Big day for the Rás, ducks, canoes

It might have been washed out, but it wasn't. Though there were heavy showers before, during and after the event, the start of the 2009 FBD Rás Cycle Race got going in good sunshine, helping to make it one of the more colourful events held in the town in a long time.



The Community Centre was the nerve centre of the pre-start process, with the teams from as far away as China and Australia preparing their bikes, signing in, and stoking up on tea and sandwiches. Among theme were the local riders making up the County Kildare Murphy Surveys team, Kieran Kelly, Brian Geraghty, Ciaran Steed, David Peelo and Colm Bracken. Among those to see them off was Kieran's proud dad Tom Kelly, who once ran a very successful bicycle shop in Kilcullen, in the process introducing all his children to the joys of cycling.

Then, with all roads through the town closed for the duration, the competitors gathered at Market Square before being paraded up to the start at Nolans, led by members of the Narraghmore-based Lord Edward's Own Pipe Band.

Before the off, local organisers Liam Walker and Peter Dunlea were publically thanked for getting the local show on the road and providing a crowd said to be much better than normal for a Rás start, 'because people much prefer a finish rather than seeing the riders leave town'. Then it was a gentle ride-through of Kilcullen before the racing got going in earnest a couple of kilometres down the route to Wexford.



The Rás people might have been gone, but there was still much to enjoy for the afternoon. The Lions had brought forward their annual fundraising Duck Race for the event, and entertainment was provided as usual by local bands, any one of whom might be the U2 of the future.

Somehow, the ducks escaped early in what the organisers called a 'false start' and had to be rounded up again for the race proper. Trojan work by the kayaking Reddy sisters, Sabina and Esther, succeeded in releasing those of the wayward yellow racers which had gotten stuck in the reeds.

The race itself actually had very few problems, with the winner sneaking out on the inside bank from the pack and slipping quietly under the line. That little yellow thing won Carol Ivory from Riverside Manor a weekend away for her prize. Runners-up won vouchers for Fallons, Paolo's and Whitewater.

The ducks were then quickly collected again, as the river level rose in preparation for the third big event of the day, the annual Ballymore-Kilcullen Canoe Race organised by Kilcullen Canoe Club. That event itself arrived at the finish line around 3pm.



Just another quiet Sunday in Kilcullen...

Brian Byrne.