This was brutal but beautiful. All cross country races ought to be. None of this running monotonous laps around a GAA field on a bleak Sunday afternoon. Let’s have scenic courses flanked by trees and bends that sweep down and around and up again.

Avondale Forest Park is a gorgeous place. On a mild mid-Autumn day it’s especially magic. A special place to bring the family for a looped wooded walk and a sensational venue for cross country. Avondale House, originally built in 1777, was the birthplace of Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-91) – Home Ruler and the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party in the late 19th century. He also had one of the most luxuriant beards in modern Irish history. If only he could see his estate now playing host to Leinster’s best club runners. The 500 acre park is also regarded as the historic home of Irish forestry. Perhaps we could consider it the future home of or the “Croke Park” of Irish Cross Country.

In the day’s first Senior Race, Sportsworld Women’s team finished an impressive 3rd with the talented Lisa Madden – bouncing back with gusto after her Dublin Senior DNF last week – taking an individual Bronze behind Una Britton (Kilcoole) and Fiona McKenna (UCD). Caoimhe Daniels ran well and placed in the Top 20 (16th) with Aoife O’Leary (31st) and Deirdre O’Connell (55th), Katie Nugent (59th) and Maura Ginty (60th) bunching well towards the back. A brilliant team performance and good to see the club’s ladies representing on the podium again.

The Men’s race was a gruelling 10,000m (5 x 2k laps) through the “Great Ride” of Avondale (I thought that was Parnell’s adulterous lover!). The runners headed out down the centre of the “Ride” in what’s a furious first few hundred metres. Always hard not to get carried away here. Slight turn right and the course opens out to amazing views of the vale of Avoca. It bends back around into the first of the tough ascents. There was nice support around here before a sharp turn right onto an out-and-back spur complete with contraflow nods and waves before joining the lap again. Another hard and draggy climb here but mercifully not as long as previous years. While this was a hard course no doubt there were at least a few sections where you could recover and pick up the pace, particularly on the marginally downhill far side.

Perma-fit Gareth ran incredibly well from the gun and held on for 22nd place in 35:50 (an incredible time for 10k cross country). For a man who’s infamously apathetic towards XC, he’s getting better with age. I wasn’t feeling confident or racefit so went out steady hoping to be comfortably hurting at threshold later rather than sooner. Ended up feeling stronger than last week’s horror show in Santry at the Dublin Seniors and even managed a moderate kick in the last few hundred metres. Was there more in the tank earlier on? That question is always there I suppose. But with lacklustre training and motivation this year, top 50 was the best I could expect. The evergreen club stalwart Michael Cunningham was close behind in an impressive 49th in that (younger) field. Cross country debutante Conor Cavanagh (52nd) ran an outstanding race for his first effort. A bit more training and race experience for Conor, and he’ll do well in the future.

Despite a dizzy collapse after the finish line, this was such a joy to race: the low afternoon sunlight and Autumnal colours and perfect running grass and mud and the competitive field and energy and adrenaline of club racing with no watch and team camaraderie and cheering support. Special mention to Emily for getting me a Mars Bar to resuscitate me post-race!

Well done to all who raced and many thanks to those who supported us out there.

Gavin

Results:

Gareth Murran 22nd 35:50

Gavin Finlay 46th 38:28

Michael Cunningham 49th 38:44

Conor Cavanagh 52nd 38:56

Full results here

https://www.myrunresults.com/events/leinster_xc_senior_and_u23/4237/results

This one was a bit like a thriller – it starts out positively, things get a bit hairy, but the intrepid heroes somehow pull through to live happily ever after.  The movie was a cross between Twin Peaks and Cape Fear – 15km or so of mountain running on Maulin and Djouce, and the wind, oh god the wind.

Everyone was excited at the start in Crone Wood car park, but race director Lillian set an ominous tone when she said that IMRA legend Joe was on the top of Maulin and he wasn’t sure it was safe.  And Djouce may be worse, so they would see how it went and maybe cut it short.

The Sportsworld crew were dispersed – Tim showed up early, and avoided the epic car park congestion, I met Liam on the grassy ride going up Maulin before he upped the pace.  John and Phillip were also flying the club colours in the large (200+) field, and Bruce was leading us out – he is kindof a Caballo Blanco figure to me, always that bit further ahead.

