Rian Farrell was likely caught unawares this week when carving his name into the long annals of Irish athletics history.
In registering with North Sligo AC, Farrell helped grow the Athletics Ireland club membership to 75,000 and it’s already tipped beyond that.
November registration – when annual membership is counted – has now peaked at 75,078.
It may have been a small gesture to name Farrell as their 75,000th member, but this is a big deal for Athletics Ireland, the governing body of the sport which has existed under various guises going back to the Irish Champions Athletic Club (ICAC) founded in 1873.
It marks a 7 per cent increase on last November’s registration figure of 70,320 (the first to surpass the 70,000-mark), which in turn was a 9 per cent increase on the peak 2023 registration. All indications are the only way is up.
Athletics, like many sports, also suffered a significant drop off in club membership during Covid-19.
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