'It's shameful. We can't lose the Waterside Half Marathon'

Derry City & Strabane District Council’s decision to host the Waterside Half Marathon every two years instead of annually as part of a cost saving exercise has been described as ‘shameful’.

The Council revealed this week that the event will now alternate with the Strabane-Lifford Half Marathon every year, with 2023 the last year that both events will take place together.

It means that in 2024, the Strabane-Lifford Half Marathon will take place in lieu of the Waterside Half Marathon, which will then return in 2025 in place of the Strabane event.

This Sunday, over 2,000 people will participate in the 40th staging of the Waterside Half Marathon, will demand so high that hundreds of runners have had to be turned away this year. But those runners will now have to wait two years for its return.

The statement read: “A spokesperson for Derry City and Strabane District Council explained that as part of the cost saving exercise to strike a rate for the district earlier this year, Elected Members took the decision to alternate the Waterside and Strabane Lifford Half Marathons each year with the Waterside taking place this year and Strabane Lifford being held in 2024.

“The spokesperson explained that after concerns were raised that the new policy might be too short notice for aspiring runners who were training for the 2023 Strabane Lifford Half Marathon, the necessary finance was identified to stage both events together for one last year. In keeping with the original arrangement the Strabane Lifford Half Marathon will take place again in 2024 and the Waterside Half Marathon will be held in 2025.”

Local race organiser and City of Derry Spartan Noel McMonagle, who is running in Sunday’s Half Marathon, claimed the decision makes ‘absolutely no sense’.

“I’m totally shocked at that decision being made and I think there should have been some consultation with the local running clubs regarding that decision,” he said. “At the end of the day, this is an event of 40 years of running and I’m sure there could have been some negotiating with the local clubs to see if there was another way around this and how this could continue to be put on year on year.

“The Strabane Half-Marathon is a new event which has popped out of the woodwork in the past six or seven years, and it has nowhere near the numbers that Derry gets, but they are going to alternate both? It doesn’t make any sense. I’m not saying cancel Strabane to let Derry go. I’m saying let’s talk about it and see how it can be done. Maybe there’s another way to do it outside council.

“The Derry half marathon is an iconic race right across the length of Ireland and to tell people now that it’s going to be every second year, it’s a joke to be perfectly honest.

“I think the councillors that made that decision would need to sit down with the running clubs and explain it to them in terms of what money they’re saving and what impact it’s going to have on the local running fraternity.”

Noel believes that not only will alternate years affect the stature of the race, but could lead to its extinction in a matter of years.

“We can’t lose the Derry Half Marathon, because, mark my words on this, if we lose the Derry Half Marathon, next year we will lose that date permanently,” he continued. “There are two great Half Marathons out there that are building up; the Antrim Coast Half Marathon is now a major event and one of the best in the world for times. Meanwhile, they have totally knocked the socks off Derry because of the changes made in the last couple of years.

“We can’t afford to lose that date, because if we lose it, we’ll not get it back. I’m astounded that this is coming out. There’s a very successful Half Marathon taking place on Sunday and now council are pouring cold water on it by telling people it won’t be happening next year. They can’t let this happen.”

See full story in tomorrow's Derry News