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With news of another Circuit Breaker on Island, the organising team are well aware that this is due to end, at the earliest, just over a week before Good Friday.
The team will be meeting (remotely of course!) over the next day or so to assess how this is going to impact on our event. We have said all along that it is our intention to put on the event provided that IOM Government rules and guidelines allow for the event to take place and this remains our underlying aim.
We hope to put out a more detailed statement of our plans over the coming days
5 weeks to go!
It’s starting to get pretty close now! In a little over a month the 58th Easter Festival of Running will kick-off with the 10k race in Port Erin and will begin as enjoyable a weekend of running as you will find anywhere.
We are getting to the stage now where people are thinking more about the event and will have questions about it, especially event newcomers. This week’s update is therefore in the form of bullet points and will hopefully answer some queries.
• Entries – At the last count yesterday, pre-entries are up to 83, with women outnumbering the men so far. Pre-entry closes on Sunday 14 March at 8pm. There is naturally some concern over the current cluster of Covid cases on the Island, but providing there are no Government restrictions at Easter the event will go ahead. If the unthinkable happens and we have to cancel the Festival, please be assured that you will NOT lose your money. You will receive a full refund, or alternatively will have the option of rolling your entry on to next year. Hopefully this will give reassurance to anyone who has been reluctant to enter so far. The link to entries is at easterfestival.info/how-to-enter/
• Courses – 5k - We have had some concerns over the Douglas Promenade works (and also over the last week or two over the work taking place on East Quay in Peel). As mentioned in the last two updates, we have been given assurances that Douglas Promenade walkway will be available to us to hold the 5k races on Easter Sunday morning with no traffic on the walkway, which is great news.
• Courses – Peel Hill - Less good news is that the works on East Quay in Peel are behind schedule and will almost certainly not be complete by Easter, which means the usual start and finish of the races in front of the House of Manannan will be unavailable to us. In addition, the dredging of silt from the marina will be ongoing throughout Easter. This has given us a bit of a headache as far as the Peel Hill races on Easter Saturday afternoon are concerned. Discussions with the various authorities remain ongoing, but we are confident that the races will be able to go ahead over the usual courses but with a different start and finish, which will slightly shorten the races – to be confirmed closer to Easter.
• Courses – 10k - At present we have no major concerns over the 10k course - other than needing lots of marshals! An appeal for marshals for all three events will follow nearer Easter.
• Rules – The event rules have been published on the website and are linked below – please read them carefully. They cover such things as the make-up of teams, how the awards are calculated, age groups and various other things. easterfestival.info/event-rules-for-2021/
• Prize Fund – The Festival carries a prize fund, the size of which is dependent on entry levels. Next week we will confirm details of the main prizes, e.g. for the first three individuals in each race. The full details will be published closer to Easter when we have a better idea of entry numbers. Another reason to enter early!
• Teams – As covered in the event rules, teams must be from affiliated athletic clubs (team members must be first-claim members of the club) or from educational establishments. We traditionally have many University teams, which sadly won’t be the case this year. However to try to maintain the student tradition we have extended the scope of team entries to our local educational establishments such as secondary schools or the University College. Minimum age is 15. If entering a student team, all members must be current full-time students at the establishment, and team members should wear an appropriate top which represents the school/college. If you know of any athletes who may be interested in entering a student team please them know!
If anyone has any queries relating to the Festival, please email easterfestival@manx.net.
Isle of Man Easter Festival of Running
easterfestival.info
The Isle of Man Easter Festival of Running is a series of three races; a 10k, a 5k and a Hill Run.6 weeks to go!
Well, a bit of a spanner has been thrown in the works with another Covid scare on the Isle of Man yesterday which is still being addressed by the IOM Government. Thankfully at this stage we haven’t gone into the third lockdown we feared yesterday, and let’s hope it stays that way. We continue to plan for the Festival going ahead as long as no restrictions are in place at Easter, but really we are in the lap of the gods. Let’s be optimistic!
Entries are a little slow at the moment – maybe people are waiting to see what the situation is before committing themselves to an entry. Please be aware that advance entries close on Sunday 14th March at 8pm. After that entries will still be available on the day of each of the races but a surcharge of £5 for the 10k race and £4 for the Peel Hill and 5k races will apply. On-the-day entrants will not be eligible for extras such as t-shirts or the much sought-after Peel Hill race hats. The link to the entry page is posted below.
