This article is from page 10 of the 2007-03-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
IT’S been the Information Age town, it’s recently been named Ireland’s largest tidiest town — but can Ennis become an Olympic village’?
The prospect of the world’s top athletes coming to Ennis to fine- tune their preparations for the 2012 London Olympics is a proposal cur- rently being explored by Ennis Town Council.
The council is being urged to put forward the Lees Road sports facility as a possible training venue for Ol- ympians training ahead of the sum- jas ueee-B bal ea
Town Manager Tom Coughlan
confirmed the proposal 1s under con- sideration and that any application would be carried out in conjunction with the University of Limerick. “We have given it our considera- tion. Athletes coming over are more than likely to use UL as a base and, if were doing anything, it would probably be to feed off that. Before putting ourselves forward, we would have to have specifications for what would be available in Lees Road, I’m thinking about the running track in particular. It would certainly be a huge boost to the town to be recog- nised on the international stage.” Councillor Frankie Neylon (Ind) requested the council explore the
possibility, given the proximity of Ennis to Shannon Airport.
“There will be great interest in coun- tries looking to use facilities. There is a great drive to provide facilities and, with Shannon on our doorstep, we could offer a huge package.”
Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) agreed any Olympic link-up would bring mas- sive international recognition to the OD eer
“It is great to see Lees Road contin- ue to be so popular but if we were to get the Olympics involved, I wouldn’t like to see locals being pushed out as a result. I do know there is terrific interest in Lees Road from sporting eroups, from Galway to Tipperary.”