Tour of the North this weekend

Sunday, April 13, 2014
The 2014 Tour of the North takes place this weekend over the Easter holidays.
 Stage 1 Saturday 19th April 68 miles.
The stage starts from race headquarters at the Rex Bonar Club rooms for a neutralised distance of 2.8 miles out the Larne road to Ballyclug church where racing begins. The first climb of the day is category 2 Shanes Hill before dropping down onto the coast road just north of Ballygally.
Next it’s around the coast road before tackling the second climb of the day at Glenarm, again a category 2. Once over the top, the race will continue on until it links up with the Ballymena to Carnlough road, and then descend Glencloy to Carnlough.
There is a category three climb off the coast road up Tower road to Garron Tower estate, and then it’s the descent back down onto the coast road and into Waterfoot. Once through the village a left turn takes the riders straight onto the category one Glenariff climb. Once over the top, it’s a very fast run into the finish on Frys Road in Ballymena. 
Stage 2 Non Aero Time Trial Sunday 20th April. Woodgreen - 2 miles
Stage two will be held on the Woodgreen Time Trial course. Riders will start off in numerical order with the exception of the top three riders on General Classification who will start in "reverse” GC, with the "Yellow Jersey” last to start. The TT will start at Woodgreen and travel towards the Seven Towers Roundabout with the finish 100 metres before the roundabout.
Stage 3Sunday 20th April - 67 miles
Stage three rolls out on Sunday afternoon from Rex Bonar House and starts once the riders cross the river Maine at Slaght bridge. 
The riders then complete six laps of the "Kilnock” circuit which includes Whitesides road, Kilnock, Portglenone road, Randalstown, Ahoghill road and Whitesides corner.
On the climb to Kilnock crossroads there will be the three category 3 KOH sprints on laps 1, 3, and 5. The last lap will see the riders turning right at Whitesides corner onto Whitesides Road and a straight run back to the finish on the Ballymena side of the Maine river bridge.

Stage 4. Monday 21st April - 72 miles
Race Headquarters for the final stage will be the Galgorm Community Centre. There will be a neutralised roll out for 2.4 miles through Ahoghill before the flags drop at Ahoghill Chapel. 
The riders then complete a stage which is almost identical to last Saturday’s Wallace Caldwell memorial road race.
The first climb of the day is from Ringsend, a Cat 2 challenge to the "Cam forest”
The final climb of the tour is the Cat 1 "Springwell” The finish will be back in Galgorm at the Fenaghy road approach to the village. Ballymena Road Club will have a team in the race although I haven’t seen the starting lineup and cannot confirm the entrants.

See Tour of the North Facebook page for more details