Sep 19, 2018
The Irish Eventing team have made history today (Monday) by winning the team Silver Medal at the FEI World Equestrian Games in North Carolina, USA, and in the process have qualified for the 2020 Toyko Olympics, while Tipperary’s Padraig McCarthy has completed a remarkable day for the Irish by also taking individual Silver.
Even the arrival of Tropical Storm Florence to North Carolina failed to halt the Irish march, after torrential rain caused havoc with the competition schedule, moving the final to Monday due to heavy rain, but the wait made this result all the sweeter.
The Irish team of Cathal Daniels, Sam Watson, Padraig McCarthy and Sarah Ennis, managed by Sally Corscadden, finished the three Eventing phases of Dressage, Cross Country and Show Jumping on a final score of 93.0, just over one fence behind Britain who took gold on 88.8. France took home the Bronze on 99.8, with Japan finishing just outside the medals in fourth on 113.9. With Japan hosting the 2020 Olympics, that gave an extra place to Tokyo to those down the line. Germany, Australia and New Zealand join Ireland Britain as France as officially qualified for the Olympic Games.
Ireland had been in seventh place after Friday’s Dressage, but rose to second place after a phenomenal Cross Country performance on Saturday when all Irish team riders jumped clear.
One of the most closely-fought competitions in the history of the Games went right down to the wire in the final Show Jumping phase. Competing as an individual, Cork’s Patricia Ryan was the first Irish rider to jump and went clear with Dunrath Eclipse (ISH) to finish in 61st overall.
Galway’s Cathal Daniels, the youngest competitor in the competition at just 22, finished with just one fence down with Rioghan Rua (ISH) and finished 26th individually on 41.6. Ireland’s second team rider Sam Watson, was under real pressure entering the arena after watching Japan and France produce clear rounds. The Carlow rider kept his cool and guided Horseware Ardagh Highlight to a perfect clear. It saw Watson rise up to 14th individually to finish on his Dressage score of 35.5.
Tipperary’s Padraig McCarthy started the day in seventh place, however a clear round with Mr Chunky not only guaranteed Ireland a medal, but also gave him a chance of a podium finish. Meath’s Sarah Ennis had one fence down with Horseware Stellor Rebound, but kept it at that score to ensure Ireland would take a memorable team silver. It left Ennis in a hugely impressive fifth place individually at the finish on a score of 30.3.
The battle for individual medals was not decided until the very last horse jumped the very last fence. Germany’s Ingrid Klimke looked set to be crowned World Champion when approaching the last fence clear with SAP Hale Bob, but the pole fell to the floor dropping her down to bronze on 27.3, and giving Ireland’s McCarthy the individual silver on 27.2. Britain’s Ros Canter is the new World Champion after her clear round aboard Allstar B saw them finish on 24.6.
Asked about what today’s result means for Irish Eventing, team manager Sally Corscadden said:
“It’s absolutely is huge, we are making history here today when you think about it. I had belief in these guys that we could be competitive and that was our goal the whole time, to be competitive and we just stuck to that goal and this is where it got us. I think we pushed those Brits too and made them a little nervous ” she quipped.
She continued, “There was nothing lucky about this. This was made to happen by the whole set-up and the team behind them, I just can’t tell you how many people have worked to make this happen.”
Asked if it was now all full steam ahead with preparing for Tokyo, Corscadden said, “I might take a couple of days off first.
Ireland’s individual silver medalist, Padraig McCarthy was asked if he felt the pressure when he went into the arena,
“I wasn’t in a medal position [individually] when I went in. I had experience of jumping him in big competitions and he is a very good jumper. In a previous life I used to be a Show Jumper so that gave me a lot of confidence. I had a very good warm up outside and the horse felt brilliant.
Asked if he thought now that it is better to be an Eventer than a Show Jumper, he said “Absolutely”
Horse Sport Ireland CEO Ronan Murphy added:
“I am just so proud of all involved. This is another incredible achievement by our athletes. Our Eventing team manager Sally Corscadden and all her support staff have put in an incredible amount of hard work to make this happen. The athletes themselves have shown professionalism, hard work and dedication. I want to thank Sport Ireland for their extra support given in this World Equestrian Games year and all our very loyal sponsors. Most of all I want to thank the owners and breeders of these wonderful horses and of course all the horses’ grooms who have kept the show on the road under very testing conditions. It is a great day for Irish sport and for the Irish Sport Horse industry as a whole.”
HSI Chairman Joe Reynolds said:
“I want to congratulate Sally and her team on an outstanding result. It takes a special performance and preparation to achieve this level of success and this group have done their country proud. We can now look forward to supporting our Eventing team in the build up to Toyko which is hugely exciting.”
