CREDIT crunch woes and recession fears could have deterred hundreds of runners from entering the annual Jersey Spartan Modern Hotels Half-Marathon.

Just under 70 entries have been received from overseas runners for next weekend’s event, compared with nearly 300 last year. Yet there has been a huge increase in the number of Jersey and Guernsey athletes hoping to take part.

Organiser Mary McGrath said: ‘I’m fairly sure it has a lot to do with the credit crunch and the state of the worldwide economy. At the moment we have between 50 and 70 runners who have applied from the UK and elsewhere, but normally we have up to 300. It’s had a major impact. Having said that, we are up on numbers of people entering from Jersey and Guernsey – we have about 20 from Guernsey and 150 from Jersey – and I’m expecting to have a massive influx of entry forms next week.’

Runners are asked to note that numbers will not be sent out in the post this year. Instead, all entrants must pick up their race pack from the Mayfair Hotel between noon and 8 pm on Thursday, between noon and 9 pm on Friday or between 1 pm and 9 pm on Saturday.

• Picture: Ken White will be one of the favourites to take the honours in the men’s event