As is the nature of these damned COVID times we live in, there was much uncertainty in the build-up to the event around whether it would actually go ahead or not. This was made all the more challenging with the introduction of the local lockdowns in Kildare, Laois and Offaly in early August which were then followed by tightened Government restrictions on a national level from 18th August, a move which in particular from a race perspective prohibited outdoor gatherings of more than 15 people (down from the previous level of 200). While the easy option would have been to cancel the race there and then, credit to the organisers who decided to wait it out for the next key Government update on 13th September before making the final call. Thankfully, the event did not need to be cancelled in the end, with participants notified on the Monday that the race would proceed as planned on the Saturday.

Two separate races were held on the day, with a 10k in the morning and the half marathon a few hours later. This annual event is now in its 10th year with monies raised used to develop and support health and fitness facilities for the local community of Louisburgh, Co. Mayo.

Understandably, race day 2020 was much different from those that preceded it with a number of measures introduced to ensure a safe environment for all. These included no changing rooms, shower facilities, spectators or the famed post-run feast (something I could have done with afterwards and look forward to the next time!).

Conditions on the day were ideal for running, with the sun out, a relatively cool temperature and little to no wind – more on that later. Runners were moved to the starting line at 1.30pm. As I waited for the gun and with a few butterflies in tow, I suddenly felt something in my shoe and decided it was best to tackle it there and then as opposed to it potentially annoying me for the duration of the race. As luck would have it, just as I managed to get my shoe off then so too did the starters gun go off and away the field went. Twenty seconds or so later and with the rest of the pack now firmly in the distance and the race marshal directing me over the loudspeaker to get moving, I finally got started. While weaving around other participants is not an ideal way to begin, and starting last not necessarily something I’d recommend, I did however find as the race progressed that it gave me a nice lift at times to pass the occasional runner here and there.

The Clew Bay course itself begins at Louisburgh GAA club and from there traverses a series of winding country roads, taking in a variety of landscapes including mountain views, bog land, farm land and the sea. Given it was my first race proper and therefore not really having much to compare against, I did however find the course to be quite hilly and certainly much more than I had bargained for.

In terms of my own performance, while new to the running game (one positive at least to take from lockdown) I felt I had put in a solid few weeks since the return to collective Sportsworld training and was therefore hoping to run a time of 1:30 or better. To achieve this, I needed a race pace of about 6:50 minutes per mile. While I pretty much stuck consistently to that pace for the first five miles, for the next three that followed I felt like I was moving well and started to attack the course a bit more. Things started to change considerably from about mile nine/ten onwards however when you turn for home at Killeen Cemetery. From this point on it was a completely different race, running in to a strong wind (the course now taking you closer to the sea) and what seemed like a never-ending set of hills.

My mile times started to drift out from there until about the last quarter mile or so where I managed to muster up some strength and sprint for the finish line.

In the end, I made it in in just under the 1:30 mark, finishing with a chip time of 1:29:28 (and gun time of 1:29:54 – due to aforementioned messing around with my shoe). Nothing spectacular, and plenty lessons learned, but all in all I was happy and particularly so as I managed to achieve my goal. Hopefully with a bit more targeted training and perhaps a flatter course, I can shave some time off that further down the line.

It was great to get my first competitive race under the belt and was a privilege to be able to do so in these most challenging of times when far more races (and all the rest) are being cancelled than going ahead. Finally, hats off to the organisers for what was a thoroughly enjoyable event and one where the health and safety of all those in attendance was very much to the forefront throughout.

National Master’s Track & Field, Morton Stadium, Santry 6^th September 2020

 By Anthony Gillen, Garrett Banahan, Liam Lenehan & Brian Conway

 Anthony Gillen’s 1500m

I was lined up in the second heat with 5 runners from my age group and another 9 runners from the O40 category.  My overall plan for the race was to run 60- 80- 80- 80 for about 5:00 minutes.

The gun went off, and I went out immediately at about my intended race pace, letting others pass as they wished so I quickly found myself at the back of the pack.  However, at the first bend the pack slowed down noticeably and I thought for an instance that new pace would be the going rate and hence favourable for me.  However, having navigated the bend it was back to normal and I had to settle in to manage on my own at the back.

