Galway still in race for Volvo

It’s down to the wire . . . but Galway still remains in hot contention to be the final port of call for the 2012 Volvo Ocean Race.

Over the past week, Lisbon in Portugal and the French city of Lorient (a twin city of Galway) have been chosen as the first two European stops for the race – now, only the venue to host the completion of the event, remains to be announced. 

That decision will be confirmed on either next Tuesday or Wednesday with Galway, Amsterdam and Stockholm, the three main contenders. 

This week, John Killeen the Chairman of the Let’s Do It Galway group – organisers of the Galway application – told the Connacht Tribune that he remained confident over Galway’s chances.  

“We will not know until early next week – there are no leaks in this business – but what I can say is that we have left no stone unturned in our application bid,” said John Killeen.  

The race came to Galway at the end of May last year for a two week stopover and benefitted the local economy to the tune of almost €56m. 

In the Galway application, they propose a two to three day final ‘round Ireland’ leg to the race, with double points on offer to the yachts involved. The arrival date would be early June, 2012. 

“We are in with a real shout. Our application is a good one and the event last summer was a brilliant one in Galway with a real Irish welcome. And we do have Galway Bay, a magnificent natural asset on the world stage. Those factors do give us confidence,” said John Killeen.