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The Journal
3 hours ago
- Sport
- The Journal
Leinster swim group takes legal action against Swim Ireland over Liffey swim hosting row
A ROW BETWEEN two swim groups over identical events planned for the second consecutive year has led a Leinster-based swim group to initiate legal proceedings against Swim Ireland. Leinster Open Sea (LOS) filed legal proceedings against Swim Ireland, the national governing body for Irish swimming, on Monday. A statement from Leinster Open Sea's board of directors confirmed that it had initiated the proceedings, which include an application for an injunction to prevent Swim Ireland from organising 'duplicate' Liffey Swim and Dún Laoghaire Harbour races. The statement described the two events as 'historic' and 'long established as part of the Leinster Open Sea calendar'. There was confusion last year as both LOS and Swim Ireland ran competing Liffey Swims after a row broke out over who should host the landmark swim. Leinster Open Swim had been the organiser of the event for a number of years, but had done so recognised by Swim Ireland. A rift between the two, which included Swim Ireland stating that it had 'governance concerns' over the operations of Leinster Open Swim, resulted in the separate bodies ploughing ahead and holding their separate swims at the same location. This year, Leinster Open Sea's Dún Laoghaire Harbour swim is scheduled to take place on 15 September, and its Liffey swim is scheduled to take place on 21 September. Swim Ireland, however, has scheduled for its Dún Laoghaire Harbour swim to take place on 3 August, and its Liffey swim on 13 September. Advertisement The swim in 2018. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo Leinster Open Sea CLG has this year set out that it wishes to retain the right to organise and run the annual events. 'In 2024, the running of two competing Liffey Swims caused considerable confusion among swimmers, volunteers, and the public — resulting in reputational damage and unnecessary division within the open water community,' a statement said. 'We are determined to avoid the same situation in 2025.' It further said that it has made repeated efforts to resolve the matter and has offered to undergo mediation with Swim Ireland. It alleged that Swim Ireland publicly stated that it is willing to take part in mediation but privately laid down 'a series of preconditions before it would take part in mediation which are totally unacceptable'. It added that it regretted having to initiate such proceedings but that the move was taken 'as a last resort'. In a statement to The Journal , Swim Ireland said that it has refrained from taking legal action itself to avoid spending 'valuable resource on legal fees which could otherwise be spent on our members and ground the Swim Ireland open water schedule'. 'As Swim Ireland has not initiated this recent action, it continues to consider the contents of the legal proceedings issued and will attend court on Friday, as required,' the organisation said. It added that it was assured of its position in relation to the two contested swims. Leinster Open Sea said that it hoped the Leinster swimming community would consider to support it as it proceeds with legal action, and said that it fully intends for its race calendar to proceed as planned. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
BreakingNews.ie
a day ago
- Sport
- BreakingNews.ie
Dispute over who has right to run Liffey Swim and Dún Laoghaire Swim
A dispute over who has the right to run the Dublin Liffey Swim and the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Swim has reached the High Court. Leinster Open Sea (LOS) CLG, a volunteer sponsorship-funded body which organises around 30 sea races every year in partnership with local clubs, is seeking injunctions against the Irish Amateur Swimming Association CLG, trading as the State-funded national governing body for swimming Swim Ireland. Advertisement LOS, which has around 1,000 registered swimmers, wants the court to restrain the defendant from holding this year's August 3rd Dún Laoghaire event and the September 13th Liffey event. The court heard that last year, as a result of the dispute, two separate Liffey swims were held and Dublin City Council does not want the same thing happening this year. On Tuesday, Mr Justice Brian Cregan granted LOS permission to serve proceedings on the defendant following a one side only represented application. The judge said he wanted to hear from Swim Ireland on Friday before he decides whether to grant the injunctions sought. In an affidavit, Brian Nolan, a member of the LOS board of directors, said Swim Ireland was divided into four regions with the Leinster Region having as one of its sub-committees the LOS. Advertisement In 2014, the Leinster Region egm agreed to fully subsume into Swim Ireland but with a provision that the decision did not affect LOS, Mr Nolan said. LOS continued to run and manage the Liffey and Dun Laoghaire swims in which participants are required to complete a number of qualifying races in the LOS calendar before being eligible for the two events, he said. "Liffey Swim" was also registered as a trade mark in 2015 by an LOS member. A memorandum of understanding was agreed between LOS and Swim Ireland in 2017 to develop initiatives within open water swimming and with €15,000 per year in support from Swim Ireland, he said. However, Mr Nolan said, in 2020 the defendant breached that agreement and there followed various unsuccessful attempts to mediate the dispute between them. Advertisement It culminated in Swim Ireland organising the Dun Laoghaire swim in 2024 with the number of participants down by around 50 per cent on the LOS-organised event in 2023, he said. The dispute led to two Liffey Swims being held in 2024 with the September 7th Swim Ireland-organised event attracting 200 entries and the LOS-organised event attracting double that number, Mr Nolan said. In the absence of being allowed to run these two major events, which also provide funding for its other races, LOS will 'in simple terms go out of business', he said. Ireland Almost 200 Marilyn Monroe lookalikes take the plun... Read More Seeking permission from the court to bring proceedings, Michael O'Doherty BL, for LOS, said while publicly claiming they are open to mediation Swim Ireland has set down pre-conditions which ask his client to abandon their claims and give up any rights over the events. "I say that is bad faith on their (defendant's) part", he said. Advertisement A more recent development was that Dublin City Council, which grants permission for the Liffey Swim, had invited the parties to mediation as the local authority wanted to avoid the two swims situation of last year, he said. However, Swim Ireland again set down a pre-condition that his client abandon any proprietary rights to the event, he said. Mr Justice Cregan said it was appropriate to only grant short service of the proceedings given there was a long history to this dispute and he would be very reluctant to grant ex parte injunctions in the absence of the defendant.
