Grocers Fun Run 10k

report by Maria Varley

I had heard that the goodie bags from the Grocers Fun Run were the best so when I woke early on Sunday morning I decided to join Ann-Marie for the 10km fun run in the Phoenix Park. I registered on the morning and managed to bag a T-shirt. There were lots of stalls and freebies. There was face-painting for kids and there was a family atmosphere. The weather was almost perfect for running and the rain held off. We joined the start of the 10km. Most people it seemed had decided to do the 5km. They started the 10km about 100m back from the start of the 5km race. There was a delay in starting the race, but we had no clue why. We were told it was then going to start at 11 instead of 10:30. It turns out it was a health and safety issue but communication could have been better. Eventually we set off. The course is a well known 2 loops starting on Chesterfield avenue, down the Ordnance Survey Road, up the Furry Glen and finishing on Furze Road. It was a really nice enjoyable run. The second lap was much quieter with fewer people doing the 10km. We were excited for the goodie bag at the end but unfortunately they had ran out. Apparently loads more people turned up than expected. There was lots of disgruntled people at the end. It was a disappointing end but they took our names and I will be receiving a gift voucher in the post. I decided against an entry for next years race. EUR25,000 was raised for charity and we got Mr. Tayto to advertise the Tenenure 5mile.

National Road Relays 2019

The national road relays were on Sunday April 28^th this year. For those that don’t know the event it sounds very strange. The races are run in a housing estate in Raheny, there are no batons you just need to touch hands with your team mate within a 20m zone, depending on your leg you run between 1 mile and 3 miles which does not sound much but it’s one of the hardest races you’ll ever run.

First race up was the women’s masters and they have 3 on a team, the first leg 1 mile, second leg 2 mile and third leg 1 mile. The winning teams are those who have 3 strong runners. Some teams have one or two top class Irish runners but unless they have a good third runner they won’t be in the top 3.

Next up was the men’s Masters and again 3 legs, 1mile, 2 mile, 1mile. There were 4 teams in this race, two O/35 and two O/50. There were a number of runners doing the Masters relays for the first time and it’s easy to get caught up in the atmosphere of the race and push too hard are the start but everyone seemed to pace their legs well.

We then had the ladies senior race. Out of all the races this race probably had the most pushing and shoving as runners tried to get the best start. There were some huge changes in position as the race went on as some clubs had a 100m lead in the first leg only to have that lead wiped out by strong runners from other teams in the 2 mile second leg.

The last race of the day was the men’s senior race. 4 legs, 2mile, 1 mile, 3mile and 2 mile last leg. Some of the top clubs in the country travel to this race with teams coming as far away as Finn Valley in Donegal. My leg was the 1 mile with Conor McCarthy setting a strong 2mile pace in leg 1. The first 200m there is loads of support and you have to try and keep your head and not go off too fast. The next 400m is normally very quiet and you have to work harder than normal as there is a gentle incline. Then you turn the corner and you can feel the road is slightly down hill and you try and push as hard as you can. This road has a series of small roundabouts and you try and break up the long road by just taking one roundabout at a time. Then your into the final turn and the 200m straight. Your flat out at this stage and your desperately trying to see you team mate at the handover zone so you can make the pain stop. Leg 3 probably the toughest leg was Stephen O Donnell and the final 2 mile leg was Wesley Harrison.

Unfortunately the teams were just outside the medals but there were a number of really good runs. Full results can be found here

https://www.athleticsireland.ie/competition/results/

Night Run 2019

Sunday 28th April 2019

I elevated my usual race day preparation of the late boozy night beforehand with the addition of the 3 course dinner with the family in Bijoux at 5pm. Sure it’s a 9pm start, grand. Paul “Brother of Deirdre” O’Connell had the same pre-race feed so I must be onto a winner.

Other preparations included watching 3 hours of London Marathon that morning, chuckling at rogue leading female pacers, while also convinced I could be as good as Sinead Diver at her age, if only I stopped scoffing croissants and focused!

Motivated, my mother and I headed for Raheny to cheer on the Relay teams that afternoon. As I overheard organisers were short of stewards, I duly volunteered “a mother daughter stewarding combo” and so continued a day of feeling great by giving back. We were in awe of the participating Sportsworld teams, many of whom it’s been my pleasure to get to know lately. It was a great spectacle.

