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New Organiser For An Post Rás
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| Tony Campbell Race Director |
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| Eddie Dawson Assistant Race Director |
An Post Rás Route Director, Tony Campbell, will take over as organiser of the 8 day international cycle race following Dermot Dignam’s decision to retire from the position within the next few weeks.
“it’s the next logical step to a process we started two years ago” Dignam explains “we very successfully set up a working group with a view to attracting younger people into the race organisation and now with the benefit of experience they are ready to assume greater responsibility”.
Tony Campbell has vast experience at different levels in the race and worked closely with Dignam for many years. The man with the mammoth task of arranging accommodation for the huge entourage each year, Eddie Dawson, will continue to look after accommodation as well being Assistant Race Director. More>>>
Famous Names In The Rás
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| Shay O'Hanlon, 62,65,66,67 |
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| Paddy Flanagan, 60, 64, 75 |
The 2008 FBD Insurance Rás rolls off from Navan on Sunday, May 18, and a week later another chapter in the history of the famous race, which began as a two-day event in 1953, will be completed with the finish in Skerries, Co. Dublin.
The race was called An Rás Tailteann for 30 years until the word “Tailteann” was dropped in 1984. Many older followers of cycling in this country regret that change but they retain fond memories of the giants of the road when it was purely an amateur event.
Riders like Gene Mangan and Mick Murphy from Kerry and Ben McKenna of Meath, winners in the 1950’s, were as well known as intercounty footballers from those counties at the time, and they were followed by two men who hold a special place in the history of the race.
Paddy Flanagan from Kildare was the overall victor three times between 1960 and 1975 and Dublin ace Shay O’Hanlon triumphed four times, first in 1962 and then a 1965 to 1967 three-in-a-row.
Paddy was just 16 years old when cycling on an ‘ordinary’ bike from his home in Kildangan, Co. Kildare, to Monasterevin when passed by a group of six racing cyclists from the local Midland Cycling Club who were out on a training spin.
Young Flanagan got in behind the group and when the speed went up, the racers were surprised that the teenager was still with them. So with the spin reaching its conclusion, they tried to drop the ‘intruder’ but instead it was four of the original sextet who dropped back while Paddy stayed with the other two. More>>>
Billy Kerr Honest Workman
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| Billy Kerr |
A man who has captured the imagination of many sports-followers beyond the fringe of cycle-racing fraternity this season is big genial Billy Kerr from Ballymena.
At the age of 34 he won this Easter Tour of the North five-day international race in Ulster, for the second successive year, and then immediately flew to Manchester to start the Sealink International, of similar duration, the very next day. To everyone’s amazement – not least the teams from Great Britain, Czechoslovakia, France, Netherlands, Canada, Norway and Denmark – he won Sealink too.
This mid-Antrim man has left no doubt that despite all his participation in international events across the world – his travels last season included Canada and West Germany, and he was ninth in the 14-day Tour of Britain – he’s looking forward specially to competing for the first time in this big National Cycling Association promotion, the Health Race. Like many other Northern Ireland C.F. riders he enjoys racing over tough routes in the Wicklow Mountains and on many hard testing sections in the West – from Donegal right down to Valencia. More>>>
Stage Racing In Ireland
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| Henri Desgrange Founder Of The Tour de France 1903 |
Ever since Henri Desgranges founded the fabulous Tour de France away back in the early 1900’s, stage racing has caught the imagination of cyclists all over the world.
Here in Ireland the call came later than in most countries. Proximity to England caused the road sport to develop along Time Trial lines. However, even time-trialling was a poor relation branch of the sport for Track Racing was the big attraction.
The Split in 1949 swept away all the NCA roadmen leaving the NCA predominantly a track racing association with virtually no time-triallists so what road racing there was became Massed Start.
As the NCA regained strength this branch of the sport started tothrive and a road-racing calendar became established and naturally, fed on a diet of cycling reading which highlighted the Tour de France and such legendary figures as Coppi, Kubler, etc. the roadmen started to think in terms of stage racing.
The first stage was held in August 1950 when the Western CC, Belfast, put on a Belfast – Dublin – Belfast Two-Day for the Irish News Cup. (The Western had run a Belfast-Dublin one-day race since 1948).
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"The Men Of The Rås"
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| Ray Kennedy |
The Rás, or give it its full title An Rás Tailteann, was the brainchild of a Dublin barrister Joe Christle. He wasnt satisfied with a one day cycle race that lasted for just a few hours, he wanted to create a race that lasted for a whole week.
His dream was to create an event that would capture the imagination of the people at home and showcase the best of Irish athleticism to the world. On the 19th of September 1953, his dream became a reality.
The first Rás Tailteann was a two-day affair, from Dublin to Wexford and back, covering a little over two hundred miles.
In wet, miserable conditions, 52 cyclists set off from O'Connell Street, most of them having no idea of how they were going to cope with this new phenomenon of multi-stage racing.
