Ring of Kerry 2013

HivemindXX

denbatt wrote: »

Hopefully the rebel tour will take in the ring of beara again, much better route imo.

The Rebel Tour is in Glengarriff again so I assume the routes are more or less the same:-
http://www.corksports.ie/index.cfm/page/2012anpostrebeltour

I know the url says 2012 but the body of the page is for 2013.

I did the 85k Rebel Tour last year and it was great. I definitely want to do that again but I'd like to do the RoK as well. I'm glad going to the charities directly and avoiding the €100 minumum is definitely allowed. I'll probably use that method but I have to say my good will towards the organisers has taken a hit.

Since this involves an extra layer of administration I'm guessing the sooner you do this the better. If you wait until the week before the event you are relying on the charity processing your entry and then passing that information on to the RoK organisers and then them processing it. Leave that too late (where 'too late' might be earlier than you think) and you could be left without a number on the day.

Ideally one of them will accept a flat payment electronically up front. I don't really want to be sent a sponsorship card and then have to return that in an envelope with a personal cheque after the event.

nilhg

Raising sponsorship isn't an option for me (and I suspect for many people) for 2 main reasons:

1: I cycle for pleasure most of the year round, asking people to sponsor me to do that just isn't fair. If I was doing something that terrifies me like jumping out of an airplane then sponsorship would be fair enough.

2: There are loads of local charities here in Kildare equally as deserving of support as the ones in Kerry and I wouldn't be long getting told that.

So for me it comes down to making a contribution to the ROK fund for the pleasure of doing the cycle and personally I think making it €100 is too much, especially when you take into consideration the other costs of the weekend. I know that I could register with one of the charities directly and make a smaller (but still decent) contribution but TBH the tone of some of the comments that seem to be coming from the ROK organisation are leaving a bit of a bad taste with me at the moment so probably this year I'll be giving this a miss.

denbatt

Maybe they will be giving out champagne and caviar at the food stops
:-)

shaka

Ill stick with my plan of doing all the an post cycles this year

DirkVoodoo

shaka wrote: »

Ill stick with my plan of doing all the an post cycles this year

Indeed, they have been an example for all to follow. Tour de Burren, Sean Kelly, etc.

I'm also thinking of doing the Tour de Connemara, spent many a summer out in Ballyconneely playing the links, would be nice to cycle around it (in a group, some of those roads are lethal with all the tourists/dubliners out!).

Sorry ROK, plenty more sportives to choose from and if you want to support a charity, think of the local businesses struggling to combat rural decay, maybe next year!

ROK ON

I sense from reading some of the posts here that there exists some confusion about the Ring of Kerry.

It is a charity cycle that is designed with the goal of raising as much funds as possible for Kerry based charities.

It is not a sportif nor is it designed go be one. The food at the stops is donated.

My issue with the approach taken by organisers is that it undermines their efforts to raise funds. I think that cyclists should have the option to raise funds ( a min of say 100) or pay a 50€ entry fee.

If cyclists want sportifs in the region then I would highly recommend
Chain Gang Blasket Blast
Iveragh 200
Etape Ras Mumhan

These are sportifs, the RoK is a charity ride.

DirkVoodoo

ROK ON wrote: »

I sense from reading some of the posts here that there exists some confusion about the Ring of Kerry.

It is a charity cycle that is designed with the goal of raising as much funds as possible for Kerry based charities.

It is not a sportif nor is it designed go be one. The food at the stops is donated.

My issue with the approach taken by organisers is that it undermines their efforts to raise funds. I think that cyclists should have the option to raise funds ( a min of say 100) or pay a 50€ entry fee.

You can't advertise a cycle nationally and promote it as a sportive in all but name. If it were simply a local event, why does the website have a "need accommodation in Killarney" link?

The fact is that it brings cyclists from far and wide, you know yourself hotels and B&Bs are booked out, restaurants were all overflowing last year and the pubs don't do too bad either. If the ROK organisers are now cashing in on that popularity all the while knowing many people have to pay for travel and accommodation, then (call me cynical) they deserve the backlash here.

thesimpsons

well aware of it being a charity cycle but still having to raise 300e for me and family to do it is far in excess of charity I can afford. We had thought of 50e each (considering there is only one person of those three cyclists who actually earn a wage, we thought this was a good figure). 300e combined with the money spent locally in Kerry on the day on incidentials, accommodation, petrol, etc puts this charity far above what many people can realistically afford. so instead of 150e being raised by us for ROK they will probably loose out completly on our money. Still investigating going directly to chosen charity people are talking about if we can do that for the 50e each and be officially recognised by ROK with number, etc.

Icyseanfitz

What happens with the 100 euro fee? Charity or back pocket?

ROK ON

@ Dirk

I never suggested I agree with the current approach - it is hamfisted and could backfire very badly. I maybe splitting hairs but it is not a sportif.

