Earlier this year, just shortly after the Bunbury Track Ultra on August 11 and 12, race director and organiser Ron McGlinn informed participants who were immediately asking for next year’s date, that despite a well-run event for 2018, the race itself was in question.
The event began with a decent amount of interest back in 2015, and in 2016 peaked with 89 runners entered, however in 2017 that number dropped to just 75 entrants – and as with all races where people have to withdraw, that total ended up being 68 on the day.
McGlinn explains that this year, in 2018, the Bunbury Track Ultra lay claim to just 47 runners, of which nine were children, making it 38 adults (including teams).
“I guess like all things, the reasons are varied and complicated,” he says.
“In 2015 when Track Ultra kicked off ,there were a number of gaps in the ultra calendar, and there was a genuine need for our own 24hr track event in WA.
“Since then, there has been an explosion in the WA ultra-scene with lots of great events close to where people live, which is Perth.
“Logistically, it is harder for people to travel (Bunbury is 170kms south of Perth), and being brutally honest with myself, track ultras appeal to only a very small cross section of the running community, so it naturally attracts less competitors.”
McGlinn’s intent was to provide an event for WA runners, the opportunity to run under optimal conditions on a track, and let West Aussies enter a track race in their own state rather than having to fly over east.
“This has been in decline ever since, and is no longer self-supporting,” he says.
“An event has to be planned months in advance, and items such as trophies and medals have to be ordered and paid for in that time, well and truly before we have the numbers to recoup any of those outgoing costs.
“This year the vast majority of our entries came in the last couple weeks prior to the event, and it only seems to be getting worse, with many people waiting until the very last minute to enter.”
Sadly, McGlinn will have to make some hard decisions about what is viable and what is not.
With a 40% drop in numbers for 2018, realistically it’s a struggle with increasing costs and fewer entrants, and at this point, McGlinn has stated that running the Track Ultra in 2019 was slim.
Coburg 24hr race director Tim Erickson has weighed in, saying his event has also seen numbers dropped due to a variety of factors, but entrants are slowly being increased again.
“In the 1990s with the demise of the Westfield Run, our Coburg 24hr Carnival numbers dropped drastically, bottoming at an all-time low of 14 in 1999,” he recalls.
“During the 1990s a Relay Division had been added to provide further critical mass, but was only partially successful. In fact, some felt it was more effort than it was worth; around 2000, the Coburg Harriers were thinking of calling it quits and winding up the event.
