The popular Christy McManus Memorial and Roundwood GP due to be held this weekend in Co Wicklow have been postponed until further notice.
The races, promoted by Bray Wheelers, were due to start on Saturday afternoon at 12 noon and 2pm, with the A2&A3 contest to have been run over 80km and the A4 race set at 56km.
The events have been a long-term date on the Irish calendar, run by one of the best known clubs in the country. Their cancellation is a blow, especially at this time of year when there are fewer races than in the period up to the An Post Rás in mid May.
News that the races are not going ahead comes just one week after it emerged another very popular event, in the shape of the Mullingar Two Day, is being scaled back to a one-day format on June 29th.
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It had run to four separate races last year – all featuring three stages over two days – but had been running at a loss in recent years and when promoting club Lakeside Wheelers were unable to secure a sponsor they were forced to scale back their plans.
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It now appears that problems with the road surface rather than the financial climate have claimed the races that had been planned for Wicklow on Saturday. Bray Wheelers tell us the surface dressing on some of the minor roads on the initial course was so bad they had been forced to choose an alternative route.
However, some of the downhill sections of that second option have only been resurfaced in the past 24-48 hours, meaning the volume of chippings on the roads rendered them unsafe and so the race has been postponed. The club say they will reveal the new dates as soon as they can.
The one silver lining is that the underage races will take place as scheduled. Sign-on is at Roundwood GAA hall, Roundwood, Co Wicklow. Under 12s, 14s and 16s sign-on is from 9:15am to 10:00am. The U12s race starts at 10:30am and U14s and U16s start at 11am.
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