By Shane Stokes
He describes last year’s race as a huge success but despite the first Irish winner in 14 years and plenty of positive media coverage, Rás Tailteann race director Ger Campbell says more needs to be done to guarantee that this year’s event will go ahead. Rating the chances it will proceed as ‘about 90 percent,’ Campbell and the other members of the Cáirde Rás Tailteann organising committee will have an important meeting in the coming days with one of last year’s classification sponsors.
They are also hoping to speak to a government department about possible funding as the level of money made available by Cycling Ireland last year will not be repeated again. The clock is ticking and with a final decision due soon about the accommodation needed if the race is to go ahead, Campbell says the coming weeks will be crucial. He remains positive at this point in time, but knows more needs to be done, setting out a number of challenges and external factors facing the race as it still fights to survive.
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“The situation at the moment right now is that the sponsors that we had on board in 2022 are more or less are committed to 2023,” he told stickybottle. “So at this moment in time we can self-generate the same amount of money as we did last year, between our sponsors, projected entry fees, and the income from stage and towns, etc. There’s going to be really no change (there) between 2022 and 2023.
“The huge change is that Cycling Ireland was the main contributor to the race last year to get it back on the road. But, as we also acknowledged last year, we understood that it was totally a one-off thing.
“We are hoping to be get grant-aided from Cycling Ireland like other events. But it’s going to be nowhere near the amount of money that we got off them last year, even though we did draw down far less than we could have had.”
According to Campbell, the race both requested less than the full amount on offer from Cycling Ireland last year, and also returned €15,000 to the federation afterwards. However he notes that CI’s statements at the AGM showed that money is tight, and that the organisers couldn’t expect the same assistance from the federation this time around.
“It’s important to me, and it’s important to the rest of our group that the event can stand on its own two feet. It’s disappointing what’s happening at the moment. We’ve had loads of goodwill, but goodwill just doesn’t necessarily turn into pounds, shillings and pence.”
"Swings and roundabouts"
Postponed for three years due to budget issues in 2019 plus two years of Covid-19, last year’s Rás Tailteann was the first held since the 2018 edition. It took place between June 15th and 19th, a decision partly made so that the race would conclude one week before the national road race championships and lead to a competitive peak in the season.
This time around, the race is reverting back to its traditional slot in May. A big element in that decision is hotel availability.
“We brought the race forward by a month and that’s 99% down to accommodation costs and availability between June and May,” Campbell explained. “Two of the towns had nothing in June for the dates we wanted, but had availability in May. One hotel had zero beds for the date in June and then 180 beds available for the for the date in May. And the costs were just totally different.”
Tourism season aside, there is another reason for the pressure on the system.
“The experts will tell you that we’re still talking about between 30 and 40% Ukrainian occupancy of these hotels. So that’s what’s driving the price, and obviously it’s driving the lack of availability.”
However even with the savings on running the race a month earlier, the overall budget won’t change. “The projected costs for 2023 are probably in and around the same. It’s certainly going to be no cheaper. Swings and roundabouts,” he said.
“So when we know what we are getting from Cycling Ireland, we will know the gap that we have to close. And that’s what’s going on at the moment. We are speaking to some of the existing sponsors with the hope that we could possibly get more. We could get more, maybe for more exposure, etc. But that’s all up in the air at the moment. We have a meeting with one of them next week, and let’s see where that goes. But the time is ticking. And we really are no better off than we were when the event finished in Blackrock last year.”
“I suppose it was naive of me…I think the race was a huge success last year. I don’t think we could have done it any better. I’m not blowing our own trumpet. I’m just saying that the coverage and the feedback was more than we could ever have expected. And I suppose naively I thought that maybe sponsorship was going to fall over the heavens like manna, but it didn’t.”
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Indeed last year’s race was a superb return of the event after a three year absence. It ran off safely without any significant issues, was well organised and saw both an Irish winner in Daire Feeley and also Irish stage winners on four out of the five days of racing. Throw in Rory Townsend’s green jersey, Dean Harvey’s mountain classification success and the international team success of the Ireland squad, and the event was the best showing by Irish riders in a long, long time.
Campbell admits that he thought things would flow more easily than they have. Instead he and the rest of Cáirde Rás Tailteann are dealing with uncertainty at a point in time where they had hoped one sponsor or multiple co-sponsors would be firmly in place. They will hope another successful running of the race will bring about more long-term stability for the event, as was previously enjoyed.
Two avenues being followed
First held in 1953, the race has had title sponsors for much of its history. It was backed in the recent past by companies such as An Post and, before that, FBD Insurance. Those long-term deals took the pressure off and lent some certainty to the annual planning.
Campbell describes the notion of landing a new a title sponsor as ‘absolutely a dream,’ but accepts it will likely take longer for something like that to click into place.
“What we are looking for is improved sponsorship. Maybe one of the co-sponsors from last year taking over a couple of the classifications as opposed to maybe just the one that they had. Maybe more involvement all around.
“There are six classifications. We had three of them sponsored last year independently, and a fourth one that was kind of sponsored, benefit in kind. Two of them, the King of the Hills and the yellow jersey, were totally handed over to Cycling Ireland. So they are available. We will be totally relying on independent sponsors to get it over the line.”
There is however one other avenue which might also help. The timing of this year’s race syncs with National Bike Week and, with the Rás arguably the highest profile cycling event of the year, the potential for collaboration seems obvious. Campbell said that Cycling Ireland is prepared to work with the Rás organisers to draw on this potential and, with this in mind, Cáirde Rás Tailteann hopes to speak to the Department of Transport to see if some funding could be unlocked.
“I think it’d be a great thing for it to be aligned with National Bike Week. Whether they’ll see it that way or not I don’t know, so let’s see.”
Campbell will hope for clarity soon, as the clock is ticking. This year’s race is listed for May 17th to 21st, meaning that slightly under four months remain until the start of the event. A decision will need to be made soon.
“At the moment we have accommodation held without it having cost us any money. But we are nearly at the point where we need to pay substantial deposits on hotels,” Campbell explained.
“I’ve also had teams on to me every couple of days for the past six weeks. As far as demand is concerned, demand is huge. Especially as about a month ago there was negative announcements in the UK around the Premier Calendar there. When that happened, another eight British teams contacted us. We could fill it with British teams. Totally fill it with British teams.
“At the moment I’d say I’d be positive about going ahead. But at the same time, we need to make a final decision soon. We need to go and put the final dots on the I’s and crosses on the Ts as regards the route and meeting with stage end organisers etcetera.
“The next few weeks is very important for us. I’d say we are positive about it at the moment, with probably a 90 percent chance it will go ahead. Watch this space.”
Riders and teams won’t have to wait long for a final decision.
“We would hope to be in a position mid-February to announce the route officially, and announce funding partners. Because there’s no point, hypothetically, in mid-February announcing a route for something that you’re not sure if it’s going ahead. So it’ll be a full bag on announcement, or nothing.”
Fans of Irish cycling will be very much hoping for good news, and soon.
