Google+ Running in Cork, Ireland: Race Notice...Cheetah Run 4 mile - Thurs 17th May 2012

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Race Notice...Cheetah Run 4 mile - Thurs 17th May 2012

The annual Cheetah 4 mile race is coming up in Fota Wildlife Park on Thursday, the 17th of May 2012 at 8pm. The entry fee for this race is €10. Please note that for safety reasons, the numbers are limited to 800.

The level of interest in this race is likely to be very high and there will almost certainly be no entries on the night. The race entry of €10 includes access to Fota Wildlife Park. The normally costs €14 per adult, or €44 for a family of two adults and two children.

Families: Familes and other persons accompanying race entrants and Race Stewards will be allowed access Fota Wildlife Park provided they are accompanied through the access door by an athlete in possession of a race number.  Unaccompanied persons will not be admitted.

I would seriously advise people that have an interest in doing this race to enter as soon as possible. It really will sell out early. You can enter online HERE

The organisers hope to take entries on next Thursday evening before and after the Midleton 5 mile road race....assuming that the 800 limit isn't reached by then....Update...see below

Entry Status....Wed 2nd May @21:40pm.....Entries closed!!!


The race is sponsored by John Buckley Sports in Cork City. They have a special offer on the night to all participants in the Cheetah Run of a reduced price for the Soleus GPS watch (...on production of their race number until the 29th of May).

Normal Price  €130.00   -  SPECIAL  €100.00

John Buckley Sports is one of the main specialist running shops in Cork City and have a wide stock of gear in the shop and on their website....www.johnbuckleysports.com

They have been in business since 1981 and it's fair to say that the shop is highly regarded by many of the runners on the local road race scene.

8 comments:

Eagle AC said...

As of 12pm today, 25 hours after opening entries for The Cheetah Run, sponsored by John Buckley Sports, entries stand at 628, with just 172 places remaining.

It's likely that entries will close later today. Entries will close automatically when the 800 entries limit is reached.

There will be no entries taken after the 800 barrier has been reached.

Anonymous said...

Fantastic job by eagle in promoting this race, how many would have entered if no limit!! The success of the online system should be looked at by Ballycotton for their race. Up the price from 15 to include the fee charged by doing it online. They could still use postal entry for Club runners, Overseas, Summer Series and any runners who have competed in over 10 Ballycotton "10" races. This should keep everyone happy and make their own job a lot easier.

Anonymous said...

This is a disgraceful and very unfair system .There are very many runners out there with no access to the internet particulary older runners who have kept the sport going long before the current so called boom.Even having entry available in John Buckleys shop would be fairer or 50% online and 50% by some other method.Very "unfriendly" of Eagle AC
Johnny B Good

Anonymous said...

"This is a disgraceful and very unfair system .There are very many runners out there with no access to the internet "
And how was this posted?.. always a crank somewhere in the recesses.. Fantastic job Eagle thank you

Anonymous said...

I wish to apologise to any runners I misled in telling them that there would be an entry desk for this race at the Midleton AC 5 Mile race tonight. We were requested by John Quigley Eagle AC for permission to have a desk there and informed our members that there would be. Unfortunately this did not happen as online entries reached the quota of 800.
Danny Mc Carthy
Midleton AC

John Quigley, Eagle AC said...

I confirm that I requested permission, from Danny McCarthy, to have an entry desk for The Cheetah Run at the Midleton race. We had also intended having a desk at Pfizer, as last year. However we expected entries to close in 4 or 5 days - last year, it took over 3 weeks to fill - but we were surprised at the speed at which the 800 places were snapped up. Entries opened just before 11am on Tuesday and closed at 8:43 on Wednesday evening - just under 34 hours! Hindsight (a wonderful thing!) suggests that we should have had the courtesy to apprise Danny of the pace of developments. I regret any unwarranted hassle caused to Danny, however unintended.

While entries were open, an entries count was posted on the Eagle website, on Facebook and on the Facebook Event page. These were updated approx. hourly on Tues & Wed.

Wrt comments, by other posters, about postal entries and entry desks at races; We decided not to do a postal entry this year - last year we had 16 postal entries (2%) and took 63 (7.9%) entries at Pfizers. We decided not to do a postal entry this year and our intention of running entry desks was thwarted, as the 800 entries limit was reached even before we could open any desk.

The race has rapidly become one of the most popular events in Cork - we probably could have sold this race out twice or three times over (a leading Cork race organiser said, a few years ago, "You've created a monster for yourselves! Now you must live with it!)

The limit is in place on account of safety and logistical grounds. We are constantly reviewing these aspects of the event and can work on the logistics - for example, we are considering using chip timing next year. Safety is another matter - This is "not your ordinary race" - there are animals and birds roaming freely all over the gaff, along with other hazards. We hope to implement some new safety measures this year and the success of these will have a strong bearing on the quota for next year.

Bottom line for Eagle AC: We want everyone to have a good, memorable race AND, critically, a SAFE event.
John Quigley,
Chairman, Eagle AC

Gerard said...

Re comments about online entry, I am in my mid fifties and and a relative newcomer to running. The internet is probably one of the reasons I got involved in running in the first place as looking at various races, particularly marathons, prompted me to try it out ! I dont really believe there is anyone capable of running four miles, who is not capable to getting someone to enter online for them, if they cant do it themselves ! The Fota race is a unique event in Ireland - lets prise the organisers and Fota itself for having the imagination and spirit to agree to the event running there !

Anonymous said...

Thank you John & the Eagle AC. Very well organised event from entry, volunteer marshall's on and off coarse to the friendly first aiders on hand.

If there is an issue with online entry then I would suggest that John Buckley's is a very friendly shop with a computer connected to the internet at the till. I'm sure if it was not abused then they would easily handle your online entry there if you dropped in. I'm sure they'd appreciate the foot fall too.