Youghal Gears up for Largest-Ever Festival
Photo by: Michael Hussey (YoughalOnline.com)
Liam Ryan, Youghal Town Clerk presenting a cheque for €20,000 to Lorraine Hogan YSEDG and Aileen Ahern, Tourism Development Officer for the European Thundercats Beach Race 2008. Also included are Youghal Town Councillors, Olly Casey, Sandra McLellan, Michelle Hennessy, Mary Linehan Foley and Liam Burke
Youghal is currently at the top of a very small short-list to host the ‘P1 Powerboat World Championship’ for five years, beginning in 2009.
At the beginning of 2008, ‘Medaza’ an experienced event delivery company were granted the Irish rights to ‘P1′ - the equivalent to Formula 1 on the water. The Championship has a global television reach in excess of 2 billion, and will see over 300,000 spectators attend the Irish event over the course of a weekend. Indications are that the economic impact to the host region will be in excess of €250 million over a five year period.
As part of the build-up to ‘P1′ in 2009, the organisers are running a ’systems-test’ in Youghal this coming June (20th-22nd). This event in itself will be the largest ever festival held in Youghal, and will be one of the top outdoor events in Ireland this year, delivering an exciting weekend of family-friendly entertainment of an international standard.
The centre-piece of this year’s event will be a spectacular race-series called ‘Thundercats’ (twin-hulled inflatable race boats, - racing in the surf immediately adjacent to the shore, at speeds of up to 60mph).
This year’s event is entirely non-commercial and run on a voluntary basis. A committee has been established by the Youghal Socio-Economic Development Group in Youghal to fund and assist with the delivery of the weekend. A target of €75,000 has been set in order to deliver a world class event, which will create a precedent for Youghal as the number one location in Ireland for water-based leisure.
Youghal Town Council is showing their commitment to the event by donating €20,000 to the fund. Town Clerk Liam Ryan commented: “This is a fantastic challenge for the people of Youghal, but one which we can certainly rise to. By hosting this unprecedented event, the potential benefits to Youghal will be enormous. This event should be seen as an investment in the future of Youghal.”
Cork County Council has also committed €20,000 to the fund, along with a €5,000 donation from The Youghal Socio-Economic Development Group.
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Comments
* All comments are moderated before publishing.Will Youghal UDC provide these pleasure-boaters with bio-hazard suits? They’ll need them since Youghal is one of four Irish beaches that have failed to pass mandatory EU guidelines for bathing water quality. Having failed to meet the national standard for faecal streptococci, which comes from human or animal sewage, one wonders exactly what the future is for “Youghal as the number one location in Ireland for water-based leisure”.
You would need a bio-hazard suit if you go anywhere near the rifle range area , the smell of dog foul would knock you! Alot of work is going into bringing these events here , it would be a shame if it all fell through just because of an irresponsible few.Clean up after your dog!!
I was amazed to visit your site and not able to see a basic time table for the various events on this weekend.
Please respond.
James, we have now included a detailed time table of events.
Please click on the following link:
>> [ Thundercat European Beach Challenge - Youghal (Timetable) ]
Will this still be going ahead even with the blue flag being taken away? Or will it be back before then?