Clontarf 5 Mile and Half Marathon

Race reports by Derek Saville (5 mile) and Denise Kilkenny (Half Marathon)

Photos by Eoin O’Brien and the Clontarf Race Album: Click here

Full club results with each report below.

5 Miler Report by Derek Saville

I made the school boy error of standing beside Eoin post race. Walked away with this assignment to do for my naivety.

Race Reporter Derek in track action earlier in the season

A small group of us Sportsworlders toed the line at the Clontarf half and 5 mile race on Saturday 9th July. I did the 5 mile. The morning’s heavy rain abated in time for the start. I must say, it was much lower key than I was expecting. It is a well known race so I thought the quality at the front end would be higher. Club runners were scarce enough.

The course was an out and back, from the path opposite the Yacht pub to Bull Island. It was pancake flat which is always a plus, but it felt muggy and energy sapping. Also(I’m clutching at straws now I know), the concrete paths wouldn’t give the same bounce as tarmac might out on the main road.

Conor ran a very strong opening 2 miles and opened up a good gap on the chasing group. Myself and Diarmuid were further back behind that chasing group. We headed out together having agreed that we would try and get to the halfway turn in 15 minutes and see what happened from there.

I couldn’t hold this pace and dropped off Diarmuid. I held it around 6.20’s for the remainder of the race. Conor was eventually reeled in but finished in the top five which is great going.

I came in a place behind Diarmuid, possibly top ten. Eoin wasn’t too far behind. Places aren’t really relavant of course. Time is the only true reflection of your race. We all seemed to be a good bit off PB’s which is strange given the flat course. It is an enjoyable race. A nice part of Dublin to be on a Saturday morning. It was well run with modest refreshments and a nice medal at the end.

The out and back course allowed for some nice camaraderie amongst teammates exchanging welcome words of encouragement as we passed each other. And at the end of the day, isn’t that really what it’s all about?

Sportsworld 5 Mile Results:

Place Name Chip Time
5 Conor McCarthy 0:29:25
9 Diarmuid O Suilleabhain 0:31:37
10 Derek Saville 0:31:43
24 Eoin O’Brien 0:34:23
91 Mairead Daunt 0:39:58
146 Audrai O’Driscolll 0:42:57
162 Phil Daly 0:43:37
170 Peter Brennan 0:43:56

Half Marathon Report by Denise Kilkenny

The Clontarf Half Marathon took place last Saturday the 9th of July in the coastal suburb of Clontarf. It was an exciting day for me as not only had I never ran this course before; I had never been in Clontarf, but with Gamma White’s help we eventually made it to the start line. I had targeted this race as a starting point, something to give me a time to improve on.

Race reporter Denise with Gemma White

Although I have completed many half marathons I never really understood the importance of writing down/ remembering the time you ran it in until I joined a running club and heard the ‘PB’ word being bandied about. In the end the weather turned out to be relatively dry, except for the downpour at the start line and the strong breeze (wind) on the beach on our way back in. Eoin Ryan has reported it is ‘probably the worst conditions they have ever had’ so that makes us even better for doing it.

Gemma and I bumped into each other at wheelworx picking up our numbers and debated why we do this to ourselves, but once we stocked up on a few gels and power beans we felt a lot more confident that we could at least finish the race.

[ezcol_1half][/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end][/ezcol_1half_end]

It was lovely too greeted by so many faces from Sportsworld all wearing their club colours with pride (Eoin had warned us). And of course, our two Pacers Ronan Murray and Stephen Willoughby in their fabulous attire.

After a call from my injured running buddy Emer Casey to wish me luck, I took my places behind the 1:50 pacer. Clontarf Half Marathon is an out and back course taking in the Clontarf promenade – Bull Island – the causeway – continuing along the promenade up to Sutton Lane where participants will then retrace their footsteps back to the start/finish line.

[ezcol_1half][/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end][/ezcol_1half_end]

I had not done a half marathon since Dublin last year and in that race I had gone out too fast and ended up having to stop after 10 miles for a few seconds to compose myself, I virtually crawled the last 3 miles to the finish line. So, for the Clontarf race I was determined to take the advice of Ronan Murray and took it easier going out and if I was able to I could pick it up on the way back in.

Emma and I completed the first few miles together with some girls that sounded like they came straight from ‘Coppers’ either that or they were very very excited about doing this race!! They soon dropped back much to our delight. I found the beach to be fine on the way out; I concentrated on taking in the view and sorting out the world’s problems in my head! As reported the course is flat and is an out and back in course which, I never have run before, but really liked, as I got a great boost from seeing those 12 Sportsworld faces again as we passed each other at different stages.

I decided to run my own race and leave the pacer early on remembering not to go to fast All was going well for me until we hit the 9.5 mile point; I felt strong and kept comparing it to our long runs in the Phoenix Park on a Sunday morning. However, Phoenix Park may have hills, but it does not have the sea breeze that hit me full force in the face at this point. Not sure why I refer to it as a sea breeze because it felt more like Gale force winds at the time. I decided a gel was needed to get me to through this stage of the race.

[ezcol_1half][/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end][/ezcol_1half_end]

As I ran up the beach, I actually hit my watch thinking it had stopped working ‘surely I was running faster than 9 minute miles but no, I wasn’t. That 1.5 miles (give or take) was difficult, and I was tired, but once we got to the end of the beach and got back on the road, the wind was on our back, and it carried me home.

I crossed the line a happy girl, however soon witnessed another runner in serious troublesome fellow heroes stepped up with their medical skills and we have heard since that this man has made a full recovery. We runners are a great bunch of people!!

Congratulations exchanged, we regrouped for our obligatory post race picture and some well earned carbs. Huge thanks to those who ran the 5 miles race and in true Sportsworld style stayed around to cheer us doing the half marathon over the line.

Sportsworld Half Marathon Results:

Place Name Chip Time
63 Noel Tobin 1:32:59
102 Peter Knaggs 1:36:25
145 Liam Lenehan 1:38:14
189 Zoe Greene 1:41:03
255 Padraic Moran 1:44:53
333 Denise Kilkenny 1:47:35
390 Cathy Coyle 1:50:10
463 Emma Barry 1:52:32
548 Gemma White 1:55:35
668 Valerie power 1:58:56
689 Sandra Kelly 1:59:53
707 Siobhan Clarke 2:02:26