nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

Child Item

GO'H National Champion

TheBazman

http://www.athleticsireland.ie/news/gary-ohanlon-is-irish-national-marathon-champion-2017

Find more posts tagged with

Quick Links

Comments

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.

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!

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.

RayCun

Stephen Scullion has a race report here, worth a read

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.

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.

kerrylad1

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

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?

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)

Zebra3

About to be on RTÉ 9.0 news shortly.

Pherekydes

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

ted1

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

HelenAnne

walshb wrote: »

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

He has a name!

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.

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!!!!

RayCun

Oiriallach wrote: »

A lot of people have moved to Ireland from other countries in recent years and now live here "permanently", as in they work full-time here or, in the case of juvenile athletes, are in full-time education here. Several of them are active members of Irish athletics clubs. Some of these people now have Irish passports and some don't (and do not currently meet the criteria for applying for Irish citizenship).

Are those who are not entitled to hold Irish passports barred from medalling in national championships unless they have not left Ireland at any time during the six months immediately prior to the championships? It seems that that is now the case according to the last night's clarification from the AAI, which implies that "unbroken residency" is required.

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

RayCun

Pherekydes wrote: »

Presumably Freddy is on the 'Athlete Whereabouts' system?

Probably not. He's not eligible to represent Ireland, he's not in receipt of Irish funding... he wouldn't be in the Irish testing pool.

Birdie Num Num

Annie get your Run wrote: »

It should be simple, it seems as far from that as possible though! Personally I'd be pointing the finger of blame squarely at AI, they make the rules (and then change them), they should be responsible for ensuring both the clubs and the athletes in question (it's not like there are very many who might be affected) know about them - added to that should they not also be ensuring whoever is running the championship races is also aware.

RTE six one are on their way to interview Gary now it seems.

That's exactly my point. It should be simple and they should make rules and stick to them and communicate them. I am not saying the rule is ideal, right or wrong. ...The singlet issue is always coming up and it should be as clear as day. You must be wearing a club singlet for Championship races and no exception but exceptions are continuously made.

Oiriallach

A lot of people have moved to Ireland from other countries in recent years and now live here "permanently", as in they work full-time here or, in the case of juvenile athletes, are in full-time education here. Several of them are active members of Irish athletics clubs. Some of these people now have Irish passports and some don't (and do not currently meet the criteria for applying for Irish citizenship).

Are those who are not entitled to hold Irish passports barred from medalling in national championships unless they have not left Ireland at any time during the six months immediately prior to the championships? It seems that that is now the case according to the last night's clarification from the AAI, which implies that "unbroken residency" is required.

Pherekydes

Presumably Freddy is on the 'Athlete Whereabouts' system?

Like how complicated does this have to be?

walshb

Tubridy hopefully doesn't get a sniff of this...

Annie get your Run

Birdie Num Num wrote: »

It's simple.

It should be simple, it seems as far from that as possible though! Personally I'd be pointing the finger of blame squarely at AI, they make the rules (and then change them), they should be responsible for ensuring both the clubs and the athletes in question (it's not like there are very many who might be affected) know about them - added to that should they not also be ensuring whoever is running the championship races is also aware.

RTE six one are on their way to interview Gary now it seems.

Murph_D

RayCun wrote: »

Yeah, it would mean outsourcing the eligibility checking though - change the rule to say "eligible for an Irish passport OR has been deemed resident for tax purposes..."

Yes, but not necessarily. The Revenue would hardly be interested in committing resources to monitoring a runner. Freddy's prize money hardly rivals the likes of Denis O'Brien! The AI could inspect the passport themselves, or entrust the job to a solicitor or other suitably neutral legal professional, garda, parish priest, etc?

RayCun

ooter wrote: »

Surely at least 1 person from raheny knew Freddie had gone back home?

Oh, I'm sure. Did the person from Raheny talking to Athletics Ireland know that Freddie had gone back home? Apparently not!

Maybe the system needs a checkbox on the member registration page, "Is this athlete entitled to an Irish passport?" and that is flagged when championship entries are received, so that other proof of eligibility can be asked for.