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THE Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle committee has issued a statement in response to feedback it received in relation to the registration process for this year’s cycle.

Lottery system

Many of the first people who tried to register for 2015’s cycle were unable to get a place. “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,” stated the cycle organisers.
“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 six 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 31.”

‘Price’; ‘Cost’; ‘Admission Charge’; ‘Fee’

The committee stated it had received a lot of feedback regarding the ‘price’, or ‘cost’, ‘admission charge’ or ‘fee’ for our charity event, it added. “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,” it stated.
“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.”

€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.

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 participants plan to raise were also addressed.
“These questions 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,” added the statement.

€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,” added the committee.

The Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle has become a small business

“The Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle is run by a group of people who are passionate about the event and who share the one collective goal – to raise as much money as possible for the people of Kerry,” stated the organisers. “All are volunteers and all give up endless hours for over six months of the year to ensure our fundraising event is as beneficial as it can be for both the fundraisers and the charities.
“Every year over 30 charities receive assistance, 10 main and 20-25 other smaller charities with over 1500 volunteers providing their time to ensure the successful running of the event. The ROK Charity Cycle is often compared to other sportives but we are exclusively a fundraising cycle and not a sportive.
“We would like to re-iterate that all decisions made by the committee are made with the intention of maximising the funds that are raised to support local charities in Kerry. These funds are vital to the work these charities carry out and without your support, many of the charities that the cycle supports would no longer be in operation. All decisions made are compliant with the charity regulator.
“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.
“Finally, we would like to remind people that Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle is volunteer-run event that allows fundraisers to raise money for worthwhile charities, they just happen to do it while cycling one of the greatest cycling routes in the world!”