April 22 - The hopes of a small village in Northern Ireland staging one of the most prestigious events of the 2012 Olympics, featuring Paula Radcliffe (pictured), have been dashed.

 

Dervock, which is located in County Antrim and has a population of less than 700, had written to the Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell claiming that it should stage the marathon in 2012 to celebrate the cenentary of the victory of Kenneth McArthur, who was from the village, in the 1912 Olympic marathon in Stockholm.

 

But Northern Ireland's Sports Minister Gregory Campbell has written to Ballymoney councillor Ian Stevenson, who proposed the idea first revealed on insidethegames four months ago, saying that it will not happen.

 

He wrote: "Thank you for your recent request to discuss the possibility of bringing an Olympic Marathon to Dervock.

 

"In your request you referred to a deadline on venues of March 2009. I note an account of your meeting with Tessa Jowell, Olympics Minister.

"You will be interested to know that all Olympic venues outside London in 2012 were contained in London's 2012's bid documents to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the time London was a Host City Candidate.
 

"Once London won the bid, those venues became contractual with the IOC and could not therefore be added to or altered.

"In the case of the Olympic Marathon, this event is traditionally run on a route through the Host City as the finish takes place inside the Olympic Stadium.

"Therefore there is no potential for any other locations outside London to host the Olympic Marathon."

 

McArthur was born in Dervock on February 10 1881 but emigrated to South Africa 20 years later.

 

It was only after joining the Johannesburg Police Force in 1906 that he began to compete seriously.

 

His victory in Stockholm ws controversial because, representing South Africa, McArthur and his teammate Christian Gitsham ran together and soon took the lead.

 

Confident of victory, Gitsham stopped for water, expecting his colleague to join him, as agreed.

 

Instead McArthur ran on, stretching his lead and taking him to victory over Gitsham by 58 seconds.

 

Forced to retire the next year because of a foot injury, McArthur ran six marathons and won them all.

 

He died in South Africa aged 79.

Related Stories:

January 2009:

Irish town should stage Olympic marathon in 2012, official claims