Dear Sport Ireland Stakeholder,
Between December 24th 2020 and January 12th 2021 Ireland will move into Level 5 of the Governments Resilience and Recovery Plan.
Full details on those measures can be viewed here:
The below should be noted in relation to sport & exercise.
Outdoor sporting facilities for example golf courses and tennis courts may remain open.
Participants in unsupervised/un-coached activity should be from a maximum of 2 households.
Supervised/coached non-contact training in pods of up to 15 may take place outdoors.
3. All other training activities should be individual only. Sport Ireland has previously distributed Guidance to the Sector on Individual and Indoor Training. This Guidance can be viewed here:
4. No Competition or Events should take place.
5. Exemptions to Training & Matches apply to certain professional, elite sports, horse-racing, greyhound racing and approved equestrian events. Such events should take place behind closed doors.
6. Gyms, leisure centres and swimming pools may remain open for individual training only.
7. No exercise or dance classes are permitted.
Travel for non-exempt sporting activity should be in line with the broader Government advice. Full details on current travel can be found here
Regards
Hamish Adams
Chief Executive Officer
Athletics Ireland
T: +353 1 886 9933
M: +353 86 3502552 W: www.athleticsireland.ie
Monday, December 28, 2020
Sport Ireland Level 5 Covid Information Dec 24th 2020
Tuesday, December 22, 2020
Email from Athletics Ireland
Email from Athletics Ireland
To Our Members,
We wish to assure you all that we are working extremely hard for our membership to facilitate a return to competition as soon as government guidelines allow. Just this week we have submitted our second formal proposal in recent weeks to the Sport Ireland Expert Group for athletics to facilitate a safe return to competition in a format acceptable at Level 3. As a non-contact, outdoor sport we believe that we can facilitate safe training and competition in a gradual and structured manner within government guidelines. We have submitted evidence and noted our experience at supporting this approach.
Our internal Covid Group has provided you with weekly/fortnightly updates and we continue to lobby and engage proactively with many groups to support our cause. From weekly meetings with the Sport Ireland Expert Group, monthly meets with the Minister of Sport and collective lobbying with key decision makers to name but a few strategies. We all want a return to competition for all as soon as possible and we are all frustrated by some of the inconsistent government decisions in regard to a return to sport.
On a positive note we are one of the few Olympic sports that facilitated Championships over the Summer and we will continue to facilitate events for our exempted High Performance athletes e.g. The 30Km High Performance Walks time trial this weekend just gone. We are also delighted to have published competition dates for National Cross Country and National Indoors that we are working towards.
We have also lobbied hard to allow training to continue for School aged children during the recent lockdown and this has allowed us all to support the physical and mental well-being of members during the dark winter months.
As you can appreciate the R number is currently going in the wrong direction to support a prompt return to competition but we must all act in the best interests of our nation and follow the government advice which has our best interests at heart. We wish all our members a safe and Merry Christmas and please be patient during this exceptionally challenging time for our nation and our sport.
Best Regards
Hamish Adams
Chief Executive Officer President
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Ratoath AC Half Marathon 2020 Cancelled
We regret to inform you that following increased and overwhelming concerns about the COVID-19 virus we have decided to cancel Ratoath AC Half Marathon 2020.
We feel this is the best way to proceed during such an unprecedented global situation. We are very disappointed that we are unable to hold our 2020 half marathon event as we know many were hopeful and had been looking forward to this event, but we know it’s the right decision for the health and safety of our participants, volunteer and community.
The good news is: we're now planning our 2021 event which will take place on Saturday the 11th of September 2021 we will be releasing more information on this over the next few weeks.
My run results will email all those registered over the next few days with the refund link. If you have not received this in a few days please check your spam folder
Monday, November 9, 2020
Athletics Ireland Covid FAQ – level 5 06/11/2020
06/11/2020
Athletics Ireland Covid FAQ – level 5
-
What athletes can train during level 5? All elite athletes (definition below) and school going children and young people aged 18 years or below can attend club training.