Belfast Telegraph
5 days ago
- Sport
- Belfast Telegraph
‘It's a big moment for me': NI's Ellie McCartney becomes swimming's latest golden girl
The 20-year-old from Enniskillen claimed the 200m individual medley crown at the event in Slovakia, but says she isn't getting carried away with thoughts of the Olympics just yet. The swimmer, who is studying Sports Science at the University of Limerick, splits her training between the base of Swim Ireland in Limerick and Bangor's Aurora Centre, said she was delighted and surprised to have picked up the biggest title of her career to date. 'Honestly, I wasn't really expecting it,' she said, having focused much of her training on the 200m breaststroke this season. Ellie, a former pupil at Enniskillen Royal, had qualified fastest for the final but was up against competitors who had a faster personal best time, and was in third place halfway through the four-leg event which sees swimmers combine backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke and freestyle legs. 'In the end, I think it was the breaststroke training that really helped,' she said. 'Overall the other girls have been quite a bit faster than me, but the breaststroke leg went well.' Ellie powered through the field to take the lead and held on to take the title in a time of 2 minutes 12.5 seconds. She had 1.22 seconds to spare over second-placed Bertille Cousson from France with Slovakia's Tamara Potocka in third. 'I didn't really have any pressure in the race,' she said. 'I had already achieved qualifying times for the World Championships which will be held in Singapore at the end of July, so it was nice to be able to go out there and just race. 'I managed to get my hand to the wall first and that was really exciting and unexpected. It's a big moment for me.' The European U-23 championships were last held in Dublin in 2023, with Irish Olympians Daniel Wiffen and Mona McSharry among the gold medallists while Ellen Walshe was the champion in the 200m Individual medley. News Catch Up - Friday 27th June Ellie enjoyed previous success at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago in the 100 and 200-metre breaststroke, and 200-metre individual medley when she won two golds and a bronze making her double Commonwealth Youth Games champion. 'Singapore will be a new experience for me,' she said looking ahead to next month's World Aquatic Championships. 'Being part of the Swim Ireland team going over there is something I'm really looking forward to. 'The next Olympics are still three years away so there's plenty of time to think about that later. Now it's all about the training, improving my times to make sure I qualify for these major long course (50m pool) events. Right now, anything that comes after that, like gold medals at European level to start with, is a real bonus.' Ellie has another two events in Slovakia, with the 100m breaststroke and her favoured event, the 200m breaststroke, still to come over the weekend. 'Training well and getting the experience of competing at the World Championships is my next goal,' she said. 'Next year there's the Commonwealth Games to aim for so there's still a lot of hard work ahead.'
Irish Independent
24-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Daniel Wiffen splits with coach and set to return to Ireland as main base
Manley, Loughborough University's director of swimming, coached Wiffen to success like his gold medal in the 800m freestyle and bronze in the 1500m freestyle at last summer's Paris Olympics as well as his double gold medals at last year's World Championships. With his twin Nathan set to move to the University of California in the autumn, Wiffen plans on spending training camps stateside as part of his prep for LA '28. 'I'm definitely moving back to Ireland as my main training base. And I will be doing stints in America because the Olympics are going to be there so you have to get ready for that way of life, that time zone,' Wiffen (23) confirmed yesterday. 'Main training base will be Ireland, where the coaching and sports science will be and then I'll do extended training camps in different places around the world. 'It's going to be hard. I only decided four weeks ago that I was going to be leaving Loughborough, maybe actually two weeks ago we had the conversation. [Manley] thinks it's beneficial for my career that I need a new start because being in a university programme, you get 18-year-olds, 17-year-olds coming in every year who are a lot lower level than what I am at this point in my career and you want to strive to be better than the people. 'It's trying to progress in other areas and a university programme isn't probably the best place for me at this point in my career.' Wiffen says his time with Manley has finished on amicable terms. 'We're really good friends, we chat all the time. He wants what's best for me, he's not a selfish coach, he's not going to tell me to stay just for his own benefit.' Meanwhile, Wiffen says he never experienced bullying and was not directly coached by Jon Rudd, the former national performance director for Swim Ireland. In a BBC Panorama programme broadcast last month, Rudd was accused of bullying, a toxic training environment and weight shaming by 12 swimmers he previously coached in Plymouth, England before he joined Swim Ireland in 2017. A statement issued by Swim Ireland last month said there was 'no suggestion or indication of welfare issues' during Rudd's eight-year term with Swim Ireland. The Englishman had stepped down from his role with Swim Ireland earlier last month to take up a new position with Saudi Arabia. Wiffen was never coached by Rudd. 