, not having to worry about idiot drivers getting in the way and getting to use the whole road. They could have had some 'real food' at the stops, but I personally would rather take my own food, than eat a sweaty ham sandwich like the ones you get in the Wicklow.

The local people were brilliant, and the route was beautiful, would definitely do it again. We were lucky, no punctures or mechanicals. Just wish people would keep their rubbish with them and not chuck it on the roads.

lafors

Just realised how long this post is when I finished
I finished in 4:59:37 which I was delighted with as I'd been hoping for under 5hrs but was really expecting it. Think I left everthing I had out on the course, was seriously burnt out by the time we passed the final stop but just managed to keep going.

Our day started across the road from the start (my mate lives across the road from the start beside the nissan garage). It didn't start well as we we're still in his estate and 2 assholes in a car...who obviously didn't know about the road closures...hurled verbal abuse at us and then turned around and came back at us and threw the rubbish contents of their car at us, pretty extreme even if they were rightly p1ssed off.

Race start was well organised imho, yeah the oul anti-brit sentiment was hanging around with some people but we got talking to loads of people from different clubs in the UK at the start, all sound people. Easy to first "feed stop" as I was having to slow down to keep my "tri" buddy with me Nearly broke the girl at the feed stops arm as I grabbed a bottle off her while going at full speed and not realising that there was a right turn immediately after Only took the water as I've always wanted to do that
Left my buddy behind and joined a good group, left them behind on the windy descent from the burren, saw 3 different crashes, one poor lad nearly went over the edge of the bend down the hill! 2 mangled bikes and 3 lads lying on the ground at the next. Have to say the support vehicles were with them already.

Stopped at the next food stop for the toilet, joined back in with another good group who were bypassing the stop, there were 2 lads in it though who we shouting at people to do their work, even though everyone was and those 2 were probably taking the shortest stints at the front.

Bypassed the next stop, don't really remember much until I met signal_rabbit & lescol at the last stop. Then was busted all the way home, even the gels weren't working! The only thing that kept me going was an old man in his late 50's who looked the doppleganger of my father in law, there was no way he was going to beat me I passed him on the decents & flats but he kept powering back and passing me on the ascents, I managed to beat him by about 15 sec at the end, delighted Have to say the ending was great, felt brilliant and my wife and son were right at the finish line cheering, superb
The lad on the microphone at the end was doing a good job don't be knocking him.

Overall I have to say I wouldn't do it again, not on those road surfaces, my shoulders are in bits today and I've had my bike fit and done a few sportifs since and not a bother. They make the surfaces on the Orwell sportif last week look like a motorway!
Organisation on the day good, defo should have been reg that morning.
Definitely should have had a proper "FOOD" stop halfway.
As others have said, get rid of the miles, it really annoyed me by the end.
I wasn't happy they changed the route and never informed anyone
Original route attached, as downloaded from the official etape hibernia website.
Timing chips are a waste of time unless you're actually racing straight through for a win. I have my garmin which gives me detail and a real time (in my eyes). I shouldn't have to count stopping to fill up my water, or stopping cause I dropped my chain twice or stopping to go p1ss.

PS I have the organisers email address if anyone wants it pm me. I will be sending on my pros/cons to them.

Lumen

What's the verdict on the length?

Much as I suffered yesterday, it would have been interesting to have the option of something a bit more challenging length-wise. For me it was the pace that made it tough yesterday rather than the distance.

The Wicklow 200 is an interesting comparison. There is often moaning about the expense of that one and the quality of and queues at the feed stops, but people are drawn to it because it's so tough.

My Garmin recorded just under 1300m of ascent yesterday. A 200km course could easily hit 2000m climbing, which is approaching the WW200.

