Millstreet in North Cork has won the right to stage the 2016 European Junior Showjumping Championships. This is seen as a key step in an ambitious plan to stage the 2022 World Equestrian Games at the same venue.
In 2010 Irish agribusiness leader Alltech became the first headline sponsor for the World Equestrian Games That year they took place in Kentucky while this year’s event was held in Normandy in September. The next staging of the event will take place in Quebec in 2018 while the bidding process for 2022 is in the early stages now.
Millstreet is privately owned by the Duggan family who made their fortune in steel and have poured millions into the venue since it first came to prominence hosting the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993.
No date has yet been fixed for the Junior Championships which are expected to attract hundreds of riders from across Europe and deliver a significant boost for the local economy.
It is the latest in a series of wins for Irish sport on a European level in terms of hosting events that deliver real value as the size and scope on international sport continues to surge.
Already this year we have seen the Croke Park Classic stake a claim to becoming the European home of American College football and the FAI and Dublin City Council succeed in their bid for Dublin to be a host city for the European Championships in 2020.
On a smaller but influential scale Ireland has hosted the Congresses of the European Paralympics and European Handball Associations over the past twelve months.
Sport will also be a key feature as part of the One Young World Conference taking place in Dublin next month when 1,500 young leaders from around the world will arrive in the City.
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