The first World Equestrian Games were held in Stockholm (SWE) in 1990. Co Down’s Dermott Lennon won individual gold in Show Jumping in 2002 at Herez in Spain but today marks Ireland’s first team medal at a World Equestrian Games.
Ireland did previously win a team gold medal in an Eventing World Championships in 1966 at Burghley in Great Britain. with a team that included Virginia Freeman-Jackson, Eddie Boylan, Penelope Moreton and Tommy Brennan.
Ireland will bid for further glory on Wednesday, when the Irish Show Jumping team of Shane Sweetnam, Paul O’Shea, Shane Breen and Cian O’Connor, led by Rodrigo Pessoa begin their World Equestrian Games campaign.
This report was originally published on www.horseportireland.ie
Sep 19, 2018
Congratulations to Sanita Puspure who has today been crowned World Champion after winning Gold in the women’s single sculls.
Following a week of highly impressive form, Puspure executed yet another dominant performance in the final in Plovdiv this morning, which saw her begin to edge ahead of the field from as early on as the 500 metre mark.
This was to be the position she held for close to the entirety of the race, putting more and more water between herself and reigning Champion Gmelin of Switzerland, with other medal contenders Lobnig of Austria, Kohler of the USA and Denmark’s Erichsen never so much as threatening the Irish sculler who looked in control throughout. In the finish, Puspure crossed the line with four lengths and almost six seconds to spare ahead of Gmelin who took silver, followed by Lobnig who claimed the bronze. USA, Denmark and Germany followed, in that order.
Puspure was understandably emotional accepting her Gold medal and joins the O’ Donovan brothers, Gary and Paul, in becoming World Champion for 2018. The O’ Donovans had won Gold the day previous in the lightweight men’s double sculls.
Earlier this morning, Ireland had two other boats racing in finals. Aileen Crowley and Monika Dukarska had a comfortable win in the C Final of the women’s double sculls, placing them 13th overall at the Championships. Like Puspure, the Irish crew lead throughout and took the win by a margin of 2.74 seconds ahead of China in second and Italy in third, followed by Switzerland, Ukraine and Romania.
Shortly after this, Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne took to the water in the B Final of the men’s double sculls, where a third-place finish positions them in 9th place overall at the end of the 2018 World Championships. Just .35 seconds separated the top two boats in this race, the Netherlands and Poland with the Irish double finishing just over three seconds behind in third ahead of Norway, Estonia and Bulgaria. A highly encouraging result for this developing crew.
Rowing Ireland CEO, Michelle Carpenter, was thrilled with the Irish results after the weekend:
It’s been an unprecedented weekend for Irish Rowing. To have won a gold medal yesterday in our first Olympic event was phenomenal, and to top it off today with Sanita’s resounding win was more than the icing on the cake.
We have all watched and supported Sanita over the years and we were empowered by her turn around and performance during this World Championships. It’s a proud day to be part of Irish Rowing – I hope every single club and organisation that are involved with us and are part of us will celebrate that success.
Our thanks go to our supporters, in particular Sport Ireland, Sport NI and GVA Donal O’Buachalla who have always stood by our sport.
As the 2018 World Rowing Championships conclude, Rowing Ireland athletes return home with two Gold medals and three further crews finishing within the top ten in their category, two of which also reached A Finals (top 6), as well as two C Final wins and invaluable racing experience as we look ahead to qualification for Tokyo 2020.
This report was originally published on www.rowingireland.ie
Sep 18, 2018
A new report published today [18 September, 2018] brings together for the first time a clear picture of all activity in Ireland’s seas. The National Marine Planning Framework Baseline Report is a key part of the process of developing Ireland’s first marine spatial plan, which will be the equivalent of the National Planning Framework for the marine area.
The Federation of Irish Sport has represented sporting interests on the Group looking into this important area.
As identified in Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth, a comprehensive National Marine Planning Framework enable the Government set a clear direction for managing our seas, clarify objectives and priorities, and direct decision-makers, users and stakeholders towards more strategic, efficient use of marine resources.
The purpose of the Baseline report is to set out the context in which the marine spatial plan is being developed and help to identify the key issues marine planning will need to address. It sets out a description of the “as is” situation in terms of existing sectoral development and activities in Ireland’s maritime area, including an identification of the future opportunities and constraints for each, and number of consultation questions or issues intended to prompt discussion and consideration amongst stakeholders. Responses to these questions will be a crucial input to the draft plan. The first draft NMPF is intended to be published in mid-2019 for a further round of consultation.
Stakeholder and public engagement is a critical part of the process and representatives from all the key sectors comprise an advisory group overseeing the process. This includes fisheries, aquaculture, energy, tourism, sport, local authorities as well as the social and economic pillars and environmental NGOs such as Bird Watch Ireland, SWAN, Coastwatch, An Taisce and the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group.
