During the FBD Milk Ras last week, I asked organiser Dermot Dignam if he had any big plans for the millennium promotion next year. The question was not greeted with his usual enthusiasm.

In recent years Dignam has said on a few occasions he was considering retiring from the role, but he seemed more serious this time when he said he would be "taking a break when it was over to clear my head and give a lot of thought to whether I will continue on for another while, or pack it all in."

Dignam took over as organiser in 1979 and has done the job since, with just the one break in 1982. He said it had been decided some time ago that Ireland's showcase event would be on the international calendar in 2000, but when I asked had he considered a spectacular start or anything different from the usual format, he admitted that nothing had been done.

In past years Dignam had had some plans formulated for the following year even before the race ended, as requests were in for stage ends. But he repeated this year that he "had not made any hard and fast plans like that. Some suggestions were in for stage ends, but they and any other ideas have been shelved for a while until I consider what I'm going to do."

For the Ras to be on the international list of events several aspects would have to be upgraded.