THE Ring of Kerry Cycle Committee has released a statement in response to feedback around the Registration process which was changed to a lottery system this year.
There has been some criticism of the new process, but they explain the new system is a fairer way for all.
“Many of the first people who tried to register for 2015’s cycle were unable to get a place,” reads the statement. “This was due to unprecedented demand for places – over 9,000 people applied for 5,000 places on the morning that registration opened which caused the registration system to crash. To avoid this issue happening again and to ensure the fairest system possible for registration, we decided upon a lottery that would be run over 6 weeks, giving people ample time to register. Registration for the lottery is still open and will remain so until open till 23.00 on Sunday, January 31st.”
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The statement went on to deal with feedback regarding the ‘price’.
“We have received a lot of feedback regarding the ‘price’, or ‘cost’, ‘admission charge’ or ‘fee’ for our charity event. The Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle imposes none of these – 90% all monies given by you to the Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle are donations to the charities. Like any charity event, there are running costs, and the remaining 10% goes to cover these running costs. These include insurance, medical expenses, water, health and safety equipment and more. Many charity sportives can have costs of over 90% with less than 10% of all money received going to charity. In 2014 additional sponsors were brought on board to contribute towards these running costs with the ultimate goal to have 100% of all money raised by cyclists to go to charities. We are aiming to be the very first charity cycle in Ireland to achieve this zero staging cost by 2017.”
There was also an explanation for the €10 non-refundable minimum donation.
“This non-refundable donation was put in place to prevent people trying to gain unfair advantage by entering the lottery multiple times. Anyone who secures a place on the Cycle will have this €10 minimum donation taken off their registration fee. The €10 of those who are unsuccessful will be donated to the charities.”
They also explained that the questions on the lottery registration process in relation to the number of previous Ring of Kerry Charity Cycles taken part in and how much money you plan to raise, “are purely for research purposes. Our aim is to collect as much data as possible about the cyclists who take part in the event to help us improve our fundraising efforts and ensure the future of this charity event,” read the statement.
They also addressed the €170 minimum commitment to sign up with a charity.
“At time of writing, more than 10% of all people who registered to cycle with a charity in last year’s cycle haven’t returned their agreed sponsorship. To ensure this doesn’t happen again and to protect the charities, those cycling with a charity are asked to fundraise a minimum of €170. The reason for this figure is that this was the average amount raised by fundraisers who cycled with a charity in 2015’s event,” read the statement.
The charity places are also filling up fast. Anyone who wishes to go this route and make the extra commitment to raise upwards of €170 can find the list of charity contact on www.Ringofkerrycycle.ie