Ring of Kerry 2013

flying11

awec wrote: »

We do realise that. It is the fact that they doubled this fee, plus the attitude that is going with it. It's almost a "we're doing you a favour letting you take part in our charity cycle, so we want 100 quid from you".

Why change it at all? Why make baseless threats about no pay no cycle?

I want to go online, I want to enter the cycle. I want to pay the money out of my own pocket, I do not want to raise sponsorship. ROK have seen to make this as difficult as possible for me. Why?! Every other cycle I participate in that donates to charity makes this easy for those that take part.

What justification do they have for doubling the minimum amount they ask for on their website?

I'd imagine that you could simply sign-up with one of the charities and just put your own name on the sponsorship card and donate whatever you want that way? (Without out having to actually ask family/friends for sponsorship)

kingdomlad

You are dead right. I dont see what the major problem is here. Just register with one of the charities. They will send you out a sponsorship card. Put whatever you want on it. Do the cycle in July. Then return the card to the charity.

michael196

one has shot ones golden goose......


50 euro fine. 100 makes it the most expensive cycle event in ireland , Thought Sky etape was expensive at 80 euro ???

Only politicians will be able to afford in future.


so whats going to happen ?

1). numbers will stay up, as those deciding to do this , will do this irrespective, but just wont pay the 100. ( open roads on the day , cannot be stopped on the open road).

2). takings will plummet as a result.

3). not like we used the overcrowded foodstops anyhow that simply could not handle the 9000 people of 2012


ROK committe need to clarify, can 50 still be paid on the day. If they dont clarify this, ur gonna loose revenue if 100 is the only option.


Jackeens

the boss of me

I really don't know why people are being so negative. ROK is a great day out.. register direct with the charity and give what you can or sign up on ROK site and fundraise. Either way get your arse down to Kerry and enjoy the day and stop whinging.

Postit

the boss of me wrote: »

and stop whinging.

+1

Masala

Can't see the point in having one fee on one part of the site and a cheaper fee down further!!!! If 50 euro is acceptable to the charities involved... Why ask for a min of 100 euro. Sounds like one price for locals and another for the outsiders!!! Classic Irish accounting!!!

Axel Lamp

Masala wrote: »

Can't see the point in having one fee on one part of the site and a cheaper fee down further!!!! If 50 euro is acceptable to the charities involved... Why ask for a min of 100 euro. Sounds like one price for locals and another for the outsiders!!! Classic Irish accounting!!!

Well if you register you can pay the "local price" can't you???



Sweet Jebus

shaka

Spot on Michael 196

rayman1

€100 is a rip off.
The Sean Kelly Tour of Waterford is only €40 or €36 for Cycling Ireland Members and you get a good quality souvenir jersey. Now that's great value.

awec

To be fair, it's a charity cycle so I don't care about jerseys etc. It's this "we want a minimum of 100 euro off you" that fcuks me off, as if they'd turn their nose up at me donating 50 euro to them on the day.

dogsears

A couple of comments:

I think the facility to register direct with a single one of the several charities, and directly pay them whatever you choose is a good development. Up to now, if you wanted to make a donation with the benefit of tax relief that could not be accommodated through the ROK organisation itself as it is not a registered charity. The only way this could be done would have been direct to the charity itself, but this in turn could not be accommodated through the ROK organisation. So there was a problem whichever way you looked at it. This is fixed now with this new option to deal direct with the charity of your choice.

Note that the minimum donation you need to make to get the benefit of tax relief is €250 which means it would be a rare enough issue, but for those inclined (and financially able) to do it, the benefit to the charity is excellent - in effect the extra value the charity gets is an extra c€112 on a €250 donation, whether the donor is a basic rate or top rate taxpayer.

Obviously general financial circumstances will mean this doesn't happen all that often but it couldn't happen at all before re the ROK so this change is beneficial for the charities.

