For so late in the season there is an unusually crowded programme for all categories over the weekend, with Kanturk the centre for some frenzied activity tomorrow and Sunday. The Kanturk club stage the underage championships over two days, for six groups from under-11 to under-16, while the road title races for veterans and women will also be held there on Sunday.
In addition, Kanturk is the venue for this evening's meeting of the FIC board, when Dr Dave Curtis is expected to be appointed official medical officer of the federation.
The Ards two-day race starts at Newtownards this evening, followed by two stages tomorrow, and Sorrento promote the hillclimb championship at Kelpedder on Sunday. The MidEastern Region have their road championship tomorrow at Ballyboughal, and the Cycleways Cup races are at Navan on Sunday, while the Tommy Given Cup is also at Knockmore. The Karl Donnelly case drags on, or at least, Joe McKay, manager of Donnelly's Irish Road Club-Amev team, wants some important aspects cleared up. In particular, McKay emphasises that Donnelly's performance in only one event, when he finished third in the Tour of the Mournes, was in question.
When Donnelly was recalled from his new Belgian base to attend the FIC hearing in Waterford on Monday, August 4th, he accepted the suspension of eight weeks when a banned substance was found in a urine sample taken at Newry and waived his right to appeal.
Following further discussions with his coach, Terry Ferris, and McKay, however, it has been decided to appeal the sentence and that is to be discussed by the FIC board this evening.
McKay said that when Donnelly failed to come up to expectations as a contender for a high placing in the championship race at Carrick-on-Suir on June 29th, Ferris recommended a course of herbal tea during the week before the Newry event the following Sunday.
The tonic contained ephidrine, which is apparently regarded as a mild stimulant, but is on the UCI list of banned substances, although it was not included in the list that Ferris had. The FIC could be lenient with Donnelly tonight and permit him to resume racing next month. Irish champion Morgan Fox is rated 652nd in the elite world rankings with 30 points. Frenchman Laurent Jalabert tops the list with 2,045 points. David McCann, who was second to Fox at Carrick-on-Suir, is at 790 with 20 points.
