The Galway community has begun to rally behind the city's stopover in the Volvo Ocean Race, with news this week that St Mary's College is to help out in the race effort.

The 500-pupil school has one of the city's biggest enclosed floors, and will be perfect for the race's needs during the boats' 'pit stop' here. Boats are removed from the water and checked during the stopover, and some may need to change sails.

This is where St Mary's comes in. Principal Bartley Fannin, himself a keen sailor with Spiddal Sailing Club, has offered the use of the school's gymnasium for the painstaking process of inspecting the sails.

"We knew they were looking for somewhere to do it, so we rang and volunteered. I think this is going to be huge, it's going to be very successful for businesses and for schools.

"It's huge for Galway and we'd like to help out," he added.

The school's gym measures about 38 metres by 30 metres, perfectly adequate for the boats' huge sails to be laid out and examined at close proximity.

Although the Ocean Race is scheduled to be in Galway around June, Fannin believes the school is big enough that the proceedings won't interfere with the Leaving Certificate exams due to the size of the school.

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