In Cork, the Sheeps Head 10k suffered a serious drop in numbers similar to the big drop in the Ballydehob 10k about a week earlier.
Back about 10 years ago, there used to be one race every few weeks in Kerry, Last weekend, there was a big 5 mile race in Killarney, a half-marathon and 10k in Ballybunion, a 5k & 10k in Kenmare, a 4 miler in Banna and two park runs in Killarney and Tralee.
In Clare, there was a new half-marathon in Loop Head and that just added to all of the other races that were on over the weekend. The Eamon Moloney 10k in Ennis took a hit.
The charity 5 mile run in Waterford City is down 55% over the last 3 years despite the fact there is a large population on its doorstep.
I know the weather wasn't great last Saturday but these results are spread out across the weekend. It's not like they are in isolation either as there have been plenty of other races with declining numbers recently.
It'll be interesting to see how the numbers hold up in Cork once the evening races start up for the summer. If the above figures are anything to go by, there could be choppy waters ahead. for some events.
4 comments:
Some factors that may affect race numbers :-
Easter is quite early this year, and up to last Saturday the clocks had not changed to Summertime.
The weather has been pretty awful and unpredictable recently.
Kerry - €25 for a 5 mile race ??? very steep ?
Kerry - Kenmare Bridge and Ballybunion on same day ?
Clare - 10k numbers down from peak last year, but still ahead of the previous 2 years.
Some events like Ballybunion and Sheeps Head may be great scenery, but are a long drive from many of the population centres.
I would feel confident that numbers will increase, once the temperature crawls out of single digits, and evenings get longer.
running population who took up road running in 2010, 2011 is getting older. They were in their 30-35 years and are now over 40. A lot of them have had no background in running and took it up to keep fit and the recession off their mind. Now they are finding it harder to keep motivated and injury free and as a result are very choosy about the races they enter- there is only so many races you can keep running. Also some of the more hyped up gimmacky races are being shown up for they are. I mean 25 euro for a 5 mile race in Kerry last week!!!
the Celtic tiger is alive and well it seems ;-)
is there an actual decrease in people running races or is it that there are the same amount of runners but a lot more races??
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