Why - you get 70 year old grannies on beater bikes cpending 14 hours plus on the bike to raise money for charity. For a lot of people the effort that it takes to get around is a big deal - that's why they can raise so much money.
I see the work that this money does in local charities. I also see the old and the unfit out training for the event.

With this new move the charity cycle will miss out the club or sportif cyclists who would not raise funds but was happy to throw €50 in the bucket at sign on. That's a big loss IMHO.

shaka

No confusion here think most are aware it's a charity cycle. It's just turninginto a rip off ! It maybe be a cycle for local charities but its pulling cyclist from all over the country not just locals, I'm local ish and even without the cost of accommodation I wouldn't pay the 100 and there is too many charity cycles/walks these days to be going around looking for sponsorship.

Id be more than happy to donate 50 yo yo as i have done previously so May look into doing it through a charity but that's adding another layer of beuracracy IMO . Jeez got hounded for money I had paid last year by ROK claiming I hadn't paid, do they think adding more steps is really going to help.

Is it actually the organisers goal to decrease the numbers cycling this event?

thesimpsons

ROK ON wrote: »

@ Dirk

I never suggested I agree with the current approach - it is hamfisted and could backfire very badly. I maybe splitting hairs but it is not a sportif.

Why - you get 70 year old grannies on beater bikes cpending 14 hours plus on the bike to raise money for charity. For a lot of people the effort that it takes to get around is a big deal - that's why they can raise so much money.
I see the work that this money does in local charities. I also see the old and the unfit out training for the event.

With this new move the charity cycle will miss out the club or sportif cyclists who would not raise funds but was happy to throw €50 in the bucket at sign on. That's a big loss IMHO.

I'm not quite the 70 yr old granny but the whole idea of the ROK and the fun everyone has told me about it has got me up on my bike. I was planning on doing this after no exercise for many many years. started my training ages ago, been told I'd probably get around it in ten hours - to me that is a great challenge but its not something I can ask other people to sponsor me for. everyone else I know has plenty of their own expenses, charities they support themselves, schools and kids of their own to support, etc so any money I was planning on giving was going to be my own money. for a charity to turn down my 150e because it insist on 300e is fairly short sighted in my opinion.

shaka

Icyseanfitz , I wondered same thing about all the so called missing funds from last year.

The claim of 15 percent having not paid I think is bogus considering the amount of people like myself who were getting e mails looking for money when I had already paid.

As Father Ted said ' it was only resting in my account ' springs to mind

Icyseanfitz

They raised 900k last year for Christ sake, what are they moaning about, where the hell did they get a 100euro fee when before it was zero, it's baffling, only reason that I can logically see them doing this is to actively cut the enterence numbers

shaka

I'd be fairly sure they won't raise near that amount this year

Morrisseeee

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

only reason that I can logically see them doing this is to actively cut the enterence numbers

You've hit the nail on the head there me thinks.
Last year there were almost or maybe even more than 10,000 doing it, maybe this year they are trying to reduce the numbers, safety/policing etc., and this is definitely the way to do it !

It's a great event, regardless if it's a sportive or charity ride, but most importantly it's a social occasion.

Alot of clubs might re-think their plans for doing this, or maybe that's what the organizers want, I know alot of ordinary one-day or one-event cyclists were cribbing about the way clubs take over the Kerry roads (both sides) !

poolboy

Major mistake I think, even if they reversed this decision a lot of good will towards the event has already been lost. Speaking to people who I knew we're planning to do it not one of them going now.

shaka

My own club treat it as a social weekend, can't see a quarter going now . Maybe that's what they want but it will damage event long term.

BailMeOut

Are you all expressing your concerns and opinions directly to the ROK organizers? Their email address is towards the bottom of their website or you can also comment on their Facebook page.

I raised EUR365.00 last year but this year I am just registering with a charity for EUR50. They kept emailing me last year looking for payment so was more than a bit annoyed that they could not correlate my large contribution with my entry and I have no doubt that the issue of 'free loaders' is not as big as they made out.

awec

BailMeOut wrote: »

Are you all expressing your concerns and opinions directly to the ROK organizers? Their email address is towards the bottom of their website or you can also comment on their Facebook page.

I raised EUR365.00 last year but this year I am just registering with a charity for EUR50. They kept emailing me last year looking for payment so was more than a bit annoyed that they could not correlate my large contribution with my entry and I have no doubt that the issue of 'free loaders' is not as big as they made out.

I sent them an email a very short while ago, hopefully I get a response.

thekooman

was going to do it with a gang but I can't see us doing it for 100 each... might go directly to the charities and give the 50 euro instead. its steep after paying nearly 250 euro for accommodation as well.

shaka

Just sent email and face booked them, getting cranky now

kerry4sam

The Ring of Kerry was my main reason for taking us cycling! (see my cycling log). I was looking forward to registering for the ROK 2013 but this has left one sour taste in my mouth & I've not yet registered. Don't know now if I will either.