This week I’m featuring the Outback 5k races which take place on Douglas Promenade walkway on Easter Sunday morning. The women go first at 10.30am, with the men’s race away at 11.15am. It’s a dead-flat out-and-back course from near the Sea Terminal out to opposite the former Summerland site and back. As stated last week, the DOI Highway Services Division and the MyProm Team have been tremendously supportive of our event and have pledged to ensure that the full walkway will be available to us on Easter Sunday morning to hold the races with no traffic. There may be sections of the route which are a little narrower than normal but that’s a small price to pay!
When the University teams are here in force, it’s noticeable that some competitors don’t make it to the start line after their traditional festivities on Saturday night! I’m sure that won’t be the case for the locals!
Here is what the races looked like the last time the Festival was held in absolutely glorious weather in 2019.
Isle of Man Easter Festival of Running
easterfestival.info
The Isle of Man Easter Festival of Running is a series of three races; a 10k, a 5k and a Hill Run.Easter preparations on track – and entries are open!
The Festival organising team had another meeting by video-link last night, and preparations for the three-day Festival over Easter weekend are on track. With no new cases of Covid reported on the Isle of Man for more than two weeks it is expected that all restrictions within the Island will be lifted on Monday, allowing sporting events to resume.
Entries are therefore open!! The link to the entry page is easterfestival.info/how-to-enter/, and advance entries will close at 8pm on Sunday 14th March. It will still be possible to enter on the day of any of the three races for a surcharge of £5 for the 10k race and £4 for the Peel Hill and 5k races, but it will not by then be possible to order an event t-shirt. We are still in discussions over the format of the post-Festival presentation evening, and will provide further details soon.
In view of the continued serious situation in the UK and beyond, it now seems certain that we will not be able to welcome any visiting athletes in 2021. This is a very sad situation as you all do so much to make the Festival the great event it has always been. We really do sincerely hope that you will stick with us and return as soon as the pandemic has finally been brought under control. We miss you all!
We are sure that the Festival will at least give the Isle of Man based athletes an event to really look forward to with three races in around 40 hours. The 10k road race based in Port Erin is on the evening of Friday 2nd April, the Peel Hill races are on the afternoon of Saturday 3rd April and the 5k road races on Douglas Prom on the morning of Sunday 4th April.
Discussions with the project team working on the development of Douglas Promenade have been very positive, and although a lot of work remains to be done on the prom itself we are confident that the walkway will be available to us to hold the races as usual on Easter Sunday morning.
Further updates on the Festival will follow at regular intervals from now on.
Isle of Man Easter Festival of Running
easterfestival.info
The Isle of Man Easter Festival of Running is a series of three races; a 10k, a 5k and a Hill Run.Easter Festival update
Hi everyone! The Festival organising team had a ‘virtual’ meeting last night to discuss where we are up to with the 2021 event in these most unusual of times.
Those from off the island may gather from the fact that it was a virtual meeting that the Isle of Man is unfortunately back in lockdown having been free of Covid in the community since June last year. At present the latest lockdown is for a 21-day period which we are now a week into, but as new cases are still being identified each day it seems very likely that this will be extended.
We remain absolutely committed to holding the Festival as normally as possible at Easter subject to any restrictions that are in place at that time – even if it is a local-only event. In view of the current serious situation in the UK as well as the lockdown on the island it seems, sadly, more unlikely than ever that we will be able to welcome any competitors who are not ordinarily resident on the island. The very best we can hope for, very optimistically, is that if restrictions on travel are lifted say on 1st April, it may be possible for competitors to make last-minute arrangements to travel. Frankly though, this seems highly unlikely.
Although entries are now open, in view of the current local lockdown we would advise competitors to hold off from entering just for the moment until the situation becomes a little clearer. The organising team are busy putting in place all the usual plans behind the scenes to enable us to hold the traditional three events – the 10k road race in Port Erin on Friday 2nd April, the Peel Hill Races on Saturday 3rd April and the 5k road races on Douglas Promenade on Sunday 4th April.
Once things start to unravel a little we will be back in touch. Fingers crossed that the news will be better before too long!