Bill Kennedy, a member of the organising committee of the Armoy road races, says news that BBC Sport NI will be livestreaming this year’s Saturday race programme will take the event “to another level”.
The races will be broadcast live on BBC iPlayer and worldwide on the BBC Sport website.
“We are very excited about this. This is a step up for Armoy,” said Kennedy, who is also one of the directors of the Armoy Road Racing club.
“People who are not able to attend the race but are interested in it will now be able to tune into BBC Sport NI and watch it live as it happens and feel part of it.
“It’s such an opportunity for the club. For the event to be livestreamed, something of that magnitude is something that we never thought would happen when we started the road race in 2009.”
Kennedy’s late brother Frank was one of the original ‘Armoy Armada’ who made the area famous with their racing pedigree back in the 1970s and early 1980s.
The meeting has thrived since its introduction to the road racing calendar 16 years ago and Kennedy says this new initiative comes as a major boost.
“It’s great for the club, for the riders, for our sponsors, terrific for the event itself. Hopefully it will attract even more international stars to come to Armoy in the future.
“One of the things that livestreaming worldwide does is that people will look not just at the racing, but they’ll have heard all the stories about the scenery in this part of the country too and think ‘we might go there and make it our holiday and take in the Armoy road racing’.”
The former clerk of the course at the County Antrim meeting is happy with the line-up which will take to the grid this year.
“We have a super entry, with Mike Browne and Jamie Coward, Michael Sweeney, Phil Crowe and Sam West and Brian McCormack, Erno Kostamo from Finland, our own Paul Jordan.
“The list goes on, some terrific riders, past winners and newcomers. I think we are in for some great racing in Armoy this weekend.”