As to the point about the registration amount, is it actually possible (or conceivable) they believe there was a widespread problem with people raising money from family and friends etc, doing the cycle and gobbling up the ROK sandwiches etc, but then keeping the money they raised and not sending anything to the ROK? Is this the conclusion they draw from the failure of so many to send back the sponsorship forms? If it is, well then this move would appear to make sense i.e. you don't get to the start line without coughing up at least €100 (leaving aside the notion of cycling the Ring on the day outside the auspices of the ROK itself - I don't really think there will be much of that). But if this is the reason for it, it beggars belief. Especially when a much more likely reason is that if people make a contribution out of their own pocket of a reasonable amount, they don't need to bother with a sponsorship card. Surely they must have known that's what a lot of people do/did? Is it possible their apparently terrible difficulties in matching cyclists with the money they submitted caused this belief there was a widespread problem that was actually not widespread at all?

This day raised nearly a million euro last year. That's a great result. To miss the day because of this issue would be like penalising the charities. So people should take the option of registering direct with a charity and paying whatever they're happy with, raised however they like.

But the ROK committee needs to know its making a total hash of this and suffering a great deal of damage to the goodwill people feel towards the day. I think it should make clear what its reasons were or maybe make it known (if its the case) that they would prefer people to deal direct with their preferred charity out of the 7 or 8.

Masala

Well if you register you can pay the "local price" can't you???

Sweet Jebus


...... Well fk me why didn't someone tell me that. Thanks man... I now see the light..

Tourman

Took part in the ROK the last two years and spent the last 12 months extolling everyone I with a bicycle to take part this year with more than a little success. Having set out how it worked in previous years I was appalled to see how the system has changed. I raised sponsorship of €150 each year so €100 was about right for me but not everyone can manage that.

Might have a change of tack this year and take part in the ring of north kerry in August instead and take my friends with me

merc230ce

I reckon that if they simply included the souvenir jersey in your €100 entry fee it'd take the sting out of it.

daphne

I agree that the 100 euros straight up is over the top. A 50 euro straight up donation would have been reasonable...

I wonder if the organisers took the 900k euros they got last year and divided by 9000 (i.e., the number of registered participants?) and came up with 100 euros..

I'd love to hear the organisers take on why the format has been changed for this year... anyone have any insight?

Stollaire

flying11 wrote: »

I'm not sure if people realise this but the €100 entrance 'fee' is only charged if you sign up through the ring of kerry website.

If you sign up directly with one of the 8 chosen charities then you can raise as much or as little as you want. Im sure they would be happy with any kind of meaningful contribution in todays financial situation.


So, its the exact same as all previous years, once you sign up directly with one of the charities. they will send you out a sponsorship card and you can raise money that way. No need to pay the €100 registration fee. It is option 3 on this page http://www.ringofkerrycycle.ie/register.php

In my opinion, this gives people more control of where their money goes. This year you can choose which one of the 8 charities that is closest to your heart and then raise funds for them.

I cant understand what all the fuss is about to be honest.

Thanks flying11, this makes it a lot clearer.

I can't see the problem with the €100 registration fee to be honest.
It's a simple solution for people not bothered about raising money through sponsorship.

meercat

Stollaire wrote: »

Thanks flying11, this makes it a lot clearer.

I can't see the problem with the €100 registration fee to be honest.
It's a simple solution for people not bothered about raising money through sponsorship.

Don't think it's about people not bothered raising money tbh
It's hard to keep asking the same people for sponsorship
That's why a donation is a better option for some
If you have multiple family members doing the cycle then 100 euro per person is excessive

migozarad

Was aghast when I heard of the €100 entry fee/donation fee (plus additional €30 for jersey) as I had the ROK as one of my "to-do" events this year,it's extortionate plain and simple.
The Trip to Tipp cycle would be a good alternative for those looking for a cycle event in July,is €40 to enter(which includes a jersey),has 3 routes of 70/100/180k and has a good cause in the NCBI.

Chips Lovell

flying11 wrote: »

I cant understand what all the fuss is about to be honest.