Might donate 50euros to a local charity; cycle ROK myself another time in the year and just opt to work that w/end instead

Icyseanfitz

kerry4sam wrote: »

The Ring of Kerry was my main reason for taking us cycling! (see my cycling log). I was looking forward to registering for the ROK 2013 but this has left one sour taste in my mouth & I've not yet registered. Don't know now if I will either.

Might donate 50euros to a local charity; cycle ROK myself another time in the year and just opt to work that w/end instead

there are many people that this is also the case for, i used to work in a bike shop in tralee and the amount of people that used to buy a bike for 700 euro just to do the ring of kerry was massive, these gobs will destroy the event if they keep going like this

what i cant understand is how they caused such commotion last year over people not handing in money (which many did even though they where told they didnt) when they had raised 900,000 euro for kerry based charities alone, thats a massive success in my opinion, but all they did was **** and moan about all the extra money they could have got

TheBlaaMan

Dunno the reasons, it may be stupidity, but also, it may be a numbers thing; perhaps the Gardai are not happy to have so many on the roads and they want the numbers reduced so the organising committee have upped the fee to 'balance' this out.

The entry is now open for the Kelly Tour of Waterford, - see separate thread - and they have limited this to a total of 5000 participants, with the 50km route now avoiding the main Cappoquin - Dungarvan road. I smell the influence of the guards on both points. I don't disagree with either.....the free-for-all on the above road when the 50km and 100km routes merged was dangerous and there was a fairly serious RTA and injury as a result.

Icyseanfitz

problem is there is nothing the organizers can do to stop people cycling the route on the day, its all public roads, this 100 euro fee could make everything go arseways in that we will still have massive numbers, just less people giving money

Chips Lovell

If the problem is numbers, they should say it's numbers.

I'm uneasy with hearing them blame it on freeloaders when there's a lot of people reporting that they were being hassled to return monies that they'd already handed over. They're risking alienating a lot of people here.

I've done four Ring of Kerry cycles at this stage and I'm not at all impressed with the attitude.

flying11

I'm not sure if people realise this but the €100 entrance 'fee' is only charged if you sign up through the ring of kerry website.

If you sign up directly with one of the 8 chosen charities then you can raise as much or as little as you want. Im sure they would be happy with any kind of meaningful contribution in todays financial situation.


So, its the exact same as all previous years, once you sign up directly with one of the charities. they will send you out a sponsorship card and you can raise money that way. No need to pay the €100 registration fee. It is option 3 on this page http://www.ringofkerrycycle.ie/register.php

In my opinion, this gives people more control of where their money goes. This year you can choose which one of the 8 charities that is closest to your heart and then raise funds for them.

I cant understand what all the fuss is about to be honest.

Axel Lamp

flying11 wrote: »

I'm not sure if people realise this but the €100 entrance 'fee' is only charged if you sign up through the ring of kerry website.

If you sign up directly with one of the 8 chosen charities then you can raise as much or as little as you want. Im sure they would be happy with any kind of meaningful contribution in todays financial situation.


So, its the exact same as all previous years, once you sign up directly with one of the charities. they will send you out a sponsorship card and you can raise money that way. No need to pay the €100 registration fee. It is option 3 on this page http://www.ringofkerrycycle.ie/register.php

In my opinion, this gives people more control of where their money goes. This year you can choose which one of the 8 charities that is closest to your heart and then raise funds for them.

I cant understand what all the fuss is about to be honest.

I hear ya

awec

flying11 wrote: »

I'm not sure if people realise this but the €100 entrance 'fee' is only charged if you sign up through the ring of kerry website.

If you sign up directly with one of the 8 chosen charities then you can raise as much or as little as you want. Im sure they would be happy with any kind of meaningful contribution in todays financial situation.


So, its the exact same as all previous years, once you sign up directly with one of the charities. they will send you out a sponsorship card and you can raise money that way. No need to pay the €100 registration fee. It is option 3 on this page http://www.ringofkerrycycle.ie/register.php

In my opinion, this gives people more control of where their money goes. This year you can choose which one of the 8 charities that is closest to your heart and then raise funds for them.

I cant understand what all the fuss is about to be honest.

We do realise that. It is the fact that they doubled this fee, plus the attitude that is going with it. It's almost a "we're doing you a favour letting you take part in our charity cycle, so we want 100 quid from you".

Why change it at all? Why make baseless threats about no pay no cycle?

I want to go online, I want to enter the cycle. I want to pay the money out of my own pocket, I do not want to raise sponsorship. ROK have seen to make this as difficult as possible for me. Why?! Every other cycle I participate in that donates to charity makes this easy for those that take part.

What justification do they have for doubling the minimum amount they ask for on their website?