One week left for Dingle Half & Full Marathon entries...

The final closing date for entries to the 2011 Dingle Half and Full Marathon (Sat 3rd Sept) is now just one week away (Wed 24th Aug 2011). The orgainsers have released the following info recently.....

Ray Darcy from Today FM recently presented his show from Dingle and as many of you will know, Ray is a keen runner himself and takes part in lots of running events. While there, Ray ran the Half-Marathon course with race organiser Ken Dunne.

Newstalk..........This Friday, 19th August, the Tom Dunne Show on Newstalk will broadcast live from Killarney and the Dingle Marathon will feature at 10.50am.

Pacers.....There will be pacers for various target times in the Half and Full Marathon. In the Half-Marathon, there will be pacers for 1:30, 1:45 and 2:00. In the full, there will be pacers for 3:30, 4:00 and 4:30. In most events like this, the pacers will run at an even pace with the aim to finish just ahead of the target time according to the chip timing. In the full, it's likely that they may build up a small cushion before the hill near the end but essentially, it's a steady even pace all the way.

Accommodation.....From the organisers...."Most of Dingle town itself is full at this stage but plenty of availability exists outside of this. Roads are not closed until 8.45AM so you will have plenty of time to get in to town. Ventry, Ballydavid, Dunquin, Ballyferriter, Lispole, Annascaul etc all still have plenty to offer and its great value!"

It's easy to underestimate the impact that an event like the Dingle Marathon has on an area like Dingle. In September, the tourist numbers are dropping away rapidly and the influx of runners on the Marathon weekend give a welcome boost to many businesses in the region....no bad thing in the current climate.

Charity..........The official partner charity for the Marathon is Blue September . The newspaper cutting on the left is from the Evening Echo.

Race Packs.......Race packs will not be sent out until the end of August. This applies to Irish addresses only. Non Irish addresses will be available for collection in Dingle on the Friday evening.

Tech Top.......Details in an earlier post
More details with pictures and links in this earlier post HERE