The new €10m indoor athletics arena is for everyone to use, according to AIT president Professor Ciarán Ó Catháin.
Anyone interested in running on the track or checking out the facilities can book a time slot through AIT’s sports department. “People have already booked times that they want to come in at over the next number of weeks,” he revealed.
AIT are also inviting ideas for athletic, commercial, or other events which might be held in the arena. Stressing that local support is vital for the success of the arena Prof Ó Catháin said that he and this team would be happy to listen to ideas for the arena.
“This is a facility we have built for the region and for Athlone so we have to use it to maximise the benefit in terms of the use of the facility and the economic benefit of the region,” he said.
He also stressed the need for members of the public to attend athletic events which are already set for the arena. “What we need now is for people to get behind the project and to give it a push and for the local community to show their support by coming out to the events that will be held here.”
From a sporting point of view, the new arena has been hailed as the “best news story in Irish athletics history” by Senator Eamonn Coghlan.
Speaking at a tour of the International Arena for members of the media, the legendary athlete said: “This world-class facility will inspire future generations of athletes towards greatness for many years to come”. His “only disappointment,” he added, was that he would “never get a chance to break a world indoor mile record on its magnificent 200 metre oval track”.
The €10 million facility will open its doors to the public this weekend, with the staging of the Athletics Ireland Combined Event Championships on Saturday and the Athletics Ireland Open Indoor Games on Sunday.
The International Arena is part of a comprehensive programme of investment in AIT which has exceeded €115 million since the start of the millennium. While much of the funding has come from the Exchequer, the vast majority of the €10 million spend for the arena has been raised directly by AIT. The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport awarded €737,500 in funding towards the construction of the facility in 2012 under the Special Athletics Tracks Initiative.
The International Arena has a footprint of 6,818sqm and an overall building floor area of 9,715sm. Some 850 tonnes of structural steel and 50,000 concrete blocks went into the construction of the facility which can house 2,000 spectators.
The official opening of the arena will take place next month, prior to the hosting of the Athletics Ireland Senior Indoor Championships on February 16-17.
