Senior membership of athletic clubs in Cork drops 12% in 2019

Athletic Ireland recently released their end of year membership stats for 2019 and they show that the Senior membership of athletic clubs in Cork has dropped by a whopping 12%.

On a national level, the number of Seniors (adults aged 20-34) dropped 3%, a quarter of the level for the rate in Cork in 2019.

In terms of Masters membership (adults ages 35 and over), the national picture is much better with a rise of 4.4%. This again is in marked contrast to the situation in Cork where Masters membership has dropped 8.1% in 2019.

As for why? ...The numbers taking part in local races doesn't seem to be in decline. The 5k parkruns in Cork are doing well. There are local running groups which don't charge for membership and are not part of Athletics Ireland and they seem to be doing well. The Cork BHAA which is independent of Athletics Ireland saw the numbers in most of its races increase last year. It just seems to be the athletic clubs in Cork that are in decline.

Senior membership by club... In terms of senior membership of athletic clubs in Co.Cork, there are really only two clubs with any kind of numbers... Leevale AC and Togher AC.

The clubs with less than 10 senior members are shown below. Two clubs have no senior members

The full stats for 2019 can be found on the Athletics Ireland website.

Membership stats for athletic clubs in Cork...Oct 2016

Athletics Ireland have recently released the membership stats for all the athletic clubs in Ireland as of the end of October 2016. Mallow AC remains the largest athletic club in Cork in terms of adult membership. These are the athletic clubs in Cork with more than 80 adult members...

Club (Seniors & Masters)...End of October 2016
1. Mallow AC    228
2. Ballymore Cobh AC    217
3. Eagle AC        196
4. Leevale AC    182
5. St.Finbarrs AC    177
6. Midleton AC    176
7. Togher AC    170
8. Ballintotis Fit4Life    163
9. Youghal AC    162
10. Watergrasshill AC    138
11. Bandon AC    135
12. Dromahane Road Runners    104
13. Aghada Running Club    95
14. Tracton AC    91
15. Grange Fermoy AC    89
16. Clonakilty Runners AC    80
17. Rosscarbery Steam Runners AC    77
18. St.Nicholas AC    76
19. North Cork AC    72
20. Bantry AC    60
21. Ballincollig AC 59
22. Bweeng Trailblazers    56
23. Carraig na bhFear AC   50
24. Carrigtwohill AC   50
25. Galtee Runners AC 50
Some points...
1) Clubs with Fit4Life beginner programmes tend to have a large membership. There are plenty of smaller clubs that are more focused on other areas like track and field and the faster end of road running.

2) Adult membership tends to reflect the clubs active in road race. There are plenty of clubs with lots of juvenile members but the number of adults coaching them would be relatively small.

3) These stats are for clubs registered with Athletics Ireland. There are a growing number of small running clubs who are doing their own thing.

You can find the stats for Oct 2016 up on the Athletics Ireland website.

You can find more info about clubs in Cork here... http://corkrunning.blogspot.ie/p/clubs-groups.html

Membership stats for athletic clubs in Cork...end of June 2015

Athletics Ireland have released some stats recently showing the membership of clubs throughout the country. In terms of adult membership, these are the ones in Cork with more than 50 members at the end of June 2015...

The big change since last month is that Ballymore Cobh AC are now the largest club in Cork in terms of adult membership. Only a few years ago, they were essentially a club for juveniles with a small number of adults to coach them. Fast forward to today and they are the largest.

It's probably worth mentioning as well that this doesn't represent the full story as one of the biggest growth areas in recent times has been that of running groups who are not members of athletics Ireland. There are now a number of these throughout the county and some are quiet large. e.g. Wibbly Wobbly Wonders in Ballyvolane, Happy Feet in Blarney, etc.

The latest stats from Athletics Ireland can be found HERE