Nov 28, 2019
Sam Bennett won the International Performance of the Year at the Cycling Ireland Annual Awards for the second consecutive year on Saturday night.
The Cycling Ireland Awards Evening saw members of the cycling community recognised in 13 categories, both participants and volunteers, across the various cycling disciplines.
Bennett notched up 13 wins this season including on stage 3 and stage 14 of the Vuelta a España. His stage 3 victory was enough to see the Carrick-On-Suir rider claim the green jersey while compatriot Nicolas Roche wore the leader’s red jersey.
Among the recipients of the Special Achievement Awards was Katie-George Dunlevy and pilot Eve McCrystal. The paracycling duo claimed their fifth World Title, with Gold in the time trial at the Road World Championships and added a Silver medal in the Road Race. Their attention now firmly focused on adding to their impressive medal haul at Tokyo 2020.
Lara Gillespie of Scott Orwell Wheelers was another rider to receive a Special Achievement Award and was named Female Rider of the Year. Gillespie won Bronze at the Junior Track World Championships and three Silver medals at the Junior Track European Championships.
Cycling is blessed with countless dedicated and committed volunteers. Among these is Phil Skelton who was instrumental in the introduction of new ‘dangerous overtaking of a cyclist’ legislation. Skelton has been a driving force behind making our roads safer for cyclists and rightly deserves the award for Outstanding Service to Cycling.
A full list of winners is available below:
International Performance of the Year
Sam Bennett – 2 stages at the Vuelta a España
Special Achievement Awards
Lara Gillespie – Bronze at the Junior Track World Championships and three Silver medals at the European Track Championships
Katie-George Dunlevy & Eve McCrystal – Triple World TT Champions
Ronan Grimes – Silver medal in the Scratch Race in the Para Track Worlds
Greg Swinand – World Masters 50-54 Time Trial Champion
Lydia Boylan – Silver Medal in the Points Race in the UCI Track World Championship
Mark Downey – Bronze Medal in the Points Race in the UCI Track World Championship
Sam Bennett – 2 stages at the Vuelta a España
Leah Maunsell – 2nd in the U21 Eunduro World Series
Membership Awards
Cycling Ireland Volunteer of the Year – Dany Blondeel – Ards Cycling Club
Cycling Ireland Female Rider of the Year – Lara Gillespie – Scott Orwell Wheelers
Cycling Ireland Male Rider of the Year – Conor Hennebry – Dan Morrissey-MIG Pactimo
Cycling Ireland Club of the Year – Bray Wheelers
Cycling Ireland Leisure Event of the Year – The Reservoir Dog Sportive – Reservoir Cogs
Cycling Ireland Competitive Event of the Year – National Road Championships – Foyle CC
Cycling Ireland Club Coach of the Year – Hugh Byrne – Sundrive Track Team
Outstanding Service to Cycling
Dr. Tom Daly – Historical Archive of Cycling in Ireland
Phil Skelton – introduction of dangerous overtaking legislation
Hall of Fame
Mick Lawless
Martin Early
Peter Doyle
Gaybo Howard
Cycling Ireland National Road Series – Men
Conor Hennebry – Dan Morrissey-MIG Pactimo
James Curry – Dan Morrissey-MIG Pactimo
Darnell Moore – Team Caldwell Cycles
Cycling Ireland National Road Series – Women
Katharine Smyth – Ballymena Road Club
Maura Claffey – UCD Cycling Club
Agnieszka Wozniak – STRATA3/VeloRevolution Racing Team
Nov 28, 2019
The Irish Kidney Association is delighted to be hosting the 11th European Transplant & Dialysis Sports Championships in Dublin from August 2nd-9th (www.etdsc2020.com). With 25 countries and 13 different events it promises to be a true celebration of the gift of life that is organ donation.
A key sporting goal in hosting the event is to grow our national transplant and dialysis sports programme that operates under the banner Transplant Team Ireland (www.transplantteamireland.ie). We are looking for new recruits in the sports listed below. If you are, or you know, a person who has received an organ transplant and enjoy sport contact colin@ika.ie for more details on how to join our team for next year’s Championships. Competition is based on age categories starting with 18-29 years all the way to 80+ years.
The sports are:
- Archery
- Athletics
- Badminton
- Cycling
- Darts
- Golf
- Petanque
- 5km Road Run
- Squash
- Table Tennis
- Tennis
- Ten Pin Bowling
- Volleyball
Nov 28, 2019
Mourneabbey were crowned All-Ireland Ladies Senior Club Champions for a second successive year, following a thrilling 2-9 to 0-14 victory over first-time finalists Kilkerrin-Clonberne on Saturday, November 23. The Cork and Munster Champions needed a superb late point from Laura Fitzgerald to retain the Dolores Tyrrell Memorial Cup at the LIT Gaelic Grounds in Limerick, which they first won in 2018:
Meanwhile, there was an historic first All-Ireland adult club title for Offaly achieved on Saturday, November 23. Naomh Ciaran landed the All-Ireland Intermediate club title on the back of a 2-11 to 2-9 win against Naomh Pól from Antrim at Kingspan Breffni, Cavan:
To round off an incredible weekend of All-Ireland Ladies Club Championship Finals, Cork legend Rena Buckley starred as her club Donoughmore edged out Mayo opponents MacHale Rovers after extra-time by 1-12 to 1-11 in front of a bumper crowd at Duggan Park, Ballinasloe. Buckley scored 0-7 and claimed the Player of the Match award as the two-time All-Ireland Senior champions landed the junior title:
Nov 26, 2019
MUNSTER RUGBY’S ENDA LYNCH APPOINTED TO BOARD OF FEDERATION OF IRISH SPORT
26th November2019: The Federation of Irish Sport is delighted to announce that Enda Lynch, Head of Enterprise with Munster Rugby has been appointed an Independent Director of the Federation. The Federation of Irish Sport is the representative organisation for the National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) and Local Sports Partnerships (LSPs) in Ireland. The Federation’s membership consists of over 100 NGBs and LSPs from every corner of the country.
