INTRODUCTION

This web site gives results of each Rás Tailteann from the first event in 1953 to date. The older information was compiled from my own records and through research in the National Library and Dublin Corporation's Gilbert Library. If you find any omissions or errors please contact me at shay@presidentcycles.com. For more complete information read "The Rás" by Tom Daly published by The Collins Press in 2003 or "The Rás" by Jim Trainor in 2008.

Health warning

Stage distances shown in programmes, classification sheets and newspaper reports have not always been consistent. The differences are small and the effect on average speeds is also small.

It is surprising that many stage winners crossed the line exactly on the minute. This might indicate that timekeepers stopped their watch just before the winner crossed the line, recorded the time elapsed in complete hours and minutes and then restarted the watch as the winner crossed the line.

1970: Distances and times for stages 7 and 10 are suspect.

1971: Stage 8b shows a low average speed but this is probably due to assumption at the time that the stage was 25 laps of one mile. A lap distance of about 1.25 miles would give a more logical speed which would match my memory of the evening. A check on Google Earth (not 100% accurate because of curves in the road) shows that the circuit was very close to 1.25 miles

1973: The low speed for stage 10 is probably due to a mistake in the time published. This also affects the overall time. It seems likely that the time for that stage and therefore the overall time was overstated by an hour.

1978: On stages 1a and 2b the published distances were probably wrong.

1999: Peter Van Hoof of Belgium was believed to have won the 9th stage. He was later found to have transgressed the antidoping regulations and was disqualified.

2010: Stage 2 was neutralised because of a crash involving a non-race jeep and 4 riders. For no reason except that it seems right to me I have not included the holder of the race-leaders jersey on that day in the list of yellow jersies. He is credited with the jersey the next day anyway. Objections welcome.

Nationality In the case of Irish riders the Christian name by which they were commonly known is given. Riders from outside Ireland are identified only by the initial of their Christian name.

Where nationalities are given the following abbreviations are used (even though conventions have varied since this work was started):

ALG: Algeria
AUS: Australia
AUT: Austria
BEL: Belgium
CZE: Czechoslovakia
DEN: Denmark

ENG: England

EST: Estonia

EXI: Exiles

FRA: France
GER: Germany
GB: Great Britain

HOL: Holland

IOM: Isle of Man
ITA: Italy
JAP: Japan

LAT: Latvia
LTU: Lithuania
NZ: New Zealand

POL: Poland
SA: South Africa
SCO: Scotland
SLOV: Slovenia
SWE: Sweden
SWI & SUI: Switzerland
USA: United States of America

USSR: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics