Posted online: Jan 27th, 2010

Glenties man Donal Ward is part of an ambitious bid by Donegal to host the 2014 World Indoor Tug o’ War Championships.

Donal, along with Inishowen competitor Danny McGonagle, have already had their application accepted by the sports national governing body, who in turn have presented it to the Tug o’ War International Federation.

The boys will find out in April if their bid has been successful. “”Danny is the main driver and is the man that came up with the idea,” said Donal.

“The Irish Federation has backed our bid and have made an application to the International Federation to host the games in Letterkenny. We are currently in the planning stage of putting together a short DVD on Letterkenny and the Aura Leisure Centre, which is our proposed venue to support the application.”

A decision will be made at the sport’s annual congress in April in England, where the bid faces stiff competition from rival nations Japan and the Netherlands. A successful decision in their favour would have enormous benefits for the region, but would also present a number of other issues, that Donal hopes could be addressed by a universal effort by the local sporting and business community.

“If we are successful it will bring at least 1,000 competitors to Letterkenny, mostly from around Europe and China, and will cost a fair amount of money to run. First of all we will have pay £6,500 sterling for a permit and it will also include accommodating up to 40 officials but we will be hopeful we will get the backing of the other clubs in Donegal and the local business community. But we will cross that bridge when we come to it. The first objective is to secure the championships.”