Irish 4-Day Invite.....

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

[quote]The Surrey League have once again been invited to enter a team of 4 riders in the RAS MUMHAN 4 DAY CYCLE RACE at Easter.

Last season the team consisted of Chris Birch - East Street Cycles RT, Chris Parlett - Wildside RT, Toby Neave - Wildside RT & Gary Dodd - Sigma Sport RT with Keith Butler Director Sportif. The team came away with 3 top 3 placings and Gary Dodd finished 5th overall.RAS MUMHAN 4 DAY CYCLE RACE will again take place on the traditional dates over the Easter weekend from Good Friday the 6th, to Easter Monday the 9th of April. This is the first big stage race of the domestic season.

It has proved in the past of huge benefit to cyclists preparing for the FBD Insurance Rás and getting ready for a hard season of racing. Rás Mumhan has a justified reputation as one of the biggest races on the Irish racing calendar and its preservation as one of the pillars of the Irish cycle racing calendar was the key motivator in the decision to continue running the race. The race will be again be promoted by Killorglin Credit Union Cycling Club and will be led by New Race Director Pat Dunworth, The Safety Officer is Dan Aherne, with former runner up in the race , Timmy Barry acting as Technical Director for the event.

The race will be held over 4 Stages.

Stage 1, sponsored by TLI Technologies, is a 4 mile Time Trial on Good Friday the 6th of April in Killorglin at 6:00 p.m.

Stage 2 on Easter Saturday is a testing course over 96 miles from Killorglin to Castleisland by way of some hilly roads of North Kerry and North Cork. This stage, sponsored by Garvey's Supervalu Castleisland, will provide a stern test of stamina and endurance for the riders. The race will depart Killorglin at 10:00 a.m. and should pass through Castleisland for the first time at approx 11:45 a.m. This stage will take over four 4 hours to complete and the finish time will be after 2pm back in Castleisland.

Easter Sundays 3rd Stage is sponsored by Pauline Sugrue Property Sales, Waterville. The race will start and finish in Waterville, after a tough 65 miles which might appear short in comparison to the previous day but make no mistake this is a tough test. Climbs at Coars, Valentia, Sossa and Coom will give the anti-gravity specialists a chance to shine. The stage will start in Waterville at 12 noon and should take over 3 hours to complete. As this is a very exposed stage the weather and the wind will play a major role in determining the outcome of the stage.

The final Stage on Monday morning the 9th of April is the tried and trusted loop from Killorglin to Beaufort and finishing with 5 laps of the Donal McKenna Circuit. This stage will start at 10:00 a.m. outside The Kingdom Bar in Killorglin, which has a long relationship with bike racing in Killorglin and with Rás Mumhan in particular and the finish up the Hill will be shortly after 12 noon.

The Chief Commissaire for the event will be Mr. Jack Watson who is one of the most senior race officials in the country and who has a vast experience of officiating at races all over the world. The race will be run to the race safety standard of Killorglin Credit Union Cycling Club and will have full medical and Garda backup on the race. The total prize fund for the race is approx ?4,500.



If you feel you want to be considered for a place in the 2008 team please let me know at glyn@surreyleague.co.uk