Rás Tailteann ‘90% sure to go ahead’ amid concerns over funding gap

Rás Tailteann race director Ger Campbell has said that a decision will be made soon about running the 2023 event, with further sponsorship still being sought.

“We are positive about it at the moment, feeling 90 per cent sure the race will go ahead, but watch this space,” he told The Irish Times. “We have meetings in the coming weeks which will be very important for us.”

The race was absent from the calendar between 2019 and 2021, with a lack of sponsorship affecting the first of those years and Covid-19 putting paid to the other two. It returned in 2022 without a title backer but with the necessary budget in place due to several smaller sponsors plus funding from Cycling Ireland.

‘Huge success’

It was run over five days last June and was a considerable success with safe, aggressive racing, good organisation and positive media coverage. The race marked the first Irish winner in 14 years, with Roscommon rider Daire Feeley beating Briton Louis Sutton (Brocar-Ale) by 51 seconds. Four of the five stages were won by Irish riders — Matthew Teggart (Cycling Ulster), Adam Ward (Ireland), Rory Townsend (Ireland) and Kevin McCambridge (Trinity Racing).

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“I think the race was a huge success last year. I don’t think we could have done it any better,” Campbell said. “I’m not blowing our own trumpet. I’m just saying that the coverage and the feedback was more than we could ever have expected. And I suppose naively I thought that maybe sponsorship was going to fall over the heavens like manna, but it didn’t.”

Campbell had been hoping a title sponsor would step forward, as was the case in the past with An Post, FBD Insurance and others. However, thus far no such commitment has been made, making it likely that the race will be backed instead by a number of smaller sponsors, much as it was last year.

However, there is a big gap that still needs to be closed. Last year Cycling Ireland gave a large contribution to help the race get back on the road. Campbell said at the time this was a once-off and while the governing body may provide some funding this year, it will be much less this time.

“I’m not going to go into figures, but by being prudent we actually drew down less from them in the first place, and then we actually returned €15,000 to them when the race was over,” Campbell said. “But it was still a considerable amount of money that was available to us. And that’s not going to be available this year.”

The race is listed on the calendar this year for May 17th-21st, a month earlier than in 2022. The decision to move the event back to its traditional time slot has been influenced largely by a lack of hotel places in June. This has cut accommodation prices but, according to Campbell, other increases mean that the projected race costs for 2023 work out approximately the same as last time around.

It means there is a shortfall that still needs to be met. He and the others on the Cáirde Rás Tailteann organising committee are due to meet one of the sponsors from last year to see if an agreement can be found to increase its input. The timing of the race also synchronises with National Bike Week this year and the committee will explore if this could potentially unlock some funding.

First Rás in 1953

The Rás Tailteann was first run in 1953 and has been hugely important to Irish cycling. It has played an influential role in the development of many professional careers, including Stephen Roche, Sam Bennett, Eddie Dunbar and others. It is also valued on the international calendar, with huge demand from Britain and elsewhere.

The race receives strong media coverage at home and abroad and, with cycling offering high sponsorship value relative to cost, Campbell is hopeful that the right backer can be found, whether it’s this year or beyond.

“A title sponsor is a dream. Absolutely a dream,” he said. “But at the moment, it looks like we’re going to be building it brick by brick, like we did in 2022, albeit without the substantial funding from Cycling Ireland. So we are looking for further co-sponsors.

“And it’s important to me, and it’s important to the rest of our group that the event can stand on its own two feet. We’ve had loads of goodwill, but goodwill just doesn’t necessarily turn into pounds, shillings and pence.”