-
How many children can train together? Pods of 15 including the coaches can train outdoors together socially distanced and following good hygiene etiquette.
-
How many pods are allowed in an outdoor setting? Multiple pods can train where space allows for social distancing.
-
What is the definition of an elite athlete? Senior international athletes are defined as elite.
-
Can school going children and elite athletes travel beyond 5km to attend training? Yes, they
can.
-
Can coaches travel beyond the 5km limit to deliver training sessions: Yes, coaches are
allowed to travel over 5km to attend club training sessions.
-
Can athletes and coaches cross county boundaries? Yes, if travelling to a club training.
-
Can we use indoor facilities for training? No, indoor facilities remain closed under level 5.
-
Do we have to continue using the Athletics Ireland booking app and health questionnaire
before every training session? Yes, for contact tracing purposes the booking app and the health questionnaire should be used before each training session. See the following link for the booking app. https://membership.athleticsireland.ie/reservation.html
-
Can athletes and coaches cross from the six counties into the Republic? Yes, for the purpose of delivering a club training session for school going children 18 years or younger and elite athletes.
-
Does all equipment e.g. hurdles, javelins, shots, etc., require sanitising before and after use? Yes, the guidelines regarding sanitising equipment remain in place.
-
Can adults train collectively in groups? No, only individual training for adults is allowed.
-
Can competitions or matches take place? No, competitions or matches cannot take place in
level 5.
Friday, October 23, 2020
Latest Covid Guidance to the Sport Sector - Level 5 Restrictions 23 October 2020
Latest Covid Guidance to the Sport Sector - Level 5 Restrictions 23 October 2020
Dear Sport Ireland Stakeholder,
Ireland is now at Level 5 of the Framework for Restrictive Measures. Level 5 is expected to be in place for the next 6 weeks.
The Government’s guidance on Level 5 is clear, with the risk to public health meaning that individuals are asked to stay at home, with certain exceptions.
With regard to sport, the restrictions applicable in Level 5 are as follows:
- No training or matches should take place with the following exceptions:
- Non-contact training can continue for school aged children, outdoors in pods of 15
- Professional, elite sports and senior inter-county Gaelic games, horse-racing and greyhound racing are permitted to continue behind closed doors
- All other training activities should be individual only.
- No exercise or dance classes are permitted.
- Gyms/leisure centres/swimming pools closed.
- Exercise within 5 kilometres of home.
Facilities
As they are not recognised as essential services, the decision of Government is that all gyms, leisure centres, swimming pools and other sports facilities must close in the Level 5 restrictions. This includes both indoor and outdoor sports facilities.
It is permitted to open sports facilities for training sessions and scheduled matches for the exempted categories of sport, i.e. high performance, professional and senior inter-county Gaelic games. It will also be permitted to open outdoor sports facilities for structured training sessions by school aged children, i.e. those aged 18 years and younger, in pods of no more than 15, under the supervision of designated coaches and in compliance with approved COVID-19 protocols and all relevant public health guidance.
During these training sessions it will only be permitted for participants and relevant coaching and support personnel to be present. In the case of children’s sport, parents will be permitted to attend for child safeguarding purposes, however they will be required to comply with social distancing and other public health advice.
Professional & Elite Sport
Professional and elite sport must adhere to comprehensive protocols, which ensure extraordinary levels of control and compliance are in place. Professional and elite sport is defined as follows;
- Professional sports people or sports people who participate within professional competition.
- A Member of a high performance team funded by Sport Ireland.
- Those who compete at major international events including European and World Championships, Olympic and Paralympic Games. It is advised that these are senior athletes only within one of the following categories:
- Athletes on the 2020 International Carding Scheme
- Players on the 2020 Team Ireland Golf Scheme
- Senior riders in Show-Jumping, Eventing & Dressage
- Senior team players in Hockey, Cricket, and Rugby Sevens.
Inter-county sport refers specifically to senior competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association, the Ladies Gaelic Football Association or the Camogie Association.
