The organisers of the annual Danny McDaid 15k road race in Letterkenny hope to see participation for this year’s race exceed 200.
Launching last years Danny McDaid 15k road race are from left Brendan McDaid, Danny McDaid, Siobhan Doherty-Barrett, Station House Hotel and Neily McDaid.
Now in its ninth year, the race will take place on August 11th.
Last year saw 140 runners take part in the Letterkenny Athletics Club organised event, and it is hoped that the continued growth of running in the town and the county in general will see even more take part.
The race, named after the Newmills 1972 and 1976 Olympic runner, was established as a preparation for those preparing for marathons and half marathons later in the year.
Speaking at the launch of this year’s event at the Station House Hotel, which is sponsoring the race for the fourth year, Mr McDaid said the numbers keep increasing.
“It is at the right time for people who are thinking of longer distances,” he said. “People have been doing that many 5ks now that it is a nice change and it gives them a feel of where they are at in their training.
“Before people used to just want to exercise but they did not want to go to the line to compete but today that is not a problem.”
Chair of Letterkenny Athletics Club, Brendan McDaid, hopes the participation can exceed last year’s race, which was the biggest to date.
“There are a lot more people doing fun runs. Every race this year has seen an increase. More and more people are being active and keeping fit and running is one of the cheapest ways of doing that.”
Siobhan Barrett-Doherty of the Station House Hotel said the hotel was delighted to be associated with such a beneficial local event.
“This is an event with strong local affiliations and we like to be able to support local initiatives as a local home-gown hotel,” she said.
Registration swill be accepted right up until the morning of the race. Anyone interested can email: dannymcdaid15k@gmail.com
