Now that the dust is finally starting to settle on the successful event that was Cross Clonmel, I would like to thank several people and organisations that made the first running of this race as an UCI race such a success.
Powerstown Park is a fantastic venue for cyclo cross with an abundance of natural features and the infrastructure required to host riders from around the world. The Irish Coursing Club as the proprietors of Powerstown Park, have always being very supportive of Clonmel Cycling Club and their efforts to promote cycling events, so a huge thank you to the Irish Coursing Club.
Our event could not have taken place without financial backing, so I want to offer a massive thanks to our sponsors; Cycling Ireland, ATSS, Boston Scientific, The Cycologist, Cycling Munster, Ryan Motor Power and Verge Sport.
The 2 bridges that were built on course were a huge talking point, they really helped to identify the race as a world ranking event, a huge thank you to Actavo for this work. Actavo had six people on site for 3 days to build the bridges and their level of professionalism and expertise displayed was second to none. The Irish Cycling community owes Actavo a huge debt of gratitude.
Martin Grimley, Gary Mcilory and Garry Nugent were a great help in the run up to the event, the work that they do in the back ground is incredible, which no one really see’s but I am hugely grateful for. Aileen Byrne from Cycling Ireland was also a massive help in dealing with the admin of the event.
The team of Commissaire’s on the day really ensured the events ran smoothly.
We had approx. 50 volunteers help over the weekend and to each one of them I want to extend my thanks. The course came in for a lot of praise, as I am sure you can guess it looked very different 3 months before race day so I would like to thank Jamie, Roddy, Danny, Decky, Andrew, Tom, Martin and John for all the Saturday morning’s they gave up to turn the venue into a super race track.
Liam and John Walker got us out of a tight corner when our own PA system blew up a few days before the event by lending us, theirs.
The core committee of Roddy, Paul and Kristian deserve a huge thank you, without them working at all the jobs big and small for 6+ months the event simply would not have got off the ground.
Finally, to all the riders that attended - we had 350 riders compete over the weekend it was great to welcome so many people to Clonmel and we hope to see you all back next year.