Race Around Ireland starts this Sunday 12th Sept at 8pm, Navan, Co. Meath

emtroche

Ultra Marathon World Cup Event Returns to Ireland

September 12th 2010 is set to be the date that the Race Around Ireland Challenge will kick off for its second year. This 2,100 km Non-Stop cycling event was a huge success in 2009 with World Champions taking part beside weekend warriors as all set out on a great adventure around the Country.

The Ultra Marathon Cycling Association (UMCA) has sanctioned the event and has included it as part of their World Cup series which includes other huge endurance races such as The Race Across America. The Race Around Ireland will again loop around the entire country passing some of Ireland’s most famous landmarks, taking in magnificent scenery and crossing the countries highest mountains.

Unlike other cycling races such as the Tour de France or the Giro d’Italia, the course is in no way roped off with no marshals controlling traffic flow, and there are no planned rest stops or stages in this event. In The Race Around Ireland, once the clock starts in Navan, Co. Meath, it won’t stop until each rider reaches the finish line at the end of the 2,100 km circuit. This is designed to be one of the most gruelling bike races in the World.

The 2009 men’s solo race was won by Derry rider Joe Barr and the ladies solo race was won by Canadian World No. 1 Caroline van den Bulk. The fastest ladies 4-person team was the Bikedock Belles and the winning men’s 4-person team was Team No Prior Experience which was led by Sky Sports presenter Graham Little.

As well as passing through countless towns and villages the race will also pass through a number of major cities and national parks. From rolling farmland to steep mountain climbs to rugged coastlines, the route will prove to be just as spectacular as 2009. As well as the terrain the racers will have to contend with the weather, energy sapping road surfaces, livestock on unfenced roads, sleep deprivation and nutritional issues. All the racers will have a number of crew members and vehicles supporting them. These crew members will also have to deal with issues of fatigue and navigation as well as taking care of the Racers.

The 2010 event has so far seen entries from all over Ireland but also from England, Scotland, Wales, Denmark, Belgium, France and the USA. Included in this number is former Ironman World Champion Leslie Holton form the USA.

Teams will cycle in a relay format day and night to finish the event in less than 4 days. Solo riders will spend up to 22hours at a time on the bike to be competitive. Some teams will be extremely competitive in this event and for others it will be an opportunity to take part in an adventure and an amazing experience to raise funds for charities that they have chosen. The Race begins in Navan Co. Meath with the Solo riders setting off at 8pm on Sunday 12th September and the Teams starting at 8pm on Tuesday 14th September.

The Route will pass through 22 counties with some of the highlights being, Newgrange, Giants Causeway, Malin Head, Connemara, The Burren, Ring of Kerry, Mizen Head, St. Patricks Hill and the Wicklow Mountains.

Route
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 media and our website.

Time Stations for the Race are:

TS01 Ballymascanlan Service Station, Ballymascanlan, Co. Louth
TS02 Star Service Station, Moira, Co. Down
TS03 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 Caseys Topaz Service Station, Castlebar, Co. Mayo
TS08 Clifden Station House Hotel, Clifden, Co. Galway
TS09 Oranmore Service Station, Oranmore, Co. Galway
TS10 Kilkee Bay Hotel, Kilkee, Co. Clare
TS11 Caseys Centra Quickstop, Dock Rd, Limerick City
TS12 Aghadoe Heights Hotel, Killarney, Co. Kerry
TS13 Sneem Hotel, Sneem, Co. Kerry
TS14 Mizen Head, Co. Cork
TS15 Actons Hotel, Kinsale, Co. Cork
TS16 Walter Raleigh Hotel, Youghal, Co. Cork
TS17 Topaz Service Station, Cork Rd, Waterford City
TS18 Drinagh Service Station, Drinagh, Co. Wexford
TS19 Lynhams Hotel, Laragh, Co. Wicklow
A full schedule of estimated arrival times and detailed route maps are available on the website.

Entrants
Solo’s
Solo Riders and 2-person teams will start from the Civic Space Navan Co. Meath at 8pm on Sunday 12th Sept. Racers will set off at 5 minute intervals.

