New MTB Trail in Kerry

the_doctor199

KERRY will have a world-class mountain bike track in four months time if construction work on the development goes to plan.

It was envisaged that the ambitious development, at Shroneboy, Glenflesk, would be completed by the end of last year however, according to Kerry County Council, "technical issues" surrounding grant funding delayed the project.

These issues have now been resolved and the county council expect the final grant offer from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to be made in the next week.

Last August, Minister Leo Varadkar announced that the mountain bike trail would receive €430,353 in grant aid from his department. In the meantime officials from Kerry County Council have been working with Cycling Ireland on the tender design and the project is expected to go out to tender by the end of May.

It has been estimated that construction work on the downhill course, which will be the second highest of its kind in Europe when completed, at 1,800 metres in length and a vertical drop of 360 metres, will take three months to construct.

Last year Kerry County Council granted planning permission for the development of the mountain bike track, 24 car-park spaces, single storey changing works and filtration works at the site in Shroneboy.

Confidence in the new bike trail's superiority is such that the venue, approximately ten kilometres from Killarney town, has already been earmarked to stage the European Masters Downhill and Cross Country Championships in 2014 and 2015 respectively. The Glenflesk cycling facility had been mooted as a possible venue for the 2011 European Masters Championships.

The idea for the mountain bike track originated abou four years ago and the chosen location was selected after a search that included Ordnance Survey and Google Earth maps. The project is supported by Minister Varadkar's department, Failte Ireland, South Kerry Development Partnership (SKDP).

Source: Kerryman.ie

Brilliant news here, will be great to see big downhill events here, fingers crossed it's good enough to attract the world champs eventually.

dingdong1234567

nice. good news indeed

Icyseanfitz

hopefully it will be a massive success and start to open peoples eyes to mountain biking and adventure tourism like the rest of europe

Tenzor07

Everyone will have to car pool or cycle there: "24 car-park spaces"

endurodave

needless to say this is great news will make a great descent.

RINO87

great to see another centre being opened up. Anyone hear any news ojn the proposed centre for the sileve blooms or is that still caught up in red tape?

langdang

Fair play! Best of luck to those driving this!

pointer28

@ RIN087

My brother is involved in the tourist trade in the Slieve Blooms and everyone up there is mad to get this started.

Because of it's geographical location bordering more than one county there are two county councils involved and also two tourist boards I think. Also, Coillte need to be thrown into the mix as well. Needless to say this leads to mountains of red tape and needless bureaucracy. So, as far as I know, it's still in the pipeline but could be a while yet.

It's a pity as there is endless opportunity for hundreds of miles of MTB trails as well as a great destination for roadies.

samsemtex

Is this thing still not under construction? At this rate it'll be lucky if we dont end up missing out on the 2014 Masters Championships too and become a complete laughing stock. Please tell me im wrong and that this trail (Which essentially is a dirt trail with some car parking at the bottom so should only take a few months to complete) is well under construction and nearing completion.

cameramonkey

pointer28 wrote: »

@ RIN087

My brother is involved in the tourist trade in the Slieve Blooms and everyone up there is mad to get this started.

Because of it's geographical location bordering more than one county there are two county councils involved and also two tourist boards I think. Also, Coillte need to be thrown into the mix as well. Needless to say this leads to mountains of red tape and needless bureaucracy. So, as far as I know, it's still in the pipeline but could be a while yet.

It's a pity as there is endless opportunity for hundreds of miles of MTB trails as well as a great destination for roadies.

are the slieve blooms not in Offaly/ Laois? The OP is about a Kerry trail.

Tenzor07

samsemtex wrote: »

Is this thing still not under construction? At this rate it'll be lucky if we dont end up missing out on the 2014 Masters Championships too and become a complete laughing stock. Please tell me im wrong and that this trail (Which essentially is a dirt trail with some car parking at the bottom so should only take a few months to complete) is well under construction and nearing completion.

Mail the guys in Killarney CC, they may have more info:

killarneycyclingclub@gmail.com

cameramonkey

Any news on this?

Icyseanfitz

not a peep, the funding was supposedly green lighted but in typical irish fashion nothing since

StevieGriff

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

not a peep, the funding was supposedly green lighted but in typical irish fashion nothing since

Could be total BS, but I've heard everything is at a total standstill because they can't obtain public liability insurance. Which is sickening, almost half a million quid granted and jack is being done.

Bigdaddy1963

StevieGriff wrote: »

Could be total BS, but I've heard everything is at a total standstill because they can't obtain public liability insurance. Which is sickening, almost half a million quid granted and jack is being done.

Do you know if this project is still at a standstill. It sounds great but there is always something in this country that delays a anything really good. Cork & Kerry have the perfect terrain to build a lot of these trails . If there is any update let me know as i did here from someone at work this project was probably going ahead. Regards Chris

Tenzor07

Bigdaddy1963 wrote: »

Do you know if this project is still at a standstill. It sounds great but there is always something in this country that delays a anything really good. Cork & Kerry have the perfect terrain to build a lot of these trails . If there is any update let me know as i did here from someone at work this project was probably going ahead. Regards Chris

Check out the forums from the local clubs for updates:

http://www.mbcc.ie/viewforum.php?f=9
http://killarneycyclngclub.freeforums.org/index.php

Kitepimp

any update on the trail build I can't find anything recent online..

Tenzor07

Looks like the NIMBY's have won again:

http://www.radiokerry.ie/news/kerrys-first-mountain-bike-trail-in-jeopardy/

muckwarrior

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Looks like the NIMBY's have won again:

http://www.radiokerry.ie/news/kerrys-first-mountain-bike-trail-in-jeopardy/

I don't follow. Who in the article are the NIMBYs?

Tenzor07

Local councillors putting the planning permissions onto the long finger like this, so now the PP will expire, so looks like Kerry won't get a world class MTB track.
From what I recall the locals had issue with improving the road and upgrading the car park from it's 10 car capacity to hold a more realistic number...