Reminder for closing date for the next batch of Ballycotton '10' entries....Now that the 2,500 limit for open entries has been filled, this is a reminder that the special 2 week window for club runners and others closes next Tuesday, the 15th of December. If the return of the SAE envelopes are anything to go by then you should post your entry by next Friday, the 11th of Dec at the latest.
Just as a reminder, the following people can still enter the 2010 Ballycotton '10'...
(a) All bona fide AAI (Athletics Ireland) registered club members.
(b) All runners who completed the 2009 Ballycotton Summer Road Race Series (all four 5-mile events).
(c) All those who were entered but were unable to run the 2009 race AND returned their ChampionChip.
(d) All bona fide overseas entrants accepted by post up and including Friday January 8th.
(b) All runners who completed the 2009 Ballycotton Summer Road Race Series (all four 5-mile events).
(c) All those who were entered but were unable to run the 2009 race AND returned their ChampionChip.
(d) All bona fide overseas entrants accepted by post up and including Friday January 8th.
Just to follow up on the 2,500 batch of entries last week, here are some stats and some points of clarification....
1) On Tues 1st Dec, the organisers got 537 entries compared to 491 last year, an increase of 9%.
2) On Wed 2nd Dec, they got 1680 entries...up 15% on last year figure of 1459.
3) On Thursday, there were less than 300 spaces left and these filled up early in the morning.
4) The organisers had said that they would supply entry forms to two Sports shops on the Monday.......John Buckley Sports in Cork City and Ger Wyley sports in Dungarvan. They never said that they would be supplying other sports shops as had been suggested in a comment to an earlier post. 
5) As you can see from the recent short poll, most people that sent off a SAE for a form didn't seem to get it back until the Tuesday. All of the SAE forms were posted on Saturday so if there were any delays then it was due to An Post.
Thanks for the update.
ReplyDeleteWould the organisers now accept that a rethink on the whole entry system is needed?
Have the organisers ensured that a balance is struck between those who entered via the SAE form and that downloaded from the internet? Otherwise, it would seem very unfair.
Hi John,
ReplyDeleteI was talking to one of those involved in organising Ballycotton last night and the subject of the poll came up.
The s.a.e.s were delivered to the sorting office in Little Island, Cork on Friday (to ensure that they were sorted and would be delivered in Mondays post). I don't see how the organisers could do better in trying to ensure that people got their forms in Mondays post.
Of course, as was pointed out in previous posts, if one was joined an AAI club, they'd have until next Tuesday, Dec 15th, to get their entries in.
On that topic, one doesn't have to be world class to join a club. Of the last 25 finishers (of 2403 finishers) in the 2009 event, 9 were listed as AAI club members.
As I said when we were discussing this, one of Murphy's many laws is "If you try to satisfy everyone, someone will object!"
So...if you're not in and you're NOT an AAI club member, get your runners on and join a club - you've still got a few days.
You'll find a list of Cork clubs here: http://www.corkathletics.org/Clubs.htm