Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle 2015 - entry transfers closed - do not request entries

mamax

The tour de Burren was voted the best sportive in Ireland last year and for good reason.
Marshals excellent, food excellent, greate route, free tops and t shirt and ice cream at the end, I did the 96km last year and I'll be doing the 160km this year.
Definitely the best day I had on the bike last year

Crocked

ford2600 wrote: »

Haven't done it for 2/3 years,used to go up every year. Route is lovely generally, limestone ledges meets the Wild Atlantic. Unique landscape really.

The crew is fine, usually experienced cyclists on longer route, very different from ROK. Route is nicer to, ROK as peninsula cycling in Ireland goes is only average(still some stunning sections but a lot of forgettable road).

Burren in lumpy continously without any major climb. Think I did it 3 times maybe 4, one of the better sportives.

It'll get you in shape for a nice quality sportive like Waterville 200...;)

Edit:photos above were taken on coastal road about 20km south west of Ballyvaughan last April. Once of nicest stretches of road in country to cycle that I have travelled

I'll hopefully be in Clare for a few days over the summer and was looking for routes to go on a spin one of the days, just plotted one on strava taking in said road, looks great, looking forward to it now

denismac

The list of charities is now posted on the ROK website: http://www.ringofkerrycycle.ie/charities/
There are 9 charities listed so there must be a lot of direct entries.

jamesd

denismac wrote: »

The list of charities is now posted on the ROK website: http://www.ringofkerrycycle.ie/charities/
There are 9 charities listed so there must be a lot of direct entries.

So the direct enteries might be €70 and no sponsor card again this year?

snottybridge

Last years cycle raised over 1.5 million,looks to me like they're aiming for the 2 million mark by setting the minimum at 200 euro,this years cycle would have been my 5th,always enjoyed it,great event,but this just smacks of greed to me,200 euro is a lot to raise for some people,especially if like me you try and do a number of charity cycles throughout the year,but I have no doubt they will still have no problem getting 10000 cyclists to do it again this year.

ZiabR

snottybridge wrote: »

Last years cycle raised over 1.5 million,looks to me like they're aiming for the 2 million mark by setting the minimum at 200 euro,this years cycle would have been my 5th,always enjoyed it,great event,but this just smacks of greed to me,200 euro is a lot to raise for some people,especially if like me you try and do a number of charity cycles throughout the year,but I have no doubt they will still have no problem getting 10000 cyclists to do it again this year.

Would agree with this. It seems every year the cost to enter this event has risen and risen. I completed this last year but it was my last year, I wont be doing the RoK again. There are plenty of other charity cycles out there.

Masala

snottybridge wrote: »

Last years cycle raised over 1.5 million,looks to me like they're aiming for the 2 million mark by setting the minimum at 200 euro,this years cycle would have been my 5th,always enjoyed it,great event,but this just smacks of greed to me,200 euro is a lot to raise for some people,especially if like me you try and do a number of charity cycles throughout the year,but I have no doubt they will still have no problem getting 10000 cyclists to do it again this year.

Don't know if they will get 10,000. @ €200 a head! I feel that there will be a major drop in numbers. They tried to charge €100 each last year and it was a PR disaster and the prices dropped to €70.

There are 3 of us in my family ... We won't be there if it's costing me €600. Am happy to give it a skip this year and transfer my attention to a new sportive.

lescol

I was talking to someone involved in the organising committee of one of the charities, it seems that the ROK organisers have suggested the €200 minimum to them, not all the charities will follow this, the one I was talking to will ask for €100 as they see it as no more than €20 over what the ROK will be asking for registration this year.

The Console website:- http://console.ie/events/cycle-in-the-ring-of-kerry-cycle-2015-for-console/ even suggests that you can ride for free! Pay them €100, collect €100 and then keep it!

DanDublin1982

lescol wrote: »

I was talking to someone involved in the organising committee of one of the charities, it seems that the ROK organisers have suggested the €200 minimum to them, not all the charities will follow this, the one I was talking to will ask for €100 as they see it as no more than €20 over what the ROK will be asking for registration this year.

The Console website:- http://console.ie/events/cycle-in-the-ring-of-kerry-cycle-2015-for-console/ even suggests that you can ride for free! Pay them €100, collect €100 and then keep it!

