The St Cocas 5k in Kilcock is well known as a PB course and Sportsworld took full advantage of the reputation on Friday night.
With surprisingly light traffic, we arrived at the Co Kildare venue 90 minutes before the race. It was clear straight away that this was going to be a well organised race, with plenty stewards directing traffic. Weather conditions were favourable and the wind that battered us on Thursday had thankfully died down
As the Sportsworld crew started to stream in, talk turned to expectations for the race. Some remained tight lipped, ‘yera I just want to get around in one piece’ ‘ah I’m a bit injured after the sports day, so I don’t think I’ll run great tonight’. Others made strong statements of intent, ‘it’s sub 18 or bust for me’, I’m aiming for a PB tonight- no excuses!’.
After a warmup around a nearby commercial park, we headed back to St Cocas club ground for strides on their 100m strip of track, before being called for the race briefing. The organisers ensured that we lined up according to expected finishing time, this ensured a fast start with minimal weaving required.
The first half of the race was downhill and fast. Fears of blowing up were real, when we hit a short drag at the half way point, before the course flattened out. With 30 Sportsworld runners in the race, it was comforting to always have teammates around, some managing grunts of encouragements- Eoin somehow managed shouts of encouragement on the home straight, can someone please bottle this man’s energy and enthusiasm?
I had been warned of a slight hill at around the 4k mark and I was glad for the heads up, as it would have been a nasty surprise. However the last 700 metres were downhill into the village, where there was plenty of support and noise. This allowed us to push hard and fast to close out the race.
At the finish line there were plenty of tired bodies, but also some very happy Sportworld faces. There were more PBs than I can recall and elusive sub 20, 19 and 18 minute barriers broken.
Lisa Madden continues to reach dizzying height, running 16.22 and finishing 3rd female. Paul Macgabhann was first in his age category and Aoife O’Leary third in hers. The Ladies Team picked up first place in the team competition.
All in all it was a great night for the club, not only because of the strong running performances, but also the comradery, craic and support between all of us. Well done everyone- it’s a pleasure suffering together!
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