The John Treacy Dungarvan 10 mile took place on Sunday afternoon. With the dearly departed Ballycotton 10 no longer a fixture on the Irish running calendar, the Dungarvan 10 has soared in popularity as one of the “go to” Spring 10 mile races, along with the Mallow 10.
Any lingering doubts about the appeal of Dungarvan surely vanished on the day that entries opened last autumn – the entry website crashed and the organisers had to resort to a raffle for entries.
Assuredly, the course is a PB course. A relatively flat loop that navigates sheltered country roads. It’s a course that rewards patience in the early miles – there are plenty of opportunities to attack the downhill sections from the turn at halfway. The race t-shirt is one of the best in the business and comes with a decent goodie bag, and a spread of food in the sports hall afterwards that could feed an army.
The weather conditions on Sunday were surprisingly good – temperatures rising to nearly 10 degrees by the start, albeit tempered somewhat by a headwind for the first half of the race.
A small crew of Terenure’s red and white toed the line and put in some admirable performances – Diarmuid O’Suilleabhain and Andrea McNamara both snaring PBs. Recent Cork exile Damien Geraghty, also ran a stunning PB. Martin Doyle thundered around despite only being back running a couple of weeks. Tom Kinsella, David Kennedy and myself also took part. Many thanks to Brian Byrne and Lucy D’Arcy for the support en route.
In the overall results, Kevin Maunsell of Clonmel took the spoils for the second year in a row, while in the ladies, two runners with close connections to Sportsworld, Laura O’Shaughnessy and Siobhan O’Doherty finished second and third, behind Grace Lynch of Iveragh AC.
Like Raheny last week, Dungarvan serves as a great indicator of where the fitness is coming into springtime and the drier sod. I heartily recommend it for next year – just be sure to set your alarm for the morning the entries open!
Sportsworld times:
Laura O’Shaughnessy 58.00
Siobhan O’Doherty 58.56
Damien Geraghty 1.01.19
Diarmuid O Suilleabhain 1.01.49
Martin Doyle 1.02.30
Adrian Lanigan 1.09.03
Andrea McNamara 1.09.13
Tom Kinsella 1.14.43
David Kennedy 1.14.46
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