For forty-five years, Munster Technological University’s Athletics Track has given athletes from Cork and beyond a place to call home. Over these four and a half decades, the sports complex has undergone many makeovers. Recently, following a period of renovation, the transformed track was reopened, once again providing a vital sports facility in the South West region.
Just how indispensable is this amenity to the local community? 12 athletics clubs from Cork City and County currently train at the MTU Athletics Track on a weekly basis, with an estimated combined membership of 2,600. Additionally, approximately 1,000 students from 40 primary schools make use of the facility annually, as well as roughly 550 students from 14 secondary schools. The largest primary school sporting event in Europe, Cork Primary School Sports, is also held at MTU’s athletics facilities. With several DEIS schools using these facilities, MTU provides access to many students who otherwise might not have such an opportunity.
Not only is the track used by school students, it also provides great benefit to the wider community. Three different road races start and finish at the track, including the Cork Rebel Run, the MTU 5km, and the Cork Lions Club 5km. The track also hosts the Cork City Sports event, attracting World and Olympic medal-winning competitors.
Staff and students at MTU make great use of the facility too. MTU’s staff and student athletics enthusiasts, including those in the MTU Athletics Club and the Business Houses Athletics Association, train and compete at the venue. Some students from the Department of Sport, Leisure and Childhood Studies even make use of the track during the course of their studies.
MTU’s Athletics Track has also hosted a number of inclusive sports events, including the Rebel Run-a-Mile Challenge, which seeks to support adults who access disability services in Cork by providing access to a 6-week training programme to progressively build up their walking, jogging, running or rolling to a distance of one mile by the end of the programme. Additionally, the track has facilitated Special Olympics and Irish Wheelchair Association events. The track is also regularly used by the Rebel Wheelers, a multi-sports club for children with physical disabilities. Later this year, Breast Cancer Ireland will host a running event at the venue.
There’s ample space for spectators to follow the races with over 1,000 seats at MTU’s Athletics Stadium. With its recent refurbishment bringing the track up to the highest international standards, the track is sure to host many more races and attract even more athletes from the South West region and beyond.
MTU’s Athletics Stadium is one of Ireland’s most community-orientated facilities and truly reflects MTU’s Succeeding Together motto in how it makes the University’s facilities available to a broad spectrum of people from the region and beyond.