The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government is responsible for the development of the framework and Minister of State Damien English has specific responsibility for marine planning. Speaking on the Baseline Report, which was brought to the Government for approval at today’s Cabinet meeting, the Minister said: ‘When we see the demands being placed on our marine area clearly laid out we can effectively consider whether those demands can be met simultaneously or whether some management or governance is required in particular areas.
Developed with assistance from the Marine Institute, the report is available to be viewed on the department website, www.housing.gov.ie and the public are invited to make submissions on it until midday 14 December 2018. A series of regional events will take place on the Baseline Report in Waterford (2nd October), Galway (5th October), Sligo (12thOctober), Cork (19thf October) and Dublin (23rd October). These will be introduced by the Minister and will feature an international perspective and a moderated panel discussion featuring high-profile guests from a range of marine-related backgrounds (environmental, renewable energy, sport, planners, port authorities etc.) with audience participation. The panellists will be invited to give their sectoral perspective on what objectives or policies they think Ireland’s National Marine Planning Framework should include. For more see the website, twitter: @MSP_Ireland or email msp@housing.gov.ie
Sep 15, 2018
A new name and logo have been unveiled for the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of the island of Ireland with a name change from The Olympic Council of Ireland to Olympic Federation of Ireland. A modernised Olympic crest will also be sported by the Team Ireland athletes for the first time at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires next month.
The new identity for Olympic Federation of Ireland falls at the halfway mark between the Summer Games. “This is a good juncture for us to launch our new identity,” explains CEO Peter Sherrard, “We are just under two years out from Tokyo 2020 and we are currently planning a range of initiatives with partners and sponsors to help support the athletes of Team Ireland in the build-up.”
The new logo was designed by the creative agency, Atomic Sport, with the aim of developing an identity within the IOC guidelines, that would be worn with pride, and in keeping with the rich history of this iconic brand.
One of the guiding principles behind the logo design was also the need to modernise the Olympic crest to make it suitable and effective on an increasing number of digital platforms.
Another consideration was the importance of creating something that had a connection to the history of the Irish Olympic movement. The inspiration for the crest shape stemmed from the Irish Olympic team kit worn around the time of Ronnie Delany’s gold medal in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, one of the country’s greatest ever Olympic moments.
The importance of a strong logo for athletes were reflected in the design. Director of Atomic Sport, Patrick Murphy points out, “we also wanted to ensure that we created a logo that would sit proudly on the athletes’ team kit as a badge of honour to acknowledge their achievements and efforts.”
The Team Ireland athletes at the Youth Olympic Games will be the first to sport the new logo. The Youth Olympic Games take place in the Buenos Aires, Argentina, from the 6 – 18 October 2018.
Sep 14, 2018
Sport is set to be a big winner in the new round of Education funding announced this morning by an Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Ministers for Education Richard Bruton and Mary Mitchell. It will though take some time to materialise.
The education element of the Government’s Ireland 2040 programme includes a commitment to a PE Hall Build and Modernisation programme. The aim is to provide all post-primary schools with access to ‘state of the art’ facilities to provide PE provision.
The rollout of PE as a leaving cert subject is also strongly referenced, though the programme is not scheduled to begin until the second half of the current phase meaning from around 2222.
School laboratory modernisation is to take place earlier with applications for that expected to open in 2019.
In sport it is always good to come first but science has been on the curriculum a lot longer and while sport could make a case under the auspices of national health strategies, getting onto the agenda is at least a result.
“Project Ireland 2040 represents a significant shift in how we as a country plan for our future development,” said Taoiseach Varadkar.
“We are taking a much longer-term view and linking investment with planning for the first time ever. In the education sector, that means we’re significantly increasing the amount we invest in our schools, colleges and universities. For example, we’ll be boosting the school building budget by 70% over the next ten years and trebling our investment in higher education.”
“I am particularly pleased that we’ll be investing in PE halls – modernising old ones and building new ones – to ensure all post-primary students can use state of the art PE facilities.”
“This will be especially important as we phase in PE as a Leaving Cert exam subject. Education doesn’t just drive economic success, it’s also crucial to giving everyone the opportunity to fulfill their full potential, in all parts of the country. This ambitious and unprecedented level of investment – almost €12 billion – in our education sector will ensure our this generation of children and the next get the best possible start in life.”
Sep 13, 2018
The Federation has made a pre-budget submission to Government outlining five clear and concise asks as they consider spending plans for 2019 and beyond.
These include a ‘significant increase’ in current funding for National Governing Bodies and Local Sports partnerships; multi-annual funding programmes for performance and participation; a greater role for central sporting bodies in the allocation of Sports Capital Funding; an advance in the introduction of tax incentives relating to sport; and the provision of direct funding to cover increased costs of Governance and Compliance.