The fuss is that the organisers are complaining about freeloaders not returning sponsorship money when its clear, from this forum, that there are plenty of people who gave money but were still being hassled to return sponsorship cards, as if they hadn't.

They're now asking us to either pony up a minimum of €100 or jump through hoops by having to contact individual charities ourselves, who don't have online registration set up.

This is an event that last year had 8,300 raise a "record" €842,100 for the charities involved. That's over €100 per head per participant. If you look at those figures, you have to wonder what the problem is.

Combine that with moves in other years to make me feel unwelcome just because of the jersey I have on my back and I'm beginning to seriously question why I'd bother raising money for them.

shaka

Vladimir Kurtains wrote: »

The fuss is that the organisers are complaining about freeloaders not returning sponsorship money when its clear, from this forum, that there are plenty of people who gave money but were still being hassled to return sponsorship cards, as if they hadn't.

They're now asking us to either pony up a minimum of €100 or jump through hoops by having to contact individual charities ourselves, who don't have online registration set up.

This is an event that last year had 8,300 raise a "record" €842,100 for the charities involved. That's over €100 per head per participant. If you look at those figures, you have to wonder what the problem is.

Combine that with moves in other years to make me feel unwelcome just because of the jersey I have on my back and I'm beginning to seriously question why I'd bother raising money for them.

What jersey ? They may have a point

awec

shaka wrote: »

What jersey ? They may have a point

I think he's referring to the attitude toward clubs who take part in the event. Think it's been mentioned on here previously a few times.

shaka

Oh right . Haven't experienced that myself but have heard cyclist giving out about clubs .

Any back to rant, boo to the ROK committee . Makes Craggy island look advanced

BailMeOut

I registered with Kerry Lifeline today and just booked Hotel so all set to go. Roll on July 6th - cannot wait!

Lumen

I don't do sponsorship as I don't feel comfortable asking other people for money, but I've done the ROK a couple of times and I don't recall it costing that much.

The ROK organisers are welcome to do whatever they like, but I'm not sure why I'd want to pay 100 quid + crazy Killarney hotel prices when I could go on a weekend away with friends for less money.

The whole mass sportive thing is overrated anyway IMO. Having thousands of sweaty MAMILS descend on a town for a weekend doesn't make it an appealing destination.

RyanAndrew

HAs anyone heard from the Kerry Mountain Rescue team? I e-mailed them asking them would they take €50 for a registration and haven't heard anything.

CheGuedara

RyanAndrew wrote: »

HAs anyone heard from the Kerry Mountain Rescue team? I e-mailed them asking them would they take €50 for a registration and haven't heard anything.

Was talking to a member of the team last night about it and asked if he could raise it with their PRO to see if they could put something out there with the relevant details for people interested in riding the day for KMRT. I suspect we'll see something from them before the start of next week.

ruffmut

I sent Kerry mountain rescue team an email at the start of the week and have not heard anything back from them. I am now going to register with Recovery Haven in Tralee. They came back to me the same day and have an open evening in Tralee on the 27th March.

Amprodude

Im ready to go for this. Im out of action at the moment though and no cycling done because of an accident i had. Cant wait for the day i can get back on bike again to train for this event.

keano25

rayman1 wrote: »

€100 is a rip off.
The Sean Kelly Tour of Waterford is only €40 or €36 for Cycling Ireland Members and you get a good quality souvenir jersey. Now that's great valeu.

You can't even spell value.

smacl

Lumen wrote: »

The ROK organisers are welcome to do whatever they like, but I'm not sure why I'd want to pay 100 quid + crazy Killarney hotel prices when I could go on a weekend away with friends for less money.

Same reason people pay silly money to go to an open air rock concert, even though the acoustics will be crap and the band miles away. More about the buzz of being at a big event than anything else.

Getting down to Kerry myself the week after the ROK, and looking forward to some amazing cycling. The ROK route won't be on the agenda, too many other, nicer roads to take.