Top 10 Irish sportives 2012??

byebye

So just trying to put a plan in place for this year and would like to know what sportives others out there rate? pros and cons of each?

Thanks

triggermortis

I've only done one - the Meath An Post one and thought it was excellent. Well organised, good food and water stops, pictures taken en route, group start and a PA system blaring music and congratulations at the end.
If it's on again this year, I'll be back

mediwheel

Tour de Burren

Giantscauswaysportive

Both Excelent !

funnights74

I've done most of them and the Ring of Kerry is top dog,well organised, super route and great atmosphere, Sean kelly Tour of Waterford is an honourable second.

feck sake lads

only one for me tour of mid louth (DUNLEER co louth) well ran great food great route and it only cost a tenner.

hughmace

Tour de Kilkenny is also excellent

ROK ON

Slaney CC Mt Leinster Challenge is superb.
Chain Gang Conor Pass challenge is great (lovely cream cakes at the finish).
Etape Ras Mumhan was superb in 2011.
Iveragh 200 is pure hell but worth doing none the less (Killorglin CC).
Valley Wheelers CC - Mick Dineen Challange is on one of the nicest routes in the country (Sheehy mountains on the Cork/Kerry border).
Naas CC Tour de Cure is a lovely route close to Dublin with great support.

morana

what about the Wicklow 200/100???

byebye

Some great ideas there!

Tour de burren is top of the list bein in clare, How about etape? or would the sean kelly tour in waterford be better? as far as i know on the same weekend,

bertiecont

Tour de Burren, Ring of Kerry, Sean Kelly are best I've done but haven't done any up the country so can't compare.

Views on Tour de Burren if weather is good make the effort well worth it! Corkscrew climb is a nice novelty with the hairpins (mini Alpe duHuez!)

Ring of Kerry is a great day with great crowd / atmosphere and good food stops etc.

Sean Kelly is tough but very rewarding.

Tour de Cure in Midleton was good last year although it's my local event so slightly biased as i don't need an early start for this one!

letape

Ring of Kerry gets my vote! Really enjoy it every gear; crowds, food stops and community involvement and of course a really fabulous route.

Much more fun than the more difficult Wicklow 200.

Keep_Her_Lit

ROK ON wrote: »

Iveragh 200 is pure hell but worth doing none the less (Killorglin CC).

ROK ON, this reminds me of one of the best posts I've read on boards to date. Good to see that you're still enjoying cycling.

penexpers

letape wrote: »

Ring of Kerry gets my vote! Really enjoy it every gear; crowds, food stops and community involvement and of course a really fabulous route.

Much more fun than the more difficult poorly organised Wicklow 200.

FYP

happytramp

Loved the 'Leinster Loop' last year and will defo do it again. Also planning on doing the Sean Kelly Waterford one, the Hinault one in Connemara and 'maybe' the WW200.

Esroh

In no particular order

AnPost Sligo/Waterford/Burren(Clare my favourite route)
Tour KK
RoK
Croi Lap of Corrib



And as its our own and its as good a test as any and its in a beautiful area.
Western Lakes Polka Dot

Bikerbhoy

Tour de Foothills (Naas Cycling Club) , bit shorter than most already mentioned at 100 k but a great season opener very well organised and they are usually very lucky with the weather too. Entertainment throughout the day too for family & friends.....Looking forward to it already

seamus

morana wrote: »

what about the Wicklow 200/100???

I think that's up there as "one to do", but if we were to rate sportives on the overall event, WW200 probably wouldn't get in the top ten. I only did 4 last year, and the WW200 would rate 3rd out of those four.

squeaky crank

morana wrote: »

what about the Wicklow 200/100???

Wicklow 200/100 is poorly organised compared to ROK, Sean Kelly, Tour of Kilkenny and some others. However, it is a good tough course with plenty of good company and chat along the way, just bring extra food with ya.

Sean Kelly Challenge was highlight for moi last year

Daithi BC

My favourite in 2011 was the Sean Kelly 160, closely followed by the Wicklow Peaks 120km run by Naas CC. The others that I did last year that I will try to do again this year were:

Cuan Mhuire 150km, Athy
An Post Tour of Meath 100km
Tour de Kilkenny 100km

cdaly_

The Cuchulain CC Midsummer Night Century was really fun last year. Night-time riding on deserted roads etc. I'll leave ye to figure out the date for next year...

C-Shore

Is the Wicklow 200 really that badly organized?

What's the problem with food?

Inquitus

In no particular order the ones that stand out from last year for me:

WW200
SKT160
Tour of Louth
The rest of the An Post Series
Orwell Randonnée
Maracycle
Kare Tour de Foothills

Th WW200 is massive and tough, so well worth doing despite the cost and ****e organisation.
The SKT160 is also massive and the atmosphere awesome.
The Orwell Randonnée while small, was the best organised event I did with the best cake, and it takes in the wall and a **** ton of other hills besides.
The Maracycle was a fun blast up to Belfast, and I got the train back down.
The An Post events are very popular and generally well run so I'd recommend them.
The Kare Tour de Foothills is an early season 100km, well run and good fun.

