Green light for women's 10k was a close-run thing

Dublin Corporation threatened to take legal action to prevent last Sunday's Women's Mini-Marathon being staged on the streets of the city because it viewed the event as too disruptive to traffic.

Until two weeks ago, the corporation - the roads authority for the city - was refusing to issue road closure orders to facilitate the event, which raises money for a wide range of charities and this year attracted more than 40,000 participants.

The organisers appealed to the Garda Siochana, which has the power to order the closure of roads for public safety or security reasons but not for events, and the corporation relented under pressure.

A spokesman for the Director of Traffic's office said it was "very supportive" of the mini-marathon, but some changes were needed in its organisation to prevent "severe disruption" to traffic.

"When this event was introduced 17 years ago there was no Sunday trading, but now there is. We wanted to see it transferred to the June bank holiday Monday for that reason," he said.

Alternatively, the corporation suggested that the mini-marathon's 10-km route should be changed or that it should start in the morning rather than at 3 p.m., to minimise its effects on traffic.

Car-borne shoppers bound for the city centre from the southern suburbs were particularly hard-hit, according to the corporation, with all traffic on Merrion Road forced to divert to Strand Road.

Although a Garda spokesman insisted that there was "no dissension and everyone was in agreement" on last Sunday's event proceeding, other sources said there was "a clear difference of view". According to one source, the organisers were not receptive to making any changes in this year's event because they could count on Garda support, but a compromise was reached for 2001.

From next year, the Women's Mini-Marathon will be held on the June bank holiday Monday, following in the footsteps of the Dublin City Marathon, which is staged on the October bank holiday.

Mr Frank Slevin, who organises the event, said it was "deplorable that 40,000 Irish women would not be granted some credence for their efforts by being allowed to run on the streets of our capital city".

Mr Slevin said the mini-marathon raised £4.5 million for charity, but the corporation had expressly forbidden the organisers to use sponsors' brand names on street banners promoting the event.