An Post in the saddle for 60th Rás
The 60th edition of the An Post Rás has been launched in Dublin. This year’s race will pass through 14 counties covering 1168 Kilometres and will get under way In Dunboyne County Meath on Sunday May 20th.
Cyclists will head North West rather than the familiar South West with stage finishes in each of Kilkenny, Gort, Westport, Bundoran, Buncrana, Killybegs, Cootehill and Skerries.
An Post first became the sponsor of Ireland’s most gruelling cycling race last year, and after a hugely successful contest An Post Chief Executive Donal Connell is looking forward to creating an even bigger spectacle this year.
“2012 marks an incredible sixty years of racing under the banner of the Rás Tailteann. An Post is once again supporting this special event, in what is a landmark anniversary year for the race.”
“The An Post Rás is quite literally putting the towns of villages of Ireland on the map – with a valuable spin off for the local economy. Many of the stage end towns are now running their own cycling festivals in tandem with the race and a number of charities are benefiting from parallel events.”
“As part of our community sponsorship this event allows us to support volunteerism, sporting excellence and local business all over the country. We are looking forward to a truly memorable 60th edition of the race” he added.
“It is going to be the most challenging course in recent memory,” said race organiser Dermot Dignam. “There are a huge number of difficult ascents littered throughout the route, and overall it is probably leaning more towards the climber than the all-rounder. There is something tough in store every single day, so there’s no doubt it will be a very exciting race.”
Details of the international teams set to join this year’s An Post Rás will be released over the coming months. The An Post Sean Kelly team, with defending champion Gediminas Bagdonas, is already committed to participating.
Accenture joins Six Nations as technology partner
Accenture has been signed up as the official technology partner of the RBS Six Nations Championship which gets under way on Saturday, February 4th. The two year deal will see the company deliver the official Championship mobile app, providing fans media and teams with access to news, stats, video highlights and up-to-the-minute scores.
“Through a collaborative contract with Accenture we have been able to deliver an excellent product, available now, which will also include live text commentary of all the games,” said Chief Executive John Feehan. “ We look forward to a very productive and successful relationship with Accenture.”
During the Championship, users of the app will be able to access comprehensive match statistics and live text commentary for all matches, capturing critical team, player and match data such as set piece success rates, yards gained, possession rates, penalty counts and a host of other match metrics.
“Accenture is delighted to be associated with one of the most exciting rugby tournaments in the world,” said Olly Benzecry, U.K. and Ireland managing director at Accenture. “We pride ourselves on our ability to develop innovative mobile capabilities for our clients.
The RBS 6 Nations Championship app can be downloaded from the Apple app store.
Hurricane heads Champion Field at Leopardstown
Hurricane Fly will head a select field in the BHP Insurance Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown on Sunday.
Tickets are available online in advance of the two days of racing this weekend at a discount price of €20. As with most racing events children under 16 go free.
Frank Ward Solicitors and Boylesports.com are the two other principal sponsors on Sunday’s card which will be televised live on RTE 2 and AtTheRaces.
Olympic hitch in Sunday hours
We may sometimes be critical of legislation introduced in Dáil Eireann but mistakes can happen anywhere as appears to be the case with Olympics legislation at Westminster.  Changes introduced to assist in the smooth running of the games did not include amendment to existing Sunday trading regulations which means that official merchandise outlets will not be open beyond 6pm on any of the three Sundays covered by the games. This will affect the closing ceremony in London on August 12th.
It is too late to change the law which states that retail outlets larger than 280 square metres can only open on Sundays between 10am and 6pm. The megastore on the Olympic site is more than 10 times bigger than that and two more main sites are twice the minimum size requiring early closure.