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Paula Buckley (Graphic Design and Marketing Coordinator at Codepak Solutions), Erin Cosgrove
(Director of Customer Relations at Assess Ireland), Cecelia Lynch (Administrative Quality Assurance Coordinator) and Conor Deasy (Managing Director at Assess Ireland) at the official launch of the Assess Ireland Rally of the Lakes last Saturday. Photo: Digimac Photography
THE Assess Ireland Rally of the Lakes will begin from this evening with the 42nd running of the event bringing an early season boost to the Killarney locality.
With close to 200 competitors, from as far afield as Australia set to take part in the event, Killarney town will be busy all weekend.
The Lewis Road car park is already closed to the public since Thursday night to allow overnight parking for the 200 rally cars taking part in the event. This car park will remain out of bounds until late on Sunday evening.
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The ceremonial start takes place on Main Street on Friday night. As a result there will be traffic disruptions in the town centre from 6pm until 9pm.
The ceremonial start is a family friendly event and presents an ideal opportunity to meet the star drivers ahead of their two days of competition.
The ramp celebration is being organised by Mike Moriarty. He has arranged extra entertainment including music and dancing to set the tone for the Friday event.
“People can expect plenty of surprises on the night, and some of our local drivers will be celebrated too,” he said.
The rally itself takes place on Saturday and Sunday.
The Molls’ Gap road will close from 7 am to 11.15 am on Saturday morning. However, the rally moves into the Beara Peninsula and the Castletownbear area for the remainder of the day and the rally will not affect local traffic.
Sunday’s action includes repeats of Moll’s Gap and visits to Ballaghbeama. Moll’s Gap will close from 6.30 am until 1.15 pm while Ballaghbeama will be out of bounds from 7.30 to 2 pm.
The Sunday pitstop for the rally is at the Liebherr Container Crane Factory in Fossa so approach roads to and from the village will be busy all day and motorists are advised to plan their journeys accordingly.
The afternoon action switches to East Kerry with Rathmore, Barraduff and Gneeveguilla all set to be much busier than usual.
The Gortnagane road will close from 12.15 pm to 6.05 pm while Knockrower East area will be closed from 12.45 pm to 6.45 pm.
Full details of the route and additional information are available in the official programme which is on sale on a host of outlets locally.
