Half Marathon self-funding hopes

DERRY City and Strabane District Council members have welcomed record participation numbers at both the Strabane-Lifford and Waterside half marathons, but say more can be done to reduce costs to ratepayers.

During an update report to November’s Business and Culture Committee, head of Culture, Aeidin McCarter, said the Strabane-Lifford Half Marathon, which took place in May, saw a record 1,329 individual entries, while 57 teams participated in a three-person relay for an overall total of 1,500 registrations.

She added that, while bringing the marathon start line into the town centre has proved popular, some “minor adjustments” to the course will be considered for 2026 “in order to grow entries”.

The Waterside Half Marathon had its highest ever registration numbers, with 3,512 individuals and 106 three-person relay teams creating an overall total of 3,830.

Members were presented with an estimated total income for both half marathons in 2026; £121,000, through rates (£26,000), registrations (£85,000) and sponsorships (£10,000); against an estimates £121,000 expenditure for safety/production costs (£83,000), supplies (£21,000), staffing (£10,000) and the prize fund (£7,000).

Sinn Féin councillor, Brian Harte, welcomed the sponsorships, but said council "could do more in attracting sponsorship and reducing the overall cost to ratepayers."

He added: “Some of the running clubs are using volunteers to help out on the day.

“There’s £83,000 in safety and production costs, so maybe there’s room for a reduction in this if we can get more volunteers involved.

“We could possibly get to a stage that there’s no cost to the ratepayers and that the two events will fund themselves.”

SDLP councillor, Sean Mooney, said both half marathons were "flourishing" and said he hoped they would become "self-sustainable" in the future, while DUP Alderman Julie Middleton said her party would also like to see "movement in the next number of years to have no rates involved in paying for the events."

“But I acknowledge that that’s not just a wee easy solution,” she said.

“That’s not going to be as easy as it sounds, but that’s definitely something we’d love to see progress towards in the future.”