Terry McHugh, one of the enduring personalities of Irish athletics, will captain the national team during the new track and field season.
The choice will be popular among his fellow athletes for nobody has exerted a bigger influence on domestic competition in recent seasons than the DCH javelin thrower.
A winner of the national championship 15 times, McHugh also competed in the last three summer Olympics and twice in the Winter Games as a member of the Irish bobsleigh crew.
Pierce O'Callaghan, an impressive winner of the national title at Cork last Sunday, will lead the Irish squad for the 20 kilometres world walking championships in France on May 1st and 2nd.
Gillian O'Sullivan of UCC heads the women's team which includes the Ballina athlete, Deirdre Gallagher, a member of the Olympic squad in Atlanta, but only recently recovered from injury.
Mazda, whose sponsorship of the national inter-club leagues has contributed so much to the success of the competition in the last five years, will again lend their name to this year's event.
The leagues, which continue to fill an important role in the domestic calendar, start in June with the final scheduled for Tullamore on August 15th. This will be the last major Irish meeting before the world championships in Seville and to that extent, it promises to be highly significant.
