Training hitch for Olympic athletes
This is owing to the closure of the Aer Lingus Heathrow/Shannon service, it was claimed yesterday.
UL and the regional conferencing organisation, Meet Limerick/Shannon Conference and Sports Bureau, have marketed the campus to national team managers in the southern hemisphere, Africa and Asia, as a preparatory springboard to help athletes train in London-type conditions.
The Dutch swimming team used the UL 50m pool when they prepared for the Athens Olympics where they won a number of gold, silver and bronze medals.
Many international rugby and soccer teams regularly train at the campus.
Since it was set up four years ago by various agencies in the mid-west, the bureau has brought in more than 20,000 international conference delegates and athletes to the region.
The organisation’s chief executive, John Fahey, said the repercussions arising from the loss of the Heathrow hub for conference business in the west and mid-west, and UL as an international sports training venue, were enormous.
Mr Fahey said: “The Government does not seem to realise what faces us. Huge numbers of international delegates coming to the regions from abroad come via Heathrow.
“It is hard enough as it is to win this kind of business, but without a Heathrow connection there will be huge difficulties. This whole thing will be devastating for what we have been doing very successfully in a relatively short period of time.
“We have a major task ahead and we won’t take this lying down.”