Whilst Clare doesn't have the same profile as the Wicklow mountains, the neverending rolling roads and savage headwind around Lehinch was a real challenge.

michael196

the mileage thing didnt bother me, my car has miles and KM on the inside display. ; my garmin is in miles.

i didnt feel the competitiveness thing that people are dicsussing here, we had a field of 1800 to play with, and for the first 30 km, my companion and 1 just overtook untill we found a section / group that we were happy with pace wise.

there was no competetion for me to race up those draggy hills !! and alocl giving me water from his own jug after 1 too amny gels was appreciated.

as I am cycling to loose a few pounds, my companion was flying up the hills, but i was able to power down the hills with more bravery. He conceded one hill to me towards the end after i pleaded for hill win !!

twas my second 'sportive' did the wicklow in june and enjoyed it. I saw no difference pace wise. I walked the major hills in the wicklow 200, yep that was me ! walking up shay eliot, glenmalure and aughavaulavaghan, with the white bike.

I think form was good, and peoples pace matched the conditions> I did my thing and tried to close group to group, bring one group to another, thats what I do best, after years of training on my own.

some one said tis 2010 not 1910, and thats a very good point.

I was astounded by the people being out at 07:30 to cheer us on in the damp forest section near the start, if an event was passing my house at 07:00 on a sunday morning, where would i be ?


the clare people were fantasic supporters,and hopefull they wont be bored next year,

didnt realsie there had been crashs, i remeber a steward caationing to slow down on those down hills, also i noticed the motor bike guys assisiting poepl who had pulled oner in the last 20-30 miles, ( what that is in KM ).

I wil be back next year, and my companion wants to do the caladonian also

velo.2010

Reading the various accounts I'm reminded of the feedback following the first 'Top Gear' Live event held two years ago in the RDS.

Similar proportion of criticisms and positives towards the event. Many people reasonably satisfied that they got some value for their money. I think cycling folk are a little more forgiving and won't call an event a complete disaster like some called the Top Gear event.

Similar contributions regarding how well an Irish co. would go about organising such a large event catering for thousands. Perhaps there is a need for 'standoff-ish-ness' that the British organisers bring to an event. Chaos might ensue if left to Irish dealing with Irish on the day.

Personally I think it was too much to pay for closed roads. The route, while spectacular in places, would have bored me to death. Sounds like somone, disgruntled locals perhaps, left some tiny sharp tyre-piercing calling cards along the route!!

Expect a much changed and perhaps slimmed down event for next year.

michael196

length wise

I train between wexford and dublin, ( live wexford work dublin ) and frequently leave the car. thats 80 miles for me . I incorporate the wicklow hills when i can and when i have enough energy.

initially i thought 80 miles would be fine, thinking twould be like blessington down through baltinglass and onto tullow and enniscorthy , fairly flat rolling, thinking also twas a biy short compared to W200 and sure I would be home in 4.5 hours, thinking clare was FLAT,

oh well got that one wrong !!

it could be 100 miles without too much damage, but it was challanging as evidenced by the competitiveness comments.

I am happily in good nick this morning, no aches , no pains, legs are not like putty, and maybe a pound light. thats my goal achieved.


www.leinsterloop.com guys come and support if you can, first time running by st Laurances GAA, Kildare, my cycling companion involved with the organising, twill be real Marcra na feirme tea and cakes , and MRs doyle if thats what ur into !!!! real fod no comercialism, no gels !

ktz84

michael196 wrote: »

www.leinsterloop.com guys come and support if you can, first time running by st Laurances GAA, Kildare, my cycling companion involved with the organising, twill be real Marcra na feirme tea and cakes , and MRs doyle if thats what ur into !!!! real fod no comercialism, no gels !

Sponsors links on the website - no commericialism at all?

Your last 3 links (spar & texaco) all link to crookstown business park. Might want to get that sorted before your commercial partners get a bit annoyed

cpaul

I was on here moaning Saturday night about the whole registration process etc and expecting the worse for Sunday. The fact it was 11pm and I knew I had to be up at 3.30am and couldn't get to feckin' sleep (just ended up getting 1 lousy hour's sleep!) probably contributed to the crankiness factor.

