Ankrom to kickstart new era

THEY’VE been hunting for a high performance director for years but with little success. Internal wrangling resulting in a costly court case had threatened to tear the association apart at one stage, but Athletics Ireland have finally got their man.

Yesterday they proudly unveiled Kevin Ankrom as the man to lead Irish athletics into what Ray Flynn, chairman of high performance, described as “a new realm”.

Ankrom, born in Jacksonville, Illinois, has all the credentials. He arrives in Ireland from New Zealand where he spent the last four years in a similar role, overseeing the country’s best team Olympic Games in 20 years in Beijing.