For the first time ever Mayo cycling will get a big boost with two teams competing in the An Post Ras. The Mayo Centra team to compete in the An Post Ras was announced after months of hard preparation and racing. The squad of seven, comprised Western lakes and Covey wheelers Westport club members, have gone through a full transformation from normal club racers who competed locally to full fledge elite racers.

A grant of €352,800 has been approved for Ballyhaunis Swimming Pool for refurbishment works under the Green Swimming Pool initiative to make the pools across Ireland more energy efficient and less reliant on State support, Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Michael Ring TD has announced. The Minister has also announced €25,000 for Ballyhaunis Boxing Club to help improve their facilities. 

After 4 rounds of the Mayo Cycling League, Swinford man, Kevin Roache, has now scored more points in the 4 races to date than the other 87 starters and wears the Marrey Bikes sponsored yellow jersey of league leader. At round 4, all the strong men of Mayo cycling used their combined strength to reel in the 9minute handicap and set up a bunch finish on the Ballyvary road outside of Castlebar.

Frank Burke, President of the Connaught Council of the GAA, launched the Moy Davitts GAA Club 5 year strategic plan in Foxford. Mr Burke praised in particular the emphasis on developing coaching for underage teams and ensuring that all activities were accessible to all club members from the youngest to the oldest.

Ballina Dolphins Swimming Club hosted their annual Connacht B & C Gala which was again, sponsored by Ballina Beverages, at Ballina Swimming Pool. A large number of swimmers from Ballina Dolphins, Ballina, Sligo, Castlebar, Claremorris and Westport Swimming Clubs competed in the gala.  Ballina Dolphins swimmers had great success in the featured swims – backcrawl, breaststroke and individual medley.  

The Polkadot Challenge, promoted by Western Lakes Cycling Club, Ballinrobe, is now well established as one of the best club-run leisure cycling challenges in Ireland, and over the past number of years has attracted cyclists from every corner of the country.  This year’s event appears earlier in the cycling calendar in May. 

Centra, one of Ireland's leading food store outlets, are linking up with an unusual venture of Ras transformation.  The project is aimed at bringing ordinary working club racers who have families and are all on the wrong side of 30 to be able to complete the 8 days of the 60th edition of the An Post Ras International cycle race. The team was launched at Keegan and Higgins Centra store Enniscrone, where the cycling project was unveiled to the public.

Bohola Moy Davitts are launching their  Club plan at 8pm on Friday, 30th March, in the Mayfly Hotel, Foxford. The club is the first GAA Club in County Mayo to complete this project and hope to bring all the plans to fruition in the coming years with the help of the community, club members and players. All are welcome to come and hear what the future holds for the popular club.

The 2012 Mayo cycling league kicks off next Friday, 23rd of March, with a 5k hill climb up Lally's mountain in Tourmakeady. The domestic cycling scene in Mayo has blossomed over the past few years with cycling clubs popping up everywhere, and in recessionary times there is no better cost effective and mode of transport than cycling.