It says 200 several times in that link?

snottybridge

Console are looking for 100 to register plus another 100 from whatever sponsorship you raise,so you still end up paying 200 euro?

lescol

Note #2; your registration fee of €100 can be taken from your final sponsorship total if you wish. (ie. if you raise the €200 through Sponsorship, you need only hand in the balance of €100 therefore recouping your €100)

From the Console web page

DanDublin1982

lescol wrote: »

Note #2; your registration fee of €100 can be taken from your final sponsorship total if you wish. (ie. if you raise the €200 through Sponsorship, you need only hand in the balance of €100 therefore recouping your €100)

From the Console web page

Balance is the key word there. Thats after you've already handed over the reg fee off 100. They are saying its 200 minimum to be raised.

lescol

DanDublin1982 wrote: »

Balance is the key word there. Thats after you've already handed over the reg fee off 100. They are saying its 200 minimum to be raised.

Yes, I guess the point I was trying to make was that each charity would be different in what they would expect, also that the ROK would be looking for €80 this year as a minimum donation.

Axel Lamp

http://http://www.ringofkerrycycle.ie/charities/

Charities announced. .

StevieGriff

How is it that Console are taking registrations for ROK already?

iwillhtfu

StevieGriff wrote: »

How is it that Console are taking registrations for ROK already?

I'd imagine all of the registered charities are doing this as a lot of people will be looking to secure a spot before general tickets go on sale. Which I see are €80 according to console website.

http://console.ie/events/cycle-in-the-ring-of-kerry-cycle-2015-for-console/

Axel Lamp

StevieGriff wrote: »

How is it that Console are taking registrations for ROK already?

They're not actually registering the cyclists with the ROK yet as the registration isn't open yet.

They are probably just taking names for their own info. Starting early.

Edit: registering with a charity means you are guaranteed a place.

StevieGriff

Axel Lamp wrote: »

They're not actually registering the cyclists with the ROK yet as the registration isn't open yet.

They are probably just taking names for their own info. Starting early.

Edit: registering with a charity means you are guaranteed a place.

I would hope so. I like to consider myself a charitable person but I can't see myself paying €200 now and being told in April I don't have a spot.

Axel Lamp

StevieGriff wrote: »

I would hope so. I like to consider myself a charitable person but I can't see myself paying €200 now and being told in April I don't have a spot.

It is definitely guaranteed.

Greengearz

I was planning on doing ROK for the first tine this year.
I'm not 100%sure how it works, I've had quick look at this thread.
How would one register for one of the charities? Do I already have ti be a member of a cycling group to sign up with a charity? I hadn't planned on going with a charity just wanted to experience the ROK
I had thought that once I'd registered and payed a feee, everything was OK.€200 is v.steep imo. Sorry if I'm making no sense

thesimpsons

You don't need to be part of a group and you don't need to register with one of the charities at 200euro. But registering now with a charity does guarantee you a place. On 7th April ROK site opens and registration will be 80euro. It was 70e last year, 50e year before. It's getting very pricey now especially if you have few in family doing it and you are also doing lots of other events during the summer too.

ROK ON

It is getting more expensive each year, but what should the organisers do?
I understand that their remit is to raise the maximum funds. The demand for places has simply kept increasing at what would appear to be a strong level.
This is simply self selecting. They want the number of cyclists that they think will lead to largest funds raised.

While it is a great event it is not and never has been a sportif. For people wanting their fix on the Kerry roads there is a growing number of sportive organised by the various Kerry cycling clubs.
Maybe support these at a much lower price point and get a good route in.if the price continues to escalate then maybe if numbers tail off that the organiser will understand that it has gone too far. Until that point I feel they don't have an option. There are too many people who want to do this relative to those that can be safely and efficiently accommodated.

Masala

Dunno who wrote that piece on the Console website... but they trying to play with words and its seems to be working on this forum !!

Bottom line is ... You pay €200 to Console. If like me.. you have gone to the well too may times and relatives and friends give you the bums rush.. .. you have to pay this out of your own resources - it will cost you €200 of your hard earned Wonga. Console want €200 ... be it your money or collected from your friends/relatives....its €200 to get a ticket to ride.

