UCC 'jumped the gun' in closing Mardyke track

JUMPED THE GUN: Hockey pitches. Public roads. Park paths. For athletes in Cork, these are some of the places they’ve had to do sessions following UCC’s closure of the Sonia O’Sullivan Mardyke track due to health and safety concerns. Pic: Larry Cummins

Hockey pitches. Public roads. Park paths. For athletes in Cork, these are some of the places they’ve had to do sessions following UCC’s closure of the Sonia O’Sullivan Mardyke track due to health and safety concerns.

The decision left thousands of athletes across the county without access to a 400m track and it will be several weeks, perhaps months, before it changes.

“It’s a bit of a panic,” says Joan Healy, who’s represented Ireland at European and world level. Healy is currently targeting the European Championships in June and, as a 100m specialist, access to a track is a must.

On Tuesday, she did her usual track session on an astro-turf hockey pitch, her best option on days she’s working. On days off, she’ll drive to Limerick along with clubmates at Leevale AC.

“We’re having to turn our plans upside down and there’s extra expense to that. We don’t want to be encroaching on other clubs’ time either.”

Another of Leevale’s sprint groups trained on a paved path at the entrance to Tramore Valley Park.

“It’s a public footpath and you’ve got people out walking, dogs around the place,” says club coach Derrick Neff.

“The younger groups will get away with training wherever will accommodate them, but the senior athletes, if they’re not training on a track, in spikes, you’re setting yourself up for injury because you’re not preparing the body properly for what you’re going to try and make it do.”

Neff was among those who met UCC’s deputy head of sport Christine O’Donovan and Athletics Ireland’s CEO Hamish Adams on Thursday but didn’t get “any kind of solace” on when the issue will be resolved.

In a statement, UCC said a contractor would visit the Mardyke to “assess temporary fixes”, with Director of Sport Morgan Buckley saying UCC was “committed to remedying this matter as soon as possible.”

Parts of the track on its riverside straight were in poor condition for some time, with UCC citing “a rapid and significant deterioration” in recent weeks. On Monday, the track was closed after an inspection from UCC’s Building and Estates team.

“The track has been in this condition for the past year and we’ve been training fine on it,” says Healy.

“They jumped the gun, got health and safety in before consulting any of us; 250-300 metres of the track is perfectly fine to use and they could have closed that section that’s most affected.”

It’s understood UCC is dealing with a claim from a track user, but Buckley told the Irish Examiner that the decision to close it was “solely based on the outcome of an inspection carried out on Monday” which was “prompted by our regular monitoring and management of the track in accordance with how we operate our facilities.”

Cork’s athletes were heavily reliant on the Mardyke with the track at Munster Technological University (MTU) being redeveloped. That’s due to be completed in June “if weather gods shine,” says Neff.

“In the absence of that, you’re snookered.” Bandon AC said they were “shocked and saddened” about the closure which “leaves high performance athletes with no Cork-based track to train for regional, national and international competitions and further compounds the existing lack of facilities.”

Bandon has begun work on its own track which could be completed this year if adequate funding is sourced, which the club said would “accelerate the availability of a Cork track, within 20 minutes of the city, accessible to the 8,600 Cork athletes abandoned by this announcement.”

Adams said those at Athletics Ireland “sympathise with all our members” in Cork and pointed to track projects in Bandon, Carrigaline and Midleton.

“Unfortunately, these will take time to complete and we understand the Cork athletics community’s current frustration.”