There is concern in Irish cycling at the fact the Noel and Kieran Hammond TT cannot go ahead in coming weeks after gardai said they would not permit the event to take place.
While the organisers have confirmed the race has been blocked, they did not mention the gardai in their statement. However, stickybottle understands opposition to the event came from the gardaí.
Aidan Hammond – who organises the popular TT in memory of his father and brother – said he was very disappointed. He explained the event had been run for 40 years, for 30 of those years in Co Wicklow, without incident.
He added the organisation, which he did not name, that was stopping the race had known about the event for three months. However, it had now told him the event could not go ahead and that it would be stopped on the morning if efforts were made to hold it.
Hammond added he was told bike races were no longer wanted on the roads of Co Wicklow. The TT had been due to run early on the morning of Saturday, June 11th, but is now off.
“Cycling Ireland really now need to step up and engage with the local and national authorities to stop this happening for all organisers or soon enough we will have no more bike racing,” Hammond added.
It is not the first time racing in the general South East region has hit problems this year, though not all of the issues have come from the Garda.
Last month, St Tiernan’s CC said it was forced to call off the Laragh Classic, though it is hoping to find a new date for the event later in the year. It said at the time extra demands had been made by the Garda and that in the weeks left before its races it could not meet the additional safety requests.
Also last month, Wexford Wheelers said its Frank O Rourke Memorial Race, which had scheduled for May 1st, was off, though the club is still hoping to run it later in the year. Again, it said it simply did not have the time to meet extra safety requests made by Wexford County Council.