Following on from a listing of the spectacular successes achieved in Irish sport over the last twelve months the Federation hails the most important event as being the publication of the National Sports Policy 2018-2027.
“This historic document enshrined the important role that sport plays in Ireland across so many different areas including health and well-being; economic activity; education and personal development; community development and social cohesion; and international reputation,” states the submission.
“It also reiterates the Government’s full commitment to fund sport in an appropriate manner with the target being a doubling of funding to an annual €220 million over the next ten years.”
The submission points out that if the full potential of the capital investments in clubs and at the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus is to be fully realised that “there needs to be a commensurate investment in people and programmes.”
The five areas in which Irish sport is seeking consideration in the budget, which will be announced on October 9th are as follows:
1. Increase in Current Funding:
The National Sports Policy document has pointed to the important role that will be played by the NGBs and LSPs in the ultimate delivery of the Policy. These two groups of organisations are responsible for the majority of the people and the programmes that will deliver the majority initiatives that to ensure sport meets the challenge set out in the Policy. In particular, to increase by 2027 the number of adults regularly participating in active and social sport by 7% (the equivalent of an extra 260,000 people participating in sport)
The sport policy has also rightly identified increasing participation, over the period of the plan, for older people, the disabled, and poorer communities. It is recognised, in the Policy document that these hard to reach segments will require higher levels of support than the current sports model has capacity for, particularly in a full employment economy.
It is vital our members begin this important task as soon as possible, it is equally important that the funding to achieve this is provided at the earliest possible opportunity. With 25% of LSPs and 33% of NGBs saying their biggest single challenge in delivering on their objectives is funding. We would call on the government to make a significant increase to current funding (that goes to our member organisations from Sport Ireland) in recognition of the role they have to play and the need to begin their work as quickly as possible.
2. More Certainty in Future Funding:
More certainty on funding has been a key policy demand for NGBs and LSPs for a number of years, the Federation is delighted to see that the Sports Policy is committed to ensuring that there is more certainty for funding for Irish sport in the future. The Policy has committed to multi-annual funding for High-Performance Programmes by 2019 and also for participation programmes.
We would ask the Government to align such multi-annual performance for participation programmes with the high-performance commitment and that multi-annual funding for participation programmes would also begin next year. The Federation is happy to work with both Sport Ireland and the Department of Sport to enable this to happen.
3. Sports Capital Programmes:
The Federation welcomes the Government’s commitment to further annual capital funding programmes both through the existing programme and through the new sports capital for larger infrastructural works. We would ask that the Government take on board the paper submitted by the Federation in April 2018 in relation to the allocation of such funding.
In this, we recommended that the knowledge and expertise of the National Governing Bodies be utilised to ensure that such capital funding is directed towards projects that will have maximum impact in meeting the objectives of the National Sports Policy.
We proposed that, for the next round of the SCP, the Federation would collate an exercise under which each NGB would identify the infrastructural deficiencies and national priorities that it identifies for its sport, and make this available to the Department as a checklist against which applications can be scored under a proposed new criterion. This would also ensure that the NGBs can plan to have the necessary people and programmes in place to ensure maximum benefit is derived from all new facilities once completed.
4. Sport and Tax:
The Federation has called on the Government previously to explore the role of tax incentives in attracting non-Exchequer investment. We are delighted that the Sports Policy includes a commitment to review this. We are happy to work with the Department of Finance and Revenue in making available the relevant expertise of many of our members so that proposals can be developed which deliver the required results in a way that offers value to the Exchequer. We believe that a tax incentive, proven to be effective internationally, will work in Ireland.
5. Good Governance & Compliance:
Over the past decade the proper governance of sport has rightly been highlighted. There has been a recognition that sport must embrace the highest standards particularly in encouraging more and more young people to participate. This has been totally accepted and embraced by our members for example, 60% of NGBs have reviewed their governing documentation in the last 2 years in an effort to ensure they are in line with best practice.
Included in such governance has been increasing regulatory requirements many of which are designed to protect participants and are therefore to be welcomed, but they have increased the administrative burden on NGBs & LSPs some of whom are still run on an entirely voluntary basis. These include commitments to health and safety; Garda vetting; Child Protection, Data protection (GDPR) and as well as full implementation of the Governance code which all NGBs & LSPs are due to complete by 2021 under the National Sports Policy.
The fact is, however, that over the last decade these very necessary activities have led to funds being taken from other activities and programmes. It has been estimated by our members that between 10% and 15% of their total budgets now go on such activities. We would call on the Government to recognise this cost and to begin reflecting its reality in the provision of funding directly for these activities.
The government recognises the popularity of sport and its importance in terms of overall strategy on health and wellbeing.
It must be hoped that this will follow through in delivery on the financial front next month.