As running was a theme of the day, ongoing notions of not doing with the Night Run proved hard to shift! Barr my brother who wouldn’t exactly make plans to travel to the race together, I didn’t know anyone else running so I was very glad to meet tall Emmet on the warm-up to the start, whose preparation was akin to my own.

The friendly smiles of the Sportsworld stewards Val, Johnny and Padraig were welcome and meant we were escorted into the front row of some 4,000 runners! Now in the fast pack, which included Paul and Diarmuid O’Suilleabhain, back up to impress us with his Cork training efforts, I knew I was where I shouldn’t be.

I decided the only way to handle this was to feel smug up the front, with all the men, pretending I was in my natural environment, always up with the elite, comfortable there, retying the one lace, checking the watch, not doing the group warm-up, and generally just trying to look cool. I channelled my inner Sinead Tangney, relays dynamo and winner of the 2018 Night Run. I’ve got this!

Having done this race myself last year, with the same consistent preparation and a still unbeaten 10k PB, I knew to expect a very well run, professional event which it was again. It wasn’t too cramped, and though meandering a little too much at times, I really enjoyed the run. The views of the city around the Docklands as the sun set and the impressive buildings on the Quays lit up in the night sky was terrific.

I knew and thought nothing about my position until about 4k in, when in Irishtown a few men roared “3rd lady” at me. Then again, another roar out of some fella, “3^rd lady”. Well I never, I couldn’t believe it! Chuffed! I continued on proud as punch thinking only about how great I was, and that the guys running with me hearing this must also be so impressed by me. They’re running with the 3rd lady!

As a firm believer in karma, it was in this instant then my lace (the one I didn’t re-tie at the start line) came undone, with the double whammy of it happening on the tracks of our nemesis club, Crusaders. Doh! And out I stepped to tie it up. “4th lady”!!

Though no where near the winning ladies, I was proud to hold the place for the rest of the race and delighted to cross the line to the sweet sounds of “4th lady!” roars. Maria, Trish, Gareth, Martin were all there to support at the finish after their stewarding.

Forever plagued by notions of my own greatness, I actually volunteered to write this race report as having got the race number from a certain only sibling working in a global payment company, my name isn’t exactly clear on the official records. So this will have to do.

Well done all the runners.

Deirdre O’Connell AKA “M. Card”

Night Run 2019 Sportsworld Results (Sorry if I missed anyone)

28 Paul O’CONNELL 00:38:13 M (27) Mastercard
31 Diarmuid O’SUILLEABHAIN 00:38:26 M (30) O Mahony Pike
Emmet 00:42.13
184 Master CARD 00:43:38 F (4) Mastercard
401 Ann SWEENEY 00:46:54 F (22) Sportsworld A.C.
424 Emma MEADE 00:46:53 F (24) Sportsworld A.C.

Leinster Championship 10 Mile 2019

Monday April 22^nd saw the annual running of the Leinster Championship 10 mile ‘Battle of Clontarf’ event in St Anne’s Park in Dublin.

As with most big races; a large contingent of Sportworld bibs lined up on the main avenue of the park for the traditional 10 am start. In complete contrast to last years event, we were greeted by fine, sunny, warm & calm conditions.

The full 10 miles of this race is within the park, so you get to know the park pretty well with 2 rough laps taking in the main avenue, one unpleasant hill, the rose gardens and even a short stretch on grass. Lots of tight turns make this not the fastest of courses, but it is a nice run if you can manage to enjoy a race at all.

Big congratulations to our male over 35s team who claimed 1^st place in their age category. 3 Benjamin Button type performances from Phil Kilgallon, Martin Doyle & Kevin Curran saw the lads comfortably home ahead of Portmarnock AC and Raheny Shamrocks.

Thanks to Neven King for photography on the day.

Full results: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/battle_of_clontarf_10_mile_(leinster_championship)/3024/results

13 Phil KILGANNON 00:59:38
19 Martin DOYLE 01:00:47
21 Kevin CURRAN 01:00:57
26 Karl CHATTERTON 01:01:43
53 Mark HOLLOWED 01:05:15
64 Padraig LOOBY 01:06:45
81 Peter KNAGGS 01:08:12
87 Anthony GILLEN 01:08:33
94 Naoise WALDRON 01:09:04
158 Jim BROWNE 01:15:11
188 Tim MURPHY 01:18:24
265 Bronwyn MURPHY-WHITE 01:24:06
294 Maria FINNEGAN 01:26:08
303 Catherine GILMORE 01:26:58
317 Brian O’MURCHU 01:28:19
365 Audrai O’DRISCOLL 01:35:09
380 Ellen LAVIN 01:37:57
381 Sean O’BYRNE 01:37:58