Good luck with that.....

thesimpsons

I think the vast majority of people pay their own entries and sponsorships these day's. We've never asked anyone to sponsor us in years. I'my very surprised though at the of people I know who have signed up at the 200e cost. I'll have to take my chances that I get spots on 7th April - 4 in this house doing it all out of the one salary makes for extremely expensive day out but one we do as a family so great bonding exercise. The cost means it'll probably be our last year though.

Masala

thesimpsons wrote: »

I think the vast majority of people pay their own entries and sponsorships these day's. We've never asked anyone to sponsor us in years. I'my very surprised though at the of people I know who have signed up at the 200e cost. I'll have to take my chances that I get spots on 7th April - 4 in this house doing it all out of the one salary makes for extremely expensive day out but one we do as a family so great bonding exercise. The cost means it'll probably be our last year though.

Agree with you here ... on all sentiments !

With the 7-8 charities - they getting 400 entries each... so that means 3000 or so entries gone. I read that the limit this year is 11,000.. so still 8000 left. Will take my chance on same and apply on 7th April as normal with credit card ready.

If any charity approaches me... I'll offer €100 x 3 of us on a take it or leave basis.

Officer Giggles

My reading of the ROK website is that I have to become a member of Cycling Ireland for insurance reasons to do the charity cycle.

Is this correct?

Kevincavan83

Officer Giggles wrote: »

My reading of the ROK website is that I have to become a member of Cycling Ireland for insurance reasons to do the charity cycle.

Is this correct?

No i think you can get insurance through brokers but cycling ireland get a discount.
Insurance is to cover you in event of you causing damage to someones bike if you cause accident, so i was told

Sorry just looked at site just now if u join cycling ireland. A non comp licence membership is €30 and covers u on club spins and non comp events

Officer Giggles

Kevincavan83 wrote: »

No i think you can get insurance through brokers but cycling ireland get a discount.
Insurance is to cover you in event of you causing damage to someones bike if you cause accident, so i was told

Sorry just looked at site just now if u join cycling ireland. A non comp licence membership is €30 and covers u on club spins and non comp events

Sound, wasn't sure if the insurance was compulsory or not

Eamonnator

I have it on very good authority, that the cost of the Ring of Kerry, with direct registration, will be 80 Euro.

Sorry. I see, that somebody has already posted this.

Officer Giggles

so far only console seem to have made it known that they want €200 to enter through them, would it be reasonable to assume that the other charities will want the same fee collected or have the charities had different minimum donations in previous years

thesimpsons

Kerry Hospice and Down Syndrome both want 200e per person too. phoned them the other day.

Masala

thesimpsons wrote: »

Kerry Hospice and Down Syndrome both want 200e per person too. phoned them the other day.

A mate was approached by DS above and asked to cycle for them. Told upfront that it was €200 to cycle.

touts

I made contact with one of the charities and was also told €200 minimum. That's crazy. I don't come from Kerry so its not easy to raise money for charities 100 miles away when so many equally important ones are desperate for money locally. If they had even one national charity I'd consider it but it's very hard to justify the Kerry only approach to friends and relatives I'd be tapping for money.

If the direct registration is €80 as someone suggested earlier that's also a big jump up from €70 last year but I'll pay that rather than €200 and over the summer I'll easily spend the €120 I save on sportives near me that support local charities.

Yarisbob

I registered the last 3 years and got scuppered at the 11th hour each time. I gave the reg to clubmates.

I am going registering this year and hopefully ill not get kybosched again.

€80 is getting close to peoples upper limit - sooner or later it will be €100 to do any sort of a charity cycle..

Cyclists seem to be the new "Cash Cow" for charities now. Boys will soon get tired of this

touts

This came up in a club discussion last night. One lad heard that the charities have reserved 6000 spots already and that's with 3 weeks to go before it opens up to the public. The prospect of €200 a pop was too tempting for the charities to resist and they are pushing hard to get slots and several are going direct to clubs with bulk orders. One club in Limerick had a registration night this week and took in 55 registrations on the basis of €100 upfront and each of the 55 members had to take a sponsorship card and agree to raise at least another €100 per card. All 55 slots came from one charity.

And apparently the overall limit is 9500 slots, same as last year. The organisers wanted to increase it to 11000 but apparently the guards knocked that back on safety grounds. Looks like there could be very few slots left when it opens to the general public. Also if demand is that high and the charities have no problem getting €200 a slot I suspect there is little chance the public sale slots will be less than €100.

