Report by Sandra Kelly
Photos by Conor Kenny
Blessington Lakes on a good day ……
Blessington Lakes on Sunday!!
I have heard many people in the club talking about the Blessington Lakes 10k race held in September and how it’s one of the nicest races to run and when the chance of a number came up last Thursday, I decided to go for it. I’m so glad I did ………
It was a pretty miserable day to start but I was looking forward to seeing what lay ahead. I haven’t raced a 10k in over a year, so decided to give it a go.
I travelled out to the race with Conor and Ray and we talked usual race strategy on the way out. As we embarked on Blessington we happened across the second half of the race route, I got to see the infamous hill at the 6km mark and it looked challenging to say the least but I was up for it.
We parked in a field opposite the lake and even at that early stage, it was mucky. We laughed as a local tractor made its way down the field with a bale of hay to dry out the entrance.
We headed down to get the race numbers (after waiting in the lashing rain while Ray changed his clothes in the back of the car) and met Bronwyn, Eileen and Gareth all getting geared up for the race ahead.
The rain was absolutely beating down by now but we needed a little warm up so jogged up towards the finish line and back to the bridge for the start and we were off.
There’s a bit of a drag for the first 5km but I didn’t find it too bad. The weather was changing rapidly throughout from heavy rain, with wind, to some shelter on the country roads and then more heavy rain and wind.
Unfortunately, by the big hill at 6km, the wind was pushing hard against us but I tried to keep going as much as I could. I was so looking forward to the downhill after that and it was there but I didn’t feel as much of an advantage from it as I expected even though I did pick up the pace.
Unusually I found the last Kilometre the hardest and kept looking at my watch thinking ‘Are we there yet, are we there yet’. It seemed like an eternity until the finish line at last came into view.
Myself, Bronwyn and Conor were neck and neck heading to the line and it was a photo finish in the end with Bronwyn 1 second ahead of us.
Everyone enjoyed it and ran super considering the conditions with Gareth coming 3rd overall.
I’ll definitely be back next year 🙂
P.S. If I had a tenner for every time Ray mentioned ‘Cow Dung’ I’d be a rich woman ……..
Sportsworld Results
3rd Gareth Murran 34.34
92 Ray Carpenter 46.08
107 Louise Jackman 48.08
115 Eileen Rowland 47.44
137 Bronwyn Murphy White 49.14
138 Conor Kenny 49.15
139 Sandra Kelly 49.15
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