Tuesday 12 May 2009

On the grid for the North West 200

As I write this with one eye (and two fingers), I'm keeping the other eye on the BBC's live web coverage of this year's first North West 200 practice session.

If you've never heard of the North West 200, it's the fastest motorcycle road race in the world and now Ireland's largest sporting event with upwards of 120,000 spectators expected to crowd around the nine-mile Portstewart-Coleraine-Portrush circuit on Saturday.

I'm heading across on Thursday morning to join Vanessa's mum Judy and stepdad Mike for the final practice session and then the races themselves two days later.

As a kid growing up in Coleraine, it was a significant event but not of the global renown it is these days. So far tonight, the BBC commentators have read out e-mails from web watchers in the USA, New Zealand, Australia, China, Japan and Malaysia plus all parts of Europe.

It's obviously brilliant PR for the wee part of the globe where I come from (and not just because a friend of mine is in charge of the PR) and something that I now dare not miss.

Click on to http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/nw200/ for the BBC coverage including live streaming of practice from 6pm on Thursday and from 11am on Saturday for the full seven-race programme.

If I tell you that the fastest superbikes go through the speedtrap on the way to Coleraine at 200mph (and these are public roads I'm talking about), you might regard it as worth your while.

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