NEWLY-CROWNED national senior cross-country champion, Mark Kenneally (Clonliffe Harriers), is among the entries for the phenomenon that is the Ballycotton 10 road race.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS have been hit hardest with e343,919 cut from their 2009 funding but with total funding amounting to e11.47m, budgetary cuts fell well short of the feared 8% when Government grants to sports’ governing bodies were announced by the Irish Sports Council (ISC) yesterday.

MICHAEL QUINLAN could be poised for a dramatic return to athletics’ top table at the Athletics Association of Ireland (AAI) annual congress in Dublin at the weekend.

THEY had lithe aching limbs, sweaty brows and were panting to catch their breath after one of the country’s biggest road races yesterday.

Almost €2m in public money is to be spent on promoting equestrian sport this year, the Government announced today.

International athlete Gary Ryan and respected coach Stephen Maguire have been appointed to high-ranking positions within the Athletics Association of Ireland.

THE wholesale changes made in the last year by the Athletics Association of Ireland (AAI) were rewarded yesterday with the Irish Sports Council’s decision to increase the body’s core grant for 2006 by over €250,000.

Respected coach and sports psychologist Brendan Hackett has been appointed the new chief executive officer of the Athletics Association of Ireland (AAI).

MARK CHRISTIE is looking for a big performance at this year’s European cross-country championships in Tilburg, Holland, and has taken his preparations to a new level by travelling to Kenya to train at altitude.

Brendan Mooney

OVER half the county boards affiliated to the Athletics Association of Ireland have demanded a Special Congress to discuss the problems within that organisation.

IRISH HURDLER Peter Coghlan has quit athletics in protest at being omitted from the Irish Sport Council’s high-performance grant recipients.

Irish hurdler Peter Coghlan has announced his retirement from athletics after hearing he was one of a number of top Irish athletes cut from the Irish Sports Council’s grants for 2005.

THE IRISH Sports Council yesterday announced grants of €6.29 million for 53 organisations.

A spokesman for the Athletics Association of Ireland (AAI) has said they hoped Cathal Lombard's ban would act as a warning to anyone considering violating doping rules.

Irish distance runner Cathal Lombard has been provisionally suspended and is set to receive a two-year ban following his admission he took banned substance EPO.

Disgraced Irish Olympic athlete Cathal Lombard could face prosecution for importing the performance-enhancing drug EPO.

Irish Olympian Cathal Lombard was caught taking performance enhancing drugs following a tip-off from customs officials, it emerged today.

The athlete who admitted taking the performance-enhancing drug EPO arrived back in Ireland tonight to face officials.

CATHAL LOMBARD has admitted to taking the performance enhancing drug Erythropoietin (EPO).

In a dramatic move last evening the Olympic Council of Ireland added Dubliner Maria McCambridge to the Irish team for the Olympic Games.

Eddie Cassidy

IN a dramatic move last evening the Olympic Council of Ireland added Dubliner Maria McCambridge to the Irish team for the Olympic Games.

OLYMPIAN Jamie Costin is adamant that Irish competitors won't be at a disadvantage in the heat and humidity of Athens next month.

There are no late changes to the 48-strong Irish party that was named for the Athens Olympics two-weeks ago following the passing of the deadline for qualifying standards at 5pm yesterday.

ATHLETES and swimmers chasing Olympic qualifying standards were given a new lease of life last night when the Olympic Council of Ireland extended the deadline for A standard qualification to July 20 but warned that there will be no further extension.

THE Athletics Association of Ireland will have the opportunity to take a major step towards obtaining an athletics licence for the whole island of Ireland at their annual congress in Donegal next month.

THE country’s major sporting bodies united together yesterday in an historic move to stamp out racism.

THE streets of Cork city were thronged yesterday as 5,000 athletes took part in the 2003 Evening Echo Ladies Mini Marathon.

IRELAND could have its smallest team in years at next year’s Olympic Games in Athens as the race for qualification gathers momentum.

SPORTS Minister John O’Donoghue is the only person who can save Ireland’s bid to hold the 2005 European Cross-country Championships in Cork, and last evening, Liam Hennessy, international secretary of the Athletics Association of Ireland, appealed to him to rescue the event.

GERALDINE HENDRICKEN may switch tracks over the coming months when she takes out a horse trainer’s permit but won’t be abandoning her athletics career despite the ban for a positive drugs test, which turned her career upside down last February.

THERE will be no last minute race for qualifying standards for next year’s Olympic Games and Irish athletes will be selected only if they achieve the A standards as the Olympic Council of Ireland strives to get the best prepared team ever to Athens.

CORK is among the front-runners to host the European Cross-Country Championships in 2005 — the year the City will hold the status of European Capital of Culture.

IRISH athlete Geraldine Hendricken last night called for the immediate opening of the ‘B’ sample from the drugs test which has alleged use of a banned performance-enhancing substance.

Irish 1500m runner Geraldine Hendricken has tested positive for nandrolone in an out-of-competition test.

GERALDINE HENDRICKEN admitted last night she was “stunned” by claims that she had tested positive for a banned substance.

THE officers of the disbanded Athletes’ Commission are not going to depart the scene just yet.

The row over Irish athlete’s equipment has arisen again and it is once again threatening to affect athlete’s potential.

The long-running saga surrounding a replacement for Rosemary Ryan on the Irish women's team for this weekend's World Cross-Country Championships has come to an end.

The Athletics Association of Ireland has received the biggest share of the Irish Sports Council's £8.1m grant allocation for the coming year.