The first two laps went to plan timewise being right on target times.  But I was at the upper end of my target pace and shortly after seeing one competitor drop out, I began to struggle myself. Left to my own at the back on this occasion I was not able to muster the enthusiasm to kick on.  The remaining laps passed in a blur and I reached the finished line well off a decent time.

The winner came home in 4:22.78.  The results for my age group were:

1              John HENNESSY                 Middleton A.C.                  4:30.01

2              Ken ARCHBOLD                 St. L. O’Toole A.C.            4:36.72

3              Eamon MURPHY               North Sligo A.C.                 4:37.63

4              Michael COUNSEL            Trim A.C.                             4:41.99

5              Anthony GILLEN               Sportsworld A.C.              5:17.93

Many thanks to Peter Knaggs for transport, motivation, and photos.

Garrett Banahan’s 5000m – The Refrigerator in the Sportsworld Singlet

This race was a race of “firsts” for me – first race for Sportsworld, first race for seven months, first track 5k…and first race in the middle of a global pandemic! And I only first believed that last Sunday’s National Masters in Santry would actually go ahead when the Athletics Ireland email came through on the Thursday…especially after the entries for the men’s 5k passed the three figure mark! Athletics Ireland reacted to these unprecedented numbers by tweaking the schedule to basically add a third session to the day specifically for the five or six 5k races they’d need to run off! Anyway, we finally had a race to run…

I got to the stadium in decent time having spent the morning catching a few of the other races on the online stream. There was an orderly/socially-distanced queue of M35 5k entrants waiting outside the gate for the 3:30 opening. When we got into the stadium we were ticked off as having checked in online/confirmed our healthiness, and headed for the stand beside the call “room” (i.e. the covered terrace-bit over by the corner-gate to the Demesne). The atmosphere was a strange combination of very calm and very surreal – even though there were some great 800m races going on, the only sounds were the heavy breathing and spike-strikes of the athletes, the occasional intervention from the PA system, some clapping from our stand, and some commentary from the lads on the online stream from the far side of the stand! It was still great to watch some races live. There were 21 in our O35 race which was scheduled for 5 o’clock – various groups of us warmed up with about five extended laps around the track, before some drills then into the call room at 4:40. Something that would become a bone of contention later was how the “illegal shoe inspection” was more of a question than an inspection (literally – “Is anyone wearing runners?” – to which there were no claims…more later). 4:55 and we were escorted over to the 5k start and assigned our lanes. It was all strangely chilled out, especially for a track race.

The gun went and all the chilled-outness disappeared, and what a great feeling it was to get stuck into proper racing again! My plan was to start strong to get into a competitive group, and then see what sub-groups developed from there. As is so often the case, this meant having to go out a bit harder than I should have, but I was happy to sacrifice my time (in every sense of the word) in the interests of racing. I’d also lined up a few lads that I figured I should be near or nearabouts, so that gave me something of a barometer. A group of about four sub-15 “elites” unsurprisingly broke off the front early, leaving a relatively big bunch behind. This stayed together for about four laps before it started “leaking” – I think I got leaked at about a mile in. I was going along at a nice clip though and felt ok in the four or five-strong group that we kept together for a few more laps. I hadn’t been looking at the track splits and received a bit of a nasty shock when we went through the 7.5 lap mark in 10:08…my 3k pb is 10:07! “Trouble.” I knew a few friends who were watching and commenting on the live stream, and I was certain one of them in particular would have noted this slight miscalculation from Garrett! I’ll let his messages that I read later in the WhatsApp group speak for the rest of my race:

17:14: Garrett will either run a massive pb here or completely blow up

17:15: On for sub 17 with a mile to go

17:20: He blew up

17:21: But still a pb

Or what I’d call a race well run!

Even though the last four or five laps were tough, I was still happy to have dug in and, having being lapped by the front four elites with about four laps to go, and then passed by a lad from Portmarnock AC, managed to keep it together and pass a lad from Waterford, and made Drogheda and Blackrock work hard for their Sportsworld scalp in the last three laps (featuring a decent nip and tuck with Blackrock in the last 200m – ending in defeat but hey).

