With only one week to go, excitement is building ahead of the 2018 SPAR Tour of Omagh. Based in the heart of county Tyrone, the 3-day event features 4 stages to test competitors around the beautiful Sperrin roads and mountains.
Now in it’s ninth year, the event has gone from strength to strength with two distinct races on offer: the ‘A4’ Men’s race which is renowned as the best in Ireland; and a Women’s race which is attracting international riders from across Ireland and the UK.
The Women’s event has been grabbing the headlines over the past few years, and this year will feature a team travelling from the Isle of Man, a national Women’s development team, Ulster and Leinster development teams along with a number of top British riders guesting for domestic teams. This includes British rider Sophie Wright (Torelli-Brother-Assure) who currently leads the British National Women’s road series. Wright will be guesting with the TC Racing team, which focuses on developing women in the sport.
Race Director Stevie McKenna is looking forward to the racing action “After hard work over recent years the A4 men’s race is recognized as the most popular and best-organized A4 stage race in Ireland. Growing the Women’s race was my main target for 2018. I wanted to build on the Women’s race from 2017, which proved to be the most exciting race yet.
“Thankfully the Women’s race will be on another level this year, whilst we can still cater for newer riders to the sport. That is an important part of the event for us, to create that stepping stone for cyclists to the higher levels in the sport. Testament to that is a number of riders who have progressed from our event through to professional ranks and representing their country. We are very much grateful to our main sponsor SPAR who have enabled us to develop the race and make it a national level event”.
Sara Murphy – SPAR NI Brand Manager, Henderson Wholesale, said she was looking forward to building on the partnership.
“We’re delighted to once again be involved with the SPAR Tour of Omagh as the headline sponsor. SPAR stores across Northern Ireland are committed to promoting healthy eating and the benefits of an active lifestyle so it’s great to see events like the Tour of Omagh giving people the opportunity to come together as a community and keep fit. We’re looking forward to an exciting three-day event and wish both race organisers and participators a successful tour.”
The event takes place from 27-29th July, and further information can be found on our website www.tourofomagh.co.uk, on our Facebook page https://m.me/SPARTOO17 or on Twitter https://twitter.com/SPARTourofOmagh
