O’Donoghue urged to save bid for 2005 Cross-Country Championships

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.

The AAI had sought funding in the region of €300,000 to stage the event, but Hennessy admitted yesterday that it now looked, following discussions with Fáilte Ireland, that they would get nothing like that. "We are asking the minister to come to our assistance or otherwise we can never seriously consider a bid for an event such as this or, indeed, any other event," he said.

"Fáilte Ireland appear to be looking at this on a purely commercial basis, but you cannot equate the European cross-country championships with the Ryder Cup or other professional events. In this case, nobody gets paid. The athletes don't get paid, the officials don't get paid and there are no gigantic TV rights. It is a purely voluntary enterprise involving mainly local people.