Enough Ras talk, back to the real world!!
I see on the Usher site that the Gorey is restricted to A2 and A3 only. Bit of a surprise as that will exclude half of last years bunch!
PS Best of luck to Surdival in 2010

I wasn't going to comment on that until I'd spoken to Alice or Gary, but if they stick to that it'll rule out an awful lot of our riders.

Affected riders would include: 
David Murphy
 David Tansey
 Declan Quigley
 Eamonn Finn
 Enda Smyth
 Ian Mellor
 James Olsen
 Lloyd Berry
 Noel Beggs
 Noel Browne
 Noel Murphy
 Patrick Cooney
 Patrick Kindillon
 Peter Seymour
 Robert Lawless
 Roger Broadhurst
 Ronnie Brannigan
 stuart gibson
 Vitaly Buckin
Andrea Fagan
Ciara Long
Ciara Lyons
Julia Phillips
Kitty Perle
Louise Harliwich plus any 1st time open racers.

There's going to be a few dissapointed individuals in there. Many of them will have no intention of riding the Gorey, but there are a few who ride it pretty much every year.

I presume the organising committee see it as being a convenient way to cut back on the numbers, since the Gorey has been oversubscribed every year for a good few years now.

One question that springs to mind for me is will other stage race organisers follow suit? Could 4th cats be left with the Staggs 3 Day and the Ballinrobe as the only stage races open to them?

If anyone doesn't get into the Gorey but still wants to do lots of cycling on the long weekend they can always do the Fleche-Irlandaise. It'll be a good bit cheaper too, on account of accommodation not being an issue.

I've just heard back from Gary McIlroy of the IRC- the reasoning behind excluding the 4th cats is that in recent years the numbers for the Gorey have been very high, the racing has been at times potentially dangerous, and they feel that taking out the 4th cats will go a long way to remedying both of those problems.

In his own words:
Where the A4 category is inclusive of S3 riders with no points scored in the last 2 years and total beginners, with the style of racing which takes place in the Gorey 3 day and the huge numbers partaking it was felt that in the interest of safety A4 riders should not be allowed to partake as (A) it would be expected total beginners will greatly increase the chances of accidents (B) if there were any S3 riders from 09 who had completed the event then they should not really be A4s.
I can't really argue with any of that.

The final word is that anyone who wishes to ride the Gorey will need to take out a 3rd cat licence. If you want your licence upgraded it's not a problem, just let me know sooner rather than later.

I have to say while I'll be sorry that some Orwell riders won't be able to ride the Gorey, as it's a brilliant experience, I won't miss the first 20Km on Stage 1 as it has to be the scariest half an hour or so of the entire season. I don't think reducing the numbers back under 100 or so will diminish the race, in fact it'll make it far better in my humble opinion.

So basically from Cycling Irelands point , any S3 with no points in 2009 is an A4
and From Gorey comm point of view ,any S3 who rode the Gorey 2009 should be a A3 .Its nice to see the new grading makes it easier !!

I think Alice and Gary are doing all those old guys a favour by excluding them from the race. Its time they took out their pipe and slippers and looked after their grandchildren over the easter instead.

Entries for this have opened today, if you're interested you would be best to get your applications in quick.
Gorey organisers wrote:

I'm not sure yet about accommodation for this, I presume we'll try and sort a deal out with the same hotel as last year. If anyone has any thoughts or preferences let us know.

If anyone wants to volunteer to sort out the accommodation it would be greatly appreciated.

Likewise we will be looking for a driver for the weekend. It's good fun and all expenses will be paid.

Entries are now closed with a capacity field of 180 riders.

I'm giving up my entry for this if anyone wants it. If anyone is interested let me know ASAP.

Good luck to the Orwell riders starting the Gorey tomorrow, led by EL presidente and with full supporting cast in the car. What are the chances of a few tweets along the road Dave?

Tommy Campbell has our very own Graham Thomas down as one of the favourites to win the Gorey this year. He obviously knows something that Graham doesn't!

The last time Tommy predicted success for one of our riders was in the Gorey 2008, when on the Sunday night he named Brian Ahern as favourite to win the final stage and take the G.C. overall. That was news to Brian though, who was sick at home in bed at the time, and hadn't even made it to the start line.

Anyhow, good luck to all taking part.

Myself and Finner will do a few tweets on our shift tomorrow.Good luck to everyone. Deeply envious of your forthcoming three days of suffering in thunderstorms. Give it loads!

Well that was a hectic one! Well done to all the Orwells on surviving a tough first stage. Looked pretty savage from where I was sitting. The hammer went down in a serious way from Baltinglass to Hacketstown and it was lined out up the hill through the village. The bunch was subject to a number of quick fire subdivisions and didn't come back together after that.
Eddie Lynch, Ivan McAvinchey, Aidan Collins and John Dillon were in the pointy end but Eddie punctured just before the climb up to Carnew and that was it for him.
Seamus Fitzgerald and Martin Caddow were in a large chasing group closing fast on the lead group in the last few kliometres when Martin got caught up in someone else's crash. He picked himself up and trundled home a little disgruntled but otherwise not too badly hurt.
Gary McNulty impressed all by making the Gorey his first race of the season after an injury and illness blighted winter. Orla Tansey wasn't helped when the women's group was caught just before Hacketstown but she finished strongly in a large group.
Well done to all, especially Ivan, Aidan and John on cracking rides. Ivan and Aidan, it should be remembered, are riding their first stage race in their first full season of open racing.
Give it loads tomorrow!

Found photos here
www.kieranclancy.ie/?Action=_VC&id=6268810

On behalf of the riders I'd like to thank the lads who gave up their time to make us feel like pros if only for a weekend, Declan Quigley and Eamonn Finn on Saturday and Docket Tansey on Sunday and Monday. They made what was a gruelling race just a littlle easier.

+1, many thanks to Declan, Eamonn and Dave for the top class support. Also thanks to Gary for duct taping my pedal back together on Stage 3! Christ that was a tough race; at one point I promised myself if only I hung in and finished I would give up bike racing altogether :)