Counting down to the 2009 Ballycotton 10...

Needless to say, the next big race is the Ballycotton 10 next Sunday and over the next few days, all of the posts here will be about this race.

Disclaimer...!!

Needless to say, this is NOT the official Ballycotton 10 website ;o)

I may have plenty of info about the race but you should always check the official website for the most up to date information. The Ballycotton website can be found at http://www.ballycottonrunning.com/

Event Programme...

Everyone who is doing the Ballycotton 10 should have recieved their race pack in a large brown envelope with the following items....

• Race number for the front of your singlet/t-shirt
• A timing chip in a small white envelope
• The Event Programme booklet.

If you have any questions about the race, you should read the Frequently Asked Questions section on page 4 first.

Statistics...

First of all, a breakdown of all the entrants by category...

Women

Senior Female-604, F35-215, F40-168, F45-96, F50-50, F55-12, F60-7, F65-4, FJ-6, Total Female-1162 35.1% of total. This is slightly up on the figure of 33.4% for 2008.

Men

Senior Male-1310, M40-364, M45-211, M50-119, M55-81, M60-34, M65-14, M70-3, M75-2, M80-1, MJ-14, Total Male-2153 64.9% of total. This is slightly down on the figure of 66.6% for last year.

Total number of entrants = 3315 (2008=3087)
Thanks to Denis Sheehan of Mallow AC for the above information

Entries by club...

Midleton AC=79 (2008=63)

West Waterford=75 (2008=87)

Eagle AC=73 (2008=73)

Waterford AC=66 (2008=46)

St. Finbarrs AC=47 (2008=46)

Slaney Olympic=47

Mallow AC=36

Kilkenny City=30

Bandon AC=25

Donore Harriers=25

Limerick County=25

Grange-Fermoy AC=24

East Cork AC=23

Mullingar Harriers=22

Limerick AC=21

Athenry AC=20

Clonmel AC=20

Raheny Shamrock=20

Sportsworld RC=19

Thurles Crokes=18

West Limerick=15

Donoughmore AC=14

Galway City=14

Crusaders AC=13

Gneeveguilla AC=13

Leevale AC=13

Rathfarnham-WSAF AC=13

Rising Sun=12

Carraig na bhFear=11

Carrick-on-Suir AC=11

Loughrea AC=11

Sli Cualann=11

Tralee Harriers=10

UCC AC=10

Clonliffe Harriers=8

Ballincollig AC=7

Kilnaboy AC=5

So it looks like Midleton AC have the largest number of entries this year (Danny McCarthy take a bow ;o) . There is a bit of a drop in the West Waterford AC numbers so perhaps many of them are now using their local Dungarvan 10 race as their main race during the spring?

Thanks to John Quigley of Eagle AC for the above information.

Training....

For those of you doing the Ballycotton 10 for the first time, now is the time to wind down your training. The worst thing you can do now is to do a long /hard run between now and Sunday. Whatever your fitness level is at now, that's it. You can't improve it but you can make yourself too tired. Take it easy for the next few days and save your energy for Sunday.

Car Parking and Pooling...

The thing about Ballycotton is that it is a bit of a cul-de-sac and it can a real headache getting all the runners and spectators into this small area and back out again. This year, they have 3 car parks and they will use a 'Park & Ride' system with buses to take people into the village. The fewer cars that turn up, the easier it will be. Perhaps you might consider car pooling? Do you know someone you could share a car with? Consider it...

Don't forget that they also have an area for bicycles next to the marquee in the village. If you want to get away early, just cycle from the car park into the village and back out again after the finish. Almost certainly the fastest way to get away on the day.

By the way, is there anyone stuck for a lift down to Ballycotton on Sunday? Maybe you would like to carpool with someone? Send me an e-mail with your details or leave a comment and I'll put the request up here.

Over the next few posts, I'll look at the car parking, details about the course and the weather forecast.