With the demise of the legendary Ballycotton 10 after 40 successful years I found myself searching for a replacement race. I’d heard a lot of good things about the John Treacy race in Dungarvan Co. Waterford so I signed up as soon as it opened.

This turned out to be a good thing as the race sold out its 2000+ entries in one day. Anyway the big day rolled around and with 1.30pm start it meant plenty of time to get down from Dublin on the morning of the race.

There was some fairly biblical weather leaving Dublin but the weather got better the further south I went. By the time I reached Dungarvan it had warmed up to a balmy 8 degrees and was dry. Perfect running conditions.

Not knowing much about the route I didn’t really have any plan for this race except to try and set a good pace from the start and stick with it as long as I could.

The race starts with a small loop around the town before heading out along some nice country roads and back into Dungarvan. There are not much hills here but a few inclines here and there.

Once we came to halfway I was settling into a nice rhythm and started to push on. Around the 8 mile mark we head back out onto the main road where we are greeted with a strong head wind and the toughest part of the race.

Once through this section its back in towards the town and a final push towards the finish. I manage to muster a last bit of energy to give a little sprint to the finish.

My finish time of 67:04 is a good 4 mins faster than my 10 Mile race last August so I’m delighted with my result. After the race we get the famous T-shirt and goodie bag and head back to the hall for a pretty impressive post-race spread of goodies.

All in all this is a very good race, very nice course and we got very lucky with the weather. There is good support and everything is very well organised by West Waterford AC. The only downside is the 2 hour drive each way.

Sportsworld Results:

Will Greensmyth 1:05:12

Adrian Lanigan 1:07:03

Emma Barry 1:14:56

Madeline Byrne 1:20:25