National Road Race Series 2015 Launched

Cycling Ireland Announces 16 Race National Road Series

Cycling Ireland has today announced details of the roll-out of the National Road Series for the coming season, which gets underway on the 8^th March. The road racing series, primarily aimed at A1 and A2 riders, will comprise of sixteen races, with the best five scores of a rider counting provided they compete in three provinces. The National Road Series events sit within existing races across the four provinces.

The new structure for the series should add an exciting element to the race scene, which will in turn raise the standard of competition in Irish cycling. Where in previous National Leagues all events counted towards the overall, this new venture will see each province hosting four counting rounds, with a rider’s best five scores counting. The rider must compete across three provinces.

“Cycling Ireland has recognised the gap in the domestic calendar for a league of “classic events”; and has also built on previous experience taking in to account that the cost of competing in all events across the island was becoming prohibitive. The new series will still see riders compete across the country, but may not result in them travelling from one end to the other, as it is envisaged that a rider’s counting scores will come from their “home” Province, and the two geographically closest.”

CEO Geoff Liffey was also positive about the Series, saying “This is a toe in the water with a revised format National Series, as we recognise the costs in competing around the country over the season. Hopefully as the series gains momentum in 2015 we can expand it in coming years, and potentially attract a series sponsor going forward. We have had interest from numerous race promoters; however we have kept the counting events to four per province. We are grateful to all race organisers who expressed an interest, and perhaps those events not selected for 2015 will be in the running for inclusion for 2016.”

The resurrection of a National Series has come about after months of planning and selecting events from around the country. Along with each events individual Prize Fund, Cycling Ireland are putting up €3,000 for the overall positions, details of which will be published shortly.

The series kicks off in Munster on 8^th March, with the full list of counting events below