The Gorey Three Day Easter stage race is set to undergo significant changes from next season.
While the race has been organised by
Irish Road Club for years, with Alice Sherratt at the helm, that is changing
from next year.
The event has been run at a financial
loss in recent seasons and now its organisation switches over to Gorey Cycling
Club.
Derek Webb, who is well known in cycling
circles as a former racing cyclist and the organisers of the National Road
Championships in Wexford, takes over from Sherratt.
He knows he has big boots to fill in
that regard but is hopeful that, along with the personnel from Gorey Cycling
Club, he can make a success of the event.
One big change will be that the race
will be based in Gorey, Co Wexford, from start to finish.
Advertisement
It has always raced from Dublin/Wicklow
down to Gorey on stage one, run two stages on Easter Sunday in Gorey and then
raced back to Dublin/Wicklow on Easter Monday.
However, under Gorey CC’s and Derek Webb’s
stewardship the event will be based in and around Gorey from start to finish.
There are also plans for a women’s race,
on the same course at the same time, and also to make Sunday the queen stage of
the event.
Related News
The moves began when it was decided at a
recent meeting of the Irish Road Club that the organisation of the event would
pass on to another club if possible.
And given Webb’s experience, and the
fact much of the racing has always unfolded in Gorey, the new promoters were an
automatic first choice.
“I have ridden this race a good few
times when I was younger and I have always knocked about helping out or
involved with teams, and to think it might not continue would break my heart,”
said new race director Webb.
“I took a few days to think about it
after Alice rang me, as I wanted to make sure I was up to the task.
“This is a big event and we are small
club, so I didn’t want to take it on and let the standards drop, and I also
have to make it at least break-even or in fact I want to
try
grow the event.”
Webb added he believed basing all the
stages in Gorey would help smaller teams and individual riders to reduce the
logistic challenge involved in riding the race.
He added he had already been in touch
with Cycling Ireland’s women’s commission with a view to devising a women’s
race.
“We will also look at the Sunday stage
and make it into the queen stage, and moves are afoot with both Wicklow and
Wexford councils to get the go ahead,” Derek Webb added.
“These are very exciting times for the
race, and we must acknowledge the huge work that Alice and her team have done
over the years not just with this race but cycling in the country. The sport
owes her so much, it’s unreal.”
Topics
