Cyclists from all over Ireland took on the challenging, mountainous course of Velo Kenmare, a 135km of Ireland’s steepest climbs, on Saturday.

TOUGH STUFF: A cyclist taking part in Velo Kenmare Ireland’s newest and toughest cycling event.

Ireland’s newest and toughest cycling event is a timed loop route starting and finishing in Kenmare, with a total climbing distance of 1,650m.

Cyclists enjoyed fabulous autumn weather for this inaugural cycle with blue skies, sun and dry weather holding up for this scenic tour of Kerry.

The tough mountain climbs took cyclists over Molls Gap, Ballaghbeama Pass, Ballaghasheen and Coomakista. Participating cyclists were given €20 ‘Velo Dollars’/vouchers to spend in local shops redeemable against goods and services in Kenmare.

Overall fastest male cyclist was Jerry McCarthy who finished in 03:49:01, followed by Ewan Buckley in 03:49:14, and Bernard Sweeney in 03:51:35.

Overall fastest female cyclist was Diane Behan in a time of 04:16:08, followed by Astrid Sasses in 04:41:39 and Regina Sheehan in 04:56:32.

Fastest male and fastest female over four categorised mountain climbs including Molls Gap, Ballaghbema Pass, Ballaghasheen and Coomakista, were crowned King and Queen of the Mountains. The King of the Mountains was Ewan Buckley in 3 hours 49 minutes, and Queen of the Mountains was Diane Behan in 4 hours 16 minutes.

No stranger to cycling events, Velo Kenmare is managed by Elite Events Management, who also successfully deliver the Ring of Beara Cycle, Ride Dingle and Wicklow 200.

“We are very happy to bring this challenging cycling event to Kenmare and support local business and community groups in the process," event organiser, Ollie Kirwin, said.

"Kenmare has always proved a very welcoming and friendly host town for many of our events, and we hope to build on Velo Kenmare as a regular cycling sportive in the coming years. It was designed to be a tough event for the serious cyclist and by all accounts the feedback was it was tough enough! In this way, we were also able to showcase the most stunning parts of Kerry and the country to our visiting participants, via iconic views from some of Ireland’s highest mountain passes and most scenic coastal roads.”