A look at the National Sports Campus...Indoor Arena and National Cross Country Track

At present, the National Sports Campus is slowly being developed in Abbotstown in Dublin. Located just off the M50 Ring Road, it is ideally placed near the centre of a large road network which fans out across the country.

There will be a number of sports based in this campus.......GAA, IRFU, FAI, Swimming as well as several others including athletics.

Construction of the new National Indoor Arena began in July of 2015 and it will include a 200 metre track, sprint track, jump and throw areas and seating for up to 1,900 spectators. This is what it is expected to look like....

This is what the outside looked like in January of 2016...

I'm not sure of the completion date? Perhaps the end of 2016?

This will be the second international grade indoor athletics track in Ireland and as it's on the outskirts of Dublin, it's bound to be popular. If you follow athletics in Ireland then you'll know that the indoor track in Athlone has had a huge impact. There seems to be a competition there nearly every weekend at the moment with adults and children using it. What impact the second Dublin based track has on Athlone remains to be seen but if athletics is to develop in Ireland then proper facilities like this are needed.

Also included in the plans for the campus are a National Cross Country Track...

As you can see, it's 1.5kms in length. I presume the red wedge shape is for the start area where the runners will stretch out after the start and funnel onto the main course. The upper red area is the finish area. The general area is pretty flat so perhaps a few man made 'hills' might be included. Whether the final course looks like this is another issue but at least it shows what the general plan is.

Will all major national cross country races be held there? Just some? As outlined already, there is a lot to be said for holding national events at a location which is easy to access from most parts of the country.

In addition to these two developments, the new High Performance Performance Centre on the campus was shown off last January. All good news and bound to give a welcome boost to athletics in Ireland.