It’s a stunningly beautiful course, and even though it is rated 3/3 for terrain, ascent & distance, it’s a very enjoyable mix of tracks & trails, okay underfoot even on the steep up and downhills, and relatively little water to deal with.  There were three climbs in total, so you needed to pace yourself and keep something back for the second ascent of Maulin and the final dash down the fire roads.  But the real story was the 50+ kph wind, which many people said was the strongest they’d experienced, certainly while running.

And so we were grateful to complete the full route, including the loop around the peak of Djouce which someone compared to standing in front of a jet engine.  You know the way people go to Wicklow on a spa day to relax and maybe get a facial – like that, except the facial involves the top layers of skin on your face being peeled off by ballistic rain, and you wish you invested in better jacket, hat, gloves, everything really.

Which made the mostly downhill return through some of the most beautiful scenery in the country around Powerscourt especially powerful.  We were greeted by an intense double rainbow descending from Djouce, and everyone finished the race with a broad smile, more invigorated than they started – the wind made us all feel more alive.

So despite or because of all that, it was a brilliant start to the weekend, and superbly organized by IMRA as usual, with some fruit, drinks and banter in the car park post-race.  The day was all about survival and digging deep, and enjoying a great running experience you’d be keen to share – d’you remember the time we did Djouce with the crazy wind …

https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2088

An ode to XC

It was the night before Halloween

When all were asleep

My eyes are open, my mind still awake

Cross country is upon us, the seniors no less

A 10k is a beckoning, and my hair is a mess

With a venue named Trinity, my prayers begun

As I head for the start line, the cries are rung

“Run, run, run” said the voice in my head

But boy oh boy my legs feel so dead

5 races in 5 weeks could be the answer

Yet the shouts from the sideline, made me run faster

Around and around the merry field we went

Until the line we crossed and our energies spent

A team of warriors, our sportsworld hero’s

A team of supporters, our sportsworld crusaders

After all is said and done

I’m glad for this race that I’ve just run

For those who fear the rain and the muck

Don’t worry at all, we’ll not see you stuck

Come one, come many and join in the fun

Cross country is calling, it’s time to run

Authors Note:

Well done to Lisa for championing sportsworld in the women’s race and to all on the men’s team including Gareth, Gavin, Karol, Michael, Conor and Brian for battling through the somewhat mucky terrain and strong competitive field of athletes. Also a big thank you to all who came out to support including Paul, Emily, Myles et all and even those from other clubs were shouting us on.

The results can be found at the below link

https://www.myrunresults.com/events/dublin_senior_and_junior_cross_country_championships/4210/results

Settlement. Containment. Survival. The three stages of a marathon.

This weekend just passed saw the long overdue 40th edition of the Rotterdam Marathon which was originally scheduled for almost 19 months ago in April 2020. When I initially signed up for this race it was with the intention of it being somewhat of a family affair as my wife & daughter were due to travel with me and we had planned a week long holiday in Portugal for afterwards. This time round it was just me boarding the flight as a new edition to the family meant it didn’t make sense for the others to travel as it would have been impossible for Michelle to navigate her way around the course in support.

This year has been a very frustrating year for me on the injuries front. A heel injury in March took the best part of 2 months to fully recover from and this was then compounded by a hip injury just when I felt like I was getting back on track. This again took a couple of months to get over and it was well into August before I was running pain free. This had me debating whether or not I would go ahead and race as I was quite unfit at this stage and wasn’t sure that I had enough time to properly train. After a lot of procrastination it was decided that I would increase the weekly volume and see how the body reacted and if there were no setbacks after a few weeks then I would book a flight. A sneaky text to Lucy got me an entry to the sold out Ratoath Half Marathon which I used a tune up race. Thanks Lucy!! The Monday after Ratoath I felt good and bit the bullet & booked the flight.

