IMG has confirmed they have bought The Great Ocean Road Marathon impressive portfolio of internationally recognized sporting events.

The marathon, cialis which is staged along the iconic Great Ocean Road with stunning views of the Southern Ocean, celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2014.

Martin Jolly, Senior Vice President and Managing Director IMG, said today at the launch, “We were attracted to the event because of its rich history, world-class location and the continuing growth of the running market in Australia. IMG is proud to support the Surf Coast Shire and The Colac Otway Shire to continue to grow the event so that it will provide a positive economic impact across the region, supporting the local community.”

Local Torquay resident Nicky Buckley joined Cr Frank Buchanan, Councilor Colac Otway Shire and Martin Jolly to cut the start tape, formally launching the 2014 event and declaring that registration is open.

In 2013, more than 5700 entrants competed from over 12 countries; organizers expect to increase participation to well over 6,000 runners for the 2014 competition.

The Great Ocean Road Marathon is a part of the two-day Festival of Distance, hosting a number of running events that caters to all ages and levels of fitness.

Starting at Lorne Hotel, Mount Joy Parade and finishing at Apollo Bay Hotel, Great Ocean Road, its natural beauty and panoramic views will be a key motivator for competitors as they take on the 45km marathon.

Over the years, the marathon has attracted local and international athletes such as Steve Moneghetti, Craig Mottram and Kenyan Joel Chepkopol.

ZOOM Motorsports has revealed plans for a three-year extension with INDYCAR to host the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama 2014 through 2016 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, bronchi Ala.

“ZOOM Motorsports is very excited about the extension of our INDYCAR sanctioning agreement through 2016,” stated Gene Hallman, President and CEO of ZOOM Motorsports, the exclusive event promoter of Barber Motorsports Park. “INDYCAR has become very popular here in the heart of the Deep South and we look forward to continuing to grow the prominence of this race. We certainly feel that INDYCAR is the appropriate partner to assist us in showcasing what is considered to be the finest road course facility in the U.S.-the Barber Motorsports Park.”

“We are pleased to have agreed to terms to continue the tradition of our fast and versatile racing at Barber Motorsports Park,” said Belskus. “Not only is Barber a terrific facility to showcase our close and exciting on-track product, it also gives INDYCAR a strong presence in key southeastern markets to further help us grow our sport.”

Since the inaugural event in 2010, the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama continues to bring more than 80,000 fans each year from all over the world to the 2.38-mile road course. The Birmingham Convention and Visitors’ Bureau estimates the event has an economic impact of more than $28 million on Birmingham.

The Australian PGA Championship is set to move to a new location after Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast agreed a new five year deal following the golf tournament’s controversy-marred split from billionaire Clive Palmer’s Coolum resort.

Royal Pines is already the long-term host of the Australian Ladies Masters and is keen to continue in that role.

Announcing the new deal for the Australian PGA Championship, Royal Pines’ owners promised to invest $5 million strengthening the championship course over the five years and to work closely with the men’s and women’s tours to make it the ‘home of championship golf in Queensland’.

The tournament was played at the former Hyatt resort at Coolum for the past 11 years and the move away followed a public falling out with owner Clive Palmer.

There were disagreements over issues including a number of painted signs on fairways.

Chief executive of the PGA of Australia Brian Thorburn said the venue shift had the backing of the Queensland Government, Tourism and Events and Gold Coast Council and Tourism.

He said the tournament’s tradition from Coolum of being a fun and relaxed tournament would continue on the Gold Coast.

He was confident the move would not only attract many of Australia’s best players but also some of the world’s biggest stars.

Dates for the 2013 tournament will be announced in the next few weeks.

Basketball Australia (BA) chief Kristina Keneally is looking for the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) to follow on the footsteps of the men’s competition and complete a similar type of online broadcast deal.

The chief executive will make her first visit to Townsville today to attend tonight’s Townsville Fire season launch.

Keneally signalled Basketball Australia’s (BA) intent to raise the profile of the women’s competition.

The former New South Wales Premier – who took over the role at BA in August – said she was confident a deal securing an improved ABC viewing timeslot for the WNBL was only weeks away.

The goal was to seek more opportunities in digital media, similar to NBL, including a TV online broadcast deal for live and on-demand games on mobile and tablet devices.

“There are slightly more challenges in that … some of our WNBL teams are often more regionally based, but nonetheless we’ve made clear to our broadcast partners, Perform Media, that’s the next step we see in this relationship,” she said.

Keneally said the creation of the WNBL Commission – of which Townsville Fire chairwoman Jayne Arlett is a member – and the combined NBL/WNBL launch and pre-season tournament next week showed BA was committed to creating an equal focus on the two leagues and to promote them as strongly as possible.

“Right across the spectrum – whether you’re talking basketball or any other sport – it is always a challenge to secure the same profile for the men’s and women’s competitions,” Keneally said.