Berlin Half Marathon

report by Mary Colclough

Sometime last year, a notification from Sportsworld caught my attention – a club weekend away to Berlin for the half marathon in April. I had planned a trip to Berlin waaaaaay back in 1995 – I was 10 years old but had access to the means and money – but unfortunately had to cancel last minute. I had never taken the opportunity to go back and here it was. Fast forward to last weekend, and Helen McGrath and I were looking at each other across an empty hotel lobby in the NH Berlin Kurfürstendamm, wondering how we had managed to alienate so many Sportsworld members. You don’t even know us… we are quite simply fabulous.

But despite the lack of running mates, we proceeded to have a fabulous weekend. It began with finding our local hostelries on Friday night. The neighbourhood, Charlottenburg, is in western Berlin, and has quite a cosmopolitan feel with a range of attractive cafes, bars and restaurants close to us. I would happily stay in this area again. The hotel was just 200m from the Savigny-Platz metro station, which took us to Brandenburg gate, where the race started and finished.

What better way to prepare for a half-marathon than by spending the day before doing a 6.5 hour 23km cycling tour around the city? Helen and I signed up for Fat Tire’s city bike tour on Saturday, ranked by TripAdvisor in 2018 as #2 experience in the world! It proved a great way to see the major sights and learn a bit about the history of the city. I would definitely recommend it (but I think #2 in the world is pushing it). Berlin felt less congested than cycling in Dublin, which surprised us both for such a big city.

Don’t worry, I’m getting to the running bit. Our cycle complete, we had a nice leisurely evening ahead and other than hopping on a couple of metros/UBahns to go to the Expo centre to collect our race numbers and take multiple selfies there, we had nothing particular planned. The evening definitely didn’t involve Helen calculating what speed she needed to go at and what splits she would need at 5k, 10k etc. That was my job. After all I had done 2 half marathons, she had only done one.

The race was scheduled to start at 10am Sunday and we headed off from our hotel bright and early to make our way to the starting point. The metro was free for anybody participating in the half so we didn’t have to worry about fumbling for change at the ticket machines. Although Helen had registered in a different wave to me, our intentions were to run together in my wave – that plan didn’t last too long. Ok, call us novices, but we thought that with over 35,000 people participating, maybe if we talked to the officials nicely and they saw our Sportsworld vests they might just let Helen into my category. There was no charming the German stewards, and in stereotypical formidable (I mean efficient) fashion, they didn’t allow her upgrade to my super elite wave. Off she sloped to the group that included a man running with a fresh pineapple on his head (sometimes you just don’t ask).

We had been told Berlin was flat and they were right! For all you serious runners, I’m sure it’s a place you would definitely get a PB. For us two vastly experienced half-marathoners, it was also a place we got PBs! (big shout out here to Stephen O’Donnell who we met for the first time in the queue for the Ryanair flight going home the next day – he will be back for his PB). There was good support on the streets, with lots of locals and tourists cheering us on and plenty of music and entertainment along the route. My favourite poster was “You run better than the UK Government”. Helen’s was “Toenails are for sissies”. The advantage of running slower is that you have time to appreciate the posters! The race finishes just after going through the Brandenburg gate. We had met a local runner on the metro earlier that morning who told us that the finish was actually 200m past the Gate, which was good to know. Nice finish.

The weather at 20 degrees, whilst much warmer than we expected for running, was perfect for sitting out after the race savouring our beers and devouring some of the tastiest pizza we have ever eaten. And you’ll never know what we did on the Club Trip after we had our beers.

Wicklow Way Leg 3 Recce

Last Sunday 11 Sportsworld runners decided to do a long run in the Wicklow mountains thanks to the inspiration of Maura Ginty. Leg 3 of the Wicklow Way Relay was decided on as you can park your cars in one place and run the entire leg and back without being too wrecked. 16km in total.

The run starts beside lough Tay and ends up at Old bridge near Roundwood. There is a good bit of downhill especially at the end so it makes sense to start at the end of the run and head to Lough Tay. This way you do the hard work on the hills at the start so on the way back when you are more tired its mostly downhill.

This leg has everything, road, fences to jump, grass, fire roads and boardwalk. The boardwalks are pretty slippy so you shouldn’t do the runs on your own as there is very little phone coverage and easy to fall.

