Sportives 2022

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There also trying to make up for lost revenue if it was cancelled the last 2 year's.

Some of Elite's other events - adventure races - have also increased in price. They attribute it largely to increased insurance and transport costs, both of which I could believe, and pointed out that they only have 4 full time employees. I guess at least we have the choice to book or not, knowing the prices.

80 quid will get you a lovely BnB anywhere around Beara, you can cycle around the ring any day you like and you'll have change left over to buy your own sandwiches!

Went ahead and booked the W200 just now having registered my interest a few weeks ago. I hesitated over the confirm button for a while considering the cost at €79.50, the chaos at food stops the last time I did it and the refund conditions. These read:

"Refund Policy

I hereby understand and acknowledge that all fees and associated costs, paid in registration for the Wicklow 200 are non-refundable under any circumstances, including but not limited to injury, a scheduling conflict, and/or event cancellation.

Transfer Policy

I hereby understand and acknowledge that it is possible to transfer my entry to another person for a charge of €5 up until 8 weeks before the event date.

I understand and acknowledge that it is not possible to transfer my payment/entry to another person or event under any circumstances, including but not limited to injury, a scheduling conflict, and/or event cancellation within 8 weeks of the event taking place."

Most other sportives are probably the same but no refunds under any circumstances including event cancellation is a bit much in the current circumstances.

wonder will the tour de'burren be going ahead?

yes. think there was a date the registration will open too...

Signed up for the W200 too - looking forward to a big day out on the road. On another note I see the Orwell Randonnee is planned for April 30th - I'll definitely be entering that one. Tough old slog but always a great event.

Signed up for Cliffs of Moher and the Ring of Clare so will have the county fully covered. Hopefully they'll go ahead.

The vast majority of entries for this years Ring of Beara are those which have been deferred from the 2020/21 events (I'm one of them) - I recall that people were also offered the option to have their entries refunded - I'm guessing thats why only a small number (300) of entries were made available for this years event - much like the Tour de Conamara. I paid €65 (+ €4 booking fee) when I originally registered back in 2019/20, and whilst thats really at the upper limit of what I'm prepared to pay for a sportive, my previous experience of it has been positive - the centre of Kenmare and Castletownbere are closed off to traffic - there is a great festival atmosphere and loads of grub at the food stops. I am tempted to give the Tour de Beara a go though...

Dingle has a sportive. The organisers were scratching their heads wondering how best to promote it and bump up the numbers. - They doubled the entry price and customer numbers sky rocketed.

"Reassuringly expensive"? Is that what it is? Also I've no doubt strategic "sold out" participant restrictions help justify higher ticket prices and keep customers keen.

Personally I think it's bananas though. Some of the best sportive I've done were the cheapest. Local club-run, best routes chosen by local cyclists, and homemade community hospitality.

http://wicklowcycle.ie/ goes over both