I’m being ignored, insists Chesser

One of the country’s top middle-distance runners, Ennis athlete Rory Chesser may be on the start-list for next week’s European championships in Helsinki, but claims Athletics Ireland have stopped him competing after deciding not to name him on the Irish team.

The 25-year-old multiple national champion hoped to compete in the 1,500m and satisfied all criteria set out by Athletics Ireland and the European Championships organisers to warrant selection. But he’s been “ignored.”

Chesser is based in the UK, but is self-funded, having been dropped for funding last year. He said yesterday he had three major issues with the governing body here: “I’m entered on the European Championships website; they’ve accepted my entry and the only thing my athletics association is doing right now is stopping me from competing in a major championships where I know I could do very well.

“To qualify for the Europeans, there were two standards set by Athletics Ireland (A-standard 3.39.5, B standard 3.41.5) and they’re actually faster than the European standard (3.42).

“I ran three Irish ‘B’ standards and I ran four European standards so I thought that would be enough to get me selected. The fact I’ve run inside a European standard is like ‘they must pick me’, but they didn’t. They’ve picked at least three other people in the same position as me,” he said.

“Athletics Ireland told me I could not compete at the European championships this year because I only have a B standard and because I’m not, as they defined, a development athlete. I’m 25 so I’m not over the hill, but I know for a fact there’s two people in the same boat as me going.

“I want to make it clear I have no problem with anybody on the team. Everybody who’s on the team has a European standard. It’s just a lot of people only have B standards like me and that is my issue.”

Chesser represented Ireland at the European championships in Barcelona in 2010 but has suffered injury and illness since. But this year, he’s in the form of his life, having secured Irish ‘B’ standards and Euro standards.

“I’m in a position now where I’m running to a very high standard but I’m struggling to get into the really big meetings. I need to get under 3.40 but the European championships would have been the perfect place to do that. It’s never been my intention this season to just run 3.39.5. I can run faster.

Chesser appealed the decision but was rejected on the grounds he was told he’s not a development athlete – something he doesn’t accept.

He contacted HP director Kevin Ankrom but got no real answers. “He replied and said the reason I’m not going is because I’m not a development athlete but I can’t really accept that when I know there’s people going who are in the same position as me.”

The reaction to his exclusion is growing with the head of the Dublin marathon weighing in on the debate on social networking sites. Also Eamonn Coghlan said the fiasco was another example of “the politics of Athletics Ireland.”

Chesser added: “There’s only a sliver of hope now. All it takes is for me to get on a plane to Helsinki. I could be a complete rebel, go there and get my accreditation and try to race myself, get a jersey off one of my mates and just run. I’m not going to do that.”