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Antrim Coast Giro d'Italia fishermanMotorists criticise organisers of Northern Ireland Gran Fondo cycling event after suffering traffic delays
A number of motorists have complained of traffic disruptions as a result of the inaugural RCS-backed Northern Ireland Gran Fondo on Sunday. However, Darach McQuaid, who has been heavily involved in organising the event, says there were signs every kilometre and has proclaimed the event ‘a huge success’.
Aaron Abernethy told the BBC that a journey between Carryduff and Ballynahinch in County Down took nearly an hour, when it normally takes 15 minutes. He said that he had been unaware the Gran Fondo was going to be taking place.
"Maybe I wasn't paying attention, but I didn't see a single sign in the area that said there was going to be any traffic disruption. The only sign I saw was maybe 60 or 70 yards before the actual cross-point where the cyclists were crossing over the main road.”
Abernethy believes that RCS Sport need to find a better way of notifying people of disruptions. "It didn't seem like I was alone in thinking that road would be passable yesterday."
One driver travelling to Roselawn cemetery in south Belfast for Father's Day claimed that a two-mile trip had taken almost two hours, and said there were no signs for diversions.
The Northern Ireland Tourist Board secured the rights for the events from RCS and its Irish partners, Shadetree Sports, at a cost of £400,000. Shadetree Sports’ director, Darach McQuaid – the younger brother of former UCI president, Pat McQuaid – said there had been a large awareness campaign prior to the event.
"Around the route, we had, about every kilometre, signs saying the road was going to be closed, for about nine days before the event. We had a mail drop that went to thousands of houses around the route, and we got massive feedback from that."
The event will also be run in 2016 and 2017. Organisers were hoping for at least 4,000 entrants in the first year, building up to 8,000 by the third year. While numbers were slightly down on that first year target, McQuaid still professed himself pleased with how it had gone.
"Ninety-nine percent of the event was a huge success. The routes have been very successful from a tourism point of view. The feedback from the riders was amazing, the feedback from a lot of the towns and villages we went through was amazing.
"There are 3,200 riders, many of who from around the world, heading back to their homesteads now, saying that was spectacular countryside with welcoming people."
Earlier this month, we reported that the closed-road Velothon Wales event had attracted a degree of local opposition as a result of the planned road closures. This resentment may have been the motivation for saboteurs who spread tacks on the road at two points along the route.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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26 comments
Hmm, let me think as being a Northern Ireland resident for 50 years this year I can never think of a time when a preplanned route involves road closures ..... oh no wait,,, wait yes...yes I think I can - EVERY GODDAM YEAR - YEAR IN YEAR OUT!!!!
The whole of Northern Ireland closes, people march up & down (if their allowed
) every road going through the whole of the country not just a tiny tiny section of it.. and practically every shop closes as well... what do we do, we just get on with life & let those involved enjoy themselves even if it is not someone everyone choses to partake in.
I done the long route, if you couldn't see a sign you are completely blind, there were signs everywhere announcing the road closures for many days in advance, they were a bright pink.. not hard to miss! the local radio station had promoted it like crazy for a good 3 weeks prior, it was on local television, in local papers, if you didn't know this was coming your probably dead!
Ok the road to Roselawn was not diverted, (the clever one's will get the joke with the previous sentence
) well there is only one way in & out so they couldn't divert it & in fact it was only fully closed for 3/4 hours max, the police opened the other lane as soon as they could & directed traffic on it.
We all started at 07:30am so we were well under way before 99% were even outta their beds, ok fathers day maybe an inconvenience but considering most cyclists do tend to be men (women always welcome
) then guess what it's the ideal day were most will get permission to go.
The route was tough as, the organizers done an superb job from registering on the saturday & picking up the kit, which was a breeze, the police done an astounding job on the roads & very often gave you a shout on your way past, the public who did turn out were geniunely the highlight, there were loads & loads who were obviously shut in & they came out cheered, clapped the whole way round, had their gardens decorated, pink ballons loads of stuff, was so incouraging I wish there was a way they could have all been thanked as I am so sure every single cyclist on the long route would love to have said a massive thank you to them all.
To criticse anything on this is a real insult to the people of Northern Ireland simply because a few roads were closed for a brief while one Sunday afternoon, get out on your bike next time & join in
This disruption is for part of one day of the year. Surely motorists don't mind such a small inconvenience ?
Car drivers moaning... meanwhile in other news the pope admits he's catholic
Meantime, in Battersea park it is ok to close the park for one week in order to accommodate an eCar gran prix this WE, and a police officer stopped me and threated me with a £500 fine because I was cycling on restricted area....following the organizer indication for the diverted route for bicycles!!!
