The big cycle

AT a time when there are fairly lean pickings when it comes to tourism business, the staging of the Sky Ride Etape Hibernia, Ireland’s first closed-road cycle race, in Clare on Sunday, will deliver a much-needed financial boost. Close on 1,800 cyclists of all standards, from professionals to the man or woman who pedals to the shop for a few messages, will leave Ennis at 7am and complete an 82-mile route through North Clare before finishing back at the Market in the county capital.

Cyclists from throughout Ireland, the UK, the continent and the US are descending on Clare for the event, which is being organised by IMG, in partnership with Sky, Fáilte Ireland, Shannon Development, the Shannon Region Conference and Sports Bureau and Clare County Council. Sky is the title sponsor of the Sky Ride Etape Hibernia. There’s a five-year commitment to the initiative and it is hoped to increase the participation level to 5,000 by that stage. It has been estimated that the Sky Ride could generate somewhere in the region of €10 million for the local economy over five years.
Among the big names taking part in the inaugural event are cycling legend, Seán Kelly; British Olympic gold medallist, Denise Lewis; comedian, PJ Gallagher and Sky News presenter, Dermot Murnaghan.
The number of participants can be at least doubled or trebled in terms of support teams, family and friends and spectators who will be in Clare for the weekend. It will be a big money spinner for the county and the cycle will deliver the added bonus of extensive national and international media coverage; the kind of publicity you can’t put a price on.
Ennis Chamber is encouraging businesses to theme or decorate their shop fronts or display welcome messages for the Sky Ride visitors. The chamber confirmed that close on 100 businesses in the town centre have agreed to open early on Sunday to facilitate the participants and spectators.
Shannon Development assistant chief executive, John King, who will be taking on the challenge himself, said the fact that the 2010 Lonely Planet Travel Guide has named County Clare in the top 10 super-cycling routes in the world is testament to the amount of work that has gone into the development of the tourism cycling product in the county in recent times. A successful event on Sunday should copper-fasten this reputation and encourage even more cycle tourists to visit.

Leaving Certificate results
MORE than 1,300 Clare students are numbered among the 55,800 nationally who received their Leaving Certificate results on Wednesday.
The results bring a mix of emotions for the students, from the euphoria of high achievers, to the near misses of those seeking points for particular third-level courses and the sheer relief of those scraping through by the skin of their teeth. For those who fell short of the mark, there are various options in other courses should they wish to continue in education or turn to skills-based training.
The overall number of students who undertook the exam is up on last year’s number by 0.6%. Of the 57,839 candidates who sat Leaving Certificate examinations this year, 38,885 (67.2%) candidates followed the established Leaving Certificate programme, 15,596 (27%) the Leaving Certificate Vocational programme, while 3,358 (5.8%) candidates followed the Leaving Certificate Applied programme.
For the majority of students, their attentions now switch to the first round of (Central Applications Office) CAO offers on Monday next. Due to an increased demand for third-level places, the bar for entry to many courses has been raised compared to last year.
Applications for higher-level courses have reached record levels, up from 64,774 to 67,640. A big factor in this is the decision by many people who were previously in the workforce to attempt to return to college because of the recession. The embargo on public-service recruitment and the termination of apprenticeship schemes has also put additional pressure on third-level places.
It is expected that there will be a significant increase in points for medical, nursing and other healthcare courses and a small increase in points for arts, science and engineering courses. Reflecting the economic slump, there will be a dramatic fall-off in points for property and construction courses.
The Government made quite a song and dance about recruiting extra teachers and maintaining class sizes yet the demand for places on training courses is only slightly up on last year and the points should show little change.
The continuing downward trend in marks achieved in maths and science is disconcerting and is damaging to the country’s image of a place to find young people who are ready to help drive high technology and research and development enterprises. The fact that just 16% of students took the higher grade maths paper must be seen as a danger signal that cannot be ignored by the Government in any review of the education system.
Clare TD Pat Breen said the Government must prioritise the education system to address the problem if the country is to achieve a smart economy. Referring to the opportunities that exist in the Mid-West, he noted, “The University of Limerick and NUI Galway have already formed a strategic alliance with an American Institute of Technology with the aim of developing a centre of excellence here. If we are to fully capitalise on this opportunity, then we must be encouraging more students to study maths and science and maybe the time is now right to introduce bonus points for maths. If we are to attract further foreign direct investment in the high-end area into this region, then we must maintain a constant production line of science graduates available.”
Now that the Leaving Cert class of 2010 know exactly where they stand in terms of results, they should be encouraged by family and friends to draw breath and be open to accepting support and advice from student helplines and a broad range of other information services.
Students would also do well to take on board good advice in respect of avoiding pitfalls such as drug taking, over-indulgence in alcohol and driving or travelling in a car where drink or drugs are involved. Celebrate certainly but don’t be reckless. With the prospect of a career and long life ahead, it would be a terrible shame to spoil things.