2024 West of Ireland Women's Mini-Marathon launches in Ballina

Following the overwhelming success of last year’s event as part of the Ballina 2023 celebrations, the Mayo.ie Western People West of Ireland Women’s Mini-Marathon will return to Ballina again for a second time.

The iconic event, organised by Mayo Sport Partnership in conjunction with Mayo.ie and the Western People, was launched in St Mary’s Secondary School in Ballina last Friday and excitement is already beginning to build for the May bank holiday weekend.

This year’s Mini-Marathon, which is supported by Moy Valley Resources IRD, Ballina Athletic Club and Moy Valley Athletic Club, will take place on Sunday, May 5, at 12 noon.

Registration is now open for the Mini-Marathon on www.westofirelandwomensminimarathon.com, and the first 1,900 entries will receive a free t-shirt. The early bird offer is also running with a fantastic prize. Mount Falcon Estate is delighted to support the Mini-Marathon this year. For all the early birds who sign up, you will be in with a chance to win a luxurious overnight stay for two with dinner in Mount Falcon’s award-winning kitchen restaurant. Closing date for the early bird is St Patrick’s Day, Sunday, March 17.

Last year 2,023 people entered to mark the town’s 300th anniversary, while 1,000 more youngsters took part in the Mini-Mini 2k event. Norah Newcombe-Pieterse was the first to cross the line in the 10k event in a time of 36:47 and was closely followed by Sinéad Whitelaw and Serena Tuffy. It capped off a fantastic few weeks for the town as US President Joe Biden visited a few weeks’ previously.

This year’s event will begin at the recently renovated state-of-the-art Military Barracks in Ballina, now known as the Innovation Quarter (IQ).

Ann Egan from Ballina AC outlined the changes to the 10k route this year. “We’re starting outside Carmel’s Fashions, all the way down to the bridge and coming around by the Mary Robinson Centre, then we’re heading around and we’re passing by the Cathedral all the way down Barrett Street. Then we will come out onto the Foxford Road and we’re going all the way down the Killala Road, passing the Western People and down to Coca-Cola.

“We will take a right turn down by the Belleek campervan park and then go under the Belleek arch and pass the athletic track on our left and then we will come up Castle Road, past the civic offices and Dunnes Stores, through Lidl and onto Bohernasup, coming all the way out to the Killala Road. We’re heading back towards the Western People then, we’ll go down Garden Street and back to the Military Barracks at Market Square.”

Well-known broadcaster Angelina Nugent was the MC for the launch at St Mary’s Secondary School. She said that despite the “politics”, it was a “no-brainer” to have the event, which was first held in 2010, in Ballina.

She welcomed Cathaoirleach of the Ballina Municipal District, Cllr Seamus Weir, to the stage to give an opening address.

“It was an extraordinary event last year, it was one of the finest events of all the events in Ballina last year. To get it here this time, there was a bit of politics, but we achieved it,” Cllr Weir said. “Hopefully we have another great year this year, the event itself is what it’s all about. It’s all about getting participation and getting involved with the event. It’s wonderful, I’d love to run it myself!”

Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council, Cllr Michael Loftus, is also the chairperson of the Mayo Sports Partnership, and he thanked everyone who was involved last year for helping their case to host it in Ballina again in 2024.

“Well done to everyone who has been involved so far. I want to thank the teachers at St Mary’s for supporting this event,” Cllr Loftus said.

Director of services with Mayo County Council Joanne Grehan said the event has been running successfully since 2010 and not even covid-19 stopped it as it was held virtually.

“Thousands of women, and a few interesting men in women’s attire, have taken part in this event for the last few years. The launch of this event coincides nicely with Women in Sports Week which takes place from March 4-10. It’s all about supporting women in participating and getting involved in sport,” Joanne said.

Then Angelina spoke to her first panel of Deirdre Donnelly from Mayo Sports Partnership, Gortnor Abbey student Saidbh Farrell, and last year’s race winner Norah Newcombe-Pieterse.

“I’m delighted to see it again in Ballina, we were at the Military Barracks this morning and it’s great. It’s going to be even better. It’s great to see all the girls here, we had over 180 from St Mary’s last year and we’re looking to top that,” Deirdre said.

Saidbh Farrell took part in the ‘It’s for Teens’ programme last year and really enjoyed the social aspect of training for the Mini-Marathon. She urged all pupils at St Mary’s to sign up.

The second panel was the aforementioned Ann Egan and Annette Maughan, CEO of Moy Valley Resources.

Ann said that Saidbh was a great ambassador for the Its4Girls programme.

“We were trying to encourage those girls that wouldn’t be too familiar with being active in sports, trying to get them involved with walking, jogging or running it,” Ann said. “It was great to get them all out on a Sunday morning.”

Moy Valley Resources have come on board this year and Annette said they got a huge boost from Ballina 2023. “People are so excited. The application window opened up at 12 noon and there were people messaging on the Facebook page at 9am trying to sign up. Everyone should sign up as quickly as possible because last year the spaces filled up so fast.”

The final panel saw two very successful Moy Valley AC runners, who are St Mary students, speak. Clodagh Gill and Aoife Blewitt have been outstanding in their field of athletics, with the former having success at an international level for Ireland. They encouraged their fellow colleagues to join this year’s Mini-Marathon.

Registration for the Mayo.ie Western People Women’s Mini-Marathon is now open. The early bird rate is €20 and includes a t-shirt and medal. Walkers, joggers, and runners over the age of 16 are all welcome to register for the main event.

The teen girls’ #Its4Girls participation event which is a sub-category of the main event for age 12-17 is also open at a reduced rate of just €10.

The Mini-Mini for children will open closer to the date. Charity fundraising options are also live, meaning that anyone who registers has the option to fundraise for a charity of their choice.

Visit www.westofirelandwomensminimarathon.com to register and find the Western People and ‘West of Ireland Women’s Mini Marathon’ social media pages for more updates.