Welcome to the Running in Cork blog, home of the Cork running community. This is the largest website in Cork & Munster for news on road races and general running news. Included are a current race calendar, race previews, photos, results as well as some local, national and international news items.
The Government announced a total of €56m in sports grants today with a huge number of clubs and sports around the country benefiting.
Minister Shane Ross said at the announcement: "This is a great day for Irish sport. When we originally invited applications under the scheme, we had just €30m to allocate and the record level of applications would have left a large number of good projects unsupported and many clubs disappointed. Happily, following the conclusion of budget discussions, I was delighted to secure the required additional resources to enable me to allocate €56m in total to local sports clubs and organisations throughout the country. The net result of this is that we are able to provide financial assistance towards over 1,700 different projects all over the country."
The full list of successful applicants for each county is HERE
€280,500 has been allocated to athletic clubs and running related projects in Cork.
These are as follows...
Cork - Leevale Athletic Club - Leevale AC - High Performance Centre - €105,000 (Used for roof repairs to their High Performance Centre and additional equipment)
Cork - Cork Education and Training Board - Carrignafoy Community College & Ballymore-Cobh Athletic Club - €84,500
Cork - Rathcormac Community Council - Rathcormac Walking/Jogging Track - €61,500
Cork - Youghal Athletic Club - Phase One Tower Park Development - €18,000
Cork - Togher Athletic Club - Non Personal Sports Equipment - €11,500
The amounts awarded this year are in contrast to a few years ago when hardly any Cork athletic clubs applied.
One thing to note here is that these are capital grants. Many if not most athletic and running clubs don't have their own grounds or premises and from what I understand, cannot apply for a capital grant as a result.
Sports Ireland recently released a report which outlined the various grants for 2017 as well as a review of the Irish performances at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. In it, they announce that there is funding of €20 million for the various National Governing Bodies & athletes; in line with 2016 figures.
In terms of grants to National Governing Bodies for 2017, these were the top five...
NGB... 2017
Special Olympics Ireland ... €1,200,000 Athletics Ireland... €887,000(2016 = €887,000)
Swim Ireland... € 827,000
Horse Sport Ireland... €775,000
Basketball Ireland... €588,000 Full List
In terms of individual grants, Thoms Barr gets the full €40k grant after his 4th place finish in the final of the 400m hurdles at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Ciara Mageean also moves from €12k to €20k while a few others get on the list.
The report also covered the 2016 Olympics...the preparation, the games and the aftermath. Here are a few key points and excerpts...
Before the Olympics, there was the whole debacle of the selection process for the men's team for the marathon. Sergiu Ciobanu was passed over for selection despite having a faster qualifying time than Paul Pollock who was selected. Instead of there being an open and transparent selection process, it seemed at times as if the goalposts were moving as time went on. This is what the report said...
"There has been some suggestion that the selection criteria needs to be
further simplified to ensure full understanding by athletes. Some
athletes who were sure they had met all the necessary criteria were
concerned about their actual selection until it was announced.
Ultimately there was one selection appeal which was financially very
costly for AI and stressful for the athletes involved. The appeal was
unsuccessful and the decision of the selection committee was upheld. The
inclusion of a robust “fitness to perform” criterion was also proposed
while it is acknowledged that this is can be a challenging one to
implement."
The performance of the then Performance Director (PD) came in some criticism...
"There is a sense within the HPC that while the PD is very knowledgeable, he needs to engage with the committee members more proactively recognising the experience and knowledge on the committee." "The review identified some communication issues between the PD and athletes. There appears to be significant improvement from the London 2012 review but there was still evidence that the interpersonal side of the role needs to be improved."
"During the course of this review, the PD announced that he was stepping down from his position."
In terms of future grants to athletes, this was mentioned...
"There is an argument that, in order to continue with the development of a semicentralised high performance programme and system, the money that is currently being issued to some athletes may be better invested in a programme. Athletes could then have access to, for example, a number of 1 day camps at Sport Ireland Institute that would include their personal coaches, lead coaches, and support service programme."
The Sports Capital Programme (SCP) is operated by the Department of
Transport, Tourism and Sport and provides grants to assist in the
development of sports facilities and the provision of sports equipment.
Back in July of 2014, I had a post up
about how only €800 out of €4.2 million in sports grants in Cork went
to athletics. That €800 in question went to Ballymore Cobh AC.
The latest figures for the 2015 grants have just been released and not one athletic club in Cork received a grant. This is in spite of the fact that 4.5 million Euro went to other sports in Cork.
In previous posts, some people have pointed out that a lot of athletic clubs don't have their own
facilities and can't avail of these grants and that's a very valid point. However, plenty of other
athletic clubs elsewhere in the country as you can see from the list below managed to get substantial
grants.
According to the Athletics Ireland website, there are over 40 clubs in Cork. It's hard to believe that at least one athletic club in the county couldn't have applied for and benefited from a grant.
Carlow... Ardattin Athletic Club €14,000
Clare... Derg AC €10,000
Clare... Tulla Athletic Club €110,000
Galway... Craughwell Athletic Club €100,000...info
Kerry... Tralee Harriers Athletic Club €44,000
Kildare... Celbridge Athletic Club €14,721
Kilkenny... St Senans Athletic Club €6,939
Kilkenny... Tullaroan Athletics Club €20,737
Meath... Boyne AC €9,000
Laois...Oughaval Athletic Club €20,000
Limerick... Dooneen Athletic Club €15,000
Sligo... North Sligo Athletics Club €8,000
Sligo... Sligo County Athletics €7,000
Tipperary... Newport Athletic Club €6,000
Westmeath...Mullingar Harriers Athletic Club €35,000
Wexford... Adamstown Athletic Club €12,000
Wexford...Craanford Harriers Athletic Club €4,000
Wexford...D.M.P Athletics Club €80,000
Wexford...Menapians Athletic Club €14,000