It was then a case of handshakes elbow-punches, before circling back to the start line to pick up our things and leaving the stadium “immediately after your event has concluded”. By which I of course cooling down around the track for ages and then doing a lot of stretching on the grassy hill…coincidentally all within sight of the abundance of 5k’s that followed! To be fair I think we benefitted from being the last session of the day, so there was no actual reason to kick us out of the stadium. This was a most welcome development as it meant I got to watch Brian put in a great shift in the M40, and also catch up with Liam before his M60 battle with national-record breaking Tommy Hughes! Fair play to both for clocking excellent sub-20’s respectively. I should also say well done to Anthony Gillen who ran a good-looking time in the 1500 M50 earlier in the day

For those who are interested in watching back any of the 5k’s (or all five of them!), here’s a link to the stream and where to scroll to (I’d recommend watching some of one of them at least for the commentary alone).

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXuYrgo4OeM

M35 5k (feat. Garrett): 7:07:00

M40 5k (feat. Brian): 7:32:00

M60 5k (feat. Liam): 8:47:00

The days after the race have featured blisters (12.5 laps in spikes for the first time), figuring out how my sister and a friend of mine managed to earn me the nickname of “The Refrigerator” on the online stream (scroll to 7:28:45…this also explains the title of this report, that and it being an ode to Zig and Zag’s “The Fridge in the Denim Jacket” 1989 masterpiece), and some heated-enough discussions around the number of athletes who raced in “the cheat-boots” (i.e. the Next Percent’s) – including one Crusaders lad in my race who got a great big shoe-shaming by Cathal Dennehy on the live stream (7:10:15).

Overall a genuinely great experience and effort by all involved – particularly the organisers. Hopefully it bodes well for a XC season of some description. I’m off to take a week’s break from running myself (another first – first break from running since February), so see you all in a few weeks 🙂

Liam Lenehan’s 5000m

Having raced against or more accurately run in the same race as Tommy Hughes, I wanted to add a few lines to Garrett’s report about the man/superstar of Masters running.

You will be hearing a lot more of him in the next 12 months as he smashes Irish and world masters records.

An upside of the Covid restrictions is that for the first time ever in my masters running career (presumptuous), we had a race just for ourselves so to speak. No longer restrained by running blind against opponents in a race for all age categories O35, we O60’s could all see the whites of each others eyes on the starting line. The only time we saw Tommy’s again was when he lapped all of us once and most of us twice! (finishing 6th he still got me for a second time halfway down the finishing straight).

As for yours truly it was my first time to run in Morton Stadium, a first time to race around 12.5 track laps, a first time to run in The Nationals, a first time to be live streamed and best of all, first time to race directly against Tommy and a great bunch of similar vintage athletes. Here’s to a good few more years of the same.

For the record, Tommy’s time was 16.47, Martin McDonnell (runner up with his daughters and son in last years finals of Irelands fittest family) was a close second with a time of 19.23. Running 19.53, I was thrilled to break 20 minutes and and hold my own in a strong field. Thanks to all who watched YouTube stream and supported with live commentary and on Club WhatsApp groups. I knew I had to keep going!

Here is Tommy’s post- race interview:

https://www.facebook.com/130916746939169/posts/3540012082696268/?vh=e&extid=mCLoq3QdfSkcx5fu

And finally; the last word to Brian Conway:

The second heat took off quick and then things seem to settle down after the stagger. It definitely seemed longer than 12 laps or so. I more or less ran my own race (against the clock) as I was a bit behind the main group. Even so, it was enjoyable race.

Results National Masters 2020 Morton Stadium, Santry

1500m 5th in age Anthony Gillen 5:17.93

5000m 17th in age  Garrett Banahan 17:08.36

5000m 17th in age Brian Conway 19:20.35

5000m 6th In age Liam Lenehan 19:53.78

These last few weeks have seen somewhat of a return to racing albeit in a very different manner than what we are all used to. Mass participation events are still a long way from once again becoming the norm simply because they are impossible to operate within the existing guidelines and social distancing becomes more & more difficult to implement the greater the numbers. Nowadays the races that are going ahead are being organised with much reduced capacity and far more regulation so it’s a credit to the clubs & the organisations that have managed to successfully host a racing event. This weekend just gone saw North Cork AC host the Charleville half marathon.

