GO'H National Champion

average_runner

RayCun wrote: »

yes, that's the rule.

There are probably a lot of ineligible athletes out there, where neither they, their club, or AAI know that they are not eligible

I can see the mess this will cause, especially at underage where some sore loser parent will lodge a complaint against a non irish kid!!!!

Chivito550

Just listened to the Liveline discussion.

Thought Gary and Freddy both came across well (other than Gary getting Freddy's name wrong at the start), and thankfully everything was very civil. Full credit to how they both conducted themselves.

The whole thing was an absolute embarrassment to athletics in this country though, and it saddens me that the general public will have listened to this. We come across very incompetent.

Freddy doesn't seem all that pushed about the National title to be honest though. Seemed fairly relaxed about the whole thing.

HelenAnne

walshb wrote: »

FFS..could they not have sorted the rules before awarding the Kenyan the title...

He has a name!

OOnegative

Why did Raheny enter Freddie in the National Elites? Surely someone within the club knew he did not meet the residency requirements? If this has already been asked ignore.

Annie get your Run

OOnegative wrote: »

Why did Raheny enter Freddie in the National Elites? Surely someone within the club knew he did not meet the residency requirements? If this has already been asked ignore.

I'd be willing to bet this was an oversight on their part. As professional as Raheny are, they're still all volunteers. I can see how easy it would be for someone who was not aware of the rule change to make that mistake. Obviously I'm just guessing but would be surprised if the club did it deliberately.

OOnegative

Annie get your Run wrote: »

I'd be willing to bet this was an oversight on their part. As professional as Raheny are, they're still all volunteers. I can see how easy it would be for someone who was not aware of the rule change to make that mistake. Obviously I'm just guessing but would be surprised if the club did it deliberately.

Christ I'm not for one minute saying it was anyway deliberate. It was a bad oversight on there behalf to enter Freddie if he was borderline for competing in the National Championships.

Testosterscone

pac_man wrote: »

Does it make any difference in terms of the prize money he would be getting?

Yes it means that he will lose 1,000e in prize money

OOnegative wrote: »

Why did Raheny enter Freddie in the National Elites? Surely someone within the club knew he did not meet the residency requirements? If this has already been asked ignore.

Someone may have got confused between amendments proposed and what was actually approved at last years AGM

the Competition Rules be amended so that in order for an athlete to be either a Title Holder/Medallist (to be defined as referring to top 3 finishers or top 3 winning team members, in track and field - outdoor and/or indoor - cross country or road) and/or the holder of a Championship Record (individual or team), the athlete must be a holder of, or be eligible to hold, an Irish passport and/or must reside on the island of Ireland (for a minimum of 6 consecutive months immediately prior to the relevant Championships) and must be a member of an affiliated club on the island of Ireland.

This was one that was shot down

2016 be amended as follows:

Championship medals

An athlete cannot qualify for an individual or team medal in any championship unless s/he is a holder of, or eligible to hold, an Irish Passport, and is affiliated to an association which is a member of IAAF

Or Is a registered member of an athletic club affiliated to the Athletics Association of Ireland and normally resides on the island of Ireland (i.e. is resident in Ireland for a
period of not less than 183 days in one calendar year and 280 days in two consecutive years).

Ultimately they sought AAI approval which was granted Saturday evening so due diligence was not done regards them clarifying eligibility.

RacoonQueen

OOnegative wrote: »

Christ I'm not for one minute saying it was anyway deliberate. It was a bad oversight on there behalf to enter Freddie if he was borderline for competing in the National Championships.

Based on Bernard Roe's comments on Facebook, they were not aware that he had to be here the 6 months immediately leading up to the race.

Murph_D

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Based on Bernard Roe's comments on Facebook, they were not aware that he had to be here the 6 months immediately leading up to the race.

That does seem extraordinary. We can only surmise that the rules have not been distributed to clubs. No one at my club seemed to have a copy of the exact rules and regulations either.

Freddy is a class act all the same. Very gracious.

ted1

GOH moves from 2,500 to 3,500
Freddy moved from 3,500 to I imagine 0.

Pherekydes

Surely he would get €5k for 4th place in DCM?

Zebra3

About to be on RTÉ 9.0 news shortly.

Testosterscone

ted1 wrote: »

GOH moves from 2,500 to 3,500
Freddy moved from 3,500 to I imagine 0.

