An Irish cycling club has said the number of riders who entered its recent annual charity sportive was down 50 per cent on last year. And it believes Cycling Ireland's decision to increase the cost of a one-day licence - from €10 to €20 - is the root cause of the poor turn-out at its event.
It urged Cycling Ireland to reverse its decision, pointing out one-day licences fees used to be €2, and later €5, which was much cheaper than the current €20 fee. The club also pointed out, as its sportive was €20 to enter - with the proceeds going to charity - it would have cost a non-member of Cycling Ireland €40 to enter its event this year.
The club believes club-run sportives could be ruined because of the fee increase. That criticism follows other objections in recent months. Cycling Ireland's own Leisure Commission came out strongly against the move to increase the cost of the one day licence and Cycling Ulster also voiced its concerns and met Cycling Ireland on the issue.
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Carrickmacross Cycling Club said it advertised its annual sportive this year in the same way it has always done, through local media and social media. It kept the registration open right up to the start of the event, including sign-on at the venue on the day, while the weather was also very pleasant for the sportive two weeks ago.
"Yet the number of cyclists was down by just above 50 per cent," it said. "Why was there such a drop in registration numbers? We asked club members and on the day we asked the other cyclists who showed up. Over and over again we got the same answer - the one-day Cycling Ireland licence was €20 and this was the same cost as the event itself.
"People felt it was unjustified and not worth it, and that portion of the cost was not going to a good cause. Many Cycling Ireland members who showed up told us that their non-Cycling Ireland friends didn’t feel paying the extra €20 to Cycling Ireland was worth it, they would just do their own Sunday spin instead."
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In reply to queries on the issue from stickybottle, Cycling Ireland said it was "closely monitoring the impact of the change" to the one-day licence. "The organisation highly values its membership and encourages individuals to become part of the vibrant cycling community in Ireland by signing up as a leisure member of the NGB for just €50.
"By doing so, not only can you contribute to the development and promotion of the sport of cycling, but you can also avoid the need to purchase multiple event licences and enjoy numerous benefits," it said, adding there were significant discounts for a range of services and products available to Cycling Ireland members.
In an open letter to Cycling Ireland, Carrickmacross CC said after its sportive just over two weeks ago it contacted some groups of riders who normally took part in the event and got similar responses to those present on the day. In other cases, some riders turned up on the day and rode around but simply did not officially enter the sportive.
The club described the cost of the one-day licence as "exorbitant", adding it now had first hand feedback having gone and carried out research into why its numbers were down for its April 16th sportive. Last year it was able to donate €1,000 from the 2022 sportive to Carrick Cancer, Irish wheelchair Rugby, Bumbleance Children's Ambulance and Down Syndrome Ireland. However, because the turn-out was so low this year, smaller sums are now available to the charities.
"The Cycling Ireland one-day licence at the current cost will be the death of small club sportives," Carrickmacross CC added, urging the national governing body to drop the cost of the one-day licence to €5.
"We predict that leisure cyclists will just eventually find a way around paying this one day licence by arriving on the day and just cycling the route and making a charity donation without signing on. The roads are public, people can cycle where the like. This will be near impossible to prevent. So in the long run Cycling Ireland will price themselves out of small sportives."
