By Shane Stokes
With Rás na mBan heading into the final day of competition on Sunday, race organiser Valerie Considine and others involved with the event have reflected on how the race has grown over the years, and how an increased standard has led to it expanding geographically, with increased ambitions for the future.
Having been involved in developing women's cycling in Ireland for over 20 years, Considine also sees a big shift in the Irish women's scene of late reflected in Rás na mBan this week. There are more club teams involved, very strong Irish riders on those club teams and a significant shift in the composition, for the better, of the Irish national team on the race.
“Things are really good,” Considine told stickybottle, looking at this year’s race and how the course has evolved. “We changed things up a little bit this year. We changed our stage in Laois… like a tour of Laois through all the big towns with a finish in Mountrath."
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Considine added "bringing the finishes more into towns more, which was always our target (and) getting into towns means that we can bring the race to the people.”
It’s a reflection of the reputation of the event and the sterling work the Rás na mBan organisation has been doing that it is so well received by the local communities.
“Laois has been fantastic and really good to work with. And the guards have been as well, obviously," she said, adding the gardaí closed Mountrath yesterday for the stage end.,
The race travelled between Kilkenny and the uphill finish at The Rower on Thursday. The Laois stage took place on Friday with Waterford’s turn on today, with Considine saying the authorities in Waterford had been very welcoming.
“Then we have our usual TT Sunday morning to finish with the crit in the afternoon. And we are expecting big crowds in Kilkenny. If the weather holds, we should get very good crowds there.”
The race has been based around Kilkenny and its environs for quite some time. This year sees it spread its wings a little more, although the base remains in the Marble city.
“We are trying to explore new territory,” Considine explains. “Like I said, we want to bring the profile up of the race, bring it to more people. So to do that, you have got to go beyond Kilkenny. But I think the format works for us. One base, five days, and just spread it out. If we had the money, we’d take it place to place, but we don’t right now.”
Upward trend in terms of standard
When Rás na mBan was first held, there was a delicate balance to be struck between catering for international teams and also making sure that the race was not too difficult for the club riders. The standard in Irish cycling was lower then, with a significant increase in the level been seen in the years since.
Much of that credit should go to Considine and the other members of the Women’s Commission, who worked hard for many years to develop this side of the sport.
Fields are bigger and stronger, many more women are competing abroad and they are going shoulder to shoulder with some of the biggest names in the sport. Past and present Rás na mBan competitors such as Lara Gillespie, Megan Armitage, Mia Griffin and many others are contesting top races and achieving strong results. The different to a decade ago is significant, and it’s very encouraging to see.
“We have worked hard at it, from the days of the Women’s Commission back in 2001, or so,” she says, “and all the way up to Rás na mBan. So it’s good to see. I suppose everybody gets interested.
“If we could run two or three of these races in a year we would. You can see that rise in standard. Even look at the Irish team; the oldest rider on the Irish team is Mia Griffin," she said of the 24-year-old. "Ten years ago that wouldn’t have been the case. She would have been well the youngest rider. There’s been a big shift there as well, which is really encouraging. It’s really, really good.”
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Ronan Fox is the team liaison at the race and sees positive signs.
“We have a good standard of fields this year. It’s possibly a younger field than we have had in previous years. But I don’t think that takes away from the standard of it. In terms of the UCI races, a reflection of the successes of women’s racing over the last few years that we’re competing with a lot more races now for riders to come here. They do have a lot more choice than they used to have.
“Certainly the support we are getting from the UK teams…we have virtually all of the major UK teams out here. For them it’s a very serious target for the year and they’re sending their best riders. They are here to do well. We have several UCI teams too, including the new one Cynisca, which is an American UCI team we haven’t had before.”
Having so many international riders in the race is encouraging, but Considine also hails the domestic field. She underlines the importance of that too.
“Of course we love the international riders. We love the riders coming from the UK. But we especially love to see our club riders coming in this year. What we really, really want to see is club teams entering this race.
“We have an Orwell team this year for the first time in like maybe four years. That’s really important for us. We have UCD, we’ve got Tom Clogher [with TC Racing]. Fair play to Tom, he’s doing a great job. And we have got Dan Morrissey, and Team Ireland.”
Cycling Munster and Cycling Ulster also have teams in the race, but Considine says the increase in the number of club teams means there is less of a need for riders to get on provincial teams to compete. That leads to a wider spread of talent. Long term, she hopes that there will be as many club teams as overseas teams in the race.
Fox points out that some of those club teams have foreign riders on them. He see this as a plus, saying that these riders can be a positive influence on the Irish competitors.
“It’s a good thing for those teams,” he said. “Tom Clogher’s team has Allison Mrugal from the US on it. She was fifth overall last year (and) one of the favourites again this year. It’s great to have riders like that mixing in with the Irish riders and bringing that experience to the Irish teams as well.”
He mentions the presence of several Dutch teams in the race, saying that while there are a lot of younger riders on those teams, that they are talented.
Longer, tougher stages
Start list aside, there is another factor which points to an increase in standard within the sport. Last year the longest stage was 95.9 kilometres; this time around three were longer than this, namely the Thursday, Friday and Saturday stages.
“It was a deliberate move,” Considine confirmed. “We have taken out our mountain top finish, we’ve moved away from that. And so we thought let’s make every stage up around the 100 kilometres. The standard is really good, so we just want to give the riders what they are looking for, actually, which is to be longer, harder… And a good mix [of terrain] as well.
“Take the Laois stage, even though there’s the climb in it with The Cut, it’s not the worst climb in the world. So there’s a good mix. It’s not all climbing, and it’s not all flat, it’s a fairly good mix.”
Fox points out that the stages have had the same metres of climbing as last year’s mountain stage so, even if there was no major mountain top finish, that the terrain in general has been more undulating and more testing than before.
“It’s a good challenging course for the riders, and that’s what we are trying to achieve. And that in turn influences moving a little further outside of Kilkenny as well. You’re changing the route and the challenges that are presented to the riders, so obviously we need to find the terrain and the routes for that.”
The race ends tomorrow, but the tweaks seen in this year’s event are all part of a positive evolution for Rás na mBan. The 2024 edition will likely be bigger and better again.
