Record number of runners to take part in Omagh half marathon

ALONGSIDE big names like defending champion Gary Hegarty, Nichola Sheridan, who won the Dublin Half Marathon last weekend, Catherine Whoriskey and former winner Sergiu Ciobanu, there are over 4,500 runners entered in what is the biggest field ever assembled for the event.

And while race director, Michael Ward has been blown away by the uptake of places, he admits in order to run the event as smoothly as possible, that’s as many as they were prepared to take on this year.

“There are in excess of four and a half thousand entered, it’s unreal, it’s a record number! We’re totally amazed and the starting point it, the half marathon was sold out in 29 days this year. And that was us opening in October time,” he said.

“We could have taken far, far more if we had really wanted to but obviously we had to think about everybody’s safety and everyone getting their medal and tops and everything else.

“All of these items are ordered pre-Christmas, so we want to be fair to everyone, rather than someone coming in on the back end and not getting anything.”

In order to look after all those runners, Ward admits he and organising club, Omagh Harriers, are not only indebted to the hundreds of volunteers who give up of their time to ensure the smooth running of the race, which looks as though it will take place in plenty of spring sunshine.

“[The weather] looks very promising, so all in all it’s going to be a fantastic event,” he added. “We have in excess of two hundred and fifty volunteers between water stations, marshalls, first aid teams and then the whole finish zone and the goodie bag distribution at the end, so we have a lot of people out there helping.

“And this year’s charity is Care for Cancer and again, they supply quite a number of volunteers because it’s a big day for them and it’s good for their profile and to give them a bit more recognition locally.”

With this being the event’s 35th anniversary year, Ward is keen to ensure runners leave with a smile on their faces, which, after so many years of experience in providing an enjoyable day in Omagh, he is confident of doing so.

“It’s a big one with this being our 35th anniversary, it’s a great milestone for the club and it’s a big one for our committee, which has been in place for a long number of years with a lot of the same people, whose expertise mean everything is sorted well in advance in terms of organisation.

“It’s great to have that expertise in house and runners generally leave Omagh with very, very good thoughts of the event, how it’s organised and the course, so we just want to mark the occasion by making it an enjoyable event for everyone.”