Cork

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The Cork Ride 2012 took place on Saturday July 28th.

To date, Cork is the only city on the island of Ireland to host the World Naked Bike Ride. The ride was organised independently by a collective of cycling activists to happen around the time of the 2012 Cork Cycling Festival.

Cork's 2012 World Naked Bike Ride of 96 naked or semi-naked cyclists and 14 clothed stewards followed a flat route including Cork City Hall, where the ride was greeted by the Deputy Lord Mayor Jim Corr (click media links below for photo), Parnell Place, Lavitts Quay, Merchants Quay, Bachelors Quay, Grattan Street, Washington Street, Grand Parade, South Mall, Anglesea Street, the Elysian Tower, Penrose Quay and Patricks Quay. The ride set out at 3.00pm and lasted about 100 minutes. The 2012 ride was preceded by a successful attempt to set a new world record for the greatest number of bodies painted at a community arts centre called Camden Palace Hotel.

There were photo shoots at Cork City Hall and at Cork Opera House. Because the cyclists had to stop many times at traffic lights (at the request of the Gardai) the team of invited photographers took the opportunity of recording the reactions of pedestrians. The starting point and route of the ride were not announced publicly. Participants were sent a web text telling them the meeting point shortly before the start of the ride. Only the stewards and the invited photographers knew the route. Although this meant that supporters and riders' family members could not be sure of seeing it, the reaction of the public was positive, with many clusters of pedestrians cheering and clapping as the ride passed. Some cyclists who had been in WNBR events in the UK noted the advantage of keeping the route secret, in that there was no intrusion by sleazy photographers, which took from their enjoyment of the London and Brighton rides.

Planning for the 2013 ride has already started. Anybody who wants to join or to volunteer as a steward can register by emailing your name and mobile phone number to [email protected]

Dublin Ride

At the time of writing it is not clear if Dublin WNBR is planning a ride for 2013. For news check the Dublin WNBR Wiki Page.

Next ride

Date: July 2013
Time: 3pm
Location: Central Cork (location to be announced)

Media coverage

2012

• Cork Independent, 2 Aug 2012: "Corr blimey!"
• Youghal Online, 1 Aug 2012: "Cork’s World Naked Bike Ride 2012"
• The Irish Sun, 30 Jul 2012: "Cycle safety babe bares all for be-leafs"

2010

• British Naturism newsletter, Spring (?) 2011: "Brighton and Cork get rocking to the sound of the WNBR"
• Irish Independent, 20 Jul 2010: "Cheeky cyclists expose stark dangers on roads. Bare-it-all bike ride aims to raise visibility"
• Irish Times, 20 Jul 2010: "Everyone's so comfortable. It seems a shame to get dressed"

History

Previous rides: Saturday 16 July 2011 at 20:00 with 77 naked cyclists, 16 clothed stewards. Monday 19th July 2010 at 06.00 with 46 naked cyclists and 9 clothed stewards. Monday 20th July 2009 at 06.00 with 8 naked cyclists, and no clothed stewards.

Links

Websites

[1] 2012 ride on YouTube Facebook page Blog Twitter

Discussion group/s

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Contact/s

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Location information

• Google Map of Cork
• Wikipedia: Cork
• Wikipedia: County Cork
• Wikipedia: Ireland