This was a race that I entered a number of months ago however like many others it fell foul of the Government guidelines regarding numbers and the mass participation event was cancelled however they had the green light from Athletics Ireland to proceed with an elite only field with numbers being capped at 100 entrants. Once I heard this I chanced my arm and emailed the organising committee to see if there was any chance that I could have a spot. They were very quick to respond and told me that all 100 invitations had issued however they were expecting drop outs after the National Athletics Championships had completed so they took all my details and put me on a waiting list. Then low and behold they emailed me about two weeks ago and confirmed that there was a place for me.

Charleville itself is situated in North Cork very close to the border with Limerick. In fact the race itself is predominantly in Limerick with only the start & finish in Cork. Historically this is a very fast race with many athletes using it as a final training race prior to competing in a marathon. A brief look at the website shows that over the last number of years the vast majority of the fastest half marathon times ran in Ireland were on this course.

The week of the race was quite interrupted for me as I picked up an untimely knee injury which put my participation in doubt. Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t, and in hindsight I shouldn’t, have raced but these are not normal circumstances and not knowing when the opportunity to compete in a good quality road race might present itself again I was determined to do everything that I could in order to make the start line. Plus I had just invested in a brand spanking new pair of short shorts that I was only dying to wear in public (spoiler alert: they’re short). A couple of bouts of intense physio during the week and a lot of foam rolling and strength work meant that come Saturday afternoon I felt like I could race the next day and not disgrace myself.

Not fancying the drive to Charleville on the morning of the race I decided to book myself into the Charleville Park Hotel for the night before the race. The vast majority of the people staying in the hotel were there for the race and there were lots of friendly faces and people who I recognized from other clubs who all had the same idea. That being said there was a couple staying in the room next door to me that were definitely not partaking in the race as they had their own marathon that night!

The morning of the race was very laid back, possibly due to the small field, with registration a very quick process. To comply with Covid guidelines every runner had to complete an online questionnaire before arriving and then when collecting your number you had your temperature taken and you completed another health questionnaire. As part of my warm up I jogged from the hotel down to the registration, completed the protocols, jogged up to the start line and then did a few strides. It was all very straightforward and after the warm up I felt relatively happy that my knee might hold up.

The race numbers were issued on a handicap basis so in other words your number was your predicted finishing position. This also came into play at the start line as they had 100 X’s painted on the road in lines of 5 so numbers 1-5 lined up on the first line, 6-10 on the next line and so forth. My race number was 50 which meant that they thought I was right in the middle of the field. You can imagine my amusement when Barry Minnock, who has a 2.17 marathon, was standing next to me sporting number 51.

Considering that I wasn’t fully fit I decided that I wasn’t going to chase a time or a PB and to just run off feel. A half marathon is a good distance for this approach as you can afford to be cagey at the beginning and you can find your way into the race. The opening km is all downhill & with the wind so I had to hold back to not get caught up in the wave of runners who were flying by me. Given the caliber of entry it’s not like other races so I just let myself settle and focused on myself. After about 1500m the road flattens and it remains relatively flat, bar the odd little incline here and there which are mostly man made bridges, until the last 1500m where you go back up the hill you ran down at the beginning. The course itself is a lollipop shape where you run out the long, straight, flat road to the historical walled town of Kilmallock. The town then marks the 10km point and you go under the walled arch and then turn down a country bóirín going in the opposite direction until the 16km mark where you rejoin the main road and return back the way the race started.

On its day this course could be wicked fast but Sunday did not lend itself to those conditions. My knee held up reasonably well for the first 15/16km but the last stretch home was a struggle and I was in a lot of discomfort. Another issue was the lack of water stations. This was through no fault of the organisers as they really were restricted with numbers and this impacted the number of volunteers that were allowed on the course. As a compromise there was one water station which you passed twice at 6km & 16km. A lot of people really struggled in the section from Kilmallock back. Another water station in the town could have made a massive difference.

