69th annual Rás Tailteann has stage finish in Kildare town

The 2024 edition of the Rás Tailteann will take place from Wednesday, May 22nd to Sunday, May 26th.

This is the 69th edition of the race.

This year, the event will kick off from Tullamore, County Offaly in Ireland’s Midlands, where the first stage finish will be in Kilmallock. This will be the first-ever Rás Tailteann stage to finish in the County Limerick town.

The 2024 edition will also have finishes in Sneem, County Kerry on the famous ‘Ring of Kerry’, Cahir, County Tipperary which will see the first finish there since 1967 and Kildare Town, County Kildare with the fifth and final stage of the 2024 Rás Tailteann finishing in Bective, County Meath where the race will take in three laps of a 14.1KM spectator-friendly finishing circuit.

784.8KM of Irish roads awaits this year's entrants with a total of eighteen categorised climbs over the five stages, including two x category one climbs on stages two and four.

Sponsor 1 – Rider Numbers – Work Permits Ireland

Cairde Rás Tailteann is delighted to announce our first sponsor of the 2024 event: Work Permits Ireland, who are the official sponsor of the rider numbers.

Work Permits Ireland was established in 2018 to effectively manage employment permit applications for a variety of industries and clients nationally and internationally. Its dedicated staff has experience processing, managing, and

delivering all types of employment permits issued by the Department of Enterprise,

Trade & Employment.

Colm Hilliard, director of Work Permits Ireland, is a keen sportsman, involved for many years in Gaelic football as a player, coach and administrator with his club, St. Colmcille’s in East Meath. Colm is “proud to be associated with the Rás, as a good

few people from East Meath were involved with this race, particularly the Nulty brothers from Cooperhill and many others.” However, his “friendship and as a work colleague with Louis White, a native of Platin, Drogheda, and a renowned team manager and a motivator ahead of his time in the Rás, is the main reason for this sponsorship.”

Louis was a proud and knowledgeable sportsman in every sense of the word. His love for cycling is well-known locally and nationally. Colm expressed that “the fact that we have a stage of the Rás in East Meath this year is very special”.

Colm and Work Permits Ireland have sponsored local amateur sports clubs in East Meath and this year decided to make a gesture of sponsorship to the Rás “in support of the great voluntary efforts over the years of very many people, particularly the likes of Ger Campbell”.

Ger Campbell, Race Director, expressed his gratitude to Colm and the team at Work Permits Ireland. He added, “Having Colm and Work Permits Ireland join the race as a commercial partner is very special, and we are sure his generosity will help to keep Louis White’s vision for the sport alive.”