“I think we’re seeing that change in Australia with the success of the Opals at the Olympics and the recognition that some of the best female basketball players in the world play in the WNBL.”

Keneally said the work done by the Fire with attendance numbers, and other factors, set a great example for the rest of the competition to follow.

Ireland and Scotland have been given a financial helping hand by the ICC after being the first two Associate nations to receive a US$500,000 funding bonus.

The two countries will received the cash injection, which has come from the ICC’s targeted assistance and performance programme (TAPP), for the next three years and it is part of the ICC’s aim to develop greater competition below the Full Members.

Ireland have been the stand-out Associate in recent years with notable scalps at the last two World Cups by beating Pakistan in 2007 and England in 2011 and have recently stated an ambitious ten-year plan to become a Test nation.

Warren Deutrom, the Cricket Ireland chief executive, said: “We are delighted and grateful to ICC for this award which will help Cricket Ireland achieve their stated objectives. We shall be exploring in greater detail the award and terms of the grant with ICC management in order to ascertain how to prioritise the funding towards the proposals that we outlined in our applications.”

Scotland chief executive Roddy Smith said: “We are obviously delighted by today’s ICC board decisions. The additional support will enable us to enhance our national team programme over the next three years and support our young developing side in continuing their recent progress.

“Since 2009 we have been in the top three associate sides in 50-over and multi-day cricket and this fact along with our ambitious application has enabled us to be one of the first two members to be awarded TAPP funding. The hard work will start now in putting these additional plans into action.”

The NFL Players Association (NFLPA) said Wednesday it will conduct its own review of the New Orleans Saints’ bounty program, saying admissions by team personnel show they “engaged in improper and coercive activities.”

The NFL said last week that between 22 and 27 Saints defensive players, as well as at least one assistant coach, maintained an illegal bounty program from 2009-2011 that included payments to players for inflicting game-ending injuries on competitors.

Former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, now in the same position with the St. Louis Rams, has apologized for his involvement in the bounty program while reports have surfaced of similar activities during his stints as defensive coordinator of the Washington Redskins and head coach of the Buffalo Bills.

On Tuesday, Saints head coach Sean Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis released a joint statement taking “full responsibility” for the violations in the NFL’s report from last week.

In its release Wednesday, the NFLPA said it “negotiated vigorously to protect our players from coercive actions that compromise health and safety.”

“The current CBA contains detailed rules on what clubs and coaches can and cannot do in terms of practice schedules and places limitations on the amount of contact,” the NFLPA said. “These rules include how clubs and coaches can be punished for violations of those safeguards. The statements made by New Orleans Saints management and coaches confirm that they engaged in improper and coercive activities.

“We will vigorously protect the rights of all players. Until the facts are known, judgment based on reports in the media is speculative. That is why the NFLPA is undertaking a comprehensive review of the circumstances surrounding these reported violations of League rules. As part of this review, the NFLPA has requested that the NFL help facilitate interviews with members of New Orleans Saints management and coaching staff that were employed by the club in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

“We recognize that this investigation was conducted over the course of many months. Accordingly, we have requested that the NFL provide us with sufficient time to complete our internal review as counsel to the players.

“If the facts prove that players voluntarily and willingly participated in conduct that jeopardized health and safety, we will work with them and the league to put in place additional safeguards to prevent this in the future. Dangerous play and acts on the field by players intended to injure have no place in football. We must do better to ensure that this activity is not a part of our game.”

by Ismail Uddin

According to European soccer’s governing body UEFA, the 2012 European Championships co-hosted in Poland and Ukraine has received more than 12 million ticket applications, a new record figure.

The initial application deadline for fans worldwide has passed, with a total of 12,149,425 ticket requests made, surpassing the previous record for the tournament, when 10.4 million people applied for tickets to the Euro 2008 championships in Austria and Switzerland.

More than 550,000 tickets are available to the general public for next years competition, and UEFA will stage a lottery from April 19-22 to determine the ticket recipients. 

This year fans were limited to applying for a maximum of four tickets each at UEFA’s official website with the body confirming that almost 88 per cent of ticket applicants were from Poland and Ukraine, and overall ticket sales are expected to generate Eur100m (US$142m).

With just over three months to go until the Delhi Commonwealth Games, cough the R K Khanna tennis complex became the first stadium to be officially handed over to the Organising Committee as completed.

Union minster for urban development Jaipal Reddy said that, despite delays and cost overruns to many of the venues for the Games, Delhi would be ready in the end. He said: “In India, we have the habit of doing everything nicely, but at the last moment. We end up doing well. Commonwealth Games has generated a lot of interest throughout the country.

“It [the Games] will attract a lot of foreign and domestic tourists. We will have the best accommodation for all classes, and the people of Delhi will be great hosts.”

The 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games will take place from 3 to 14 October.