Dermot Illogical

Giant's Causeway was excellent last year. Well organised and a tough scenic route.

seamus

C-Shore wrote: »

Is the Wicklow 200 really that badly organized?

What's the problem with food?

It's not badly organised at all. I think the main problem is that the food stops are a tiny bit chaotic. A lot of people complained about having to queue to get food and there being a poor selection. All I can really remember is sandwiches, Rice Krispie squares and tea/coffee.
The first stop in Donard while welcome, doesn't have much room for people to sit/stand around, so a lot of people either had to stand out in the rain, or fuelled up and went on without stopping for long.
There was also no real atmosphere at the end. A bit of pasta and some benches to sit on in a mostly empty hall.

The two sportives I did after the WW200 by comparison appeared to have a better selection of things to eat & drink, as well as more room at the stops.

To be fair on the WW200 though, the weather was absolute muck last year, which will always taint one's feeling about an event.

C-Shore

seamus wrote: »

It's not badly organised at all. I think the main problem is that the food stops are a tiny bit chaotic. A lot of people complained about having to queue to get food and there being a poor selection. All I can really remember is sandwiches, Rice Krispie squares and tea/coffee.
The first stop in Donard while welcome, doesn't have much room for people to sit/stand around, so a lot of people either had to stand out in the rain, or fuelled up and went on without stopping for long.
There was also no real atmosphere at the end. A bit of pasta and some benches to sit on in a mostly empty hall.

The two sportives I did after the WW200 by comparison appeared to have a better selection of things to eat & drink, as well as more room at the stops.

To be fair on the WW200 though, the weather was absolute muck last year, which will always taint one's feeling about an event.

Ah OK, because I'm thinking of doing it this year.
I did hear about the weather though, that's nobody's fault I suppose.

I'll just bring a few extra Powerbar bars and use the foil wrappers as a blanket to prevent hypothermia

Inquitus

C-Shore wrote: »

Is the Wicklow 200 really that badly organized?

What's the problem with food?

The sandwiches, tea and rice krispie bars were grand, and I was through the checkpoints early so didn't have to queue.

The food at the end however was utter shíte, some cold tasteless pasta and a couple of lettuce leaves, not what I was looking for after 8 hours freezing my tits off in the middle of a storm.

spdmrphy

Inquitus wrote: »

In no particular order the ones that stand out from last year for me:

...
Maracycle
....

Gotta second that; did both legs of the maracycle the last two years running and it has been great each time. Very well organised, well marshalled along the length of the route. Great day out!

michael196

C-Shore wrote: »

Ah OK, because I'm thinking of doing it this year.
I did hear about the weather though, that's nobody's fault I suppose.

I'll just bring a few extra Powerbar bars and use the foil wrappers as a blanket to prevent hypothermia

if you are thinking of doing the w 200, then certainly go ahead and do it,. just other sportives have more atmosphere, more facilities and seem to better cater for a large crowd. If you can handle the w200, u can do any of them.

but the w200 was one of a few sportive for years and i reckon will still be there when the others fade.

personally, a friend talked me into the ROK, first time in 2011, and what a blast we had, leisure, crowds, masses of cyclists, pints in sneem in the middle of the event, atmosphere, even if it took me all day to figure out yer wan in the convertible merc was the rose of tralee !!

tour of the burren was class, the atlantic scenary on the last 40 K back to bally vaughan was stunning. Quite competitive in a lot of sections.

Sean Kelly tour well up there, but dont expect a soft ride. as said earlier class atmosphere, well handled and organised.

Sky Etape hibernia....tough last 40 K , just a race... no frills.

Tough ones :
Iveragh 200, has the name of a hill imprinted in my head : Coumanaspig .... a tough day in 2o11, and the Bobby Power Challange Carrick Wheelers, very tough in wintery conditions in June I think .
Nass three peaks, one of the few, to go up the wicklow gap



the SERC three peaks challange deserves mention as does the slieve bloom challange and the Chain Gang blasket blast for stunning scenary and up the Connor pass.

Yet to try:

tour of kilkenny
Mt leisnter challange
An post SLigo / meath
lough neagh

monkeypants

Is it okay to add event dates in here? Might help with deciding which one(s) to do.

Giants Causeway Coast Sportive is £35 entry and is on Saturday 15-Sep-2012.

Lucifer-0

Just wondering, are any of these on in the next few months? The earliest one I have planned at the moment is 21st April - http://www.activeglobal.com/cycling/dublin-ireland/100km-ride-for-life-2012

Dubba

The Sean Kelly tour was my favorite from last year.

There's another tough one down south called the West Cork 200, which i suffered greatly at, missed a turn and only did 169 of the 200

http://www.westcork200.com/