Belmullet CC Sportive

Belmullet Cycling Club sends riders out along the Mullet Peninsula’s coastal roads for its annual sportive on Saturday 19 September 2026, a fundraiser run in aid of CROI, the west of Ireland’s heart and stroke charity. It is one of the more remote sportives on the Irish calendar, and that isolation is a big part of the appeal: quiet roads, sea views for long stretches, and very little traffic to contend with.

What to Expect

Riders choose between a 60km or a 90km route, both described by the club as running on good-surface coastal roads around the peninsula and out toward Erris. The event starts and finishes at Saint Brendan’s College in Belmullet, with free parking on site and hot showers available at the finish, useful given how exposed the peninsula’s roads can be to Atlantic weather. As a charity sportive rather than a race, the pace is sociable rather than competitive, though stronger club groups tend to push on together at the front. Being organised by the local cycling club, the route marking and support tend to reflect genuine local knowledge of the roads rather than a generic closed-course event.

Getting There

Saint Brendan’s College sits in Belmullet town itself, so once you have reached the town the start is easy to find. From Castlebar, Belmullet is around an hour and a quarter via the N5 and R313; from Ballina, roughly an hour via the R314. There is no direct bus or rail service suited to an early Saturday start, so competitors travel by car, with several bringing bikes racked for the drive out to the peninsula the evening before.

Good to Know

• Date: Saturday 19 September 2026
• Start time: 9:30am, running to around 4:00pm
• Distances: 60km and 90km
• Includes: Free parking, showers at the finish
• In aid of: CROI, the Irish Heart and Stroke Charity
• Organiser: Belmullet CC
• Booking: Via Eventbrite; refunds available up to 7 days before the event