With stage race action back on the roads of Ireland this Easter Bank Holiday Weekend, one notable absence is the International Tour of the North. And as that stage race does not go ahead this weekend, another event has been cancelled in the Republic.
Yesterday Wexford Wheelers said its planned Frank O Rourke Memorial Race, scheduled for May 1st, was off, though the club is still hoping to run it later in the year.
“For the last number of months we have been trying to work with Wexford County Council and meet the conditions they have in place around traffic management and the running of the event,” the club said in a brief statement.
“Unfortunately we are unable to meet these requirements in the time between now and May 1st and we have no option but to postpone the event for now. We will now work with Cycling Ireland and Cycling Leinster to find a new date later in the season.”
The issues with the Wexford council are increasingly common for race organisers in other parts of the country. A number of promoters told stickybottle that local authorities and, at times, local gardaí are now putting increasingly complex demands on promoters before a race will be allowed.
This is despite road race promoters in the Republic not needing permission from councils or gardai to run their events, according to a number of people who have been running races for years. Some race organisers explained additional demands are often made by councils or gardai very close to race dates.
“It’s usually something to do with safety, or certainly something they claim is in the name of making the race safer,” said one organiser. “But the demands are made so close to the race date you’ve no chance of getting these extra jobs done.”
Another promoter said some of the extra safety requests, including erecting crowd control barriers in finish areas, involved additional costs. And such requests were being made by officials or gardai who had no understanding that the races were likely to attract only a very small number of people at the finish, negating the need for any crowd control.
Two weeks ago, St Tiernan’s CC was forced to call off the Laragh Classic, though it is also hoping to find a new date for the event later in the year. In a recent brief statement, it said extra demands had been made by the Garda and that in the weeks left before its races it could not meet the additional safety requests.
A number of years ago, Fingal became something of a hotspot for difficulties with organising races. But now Wexford and Wicklow appear to have become a more problematic region.
In the North, there are other issues – which are much more widespread – with police escorts now being withdrawn. A new race marshal training and accreditation system has been introduced. It might work when given time to bed in. However, in the short term it is causing problems, and whether they persist or are ironed still remains to be seen.
In order for race promoters to be allowed run their events, the marshals must be accredited and trained and enhanced criteria are being applied to course selection, for example.
The recent Wallace Caldwell Memorial had to change course this year and was run on a short circuit, meaning it used roads in a much smaller geographic area because police escorts were withdrawn. Other recent one-day races in the North have also been cancelled, though not exclusively because of the withdrawal of police escorts and the alternative arrangements being introduced.
However, the Tour of the North’s cancellation was linked to those issues. The fact such a major race – which is always so well run – has been lost this year is a big blow and hopefully it will be back next season.
“We have faced numerous challenges over the last number of months,” it said in a recent statement confirming the race was being cancelled. “The absence of PSNI support and new regulations with a lack of clarification from the relevant bodies means that we have not been able to secure a rolling road closure, thus restricting the courses we can use.
“We have faced numerous challenges over the last number of months,” the International Tour of the North organisers said in a recent brief statement. “The absence of PSNI support and new regulations with a lack of clarification from the relevant bodies means that we have not been able to secure a rolling road closure, thus restricting the courses we can use.
“However, we worked hard to select a challenging route for the riders and set the wheels in motion for the Easter Weekend. Carrying the baton as the first stage race in NI post Covid has presented no small amount of challenges and with just under a month to race start, fresh issues have arisen which make this years edition untenable. We have had to make the incredibly tough decision to cancel due to this.”
