03/09/2024
A message from the Motocross Convener
As you all know, since 2022 the insurance has increased threefold to €640,000 and MCI used its reserves to pay the premium for 2024. While the insurance premium remains at this level licence fees and event permit fees alone will not cover the cost to renew next year.
For 2025, a fundraising raffle for insurance called the “Holeshot Draw” has been organised. The plan was to sell 7500 tickets and the profit made on the raffle would pay the insurance for 2025.
To date, the tickets have not sold in the quantities needed. In fact, only 1650 have been sold.
We need to sell at least 5000 tickets to pay next year’s insurance. If we don’t have the money to pay the insurance, the only other way to raise funds would be to raise the licence fee to €500 and double the permit fee which will double the race entry fee to approx €200. In my opinion this is unsustainable and will push the sport out of reach at grassroots level. The result would be the death of our sport.
That is the only way to put it - the death of motorcycle sport in the south of Ireland.
Racing in the north will only work short term. Tracks and clubs in the north need riders from the south as much as we need northern riders at our events. If the total number of riders on the island is reduced, there won’t be enough riders to sustain racing and not enough riders to make racing competitive. Riders will have to go far abroad to get better.
How do we sort this?
Every rider who has not already done so needs to get up off his or her backside and sell at least 3 tickets.
It really is very simple and this message has not been transmitted very well by the MCI board. I am a member of this board and have to take responsibility for this too, however, I have not been given permission to make this known on social media and I know the bluntness of this statement will cause much angst among my fellow board members.
I understand that our community feels like they are constantly being asked to reach into their pockets support club fundraisers, Irish teams, pay higher race fees, etc and that MCI are only interested in money. Unfortunately, that is the reality at the moment while we rebuilt the motorcycle community in the south.
I would like to note that the improvements made have been well received by our insurers and there positive signs on the horizon, but it will likely be a number of years before the premium normalises.
I am not asking you to buy more tickets today - just sell them.
I personally have sold about 20 tickets and only one to a rider. Now is the time to stand up and fight for our sport and it is up to each and every rider who wants the sport to continue to call your club chairman, (each club has a supply of tickets) put your name down for 3 tickets, and sell them.
We have approx 1500 licence holders - if everyone does this, we will have biking next year. If you wait for someone else to do it, or don’t make the effort, do not complain if we have no bikes next year because it is our collective responsibility to make this happen.
Yours in Sport
Mick Mc Ginn
Motocross Convener 2024.
