Cork City Sports Postponed to July 2021
Covid-19 Results in 69th Cork City Sports being postponed to 2021
Sad to report that this year's 69th Cork City Sports has become another of the growing list of Prime events that have been postponed due to Covid-19. Cork City Sports is Ireland's Premier Track & Field Meet, with European Athletics status. Indeed, European Athletics had been in discussions with Cork City Sports, with a view to upgrading the sports. An imoportant element in that would have been the re-laying and upgrading of the CIT track. Hopefully the economic fallout following the Covid-19 pandemic will not adversely affect the CIT Track developments.
Events like Cork City Sports always carry a long lead time, with planning and scheduling going on all year round, so events like the pandemic create absolute havoc for meet organisers. Yet, when all else is considered, event dates can be moved, admittedly with much difficulty, but athlete availability hard to pin down, a nightmare at the best of times, is currently impossible. Even if the pandemic were to be over by July, many questions would remain; Can athletes travel?; How does the date tie-in with other Meets?; How does Meet Sponsorship hold up in the altered economic environment. Such are the questions that must have been faced by the Cork City Sports Committee.
So....for the 2021 event, hopefully CIT Track relaying and upgrading will have been completed, and the 2021 Cork City Sports will be the biggest and best yet.
Cork City Sports Press Release
"Due to the ongoing situation with Coronavirus, Cork City Sports committee has made the decision to postpone the 2020 International Sports Meet which was due to be held in the CIT Arena on Tuesday July 7th until July 2021. Given the unprecedented developments around the world with the Covid-19 pandemic, the committee believes that this is the correct decision under difficult circumstances.
Chairman Tony O'Connell states “the decision was taken to protect the health of the athletes and everyone involved, and to support the containment of the COVID-19 virus. He goes on to “thank our loyal sponsors for their support and understating and looks forward to next year’s meet which will still be held in an Olympic year.”
Meet Director Joe Hartnett added, “We were very much looking forward this year’s meet, but the priority has to be to keep participants and spectators safe. We had a spectacular event in 2019 and we are in no doubt that 2021 will be the best yet”.
The 2021 BAM Cork City Sports International T&F Meet will be held in early July, the exact date will be confirmed at the earliest possible time."
Donal Murnane PRO
