Ring of Kerry cycle to open lottery for places amid record levels of interest

The committee in charge of the Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle has decided to offer 200 places through a lottery after a record number of applications.

The organisers of the event — of which the Irish Examiner is a sponsor — said there had been “huge demand for places” and that everybody could not be accommodated.

In a statement, the cycle’s committee said: “There has been an understandable level of disappointment amongst hundreds of cyclists who were hoping to take part in the 2014 Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle but did not register before the registration closed. Although it is another nine weeks to the Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle, the organising committee had to make the decision to close the online registration early as 9,500 cyclists had registered in record time.”

The event raised a record €1.2m for charities last year and the committee said it had to make the decision to close registration as there is a limit on the numbers who can cycle the route safely.

This year’s cycle takes place on Saturday, July 5, and the committee has now thrown a lifeline to disappointed applicants who failed to gain entry by holding a lottery for an additional 200 registrations.

The lottery will be held via ringofkerrycycle.ie and the online system will randomly select 200 applicant names on June 3.

The application process will open at 9am this Friday, May 16, and close at 5pm on Sunday, June 1. Winners will be notified on June 4.