It's that time of year again as the mad rush to enter the 2012 Ballycotton 10 Mile Road race begins.
For new runners.......The Ballycotton '10' is the 2nd largest race in Cork and is one of the largest 10 mile road races in the country. It attracts not only local runners but also runners from the rest of Ireland and the UK. Entries open about 3 months before the race in March and the open section with 2,500 entries fills up in about 3 days.
First of all, a quick recap...
Just in case you are seeing this for the first time, a quick look to see what group you are in when it comes to entries...
A) Any athletics club member OR anyone who ran in all 4 of the Ballycotton Summer Series races can avail of a 2 week window to get their entries in (closing date Dec 15th).
B) Anyone living overseas can avail of a 6 week window (closing date 9th Jan)
C) If you do NOT qualify for one of the above conditions then you have to try and be one of the first 2,500 entries!!!
More details in an older post HERE
OK....now for the lowdown...Here are the sequence of events...
1) Monday 28th Nov 2011......The organisers will post out entry forms to anyone that provided them with a stamp addressed envelope. If you have not done so already then you should get everything ready on the Monday.........envelope, stamp and €15 entry fee.
2) Tuesday 29th Nov 2011...AM. Some if not most people will get their forms in the post. Going on previous years, many will not. You should fill it out properly (instructions below) and get it in a postbox that has an evening collection.
3) Tuesday 29th Nov 2011...PM. The entry form will be available online which you can download and print.
As soon as it appears, I will be putting up a notice on the Running in Cork Facebook page to inform the 900+ subscribers there. If you are on Facebook and have not already subscribed then visit the page HERE and click the LIKE button. As soon as I send out the notice, it will appear on your Facebook wall, no need to be constantly checking. After that, I will put up the link on this site but you need to keep checking here. The Facebook page if you use it is the easiest option.
Again, your objective is to try and get it in a post box for collection on Tuesday evening.
4) Tueday 29th Nov 2011...Entry forms will be available in the following retail outlets on Tuesday evening...John Buckley Sports (Cork), Ger Wyley Sports (Dungarvan) and local shops in Ballycotton and Shanagarry.
Post it Wednesday night, Thursday morning or Thursday afternoon and you are in the 'maybe' bracket. Post it on Friday and you are likely to be too late. If you take the approach of 'Ahh sure.....I'll post it next weekend'..........that's fine except the entries will be well closed by next week!!
Don't forget that the fact you are reading this on a Monday or Tuesday means that you are ahead of most. There will be loads of people who will not have checked the details in time and will miss out. That's why if you can follow the instructions here, post it Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning then you're probably as good as in.
Please note that you can only enter by post. There is no online entry and you cannot drop your entry in to someones house. By having postal entries only, everyone has the same chance of getting in.
The entry form....when you get it, cut off the section for entries only. DO NOT RETURN THE WHOLE FORM! I think the organisers have a pretty good idea of what the entry conditions are at this stage and they don't need you sending them the whole form to remind them ;o)
Read the advice given by Ballycotton Running Promotions below on what to do with the entry form. Read it CAREFULLY.....it would be a shame to go to all that trouble in sending off a form early only to be disqualified because you filled out the form incorrectly.
BEFORE YOU FILL OUT THE FORM…...Instructions from Ballycotton Running Promotions
Read all of it carefully – all the information you need is there...
Each person should fill out their own individual form – when people fill a form for someone else, it invariably leads to mistakes in spelling, date of birth, etc which causes problems to the information already on the data base.
Fill out the form in sequence (surname, first name, age on day of race, date of birth, male/female, etc.) Please write in BLOCK CAPITALS
Remember the club is Athletics Ireland club – (not BHAA, soccer club, GAA club).
Telephone/email contact is convenient for checking mistakes!
If you ran in ALL FOUR of this year’s Ballycotton Summer Series 5-mile races, tick the box.
Sign your name on the bottom… by doing this you also agree NOT to transfer your number to another runner in the event of being unable to run.
Please detach (tear, or cut off if form is downloaded) the section of the form with your details and only send this along with the entry fee of €15 to: Ballycotton Running Promotions, Ballycotton, Co. Cork.
Entry fee is €15. Cheques or postal orders should be made payable to Ballycotton Running Promotions. Don’t staple cheque to form. Cash is sent at your own risk.
Do not send a stamped addressed envelope - you can also send more than one form in the same envelope if required.
Using registered post won’t make any difference – it either gets there in time or not.
The first 2,500 postal entries opened are automatically accepted. After that, any AI club member or any runner who ran in all four of the 2011 Ballycotton Summer Series will be accepted up and including Thursday December 15th. Anyone living overseas will be accepted up to and including Monday January 9th.
As soon as the first 2,500 entries have been received, a notice will be posted on this website. Unless you qualify under the above headings, please do not continue to send in entries. It only causes extra work and expense to send them back.
All working smoothly it seems as the entry form came through the letter box this morning at 8am so was able to post it on the way to work!
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