During the 1940's and 1950's, the staple diet of the average racing cyclist was either short distance road races or out-and-back time trials against the clock. Indeed, for the majority of them, their weekly racing was at sports meetings where they raced on grass tracks over very short distances. More>>>
Cycling Ireland Interview With Dermot Dignam An Post Rás Director
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| Dermot Dignam |
There was actually no tradition of racing in my family although everyone had bikes. My Dad & Uncle would have ridden everywhere so being on a bike was second nature. I was interested in riding and when I decided to join a club I went for The (St. James ) Gate CC. They were the only club in Guinness at the time that accepted outsiders (non-employees) and it was known that one of their members, Philip Clarke, had been captured during an arms raid on a British Army Barracks, which added a bit of allure for me at the time. Those earlier days of cycling in Ireland were highly poIiticised and it was virtually impossible to be impartial at the time. Not long after joining the Gate CC I was roped into being club secretary and that was really the start of my involvement in the admin side of the sport. Over the years I progressed through to eventually become President of the NCA (National Cycling Association) as it was known at the time. I put in a lot of hard work over the years and have been lucky to have worked with very good, like minded people which ultimately culminated in the previous 3 Irish Federations (NCA, ICF & NICF) merging in 1987 to form what we now recognise as Cycling Ireland. More>>>
Rás 2012 By Myles McCorry
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| Myles McCorry |
“You’re riding the Ras?” Simple question “YOU’RE riding the Ras!” – Un nerving clarification “You! riding THE RAS”- Sheer Disbelief
I have received all of these over the past few months since I decided to return to our national stage race. Its not like I don’t ask myself the same question every time I struggle the 3-mile climb home. The house was bought in a younger, lighter, fitter time; when the climb was a selling point to the house, like underfloor heating- an en suite level 3 session. But Yes, I am riding it.
The ‘Why’ I'm riding the An Post Ras is a more difficult question, again asked with leading levels of scepticism. Level 1 “Are you riding the RAS?” Level 2 “Are you still thinking of riding the RAS?” Level 3 “You’re not still thinking of riding the RAS …are you!?” Level 4 “The Ras, REALLY? YOU?!”
The WHY is a personal thing for every single soul riding it, mine is a collection of various reasons, excuses and dreams that add up to a rubbish 2nd Cat having only two beers instead of five at Christmas and forgetting my younger son's name.
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Craven Crashes In Ireland Back In Training
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| Dan Craven IG Sigma Sport |
The crash came 50km before the end of the third stage when Craven was lying in fourth place in the peloton. Two of his team-mates slipped on the greasy descent and Craven saw his rear wheel slide from under him. With nowhere to go, the rest of the peloton ploughed into Craven, leaving the road strewn with bikes and bodies. “My team mate who was in second position said his back wheel slid and he was only just able to keep his bike up. I was not so lucky and no one behind me had a chance either.
I have no memory of it but people say there was oil on the road, with the rain and as it was so narrow and twisty it was just an accident waiting to happen,” he said. “Considering that we did the first 50km of the race in 1 hour and 1 minute I suppose it is no surprise that crashes would happen,” he added. Craven suffered a deep gash on his chin and on his cheek and also suffered memory loss, but he immediately got back onto his bike to complete the race. “This crash was the first time I’ve suffered from memory loss. More>>>
Paul’s Passing Changed Everything For Me; It Was Time To Get Serious About The Bike
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| Aaron Buggle |
Following a return from injury last year, Aaron Buggle is enjoying his first prolonged period of uninterrupted racing. With a good Ras under his belt he is returning to France with big goals for the weeks ahead. In the first of what will be regular dispatches, he writes about his uncle and friend Paul Healion and how his attitude’s changed after Paul’s passing. He also looks ahead and outlines his hopes of progressing further in the sport and of catching the eye of a bigger team for next season.
Cycling started with me following after my late uncle and mate Paul Healion everywhere he went. I was like a bad smell to be honest. I got mad into cycling very fast and learned a lot from him; mostly good things but some insane stuff also!
In 2009 I started to do some of the track camps with the team pursuit squad and although I wasn’t yet strong enough it was a great learning curve. I had an eye on the TT champs from early in the year. More>>>
Apres Ras 2012 – Don’t Change A Thing !
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| Barry Meehan |
The An Post Ras is over for another year and the withdrawal symptoms have set in. In years gone by it was only the hourly Roy Willoughby radio report and the 30 second clip on the RTE evening news that had us all enthralled. However, nowadays we have Shane Stokes’ live updates on Irishcycling.com, Sticky Bottle live updates on Facebook and Fiona Cooke on twitter as @anpostras to keep up with the action as it happens. Then in the evening before any tv station gets a chance to screen its clip the TV3 4 minute clip is up on youtube and sticky bottle. Shane Stokes then gives great synopsis of what, when and how it all happened up front whilst Richard Hooten, Paddy Clarke and the KING of all Cycling reality writers Myles McCorry gave a fantastic insight into what was really going on within the bunch for all the Men of the Ras.
For the past few editions there has been a lot of talk about the Ras nowadays being too hard for amateurs and county riders who have day jobs and families to fit their training around. Suggestions include having a separate Ras for amateurs and to leave the current Ras to the professionals who are in search of UCI points.
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