Gorey 3 Day 2018

Slo_Rida

I don't see any discussion on this which is hard to believe!
Just wondering if one should have received confirmation of their entry at this point? I sent the form + fee in January.
Cheers
Slo

wirelessdude01

Well there is only just about 100 riders entered so think you are ok.

Mugser

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Well there is only just about 100 riders entered so think you are ok.

Is there a start-list published?

wirelessdude01

Not yet.

albert kidd

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Well there is only just about 100 riders entered so think you are ok.

are numbers really that low?

wirelessdude01

albert kidd wrote:

are numbers really that low?

103

Slo_Rida

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Well there is only just about 100 riders entered so think you are ok.

I’ll wait for another while so. Hopefully there’ll be some confirmation soon.

harringtonp

I emailed a while back to check if my entry and my club mates were received and was told they were. So we're just going to turn up and assume all is good.

I've no problem with a field of 100, better that than 180

Chumpski

Hm, thats pretty low for Gorey. Any ideas why the lower numbers than previous years?

Id love to be doing it. Envious of you guys, enjoy the weekend !

ted1

Chumpski wrote: »

Hm, thats pretty low for Gorey. Any ideas why the lower numbers than previous years?

Id love to be doing it. Envious of you guys, enjoy the weekend !

Have people bring off the road because if the extended winter ?

Chips Lovell

Start list is out now.

wirelessdude01

Chumpski wrote:

Id love to be doing it. Envious of you guys, enjoy the weekend !

Chumpski wrote:

Hm, thats pretty low for Gorey. Any ideas why the lower numbers than previous years?

Think maybe Ras Mhaigh Eo last weekend, add to that Ras Mumhan and Tour of the North this weekend as well. Know of a fair few Juniors and A3s going to both of those that traditionally would have doing Gorey. There was a discussion around it on. Facebook group I'm a member of and no real consensus why so low this year.

Think maybe we have reached the height of participants for road racing and will see a downward trend for open racing now. In my club quite a few have opted for the vets league this year over open racing as it is seen to be a safer option for those that now have responsibilities and families to look out for. Also the cost both in time and financial for stage raving is considerable. Finally also think for the likes of Gorey you really need to have a club or team behind you for logistics. You don't see too many single riders entering now.

harringtonp

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Finally also think for the likes of Gorey you really need to have a club or team behind you for logistics. You don't see too many single riders entering now.

Tell me about it ! Us 3 in Dolmen don't have any support and have to do a car drop on Friday, depend on neutral service (so guys don't pass us by if we are punctured please !!) during the race and then do the reverse car collect on Monday. Bigger race clubs can organize support easily but this is a big factor in none of us in Dolmen having raced Gorey before.

104 BTW is still a good sized field and typical of Ras Mhaigh Eo and Charleville sizes, remembering doing Tour of Connemara in Castlebar a few years back and there were only 40.

wirelessdude01

harringtonp wrote:

104 BTW is still a good sized field and typical of Ras Mhaigh Eo and Charleville sizes, remembering doing Tour of Connemara in Castlebar a few years back and there were only 40.

For Gorey it isn't typical at all. First time I've ever known it not to sell out within a few days of opening. Indeed there is generally a reserve/cancellation list to get into the race.

harringtonp

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

For Gorey it isn't typical at all. First time I've ever known it not to sell out within a few days of opening. Indeed there is generally a reserve/cancellation list to get into the race.

Yes I remember looking at it in previous years a few weeks beforehand and seeing it was full. Strange turnaround as you say. Mumham and Tour of Ulster have always run at the same time and Ras Mhaigh Eo has been on a couple of weeks before it last few years so no change there.

Wonder has weather had an impact, most guys have very little racing done this year where as in previous years there would be quite a bit in the legs by Easter.

Tenzor07

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Think maybe we have reached the height of participants for road racing and will see a downward trend for open racing now. In my club quite a few have opted for the vets league this year over open racing as it is seen to be a safer option for those that now have responsibilities and families to look out for. Also the cost both in time and financial for stage raving is considerable. Finally also think for the likes of Gorey you really need to have a club or team behind you for logistics. You don't see too many single riders entering now.

Jaysus that's a fair rake of excuses for not doing the Gorey!

boege

My son is back racing this year after a 3-4 season break (due to college)

We have noticed this trend in reduced numbers at all four races we attended this year. It is being noticed more generally. Theories include the rising economy (full employment) giving less people time to train. Add in a rough winter on top with inadequate time to train, some say!

