Newry Wheelers top one day race of the year, the Killowen Contracts Tour of Mournes takes place this Sunday 29th April starting from newry at 10am.

The race which is will be the 63rd edition is a classic on the Irish cycling scence and a race all the riders want to win. The 78 mile route starts in newry and takes in some of the mourne costal route down to Newcastle before heading to the mournes through Byransford where the first climb of the day takes place.

The riders then head onto Hilltown before the lumpy roads to kilcoo and rathfriland before the next climb out of hilltown the infamous Reed Hall before heading  towards rostrevor  where the riders will take a hard left and tackle the Elm Hall climb or as most locals know Santas cottage.

After this its back to Hilltown before a few small tests on the road to newry from Hilltown. The race sees all of Ulster’s top riders take to the line and has a few riders based in Europe coming home to race as in James Curry who is based in France and Marc Heaney who races in Belgium. Other riders showing great form of late are Darnell Moore of Team Caldwell and past winner Angus Fyffe also of Team Caldwell, this duo will be in the mix.

Unfortunately defending champion Marc Potts is not home to defend the title as hes still in Australia after the Commonwealth Games.

The promoting club will also have a strong team in the race also with the John Haldane winner Alan Bingham looking another top result with Gareth O’Neill seeking his first win of the season after being upgraded to A1 status. Des woods wont be far away for the local club and Mark Mc Kinley has returned to racing in the last few weeks and is a rider who can never be discounted.

The race is one of the best on the calendar could not be run without the hard working members of  Newry Wheelers, the new sponsor Killowen Contracts and long time club sponsor Haldane Fisher. The PSNI are also very important and the race could not be run without them.