101: Leslie Holton USA (Colorado) 2008 Double Ironman World Champion(Thats double Ironman distance)
102: Donncha Cuttriss IRELAND (Mayfield, Cork) 2010 1st Gaelforce 24hr Cycle
103: Mads Fabricius DENMARK Top Ultra Distance Triathlete and Ultra Marathon cyclist in Denmark
104: Valerio Zamboni MONACO 2010 Sebring 24hr 7th Overall & 1st in 55-59 age group
105: Ian Campbell NORTHERN IRELAND (Belfast)
106: Tim Veremans BELGIUM Ultra Distance Cyclist / Mountain Biker
107: Wyatt Van Wendels UK
108: Seán Ó hIarnáin IRELAND (Connemara, Galway) Entrant in 2009 Race Around Ireland
109: John Mac Cormaic IRELAND (Dublin) Former competitor in the Rás, Tour of Ireland, Tour of Israel
110: Eoin Ryan IRELAND (Killorglin) 2009 3rd Race Around Ireland, 4-person Category
111: Ricky Geoghegan IRELAND (Trim)
112: Bernd Paul GERMANY 2010 1st Nürburgring 24hr 2010 2nd Kelheim 24hr
113: Thomas Ratschobb SWITZERLAND 2009 2nd Tortour 2009 2nd Race Around Slovenia

2-Person Teams
201: Wheels of Destiny IRELAND
* Murt Rice (Portlaoise)
* John Mahon (Dublin)

202: The Underdogs IRELAND
* Niall Doggett (Trim)
* John Tormey (Navan)

4-Person Teams
4-person and 8-person teams will start from the Civic Space Navan Co. Meath at 8pm on Tuesday 12th Sept. Racers will set off at 5 minute intervals.

401: Renegade Cycling IRELAND
* Pete Vance (Monaghan)
* Paul Hughes (Monaghan)
* Declan Brassil (Dublin)
* Daryl Bent (Dublin)

402: Wheelworx/Boards.ie IRELAND (Dublin)
* Aidan Doyle
* Peter Doyle
* Tom Blennerhassett
* Kevin Leavy

403: Team RPM’s UK
* Rick Anderson
* Paul Turner
* Matt Neame
* Matt Turner

404: Team Atlanta IRELAND (Meath)
* Ciaran Crehan
* Fintan Crehan
* Ulick McDonnell
* Mick Bermingham

405: Maccsimum Poynts UK
* Andrew Thornton
* Dan Barlow
* Alex Strickland
* Mark Butterworth

406: Tora Tora Tora IRELAND (Meath)
* Paul Hayes
* Darren Rubotham
* Davy Harrison
* Robbie Coyle

8-Person Teams
801: Team Youghal IRELAND (Cork)
* Ger Flanagan
* Tommy Roche
* Christy McCarthy
* Eoin Whyte
* John Twomey
* Kieran Groeger
* Michael McCarthy
* Brian Fitzgerald

802: Cadbury (Spots & Stripes) IRELAND
* Justin Hunter (Athlone)
* Duncan McKenzie (Scotland)
* Declan Quinn (Portaferry)
* Jim O’Dwyer (Castlemaine)
* Dave Nagle (Freemount)
* Allister Gerrard (Dublin)
* Liam Maguire (Kilcock)
* Dan Ferrari (Dublin)

The time limit for solo racers is 132hours and 96 for the teams. 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 Civic Space will also be used during the day for the inspections of the racers bikes and vehicles and this would be a good opportunity for people to meet the racers and their crews. The introduction of the cyclists will begin at 6pm before the race is officially started by last years Solo Men’s winner Joe Barr.

The Race is a registered Cycling Ireland event and is being organised in association with Navan Road Club, Meath Local Sports Partnership, Navan Town Council and yourcyclingacademy.com. The race is also supported by ZipVit, Ordnance Survey Ireland, Planet X and Brookdale Partners.

The Official Charity Partner of the race is the Aisling Group International Charity. Aisling Group was established as a direct response to the need for information and help for the public, relating to the negative effects from drugs and alcohol misuse. Many of the racers are also raising money for various charities. More details on these charities, the racers and the route can be found on our website.

www.racearoundireland.com
info@racearoundireland.com

emtroche

I should also mention that as some people on boards know, just getting to the startline of a race like this is only half the battle. It takes a huge amount of organising not to mention bravery.

And what the racers and crew members go through during the race is like nothing i'd seen before the race last year. They all deserve huge respect and admiration.

So what i'm saying is it'd be good if people tried to make the effort to catch some of the riders somewhere along the route. If not at the start then somewhere at least.

It's amazing the boost that the racers would get from a friendly face or a shout somewhere along the way.

mayan

will there be a tracker thingy on the web somewhere so you can get a better idea of where / when the teams are?
I'd certainly turn out to cheer people on if i had an idea of when to be there

emtroche

mayan wrote: »

will there be a tracker thingy on the web somewhere so you can get a better idea of where / when the teams are?
I'd certainly turn out to cheer people on if i had an idea of when to be there

The website will be updated regularly with racer positions and news. Should be much easier to know where people are and when they're expected. I know there was a bit of an issue with this last year so we're going to make a big effort to get on top of it this year.

mayan

cool.
i'll keep an eye on the site. i'll probably try to come out and see the riders when they cross the N7 (just after climbing lamb hill!), its on my route home, so if you're passing there on thurs on fri in the evening I'll try and be there.

