Athletics Cross country AAI drop bid over State funding

ATHLETICS: Athletics Ireland (AAI) has described as "inexplicable" the decision by the Government not to provide adequate funding for their bid to stage the European Cross Country championships in 2005.

The AAI withdrew their bid to the European Athletic Association yesterday ahead of Friday's deadline, and won't be able to re-bid for the annual event until 2008.

Though much of the bidding work had been completed, and a venue at Cork racecourse approved, the AAI sought a grant of €300,000 from the Minister for Sport, John O'Donoghue, which was less than half the overall budget of €650,000. The offer from the Minister's Department was €54,000.

Liam Hennessy, the international secretary of the AAI, said the decision to withdraw the bid was clearly disappointing, but that they were left with no option.

"We thought there could have been some negotiation. But the gap between what we needed and what they were offering was so enormous that we simply couldn't have taken the chance of proceeding with the bid without the necessary support.

"And we were very confident we would have got it. We had an evaluation from the European Association down in Cork and they were singing our praises."

A decision on the venue for the 2005 championships will be made next month, and Italy, Portugal and the Netherlands would have provided the main rival bids to Ireland. Those bids will also determine the venue for the 2006-07 championships.

"We have worked intensely with the Irish Sports Council in developing a strategic plan for the future," added Hennessy, "and bidding for events like this was a huge part of that. They have been very positive in supporting us, but this makes nonsense of a lot of it.

"The Government evaluated the bid within the tourism department, which was a very narrow focus, and failed to recognise the overall sporting sector. So I find the whole rationale quite inexplicable.

"It was the chance to raise the profile of the sport, of the Irish athletes, and also to bring us up to speed with some of the other sports with an ideal event for us to host. And in terms of our development policy it is a huge blow. It becomes unrealistic to look for anything else after this, such as a European junior or under-23 championship."

The European Cross Country championship has been staged since 1994, with Catherina McKiernan winning the inaugural women's title.

Hennessy, however, hoped some further explanation on the poor Government funding could be forthcoming.

"We will be responding to the Minister on this, raising the issues and looking for some answers. It's just too much of a stark contrast with what the Sports Council are encouraging us to do."