Yellow Furze Road Club - Race Around Ireland

Handing over a cheque for €30,175 that club raised as part of the Race Around Ireland to Crumlin's Children Hospital (CMRF). Monies raised will go towards buying 2 essential pieces of equipment needed by children undergoing treatment for cancer - a blood warming unit and a dental laser treatment unit

Some man

©Manuel Hausdorfer/lime-art.at

The ultimate fridge magnet.

What, Who, Where, When and Why?

These five questions normally are considered basic in information-gathering or problem-solving they constitute a formula for getting the complete story on a subject, but do they give the whole story on Race around Ireland?

What

What is Race around Ireland? Well it’s described as an Ultra Marathon Cycling Event around Ireland which can be completed as a solo or within a team of 2, 4 or in our case 8 people. It’s regarded as one of the toughest cycling challenges in the world completing almost 2,200 km across the most scenic parts of the island of Ireland.

Who

Who competes in RAI? Great question... anyone can enter this event from the elite to the border line psychotic cyclist. As a solo rider it really tests the mind-set of even the most highly regarded adventurer, as a group it cements friendships and creates a bond between club mates, and give us all stories to tell our grandkids later in life

Where

The event starts opposite Trim Co. Meath with Trim castle providing an ideal backdrop. From here it circles the Island of Ireland in an anticlockwise direction taking in many historical site of Ireland including Newgrange, The Causeway Coast, Malin Head, The Cliffs of Moher, The Ring of Kerry, Mizen Head, and home through the Garden county of Ireland Wicklow.

When

The event itself started on the 28th of August with the solo’s beginning first from 3pm with 3 minute intervals between riders, followed by all the team categories 2 person, 4 person and 8 person teams. We started 2nd last for the whole event meaning there’d be plenty of targets up the road!

Why

Another great question and to be honest I’m still trying to remember why we decided upon entering the race originally. Right now it’s an easy question to answer as we adopted a great cause for fundraising – to date we’ve raised € 25k for Crumlin children’s hospital, but back in October of 2015 I believe it began in the pub? (Isn’t that where all great plans are hatched?)

And so to the event itself….

With all team based sports there has to be a manager, team and backroom staff. Well for Yellow Furze Road Club this consisted of Gordon and Ian working together as Crew Chiefs for two teams within the YFRC Team. Team A and Team B.

The reason for two teams was simple; when competing as an 8 man team there is only ever a need for one man on the road at any given time, previous teams competing in RAI explained the best setup was to have two teams of four, with two teams of two within this team of four.. i.e Team A had four members and Team B had four members. Both teams had pairs of cyclists within their teams who would compete a stage in a relay style format; in our case 30 mins on, 30 mins off.
They would then hand the next stage over to the other pair from the same team to complete the following stage while moving up the road by camper van to rest, recover and get ready for the next stage. This continues until all of Team A/B completes their required stages before the full change over to the next group. Typically each team would complete four stages, this gave time to the team who wasn’t cycling to get to the next stop off point and be ready to go again, remember this race doesn’t stop, and it continues 24/7.

This is where the Crew comes in to play. We had 12 crew, of which 6 were allocated to each team. Each team had 1 van, 1 follow car and 1 campervan with 2 people in all vehicles. As you can imagine this some organising, our team were super! Never missed a stop, bike change, food drop or hotel transfer for 4 days solid, with many doing 12 hour shifts! These guys are the real hero’s as without them we couldn’t compete right to the end.

Gordon and Ian were immense as crew chief for both teams. Calling all directions over the airways and ensuring all ran to plan, with what can only be described as an enigma style excel sheet detailing EVERY stop, change over spot, check in area, hotel reservation and much much more..

Drivers for both follow cars were also crucial these guys had to ensure while we were cycling at night the lights of their cars flooded our view of the country lanes ahead making sure we could see every little detail of what lay ahead. Not the easiest while heading down marmore gap at 80kph +
The leap frog Vans were our foot soldiers! Crewed with two lads, one to drive and help the rider in and out the other to navigate and ensure we always had a good change over spot up the road ahead ensuring all wheels were off the road (time penalties would be given if this wasn’t adhered to, glad to report we completed the event without receiving a single penalty!) these guys would also put in 12 hour shifts to ensure the Team didn’t lose any unnecessary time.
Finishing up your shift / stage would mean a trip to the next stage by campervan, this would allow you change clothing if needed and it would also allow for much needed food intake and a rest on the bed in the rear. The lads crewing here not only had to navigate their way to the next stage / hotel point but would also have hot food ready for us once we finished our stint on the bike and boy was it welcome!

Competing against teams of more experienced cyclists I really do feel we boxed well above our weight category, we took on the challenge of RAI had a ball and in doing so raised a substantial amount of money for Crumlin, that was the real goal as this will make a difference in the lives of kids with serious illness. To be honest I think if you asked all involved what was their main aim for the race in the beginning, I feel that would be their answer.
And so to the next event; What, Who, Where, When and Why? …. Let’s see what 2017 brings...

Race Around Ireland CMRF Crumlin

We would like to thank Lismullen Developments for their kind donation to our cause. It's great to have the support from local companies and it really fired the guys up before and during the Race Around Ireland

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Mamore Gap