However, my own view is that I noticed a trend back four years years which I think it is really now showing in the numbers.

If you look at the age profile in the current races there are not many racers in the 20-28 age bracket. The number of juniors appears to be holding up but there is little development path within clubs when they transition to senior level. High performance juniors are looked after but those that do not have this path quickly leave and they are not coming back.

What I also saw in the past is that very few clubs have structures to support young riders and my lad only survived in the sport as he had my support. (His club did pay race expenses for stage races which was a great help) I also noticed that many of the juniors that stayed on racing had parental support. Mark O'Callaghan is a good example of a late developer and I spent many a race by the side of the road chatting to his lovely parents.

This year has seen an unprecedented cancellation of races (not due to bad weather) and in a number of cases club resources have been hinted as an issue. Posting of race results has also worsened,

My concerns are not just at the club level. I see a virtually unchanged field of commissars in Munster after four years away. Great guys, all of them, but what happens when they decide to pack it in.

My lad is racing Gorey this weekend but I will be doing the support. I do this because I love the sport but I fear the fall off in numbers is pointing to a deeper underlying problem in the Irish race scene. I hope I am wrong.

The one plus is that it is making for safer racing but I will be surprised if we don't see a very decimated field roll out of Gorey on Monday.

Chumpski

I don't know... maybe you are right.

It was a really, really crap winter, plus the season later start. Id hope its mainly because people don't feel they are ready for something like Gorey.

buffalo

boege wrote: »

If you look at the age profile in the current races there are not many racers in the 20-28 age bracket. The number of juniors appears to be holding up but there is little development path within clubs when they transition to senior level. High performance juniors are looked after but those that do not have this path quickly leave and they are not coming back.

What I also saw in the past is that very few clubs have structures to support young riders and my lad only survived in the sport as he had my support. (His club did pay race expenses for stage races which was a great help) I also noticed that many of the juniors that stayed on racing had parental support. Mark O'Callaghan is a good example of a late developer and I spent many a race by the side of the road chatting to his lovely parents.

Virtually nobody starts road racing at 18-25 I would think. Either you start as a youth/junior because you've got parental support, or after you finish college. While theoretically you could start racing on a €500 bike or get luck with a second-hand purchase, typically you're talking €1000+ for a bike and then plenty more for kit, race entries, accessories.

With the majority of the population going to college for 3-4 years, that's money most simply don't have to spare on a hobby. So a decent road bike usually has to wait until a year or two into your first job, and then maybe another year to get into racing.

Hence we end up with these fields of juniors and people in the their late 20s/early 30s and upwards. On top of that, I wonder how much of the current crop was a boon of the Bike to Work scheme, allowing people to splash out a bit - I know that's when I finally made the leap. That might have lead to a saturation point, and now it's trailing off?

And yes, **** winter too. I've done almost zero miles training due to a combination of factors, but chiefly because there's been so few dry, non-icy weekends this year.

fondriest

I’d race the Gorey if the wife would let me :-(

thekooman

fondriest wrote: »

I’d race the Gorey if the wife would let me :-(

a boat we are all familiar with!

Chips Lovell

I wouldn't want to read too much in to just one year. It's possible the winter had a lot to do with it.

I know if I'd been trying to do a decent winter's training to prepare for stage races it would have been seriously disrupted, both due to the weather and the amount of bugs going around.

531

fondriest wrote: »

I’d race the Gorey if the wife would let me :-(

I can have a word with her, if you like.

wirelessdude01

Baron de Charlus wrote:

I wouldn't want to read too much in to just one year. It's possible the winter had a lot to do with it.

Last year was down around 50 on the year previous as well.

fondriest

531 wrote: »

I can have a word with her, if you like.

Please do

Mugser

I notice some clubs on the start list there with serious numbers, some 8/9 riders each, I see one former National Vets champ there too, hmmm.
A decent crop of juniors there from at least one club also.
Still should be some decent racing.

Next year hopefully!!

DirkVoodoo

Does anyone have some current strava/MMR links for each stage? My google-fu is weak today.

boege

buffalo wrote: »

Virtually nobody starts road racing at 18-25 I would think. Either you start as a youth/junior because you've got parental support, or after you finish college. While theoretically you could start racing on a €500 bike or get luck with a second-hand purchase, typically you're talking €1000+ for a bike and then plenty more for kit, race entries, accessories.

