None McGonagle to manage senior team for 2010 European Championships in Barcelona
Patsy McGonagle will head up the Athletics Ireland squad of Team Managers and Deputy Managers for international competitions during the 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons.
McGonagle, who served as Irish Track & Field Team Manager at both the Sydney and Beijing Olympics, will be the Senior Team Manager for all major games over the next two years including the European Track & Field Championships in Barcelona next July. The vastly experienced Donegal man is currently in the Algarve with a group of Irish athletes on a two week warm weather training camp.
Teresa McDaid, who has been named as Development Team Manager, will lead the Irish team at the World University Games in China next year. She will also act as Deputy Senior Team Manager.
Hayley Harrison from Limerick will manage the team for the 2011 European Under 23 Track & Field Championships in the, Czech Republic.
Neil Martin has been appointed Junior Team Manager and his first big assignment will be the World Junior Track & Field Championships in Canada this summer. The Deputy Team Manager is Brian Dowling from Naas.
Bernie Alcorn from Donegal and John McGrath from Waterford have been appointed Youth Team Manager and Deputy Youth Team Manager respectively for this year’s inaugural World Youth Olympics in Singapore.
Dubliner Peter Stafford and Kilkenny man John Maye have been appointed as Trainee Team managers. These new roles have been created to hone the skills of future Team Managers through a mentoring process and will increase the pool of experienced team management personnel.
“Our aim is to considerably widen the pool of talent in this area and the best way to facilitate this is to enable aspiring Team Managers gain valuable domestic and international experience over the next three years,” said Athletics Ireland CEO, John Foley.
“Athletics Ireland will organise an Open Day in the next few months to outline the skills and experience required for future Team Management appointments,” he added.
Meanwhile, the group of elite Irish athletes at the warm weather training camp in Portugal are coming to the end of their two week stay. “This has been a very worthwhile experience for all the athletes involved and a great opportunity for team building” Patsy Mc Gonagle said. “Athletes like Mary Cullen and Rosin McGettigan have been able to get in some quality training together and for the first time ever, all our elite race walkers – Olive Loughnane, Robert Heffernan, Colin Griffin and Jamie Costin have been able to train together at this venue. The camp has also given Derval O’Rourke and her coach Sean Cahill an opportunity to put in some quality technical hurdles sessions”