The rest of the training went seamlessly enough up until the last couple of weeks. Due to starting training so late I had made the decision that I would effectively train right up to the race & forego a taper. In the end I did an unplanned taper as a bout of food poisoning 10 days out had me bed bound for a few days. In hindsight the rest probably did me good but the loss of fluids was definitely a concern. It happened in the best possible week though as I had just about enough time on my side to get back on track and the original plan of no taper was probably a bit foolish anyway.

Representing the club out there was Sadanand and I, although it seems this was unbeknownst to each other! Perhaps we should pay a bit more attention to the Whatsapp Group as Rotterdam itself isn’t exactly the most thrilling of places and it was boring over there on my own for the couple of days before the race. To kill a bit of time on the Saturday I went to see the new James Bond movie which was a great way to pass 3 hours.

The race itself really couldn’t have gone much better. Conditions were ideal with wind perhaps being the only issue on what is a supremely flat course. Having said that, the wind had noticeably eased over the weekend compared to what it was on Friday when I arrived. The route itself is effectively like a malformed figure of 8 with a large lower loop of roughly 25k with a shorter upper loop of 15k. The two loops are linked by the architecturally magnificent Erasmusbrug Bridge which is where the race starts and you run over it two times, once in either direction.

Stage 1: Settlement.

The first 10km or so of a marathon is all about finding a rhythm and settling into it. Ideally you will be behind your target pace at this point with plenty of energy left in the legs to push on later. This went without incident and I settled into a pack and cruised along.

Stage 2: Containment.

This stage is all about containing yourself and trying to exert as little energy as possible for as long as possible. Between 10–30km really shapes the race. Focus is needed to make sure that the group

you’re in aren’t dropping off the pace. If this happens then you need to be brave enough to push on alone and try catch the group in front. Where possible you nestle in with a group and let the pack do the work, especially in windy sections. I ran a good portion of this section with a Norwegian guy called Ole who was the absolute spits of one of the Ingebritsen Brothers. It turns out he is from the same village as them. We worked together here and pushed on when necessary. When we were crossing back over the bridge towards the northern loop I spotted a Bros Pearse singlet and struck up conversation with a guy called Andy Durcan. Unfortunately I lost Ole at this point but ran with Andy for the next 5km or so.

Stage 3: Survival.

The last stage is all about surviving. You are never going to get through a marathon without hitting a tough spot. In Rotterdam the worst part of the race also happens to be the part when you’re at your lowest ebb. From 30-40km you are effectively doing a loop of a park but there are no spectators whatsoever in this section and the field was completely spread out so there were no groups to work with. The 35–40km section seemed to go on forever before you eventually get back into the city and the crowds pick up again. With no groups around at this stage I just kept setting myself targets of trying to pick off individual runners. It’s very satisfying at 40km to be overtaking runners and it’s evidence that your own strategy has worked. The last 2km were great and similar to Dublin with regards to the crowd. My fastest km of the marathon was the last one which again was very satisfying. The home stretch is on a road called the Coolsingel which had a grandstand erected on either side with huge crowds roaring you on. With about two hundred metres to go I ended up side by side with my new pal Ole from earlier. A quick fist bump with him and we sprinted home together, both elated to be finished.

Throughout the race I had made a conscious decision not to look at elapsed time. Instead I worked off 5km lap splits and knew if I managed these correctly the rest would look after itself. When I looked at the clock crossing the finish line and saw 2 hours 43 I was chuffed. Everything came together on the day and I don’t believe I had anything else in me, especially given where I was earlier in the year with the injuries and even with the food poisoning still so fresh in the memory. It was a 6 minute pb and that in itself makes it worthwhile.

By complete chance I then bumped into Sadanand in the bag drop area afterwards whose recent good form had followed through and he ran a huge pb to finish in a very impressive 2.39. Sadanand has made massive progress this year and has had a few breakout performances. If he can keep up the rate of progression then who knows but there might be a threat to Mr Duffy’s marathon club record!

