BANDON Athletic Club’s exciting new development will be a ‘game changer for West Cork’, insists Fianna Fáil Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan.
Work is continuing at the eight-acre site in Clancoolbeg outside Bandon, with Bandon AC Chairperson Adrian O’Flynn hopeful the 400m all-weather track will be ready to use in early summer 2025. That will mark phase one of the development.
O’Flynn and Bandon AC welcomed Minister for Sport Thomas Byrne and Fianna Fáil TD Christopher O'Sullivan to the development, and both were impressed by what they saw.
‘It's great to see facilities like this that have been funded by Sports Capital. It was a grant the last time of €290,000 in Sports Capital Funding for this project. It's wonderful to see the voluntary effort that's here in the club,’ Minister Byrne said.
Thomas Byrne, Minister of Sport, pictured at Bandon Athletic Club’s new facility. Also included are, from left, Una Hutchinson, chairperson fundraising committee, Deirdre Donovan, coach/fundraising committee, Adrian O’Flynn, chairperson Bandon AC, Deputy Christopher O’Sullivan TD, and Senator Tim Lombard.
Deputy O’Sullivan added: ‘This is a game changer for West Cork. We've already, especially here in Bandon, turned out some incredible international athletes, Phil Healy, Nicola Tuthill, and there is a proud history of athletics here in this region, and that's without a track. So can you imagine what we're going to do with a world-class facility like this?’
This was also an opportunity for Adrian O’Flynn to provide an update on the development which is expected to have a transformative impact on the West Cork sports scene. Bandon AC, one of the biggest athletic clubs in the country, is home to several of the country’s top athletes like Olympian Phil Healy and Irish senior women’s hammer champion Nicola Tuthill, but with no track locally club members have to travel outside of West Cork to train. All that will change once this exciting new facility is completed, with a field event area and an indoor training facility also in the pipeline.
‘Two years ago, we started by erecting the fence around the perimeter. From then, we've got the main contractor, Chris O'Leary, who has levelled the site and started progressing with getting the infield facilities in position so that we get to a place where we're ready to tarmac and put on the final tartan on the track. Hopefully with the support of the Minister, we will be in a position to do that later this year and complete early next year,’ O’Flynn said.
‘With the support of Cork County Council, the Sports Capital Grant, we've spent in excess of €500,000 on the development so far. To complete the project, we probably need another €500,000 in funding to get it completed,’ he added.
