GALWAY RUNNER'S DEFAMATION AWARD

Date Published: 03-Apr-2011

GALWAY runner Richard Donovan, well known internationally for his annual North Pole race, has won a 160,000 Euro defamation settlement after suing Forbes magazine.

According to yesterday's "Sunday Times" Mr Donovan alleged that an article in the magazine in 2006 was inaccurate or defamatory of him and his North Pole race on eight grounds.

He complained of inaccuracies, in suggesting that a Russian plane was unsafe and it's emergency exit was blocked with luggage, as he said he had video evidence to prove otherwise.

The Galway runner also claimed the article was wrong to suggest that a tractor, dropped onto the ice to clear a landing strip, had broke through the ice.

According to Mr Donovan, the parachute dropping the tractor from the plane did not deploy, and it broke apart on hitting the ice.

But in the Forbes article, it is described as crashing through the ice and sinking.

"The reader would assume the ice was unsafe, when it isn't" stated Mr Donovan who added he "thought that Forbes really sensationalised the trip".

According to his statement of claim the article caused an 80 per cent drop in the number of new participants in the North Pole race causing him to lose over 377,000 Euro from 2007 to 2010.