Rás 2019

JimmiesRustled · 14-02-2019 9:28pm #1

https://www.breakingnews.ie/sport/other/ras-tailteann-will-not-be-raced-this-year-904549.html

Sad to see. Hope it goes ahead in a 4 day format this year with a return to form in 2020.

ednwireland · 14-02-2019 10:52pm

real shame always looked forward to it.

but anyone who runs events knows its getting harder to get sponsors

1bryan · 15-02-2019 10:49am

I presume lads have been out all winter training their holes off for this. Not that we've had the worst winter or anything, but still, this is heartbreaking news. Not just for them, but the rest of us too.

I'm kind of done with procycling (Protour, etc) but I love following the domestic scene, and the Ras was the absolute pinnacle of following cycling for me.

I'd imagine there's a serious danger of it not returning, at least in it's most recent format.

In saying that, if it could reinvent itself in a way that was more focused on domestic riders, with the odd overseas team (ala Ras Mumhan), that could be good.

I really need someone to blame this on. Anyone? The Brits maybe?

Steve SilverMint · 15-02-2019 11:04am

Very sad news that an event with such great history finds itself in this situation.

I’ve always been surprised that an event like this doesn’t get the coverage it deserves.

I’m going off on a tangent here but it really annoys me how RTE spend so much money on stuff like Champions League coverage and ignore stuff like this that’s happening on home soil.

Live tv coverage or delayed coverage would have really helped raise public interest in the Rás I don’t see what RTE or other Irish broadcasters would have to lose here. It wouldn’t be an expensive event to cover and if racing’s not your thing you’d at least get to see some lovely countryside.

Weepsie · 15-02-2019 11:13am

IT's a hell of a lot harder to broadcast cycling than it is football, Cycling is very expensive to broadcast compared too many other sports. RTE don't have to pay for the CL cameras, and probably make a rather a lot of it back in advertising.

Highlights packages possibly, that's what they used to do.

15-02-2019 11:36am

There was a very decent package shown on TG4 and eirSport for the junior tour last year. Certainly better than any coverage of the Rás I saw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I79khL-vQDs

PringleDemon · 15-02-2019 2:20pm

2 years without attracting any major sponsorship due to the lack of exposure perhaps . I had seen plenty of idea's floating about regarding a fundraising Sportive or even crowdfunding . Needing to think outside the box etc. Nothing came of it .

I heard from an experienced Ras rider that the Ras organising team was very much old school and in his opinion they have been too slow to change their mindset to this race and ultimately this is where we are now! His words , not mine .

Steve SilverMint · 15-02-2019 2:25pm

Weepsie wrote: »

IT's a hell of a lot harder to broadcast cycling than it is football, Cycling is very expensive to broadcast compared too many other sports. RTE don't have to pay for the CL cameras, and probably make a rather a lot of it back in advertising.

Highlights packages possibly, that's what they used to do.

Well some form of televised coverage is the only way forward for it I feel. I can’t see how any potential sponsors would come on board and invest money if nobody is seeing the event how is it going to benefit the sponsors

Weepsie · 15-02-2019 2:57pm

Steve SilverMint wrote: »

Well some form of televised coverage is the only way forward for it I feel. I can’t see how any potential sponsors would come on board and invest money if nobody is seeing the event how is it going to benefit the sponsors

Equally no one is going to televise it if they don't think it will attract enough sponsorship to justify the cost of doing it.

Something like the Junior Rás one would be a good start in a daily highlights show, but live broadcasting requires extra costs

Junior · 15-02-2019 4:17pm

PringleDemon wrote: »

2 years without attracting any major sponsorship due to the lack of exposure perhaps . I had seen plenty of idea's floating about regarding a fundraising Sportive or even crowdfunding . Needing to think outside the box etc. Nothing came of it .

I heard from an experienced Ras rider that the Ras organising team was very much old school and in his opinion they have been too slow to change their mindset to this race and ultimately this is where we are now! His words , not mine .

I think at best any effort like this may have only gone partially to cover cost for 1 year. I think that perhaps the organizers wanted to stay in the corporate world and crowdfunding etc would have taken some of the gloss off that.

DKmac · 15-02-2019 4:47pm

The countries marquee cycling event should not be left up to a small group of volunteers to run and organise. This should be taken under the remit of Cycling Ireland and organised and promoted by the national governing body much in the same way British Cycling get involved with large scale events in the UK.