It is important to take a bit of food and water with you and an extra layer just encase the weather changes. You can take the food part a bit too far though, Emmet.

We should be doing some more recce runs if people want to join in. It is enjoyable and the pace is easy enough with plenty of stops and coffee after. Wicklow way is only down the road and very accessible and underused.

Ràs UCD 5Km

A Chairde,
This was a Ràs not a race, so there was plenty of caint agus craic down in UCD last Saturday morning as a 15 strong Sportsworld gang were pressed into action by Brian Byrne. Brian gives acres of his time to UCD VO, UCD Volunteers Overseas and has participated in and led voluntary work teams to Tanzania so we were all pleased to support the fundraising event.

As races go, Ràs UCD has a lovely atmosphere about it which is why I return to it regularly. As is always the way in ‘Collidge’, the build up for the 11am start was chilled and the c.300 racers were on their way at 10.59! The race route is a nice combination of the roads at the Clonskeagh end of the campus and a 1k paved section underneath the concourse canopy and around The Science Block. It is generally flat so conducive to good times. Being cheered across the finish line As Gaelige is a novelty and of course the great facilities of the UCD Sports Centre pre and post race are a real plus.

While I was enjoying the tea and sambos afterwards, which were more than up to scratch, I looked around for Emmet and Mark to find them at the top of the queue for their free massages being provided by the UCD physio dept. Those boys are always on the inside track!
Sportsworld members shone brightly on the day to nab some nice prizes (Brian, don’t forget my M sized jersey!) – Karol ran a super race to finish third overall with Phil, Brian and Conor in the top twelve. Ronan posted a cracking time to take third in the MU50’s.

There were other great performances and PB’s throughout our club contingent, yours truly and Johnny Dwyer, my metre by metre running buddy, amongst them. We were clapping each other on the back post race even if Jose’s GPS was suggesting 5k might have been more than just a couple of metres beyond the finish gantry. We reckoned Jose’s battery was low on juice or else he had run through and not run around the Science Block like the rest of us! Either way, race organiser Brian was happy to confirm that the University’s best mathematicians, himself included, were well capable of accurately measuring out a 5k route.

Myles was more present than ever through the race. With his renowned nose for the best vantage point to encourage his charges, he stationed himself at the cross of the skewed figure of 8, two lap route. From there he didn’t need to budge an inch to urge us on four times through the 5k, and crucially with 250m to go. Thanks Myles.

An interesting footnote – the race starter on the day and prize presenter was Brian Mullins, famous Dublin footballer and Head of Sport in UCD. Our fantastic race host Brian let it slip high up on The Wicklow Way the next morning that he was named after his dad’s footballing icon!
Put Ràs UCD in your diary for next year.
Go n-éirí an bother leat!

Results Karol Cronin (3rd and 1st MU40) – 15:27
Phil Kilgannon (7th and 1st MU50) – 16:31
Brian Byrne (10th and 3rd MU40) – 16:47
Conor Mccarthy – 16:52
Ronan Masterson (3rd MU50) – 17.18
Colum Roche – 18.56
Emmet Wardell – 18:59
Liam Lenehan (2nd M50) – 19:18
Johnny Dwyer – 19:22
Jose Chapa – 19:40
Mark Heffernan – 20:04
Lorna Quinn – 21:20
Tim Murphy – 22.:12
Conor Kenny – 23:07
Sandra Kelly – 23:39

2019 Terenure 5 Mile May 12th now with NEW Junior races!

The 2019 Sportsworld Terenure 5 Mile is on Sunday May 12th!

Sponsored by Lisney, South Dublin Vets, Mitsubishi Ireland: Bill Sheehan & Sons, The Bretzel Bakery and Thorntons Recycling, this will be the 35th edition of Sportsworlds 5 Mile classic!

2019 will feature NEW junior races before the main event on May 12th!
Races for ages:
8 years and under
12 years and under
14 years and under
17 years and under
Details in the flyer below!
€5 per entry. Children running must be PRE-REGISTERED

For full details and entry visit the race page:

http://sportsworldrun.wpengine.com/terenure5/

Mallow 10 mile road race

The last time I ran this race was way back in 2011, a whole 8 years ago, which don’t feel that so long ago! In mid October, I set myself a goal that I would run the Mallow 10 mile road race and aimed to run it in 65 minutes. This race was also seen as my return to race running again as the last time I raced in a road race (wtih the exception of a few park runs here and there) was Rathfarnham 5 K back in September 2017!

