Athletics: 2026 Easter Festival Running gets underway today

Hundreds to take part in three-day series on Island

Hundreds of local and off-Island athletes are set to take part in the 2026 Isle of Man Easter Festival of Running which gets underway today (3 April).

The series sees three races held over three days from today until Easter Sunday (5 April) with this year's meeting seeing huge demand to get involved.

More than 770 pre-entries were received for the event with roughly two-thirds of competitors hailing from the UK, Ireland and further afield.

Isle of Man athletics correspondent, Dave Griffiths says along with the overall numbers, the range of ages taking part shows how accessible the festival is:

The first race of the festival is the Port Erin 10k which will get underway in the south of the Island at 6.45pm.

Race two tomorrow (4 April) will feature the Peel Hill Race in the west with the men's race starting at 2.15pm and the women's contest an hour later at 3.15pm.

The third and final occasion on Easter Sunday (5 April) will be the Douglas 5k on a course on Douglas Promenade with the women's event starting at 10.30am followed by the men's race at 11.20am.