Evening Echo Womens Mini-Marathon Entries Top 1000 Mark - August 8th 2018
Entries Stream in For 37th Evening Echo Women's Mini-Marathon
Centre Park Road Cork
1pm, Sunday September 16th 2018
Enter 37th Evening Echo Cork Women's Mini-Marathon
With little over 5 weeks to go to the big day, entries are streaming in for the 37th Evening Echo Cork Women's Mini-Marathon. Evening Echo are Flagship Sponsors, for the 37th consecutive year, and this year we have Tesco join the event as one of the main Sponsors. Entries passed the 1,000 mark on Monday last, and are coming from all parts; primarily from Cork City and surrounds, there are also large numbers from throughout the county, but also from further away, with large groups coming from Cashel, Clonmel, Tralee and Tipperary...and many other towns throughout the country.
Race Information - 37th Evening Echo Women's Mini-Marathon 2018
This year, the event is changed to a 6km event - previously it was a little shy of 4 Miles. This will enable all participants to start on Centre Park Road, eliminating the frantic merging of previous years, where twin streams from Mill Road and Centre Park Road joined together. The single stream start will make for a more efficient start for all participants and is proving very popular, judging from feedback received to date.
This year, Time Zones are being introduced to the event for the first time. The zones will be marked on both sides of the road leading to the Start Line, with 7 zones in all:
| Zone | Time Range | Approx. Pace |
|---|---|---|
| Zone 1 | Sub 24 | sub 6:30 Minutes/Mile |
| Zone 2 | 24 - 32 Mins | 6:30 to 8:30 Minutes/Mile |
| Zone 3 | 33 - 36 Mins | 8:30 to 9:30 Minutes/Mile |
| Zone 4 | 37 - 40 Mins | 10 to 11 Minutes/Mile |
| Zone 5 | 41 - 45 Mins | 11 to 12 Minutes/Mile |
| Zone 6 | 46-50 Mins | 12 to 14 Minutes/Mile |
| Zone 7 | 50 Min + | 14+ Minutes/Mile |
Time Zones for Evening Echo Women's Mini-Marathon
Time Zones
Runners and walkers should enter the Time Zone most appropriate to their own target finish time. If all participants adhere to this, it should make for a streamlined start and a pleasant experience for everyone, runner and walker alike. The image above gives an indication of the zones, though the view foreshortens them, making some of the zones appear smaller than they actually will be. Each zone will be sized to adequately cater for the estimated numbers (based on previous year's Mini-Marathon finish times) in each section.
There are two primary goals behind the introduction of Time Zones:
Improve Safety for Everyone and
Make for a smoother Start for all participants, from the fastest to those who intend taking their leisure
If everyone starts in a realistic zone for their own individual abilities, we think that the change will prove a major factor in everyone enjoying their 2017 Mini-Marathon experience.
...We Like It.....We Hope YOU do Too!!
Announcement of the Distance Change in the Evening Echo
Wednesday 11th July 2018
Distance change for Echo Mini Marathon
■ Roisin Burke
ONE of Cork's flagship athletics event is making changes for 2018.
The Evening Echo Women's Mini Marathon, which is in its 37th year, is changing its length from 6.5km to 6km and organisers Cork Athletics are also introducing voluntary time zones to ensure a seamless procession of runners from start to finish.
John Quigley of Cork Athletics said the organisation want to improve the experience of the participants as well as the safety of the event.
"Up till now, it has been 'go where you like', so you might have a walker up at the front or a runner caught at the back.
"This year we arc doing a couple of things, we have changed the distance which is to enable everyone to start on Centre Park Road.
"Up until now you had people coming out of Mill Road and they were merging which we felt was not the safest thing."
"We have also set up voluntary time zones so we will be asking walkers to stay back and runners will go up the front at the faster time zones."
Mr Quigley said he thinks people will be very pleased with what they are doing."
Last year the race had 6,000 people taking part, but this year, with the new-improved lay-out, Cork Athletics are hoping to increase it to 8,000 participants.
The Evening Echo Women's Mini Marathon also attracts a number of men in attendance, but Mr Quigley stressed they are not eligible for the prizes. "All the prizes are for women, we do get a load of male interlopers, some in drag and some don't even bother to make the effort, but only women are eligible for the prizes.
"We also promote the event as a charity fundraiser, wo want people to use it as a way to raise money for charity. We reckon each year the mini-marathon raises €1.5m for charity.
The race takes place on Sunday, September 16, at 1pm.
