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‘The Rás – The Story of Ireland’s Unique Bike Race’
The 2019 cycling season passed in Ireland without our beloved Rás Tailteann stage race for the first time since 1953. The recent press release announcing its return in 2020 came as a welcome relief to all concerned.
The preservation of the race itself is not the only thing at stake as an annual Rás is crucial in sustaining a vibrant racing calendar and the ongoing development of the sport is dependent on this.
However, there is still the somewhat contentious question about which type of Rás best serves that secondary purpose of promoting the overall best interests of Irish cycling: the so-called ‘old’ Rás, prior to the event’s inclusion in the UCI calendar in 2000, or that ‘new’ Rás we have seen from then to 2018. More>>>
Rider Blog Team Gerard DHL
Normally nerves play a huge role leading into a cyclist’s first participation in the Rás, but for me, there was no time to be nervous. With a heavy college schedule building up to exams that finished just 2 days before stage 1, the Rás was just a date on my calendar.
2018 marked the first year of Team-Gerard DHL but also the first Rás for 80% of our Rás squad. To help us through 8 days of chaos was Paidi O’Brien. A man with huge experience and success in the sport, most of which I am still unaware of. More>>>
Up For The Race
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| Ray Kennedy |
Up For The Race
By Ray Kennedy Dublin Opinion 1987
He was small, fat and almost totally bald. He sat at the bar with new authority this week.
The Ras Tailteann was coming through and he had ridden it.
“ I see they’ve coming by tomorrow. God then they’ve horses o’men all the same
“Begod they are” says John in return “no bother to them lads to cycle a hundred miles in day”
“Ya Did it yourself I’m told,” The bar man coaxed John, gently as he could, without blowing the whole thing. More>>>
ESB At 1961 Rás Tailteann
In the summer of 1961, staff from ESB’s Rural Electrification Office (REO) took to the road with the Rás Tailteann, a national multi-stage cycle race across Ireland. Instead of bicycles, their mode of transport for the race was a rather large Mobile Display van known as LIK 650.
This large demonstration vehicle, traditionally used for local shows around the Cork area, was relieved of its usual duties on this particular occasion and dispatched to Dublin to undertake an important if not somewhat unusual mission. More>>>
Gabriel Howard, Legendary Figure In Irish Cycling
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| Nicholas Roche being interviewed by his good friend Gabriel Howard |
‘Everybody knew Gaybo the length and breadth of the country and beyond’ - Gabriel Howard, a legendary figure in Irish cycling, passed away earlier this month following a farm accident, writes Paul Fitzpatrick
The 1963 Rás Tailteann, the 12th renewal of the race, was groundbreaking. In first place was Zbigniew Glowaty of Poland, the first non-Irish champion, who beat Kerry’s Dan Ahern into second.
Behind him in sixth was Christy Kimmage, father of future Tour De France rider and leading journalist Paul. And way back, clinging on to a friend on a service motorcycle, was a man whose name would become synonymous with the annual event and the sport of cycling itself — Gabriel ‘Gaybo’ Howard, from Stamullen, Co Meath. More>>>
The Late Gabriel Howard
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| The Late Gabriel Howard |
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Gerry Keogh Stage Winner In His First Rás Tailteann
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| The Late Gerry Keogh |
Ratoath native Gerry Keogh, who died in Dublin recently, was a prominent cyclist at a time when Meath riders were enjoying considerable success nationally, in the 1950’s. A native of Halltown on the Skyrne Road Ratoath, he lived in Clonsilla, and was aged 91 when he passed away at Connolly Memorial Hospital Blanchardstown on the 16th November 2015.
Working in Dublin as a young man, he began his cycling career with The National Cycling Club in his twenties. He worked in Allied Irish Finance alongside Kerry cyclist, Gene Mangan, having earlier worked at construction, including operating what was then Ireland’s biggest crane at the building of the church in Finglas.
He took part in his first Rás Tailteann in 1955, and won the sixth stage, a testing 88 mile spin from Cork to Tralee over mountainous terrain. He was in an eight-man breakaway group for nearly 100 miles before breaking away on his own in the closing stages to win by 10 seconds from Gene Mangan, Kerry who was the outright winner. More>>>
My Own Personal Feeling
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| Aidan Crowley 19 Rásannas Ridden In His Career To Date |
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Phoenix Rás Team 2015
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| Phoenix C.C, Rás Team 2015 |
If you're racing in France, you move from Castle Town to Castle Town, surrounded by hairdressers and pharmacies.
If you're racing in Belgium you hit concrete pavements after concrete pavements, with a pint of something, never out of eyeshot.
If you are racing in Holland you can probably see the next place you're are racing as the godforsaken country is flat. To your left is a lkeor clogs or cheese.
Giro di Lombardia is the "Race Of The Falling Leaves"
The Rás is the race of the More>>>
Mike The Man Of The Rás "73"
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| Mike O'Donaghue Carlow In The Race Winners Yellow Jersey After He Won THe 1973 Tayto Rás Tailteann |
In May 2013 Carlow County Museum unveiled a special temporary exhibition to mark the fortieth anniversary of Carlow man Mike O’Donaghue winning the Rás Tailteann (now the An Post Rás), Ireland’s premier bike race in 1973. The exhibition launch coincided with Stage 6 of the 2013 An Post Rás stage finishing on Barrack Street, Carlow Town earlier that afternoon. The An Post Rás with the assistance of Carlow County Museum as the Stage End Coordinator brought the riders just over 154kms from Mitchelstown, Co Cork.
It is not often that museums mount an exhibition about a living person let alone hold a major street event in their honour. What resulted was an exhibition rekindling memories of an occasion that was front page news in 1973 with a link to the modern day with hundreds of spectators on the streets of the town cheering on the ‘Men of the Rás’.
On Sunday July 8th 1973 thousands gathered on a sunny afternoon in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, to witness the conclusion of the twenty first edition of Ireland’s great bike race, the Rás Tailteann. This ten day gruelling race had visited each of the four provinces and the final stage saw Carlow’s Mike O’Donaghue in the coveted yellow jersey of race leader. After twenty laps of the Phoenix Park’s Polo Ground circuit Mike crossed the line as the only Carlow man so far and the first from the south east to win the Rás Tailteann More>>>
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