Sir, – Just last April, UCD made a bid for the university to be considered by international teams as their pre-London 2012 Olympic training base. Indeed Martin Butler, the Vice President for Students, assured that funding for a new running track was a “key aspect” of that campaign.
Then, on November 22nd, less than 24 hours after notice was given of the historic running track’s closure due to “health and safety” concerns, the JCBs moved in. While the track has not been entirely demolished at the time of writing, trenches have been carved out at very deliberate intervals, such that anyone considering ignoring the “surface slippery when wet” warnings would be wasting their time; there isn’t a long enough uninterrupted stretch left to conduct any sort of meaningful training session. A new car park is proposed to stand in its place, to add to the expanse of concrete jungle that the campus is rapidly becoming.
I graduated from UCD last year, and so no longer have to rely on the facility. You might say I’m lucky. But I understand all too well the frustrations of everyone who feels cheated by those who made this decision. As a junior All-Ireland champion and Irish international athlete, I arrived at UCD in 2007 expecting to be offered a sports scholarship. I should have done as so many of my counterparts did and chosen DCU instead, because the largest university in Ireland provided just one athletics scholarship that year, and unfortunately I didn’t make the cut. Some 20 scholarships were assigned to rugby players, and a similar amount to GAA. That is not to take away from either of those sports, both of which have achieved fantastic things for the college. But the athletics club is the most successful in UCD’s history. It has produced more track and field Olympians than any other third-level institution in this country. So why is the funding always channelled elsewhere?
The powers-that-be at UCD didn’t care about athletics in 2007, and they don’t care about it now. I was saddened to learn from Ian O’Riordan’s article (Sport, November 26th) that young Ciara Mageean, who is only a couple of seconds off the Olympic qualifying time for the 1,500 metres, chose UCD over so many of the prestigious US universities that would have given both their arms and legs to have her. The closure of the running track at Belfield is an insult to her talent and dedication, and the talent and dedication of every other athlete that has graced UCD’s hallowed halls up through the years.
As for UCD becoming a training base in the Olympic year – I sincerely look forward to watching Usain Bolt dodge cars as he sprints through the new car park. – Yours, etc,