Well thankfully this turned out to be a brilliant day so some humble pie for me please! As people have said the people of Clare were excellent - kept the support going the whole way through. I loved the finish as well - felt cool turning that final corner into the finish with all the crowds around.

Was really apprehensive about it heading off Sunday morning but thankfully this turned out to be one of the best sportives I've ever participated in. Better qualify that by saying I've only being cycling for just over a year so not really in a position to be making comparisons with other sportives I suppose.

mccutchie

It was my first sportive and I'm delighted to have completed it. I only started cycling this year, did a few charity cycles, but nothing near 100Km.
I decided to pace myself early on and in the end that helped alot. Was feeling the pain after 100km, legs started to tighten, but met 2 lads from Dublin and we got over "the hand" together. The run into ennis and the finish was class. I must also complement the people from clare, their support was greatly appreciated.
As this was my first event at this distance and my first sportive, i found that the whole thing was very well organised, and i've got the bug for more.

ashleey

Signed up for the Leinster Loop this am before I have a chance to wimp out. Hoping to get my maniac brother in law from Donegal to come down and do this as well as the Etape with me yesterday. 120k might suit better given my cramp at 130k. Hope to see some people from yesterday that helped me along and I'll try to return the favour if needed on Sep 19th.

Guybrush T

el tonto wrote: »

As has been pointed out already, the two people who mentioned the Britishness are British.

+1 we're definitely an organisation now, a few more and we'll be a movement

It would be interesting to know why British people noticed it more, are we just used to watching ourselves to avoid unconsciously letting the imperialism come out and that makes us more sensitive?

In my case it was more grumbling about the cost of shipping all the marshalling vehicles etc over to Ireland, that and having got used to kilometres, and having my cycle computer etc set up in km going back to miles seemed a bit of a step backwards.

Other than that, I agree with the comments about local support, everyone seemed to take being shut in their houses all Sunday morning very well and the crowds definitely made me feel like a real cyclist.

One point no-one has mentioned is the purpose of the timing chips. They're not so you know how fast you went, but so you know how fast other people went. I now know I'm only 4 minutes slower than Sean Kelly, so a bit more training over the winter and next year I'll pwn his ass.;)

Tora Bora

Does anybody have any estimate of the "financial benefit" if any to nort Clare. Say on the Doolin, Lahinch, Miltown Malbay leg of the event!

What I'm hearing, is bugger all hotel, or hostel nights booked by cyclists or organisers in this leg. In fact bugger all money of any kind left in the area as a by product of the event. Yet, the whole population really inconvenienced by the road closures.

Comments please!

ashleey

You have a point but that's not really the point of the event. The fact that many cheered us on gives your answer and there was a fair sprinkling of quangos dipping their finger in the pie. Isn't it a shame that everything seems to degenerate into 'how much money can I get out of this?'. It should be 'let's show everyone how amazing Clare is'. It felt like the locals thought the second way. Even golfers cheered us in lahinch from their tee box.

smiler12

i travelled down from outside newry on sat morning with my wife and kids, if registration had been on sun morning we still would have had to stay over as i do when doing the wicklow200, alright it cost a few euro more but still had a great w/end

the start was very well organised
nice scenery with great support from the clare people
excellent finish with great atmosphere
i didn't mind the lumpy course not as bad as i thought it was going to be although a couple of dangerous bends that could have been better warned about.
there were lots of english, scots and n.irish but i thought it added to the event and also most had said this was harder than the caledonia.
i defo prefer the distance in miles as it doesn't seem as long as KM but thats because i am used to this.
i'm glad i didn't pay an extra 20 for the t-shirt.

would i do it again - yes.

QueensGael

My timing chip didn't work (I probably didn't fit it properly) and was dying for a ham sandwich and cuppa at Spanish Point, but otherwise I enjoyed the event. Coming through the main street in Lahinch was just amazing with all the cheers. Big, big thanks to the people of Clare for their support and allowing us to take over their roads.

Good training for next week's Comeraghs

Lumen

Attack of the Mutant MAMILS