SWORDS Cycling Club have entered a team in the inaugural Race Around Ireland in September. The ultra marathon cycling competition is a time trial consisting of 1,350 miles of open roads over some of Ireland's largest mountains, taking in magnificent scenery and passing some famous landmarks.

The race starts and ends in Navan and is ranked as the second toughest ultra cycling race in the world. The Swords team consists of Henry Crowley, Derek Fagan, Shaun Gilbride and Karl Twomey, and they will be backed by fellow club members. The support crew, which includes Jason O'Callaghan, Sean Halpin and Paul Feely, involves a car following the rider on the road at all times and a camper van with rest facilities.

Race Around Ireland's format ensures that at least one rider from each team is on the road at all times, 24 hours a day. This will involve at least six hours' cycling from each member per day, but potentially more if there are crashes or injuries. The route takes in some of the hardest climbs in the country and descending these at night will be quite hazardous. Most racers will not get more than four hours' sleep a day.

The race website states helpfully: ' We expect that some racers will experience a situation where they can be entirely awake and lucid and still hallucinate, or they can be so tired that reality starts to shift. Officials and crew will be constantly paying attention to a racer's condition and to safety.

'Safety is the top priority and officials and crews will stop a racer or crew for a sleep break if they feel a racer is past the safety margin of sleep.' Team member Shaun Gilbride said: 'We've ramped up our training in the last few months, but a lot of time is spent on the logistics of the race including nutrition, spares, navigation and lighting.

'Myself, Henry and Derek all have two or three kids under the age of six, so managing to get the time to train is also a challenge. We try to do the Swords club league on a Wednesday evening to work on speed and then leave at 6am at the weekend and hook up with t h e Sword s Saturday morning spin to work on endurance for five or six hours.

' We've also tried to replicate the on/off nature of swapping over at night, so there has been some latenight cycles around Skerries on the weekends.

'Really the whole thing is an unknown for all of us. Myself and Derek come from a long-distance triathlon background and Henry has been cycling w i th Sword s for years, but none of has tried anything like this before. 'Some the other competitors have completed Race Across America and have huge support crews.

'Karl is based in London and is left to his own devices but has been home a few times to train with us. 'Himself and Henry are our designated climbers as they are a bit lighter and smaller than myself and Derek, who are more suited to flatter, long-distance time-trialling. ' Though most people think that we as cyclists and the support team are mad, I think the solo guys who do the full route by themselves definitely are a bit nuts. At least we have a team to work off each other.

'We've also had great support from Swords CC and Nokia who have given us some communication devices.' The race starts from Navan on Wednesday September 16th at 7pm.