Athletics is on a roll in Ireland at the moment with numbers of participants up and more and more events being laid on to cater for the growing demand.
This week we wrote about the Wings for Life Run the World event in Kerry which will be part of a major international promotion on May 4th. That event is for distance and ultra runners but there will be more explosive speed on show at Athlone Institute of Technology in the coming weeks as it’s year old indoor arena hosts more major events.
These include the AIT International Arena Grand Prix on 26 February when Olympic Decathlon champion and world record holder Ashton Eaton will be a main attraction.
The Senator Eamonn Coghlan Mile will also be a draw for crowds with Coghlan’s son John among those confirmed to be taking part.
“The grand prix is attracting a major list of national and international talent,” said President of AIT, Professor Ciarán Ó Catháin. “People are really excited about the opportunity to see athletes who have succeeded at the highest level, whether that be in the Olympics, the World Championships or the European Championships. We are confident that this will be a sell-out event, and shows the attraction of what we have built to a major sporting audience of competitors and fans.”
Highlights of the event will be broadcast on Setanta Sport, following on from the live streaming of the Irish Universities inter varsity championships on Aer TV earlier this month.
Fionuala Britton has also been confirmed to take part in the Spar Great Ireland Run in the Phoenix Park in April, at the head of a field which will stretch to as many as 12,000 competitors.
Finally the stars of politics were out this week for the St Patrick’s Festival 5K which will have Dublin Lord Mayor Oisin Quinn, Transport, Tourism and Sport Minister Leo Varadkar, and newly announced local council candidate Olympian Kenny Egan donning their gear as part of the national holiday celebrations.
All in all a very positive time for athletics as it reaches out to young and old and rides the wave of enthusiasm created by programmes such as RTE’s Operation Transformation and a growing interest in health and fitness.
