Record field poised to take on Waterside Half Marathon

A bumper field of almost 4,000 runners are putting their finishing touches to their preparations for what will be the biggest every Waterside Half Marathon this Sunday.

Demand for places for the 42nd edition of the event has been at an all time high and the event fully sold out four months ago.

Race organisers Derry City and Strabane District Council have ambitious plans to grow the Waterside Half into one of the biggest athletics participation events in Ireland.

Festival and Events Manager at Council Jacqueline Whoriskey confirmed that they will deploy a two waved start on Sunday for the first time to allow them to manage the increased numbers out on the course.

“Demand for places for this year’s Waterside Half has reached unprecedented levels,” she told DerryNow. “It is a reflection of the huge numbers of people in the City and District who are now taking part in running and is a ringing endorsement of the event.

“In order to accommodate as many runners as possible we have introduced a waved start for Sunday, where runners who expect to complete the course in two hours or less will start in Wave One, and runners who expect to finish between the two and three hour mark will start shortly after in Wave Two.

“The plan for the implementation of this is explained in your Race Instructions and there is a video on the event website and social media pages explaining exactly how we will coordinate it on Sunday morning.”

Established in 1981, the Waterside Half Marathon had humble beginnings when around 200 runners took part in a straight out and back run to Campsie from the Limavady Road.

The finish line has moved from Gransha, to the St Columb’s Park Running track and finally to the Ebrington site in recent years which has proved particularly popular with runners.

“We redesigned the course last year to incorporate the Pennyburn Footbridge and Craigavon Bridge so there are now five bridge crossings when you include the Foyle Bridge and two crossings of the Peace Bridge,” Jacqueline explained.

“It’s a figure of eight course that mainly straddles the river and incorporates a lot of the city’s greenway network which helps keep traffic disruption to a minimum.

“We want to continue to grow the event in the years ahead but it’s important that we do that in a way that is prudent and makes it a safe and enjoyable experience for runners.

“The waved start will certainly help with that ambition and we would encourage runners to familiarise themselves with the race instructions and for everyone travelling in and around the city on Sunday morning to familiarise themselves with the parking and traffic arrangements to help things run as smoothly as possible on Sunday.”

Wave One of Sunday’s race will set off from the Ebrington Clock Tower start line at 9.30am with Wave Two runners setting off shortly after.

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Finishers will begin to cross the finish line at the same location shortly after 10.30am with all runners expected home before 1.00pm.

Full race instructions and traffic and travel arrangements are available at derrystrabane.com/whm and on the Waterside Half Marathon Facebook page.