It is important to note that protocols as they apply to each sport will be prepared and communicated directly by the respective National Governing Bodies.
Non-contact training for school aged children
Specific guidance on non-contact training for school agreed children will be issued by Government. In the interim, the following is advised:
- Underage activity refers to those in primary and secondary school who are aged 18 years and younger
- Participants and coaches may travel beyond the 5km limit to attend training. Car-pooling should continue to be avoided
- Outdoor facilities may open only to allow the activity to take place. Only those participating in and conducting the training session should attend.
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
The specific sporting advice for Level 5 is below.
Covid Update 20th October 2020
From midnight this Wednesday 21st October Ireland moves to Level 5 of the National Covid Framework. The implications to sport are significant and as we await specific guidance from the Sport Ireland Expert Group we ask all our members to continue to be vigilant in observing all health guidelines and to reduce your social interactions.
The specific sporting advice for Level 5 is below.
Currently the government advice is that you must not travel outside the 5km radius from your home. Hence travel to Clubs for anyone living further than 5km from their Club is not recommended.
Training and matches
No training or matches should take place, with the following exceptions:
- non-contact training can continue for school aged children, outdoors in pods of 15
- professional, elite sports and inter-county Gaelic games, horse-racing and greyhound racing are permitted to continue behind closed doors
All other training activities should be individual only.
No exercise or dance classes are permitted.
Gyms, leisure centres and swimming pools are all closed.
Elite high performance sport is defined by Sport Ireland as covering those who are:
· Professional Sports People
· Member of a high performance team funded by Sport Ireland.
· Those who compete at major international events including European and World Champions, Olympic and Paralympic Games. Specifically, the athletes and players associated with this priority list which includes: Athletes on the 2020 International Carding Scheme.
The complete Level 5 measures can be found here
https://www.gov.ie/en/
Regards
Hamish Adams
Chief Executive Officer
Athletics Ireland
T: +353 1 886 9933
M: +353 86 3502552
Unit 19, Northwood Court
Northwood Business Campus
Santry, Dublin 9
Ireland
Postcode D09 CX26Sunday, October 18, 2020
Athletics Ireland - Covid19 Update 16th October 2020
Athletics Ireland - Covid19 Update 16th October 2020
The government has decided that from midnight Thursday, 15th of October, the counties of Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan will be placed on Level 4 under the Plan for Living with COVID-19.
The rest of the country remains at Level 3. Due to the deteriorating situation with the virus across the country, the Government has decided to increase the level of restriction nationwide as provided for under Level 3 in a number of areas:
- no visitors to home or garden, with the exception of visits for essential purposes (e.g. family reasons such as providing care to children, elderly or vulnerable people, and in particular those who live alone).
- in outdoor settings away from home/garden, up to 6 people from no more than 2 households can meet while maintaining strict social distancing – including for outdoor exercise and dining.
Key Restrictions at Level 3
• No competition/events.
• Outdoor training pods of up to 15 socially distanced.
• Stay in your County except for work, education, or essential services.
• Indoors: Individual training only. No exercise classes can take place.
• Gyms, leisure centres and swimming pools may remain open for individual use only.
Key Restrictions at Level 4
• No competition/events.
• Outdoor training pods of up to 15 socially distanced.
• Stay in your County except for work, education, or essential services.
• Indoors: Individual training only. No exercise classes can take place.
• Gyms, pools, and leisure centres closed.
Important note from Sport Ireland Expert Group on Level 3:
The Sport Ireland Expert Group is awaiting final sign off on guidance for indoor sport in Level 3. Until then sports should refrain from Indoor Group Activity. Senior National Competition can no longer take place in Level 3.
Athletics Ireland will continue to share further Covid19 sport information with you as we receive it from the Sport Ireland Expert Group. We urge all Athletics Ireland stakeholders to continue to be vigilant to limit the spread of this deadly disease through social distancing, regular handwashing, sanitising together with the wearing of masks/face coverings and strict adherence to government advice.