Enda who is Head of Enterprise with Munster Rugby, has had a distinguished career in the areas of sports marketing, sponsorship and communications. Before taking up his current role with Munster Rugby he was the club’s Head of Commercial & Marketing, overseeing all revenue generation and marketing for the organisation for over five years. Prior to that he worked with the then Slattery Communications on major sponsorships such as the Irish Rugby team, The O2, the GAA All Stars, Ferrari and the Champions League. A Kerry man residing in Cork, he is a Communications graduate of Dublin City University.
In making the announcement Roddy Guiney, Chairman of the Federation said that he believed Enda’s knowledge of sport and his expertise both in sports marketing and communications would be of major benefit not alone to the organisation but also to our members. “Enda has been associated with many highly successful brands and sponsorships and we are looking forward to availing of his skills and expertise as we strive to continue to deliver successful programmes for our members”.
Speaking of his appointment, Enda said “I am really looking forward to working on behalf of the organisations that make sport and physical activity in Ireland happen on a daily basis. Given the rate of change of how sports organisations survive and thrive commercially and organisationally, I see the Federation as playing a critical role in helping shape the framework for that development. I look forward to meeting many of my fellow NBGs and Local Sports Partnerships in the months ahead”.
ENDS
Nov 20, 2019
Alliance for Insurance Reform welcomes “small steps” towards reform but describes progress as “unbearably slow”
Lack of timeline for Judicial Council reform and lack of resources for Garda Fraud Unit are deeply disappointing
The Alliance for Insurance Reform has welcomed the announcement by the Chief Justice of the appointment of the Personal Injuries Guidelines Committee of the Judicial Council. But Peter Boland, spokesperson for the Alliance said “this is a small step forward but we need to see real urgency in tackling high awards.
“The Judicial Council Act was signed into law 88 days ago. These appointments chould have been made in one week; and today we learned that plans for benchmarking and information-gathering are expected. The only losers from this foot–dragging are the hundreds and thousands of community groups, charities and small businesses who are being crippled by increasing costs.
“Our experience over the last 2 years has been that deadline after deadline for reform is missed. Today we got no timeline for when the work of the Committee would be complete. From a policyholders’ perspective, progress appears unbearably slow. The Personal Injuries Commission and the Cost of Insurance Working Group have already completed a huge body of research and this does not need to be repeated. We are calling on those appointed to this ‘Committee Designate’ to demonstrate an understanding of how serious this problem is and make early recommendations on dramatically lowering awards for minor injuries.
The Conference today also heard from Assistant Commissioner John O’Driscoll on its work in the area of insurance fraud. Peter Boland said “We are disappointed that no progress has been made on the establishment of a fully-funded and resourced Garda response. Until this deterrent is put in place the incentive to claim fraudulently or to exaggerate claims will remain undiminished”.
Finally, the Alliance said that the insurance industry needs to make a commitment to quantify the scale of premium reductions which will follow reforms. “Reform in awards and more Garda priority will be useless if the insurers do not commit to meaningful premium reductions” concluded Peter Boland.
Nov 15, 2019
The launch of the Draft National Maritime Planning Framework (NMPF), by Minister Damien English from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government took place on Tuesday November 12th.
This draft is Ireland’s first complete marine spatial planning document that sets out the policies, to help direct decision making in the maritime area using a plan-led approach. This draft is to go through a public consultation process in the next few months concluding at the end of February, with a view for a final draft to be launched towards the end of 2020, and implementation in 2021. The ultimate outcome will be for a simpler, more streamlined planning process for foreshore, that will enable links to County Development Plans, allowing local authorities to look towards the sea for local development opportunities.
Irish Sailing’s CEO, Harry Hermon sits on the NMPF Stakeholder Advisory Group as a representative of the Federation of Irish Sport.
All NGB’ and LSP’s who use the foreshore for their activities are strongly urged to attend the public consultation process for the Draft NMPF
Regional public meetings to promote awareness and facilitate public and stakeholder participation in the Draft NMPF run from 21st Nov to 10 Dec in Limerick, Westport, Galway and Tralee.
Full details of locations and contacts here https://www.housing.gov.ie/planning/marine-planning/public-consultation-draft-national-marine-planning-framework
Submissions are welcome by email or post too before 12:00 noon on 28th February 2020
Full details on the NMPF
See the full Government Press Release with useful summary breakdowns here – Govt Press release: https://www.housing.gov.ie/water/marine-planning/minister-english-launches-public-consultation-draft-national-marine-planning