PringleDemon · 15-02-2019 5:20pm

DKmac wrote: »

The countries marquee cycling event should not be left up to a small group of volunteers to run and organise. This should be taken under the remit of Cycling Ireland and organised and promoted by the national governing body much in the same way British Cycling get involved with large scale events in the UK.

^^ This is correct ^^

ericzeking · 15-02-2019 8:01pm

Haven't heard it reported on a sports bulletin yet or on Off the ball....it's very sad.

While there was a large professional element in recent years, the history of the Ras is steeped in achievement by the lad down the road.

Modern Irish people have no interest in the grass roots sports stuff, it's all bandwagons and pints of Ken. The League of Ireland, club GAA games, AIL....they all struggle while the country is enamoured with the flippin Irish rugby team, a sport that almost no one actually plays.

Weepsie · 15-02-2019 8:37pm

Given that there is still huge participation in GAA and Soccer at the lowest level, it's absolutely not the people's fault.

League of Ireland is given zero support by the FAI. At a time when money being spent on watching football was higher than ever and going to matches abroad and when our national team played to a decent standard (2000s) and had relatively well known names, absolutely nothing was done to improve the structures here.

Club GAA is very much dependent on the local area. Where I'm from there are 6 gaa clubs within minutes of each other. People have their allegiances and thats that. The fact the GAA will cancel or move matches on a whim at club level too doesn't help. Rathnew (I think) were forced to play their Leinster semi final a day after their quarter final this past year.

It's the people responsible for these sports that are the problem.

The IRFU should be commended at their approach to growing the sport of rugby. There's more than ever playing it, it's very successful and it will continue to be so.

IRFU have approx 95k people playing rugby apparently across 200 clubs and 250 schools. Now they could be double counting some of them, but hardly anyone plays is wrong.

CI numbers fell last year.

That's just a snide shot to be honest

Lewotsil · 16-02-2019 10:16am

To be fair .... given the crossover there are prob more GAA players and clubs in Cork than there are rugby on the full island........... and Cork GAA is in a heap !

Weepsie wrote: »

Given that there is still huge participation in GAA and Soccer at the lowest level, it's absolutely not the people's fault.

League of Ireland is given zero support by the FAI. At a time when money being spent on watching football was higher than ever and going to matches abroad and when our national team played to a decent standard (2000s) and had relatively well known names, absolutely nothing was done to improve the structures here.

Club GAA is very much dependent on the local area. Where I'm from there are 6 gaa clubs within minutes of each other. People have their allegiances and thats that. The fact the GAA will cancel or move matches on a whim at club level too doesn't help. Rathnew (I think) were forced to play their Leinster semi final a day after their quarter final this past year.

It's the people responsible for these sports that are the problem.

The IRFU should be commended at their approach to growing the sport of rugby. There's more than ever playing it, it's very successful and it will continue to be so.

IRFU have approx 95k people playing rugby apparently across 200 clubs and 250 schools. Now they could be double counting some of them, but hardly anyone plays is wrong.

CI numbers fell last year.

That's just a snide shot to be honest

Lewotsil · 16-02-2019 10:20am

Totally understand how the organisers(volunteers) held out for medium term sponsor in order to bring some stabilisation to planning process...... you couldnt be relying on a precarious source of funding year on year.

Given the history of the event - I would have thought the government could have stepped in .....could see it fall within remit of Sport, Tourism ....maybe even Culture !

Hope it goes on in some form this year........ like RÁS Mumhan etc.

Junior wrote: »

I think at best any effort like this may have only gone partially to cover cost for 1 year. I think that perhaps the organizers wanted to stay in the corporate world and crowdfunding etc would have taken some of the gloss off that.

Miklos · 16-02-2019 11:02am

Maybe if the Rás organisers went to the governement and said it would cost €50 to put on they'd get their commitment and could then hike up the price after. Seems to have worked out for others recently.

Eamonnator · 16-02-2019 11:06am

DKmac wrote: »

The countries marquee cycling event should not be left up to a small group of volunteers to run and organise. This should be taken under the remit of Cycling Ireland and organised and promoted by the national governing body much in the same way British Cycling get involved with large scale events in the UK.

Do C.I. organise or promote any other races in Ireland?

CramCycle · 16-02-2019 11:34am

Miklos wrote: »

Maybe if the Rorganisers went to the governement and said it would cost €50 to put on they'd get their commitment and could then hike up the price after. Seems to have worked out for others recently.

We will ask BAM to sponsor it, job done

Plastik · 16-02-2019 4:17pm

Eamonnator wrote: »

Do C.I. organise or promote any other races in Ireland?

