New stage sends Ras Mumhan into North Kerry

THE Route for Kerry Group Rás Mumhan, the first major Stage Race of the Irish Cycle Racing season which will take place over the four days of Easter weekend, April 14 to 17 has been announced.

Stage details announced on Tuesday will see a new Stage 2 on Saturday in North Kerry and West Limerick and Valentia Island is added back in to Sunday’s Stage 3 in South Kerry which will also have the Coom an Easpaig climb, the only Cat 1 Climb of the race. Stages 1 and 4 are the same as the last few years.

The format of the race will remain the same with 4 road stages. The 500 km route, which is again long and hard, will start on Good Friday, April 14 and finish four days later on Easter Monday, April 17. 100KM Starting and finishing in Killorglin, this stage takes in Killarney, Kilcummin, Scartaglin, Castleisland, Currans, Ballyfinnane, Firies, Castlemaine, Milltown and on to the Finish. The Category 2 Climb at Knocknaboul at the half way point on narrow winding roads is the feature of the stage. 130KM. Big time cycle racing is back in Listowel after a lapse of ten years, the North Kerry town is the start point for this tough hard stage which will finish in the village of Athea in West Limerick after 130km of undulating roads, the stage is built for the real strong men, with a number of cat 2 and 3 climbs. The route will take the riders from Listowel to Ballylongford, Tarbert, Glin, on to Athea for the first of three times, Carrigkerry, Ardagh, Foynes, up the big climb in Glin again, on to Athea, then on to a 25km finishing circuit through Carrigkerry and back to finish up the hill out of Athea. 155KM. This is our annual day in South Kerry, with a series of loops once described by Irish cycling legend Phillip Cassidy as “the finest road racing stage in Ireland”. The fact that it includes the Category 1 Climb at Coom An Easpaig only adds to the intrigue. This will come at the 130km point of a 155 km route that also includes 6 other climbs, including the climb on Valentia Island, this will surely see the strong men come forward for final destination of the overall title. However it is far enough from the finish to allow non-climbers to make up some of the time they lost on the ascent. The stage starts and finishes in Waterville going through, Ballinskelligs, Valentia, Cahirsiveen, Dromid, New Chapel Cross, Portmagee, Coom An Easpaigh, The Glen, and Waterville. 115KM The final day is mostly a flat stage, starting and finishing in Killorglin with the usual sting in the tail. The 25km loop through Beaufort is covered 3 times and then it is on to the final 10 laps of the town circuit and up the hill each time to add a further 40 km, a total of 115km. The crowd that turned up last year to witness this stage was huge and brought a great atmosphere to Killorglin. There will again be a major change to arrangements for the laps of the Donal McKenna finishing circuit on Easter Monday morning. Riders that are 3:30 down on the leaders will be withdrawn from the circuit. They will be credited with a finishing time appropriate to the lap they were removed at. This amendment will greatly facilitate the ease of movement of motor traffic in Killorglin and contribute significantly to race safety. THE Team structure is same as last year. Teams will consist of 5 riders. Priority for engagement to the start list will be given to teams with the highest number of A1 riders. Teams may not contain more than two A3 riders. A maximum of 40 teams will make up the field. Entry will open on Friday February 24 and close on Monday, March 20, or earlier if the entry list is full. FULL details of Kerry Group Rás Mumhan on www.rasmumhan. com