with Brian Quigley, October 2013
October will see the roads of our county busy with runners putting the finishing touches to their preparations for the 2013 Dublin marathon, which takes place on Monday, October 28. Wicklow will be represented by many runners from the county’s clubs – from Inbhear Dee and St Benedict’s in the south to Greystones and District Ac, Kilcoole Ac and Bray runners in the north to West Wicklow Ac in the west, and most, if not all, clubs in between. The marathon is the ultimate challenge in running and I know from experience that it is not to be underestimated. Preparation is everything.
Running is enjoying a real boom at the moment, both in the county and in the country as a whole. This is great but there’s an inherent paradox in this. I’ve always liked running and about 10 years ago started running for my company’s team in the Business Houses Athletic Association [BHAA]. talking to people before and after races at that time you would hear people bemoaning the fact that numbers attending races were contracting and that standards weren’t what they used to be in the heyday of running in Ireland that was the 1980’s.
A decline in the sport in an inverse proportion to our economic fortunes seemed logical to me after I gave it some thought. The more wealth people had the more they could afford to fly off on exotic holidays or take part in more expensive sporting activities such as water sports and skiing, to name a few, and running fell by the wayside to a certain extent.
Now that the boom is over the opposite is true and running has become more popular as the recession has progressed. People see running as a cheap but rewarding form of sport.
It also keeps them in good health which provides a further financial saving. It’s a win-win situation in a recession. All you need is a good pair of runners and away you go. Training and racing keeps your weight down, your blood pressure in check and your heart in good shape. You are more likely to eat the right foods as you correct your diet to match your healthy lifestyle. All this adds up to less medical spend. You are more focused and clear-headed after your exercise to deal with the other pressures that come with a recessionary time.
Another paradox with running and economic cycles is that countries seem to produce more elite-level runners in tougher financial times. You might think that the opposite should be true and that with wealth would come more investment in facilities which would produce more elite athletes. In fact, in wealthy times people (in general, there are obvious exceptions such as Fionnuala Britton and Rob Heffernan) aren’t as motivated to put in the hard graft needed to be a champion and so the facilities that have been invested in are under-used or just ‘nice to have’.