After the opening 2km the field had really spread out and due to the small numbers I assumed that the race was now going to be more like a time trial and I wouldn’t see any of the runners in front again. However after Kilmallock, to my surprise, the field started coming back to me quite rapidly and I was overtaking plenty of runners. Very surprisingly there was also a lot of people dropping out. I counted at least 8 (in the end 74 finished out of 93 starters – over 20% drop out rate). As mentioned above by the 16km mark I was struggling and my pace had dropped significantly but my splits were still consistent. In other words I went from averaging say 3.35 p/km to averaging 3.45 p/km. My splits weren’t getting progressively slower as the race went on. This probably explained why the field was coming back to me as it seemed that those in front were having a more gradual slowing in pace.

With about 4km to go I could see a group of 5 about 300m in front of me. I was trying to gauge the distance based on time so when they went around a bend I checked my watch and timed how long it took me to reach that bend (about 1 minute 15s). The gap was closing on them the whole time and I knew that I would catch them even despite my own woes. Sure enough with about 1500m to go I was tucked in behind the group and when we passed the 20km mark I was leading the group. The last km here is by far the toughest of the race as you go back up that hill you flew down at the beginning. I finished the race in 77.15 which was well off both my PB and what I would have hoped to run if you had asked me a week ago. My finishing position was 48^th so I did beat my handicap by two places!!

After the race it seemed that nobody was happy with their performance. Every single person who I spoke with struggled with the conditions and the times were way off what you might expect. For reference the race was won by Mick Clohissy in 65.08 which was a full minute slower than the time he ran last year when finishing 2^nd. Hugh Armstrong was 3^rd this year after finishing the same position in 2019 but this year he was 2 minutes slower. Sergiu Ciobanu was over 4 minutes off his previous best on this course. There was a lot of confusion after the race amongst the club runners that I know and nobody could explain why everyone underperformed. My own guess is that we were all undercooked due to the lack of races. A half marathon is a tough race to jump into and expect a good time if you haven’t raced in 6 or 7 months. It’s no coincidence that the few runners who did race well had all competed in the Nationals in Santry over the last few weekends.

Overall though it was great to be back racing even if the experience was different to what one might be used to and the performance was underwhelming. Huge credit has to be given to Michael Herlihy of North Cork AC who managed to organise a great race with a stellar field whilst also competing himself (take note Michael Cunningham).

This is a great course and I would definitely recommend it as a race especially if you were training for one of the flatter marathons such as Berlin or Frankfurt. If you are planning on running the Dublin marathon you are probably better off doing the Dublin half marathon or the Rock N’Roll half as, whilst definitely slower, these two would mimic the Dublin race profile more closely. Overall though I enjoyed my trip to Cork although I probably didn’t enjoy it as much as the couple in room 210 enjoyed theirs!

The Graded Meet Series concluded with an exciting finale at Tallaght stadium on a sweltering Wednesday evening, the 12th August. Entries for ‘real’ non virtual events these days are at a premium so we were up very early at 6am booking this online a few days before as we knew it would sell out very quickly.

Five Sportsworld runners ran 400m and 5000m events over the course of the evening. First up, Elaine Kennedy continued her blistering vein of form in an incredibly competitive women’s B race with a superb 103.76 to better her own time as the second fastest in the distance in the Sportsworld record books. With this rate of progress surely an all-time Sportsworld record must be within reach for Elaine and she’s really been doing the club proud in track events both indoor and outdoor.

Anthony Gillen and myself decided we would try to get as much value from the final Graded Meet as we could by entering two events, the 400m and the 5000m. Drawn in a very fast heat, I’d rather not dwell on it too much other than to say I appreciated the experience of an outdoor block start and getting under 70 seconds. Other than that, it was a torrid minute or so. Anthony did rather better in his heat, clocking an impressive 66.18 and finishing a credible fifth despite a difficult draw in the outside lane.

On to the 5000 metres. Conor Keating had travelled from Tipp to run this. Also lined up was Timothy Morahan, another Sportsworld athlete who, like Conor, has been hugely impressive on the track this season and who has excelled in all three of the graded series, really doing Sportsworld proud. Anthony and myself, made up the rest of the Sportsworld contingent, all of us racing in the same heat.

Just prior to this we had all watched the ‘A’ 5000m which contained quite a cast of stars, not least Mick Clohissey, Eoin Everard, Conor Duffy, Sean Tobin, Sean Hehir and our own Stephen O’Donnell’s brother Paul who runs for DSD. Paul ended up coming second to Sean Tobin and it was hugely exciting to see such a competitive field. That’s the great thing about the graded track events, both indoor and outdoor, you really feel you are rubbing shoulders with the best in the country even though part of you thinks that you have no right to be competing in such exalted company.