Maybe someone will correct me, but no. And even with things like the "national league" they made it so onerous on the club hosting the race by insisting on things like PA systems, full barrier controls at the finish area, and an assortment of other demands that we eventually took our race out of it. Promotion is minimum, assistance is minimum, their whole raison d'être is to seemingly collect money from leisure members and redirect it towards the elite squads.

SligoBrewer · 17-02-2019 1:47am

Government subsidises the GAA via the GPA player grants. Just saying.

ednwireland · 17-02-2019 9:27am

Just look at the national sized sponsors that might be a good fit
Lidl gaa
Supervalu gaa
Aldi rugby
Guinness rugby
Bank of Ireland rugby gaa golf
Aib gaa

That's just off the top of my head
Hard to get a national sized sponsor

bazermc · 17-02-2019 7:20pm

CramCycle wrote: »

We will ask BAM to sponsor it, job done

BAM and the moneys gone

saccades · 17-02-2019 8:53pm

DKmac wrote: »

The countries marquee cycling event should not be left up to a small group of volunteers to run and organise. This should be taken under the remit of Cycling Ireland and organised and promoted by the national governing body much in the same way British Cycling get involved with large scale events in the UK.

CI much the same as BC._._.

At what point does a governing body take over a private event?

If the Ras was a cash cow and CI took it over there would be an outcry.

I already feel like I'm paying a silly price to be in CI as it is for all the good they do me, i don't want more expense to cover, you have to ask when cycling number are at a 40 odd year high how the premier event is struggling .

Weepsie · 17-02-2019 11:35pm

saccades wrote: »

I already feel like I'm paying a silly price to be in CI as it is for all the good they do me, i don't want more expense to cover, you have to ask when cycling number are at a 40 odd year high how the premier event is struggling .

Membership is down though.

Tour of Britain is partly organised by a private entity who specialise in events management, specifically cycling and do a number of events in partnership with British Cycling. That plus BC have had huge public buy in due to unprecedented Olympic success and then success on the road, plus the Atherton's in mountain biking.

17-02-2019 11:48pm

ednwireland wrote: »

Just look at the national sized sponsors that might be a good fit
Lidl gaa
Supervalu gaa
Aldi rugby
Guinness rugby
Bank of Ireland rugby gaa golf
Aib gaa

That's just off the top of my head
Hard to get a national sized sponsor

From those I'd have thought Lidl a good fit as they are involved cycling sponsorship already, I'm sure the Rás is small change compared to what they pay to have their logo on the arse of quickstep teams shorts.

Another good fit that I could think of would have been Skoda, have a sportive series sponsored here already, their cars used as team cars in many major and minor races and they have a history with bikes.

I've no doubt both were approached as if I can think of those then I'm sure the Rás people did. As mentioned it comes down to visibility and tv time for a sponsor it's hard to see the value they would get from the event. Hell I question how many Bora cookers, Quickstep floors or Sky subscriptions get sold off the back of their €20 million + cycling sponsorship

1bryan · 18-02-2019 9:20am

SligoBrewer wrote: »

Government subsidises the GAA via the GPA player grants. Just saying.

care to go into more detail? Like, how much players get, etc?

1bryan · 18-02-2019 9:24am

Weepsie wrote: »

The fact the GAA will cancel or move matches on a whim at club level too doesn't help.

this is untrue, particularly around championship. A 'master' fixtures sheet is issued at the start of the year and it cannot be deviated from, unless in the most extreme of circumstances (bereavement, etc).

There is some flexibility around the 'lesser' competitions, but the leeway extends to a day or 2 either side of the original fixture.

Rathnew (I think) were forced to play their Leinster semi final a day after their quarter final this past year.

This regularly happens. Wicklow GAA will have known from early the same year when the county's representatives are fixed to play in Leinster. They have a responsibility to have their championship played off in time. With postponements, replays, etc, counties often cut it very fine, with teams forced to play 2 games in consecutive days.

It's certainly not ideal, but it is an avoidable situation.

buffalo · 18-02-2019 9:28am

saccades wrote: »

CI much the same as BC._._.

At what point does a governing body take over a private event?

If the Ras was a cash cow and CI took it over there would be an outcry.

Why? You say below that your membership is a "silly price", surely you would like your non-profit cycling body to therefore look for other sources of revenue?

saccades wrote: »

I already feel like I'm paying a silly price to be in CI as it is for all the good they do me, i don't want more expense to cover, you have to ask when cycling number are at a 40 odd year high how the premier event is struggling .