Get ready for more complaints this weekend with the Maracycle going to Dublin (roads aren't closed though). I can't wait.
F**king shocker: "Northern Irish people get offended by something". Saw a lot of crying on Twitter from people inconvenienced by this; seriously, it was 1 day of the year. There were plenty of signs around. Gutted I didn't take part, but felt I hadn't the legs for it this year. Looking forward to next year's event
I find this post offensive... ummm...
What on earth do car drivers winge about when they are stuck in traffic and there isn't a bike in front?
The key sentence in this
"Maybe I wasn't paying attention"
What more can organisers do ?
One person complained that their 15 minute journey took an hour. Wow a 45 minute delay once a year. Get over it.
Or the Belfast marathon, the plethora of motorcycle races and the odd security alert.
I wonder if the people who were complaining ever object to the many hundreds of Orange Walks each summer in N Ireland clogging the roads.
One vocal driver has a moan to the BBC:
"Around the route, we had, about every kilometre, signs saying the road was going to be closed, for about nine days before the event. We had a mail drop that went to thousands of houses around the route, and we got massive feedback from that."
Yep, seems he wasn't paying attention to the road (nothing unusual there, then)
For a 2 mile trip perhaps he could have got in the spirit and gone on his bike, or at least walked.
yes, I read that too and thought who the hell takes a car to go 2 miles? Have we gone insane?
Possibly a bit harsh. If they were going to the cemetery for Father's Day, it could be that they are already quite elderly themselves. And if driving two miles in insane, then that's most of the population certified.
Fully agree. But in a sarcastic way
Yip - I heard someone complain about traffic disruption too.
Read papers, look at websites, see the signs posted around the route- Some people expect a personal call at the front door !
Great to see, even with the complainers.
The best thing is I know Aaron- he even follows me on Twitter so would have been in no doubt that the Gran Fondo was happening- so to be honest he more or less did get a personal call! - Plus Ballynahinch is always a bottleneck of a town at the best of times- Sunday afternoon traffic jams aren't unusual there so there probably would have been delays even without cyclists.
But that aside it was a great day. We were told just before starting that people were lining the routes but i thought this was just some motivational stuff to get us going. But the crowds especially sweeping into Comber were awesome. More people bought into it than complained- basically a few people made noises and that was enough to run a story.
I did the short strangford route on Sunday. Support from local people was great loads of people out cheering everyone on and pink everywhere. Could see a few cars stopped at various points but there were big pink signs all around the route saying when the roads would be closed and from what times etc. Great event and I'll be doing it again next year. And I wish you hadn't included the bit about velothon Wales, good way to give the annoyed people an idea for next year.
Don't think that fisherman is pink anymore, I think he's still got his Santa suit on from Christmas, plus he didn't see any of the Grand Fondo as it didn't follow the Giro route.
Actually neither did the Big Italian Bike Ride which was a couple of weeks previous but announced ticket sales the week before the Grand Fondo announced theirs, which probably had a negative impact on the Grand Fondos sales. (I know the BIBR was better attended by my club, though I couldn't go :'( )
Kwi, he is still pink. I cycle out round that way quite often and there's quite a few pink things left over from last year.
I can see him from my house, just. He normally gets a Santa suit for Christmas, must speak to David, the owner. The bike's definitely away though. But the amount of pink stuff that is still about is silly, even had tourists asking is there an historical significance with pink. (They had heard of the Giro, just didn't know it came here last year.)
And if you fancy a coffee call in, I run the Caravan park in Cushendall.
I'm obviously going so fast as I pass that all I see is a pink blur
If I get up to Cushendall I'll definitely swing by for that coffee! 
Not completely related to this, but it always pisses me off when motorists complain about being held up by cyclists.
A typical motor journey across a busy city will involve:
-Sitting in queues at traffic lights and having to wait for several green lights because the cars take up so much room.
-Having to stop on multiple occasions because the car in front is turning right and they can't squeeze past
-Having to slow down for a few seconds to wait for a safe moment to overtake a cyclist.
-Having to stop to give way to oncoming traffic on narrow sections of road because parked cars are blocking one side of the road
-Sitting in tailbacks because the dual-carriageway filters to one lane just before a roundabout
Then when they get home they piss and moan about the cyclist holding them up. I hear this kind of bullshit too often
Absolutely.
Driving to work last week I caught up with a friend on his bike going in to a neighbouring town. The van in front of me barged past him, but I just sat patiently behind him for about a mile and a half. The driver of the car behind me was going mental. We caught the van sitting in a queue at the roundabout at the other end of town...