Overall it’s very hard to find any fault with the race. The organisation was top notch, the Expo was so efficient (in and out in 5 minutes), the course itself is very fair, and the conditions were picture perfect. After the race I went for a load of delicious pints with Andy from Bros Pearse where we joyously kept tabs on a different Norwegian called Ole who didn’t have quite as good a day as my mate from earlier. 5-0 to Liverpool and an upgrade to business class on the flight home. Things just kept getting better! Running a marathon is like managing Man Utd when Ole’s at the wheel. Just trust the process, he just needs time J

After a very long break cross country returned but not to the usual wet, mucky, cold, farmers field but to a very warm, sunny, Tymon Park. For the first time Sportsworld took on hosting a championship race and with 19 races it was going to be a long day. Thanks to all the help from club members everything was done on time and all the runners appreciated all the support around the course.

After all the junior races the ladies were up next with one of the largest fields ever for Dublin Novice. A number of ladies had their first Novice cross country on a fast 4Km course. I don’t think anyone was expecting the heat during the race and some were not even expecting the race either. There was some great performances but DCH came away with the top team with their top 4 runners all in the top 10.

Next up were the men in the 6km race and again there were a few first time cross country racers. The rabbits the night before did their best to dig up new challenges for the runners but like the ladies race it was almost like a road race the ground was so firm. Raheny was the dominate team in the men’s race with 3 of their runners in the top ten but local club Tallaght secured 2nd place.

Full results can be found below.

https://www.dublinathletics.com/attachments/article/597/Novice%20Cross%20Country%20Women%20and%20Men%20Results%202021.pdf

The decision was made on June 29th. With the Dublin Marathon looking more and more unlikely, I decided to throw my hat in the ring for the Belfast Marathon. I felt in good shape and decided to challenge myself to do the longer distance. Training started that very day, and fast forward 12 weeks I found myself up north ready to race.The marathon was scheduled for 9am on Sunday, 3rd October, but truth be told it really started on Saturday. We arrived up on the train and headed straight for Ormeau Park to collect the race pack. We were met with a huge queue that barely moved at all. In total, we were two and half hours waiting in the line. By the time I reached the top I realised why. There were less than 10 volunteers, and they were working with pen and paper, manually checking everyone in. It didn’t make any sense why they wouldn’t send the numbers out in the post in advance. I’m sure plenty of people (like myself) would have paid extra for postage if it meant not having to be on our feet for hours in the cold.

Once we collected the race number, I tried to forget about it. There was no point dwelling on it, and it was time to rest up before the race itself.

The race itself started promptly at 9am at Stormont. The first 6 miles or so were on the roads heading from Stormont towards the city, before cutting through Ormeau Park. I met a couple of familiar faces who are regulars at Cabinteely Parkrun and chatting with them broke up the first few miles. After running through the park, we headed up Ormeau Road towards the city centre. Gabriel, my long-suffering supporter, was waiting patiently for me with supplies at mile 9 in front of City Hall. There were great crowds all around the city centre, creating a fantastic buzz. After that, we headed out of the city and into areas I wasn’t familiar with. We passed through both the Falls Road and the Shankill area before continuing on towards the Waterworks park. The rain was coming down as we ran through the park, passing the 20 mile sign, but that didn’t deter the supporters and they lined the footpaths all around the park. In terms of my own running, I didn’t feel great from early on but I continued on with a pace that was probably too fast. A lack of experience probably pushed me to keep running at a pace that I would normally do week in, week out, when actually I should have realised that on the day it just wasn’t right. The middle miles from around mile 10 to 15/16 were tough as I physically didn’t feel at my best and mentally was thinking about how many miles I still had to do. From mile 16 onwards, I was running at a steadier and slower pace and managed to get comfortable again.

Everyone says the marathon only starts at mile 20 but actually for me, despite the pain in the legs, this was probably where I was mentally at my sharpest. I kept telling myself there was less than an hour of running to go. As we approached the city again, I was more familiar with my surroundings and had a good idea of the course back to Ormeau Park. After passing the train station, we turned onto a tow path and it was a long straight run up to the bridge at Ormeau Park Road. At mile 23, I got a bit of a shock as we passed a man being given CPR on the side of the path. As we continued on past him, we met numerous volunteers, nurses etc., running towards him to assist. I believe an air ambulance arrived shortly afterwards and I can only hope that he is making a full recovery.

At the turn on the bridge, I spotted Gabriel waiting with a caffeinated gel and energy drink. I took both on straight away as we started the long run all the way up one side of the park, around the top and then almost all the way back down the Ormeau embankment on the other side of the park, before we finally saw the sign – “Mile 26”. Hallelujah!!

