Rückzug! Soeben hat uns eine Nachricht von Fred Cowell erreicht. Er ist der Chefjuror der Euros-Bewerbung aus Leeds. Er bedauert, dass man in Leeds übereingekommen sei, die Bewerbung um die Ausrichtung der European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC oder Euros) im nächsten Jahr zurückzuziehen, bevor man sie nächste Woche überhaupt dem EUDC-Council in Galway präsentierte. Seine Nachricht ist hier im Original nachzulesen.

After much consideration we decided last week that we were unable to bid to host the European Universities Debating Championship in 2012 and we will not be requesting council to consider our bid at Galway.

This was not an easy decision to make and many arrangements and plans were at an advanced stage but there were several crucial components  of the bid that were underdeveloped and at this point in time we are unable to move ahead with bidding for 2012. Many people in Leeds and on the prospective A-team did a lot of hard work to organise and promote the bid and we are hoping that that Leeds can bid again in 2012 for 2013. As anyone who was at the Leeds IV this year will tell you Leeds put on strong, well run tournaments but at this moment in time we are unable to put our bid to EUDC Council.

We are sorry for announcing this now but it was our intention to present at council and we therefore worked hard to get the bid ready for this year but in the end were unsuccessful.  On a personal note I could not have had a better prospective adjudication team and if any of you are running a tournament anytime soon I hope that you consider Catherine Murphy, Rob Honig, Maria Kesa and Harish Natarajan for your adjudication team. Thank you also to the many other people outside Leeds, including Harry, Anna and others, who agreed to be part of the project this year. Hopefully we will be back and stronger than ever for next year.

Fred Cowell / apf