RACING
THE annual pilgrimage of Irish racegoers to Cheltenham is an integral part of modern sporting life and Imperial Call's quest to land back to back Gold Cup victories at the National Hunt Festival from March 11th to 14th is sure to provide further intrigue for those undertaking the jaunt across the Irish Sea this spring.
Leopardstown Tours have a wide choice of three day and four day packages by sea and air to the mecca of steeplechase racing for the festival. Excursions by air vary in price from £259 (per person sharing) to £599, with a choice of departures from Dublin, Belfast, Shannon, Cork, Kerry and Galway (air supplements may apply) to Birmingham. Packages by car ferry start at £197 up to £375.
Curragh Travel also have a nice variety of excursions to Cheltenham, with optional hospitality facilities. Prices by air start from £290 and by sea from £196. Stephens Green Classic Sports Travel have special day trips to the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup for £199 and an all inclusive three day tour for £399.
Irish punters seeking the magic of the Aintree Grand National meeting from April 3rd to 5th are also catered for exceptionally well, with a wide range of packages by air and sea. Aintree is celebrating the 150th running of the world's most famous steeplechase this year and Curragh Travel have offers starting at £232 for the three day festival. Stephens Green offer a one day special for £169 and also have two night packages for £259 and three night deals for £309, while Leopardstown Tours have excursions by air commencing at £232.
The flat season isn't neglected. Leopardstown Tours have excursions (starting at £287) to the Newmarket Guineas Festival from May 2nd to 4th and also have classic trips to the French Derby in June at Chantilly, a course 20 miles north of Paris situated under Louis XIV's chateau. The meeting has been compared to the French equivalent of the Curragh. Prices for Chantilly, however, won't be available until later this month.
Leopardstown Tours also have packages to Epsom for the Oaks on Friday June 6th and, of course, the Derby the following day. Prices start at £220. Other destinations on their itinerary this year include Royal Ascot (June 17th to 29th, with prices starting at £346) and Glorious Goodwood (July 29th to 31st, with packages starting at £413).
And Keith Prowse Travel (Ireland) Ltd are also pandering to the requirements of racing fans. A trip to Royal Ascot in June combines top racing with allegedly top fashion: one night packages start at £83.
Apart from the traditional destinations, Leopardstown Tours are also offering more exotic locations for those who prefer to flutter their money in the sunshine the Dubai World Cup meet - with a guaranteed prize fund of $4 million - takes place from March 17th to 24th and those racegoers who would like to spend St Patrick's Day in the Arab state have a number of packages (starting at £1,349) to choose from.
RUGBY
THE Springboks await. And, as dream trips go, the Lions summer tour of South Africa - which starts at the end of May and concludes in early July - is likely to prove as appealing as any to those sports lovers with plenty of time on their hands and equal quantities of money to spare.
This summer, the Lions return to South Africa for the first time since 1980, although it's the feats of their 1974 predecessors, captained by Willie John McBride, which the 1997 version will be seeking to emulate in the latest series of confrontations with the world champions.
Stephens Green Classic Sports Travel - in association with Donnybrook Travel - have put together a 13 day (11 nights) trip for Irish supporters, costing £1,699 (with a single room supplement of £495) which will take in two of the three Test matches and also features guided sightseeing tours. Flights are from Dublin, via Frankfurt, to Cape Town on Lufthansa Airlines.
For supporters seeking a longer stay, English based companies Mike Burton Sports Travel, who include Mike Gibson as one of their tour leaders, and Sport Abroad have options ranging from the long haul trip, lasting 45 days, down to a five day excursion taking in the final Test. Prices for the complete tour are £3,995 sterling (single supplement £900) with Burton and £4,243 sterling (single supplement £998) with Sport Abroad. Intending travellers should note that vaccinations, although not compulsory, are recommended against hepatitis A, tetanus, malaria, typhoid and polio.
Ireland's away journeys in the Five Nations Championship take in Cardiff on February 1st and Edinburgh on March 1st for the matches with Wales and Scotland. The Irish Travel Agency have a variety of two day and three day excursions to the Cardiff Arms Park ranging from £259 to £475 and to Edinburgh starting at £269, while Stephens Green Classic Sports Travel have trips to Cardiff ranging from £225 to £457 and to Murrayfield with prices starting at £359.
For rugby folk with more exotic tastes, Sport Abroad have organised a tour to the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Hong Kong, due to transfer back to China with the official handover on July 1st. As such, the tournament, in March, is a historic one. Willie John McBride is among the tour leaders and prices range from £1,299 sterling for a four night stay to over £2,000 sterling for a six night stay.
The same company also has a trip planned to the Dubai Sevens in November, with prices starting at £493 sterling, and to the World Rugby Classic in Bermuda (apparently the biggest event in the country's sporting calendar featuring stars from the 1970s and 80s), also in November, with prices starting at £799 sterling.
SOCCER
FUNNY what a couple of years can do. In Jack Charlton's days, the travel agents were elbowing each other out of the way in the rush to get the schedules and brochures for international matches into the public domain.
However, a series of less than friendly destinations in the World Cup qualifying campaign (trips to FYR Macedonia and Romania just don't have the same appeal as sojourns to Spain, Portugal or even Malta) and a marginal dip in enthusiasm since the demise of the Charlton era means the new Green Army, in Mick McCarthy's tenure, have had to wait a little longer to finalise their travelling plans.
The main soccer supporter carriers expect to have their packages in place later this month, or early February, but one prominent travel agent anticipates a larger number of one day trips, rather than week long stays, than in the past. Supporters just won't fancy staying in some of the away venues any longer than a day, they aren't too appealing. In most cases, it will be a matter of getting in and then getting out," he insisted.
