Paddy Clarke was last year's winner of the West Coast Wheelers Open Race in Loughrea but he won't get a chance to defend it this weekend as the race has been suspended on account of the expected bad weather. (Photo: Jimmy McElroy)
Just days after the postponement of the traditional season-opening Ned Flanagan Memorial in Monasterevin, Irish domestic riders have been dealt a double blow.
West Coast Wheelers have also put back their open race scheduled for this Sunday, February 14th.
Race organiser Brian O’Donnell said they were forced to cancel on safety grounds and he told stickybottle this afternoon it was a situation outside of the club’s control.
“It was an accumulation of factors,” he said. “But with the bad weather we’ve had in the last while and with the forecast for the weekend it made it a no-brainer.
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“Talking to Met Eireann about it, there’s going to be cold weather on Saturday night with cloud cover on Sunday and with no wind, so the chances of any black ice that might be there moving would be slim.
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“So in the interests of safety – and safety is the whole thing about it - we have to suspend it.”
A total of two races were planned including a combined event for A1, A2 and A3 riders followed by a separate event for A4s and women.
The club issued a short statement on its Facebook page this afternoon, Friday, announcing the event was being pulled for now, though they do plan to run it at a later date.
“In the interests of safely due to conditions beyond our control, the West Coast Wheelers Open race on the 14th of February is being cancelled," the statement said.
Hopefully it will be rerun on a later date. Many thanks to all that offered their help to marshal.”
We'll bring you a follow-up piece on this shortly where O'Donnell vents his frustration at the lack of support from the sport's governing body.
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