With the majority of the population going to college for 3-4 years, that's money most simply don't have to spare on a hobby. So a decent road bike usually has to wait until a year or two into your first job, and then maybe another year to get into racing.

Hence we end up with these fields of juniors and people in the their late 20s/early 30s and upwards. On top of that, I wonder how much of the current crop was a boon of the Bike to Work scheme, allowing people to splash out a bit - I know that's when I finally made the leap. That might have lead to a saturation point, and now it's trailing off?

And yes, **** winter too. I've done almost zero miles training due to a combination of factors, but chiefly because there's been so few dry, non-icy weekends this year.

Buffolo,
The BTW scheme and costs were well established back 3-4 years ago so I am not sure how the cost issue is a factor, as it has not changed. I dont doubt it drove numbers up and maybe it is settling down now (is golf the new golf!)

The bad winter is playing a part but in the past Gorey booked out about 2-3 days after it opened, so we have gone from 200+ entries to 100+ in less than four years. 'Not natural' !

Lacey cup was well down this year but that was no surprise, as they only called it on the morning. Carrick was also well down and Des Hanlon numbers, as well as Ras Limni, were just Ok. A3 seems to be taking the hardest hit on numbers.

Finally, I had to route through a drawer to find an old cheque book to help my lad enter Gorey, as he does not have one himself ......wonder if this is a factor!!!

JimmiesRustled

boege wrote: »

Buffolo,
The BTW scheme and costs were well established back 3-4 years ago so I am not sure how the cost issue is a factor, as it has not changed. I dont doubt it drove numbers up and maybe it is settling down now (is golf the new golf!)

The bad winter is playing a part but in the past Gorey booked out about 2-3 days after it opened, so we have gone from 200+ entries to 100+ in less than four years. 'Not natural' !

Lacey cup was well down this year but that was no surprise, as they only called it on the morning. Carrick was also well down and Des Hanlon numbers, as well as Ras Limni, were just Ok. A3 seems to be taking the hardest hit on numbers.

Finally, I had to route through a drawer to find an old cheque book to help my lad enter Gorey, as he does not have one himself ......wonder if this is a factor!!!

Hanlon numbers were ok?! A4 race was full. Few entries left for A3 and myself and a number of others were turned away on the day from the A1/A2 race. Not sure how they could have had better numbers....

carnivorecc

I believe a lot of riders who have ridden it in previous years have moved onto harder races such as Rás Mumhan. Gorey is a very hard race to win but relatively easy to ride around in the bunch. I reckon riders who have done Gorey before want to challenge themselves more in Mumhan than ride around at Gorey again. I was on a team of 10 riders 2 years ago and half of them will be riding Mumhan tomorrow.

wirelessdude01

Mugser wrote:

I notice some clubs on the start list there with serious numbers, some 8/9 riders each, I see one former National Vets champ there too, hmmm. A decent crop of juniors there from at least one club also. Still should be some decent racing.

Lucan with 12 and 5 juniors among them.

boege

JimmiesRustled wrote: »

Hanlon numbers were ok?! A4 race was full. Few entries left for A3 and myself and a number of others were turned away on the day from the A1/A2 race. Not sure how they could have had better numbers....

Des Hanlon is one of the big races in the calendar so you would expect it to book out early. The A3 race had 50 places left with three days to go and there were also places in one of the other races. On the day numbers did rise but it was a capped entry whereas in years back this race had a huge field. I have a photo about 5 years ago of the Hanlon A3 start line and there were over 120 riders lined up (and nearly all wearing balaclavas.)

To put it in perspective my lad could never get into Gorey in the 5-6 years he raced. Every time we went to book the entry was full. We even suspected it was filled one year before it opened. No problems this year.

TBH, the smaller numbers are making for safer racing but I was just interested in other peoples views but maybe the scene has just changed over time.

Anyway, to echo an earlier request by someone else, anyone have strava/maymyride links to Gorey routes?

harringtonp

boege wrote: »

Anyway, to echo an earlier request by someone else, anyone have strava/maymyride links to Gorey routes?

Found these from a previous year but they seem to match the stages

https://www.strava.com/activities/132044031

https://www.strava.com/activities/279924498

https://m.strava.com/activities/529715526

Bit cheeky I know :-) but if it comes down to it any chance you could carry a set of wheels to cover 3 riders ?

harringtonp

boege wrote: »

A3 seems to be taking the hardest hit on numbers.