Because the numbers of people out cycling their bike for fun at the weekend does not translate into more people racing the Rás, or even necessarily being interested in the Rás.

1bryan · 18-02-2019 9:29am

Lewotsil wrote: »

Totally understand how the organisers(volunteers) held out for medium term sponsor in order to bring some stabilisation to planning process...... you couldnt be relying on a precarious source of funding year on year.

Given the history of the event - I would have thought the government could have stepped in .....could see it fall within remit of Sport, Tourism ....maybe even Culture !

Hope it goes on in some form this year........ like RÁS Mumhan etc.

have to agree with this. When the Tour of Ireland ran for it's, albeit brief, stint, Tourism Ireland rowed in behind it, and we all know that race was the opposite of cheap.

The Ras would be a perfect vehicle for a tourism body to row in behind. Similar happens in other countries (Israel, middle-eastern countries spring to mind).

18-02-2019 10:15am

1bryan wrote: »

have to agree with this. When the Tour of Ireland ran for it's, albeit brief, stint, Tourism Ireland rowed in behind it, and we all know that race was the opposite of cheap.

The Ras would be a perfect vehicle for a tourism body to row in behind. Similar happens in other countries (Israel, middle-eastern countries spring to mind).

They did have some big names at the tour tough, likes of Mark Cavendish and even Lance Armstrong.

Was the same route as the Nissan Classic if I recall and a 2.1 ranked race on the European tour so likely had TV coverage on maybe Eurosport but honestly can't recall seeing it.

DKmac · 18-02-2019 11:25am

If only we had a couple of Human Rights violations in this country to Sportswash.

wpd · 19-02-2019 2:52pm

http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/dan-martin-ras-tailteann/

Very interesting comments by Dan here

would anyone know what the cost difference would be between uci 2.2 event and a local 7 day stage race with maybe
one foreign team??

I think some of the UK teams would still come, in the past if i remember correctly there was only one major foreign team
I remember the Russians and their slippy tubs and the Italians and a punch up in Dun Laoghaire?

Lewotsil · 19-02-2019 6:42pm

Agree with Dan but organisers (understandably) were reluctant to relinquish the spot in the UCI calendar.......I presume once its gone it would be a very arduous exercise to get it back?

I would guess the big savings between domestic v UCI event would be on the UCI related fees - principally event registration ?

Weepsie · 19-02-2019 9:45pm

I'd personally love to see a UCI 1 day race here. Ample places for great courses. Attach a sportive to it the previous day or after like in London and it could attract folk.

The London one is dull as hell but it's huge and attracts big names

ednwireland · 20-02-2019 9:32am

Somehow doubt making it an amatuer race would make it cheaper. You still have to run it to the same standard with the same number of people, garda out riders etc.
So you're stuck with finding the same level of national sponsor. Someone like spar would be a good fit.

Macy0161 · 20-02-2019 9:40am

ednwireland wrote: »

Somehow doubt making it an amatuer race would make it cheaper. You still have to run it to the same standard with the same number of people, garda out riders etc.
So you're stuck with finding the same level of national sponsor. Someone like spar would be a good fit.

I'd guess the logic would be that it'd be easier to find sponsors, as it would have more national interest. RTE love faux amateur sports like the GAA, so may be more inclined to give coverage if it was local riders for county teams.

It'd also potentially increase interest in racing in general, giving people a more realistic aspiration of being "a man of the Rás".

1bryan · 20-02-2019 9:51am

Macy0161 wrote: »

faux amatuer sports like the GAA.

LOLZ

20-02-2019 10:12am

Cycling is still a minority sport and sponsors, understandably, want exposure to as wide an audience as they can get. Whether GAA is 'faux amatuer' (sic) or not is of no relevance, it has a massive audience and gets great coverage in Ireland.

Junior · 20-02-2019 8:29pm

531 wrote: »

Cycling is still a minority sport and sponsors, understandably, want exposure to as wide an audience as they can get. Whether GAA is 'faux amatuer' (sic) or not is of no relevance, it has a massive audience and gets is given great coverage in Ireland.

Fixed that for you.

20-02-2019 8:37pm

Junior wrote: »

Fixed that for you.

Sorry for my faux cleverness, i am not at my best in tbe mornings. 'Gets' or 'is given'.... I could argue that but as I started it, I will stand corrected.

Rás 2019

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