24/10/2024
“Great oaks from little acorns grow” Remembering Martin Dillon on the eve of Spooktacular and on his anniversary. I think he would be very proud of how much the Enniskillen Spooktacular has grown and flourished into the community event that it is. We are and continue to be proud sponsors of this wonderful event
Here we are already!! It's the eve of Spooktacular 2024, and today's date also just happens to be the anniversary of Martin Dillon's passing. Martin was one of the Spooks main founders back in the day, a man who fought hard to get the event up and running. Martin was a great runner and loved to encourage others - especially those who lacked confidence - to come out and try their best 🏃♀️🏃
From humble beginnings the spook is now a sellout event. One of the reasons it flourishes is because when you run an event like the Spook, other politics just disappear. One mile into the run the biggest salary in town is equal to the smallest, the best education means the same as a basic one, one step in my shoes is equal to a step in yours. A friendly smile from a stranger when you're struggling, a supportive word when you feel like giving up makes the usual boundaries dissolve ❤️
Now that we have reached sellout status, you may think that our well oiled machine has a fancy setting behind the scenes.......not quite!! The majority of the committee meetings took place after club training in the tiny pavilion office at the side of the track; all the luxury of a portable boiler and polystyrene cups of tea, a dozen adults squashed in between stacks of traffic cones, boxes of sports equipment and (for the particularly unlucky) next to the long abandoned football boots in the corner. In this glamorous setting all the big decisions were made, discussed, reviewed, analysed - vital notes sometimes scribbled on the back of an old envelope and a packet of digestives shared around. And there you have it folks.....that's how average, everyday people who volunteer their time (between work, running a home, taxiing children around, and trying to hold all the other commitments of life together) manage to produce Ireland's biggest night time run. Somewhere in that concept is something very real and very beautiful, just as it is for participants. It doesn't have to be fancy or impressive, you just have to show up and do your best. And somehow, the result of one and a half thousand people doing just that is absolute magic ✨
If only you could see it now Martin..... This year premiers the mini spook; where the little folk are welcomed to their very own Friday night event; where they get to stay up late and run under the dark night sky, the town a flurry of people, bright lights, costumes, music, laughter...... How amazing is that? To see the spook through the eyes of a child, and to give the youth a positive association with running. What a legacy you have left us with.....
Thank you Martin 🙏 The spook is possibly more than you imagined it could be, and yet its basic principles and core spirit remains exactly as they were back then.... They are yours. Always.
In memory of our friend and founder ❤️
Written on behalf of Enniskillen Running Club by Erica Johnston