'For me with Swim Ireland, and with Jon, it's all about the high performance mindset we've got and honestly I've only got good things to say about Swim Ireland and how they supported me,' Wiffen said. 'Jon was obviously not a performance director for me, he wasn't my coach, so I've only got high performance questions to answer. He just answered emails for me and was never on poolside coaching so I would have no idea.' Did Wiffen ever experience bullying or any of the issues raised in the BBC programme? ADVERTISEMENT 'No,' Wiffen replied. Wiffen has a hat-trick of targets at next month's World Aquatic Championships in Singapore. He will defend the gold medals he won in the 800m and 1,500m freestyle in Doha in February 2024 and will also compete in the 400m freestyle. 'I've been told a couple of times by a lot of different world champions that apparently the hardest world championships to win is the one after winning the Olympics. I'm up for the challenge. Obviously my goal is to stay undefeated in the 800m. I haven't lost in the 800m freestyle since 2023. For me that's the goal just to keep undefeated and win another gold medal. 'I would say we're aiming for three gold medals. 400m is maybe a bit of a stretch because it's a new event but definitely two.'
The Irish Sun
03-06-2025
- General
- The Irish Sun
‘A great person' – Daniel Wiffen pays heartfelt tribute to Irish swimming champ who died after Cork half-marathon
DANIEL Wiffen has added his personal tribute to the countless paid to Ellen Cassidy after she died at the Cork City half-marathon. Ellen, 24, passed away Advertisement 3 Her death has triggered sadness across the Irish swimming community Credit: @ 3 The double Olympic medallist described her as a 'great person' 3 Her family have confirmed her funeral will be held on Thursday Credit: In addition to being a runner, her primary sport was swimming. She was previously the co-captain of University College Cork's swim team and had represented Ireland at the European Youth Olympics as well as the European Junior Championships. The college graduate was a member of University College Cork's Emerging Talent programme. Due to her being such an accomplished swimmer, it's evident she and Advertisement Read More On Irish Sport Reacting to her untimely death, he shared a Swim Ireland memorial post about her and added his own words of sorrow. He solemnly wrote: "Such sad news, Ellen was such a great person. My thoughts are with her family." His fellow Paris Games medallist Mona McSharry Ellen's grieving family have confirmed that Advertisement Most read in Other Sports In a heartbreaking funeral notice, they said: "We are devastated to announce the tragic and sudden death of Ellen Cassidy on 1st June, 2025. A beautiful and amazing young lady. Ellen will be "forever loved and truly missed" by her mum, Vi, her dad, Tom, her sister, Mary, her brother, Charlie and her boyfriend, Rob. Watch RTE panel's ecstatic reaction to Mona McSharry nabbing bronze medal at Paris Olympics RTE 2 She will also be missed by her "beloved grandparents", Joan, Billy, Tom and the late Noreen. Ellen will repose in her home on Wednesday from 5pm to 7pm. Advertisement Requiem Mass will be held at 2pm on Thursday in The Church of the Annunciation at Blackpool in The family has asked all ladies who are attending the funeral to wear "their most colourful outfit" and bring a flower if they wish to do so. She has been remembered as "a true ray of sunshine" and "a genuine girl" in heartbreaking tributes that have been pouring in. UCC TRIBUTE Her old college issued a statement that touched on how "Ellen was so much more than just a swimmer". Advertisement It read: "It is with heavy hearts that we share the devastating news of the sudden passing of our dear friend, teammate and former co-captain Ellen Cassidy, who tragically passed away on Sunday. "Ellen was so much more than just a swimmer, she was the heart of it. "From her early days as treasurer to her her time leading as co-captain, Ellen brought unmatched energy, dedication and care to everything she did. "She was the kind of person who showed up for every set, every teammate, every moment and she made it better by just being there. Advertisement "Anyone who knew Ellen will remember the way she lit up a pool deck. "She had the brightest smile, the warmest hello and the effortless way of making everyone feel seen and valued. "She never let anyone feel like a stranger, she learned your name, asked how you were, and really meant it. "Ellen graduated from UCC in 2024, leaving behind a legacy of kindness, commitment and genuine love for this team and everyone in it. Advertisement "As co-captain she brought us together, celebrated our wins big and small, and made sure that no one ever felt alone. "Our thoughts and sympathies are with Ellen's family, her many friends, and everyone lucky enough to have known her. "Her absence is felt deeply, but her spirit will always be a part of this team. "We love you Ellen, thank you for everything. You will always be with us, in every practice, every race, every laugh on deck and in our hearts. Rest in peace, Ellen Cassidy." Advertisement
