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Dublin, 21 April 2005
The High Performance Centre (HPC)
A dedicated elite facility for athletes whose sports require maximal power development. Currently staff at the HPC are training a number of university, national and international teams and athletes. These include the UCD Eircom League soccer squad, the UCD AIB League rugby team, the Cork gaelic football intercounty team, the Irish men�s hockey team as well as a number of track & field athletes, who are currently competing at a national and international level. The Enfer Group is a supporting partner to this unique initiative.
Sports Pavilion Changing Facility
Partially funded by a grant of �700,000 from the Sports Capital Fund administered by the Department of Tourism, Sport and the Arts, the Sports Pavilion includes four top class international standard changing rooms, incorporating physiotherapy rooms and ice baths. This new facility will provide much needed changing accommodation for use by all UCD outdoor sports clubs, as well as the Irish National Hockey Association when hosting events in the National Hockey Stadium.
Synthetic 5-a-side pitches and training area
Both the 5-a-side pitches and the training pitch have the UEFA approved Prestige surface. The 5-a-side floodlit pitches are used primarily for soccer by both students and staff of UCD as well as members of the public. While the floodlit training pitch which is suitable for gaelic, soccer and rugby training is used by both UCD clubs and local sports clubs. The �1 million cost of this project was funded by UCD
GAA Pitch Floodlighting
Suitable for both training purposes and fulfilling night-time competitive fixtures the new floodlights have been installed on two of the main GAA pitches at Belfield. These pitches are used exclusively by the four UCD outdoor gaelic games clubs i.e. Men�s Gaelic Football, Ladies Gaelic Football, Hurling and Camogie.
For further information please contact Brian Mullins tel. 087 6299042.
Haile Gebreselassie (1973-)
Undoubtedly the greatest distance runner of our time, Haile smashed world records 17 times. He was the world record holder in 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres which are now held by countryman Kenenisa Bekele.
Haile was born in the province of Arsi in Central Ethiopia. Arsi is a fertile region in the central Ethiopian plateau that has produced great long-distant runners like Derartu Tulu, Fatuma Roba, and of course, Haile Gebreselassie. Haile was inspired by his countrymen, the Ethiopian marathon legend, Abebe Bikila and also 5k and 10k Olympic gold medalist Miruts Yifter. As a child he had to run 10 kilometers a day each way to go and come back from school. At age 16, without any formal training, he entered the Addis Ababa marathon, and finished in 2:42.
Haile rose to international prominence in 1992 when he won the 5000m and 10,000m World Junior championships. In 1993 at the Stuttgart World championships, he won the 10,000m and got second in the 5000m. Haile set his first World Record in the 5000m in 12:56.96 in Hengelo, Holland in 1994. By breaking the 6 year old world record of Said Aouita.
By the time of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Gebrselassie was the reigning world record holder at 10,000m and the twice defending world champion. It was expected that he would receive a serious challenge from cross-country champion Paul Tergat of Kenya and that is exactly what happened. Tergat and Gebrselassie pulled away from the rest of the field after 8000m. Gebreselassie tracked Tergat until the final lap and then surged ahead to win by six metres.
Gebrselassie and Tergat renewed their rivalry at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Again they left the rest of the runners behind and again Tergat led as they entered the final lap. This time the finish was even closer, as Gebrselassie did not edge ahead of Tergat until the very last stride, in what would prove to be one of the most exciting finishes in Olympic history. At the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, Haile Gebrselassie finished 5th in the 10,000m.
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