A wise man advised me at training recently not to sprint the final metres up to the finish line and to just enjoy it. I took that on board and as soon as I turned the corner into the park and saw the finish line, the pain went away, and I could finally smile and enjoy the moment. I spotted Gabriel again, gave a wave, and motored on towards the line where I threw my hands in the air in celebration.

Overall, there was a great buzz in the air both during the marathon and afterwards in Ormeau Park. There was fantastic support on the course – both from people cheering and the official and unofficial volunteers handing out everything from water, energy drinks and bananas to ham sandwiches and tea! The course itself was hilly in parts, with most of the downhills coming in the second half, although some were so steep that there was no respite.

A few days on from the marathon and I’ve had time to reflect on two of the questions people have asked me.

Would I do another marathon? 100%. I’m already looking forward to Dublin next year. I enjoyed the discipline of training and with the experience of having done one marathon, I know I could make some improvements next time both to the race itself and the training.

Would I enter Belfast again? No, not unless the organisation improved. The race itself was great and there was brilliant support, but the chaos of the race pack collection would put me off. There were also sections where I felt that cars were encroaching on the course – event management could definitely be improved.

The countdown to the Dublin Marathon 2022 starts now!

Back in April this year the National Road Relays were supposed to happen but because of Covid restrictions it could not take place. Instead a virtual race took place. It was tough as most people didn’t have the training sessions needed to run 1and 2 mile flat out and even tougher doing the distance virtually with no one to race against.

At short notice Raheny got permission to hold the real event last Sunday and teams were quickly put together. The race has a lot of history and it is a really unique event so it was great it got a chance to go ahead.

For those that have never done the race you run on the roads in a housing estate in Raheny. Ladies and Masters teams have 3 on a team, first leg 1mile, 2nd leg 2mile, 3rd leg 1miles. Men’s senior have a fourth 3 mile leg. Runners line up beside the green and its a 1 mile loop around the estate. The first half has a slight climb but once you turn the top corner you feel your running down hill to the finish.

Its hard to describe how gruelling the 1 mile and 2 mile legs are and you feel everyone there racing are top club runners and those spectating are past top runners who know their stuff. If you feel like you give 100% at the training sessions at the Road Relays you feel you gave 200%. The fact that you are on a team and that the races can be decided on just a few seconds makes you put in something extra.

We had 6 teams racing in the National road relays which was great at such short notice and two teams got National bronze as well.

Full results below, some of the names and positions are mixed up

https://www.athleticsireland.ie/downloads/eshop/Irish_Life_Health_AAI_Road_Relay_Results_2021.pdf

I think it was May 2020  Emmet Wardell posted on the club IMRA Whats App group about an amazing trail run in September and convinced loads of people to sign up. Covid was at its height and a race some time in the future seemed a good idea. Fast forward to September 2021 and Emmet Wardell decides not to do the EcoTrail race along with nearly everyone else but out of boredom or stubbornness I wasn’t going to waste my 30km entry.

Tim Murphy was doing the 18km race option that day too and again I cursed Emmet for not suggesting the 18km route. Helen Dixon who is used to doing the mountain running was also doing the 30km along with Neil Purdy while Eoin Keith decided on the extreme 80km race.

Myself and Neil arrived on Bray promenade for the start and it was gorgeous. Sunny, music was playing, there was a relaxed atmosphere about the race it was like Covid never happened. Mentally and physically I was not prepared for the 30km and kept telling myself it was just an easy pace long run. If you stand on the promenade and look up to the top of Bray head where the cross is that is the 2km mark. So when you climb up the rocky, slippy climb to the cross, carrying your water and jacket and food and out of breath you reach the cross you only have another 28km to go!!!

On the positive side the course was really well marked and at no point did you think you would get lost or take a wrong turn. There were loads of new trails I didn’t know existed with some great scenery. There was a sense of achievement making it back in one piece and covering the 30km, but it was hard work and I learnt a few lessons on what to carry with me next time and what not to. The total climb for the race was higher than Carrauntouhil.

