Cycling Ireland or CI is the national governing body of cycle racing in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Following the foundation of the Irish free state, the administration of cycling, as well as athletics, was organised by the National Athletics and Cycling Association (NACA). This was a 32-county organisation that retained strong links with the Gaelic Athletic Association and shared its republican ethos. In 1937, the administration of cycling was given to the National Cycling Association (NCA) which was also a 32 county organisation. The world governing sport of cycling, the Union Cycliste Internationale, decreed in 1947 that the NCA confine its area of jurisdiction to the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland. The NCA refused and as a result was expelled from the UCI. In 1949 several Irish cycling clubs broke away from the NCA and formed a cycling governing body that would restrict its area of jurisdiction to the 26 counties of the Republic which was called Cumann Rothaiochta na hEireann (CRE). For the next 29 years Irish cycling was bitterly divided until the organisations formed the Irish Cycling Tripartite Committee which then unified in 1987 and formed the Federation of Irish Cyclists FIC which is now called Cycling Ireland. CI is a member of the UCI and the UEC. There are four provincial associations: Cycling Connacht, Cycling Leinster, Cycling Munster and Cycling Ulster.
References
- Daly, Tom (2003). The Rás – The Story Of Ireland’s Unique Bike Race. The Collins Press. ISBN 1-903464-37-4.
