Tour de Kilkenny a Huge Success

The third Tour de Kilkenny took place on the August Bank Holiday Saturday and saw over 670 cyclists from all over Ireland take part. A choice of 4 different routes was on offer ranging from 40km to 160km and Barretstown was the benefiting charity. Despite a dull morning the local Marble City Cyclers club was thrilled to see their annual event attract such numbers and Mayor of Kilkenny David Fitzgerald sent off 490 cyclists from the Rugby Club grounds on the 110 and 160 km routes followed by another 180 on the 40km and 70 km circuits.

With water stops at Thomastown and Kilmoganny and food stops at Listerlin and Kilkenny Rugby Club, all participants were well nourished and sustained particularly those opting for the longer distances. The event was entirely staffed by volunteers all keen to contribute to the wonderful work that Barretstown does to improve the lives of children with serious illness. A total of over €10,000 was raised and will be handed over to Barretstown in the coming weeks.

Patrick Tobin, Chairman of Marble City Cyclers noted that the event attracted 50% more cyclists than last year, and is now well established as one of Ireland’s foremost cycling events. He said that the success of the event was due to a massive volunteer effort by the club committee, the motorbike marshals, Listerlin School, Glanbia employees and many others who gave up their time to help with the event. He added that the three Tours de Kilkenny to date have resulted in over €20,000 being raised for Barretstown.

Marble City Cyclers were particularly pleased to see a huge turnout by cyclists from Kilkenny and surrounding areas. This included 78 year old Pat Lyng who having recovered from a quadruple bypass last year, completed the 40km route whilst barely working up a sweat!

Marble City Cyclers would like to acknowledge the support of the Gardai, Listerlin School Parents Association, Glanbia, Kilkenny Rugby Club, Walls Cycles Kilkenny, Sonix Entertainment, MyStuff, Barretstown, Anton Larkin our photographer for the day.

Well done to all who participated and to all our volunteers for helping to make the whole event something to be proud of.

Thanks

From Marble City Cyclers