2003 PWA Irish Wave Grand Prix Canceled

The PWA regrets having to announce that the Irish Wave Grand Prix will not take place in the 2003 season. The event took off with a bang in 2000 and quickly established itself as a major stop on the Wave Tour.

The PWA regrets having to announce that the Irish Wave Grand Prix will not take place in the 2003 season. The event took off with a bang in 2000 and quickly established itself as a major stop on the Wave Tour. Since its creation, the event has been funded by Bord Fáilte (the Irish Tourist Board) as part of the Sports Tourism Initiative. The Tourist Board have been very impressed with the impact and on 10th August Paddy O’Mahony of Bord Fáilte, the man responsible for “Watersports Policy” was quoted in the Irish Sunday Times as stating “surfing particularly windsurfing, has grown exponentially, and the profile of Ireland has increased substantially because of it”.
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But competition for funding from the Sports Tourism Initiative is fierce and despite the successes of the Irish Wave Grand Prix there is to be no funding for this year. This was largely to do with the lack of private sector sponsorship coming into the event leaving an over reliance upon the Tourist Board. The enthusiasm for the sport and for the event remains and work is already under way to enable the Irish Wave Grand Prix to resume action in October 2004, which we expect to be even bigger and better than previous years.