Beasty

24 hours until the solo and 2 person teams set off. I'm not aware of any boardsies starting tomorrow, but I am presume emtroche will be there seeing everyone off. Here's hoping for an exciting race, and best of luck to all involved.

ajk24

Beasty wrote: »

24 hours until the solo and 2 person teams set off. I'm not aware of any boardsies starting tomorrow, but I am presume emtroche will be there seeing everyone off. Here's hoping for an exciting race, and best of luck to all involved.

best of luck to all - ye bunch of lunatics

emtroche

Beasty wrote: »

24 hours until the solo and 2 person teams set off. I'm not aware of any boardsies starting tomorrow, but I am presume emtroche will be there seeing everyone off. Here's hoping for an exciting race, and best of luck to all involved.

I surely will.

Day 1 of registration went nice and smoothly. 6 solo's and 2 teams checked in and ready to go.

Photos here
http://s1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd478/racearoundireland2010/Registration%20Day%201%202010/

Beasty

This is for one of the solo or 2-person teams:eek::



One thing you can be assured of, that packet of digestives on the desk will not survive the check-in of Team Wheelworx/Boards.ie;)

emtroche

Beasty wrote: »

This is for one of the solo or 2-person teams:eek::



One thing you can be assured of, that packet of digestives on the desk will not survive the check-in of Team Wheelworx/Boards.ie;)

Thats just 1 of 21! I jest not!! :eek: Thanks to the nice people at cadburys!

The marshals and race HQ sorted for the week!

100Suns

emtroche wrote: »

Thats just 1 of 21! I jest not!! :eek: Thanks to the nice people at cadburys!

The marshals and race HQ sorted for the week!

I showed this to the kids this morning and having been totally disinterested to date in the RAI they have now developed an unhealthy obsession. I daren't show them the Boards/Wheelworx/cake thread!

100Suns

Caroline_ie wrote: »

anyone going to the solo and 2 ppl team start tonight?

I'll keep an eye out for you. Hopefully there will be good turnout to see them off.

fasterkayote

here are some pics, pls note im a airsofter, part time biker but never a photographer..

fasterkayote

fasterkayote

fasterkayote

fasterkayote

fasterkayote

IMG]http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll124/fasterkayote/DSC_1892.jpg[/IMG]

Raam

Riders are starting to hit the first time station.
http://www.racearoundireland.com/times-list.asp

emtroche

11 Solo's and 2 2-person teams on the road.

All in the area of Dundalk/Cooley mountains at the moment.

2 time penalties so far. 1 for Donncha Cuttriss and 1 for Leslie Holton. Both for running red lights.

Donncha was also unfortunate to take a bit of a tumble on the way out of Navan but was up and riding again soon after.

Lead riders expected through TS02 at Moira about 1:15AM

emtroche

Raam wrote: »

Riders are starting to hit the first time station.
http://www.racearoundireland.com/times-list.asp

Updating here http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=65259278668&ref=ts

fasterkayote

hope you like it guys...

emtroche

Few glitches with the racer times/positions on the website but we're working on it.

emtroche

fasterkayote wrote: »

hope you like it guys...

Yeah thanks for coming along. Hope you enjoyed the start!

It'll probably be tomorrow before we have our own pictures up.

emtroche

Raam wrote: »

Riders are starting to hit the first time station.
http://www.racearoundireland.com/times-list.asp

Having problems with this page so we're gone to our back-up page
http://www.racearoundireland.com/racer_positions.asp

Caroline_ie

100Suns wrote: »

I'll keep an eye out for you. Hopefully there will be good turnout to see them off.

I couldn't go in the end I had to make a wheel delivery ... the hard life of a support crew...
See you tomorrow though!

Raam

emtroche wrote: »

Updating here http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=65259278668&ref=ts

Lot's of good updates on that link, guys.

ednwireland

eeeeuuuugh wouldnt want to cycle in the weather up here this morning, fair play to any racers up here its filthy out there

100Suns

It was great to see them off. The turn out was a little disappointing to be honest particularly when you hear the athletes being announced as world champion, world record holder, RAAM participants etc. They were asked about strategy in the interviews. It gives an insight into the endeavour when you hear the replies that they will take their first break in Sligo (560 km!).

Fair play and thanks to Alan, Emmet, Lorraine and the back up-they created a good atmosphere and it it was very professionally organised.

manwithaplan

Sligo - Jesus!

The leader has gotten halfway there doing over 32 km/h on average. If he is still at anything like that pace at 560km, that would be incredible.

100Suns

manwithaplan wrote: »

Sligo - Jesus!

The leader has gotten halfway there doing over 32 km/h on average. If he is still at anything like that pace at 560km, that would be incredible.

I'd expect his time to plummet when he starts heading S/SW from Malin toward Letterkenny/Sligo-the wind along the west coast is savage until Thursday.