There are a number of EcoTrail races around Europe and the idea seems to be to have races which are as much on trails as possible. Each race is marked on a percentage of how much is actually on trail and surrounded by nature. So if you want to do a scenic trail race in another country checking out the EcoTrail races might be a good idea.

I had a big smile on my face last weekend. A race, a real race to look forward to.

After a quick stopover in Limerick for some carb loading, I found myself collecting my number for the Charleville Half Marathon at 8.30 AM on a windy but sunny Sunday morning. Charleville is a charming market town in the Golden Vale of North Cork. Just a stone’s throw from the Limerick border. Half of the race in fact takes place in Limerick. The race is now in its 10th year and has become one of the top half Marathons on the calendar. This was my 3rd year to run the race, having missed last year’s due to the pandemic.

It was great to see some familiar faces after 18 months without a race. There was a real positive buzz about the place.  I spotted Sadanand warming up fresh from his recent PB in Berlin and Adam Moss now of Tralee, formally of Sportsworld. There was less nervousness about what was about to come, everyone was excited and buzzed to be running.

Numbers were small for the race this year. Normally this race would attract a high standard with 100 men under 75 minutes. At 10.00 AM to little fanfare, we were off and it felt amazing (the start is downhill). After 60 seconds it was clear that if I was to stick with my race plan I would be running solo. One group ran ahead at a 3.20 Km pace and another around me was settling around 3.35 KM, including Olympian Aoife Cooke. This being my first race back I decided to stick with the slower pace. My pre-race session had indicated that I could hand around 3.28 give or take, feeling a little sluggish after a recent holiday in Bella Italia.

Another few kilometers down the road I found myself running with one other runner Dermot Kearns of Dooneen AC in Limerick (the guy in red). It was clear that we were both of a similar level so it was an enjoyable first 14K chatting on our way out to Kilmallock in Limerick.

As we turned back towards Charleville though the best-laid plans for a fast last 6-8K went out the window. The strong wind became really challenging to deal with and the exposed long open roads. From 15 KM in the race, our pace started to drop by 10 seconds a kilometer and my HR skyrocketed. Once this happens the race is basically over as it’s hard to get back to a steady-state and your perceived effort goes up. A note here to newer runners. You should never change your effort as a result of tough weather or course conditions.

If you were running up a hill and noticed your pace dropping, it would be a bad idea to try to increase your effort to maintain the same pace you were running on the flat. In the same way, it wasn’t the right move to try to increase my effort when I saw my pace drop running into the wind but it’s very difficult to maintain composure and this is where a lack of race sharpness let me down. Regardless of the weather or course conditions, the goal is to, first and foremost, tune into your subjective effort and try to maintain as even effort as possible. Of course, towards the end of the race, your effort will gradually increase, but there shouldn’t be peaks and valleys throughout.

As we got back on the main road to Charleville I got a bit of mojo back but the willingness to hurt for that extra 50 seconds off the finish time just wasn’t there. With 3K to go  Sadanand came up on my should. He was very encouraging to work together for the remainder of the race. As we approached the last 500M I knew I would have to put in a sprint to get ahead so I waited for the last 400M before kicking on and finishing just 4 seconds ahead of Sadanand. To be fair to him he is in great shape and good luck to him in his Marathon in 4 weeks’ time.  Real breakthrough performance is on the cards. We finished 8th and 9th on the day.

Post-race analysis: I needed to run harder in the first half, knowing I would slow down. If I had run closer to my threshold i.e. 3.30 I  don’t feel I would have slowed much more than I did in the second half and I would have had more incentive to hurt in the last 5K. I don’t think the time was a good indicator of my current fitness, but in the end, it’s great that I’ve dipped my toes back into the competitive arena again, regardless of how well it went! I’m healthy, fit, and continuing to build. The fast times are going to come!!!

I’m looking forward to mixing it up over the coming months starting with a fast mile relay in Raheny on Sunday and maybe the Autumn Open in October if I can find my spikes.

The race Facebook page has some excellent videos and shots.

A full set of results is available here 

Gareth Murran 01:16:43

Sadanand Magee 01:16:46

Adam Moss 01:26:57