Motorcycle road racing is again in the headlines this morning for all the wrong reasons following the death of Lusk rider Noel Murphy during Saturday's Tandragee 100 Junior Support race.

The sport that can bring so much exhilaration, enjoyment and spectacular action to tens of thousands who line the circuits year on year can also have that split second moment that overturns that thrill to tragedy and casts doubt over its relevance to the outsider.

Road racing is a tradition in Ireland and has drawn young men and women into the challenges it presents -- riding a motorcycle at high speed in a controlled environment on normal everyday roads that for 363 days a year are used by normal, everyday traffic.

The organising body of the sport, the Motorcycle Union of Ireland, has over the years been at the forefront of making circuits safer for competitors and spectators, but no matter how many precautions or risk assessments one takes, accidents can and will happen that no organisation can legislate for, be it in horse riding, mountaineering, walking down the road, crossing the street or driving your car.

In fact, road racing has the best on-site medical rapid response team available if and when an accident occurs, and the doctors and paramedics at trackside have a mini accident and emergency unit at their disposal.

It has often been said by spectators that if there was ever any place for taking ill it would be at a race meeting simply because of the on-hand medical assistance available. However, sometimes this is not enough to save a life.

Competitors know the risk they are taking every time they put on their helmet, but it is a risk they are prepared to take for the pure adrenaline rush and they would all tell you there is no other feeling in the world like participating in or winning a road race.

Families, wives, girlfriends, partners are left to pick up the pieces following a fatality, but they and the road racing fraternity are 100% supportive of their racing activities. At Tandragee the family of Noel Murphy were adamant that the rest of the race meeting should continue and arguably, rightly or wrongly, it did.

The lure of road racing is just like a drug; addictive, hard to get out of the system, dangerous, but something that many will take part in, well aware that it carries a health warning.

Yes, the sport will mourn alongside the family, but come the next race the grids will be full of competitors willing to pit their skills and bravery against the ribbon of road that winds its way between the hedges and ditches that will be lined with spectators enthralled by their hero's exploits.


By Roy Harris.