Finally, I had to route through a drawer to find an old cheque book to help my lad enter Gorey, as he does not have one himself ......wonder if this is a factor!!!

There was a concerted effort last year to get A3's ups to A2. It worked, a lot of guys who aren't really A2 standard found themselves A2.

On of the guys in out club posted off the 60 cash in an envelope

dahat

A3 numbers will increase as the threshold as dropped to 13pts in A4 to get upgraded.

If numbers continue to drop it will be interesting to see how clubs decide to continue with road races with low numbers.

CramCycle

I imagine there will be another change to grading by the end of the year, increasing A4 point threshold and all the others as well.

Chumpski

Races down on numbers? What were they in previous years?

In Laois yesterday there was a great turnout. I don't have exact numbers but I think about 110 in A4, 75 in A3 and about 80 in A2 races.

Maybe the problem is fixture congestion? 3 stages races at Easter plus a one day race plus 1 stage race the weekend before easter.

Maybe its right call to try and get the season to start later and move some races to later in the year.

Bri981

Gorey 3 Day Highlights
https://www.facebook.com/athywheelers/videos/976354769190059/

JimmiesRustled

Chumpski wrote: »

Races down on numbers? What were they in previous years?

In Laois yesterday there was a great turnout. I don't have exact numbers but I think about 110 in A4, 75 in A3 and about 80 in A2 races.

Maybe the problem is fixture congestion? 3 stages races at Easter plus a one day race plus 1 stage race the weekend before easter.

Maybe its right call to try and get the season to start later and move some races to later in the year.

80 in the A2 race? Raced it and dont remember seeing 80 lads there. Maybe 25. 30 at a push. Unless a huge amount got shelled of DNF'D.

CramCycle

JimmiesRustled wrote: »

80 in the A2 race? Raced it and dont remember seeing 80 lads there. Maybe 25. 30 at a push. Unless a huge amount got shelled of DNF'D.

Down in Carrick there was 76 signed on when I got there, it never felt like there was more than 50. I think its funny how, unless a critical mass is hit, it only feels like the number you think is safe.

JimmiesRustled

CramCycle wrote: »

Down in Carrick there was 76 signed on when I got there, it never felt like there was more than 50. I think its funny how, unless a critical mass is hit, it only feels like the number you think is safe.

No I'd actually heard 30 minutes before roll out there were only a max or 30 or so A2's racing. They had to give us a 10 minute lead on the massive A3 group as there were so few of us they were afraid wed be caught.

Chumpski

For the A2s, i was going by seeing the bunch pass. I am likely mistaken on the A2 numbers. Was it 30?

I did hear a figure of 75 for sure in the A3 race at the start line and i was in the A4 and yeah it was a big group, person told me 80 when i signed on, and the bunch was pretty big by the time we started, I'm guessing they filled up with 100+ riders.

sullzz

Chumpski wrote: »

For the A2s, i was going by seeing the bunch pass. I am likely mistaken on the A2 numbers. Was it 30?

I did hear a figure of 75 for sure in the A3 race at the start line and i was in the A4 and yeah it was a big group, person told me 80 when i signed on, and the bunch was pretty big by the time we started, I'm guessing they filled up with 100+ riders.

I was in the A4 race , they announced 76 when we were waiting to roll out .
There was only about 30ish in the A2 group .

Plastik

From my own perspective that A2 race was very poorly advertised. I don't know how many years that race has run to date but since its inception it was always A4 and A3 fields only. I certainly had no idea they were running an A2 field this year.

harringtonp

Well guys I know it's a bit off topic but it was my first time to do the gorey 3 day and was well impressed with the organisation and how smooth it ran.

Little details like a back door to sign on with a toilet just inside it where you can quickly leave your bike and have a last minute pee help.

And having huge roof heaters on in the community centre after the final stage back to blessington was a nice touch. Weather was horrible for that stage, it was the coldest i have ever been on a bike, hands didn't work and after the first 35 km couldn't eat or drink (at least mind and legs were still functioning). Almost hypothermic if like myself and many others you got your clothing choice wrong.

104 started, 77 finished.

In my last 5 stage races I punctured in 3, bust a spoke in a 4th and came off in a crash in a 5th. Lost time in all of these and was either looking at DNF or my name right at the bottom of the final GC results. Was delighted to finally break this trend with an incident free race and see my name in the upper half.