WINDSWEPT Runners taking part in the Achill Half-Marathon last year. An even bigger field is scheduled to take part this year. Pic: Ian Boyle
5,000 to come to Achill for half-marathon
Anton McNulty
UP TO 5,000 people are expected to descend on Achill Island this weekend for the Achill Half-Marathon with organisers saying that the weekend’s activities could bring in close to €600,000 to the island.
The Achill Half-Marathon, which is in its third year, has been sold out since early May and 1,200 participants have registered to take part in Saturday’s race. This year has attracted the most interest, by far, in the race, with organisers explaining that the demand was so high, they could have registered 5,000 participants for the race. However, due to safety reasons, it was decided to limit the number of participants for this year’s race to 1,200.
The half-marathon was organised to raise money for the charity, Silent Masses, and its founder James Cleary told The Mayo News that they hope to increase the number of participants for next year’s race and are contemplating running two races over the weekend. He said the race keeps growing from strength to strength and they hope to raise over €40,000 for the charity.
“We were expecting a big crowd after last year’s success and we could have sold up to 5,000 entries for the race. The office has been getting hundreds of e-mails a day and phone calls from people begging to get into the race. We believe it will be even bigger next year and because of the massive demand.It has been a huge success because the location is unique and we make sure that all the runners are looked after. This has become one of the most successful races in Ireland, there is no doubt about that,” he said.
The sponsors of the Achill Half-Marathon, which will start at 11am at the Keel Sandybanks, include Jaguar and Meteor Ireland. A beach barbecue will also take place during the day and entertainment will continue through the night.
James explained that there was more local involvement this year with 120 people volunteering on the day. He thanked Achill Tourism and all the local businesses for embracing the event and said there will be a festival atmosphere over the weekend. He added that shuttle buses would bring people from the train stations to the island and estimated that the weekend would be worth close to €600,000 to Achill.
The Manager of Achill Tourism, Helen Applegarth, explained that the marathon was hugely beneficial to the island and estimated that 90-95 per cent of the accommodation on the island was full for next weekend.
