The Northern Ireland Athletics Federation are hopeful that the weekend's Irish Indoor Championships will be the first of many major meetings at the Odyssey Arena.

NIAF spokesman Brian Hill told BBC Sport Online that the federation would be holding discussions with "various bodies in the coming weeks".

The Northern Ireland Sports Council and the Northern Ireland Events Company provided the majority of the funding for the weekend event which was watched by around 3,000 spectators.

Brian Hill refused to divulge how much money was spent on the event although it is reckoned to be in the region of �30,000.

"We will be holdings discussions in the coming weeks and our firm hope is that even bigger and better events will be held at the Odyssey Arena in the future," said Hill.

We have established a very good working relationship with the officials at the Odyssey Arena NIAF PRO Brian Hill

NIAF officials were delighted by the success of the two-day championships.

Perhaps more importantly, both the Sports Council and the Northern Ireland Events Company were also said to be impressed with the running of the event which was jointly-organised by Athletics Ireland.

The presence of stars like Darren Campbell and Mark Lewis-Francis helped to pull in a satisfactory crowd.

Many southern-based athletes said that the Odyssey should become the permanent venue for the Irish Indoors.

"Good working relationship"

Brian Hill was cautious about this call as he pointed out that Athletics Ireland might not want the event to become a permanent fixture in Northern Ireland.

"But we're delighted that things went so well.

"We have established a very good working relationship with the officials at the Odyssey Arena and we hope to have several ventures with them in the future".