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IN THE BEGINNING…
It was an August evening in 1977 that the first ever organised road race in modern times took place in Ballycotton. A five mile event, it was won by Ray Treacy, now Head Coach at Providence College and brother of John, Olympic Marathon Silver-Medalist from 1984 and twice winner of the World Cross Country title.
The following March, a ten mile race took place in Ballycotton. 31 runners (all men) took part with Richard Crowley the winner in 50:22. The rest, as they say, is history. The next year, 82 runners were led home by Pat Hooper in 49:12, with Mary Dempsey the inaugural women's winner in 68:47. In 1980, six months before the first Dublin Marathon, numbers had increased to over 150, considered a huge field for a road race at the time.
With the advent of the Irish 'running boom' heralded by that Dublin Marathon, races and participants in Ireland mushroomed. Ballycotton's numbers increased in tandem, reaching a record 848 finishers in 1984. For the remainder of the 80s, the figures competing in Ballycotton hovered around 650-750 as a lot of other races in the country fell into decline or ceased to exist.
The 1990s saw the Ballycotton '10' enter a new era. One thousand finishers was reached for the first time in 1993 and due to the unprecedented interest in the race, a limit had to be imposed for safety and logistical reasons. This limit was set at 1500 in 1999, which was reached in mid-January.
Nowadays, the numbers are capped around the 3,000 mark which is achieved by accepting the first 2,500 plus club members or those who have competed in one of the Summer 5-Mile races. Allowing for 'no-shows', this means that around 2,000 will run on the day which is the absolute maximum number that can be catered for.
Many famous names have run in Ballycotton, with the current course records held by British internationals Gary Staines (47:00) and Marian Sutton (55:28). The in-dept standards have also been of the highest caliber, with 200 runners finishing under the hour back in 1993. For the 21st anniversary celebrations in 1998 the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, attended and watched her husband Martin compete.
Due to the foot-and-mouth scare of 2001, for the first time in its history the race had to be postponed from March to June. However, ample compensation was provided when, on a beautiful summer's day, the event was graced by Ireland's greatest-ever athlete Sonia O'Sullivan who won the women's race in 55:37.
Why do so many people want to run this race in an out-of-the-way Irish village? It's hard to pinpoint any one reason. There is a comprehensive prize list, a special souvenir mug for all finishers along with free mailing of both pre-race package and post-race results. There's also an atmosphere that is unique to the event, which pertains over the entire weekend and results in many visitors vowing to return again.
In February 1999 the UK edition of Runner's World ranked the race second only to the London Marathon in these islands, giving it a status and hype which also had a lot to do with its popularity. The race is also unique in that it has had an association with Nike (as overall sponsor and now associate sponsor) for over 20 years, and this also has been a huge factor in the success of the event.
The Ballycotton '10' has its own range of T-shirts and sweatshirts which carry the race logo, and even a song has been written about it! That summer five mile race where it all began has now evolved into a four-race Series in the surrounding villages, the races taking place on the fourth Thursdays of May, June, July and August. Around 250 runners take part in each race and the Summer Series is now also an integral part of the Irish running scene.
All the events are promoted by an enthusiastic voluntary body, which go by the collected title of 'Ballycotton Running Promotions'. If your interest is in running the beautiful and sometimes challenging roads of Ballycotton and the surroundings areas, get in touch. Or, even better, as the slogan of our associate sponsor used to say - 'Just Do It'.
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