Ballina Athletic Club responds to coverage regarding access to its running track

BALLINA Athletic Club has responded to recent coverage in The Connaught Telegraph regarding access to its running track.

In a statement, the club has made the following points:

“In 2013, Ballina Athletic Club approached Ballina Town Council with a proposal to redevelop the track for the benefit of its members and the wider community.

“After sourcing the initial capital funding for the project, the club and the council worked tirelessly with the support of Minister Michael Ring and all of the town councillors to secure the remaining funds and see the development come to fruition within 18 months.

“In order to secure funds from the council the club gave up their 99 year lease of the track and accepted a management franchise offer from Mayo County Council for the redeveloped facility with an annual management agreement. It was indicated by the council that this was a long term partnership arrangement.

“The conditions of the management agreement, which are reviewed annually by the parties, includes an annual payment by Ballina Athletic Club of €6,000 to the council.

“In addition, we cover costs of several thousands more on public liability insurance and essential services such as maintenance and electricity, etc. These costs are met through club fundraising and track hire.

“A track hire policy is another condition of the agreement. The policy sets fees and terms and is approved by the council in the annual review. This policy can be viewed on our website and by contacting the club. The track is available for all groups to hire and the club has advertised its availability in a wide range of ways including print and social media and at the entrances to the track.

“At no point has the Ballina Athletic Club ever refused hire of the track to any organisation. The track is always available for use by members of the public when it is not being used for training. There is in excess of 20 local and county groups who rent the facility at various times every year. The club is more than willing to negotiate on track hire and availability of track training times and is committed to open dialogue with all parties including Moy Valley Athletic Club.

“In summer 2017 at an open meeting for members, it was agreed that Ballina AC would approach Mayo County Council to see if the type of agreement held by the parties could be altered to allow the club to apply for a vast array of sports funding for the track which it cannot currently access.

“A long term lease is needed for certain grants and this funding would be used to further enhance the facility. This would be to the benefit of the towns people and the profile of the Ballina community.

“Ballina Athletic Club would like to refute the negative comments posted on social media regarding the hosting of the local community games in a venue other than the track.

“The Ballina Community Games Committee have hired the track in 2015, 2016 and 2017 to host the games.

“This year the track was booked by Ballina Community Games and subsequently the booking was cancelled as the ‘Ballina Community Games committee decided to make other arrangements for the local area competition’.

“Ballina Athletic Club is disappointed that such a wonderful facility was not used for the benefit of the children in our area.

“Ballina AC is an award winning club that is proud of its members and their achievements. The club wants to develop the facility to its full potential and will continue to promote the ethos of inclusion for all.”