OK that's all coming from a lad who talked to someone but if it's true the case I'm just not sure it I will be going. It's very expensive when you add it all up (Hotel, food etc).

New2bike

Just throwing it out there but if the ROK has become this elusive not to mention expensive what are people's thoughts on the Killarney cycling festival wrong way round on 29tg Aug?? Presumably the hotels won't be as expensive and food stops ect won't be as cluttered still get to do the beautiful route but at half the price and far less hassle I see on the bookface that they are up to 1500 likes

Masala

Am not all that worried.... There will not be 6000 people out there willing to pay €200 each. The charities will end up excess tickets and will take 'offers'.

I would be worried about the bad press they will get taking €200 of that Limerick group and they find out that another club is paying €100 each in the same charity.

I read on a charity site that tgey had 400 tickets.. On 9 charities.. That's 3600 tickets. Didn't think that the Committee would give over 66% of the tickets to charities based on their own database demands.

I won't be paying €600 for the 3 of us in my family. Really don't care at this stage....

tuch

Find it very hard to believe that charities are asking for and getting €200 per registration particularly if direct registration fee is €80. In previous years giving the same amount as the direct fee was acceptable.

mirrormatrix

Masala wrote: »

Am not all that worried.... There will not be 6000 people out there willing to pay €200 each. The charities will end up excess tickets and will take 'offers'.

In fairness, I don't think that anyone should be blaming the charities for trying to raise as much money as they possibly can. They know the popularity of the race and have pitched at a price that they think people will be willing to pay/raise money for. I'm sure they have to pay ROK a few bob per ticket.

I got a charity entry to make sure that I get in. Have accom booked already and not taking the chance of not getting a ticket when general registration opens. I think there'll be plenty of people out there willing to either pay 80 euro or raise 200 to get in.

tHE vAGGABOND

In fairness, I don't think that anyone should be blaming the charities for trying to raise as much money as they possibly can. They know the popularity of the race and have pitched at a price that they think people will be willing to pay/raise money for. I'm sure they have to pay ROK a few bob per ticket.

I know with big marathons, the charities have to pay a premium over what punters pay to get their "guaranteed" places..

Have to say I'm a bit surprised at people's shock and horror at having to select a charity and raise 200 quid? I did a charity thing a few years ago and hit €500 after spending a few work emails and the odd post on twitter and facebook. Yes you cant dip into those well's too often, but once a year or so I think people are happy to give €10 or €20 each..

Kerry Gooner

Kerry Hospice has announced that all their allocation of entries have been taken up

Fear Ciarrai

St Josephs home just looking for E80 registration. No sponsorship requested

Eamonnator

Fear Ciarrai wrote: »

St Josephs home just looking for E80 registration. No sponsorship requested

Thank you kindly.
I got my mate and myself registered with St. Joseph's.
I rang them. They were prepared to accept 80 Euro, but pushed a little. We settled on 100 Euro each.
I have a feeling, they're running out of places, quite quickly.

tHE vAGGABOND

Signed up with Console [another of the official charities]. I have no bother with raising the €200 required, only needed to give €30 up front, which is good

touts

Signed up with St Joseph's this morning. €80. Given the current asking prices from other charities that is very decent of them and when it comes to paying I'll probably put in a little extra.

Officer Giggles

Rathmore Social Action Group is €80 to cover the registration fee plus whatever you can give/collect on top, no minimum

cavan4sam

Are places likely to fill up on the opening day of registration or does it generally take a few days to fill up

funnights74

cavan4sam wrote: »

Are places likely to fill up on the opening day of registration or does it generally take a few days to fill up

It usually takes a few weeks but this year the nominated charities have sold out of their allocated spaces so I wouldn't leave it too long as there's less to go around.

touts

cavan4sam wrote: »

Are places likely to fill up on the opening day of registration or does it generally take a few days to fill up

It was open for around 3 weeks last year. This year could be different. I'd say a few days so no immediate Garth Brooks sell out in 60seconds type rush but don't hang around too long. The charities seem to have a lot of the tickets and there seems to be much more buzz about it. I know several people who want to do it for the first time this year.

jamesd

Fear Ciarrai wrote: »

St Josephs home just looking for E80 registration. No sponsorship requested

Signed up with them today myself, sent down my postal order this morning and received an entry email this evening from Ring of Kerry.