No more days at the races?
The Phoenix Park: A
year short of their centenary, the future of the Phoenix
Park motor races [and cycling races] seem in doubt
because of the state of the roads. Conor Lally reports
Residents of the streets
around Dublin's Phoenix Park don't have to be told when
August has arrived, they can usually hear it. It is the
time of year when the most famous event on Ireland's
motor racing calendar, the Phoenix Park Motor Races,
takes place. But this year the scream of engines from
cars hurtling through the park's leafy streets never
arrived.
At the last minute the
event lost a key sponsor, leading to a shortfall in
funding and so the event was cancelled.
Next year is the centenary
of the races and, while the organisers of the annual
event - Motorsport Ireland, the Irish Motor Racing Club
and Leinster Motor Club - are confident of attracting
new backing, the races may still be scuppered.
The road surface in the
Phoenix Park, they say, has deteriorated to such an
extent in recent years it may be simply too unsafe in 12
months' time to allow cars to race there.
Cecil Sparks, chairman of
Motorsport Ireland, says the road surface is so bad, his
organisation has put aside €100,000 to help with a
much-needed resurfacing job. If the roads were not in
such a state of disrepair, that money could have been
used to help stage this year's event, he says. And he is
adamant if major work is not undertaken in the park
soon, next year's centenary races are in serious doubt.
"Without the
resurfacing there would be absolutely no chance of going
ahead with centenary celebrations in 2003," he
adds. "Even with the €100,000, further work still
needs to be done".
Gary Manning is the clerk
of the course for the annual races. He says that while
Dúchas, the body with responsibility for the park's
upkeep, "has the best will in the world", the
funding has simply not been made available to repair the
roads.
"The basic problem is
that in recent years the volume of traffic flowing
through the park has increased dramatically," he
says.
Manning believes the park's
Oldtown circuit - a 1.9 mile loop to the south of the
main road - should be resurfaced and developed as a
circuit for motor racing and indeed for any other sport
that would like to use it. "The park can still run
if that circuit is all closed off to traffic and there's
also great viewing on the course. The park races are
older than Le Mans and older than any of the current
Formula 1 races. We used to get 100,000 people into the
park for the races, the atmosphere was always
tremendous."
Another sport affected by
the state of the park's roads is cycling. Like Motor
Sport Ireland, cycling's governing body, Cycling
Ireland, is so in need of the park as a venue that the
cash-strapped body is in the process of raising €100,000
to help fund the repairs.
Cycling Ireland spokesman
Ciaran Mc Kenna says the park's surface is simply too
big a safety risk to allow riders race there. Only one
event has been held there in well over two years when
formerly sometimes three would be held every week.
"Our insurance premium
has gone up from €32,000 to €65,000 in the last two
years," explains McKenna. "If we held a race
in the park and someone had a bad crash they could claim
against us. And if we had one or two bad claims we may
not get insured again. We just can't afford to take the
risk."
McKenna says cycling races
have been held in the park for almost as long as the
motor races. And while the cyclists have not been banned
from competing, a decision was taken for safety reasons
by the sport in 2000 not to use the park as a venue.
Apart from the finish of the FBD Milk Rás earlier this
season, no races have taken place in the park for most
of the last three cycling seasons.
 "With
the number of cars now on the roads, it's very hard to
get circuits that are safe," says McKenna.
"At least when we had
the park we could close the roads and away we went. It's
also very centrally located so any riders coming from
any part of Leinster could be at the park within about
and hour and a half which is very important when lads
were coming from work for midweek races. But now it's
gone, it really has been a huge blow for us. We're
absolutely desperate to get the park back."
PERHAPS most worryingly for
cycling, he adds, the levels of underage riders racing
in Leinster this year are the lowest for decades because
"without the park they have fewer safe places"
to race. And many parents believe the open roads are not
suitable for youngsters, he adds.
A spokesman for the
Department of the Environment and Local Government, of
which Dúchas is part, denies the roads are unsafe. He
says Dúchas is "keenly aware" of its
responsibility to maintain the park.
"The roads may not be
up to the standard needed for rally driving but they are
not that bad," he says.
He also insists that this
year's Phoenix Park races were cancelled for funding
issues alone, adding that some sections of the park's
roads have already been earmarked for repair.
"Conor
Lally is a journalist with The Irish Times". 13
August 2002
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