Sir, – Frank McNally's Irishman's Diary article today (July 6th) on the history and predominance of anti-clockwise routes in horse racing and athletic events makes amusing reading.
Similarly amusing is the tradition of tourist buses traversing the Ring of Kerry in an anti-clockwise direction – except nobody until fairly recently told the satnav developers. As many car hire tourists traverse in a clockwise direction this has led (and still does) to many confrontations at the various bottlenecks on the route. God help us when the driverless cars and buses arrive on the Ring! – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL KINSELLA,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – Frank McNally has run in races where the courses are a loop, but somehow there is a mismatch between the downhill and uphill sections. He blames this on De Selby, but stranger things have been seen. There are races that start and finish in the same spot, yet are uphill for the entire course. Flann O’Brien’s surrealism may account for quirks in the lie of the land in most parts of the country, but race topography in Wicklow is dominated by the artist MC Escher. – Yours, etc,
COLIN WALSH,
Templeogue,
Dublin 6W.