As you can see, the numbers for both the half and full were down 27% this year despite the fact that the weather was dry and mild. This follows on from another drop in 2015 as well. When the numbers drop by say 5-10% then it's not a disaster but a drop of 27% is pretty big. If it were to continue like that, the full marathon would become unfeasible as the numbers wouldn't justify the effort & cost of having the longer course.
As for why the big drop?? It's not the cheapest of events with an entry fee of €50 for the Half-Marathon and €60 for the full but then again, there are a lot of events like that. The main reason is probably just the sheer number of races and events on the calendar at the moment.
Half-Marathon...
1 Sean O SULLIVAN 1:11:46 Senior (1) Male (1)
2 Donal O CALLAGHAN 1:13:03 Senior (2) Male (2)
3 Derek GRIFFIN 1:13:16 01:13:14 Senior (3) Male (3)
22 Sharon CAHILL 1:28:33 Ages 50-54 (1) Female (1)
24 Alison KIRWAN 1:28:57 Senior (1) Female (2)
26 Lisa GRIFFIN 1:29:14 Senior (2) Female (3)
Full Marathon....
1 Gary O HANLON 2:29:59 Senior (1) Male (1)
2 Alex O SHEA 2:43:39 Ages 40-44 (1) Male (2)
3 John GRIFFIN 3:02:56 Senior (2) Male (3)
31 Margret CARLIN 3:30:36 Ages 50-54 (1) Female (1)
33 Deirdre ENRIGHT 3:33:30 Senior (1) Female (2)
44 Mandie PRENDERGAST 3:38:33 Senior (2) Female (3)
The full results for both events can be seen on one page HERE
Start of the 2016 Tralee Half-Marathon...
Start of the 2016 Tralee Marathon...
Photos...
1) Mary Mockett has a gallery of photos on her Facebook page HERE
7 comments:
I have ran 3 of the 4 Tralee Marathons missing the 2014 event through injury. The one thing I have noticed is the cut backs every year, in saying that was some improvements this year with isotonic drinks at some stops, this was an improvement on last years shambles. I would have serious concerns about the safety of runners running on roads with no stewarding or road closures where some cars were doing 60 MPH this was a big issue around Fenit.
I think this event is going down hill for a number of reasons, it seems to have lost the support of the general public in the area, this year Ardfert and Fenit were deserted and the only support was the volunteers on the water stops. The finish line was also very quiet with a small crowd and little or no atmosphere. Could be a number of reasons for this, the course is gruelling for many although I like it personally. The expo and goodie bags have been cut out and gives the feeling the event is about maximising profits. The price at €60 has stayed the same. It's also early in the year and a lot of runners prefer to run Marathons later in the year so they avoid doing heavy training in months like January and February.
I feel Tralee does not have the population of runners or the pull factors of Killarney or Dingle to sustain such an event. In saying that cut backs have been made and some safety concerns exist around some areas of the course. I few of my friends ran this a few years but decided to leave it go this year for various reasons, gruelling course, lack of road closures, cut backs in goodie bags step etc . This event can survive but needs a few tweaks in saying that I'll run it again in 2017.
Tough rolling hills in the half!!!
I didn't participate in the Marathon this year for the first time since it started. I personally feel that the organisers are constantly cutting corners and despite their talk of this being a marathon for the people of Tralee, they do little to back this up. They rely mainly on the support of their die hard fans from the local running group "born to run" and this is evident in the absence of support from the local top quality runners. Up until 3 weeks before the Marathon, a different route was being proposed which was not given the go ahead for safety reasons. One would have to question why a new, less scenic route was being offered for a marathon which is supposed to be showcasing Tralee and its surrounding areas.
The Tralee marathon will not be restored to its glory of 2013 unless the organisers are prepared to listen to advice given by those that understand what runners want.
Guys the fact of the matter is as follows:
This event is a money making racket and has been just that since it started.
The numbers are dropping, the entry fee remains high. So in order to keep the profit at the same rate as other years short cuts are taken.
Limerick marathon is another joke of an event. Its a money making racket also. Only a fraction of the profits go to charities.....its easy to see why less and less club athletes take part in these events......but to make things even worse Munster Athletics are jumping on the bang wagon and using Limerick as their Provincial Championship......what a joke. Charleville was a great event for the Munster HM and it was organised by North Cork AC and not by a profit making machine in Limerick. In fact Doneen AC in Limerick pulled out from Supporting the Profit making Limerick event......I say well done to them........Club athletes should avoid these events and support club events or events where the charities are directly running it, from a P'd off club athlete
On the subject of the Great Limerick Run. I checked their numbers as well so as to compare them to Tralee. The numbers in Limerick are doing very well and are not dropping. If anything, they were up last year. Obviously the larger population of Limerick City is a factor here in contrast to Tralee.
First of all, this is not an International Marathon. It is a local Marathon which charges the same rates as the big marathons but doesn't offer the same quality/value for money.
The drop in support from locals in areas such as Ardfert and Fenit needs to be questioned - why has there been such a drop in the support in these areas? Perhaps the Organisers didn't feel the need to encourage the locals in those areas to participate or show support as their arrogance based on previous years led them to believe that the support would always be there.
Why are there so few competitors from the Local atheltics Clubs? An Riocht; Farranfore; St Brendan's; Gneeguilla? These clubs have plenty of able athletes who support Killarney and Dingle so why do they not support Tralee?
Safety was a big issue this year for many of the runners and this will not make this marathon any more appealing for next year if the organisers do not address this issue.
Stop offering a poor quality event for good money. Dingle and Killarney offer value for money and this is why their numbers grow.
I registered for the Half Marathon route. There were issues at registration on the morning of with tee-shirts, some were not pleased that the only sizes left were womens small and extra small!
The weather conditions on the day were perfect and I found a great atmosphere between all runners.
Quest was also on in Killarney - this may have effected the numbers in Tralee???
It was a tough route with unforgiving ups and downs and a mighty hill that nearly killed me. However, the WORST part was the traffic. Very very dangerous in parts. Some runners forced to weave in and out of cars, lorries, vans..... some drivers showed little concern for runners. I saw a runner at one stage shouting in the window at a driver to cop on (not exact words used!) but it was very off putting. the last mile coming into Tralee again was dangerous, traffic flowing both ways, runners running on both sides of the road, not the drivers or the runners fault but a little direction from a few more stewards here may have helped.
I thought the support along the route was fine because I had not done the run before and therefore had nothing to compare.
Would I do it again?? yes I think so - I enjoyed it, I enjoyed the after party and meeting up with all the other runners.
Next year I would have a better idea of what to watch out for in relation to the route and traffic.
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