Championships 2005 bid by Ireland

ATHLETICS Ireland moved a step closer to lodging a bid for the European cross-country championships when a three-man delegation met with representatives of the EAA in Germany last week.

International secretary Liam Hennessy, Tom McCormack, who organised the course and facilities for the world championships in Leopardstown last year and treasurer Michael Quinlan met with the EAA for a briefing on what would be required for the actual application form.

Yesterday, Hennessy confirmed they will be pushing for the 2005 championships. The venues for the championships for 2005, 2006 and 2007 will be decided next October and applications have to be submitted before the end of February.

Originally there were seven applications for the three championships but Denmark has withdrawn, leaving Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Austria and the Netherlands to battle it out.

"There will be very strong bids from all of them but I am quite confident ours will be as good as any of them. I think we have a very good case and we can put a very good package together," said Hennessy.

"We certainly are not daunted by the running of the event as we have the experience from last year's world championships behind us and we have shown we can put a very good team together.

"Over the coming weeks we will be meeting with prospective partners the Government, RTÉ, Bord Fáilte and a local partner and we will have a very good case to present to them."

Hennessy insisted that Ireland's bid will be a serious one, capable of matching anything else that will be put forward.

"We just need to put it together now and I am pretty confident we can succeed," he said. "It would be nice to see Sonia O'Sullivan, Mark Carroll, Catherina McKiernan and all the other stars competing on home soil with very strong claims to medals."

Meanwhile, O'Sullivan, who has been training at altitude for the forthcoming world indoor championships and world cross-country championships, had to withdraw from her training camp at Falls Creek, Victoria, Australia, yesterday because of the nearby bush fires.

She was joined in the evacuation of the scenic mountain venue by several other athletes including Australian 5,000m record holder Benita Johnson.

Her partner and coach Nick Bideau said the village was covered in smoke, the road to the trails were closed, and the fire was only 20km away with the forecast for winds that would increase the danger to them.

"Sonia has been training well and Benita is going particularly well but not well enough to outrun a raging bushfire it if comes this way," he said.

Meanwhile, the teams for the Celtic international cross-country races in Belfast will be selected today.

And team manager Joe O'Flynn has named strong Cork teams for the Munster cross-country championships to be staged at Dungarvan on Sunday.

But he will be without the services of county champion Robert Heffernan (Togher), who is currently training in Florida, and Martin McCarthy (Leevale) who is training in South Africa.

Garret Barry (north Cork), who had a 3,000m/1,500m double at the Munster indoor championships in Nenagh on Sunday, is included on the men's team along with another former winner, Donacha O'Mahony.

Valerie Vaughan (Blarney/Inniscarra) leads the women's team and will go into the race as favourite for the title.