Big tourism potential in 'Gordon Bennett Experience'

The heritage of the 1903 Gordon Bennett Motor Race is an established brand which has the potential to bring a lot of tourist revenue to many towns and villages in County Kildare, a meeting in Athy was told last week, writes Brian Byrne.

It was also suggested that the Laois and Carlow sections of the course were 'well ahead' of Kildare in exploiting the tourism value of the race, which was described as the 'forerunner of the modern Grand Prix'.

The meeting in the Athy Heritage Centre-Museum was called to set up an official group to relaunch the Kildare Loop of the Gordon Bennett as a touring route within Kildare and as part of the Wicklow-Kildare road touring system. Phil Donnelly of Kildare Failte, introducing the subject, said it had 'the stuff of Hollywood movies' in the the cars, the racing, the people around it. "It can be a great story linking the towns and villages of County Kildare."

She suggested that it was time to develop the story into a much wider frame of a 'Gordon Bennett Experience'. "We have to bring it to another stage, and we need stakeholders throughout the county to champion it."

In a presentation on the race itself, and the people and activities around it, Mario Corrigan of the Kildare Library Service said the idea has 'amazing' potential. "You had an international figure, Gordon Bennett, a bit crazy, and attractive in all the wrong ways. But you can build such a story around him, and the event. It wasn't all about horsepower. There were the anecdotal stories, the logistics of getting the cars to Ireland. The drama of the German team having to borrow private cars after their own cars were destroyed in a fire in Germany." He also noted some contemporary entrepreneurship, the 'killed chicken' scams where residents along the route claimed compensation from wealthy American drivers for 'destroyed' flocks.

Sean Cleary, one of the organisers of the meeting, said the inclusion of a local Gordon Bennett competition into the Tidy Towns effort for villages on the original route was a first step into making people aware of the potential. "We'll add in the larger towns next. It's really up to the people in the communities to buy into it. Everywhere on the route has to look good, and the attractions and services need to be there."

Phil Donnelly said the basic infrastructure could be tapped into very easily, but that it was very important that Kildare take ownership of some element of the brand for the county. "We need to have permanent champions of the brand. We should look at having a series of local festival events built around it."

A discussion highlighted a number of interests which could be attracted to use the route and whatever activities are organised along it. These include coach tour operators, a wide range of vintage and veteran motoring interests, and families on touring holidays or taking day trips out of Dublin. Sean Cleary noted a previous study which had indicated that the tourism effect of such attractions wasn't limited to the routes themselves, but had advantages for a significant area on either side.

The meeting ended with the formation of a Steering Group with a mission to explore the possibilities and requirements to successfully relaunch the Loop. From this Group, a series of workshops will be organised with the various stakeholders identified, and after that an official body will be formed with the power to apply for grant aid and other supports.

Kilcullen was a pivotal location along the original race, close to Ballyshannon where it began and ended, and the point at which the cars turned to go across the Curragh to Kildare. Bardons Hotel was also the headquarters for some of the drivers.