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22
Oct
Review into Masham's Long Course Weekend launched
A review into a council-backed sports tourism event in Masham has been launched.
England’s first Long Course Weekend was held in the rural town last month – and is due to be held locally for another two years – supported by a £75,000 hosting fee from North Yorkshire Council.
The council has said it expects the event, which originated in Wales in 2010, will generate up to £2 million for the local economy over a three-year period.
The Long Course is loosely based on the triathlon, with events in running, cycling and swimming, but participants can choose to enter as many races as they like.
Organisers said they expected 5,000 athletes would take part in this year's event but only around a third of that number actually took part.
A total of 26.2 miles of roads across the Harrogate district, including in Ripon and surrounding villages, were closed for a day to facilitate the running events, which frustrated some local people and led to backlash from a local business owner.
Masham Parish Council last week published a survey on the event ahead of a meeting with Long Course organisers in November.
Mashamshire Community Office said it hopes the survey will reflect the opinions of residents and businesses in and around Masham, which will inform future plans.
The survey asks people to rate the level of communication and information shared with local residents in the lead up to the event.
It asks for feedback on organisation, as well as whether people felt the Long Course Weekend brought wider benefits to the area.
The survey can be found here. It is running until October 31.
Hannah Angell was the first woman to cross the line of the 1.2-mile swim at Grimwith Reservoir.
'We hope to learn lessons'
The Long Course Weekend is due to return to Masham next August.
The Stray Ferret asked the parish council if this could change if the feedback is predominantly negative.
Neil Pickard, chair of Masham Parish Council, said:
We are hoping to learn lessons from this year and run it again in 2025. We would hope to have more than double the amount of competitors.
The proposed dates for next year are August 29 to 31.
That is why we are sending out the survey prior to us holding a review meeting of the 2024 event with the Long Course Weekend organisers and North Yorkshire Council.
Any feedback will be appreciated.
The Stray Ferret covered the Long Course Weekend extensively before and after it was held.
We also looked into just how successful the inaugural event was.
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