Red Hand Trophy road races cancelled due to lack of numbers

The cycling calendar for this weekend has suffered a blow with the news that the Red Handy Trophy, which was due to include two races on Saturday has been cancelled.

The fixture, which was to be promoted by Ballymena Road Club near Ballymena, Co Antrim, is the latest road race to be called off since the start of the season, with some of the race organisers citing and insufficiently large entry to make the events viable.

Ballymena Road Club issued a brief statement saying the races – the A1-A2 race and separate race for A3-A4 riders – were cancelled as they were not viable.

“It is with regret that the race committee of Ballymena Road Club have made the decision to cancel this Saturdays road race in Broughshane,” it confirmed of the Red Hand Trophy.

“The number of entries are poor and as such are not enough to secure a challenging nor economical viable race.”

Strabane Lifford also cited low entries in deciding to cancel its Strabane Lifford Cycling Club GP in April in Co Donegal. Another event that did not take place this year was the popular Kanturk Three Day on the May Bank Holiday weekend, though that was cancelled before entries even opened.

However, despite the cancelation of the Red Hand Trophy, there are still several road events this Saturday including: Alo Donegan and Tom Keenan Cup, which includes the Kildare TT Championships and Women’s Intermediate Series and which you can enter here; Sean Nolan Meath GP Youth Races, which form part of the Youth National Series and which you can enter here; the Highfield Crit in Galway, which you can enter here.

And on Sunday comes the main road race fixture of the weekend, the Cycling Ireland National Road Series ‘Round 4’, the Sean Nolan Meath GP & Rás na Mí promoted by Navan Road Club and which you can enter here.