All club training bookings and the Covid-19 health questionnaire can be accessed at the following link on the Athletics Ireland website.
https://membership.
Further information on current Covid restrictions can be found at the following link:
Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021: Plan for Living with COVID-19 at the following link:
https://www.gov.ie/en/
Kind regards
------------------------------
Deirdre Marley
Athletics Ireland
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Covid19 Update from Athletics Ireland 6th October 2020
Covid19 Update from Athletics Ireland 6th October 2020
From midnight tonight the nation moves to level 3 of the National Framework for living with Covid 19. This increase to level 3 has serious implications for athletics and we note the key restrictions below.
We urge all stakeholders to continue to be vigilant to limit the spread of this deadly disease through social distancing, regular handwashing, sanitising together with the wearing of masks and strict adherence to government advice.
We will continue to share further Covid19 sport information with you as we receive it from the Sport Ireland Expert Group.
Key Restrictions at Level 3
- No competition/events.
- Outdoor training pods of up to 15.
- Stay in your County except for work, education or essential services.
Level 3 Training
Outdoors: Non-contact training only in pods of up to 15 (exemption for professional/elite/inter-
Indoors: Individual training only. No exercise classes.
‘Pod’ System
- Organised Sports training / activity / exercise can do so in multiple pods once sufficient space is available and strict public health protocols are in place.
- The use of multiple pod’s is to assist with minimizing the number of people in a group while acknowledging that some outdoor facilities have the capacity to cater for larger numbers of people in a safe manner and within public health guidelines. People participating in pod training can be from different households.
- The number of pods in a given facility or area will depend on the overall size of space available.
- The space between pods will depend on the nature, duration and intensity of the session but it should be clearly evident that the pods are independent groups not interacting with one another. At a very minimum Social Distancing of 2m between pods should be implemented.
- Depending on the frequency of activity (i.e. multiple times in a week) it may be helpful for participants to stay within the same pod.
- A coach or instructor may oversee more than one pod and should be counted in the overall numbers.
- The coach should not move freely between pods but rather oversee the activity of the pods.
More details on athletics Ireland Website https://www.athleticsireland.ie/news/coronavirus-covid-19-update?fbclid=IwAR2NtXNC3JJvajrY_BTIAqLu4475CbLopWYeh4oyUeM4BYjU6ZuDPvRPejY
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Guidelines for Meath Cross Country Championships OCT 2020
Guidelines for Meath Cross Country Championships OCT 2020
Weekend 1: 3rd and 4th of October
Weekend 2: 10th & 11th of October
DIRECTIONS :
Click here for Google Map directions to Navan adventure centre:
Guidelines From Meath Athletics Cross Country Committee
Events to run on basis of single age/gender, with designated start and finish times.
Events at hourly intervals
Strictly no entries on the day. Numbers will be posted out to clubs in advance.
Each club to provide a nominated person, and an address, to post the numbers to.
All attendees to complete the attached AAI Covid-19 screening questionnaire (LINK BELOW) before traveling to venue – clubs are responsible to ensure these are completed and collected.
(All Ratoath AC athletes competing must fill out the following Covid 19 health screening before Friday 6pm:
http://bit.ly/MeathXCWE1
The venue is divided into two areas – the car park and the course – there is no entry to the course unless you have a number or are an accompanying coaches/club official.
Athletes to arrive at venue entrance no earlier than five minutes before designated start time.
All parents/guardians/coaches to remain in vehicles while in venue car park.
No socialising or warming up. Ride sharing discouraged. If unavoidable, masks to be worn on journey to venue.
Each club will have a designated drop-off point, manned by two officials/coaches from each club, who should receive the athletes, and escort them into the course area. Once there, they can perform their warmup.
The whole course, bar the start and finish/recovery area, are available to them. Approx. ten minutes will be allowed for the warmup.
The same coaches/club officials then accompany the athletes to the start area.
Coaches/club officials responsible for own club athletes while on the course.