Raam

Christ almighty, I can't wait to start the event!

Hermy

manwithaplan wrote: »

Sligo - Jesus!

The leader has gotten halfway there doing over 32 km/h on average. If he is still at anything like that pace at 560km, that would be incredible.

That's scary stuff!

emtroche

Positions at TS04 Malin Head
1: Thomas Ratschob (113) 9:24
2: Bernd Paul (112) 10:00
3: Eoin Ryan (110) 10:48
4: Sean O hIarnain (108) 10:52
5: Tim Veremans (106) 11:10
6: Valerio Zamboni (104) 12:17

2-persons
1: Wheels of Destiny (201) 11:36
2: Underdogs (202) 11.43

Leaders will be hitting TS05 Letterkenny in next few minutes

emtroche

Alan was speaking to Joe Barr who said that if people can get through last nights weather they can get through anything. We've only had 1 drop out and that was due to injury. These are tough people.

Caroline_ie

The Wheels of Destiny Team have great looking team bikes and kits. i am very jealous.

silvo

Caroline_ie wrote: »

The Wheels of Destiny Team have great looking team bikes and kits. i am very jealous.

Yeah definitely - amazing gear from Ritte - Go John and Murt!

cdaly_

I love Leslie's girly pink rims...

fasterkayote wrote: »

emtroche

Just a reminder of a few useful links

Facebook

Twitter

Website

Racer positions

Route

emtroche

Due to the extreme weather the deadline for solo's and 2-person teams has been EXTENDED by 12 hours

emtroche

Amy Farrell has an excellent race blog with photos here

http://twojournosandabikerace.wordpress.com/

emtroche

Thomas Ratschob has passed through TS06 Sligo at 19:15

Hermy

emtroche wrote: »

Thomas Ratschob has passed through TS06 Sligo at 19:15

That's 583km's since yesterday evening!:eek:

The tax man

emtroche wrote: »

Due to the extreme weather the deadline for solo's and 2-person teams has been EXTENDED by 12 hours

Good god,as if the challenge of the event itself wasn't enough torture...



I wouldn't like to be anywhere near TS06 and heading towards TS07.

emtroche

The racers are into Day 3 of the Race having battled through another night of horrendous conditions. Heavy rain and strong winds are taking their toll on the riders and it has turned into a battle of survival for most. However these are tough people and the only abandon so far has been Ricky Geoghegan (111) yesterday morning with a leg injury. The standings at the moment are:
1: Bernd Paul - TS07 Castlebar 01:18
2: Thomas Ratschob - TS07 Castlebar 03:12
3: Eoin Ryan - TS07 Castlebar 05:42
4: Sean O hIarnain - TS07 Castlebar 06:22
5: Tim Veremans - Ballina 07:24
6: Donncha Cuttriss - Ballina 08:10
7: Valerio Zamboni - TS06 Sligo 03:53
8: Leslie Holton - Ballyshannon 06:13
9: Ian Campbell - Ballyshannon 08:09
10: Wyatt Wendels - TS05 Letterkenny 07:23

2-person Teams
1: Wheels of Destiny - TS07 Castlebar 03:47
2: Underdogs - TS07 Castlebar 05:50

Although the rain has eased off the winds are still very strong.

This is epic!

Beasty

emtroche wrote: »

The racers are into Day 3 of the Race having battled through another night of horrendous conditions. Heavy rain and strong winds are taking their toll on the riders and it has turned into a battle of survival for most.....

... Although the rain has eased off the winds are still very strong.

This is epic!

We had a monsoon in Manchester this morning. I pity anyone who had to cycle in similar conditions last night

Good luck to everyone starting tonight, in particular 100Suns and, of course Team Wheelworx/Boards.ie. It looks like you will have better weather, with the rain having cleared, and the wind dying down a bit, although I suspect you'll still have quite a headwind as you head out west into tomorrow

alfalad

Best of luck to everyone involved, I'm sure you'll need it and I look forward to reading the updates.

Also a big congrats to the organisers, I'm sure it's was hard work but you've done a great job!

greenrocket

good luck lads and watch the puddles

emtroche

Some more photos uploaded

Day 2 of Registration and crew briefing

Solo & 2-person Start

Time Station 04 Malin Head (Solos & 2-person Teams)

Will hopefully have the rest up tomorrow including more of the solo & 2-person start and the 4-person and 8-person start.

Beasty

Emtroche post on the RAI Facebook page

"Donncha Cuttriss is still very much in the race despite suffering badly with an injured hip and hastring after his fall on sunday night. He went swimming in the sea at Ballyvaughan in the middle of last night to loosen up his legs."

The guy is doing incredibly well with such an injury, in 6th place and averaging 18.5kph over 900km

alfalad

Team boards/wheelworx are in Letterkenny already, great work guys!