With less than 3 months to go, things are moving along well with the first ever Race Around Ireland.
So far we’ve had entries from all over Ireland, along with the UK, USA, Canada and Germany. The racers are quite a mixed bag of individuals with everything from road racers to mountain bikers to marathon runners to adventure racers to leisure cyclists and everything in between.
So far there are 17 solo riders entered. Amongst these are
• Caroline van den Bulk who is ranked World No. 1. She recently won the 1185km Race Around Slovenia.
• British rider Mark Pattinson who last year finished 2nd in RAAM.
• Stephen Bugbee from the US who also competed in RAAM last year. (His photos from RAAM have to be seen to be believed!) Stephen recently set a new record for North to South in the State of Maine. Read his account of this on our website.
• There’s also the director of the Kelloggs Tour of Ireland Sportive, Joe Barr who rides for Team Merckx-Tuttosport. He is the former holder of a number of records in Ireland, including the End to End.
We also have 12 4-person teams and 2 8-person teams. Among these there are
• Team Geoff Thomas Foundation which is representing the former England players charity
• Team No Prior Experience which is led by Sky Sports presenter Graham Little. Graham has previously represented Ireland at Elephant Polo, Sumo Wrestling, Synchronized Swimming and Nettle Eating to name but a few!
• We also have a team led by one of Ireland top coaches Padraig Marrey
Our website has been updated with a page dedicated to the charities supported by the racers and some articles written by Race Director Alan Heary discussing preparation for an event like this
The route has been finalised and there’s a link on the website to our mapmyride page which has maps for the majority of the sections.
The Time Stations are:
TS01 Ballymascanlon, Co. Louth
TS02 Belfast, Co. Antrim
TS03 Giants Causeway, Co. Antrim
TS04 Malin Head, Co. Donegal
TS05 Letterkenny, Co. Donegal
TS06 Sligo Town
TS07 Westport, Co. Mayo
TS08 Clifden, Co. Galway
TS09 Oranmore, Co. Galway
TS10 Limerick City
TS11 Tralee, Co. Kerry
TS12 Sneem, Co. Kerry
TS13 Mizen Head, Co. Cork
TS14 Kinsale, Co. Cork
TS15 Cobh, Co. Cork
TS16 Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary
TS17 Aughrim, Co. Wicklow
TS18 Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow
TS19(Incorporating the Penalty Box) TBC
Finally, one of the most exciting aspects of the race is the alliance we’ve made with Dublin City University. They will be working very closely with us before, during and after the race, on some seriously ground breaking research. Details of this will be published in the next two weeks.
Visit our website for information on all the above and more
Irelands Ultimate Cycling Challenge - Race Around Ireland 
