Mourne Sportive & Hilly 2011

[raver]

Great day great weather and great food.
Thanks to Martin and all involved in the organisation of a very enjoyable and very well run event, the burger at the end was a great touch .
Cheers Davy

[garyg]

Big thanks to Martin and all who gave of their time to help out for another great 'Hilly'.

Suffered like a dog doing it after 2 weeks in France drinking wine, eating cheese etc but enjoyed the crack and company as always.

Great Club, great friends.

[manuel6b]

Some comments I have received from others....

"hi martin,
just a quick note to thank you and the team for todays ride. very tough but enjoyable. we did the 85km (well 90 according to our bikes) and it was perfect for our level of experience and fitness. hope to be back next year for the 125km. great job today. Thank you all.
Ian and Paul."

"Martin,

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone involved in organising the Mourne Sportive, and to everyone who helped out on the day.

I'd done a few leisure rides that claim to be Ireland's hardest (Carick Wheelers Challange, Mick Byrne Randonee etc), and I can say that the Mourne Sportive truly lives up to its billing. None of the climbs is desperately hard in itself; it's the sheer number of them makes this such a tough proposition. (I lost count of the number of times the gradient-ometer on my bike computer registered 14% or more.) You often hear people say "There wasn't a flat mile on that ride" - well today this was literally true. (In fact I don't think there was a flat half mile.)

Add to this the fact that the weather was perfect, the scenery was stunning, and everyone was so friendly, and it made for a great day out.
Roger Broadhurst."

"Dear Martin,

Just to say how enjoyable yesterday's sportive was, hugely challenging but blessed with perfect conditions, spectacular scenery and your club's renowned hospitalilty.

So on behalf of all the Phoenix members who took part, thankyou and your club for the experience.

Yours sincerely,

Turlough M"

"Hi Martin, well done to yourself and Dromara cc for yet another enjoyable sportive. I promise I will get my entry in a bit earlier next year!!!!! cheers chat soon.
Tonya"

[manuel6b]

A big thank you from me to all the members who gave up their time to make this happen. Some thanks go to...

Road markers (not wanting to name names)
Neill - for the posters, web banner, great road signs and sign on desk fronts
Sign on crew - David F, Stephen and Cathy W, Ross, Brendan, Bernie
Car park attendants - Jim and David F
Eddy D for looking after the Hilly 60
Ghostriders - for their motorcycle support
Leitrim GAA club - Ryan, Dan & co
Tea stop set up - my folks, Brendan & Bernie, David F, Davy R, Jim
Staff at the Meelmore lodge
Looking after Meelmore - Phillip W & Roisin
Broom wagon - Deek
Hot food - Bus Stop café - Eddie, Eddie & co (Pete & Anne sorting this out)
Football club + Ian
Return sign on desk - John C, Anne & John R

Shoot me if I have left you out, better still, email me and I'll include your name above.

[manuel6b]

For those of you doing the Hilly cycle or helping out you would have noticed the great signs that we put up at the bottom and hope of the bigger climbs.

We had 8 in total but it seems we are missing 2 of them. I'm not sure if someone in the club has lifted them for safekeeping or if Joe Public has taken a liking to them.

Dree Hill Upper sign (with Deek)
Dree Hill Lower sign (missing)

Spelga Upper sign (with me)
Spelga Lower sign (with Deek)

Cornmill Upper sign (with Gavin)
Cornmill Lower sign (with Gavin)

Windy Gap Upper sign (with me)
Windy Gap Lower sign (missing)

If anyone has one of both of the missing ones can you let me know. I'm trying to get them all together to store them until next year.

Thanks