Our 5000m had a big field, it was a sticky balmy evening and we all know it was going to be a tough twelve and half laps of the track. Having done the 400m already I know it would be quite a physical ask. I think I’d set my own target beforehand of being happy with anything under 20 minutes but after about three laps of glancing at my watch I realised that this was going to prove difficult. The incessant cornering of the track over that distance seems to hold you back a bit unlike a road race. It’s as if there’s a kind of sideways gravity at play that is restricting. The race began with a familiar pattern, leading my old nemesis Anthony around the early stages then being slowly ground down by him as the race wore on a bit. Once people start to pass you, a Donore athlete was next, you start to wonder how many are behind you and all the doubts then surface.

Before the race I’d been chatting to Frank McNally, the Irish Times journalist and Donore runner who writes ‘An Irishman’s Diary’ in the Irish Times and I knew he was behind me at least. I’d asked him if he was going to write about the event, thought he might dig up some hitherto virtually unknown piece of information about the history of the location of the meet. He wrote instead about his 12 and a half lap experience in his Irish Times column two days later; “As I was reminded during 12 and a half laps of pain on Wednesday night, even their slowest events are too quick for me these days.

Also – speaking of horizons – there are no such thing on a running track. In most road races, at least, the faster people can overtake you only once. After that, they usually have the decency to disappear”.

Briefly, I managed to claw Anthony back a bit over the mid to latter part of the race but in the end my revival petered out – if you pardon the pun – missing my 20 minute target by 45 seconds. Meanwhile, both Timothy and Conor had lapped us and were looking strong. In the end, Timothy finished in 5th position (out of 24) with a hugely impressive time of 17.57, Conor following a few places after in 18.21. Even though there were no team prizes, it was great in some way to feel part of a collective Sportsworld effort. Very often in these track events, they feel very individual and that you are often ‘out on your own’. This can be character building when you are on the blocks staring down the barrel of the starters pistol but there are moments equally when you appreciate your club mate’s presence and encouragement before, during and after a race. Also, a big thanks to Nicola and Pádraig who came to shout their support, which we heard ringing in our ears as every lap passed by.

By the end of the race, the darkness had set in. Another great fantastic meeting concluded. It seems that some of the teething problems in the first graded meet around getting people in and out of the athletes area under the required restrictions had been ironed out. The Tallaght track appeared to work very well in this regard and the organisers are to be congratulated on their excellent organisation of and completion of a very successful series of meetings in challenging circumstances.

400m women

Elaine Kennedy 1.03.76 PB & 2nd fastest outdoor Sportsworld 400m

400m Men

Anthony Gillen 66.18

Peter Knaggs 69.52

5000m

Timothy Morahan 17.57 (5th place)

Conor Keating 18.21

Anthony Gillen 20.29

Peter Knaggs 20.45

OMG… Just call me Karol

 Full of the joys of last week’s IMRA Scalp race, I signed up for my next Wednesday evening escapade, at IMRA Prince William’s Seat – 364m of climb, over 8.39k, according to the blurb.  This is not far from Johnnie Foxes, Glencullen.  Also, ready to do battle, were Karol Cronin and John Fitzgerald.

There is an early start option for all but the shortest of IMRA races.  This is for those who expect to finish at more than 160% of the winner’s time. This is my usual option.  I call this the Championship option.  Karol, of course, was in the Champions League and looking to add to his Ticknock and Scalp victories.

The top 5 places were taken up by Crusaders, Sportsworld and Rathfarnham.  Karol had an almighty battle.  Judging by the photos, he took an early lead. Paul Stephenson, Rathfarnham was right on his shoulder though.  Jason Kehoe, Crusaders, came into the frame as the race progressed. There was some confusion at one of the turns (No reflection on the marking of the course – again, superbly executed by IMRA). In the end, Jason pipped Karol by 8 seconds. Karol pulled 20 seconds clear of Paul.  Two firsts, and a second at Prince – Karol remains our Mountain King.

