The President, CEO and Board of Athletics Ireland wish to congratulate former national champion and Press Officer Pierce O'Callaghan, on his recent appointment as Head of the Communications Department of the European Athletics Association. The 30-year-old native of Ashbourne Co Meath, has served a number of voluntary roles within AAI since making his debut on the records committee as a 17-year-old. He was elected International Athletes representative for two terms on the Management Committee as a 22-year-old in 1998, the same year he represented Ireland in the 20km Walk at the European Championships in Budapest. His father Bernie has also played a prominent role in Irish Athletics both as National Walks coach for over 20 years and as a member of the Executive Committee of both the juvenile and senior boards. After winning three senior titles and achieving the B standard for the Sydney Olympics, he career was ended by illness and injury but he quickly switched his hand to coaching Jamie Costin who represented Ireland in Sydney, 2 World Championships and the European Championships in 2002, before a car crash the week before the Athens Games halted his progress towards world class. During this time O'Callaghan also acted as the Media Spokesman for Athletics Ireland, revamping the website, updating records and the All Time Lists and liaising with the media on all team selection issues etc. In May 2005 he qualified as the youngest ever EAA Level II Race Walking Judge and was one of only four European judges to be nominated for IAAF Level III exams in Paris at the end of October this year. He commenced employment with Scottish Athletics 2 weeks later as Events and Competitions Manager, where he created from scratch the Celtic Cup match between Ireland, Scotland and Wales earlier this month, negotiating 2 hours Live on BBC Scotland and a raising a budget of over 500k euro. Twice a graduate of UCD with both a Commerce Degree (1998) and a Diploma in Sports Management, (2005) O'Callaghan will take up his duties on November 1st and will be based in EAA headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. He will continue to take a keen interest in Irish Athletics and is looking forward to seeing Ireland improve on its 4th place ranking on the medal table at the European Indoor Championships in Birmingham next March.