GALWAY IS making a bid to become permanent Irish host port for one of the world's biggest sporting events, the Volvo Ocean Race.
The city is hosting the first Irish stopover for the round-the-world yacht race in 2009, which will be worth an estimated €43 million in revenue to the region during a two-week period in late May/early June.
However, Jamie Boag, chief executive of Let's Do It Global, told Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Martin Cullen yesterday that the western capital was already making a pitch for the 2012 race route, and on a "permanent" basis thereafter.
Let's Do It Global is a not-for-profit organisation involving senior business people supporting Ireland's participation in the Volvo Race . Two subsidiary companies, Let's Do It Galway and Let's Do It Green, are responsible for the Galway stopover and Ireland's entry respectively.
Up to 1.8 billion people watched the last Volvo Ocean Race on television, and some 140,000 visitors from Ireland and overseas are expected to visit Galway during the stopover period from May 23rd to June 6th next year.
The nine-month, 37,000-mile circumnavigation begins in Alicante, Spain, next October, ending in St Petersburg the following year, and Galway is one of 11 host ports. Ireland is also entering the race as one of seven confirmed entries, with several more anticipated.
Ian Walker, skipper of the Irish entry, is expected to announce his crew for the Green Team "shortly", and construction of the purpose-built Irish Volvo 70 vessel has recently been completed in China. Speaking at yesterday's briefing, Mr Cullen described the "significant" potential of the event, and said that the Government was backing it with €8 million in funding through Fáilte Ireland as principal sponsor.
The crews on the high-performance carbon-fibre yachts will have endured some eight months at sea and sailed some 35,000 miles by the time they reach Galway from Boston.
During their fortnight stay, a number of onshore and offshore events have been planned, including open-air concerts, fireworks, a street parade and in-port racing.