Ireland's away matches in the remainder of the Group Eight qualifying programme are: Macedonia (April 2nd), Romania (April 30th), Iceland (September 6th) and Lithuania (September 10th).
When it comes to weekly trips from the various corners of Ireland to support clubs in Britain, three teams dominate - Manchester United, Liverpool and Glasgow Celtic. Although most agents will put together personalised packages to cater for supporters of other teams, interest mainly centres on this threesome.
Sports Tours have comprehensive excursions to all of the matches involving Manchester United, Liverpool and Celtic ... and all are very much in demand. A typical "executive break" trip to Old Trafford, for instance, will cost £289 (£30 reduction for a child under 12), and includes flight, a guided tour of the so called Theatre of Dreams, a buffet lunch in an executive suite with a first team player in attendance, two nights hotel and, of course, a match ticket. Similar excursions to see Celtic and Liverpool will cost £209 (child under 12 costs £179). The package to Celtic includes a business class seat in the new North Stand and patrons should note, there is a dress code in operation which means no jeans, runners or team colours can be worn.
An indication of the Irish love affair - apart from the ABUs - with Manchester United is that Stephens Green Classic Sports Travel have four choices of tours to English FA Premiership matches: day trips, weekend trips, VIP hospitality trips and executive weekend trips. A two night stay - on the typical executive weekend trip - will cost £299, price based on per person sharing.
GOLF
THERE was a time when the Ryder Cup was merely a biennial excuse for the golfers of the United States to inflict punishment, with the odd exception, on their counterparts from Britain and Ireland.
However, the decision in 1979 to include continental Europeans for the first time levelled the playing field somewhat - and transformed what had been a one sided encounter into one of the world's great sporting occasions.
There has always been a strong Irish connection with the Ryder Cup, most recently augmented by Philip Walton's contribution at Oakhill in 1995. Indeed, the expectation is that a large travelling army of supporters from this country will make the trip to Spain this year when Europe attempt to retain the trophy under Seve Ballesteros's captaincy.
Valderrama will become the first continental European venue to stage the Ryder Cup - the match takes place at the Robert Trent Jones designed course on September 26th to 28th - and, with Darren Clarke well placed in the current Ryder Cup standings, it is likely that at least one Irish player will make the 12 man team.
Killester Travel, incorporating Sean Skehan's World of Golf, have a basic package costing £975 per person sharing which includes travel, seven nights accommodation, four rounds of golf (with competitions) and two days' attendance at the Ryder Cup matches.
Carr Golf Corporate Travel, in association with John Cassidy Travel, have put together a five nights package (starting at £1,344 pps). Escorted by former Ryder Cup player Peter Townsend, the tour includes four star accommodation and tickets to all five practice and match days, with optional golf at a number of venues including the Jack Nicklaus designed Montecastillo course in Jerez.
The London based Sporting Connections have six different tours to the Ryder Cup, starting with the budget trip at £999 sterling per person sharing and rising to £1,599 sterling pps, which includes entry to practice and match days. However, a supplement for departure from Irish airports will apply.
The British Open is generally acknowledged as the top professional tournament in the world and Keith Prowse Travel (Ireland) Ltd will have a number of packages to this year's event which will be staged at Royal Troon on July 17th to 20th. Details will be available later this month.
MOTOR SPORT
THE smell of burning rubber auto fuel fumes infiltrating the nasal passages ... and blurred images. No, not a Halloween bonfire, rather a trip to a Formula One Grand Prix and, as these events go, the British event at Silverstone remains one of the most appetising of all.
Keith Prowse Travel (Ireland) Ltd can't guarantee a visit to the podium by a Jordan driver for this year's event but they do offer a range of packages to suit most pockets from soaking up the atmosphere with the crowds over the two days racing (on July 12th and 13th) to the luxury of hospitality and grandstand seats on super Sunday. Packages include hotel accommodation, transfers and a choice of entrance or grandstand tickets. Two night excursions start at £228.
ATHLETICS
SVETLANA Masterkova's name may have meant little or nothing to Irish athletics followers before Atlanta 96. But Sonia O'Sullivan's nightmare experience in last year's Olympic Games and the Russian's dreamlike double in the 800 metres, and 1,500 metres changed everything.
So, a possible head to head battle between the duo in the 1,500 metres at the World Athletics Championships in Athens next August would be tantalising.
The Harold's Cross based agents Sports Travel International are compiling a package to Athens (prices will be available later this month) for the sixth IAAF World Championships on August 1st to 10th. The championships return to the home of ancient athletics and will take place in the new 80,000 all seater stadium which was built in the hope of attracting the Centennial Olympic Games.
While the World Championships will provide the athletics high point of 1997, Sports Travel International have put together a number of participation packages, including the Paris Marathon on April 6th (prices from £349); the Flora London Marathon on April 13th (excursions from £224); the Rotterdam Marathon on April 20th (packages from £369) and also tours to the Chicago, San Francisco, Boston and New York marathons. The company will also put together customised packages to the World Cross Country Championships in Turin on March 23rd upon request.
And one for the diary: The Millennium Marathon on January 1st 2000. New Zealand is the first major country to see the light of the new millennium and, as dawn breaks, athletes will run from one millennium into another. Full details will be available next month.
CRICKET
FINALLY, something for sporting sadists to contemplate. Sport A broad, the London based agency, have put together three tours to New Zealand for England's Test series with the Kiwis next month.
The prices range from £2,295 sterling to £2,775 sterling for the most extensive tour which incorporates the different test matches.
