New director steps into the boots of Mayo walking festival boss

By Tom Gillespie

A NEW director has donned the boots to run the 56-year-old Castlebar International Walking Festival.

Rowena Gillespie, who has been associated with the festival for 37 years, takes over the mantle from Elaine Devereaux who has been in the hot seat for up on 30 years.

Rowena, an employee of Penneys in Castlebar, plans to put her personal stamp on the walks, which this year take place from June 29 to July 2.

In 1967, as president of Castlebar Chamber of Commerce, the late Michael Joe Egan, solicitor, of Mountain View, put forward the idea of establishing the Castlebar International Song Contest and the Four Day International Walking Festival.

In recalling the events, Mr. Egan wrote in 1996: 'The history of the walking festival was that Tommy Brennan, a member of Westport Post Office staff, established a small travel agency in Westport and got literature from all over the world.

'Included in the literature was information about a walking festival held annually in Nijmegen in Holland.

'He considered that Westport would be an ideal place for such a festival because of the surrounding countryside, which was eminently suitable for walking.

'He tried to enlist backing for such a project but the Westport people turned it down, and, in a fit of pique, Tommy Brennan approached me, as president of the chamber in Castlebar, to see if Castlebar would be interested in promoting such an event.

'The matter was considered by the chamber and because of the great amount of work involved in organising such a festival, the services of the county engineer, Joe Egan, were enlisted. Joe Egan had access to a large staff of engineers, and road gangers, and they undertook the organisation of the festival.

'It was quite a success in the first years but when the troubles broke out in Northern Ireland and with the worldwide publicity engendered by such troubles, people abroad thought there was a war on here and that it would be dangerous to come to Ireland for such an event.

'As a result it did not develop, really, until the foreigners were informed about the limited area covered by the troubles.'

The festival has gone from strength to strength in recent years but was cancelled during Covid.

When I asked Elaine what advice she had for her successor, she said: “My advice for Rowena is she is a walker and to me that is the most important thing in the continuation of the walks.

“I hope she will enjoy the challenge and keep it simple because everything will finish at her door at the end of the day.

“That is all I would be worried about and she should be protective in that sense. I wasn’t always good at that. She has much better diplomatic skills than I would.”

Elaine added: “This is a good time to bring it forward and Rowena is getting a good platform. I have been director for up on 30 years and it is well past time for me to have gone. But there was nobody there to take over. It is fine for people to say someone else should front the festival.

“If I got a penny for each time I heard that I would be well off. But nobody wanted to take on the role.

“We have an amazing reputation on the international walking stage. It is unbelievable. We have one vote on the International Marching Association (IMA) but in that one vote we have the power of Nijmegen in Holland who attract 42,000 walkers to their festival. The IMA gave one vote to each organisation regardless of size. We have the same powers as Japan or China.

“Rowena now has the nucleus of a strong organising committee, which is very important. I have no doubt she will do a professional job as she has the ability. The only downside is that it is a hard challenge when she is working full time. But anything Rowena does she does 100 per cent.”

Speaking of her new role, Rowena, who is a sergeant in the Reserve Defence Forces, 6th Battalion, and an emergency medical technician (EMT) with the Irish Red Cross, said: “I am looking forward to the challenge.

“I have been associated with the walks for over three decades and I know what is expected of me.

“The unique ramble/cross-country walk is the jewel in our crown as no other international festival provides such an attraction - one which shows up the vast rugged beauty of the west of Ireland.”

Rowena said a large number of foreign entries for this year’s walks have already registered.

She added: “However, it is my intention to focus on getting as many locals as possible back walking, which was a major part of the initial walks.

“For the four days in June/July our headquarters will be at the Ivy Tower (formerly the Welcome Inn Hotel), where the 1967 walks commenced from.”

Interesting note: Rowena’s grand-uncle, Bernie Gillespie, was a member of Castlebar Chamber of Commerce in 1967, and participated in the initial walks.