Cycling Ireland has said it consulted with Usher Irish Road Club before its decision to stop promoting the season-long Mondello Series and was working on a plan that could ensure racing continues at Mondello Park.
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In reply to queries from stickybottle, the national governing body said its efforts to assist in effectively saving the series were continuing and it was hopeful the process would result in racing going ahead this year at the Co Kildare venue.
One of the reasons Usher IRC cited in deciding to end its promotion of the series, after 15 years, was that the number of riders turning out to race was falling. We also asked Cycling Ireland about the falling numbers.
"We've remained in constant dialogue with Usher Irish Road Club on this topic," Cycling Ireland said of the announcement on Monday night by the Dublin club it was stepping back from running the series.
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"We're aware of other groups that are interested in taking on hosting of the series, we're engaging with them and our hope is that there will still be racing in Mondello this summer.
"We're also acutely aware of the drop off in road racing numbers in recent years, and because of this we put together the Road Working Group. This group, after a lot of consultation with different stakeholders, in late 2024 released a 10 point plan.
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"(It) is now being rolled out through 2025, with a view to improving the road racing experience and growing those numbers again. We've had superb interaction with clubs and race promoters on these action points already."
A number of objectives are set out in the report including increasing the percentage size of competition licence holders racing, which would lead to bigger peloton sizes per category “to improve quality of races” and providing “concentration of riders per category to provide high quality races”.
Cycling Ireland also intends to provide more opportunities to riders to race locally, create incentives for and incentivise “more balanced participation throughout the racing season”, with a new ‘Road Cycling Cup’ for each category mooted, rather than a National Road Series.
The national governing body also intends to better distribute the spread of races through the season, including the geographical distribution of events. There are also planned changes to the structure of the grading, as well as a revised points system.
It also wants to “provide coordinated women’s specific races and calendar” as well as more “progression opportunities for women’s racing” and to improve the opportunities for Masters racing.
There is also a plan to improve “recognition” and “a sense of belonging” for competitors at all levels, along with better “security” at races, a “centralised user-friendly system for race promotion” and better level facilities for changing at venues and around medical cover.
