Mon 5th March , 2012
23 categorized climbs over the 487 km route await the 150 riders plus International field that will assemble for this years KERRY GROUP RAS MUMHAN 4 Day International Cycle Race to be held In Killorglin ,County Kerry in a little over 4 weeks time over the Easter week-end , starting on Good Friday April 6th until Easter Monday April 9th. The big one will be the Summit finish of stage 2 on Easter Saturday, at the top of the Conor Pass , after a tough 130km in West Kerry, the only category 1 climb in the race. This was a huge attraction last year with Dutch man Leon Burger winning the stage after he escaped from the leading group of 5 riders on the climb to the Conor Pass, where he was greeted by a big crowd , over a minute ahead of Ryan Sherlock, & Paul Griffin who led in the rest of the breakaway group.
There are 4 category 2 Climbs to be negotiated over the week-end. On Good Friday’s stage 1 at half way Just before the Village of Scartaglin on the way to Castleisland. Sunday ‘s stage in South Kerry has the 3 other Category 2 climbs, with the 2 later ones the toughest, just after the village of Chapletown on the Famous Valentia Island at the 88km mark and at St Finian’s Bay with 25km to go on the 142km stage to the finish in Waterville. The 5 category 3 climbs are spread over the first three days , with 1 on Friday , two on Saturday on the loop around Slea Head before Dingle and two more on Sunday to keep the climbing men happy. There are 10 of the 13 category 4 climbs on the finish line at the top of the hill up through Killorglin on the final laps Of the last stage of the 4 days of great racing. Dutch man Leon Burger had a major battle with Mark Dowling for the KOM Jersey and his win on the big Climb to the Conor Pass was the difference at the end.
STAGE PROFILES
Stage 1 http://connect.garmin.com/course/702188#.T0x-TWiGrVA.email
Stage 2 http://connect.garmin.com/course/702259#.T0x_FY54nCE.email
Stage 3 http://connect.garmin.com/course/702454#.T0x_q1J9y6M.email
Stage 4 http://connect.garmin.com/course/702344#.T0yAUQdzBdA.email
JERSEYS
The Race leaders SANTINI Jersies for all the various categories will again be sponsored by DMC SPORTS. Managing Director David McQuaid said “ they were delighted to once again be sponsors of the various jersies For KERRY GROUP RAS MUMHAN . The race is organized by a dedicated voluntary group that provide a great international race for all our top domestic club riders. We provide the classification jersies for the Giro dItalia, Tour Down Under and others , so why not the Kingdom.”
Clubs, teams or individuals interested in taking part in the race should contact the Race Secretary, Mary Concannon: Tel: 00 353 64 44396 / 00 353 87 2802071, maryconcannon@eircom.net.