Sorry correction wasn't thinking beyond the difference between second and first rather than ineligibility altogether (think this discussion has dragged on a little too much for my tired brain)

Joe_ Public

Quite amazed at the coverage this is getting, nearly a whole Liveline programme and a headline slot on the main news bulletins. Bit OTT, no? It's embarrassing for Athletics Ireland and the DCM, sure, but there's no controversy here, everybody knows a mistake was made and it was corrected and that the relevant rule remains far too lenient and needs further amending. What else is there to say?

kerrylad1

Saw this earlier on,on the 9 o'clock news.Delighted for him.

jamule

RayCun wrote: »

Is it AAI's responsibility to ask DCM which athletes they are paying for the flights of, or DCM's responsibility to send AAI a list of all athletes they are paying the flights for?
Probably neither!

Should AAI be tracking athletes to see when they leave the country? Does Valdas Dopolskas have to let them know if he goes anywhere? Who else?

The first thing I thought when this **** blew up was wouldn't it be some craic if Valdas had ran too.

What a mess. Freddy is one gracious man though.

Krusty_Clown

Pherekydes wrote: »

Surely he would get €5k for 4th place in DCM?

Yes. Should be no loss in income for Freddy as he'll get 4th place (€5k) rather then Irish champs winner (€3.5k). Rule is that you get the higher amount and only one financial prize so should be no change in circumstances for him. Just no champs trophy. There is also a time bonus for Irish runners (allowed in addition to other prizes), but this is a Dublin marathon prize award and nothing to do with AAI eligibility rules, so I'd assume it's based on citizenship and as such, Freddy wouldn't be eligible.

It must be said - the Dublin Marathon prize pool/ distribution is top class. It really rewards good time performances on the day. Don't think I've seen that elsewhere.

RayCun

Stephen Scullion has a race report here, worth a read

RayCun

thinking about it some more yesterday, a big part of the problem is the relaxed attitude to championship entry. Athletes and teams are supposed to be declared in advance, but teams aren't, and Freddie was only declared the day before.

They should publish a provisional list two weeks before, so clubs can check for omissions and other problems, and a final list one week before. If you're not on the final list, you're not in the championship.

TFBubendorfer

RayCun wrote: »

Stephen Scullion has a race report here, worth a read

Not much about the race as such but a lot about his mindset and what makes him tick. Very interesting reading!

ooter

Sounds like GOH being unaware that freddy was now eligible for the national title on Sunday worked in his favour, scullion knew and tried to take him on and it cost him in the end.

Zebra3

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Quite amazed at the coverage this is getting, nearly a whole Liveline programme and a headline slot on the main news bulletins. Bit OTT, no? It's embarrassing for Athletics Ireland and the DCM, sure, but there's no controversy here, everybody knows a mistake was made and it was corrected and that the relevant rule remains far too lenient and needs further amending. What else is there to say?

No controversy? LOL.

RuMan

Anyway seems like the rules were properly enforced in the end. Thanks to the poster on here for confirming that.
Congratulations to the National Marathon Champion Gary O'Hanlon.

I see he was on TV3 yesterday evening. Surely he is doing the dog on it at this stage?

Time to move on?

Chivito550

Linda Gifted Tuition wrote: »

I see he was on TV3 yesterday evening. Surely he is doing the dog on it at this stage?

Time to move on?

Absolutely milking it. Far superior athletes never get 10% of the coverage he is getting right now.

Ultraman100

Linda Gifted Tuition wrote: »

I see he was on TV3 yesterday evening. Surely he is doing the dog on it at this stage?

Time to move on?

wats doin the dog

RayCun

Story makes the news, central figure in story gets invited on chat shows - not a surprise.

What should he do, turn them down?

average_runner

Why shouldn't he make the most of it. Irish athlete's don't make that much so if the opportunity comes, bloody take it.

None of it is his fault.

RuMan

Some bitter people on here.
GOH makes his living from coaching and running why shouldn't he make use of the publicity? Only the most begrudging could have a problem with that, he's had some horrendous luck ,delighted for him and wish him all the best.

ReeReeG

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

It must be said - the Dublin Marathon prize pool/ distribution is top class. It really rewards good time performances on the day.  Don't think I've seen that elsewhere.

Unless you are the wheelchair entrants' winner and only get €750 for your (frankly incredible) efforts