Coaches/club officials accompany athletes to Start area. Athletes only enter chutes when called in by Start officials.
After race, coaches/club officials bring athletes from race recovery area to car park.
Athletes to leave venue at latest ten minutes before specified start time for next event.
Start Line:
· Each club assigned a start chute.
· Chutes at 2 metre distance from each other.
· Athletes to line up in single file, within their club chute.
· Start officials to wear face coverings and gloves.
Finish Line:
· Chip timing in operation.
· All Finish officials advised to wear appropriate PPE.
· Athletes pass Finish line into race recovery area.
· Athletes remain in race recovery area until fully recovered.
· No presentation of medals, cups, or trophies on the day.
The cross country committee would appreciate it if clubs could remind all parents that they are not permitted into the cross country course but have to wait in their cars in the car park.
The officials will have enough to do running the event without the added pressure of dealing with disappointed parents.
Each club is responsible for ensuring that the AI Covid form is completed before athletes attend at their event. I emailed a paper copy of this previously or you can ask your members to complete the form online on the AI website.
Please see attached Athletics Ireland Protocols for attending at Cross Country events for athletes and officials. Please ensure that everyone registered for the championships is provided with a copy of the protocols.
A Practical Guide for Athletes at Cross CountryCompetitionfollowingtheCovid-19Restrictions
A Practical Guide for Cross Country Competition OfficialsfollowingtheCovid-19Restrictions
A Practical Guide for Competition Organisers-Cross CountryfollowingtheCovid-19Restrictions
The cross country committee look forward to welcoming clubs back to competition and wish every athlete taking part the very best of luck.
Thursday, September 17, 2020
Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021: Plan for Living with COVID-19.
To All Members,
Please see below links to today’s government announcement on Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021: Plan for Living with COVID-19.
https://www.gov.ie/en/
https://www.gov.ie/en/
The guidelines above still contain some areas that require clarification from an athletics perspective and we have asked the Sport Ireland Expert Group for their guidance. We will share updates with you as soon as we receive them and I note we also plan to share the Cross Country guidelines once we receive the Sport Ireland clarifications.
Kind regards
------------------------------
Deirdre Marley
Athletics Ireland
T: +353 1 886 9933
W: www.athleticsireland.ie
Saturday, August 22, 2020
Ratoath AC Half Marathon postponed
Following
the latest Government announcement on Tuesday unfortunately Ratoath AC
Half Marathon will be postponed to a later date.
A new date will be
released next week and we will notify each entrant directly with the
options relating to refunds or deferral to the new date.
We thank you for your patience and continued support during this time.
From Ratoath AC Half Marathon race committee
Friday, May 22, 2020
Sunday, May 17, 2020
Return to athletics training in small groups from Monday 18th May
 |
| Add caption |
Athletics is one of the first sports to receive Sport Ireland and Government endorsement to return to activity and we thank the expert contribution from our working groups in competition, recreation and clubs.
Read more ➡️ https://www.athleticsireland.ie/…/coronavirus-covid-19-upd…/
 |
Friday, February 7, 2020
⭐️FIT4YOUTH Programme⭐️
Join up now for our Fit4youth programme
⭐️No fitness level required
⭐️Gradually building up to a 3K & beyond.
⭐️ Make new friends
⭐️Starts next week Feb 11th Tuesday’s and Thursdays at 7:30pm @ Ratoath AC track
⭐️Contact Fiona 087-6978216 or
email Fiona@flmsolutions.ie
⭐️No running or sports experience required.
⭐️Non competitive running group for teens to get out and get fit
⭐️ All Training takes place on Ratoath AC track
⭐️Post Primary school teens very welcome.
⭐️ TY students you can use this as part of your Gaisce award
Ratoath Athletic Club location:
https://goo.gl/maps/4LEoiMh4jk6g1FMS8
Ratoath Foróige Ratoath CC Ratoath College Parents Association
Sunday, January 26, 2020
✨National Indoor Combined Events ✨
