THE budget for staging this weekend's Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally, the second round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, is €325,000, possibly ranking it as the most expensive sporting event in West Cork.

Like all events, income must exceed expenditure to ensure its continued survival.

Next year, the rally, which began as an event to help promote Clonakilty as a tourist location, will celebrate its 50th anniversary.

It has taken vision, especially by the Clonakilty founders, hard work, dedication, local business and community support, collaboration and a great synergy that has a single aim and ambition: to promote West Cork. This has worked in spectacular fashion.

So what are the major costs involved? The Motorsport Ireland insurance, at approximately €100,000, is the biggest outlay for the organising Cork Motor Club while marshals and officials accommodation and food expenses is the next major outlay. The budget makes provisions for everything.

The Gardaí play an invaluable role in the rally. The organisers, along with the local West Cork Rally Committee, are really appreciative of the great support of the local Gardaí under Inspector Ian O'Callaghan and Sergeant Donal Daly.

They (Clonakilty GS) have to get extra resources on the weekend to ensure everything goes according to plan, alongside with the normal everyday aspect of An Garda Síochána.

It's worth noting that the money involved is not as much compared to other events around the country, but it's money well spent. Dialogue is constant and positive. Indeed, it's been that way for quite a long time.

The major tracts of income comes via competitor entry fees and the financial support of long-time title sponsor, the Clonakilty Park Hotel.

The local rally committee are key to securing the financial support of associate sponsors – Keohane Readymix, Cork County Council, Calor, Clonakilty Black Pudding and Clonakilty Chamber of Commerce – whilst also contributing financially.

Their endeavours in sourcing advertisements for the rally programme is another important source of finance.

There's no doubt it's a balancing act. Last year the event lost €25,000, attributed to a lower number of entries, possibly due to the refuelling saga that broke some two weeks before the rally – it had a major impact that was totally outside the control of both the club and the local committee.

Clonakilty and the wider West Cork community really embrace its rally. This is the event that kick-starts the tourist season – just like what the wise people planned almost 50 years ago and that should never be forgotten, nor should the people that put their hands in their pockets to ensure it all keeps going. They should be supported in return and then income will always be more than expenditure.