Meanwhile, back in the Championship, with Tim.  I had been watching Karol, the previous week…so tied my compulsory rain jacket around my waist and took to the front at the starting line. A little downhill had put 3 of us out in front. Then a climb of 1k saw me move into second place.  I was happy to try to stick with the ‘leader’ as uphill and me aren’t best friends yet. Then, he started walking, and I figured that he was struggling as much with the hills as me.

OMG, I was in first place in a race for the first time in my life. Only 7k to hold on. Off the fire road, and through the forest. A bit of downhill and I accelerated. Ahhh…I need to look out for the route markings! Red and White ribbon attached to trees or rocks, as the route zig zags through forest, bog, and rocks. A steep climb up the bed of a waterless stream. I look behind and figure that I am ok to walk for a bit. The adrenaline of leading is really kicking in but I am pleased that I hold myself back, and keep myself strong. I figure the following pack will also walk here. I focus on ensuring I stay on route.

Out of the forest and onto the Wicklow Way, downhill, and I push on, before a left onto the mountainside for a climb to crest Prince William’s Seat. I am slow again here. As I near the peak, I can see my primary rival maybe 400m behind. Roughly halfway now and I am feeling confident with the downhill to come.

Trickier than I thought, looking out for the markers, whilst jumping from rock to rock ‘at speed’.

Over to Raven’s Rock next – one of my favourite spots. It was too misty this evening for great views, but worth a trip, and a pint at Johnnie Foxes after. Then down a steep and very tricky and dark stream bed.

Back into forest for a bit and out onto fire road.  Hit a junction and it seems logical to follow it down but I hesitate and correctly decide to go right, uphill again, as these are the only markers I see. A bit of a drag uphill and then I hit a dead end. I have gone wrong. I backtrack 200m and cop my rookie error. There was a plethora of ribbon indicating a junction (I did not know this) and I could now see a marker in the forest. My rival was now clearly in sight, about 100m away. I knew that I would have now given him some hope. Still – happy to be back on route – still in lead – and feeling strong, I leaped through a very tricky forest and onto a fire road, only to see my rival 10m behind me, already on the fireroad! (Not sure how that happened).

I shot off downhill, in shock – maybe a bit more than 1k to go I thought. Then it surprisingly hit uphill again. I was giving it my all now and really feeling it.  Then I copped that I had an extra 400m than I thought to go, because of my detour – keep pushing. I was looking behind me, but all was quiet. Downhill again and happy days…

John Fitzgerald was also in heroic form and came in first in his age category !

Karol (2^nd Overall) came home in 36:55; Tim in 55:49; and John (1^st in Age Cat) in 62:38.

It was a really enjoyable race; superbly organised; €7 (plus €10 annual membership). Great training and whole-body workout. I look forward to moving up to the Premiership in my next IMRA outing. I thank Karol and John for them inspiring me. Happy Running.

It was great to be back running competitively under these challenging times and a huge thanks to IMRA and everyone involved with hosting the Scalp run last Wednesday. It was a fine sunny summer’s evening and what I found helpful afterwards is not knowing what the course was going to be like as it was a tough, tricky but short roller-coaster 6km race on trail road, scrub and up one strenuous rocky climb . Representing Sportsworld along with myself was Deirdre McGing which was her first ever IMRA race and Tim Murphy.

The race started uphill in Carrickgollogan Wood with everyone having to wear a face covering for the first 200m skirting up alongside the disused Ballycorus Leadmines Chimneys. It then turned downhill steeply and turned into a narrow path of bracken where I took an early lead followed by a group of three others. The organisers had called this part the muc-ky trail as anyone who doesn’t know, muc is the Irish for pig. And racing ahead was a mother pig and her three piglets on the trail in front of me.

Like a scene from Pamplona, the pigs were trying to avoid me and all they could do was to run ahead of me but thankfully they found an exit as I started the tough climb up the rocky Carrickgollogan Hill. This is an exposed  hill that tests every sinew in your body and saps all your strength. I needed my hands to lift myself up parts to reach the top.

From the summit, there was a marshall pointing me to the right as I turned down a fast and meandering path from the hill to a forest road trying to recover from the longest climb of the race and then up a slight hill and back to where we started. I looked back at this stage and could see I had a good lead on the rest of the pack.

