Wallace Caldwell Memorial road race gets National status

Monday, February 9, 2015
There was a major boost for Ballymena Road Club – Chain Reaction Cycles – last week with the announcement, by Cycling Ireland, that the club’s Wallace Caldwell memorial road race is to be included in the National Road Series for the coming season, which gets underway on 8th March. 
The road racing series, primarily aimed at A1 and A2 riders, will comprise of sixteen races, with the best five scores of a rider counting provided they compete in three provinces. There will be four events in each of the country’s four provinces.
CI board director Anthony Mitchell is overseeing the series, and he is upbeat about the new venture. "Cycling Ireland has recognised the gap in the domestic calendar for a league of "classic events” and has also built on previous experience taking in to account that the cost of competing in all events across the island was becoming prohibitive. The new series will still see riders compete across the country, but may not result in them having to travel from one end to the other, as it is envisaged that a rider’s counting scores will come from their "home” province and the two provinces which are geographically the closest to them”
The resurrection of a National Series has come about after months of planning and selecting events from around the country. Along with each individual event’s prize fund, Cycling Ireland are putting up €3,000 for the overall positions.
The series kicks off in Munster on 8th March, with the Ras Luimni.              
Ballymena Road Club host the second round when the Wallace Caldwell memorial road race takes place on Saturday 21st March.
A road club spokesman said "This is a major boost for the club and again confirmation of the status which the Caldwell race holds within Irish cycling. It is also an endorsement of the club’s organisational skills that BRC have been chosen to host a round of this prestigious series. The Wallace Caldwell race was a counting event in the "Harding 8” national series about 30 years ago and it proved a tough test for Ireland’s best at that time. This year’s event will prove every bit as hard for anyone aspiring to overall honours. We again look forward to seeing the best of Ireland’s road men in action on local roads”