ATHLETICS: The Athletics Association of Ireland (AAI) has finally agreed a high-performance plan with the Irish Sports Council (ISC), thus clearing the way for the outstanding balance of their annual grant allocation to be paid out. Details of the plan will be announced next week, but news of the agreement comes at a crucial time, as the outdoor season gets underway.
The ISC had already rejected two submissions from the AAI on the way forward for the high-performance end of the sport.
The AAI is undergoing internal restructuring in consultation with the ISC, but agreeing on a high-performance plan had been proving something of a stumbling block, and left the AAI unsure about what international activities could be funded this year.
At the start of the year the ISC announced €6.73 million in core grants to each of the National governing bodies, but the AAI had around €124,000 of their budget withheld until the high-performance plan was agreed upon.
Meanwhile, only one half of Ireland's duo of European Indoor gold medallists is available for the first major outdoor meeting of the season - the European Cup, which takes place at various locations on the weekend after next, June 18th-19th. David Gillick will contest the 400 metres, but injury has denied Alistair Cragg a chance to run the 3,000 metres.
Both the men's and women's teams are in the European Cup First League Group B, to be staged in the Portuguese town of Leiria. Promotion to Group A is the ultimate aim, but the high level of competition will make that difficult, especially with Britain amongst the women's teams.
Gillick, however, has already shown excellent outdoor form this season. Last Friday night in Turin he ran a personal best of 45.93 seconds, which dipped under the B-standard for the World Championships in Helsinki in August, and the A standard of 45.55 now appears within his reach.
Unfortunately for Cragg, the stress fracture in his lower back has been slow to heal since his gold-medal performance in Madrid some 14 weeks ago, and while he has returned to some light jogging, even making Helsinki will require something of a miraculous return to fitness.
James Nolan moves up to the 3,000 metres in Cragg's absence, with Liam Reale selected for the 1,500 metres. The seven countries providing competition on the men's side are Romania, Greece, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ukraine, Serbia and Montenegro and hosts Portugal.
The women's competition features Belgium, the Netherlands, Britain, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro and Belarus as well as Portugal. The presence of the British team ensures some enticing clashes, with Kelly Holmes down to run in the 1,500 metres, and Paula Radcliffe in the 5,000 metres.
One event has been left vacant on the men's side in the hope that Peter Coghlan will be available to contest the 110-metre hurdles. The national record holder announced his retirement in March when the Irish Sports Council suddenly cut his grant aid, but Coghlan was convinced by family and friends to at least see out the season, and opened up with a sixth-place finish in the Seville Grand Prix last weekend.
Elsewhere, the next month's European Youth Olympic Festival in Lignano, Italy, is set to feature a number of Ireland's most promising athletes.
IRISH TEAMS
European Cup, First League Group B, Leiria, Portugal, June 18-19th - Men: 100m, G Ryan (Nenagh); 200m, P Hession (Athenry); 400m, D Gillick (DSD); 800m, T Chamney (Crusaders); 1500m, L Reale (Limerick); 3000m, J Nolan (UCD); 5000m, M Fagan (Mullingar); 3000m, Steeplechase, J Byrne (Finn Valley); 110m, hurdles TBC; 400m, hurdles A Burke (Crusaders); High Jump, C Flanagan (Ballymena); Pole Vault, R O'Bhriain (Crusaders); Long Jump, C McDonagh (Fr Murphy's); Triple Jump, C Sheehy (Togher); Shot, P Crowe (Menapians); Discus, J Menton (Donore); Hammer, M Hanley (Fr Murphy's); Javelin, B Houghton (Ballymena); 4x100, Ryan, Hession, McDonagh, J O'Donoghue (Leevale), P Brizzel (Ballymena); 4x400, Gillick, Burke, Ryan, R Daly (DSD), De McCarthy (Le Cheile), G Kennedy (Tullamore). Women: 100m A Boyle (Ballymena); 200m A Boyle; 400m K Shinkins (DCH); 800m K Reid (Lisburn); 1500m J Byrne (Donore); 3000m J Byrne; 5000 M McCambridge (DSD); 3000m Steeplechase R McGettigan (Slí Cualann) 100m hurdles DO'Rourke (Leevale); 400m hurdles M Carey (Dublin Striders); High Jump R Daniels (Na Fianna); Pole Vault E Kinnear (Lagan Valley); Long Jump, T Robinson (Limerick); Triple Jump T Robinson Scanlon; Shot L Cogan; Discus E O'Keeffe (KCH); Hammer E O'Keeffe; Javelin J O'Sullivan (Cushinstown) 4x100m Boyle,O'Rourke, A McSweeney (Leevale), E Maher (KCH), C Sheehy (DCH); 4x400m Carey, Maher, Joanne Cuddihy (UCD), F O'Friel (UCD).
European Youth Olympics, Lignano, Italy - Boys: 200m, G O'Reilly (Shercock); 800m, D McCarthy (West Waterford); 1500m, C Ó Lionaird (Leevale); 3,000m, B O'Neill (DSD); 2,000m steeplechase, E Healy (DSD); Girls: 100m, A Foster (North Down); 200m, G Hynes (GCH); 100m hurdles, M Murphy (Ferrybank); 400m, K Sheahan (Ferrybank); High jump, P Hughes (Westport); Long jump, K Proper (Ferrybank); Shot, L Cogan (Newbridge); 4x100 relay, from Foster, Hynes, Murphy, Proper and Sheahan.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)