There were two separate news items today concerning the growth of running as a sport in the country.
Athletics Ireland announced that their membership...which is made up of members of all the various athletic clubs in the country...is up 10% in 2014. That comes on top of strong growth in previous years and is up 63% since 2010 and 120% since 2007.
Membership is made up of both adults who would be mostly involved in running and juveniles who would be more involved in the athletic side of the sport.
Running as an activity is now the third most popular (8.5%) with swimming (9.4%) and personal exercise (12.2%) taking the top spots.
The Irish Sports Council also released a report today showing the growth in numbers active in various sports in 2014. One interesting section concerned the growth of various sports bodies between 2010 and 2014.
As you can see, Athletics Ireland is way up but so too is membership of cycling Ireland which has over trebled. Triathon Ireland is well up also but is probably starting from a smaller base. Other sports seem to have hardly made any progress. Examples like Ladies GAA football and swimming for whatever reason.
For more info, see the info on the respective websites...Athletics Ireland...Irish Sports Council...
1 comment:
Well done John on your promotion of running. Lots of the members of these clubs need your site to promote the races.
Well done also to the newer clubs who have got people running in their area. It can only be for the better health of all to have so many people actively involved in the sport.
Happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year
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