From there, the race crossed into Barnslingan Woods and turned a left into a forest with nice soft ground. The route slowly assended in a circular way around the forest with plenty of ups and downs and near misses of route marks.

At this stage there was no sight of the pack behind me and I was unsure of how far I still had to go to the finish. I thought there would be a slight climb to the finish but I was delighted to see a group of people and the finish mat. I crossed the line in 24min 32sec in first place. A painful return to competitive racing but well worth it. Well to Tim who finished in 36min 14sec and Deirdre who 8th lady home in 38min 39sec.

Last Saturday the Moyne AC summer games took place on the club’s 4 lane track which is just a 15mins drive from our family home in Two-Mile-Borris where I have been working for the past 4 months.

It’s great to see the return of competitions and, similar to the Dublin graded tack meets, the organisers were inundated with enquiries as soon as entries opened resulting in them closing entries a whole 2 weeks before the original closing date. Luckily I had expressed interest in B Mile race the day the entries opened and I got confirmation of my entry around a week later.

The track in Moyne was opened in September 2015 and was a huge venture for the club including taking on a substantial loan for same. The official opening involved a track meet and such was the success of this the club decided to make it an annual fixture.

To help finance the above mentioned loan the track is open to the public and there is a €2 honest box; I am a regular user of the track during Christmas holidays etc. and the track re-opened to the public a few weeks ago which allowed me to get a feel of the track again and get some variety into my recent solo training…for a few months I was confined to running in the local community field (which is very small) and the old Dublin-Cork road which is just around the corner from our house and has a big hard shoulder but is very straight and has the feel of Groundhog day and my repetitive running of same has attracted a few comments on Strava.

Anyhow the 2020 event attracted a stellar field with the 2 main races being the women’s 800m (which included European U23 bronze medialist Nadia Power and Olympic hopeful Michelle Finn who was stepping down from her usual 3000m stleepchase) and the men’s mile where they were looking to run the first sub 4 minute mile in Tipperary (which looked likely with the likes of Irish 4 mile National record holder Sean Tobin and Olypmic 1500m hopeful Andrew Coscoran on the start list). As extra incentive there was a €500 bonus for going under 2.05 in the women’s 800m and sub 4 in the men’s mile.

With government restrictions on outdoor events remaining at 200; competitors were kindly advised, in advance, to leave the facility soon after our race.  The meet started at 2:30 with a 3km race and there was a full list of events (ex. The 1500m) from 100m to the mile. The men’s B race was spilt into 2 heats and I was in heat 2 @ 3:25 with the 2 main races, outlined above, were scheduled for 7:15 and 7:30.  The event was really well organised by Moyne AC and the whole meet was streamed live on the club’s facebook page. Unfortunately the weather didn’t read the script and it was pretty damp and wet for most of the day although it did clear up for the major events later in the evening..

Following advice I arrived close to my start time, and did a quick warm-up, including in the club’s indoor facility, but it was soon time to step out into the rain and onto the start line. There was a high standard in the race and there was nothing tactical about the pace despite the conditions. There was a runaway winner in our race and it turned out his time would have finished half way up in Heat 1 (ie. he was in wrong race) and he had an 800m PB of 1.53 (for context the night before Ciara Meegan had become the first Irishwomen ever to break 2mins with 1:59:69 in Switzerland). I managed to keep a fairly consistent pace and was happy enough with 5.14 in light of the conditions and the fact it was first race for 4 months.

In the main races there were 2 anguishing missing with Nadia Power running 2.05.10 and Sean Tobin clocked 4.00.38 having pulled away from Andrew Coscoran in the final 200m. I was actually just coming off the 9^th green in Thurles golf club when I managed to get the last few laps of the mile on mine phone before heading to the back 9 (thankfully I’ve had to shout 4 less on the golf course in recent weeks having taken the game up during lockdown). Despite the limited numbers there was a great atmosphere at the event with the cream of the Irish Athletics community (Sonia O’Sullivan and Catherina Mckiernan) and the local livestock turning up. It is great to see such a high profile event being held down the country. I’ll definitely be back next year and all going well it will be bigger and even better than this year’s event. It would be great to see some other Sportsworld athletes take part and I’ll let me the club know when the 2021 entries are opening.