This race, to the best of my knowledge used to be on in January many years ago, and one year it was cancelled due to bad weather conditions and brought back to March, ever since it has become a popular race and even more so since the Ballycotton 10 miler no longer exists. Just over 1500 started the race and conditions for the race were perfect, nice and cool with a slight breeze in places. The course itself is reasonably flat with some downhill sections where a cushion can be built for the few up hill sections of the course that slow the pace.

I set off with the 65 mile pacers and at the 3 mile downhill section I kicked on a bit and increased the pace to 3:48 min/Km , once on the level again my pace steadied to 4:05 min/Km. At the 7 mile marker, the 65 min pacers were at my back and then passed me out, feeling a bit flat, I tried to keep in touch but the negative thoughts kicked in that if I try to keep in touch I won’t maintain their pace and will burn out, these thoughts were short-lived until I reached the 8 mile mark and found myself in a good rhythm again, maintaining a 4:02 – 4:03 min/Km pace. The pacers were just ahead of me and I tried in earnest to gradually tag on again to the back of the small group remaining. In fairness to the pacers, they were fantastic. They continuously checked to see if they could keep the group together and although I was just behind the pace (10 – 15 seconds), they kept coming back to me to to urge me on to try and catch up! With 800m to race where I was flat out and pushing hard, one of the pacers wanted me to get within the 65 minutes.

65 min Pacer : ‘Come on, have you anything left?’

Me: ‘Not much, I can’t go any faster!’

With 400 to go,

65 min Pacer: ‘1 min left to the finish, stretch it out…’

Me: ‘Lets go!!’

As hard as I tried, and sprinting down the curved stretch where I eventually saw the finish line, I knew I wasn’t quite going to break 65 minutes but I certainly wasn’t disappointed finishing in 65:07.

The race itself was won by Sergiu Ciobanu in 49:21 and the first woman home was Aoife Cook in a superb time of 55:17, making her the second fastest woman for the Mallow 10 mile road race.

Before the start of the race I bumped into fellow Sportsworld runners Maura Ginty and Deirdre O’Connell, recognised by our Sportsworld running tops, and likewise after the race, both were happy with the race and times achieved. Maura finished in 67:35 and Deirdre in 74:17.

Afterwards there was a great spread put on by Mallow AC, with plenty of food and refreshments. Hands down the Mallow 10 mile road race is a great event and I won’t be leaving it 8 years before I return again! I would highly recommend it, roll on Mallow 10 Mile 2020…..

P.S. Although I haven’t been at the club in a while! I’ll be back soon ;-P

Maurice Mullins Half

Another IMRA race report! As an IMRA enthusiast, I was asked/bullied into writing a race report as to hopefully encourage people in the club to give it a go. I wrote a report for IMRA Downshill Trail Race 2018 which can be found here. While I cringed a little while rereading it, it does seem like I enjoyed myself to be fair! Last Saturday I and a few others from the club took on the Maurice Mullins half (with Shay braving the full – hashtag respect as the young folk would say!). It was 25 odd kilometres with a 1,000 odd metres of climbing (conveniently rounded up for dramatic purposes) so survival, for us mere mortals at least, was the name of the game!

The Maurice Mullins half was previously known as the Wicklow Way half but has recently been renamed after Maurice to acknowledge the impact he made on running in Ireland A short documentary on his life can be found here – I am yet to actually watch it myself so hope it is suitable (Brettster didn’t provide the link so we should be ok!). By complete chance myself and the aforementioned Andrew Brett randomly ended up chatting with Maurice’s daughter in the queue for the portaloo – esteemed potty company indeed! The route starts in Ballinatoe taking in Djouce, Crone Woods, Prince Williams Seat and many other beautiful but challenging parts of the Wicklow Way, before finishing near Glencullen. The race has a reputation of being a belter and it wasn’t to disappoint (for the record the full, known as the Maurice Mullins Ultra, starts in Glencullen does the opposite of the above and then returns to Glencullen – crazy folk!!)

After some laziness, a sustained period of excessive ‘socialising’ and then of course ‘the illness’, early 2019 saw me a long way off fitness wise. However, the last few weeks I have slowly but surely started to feel some fitness return so before the race I was feeling relatively good. Thankfully my positive pre-race outlook for once transpired into a positive race!! The pain of the hills aside I loved every minute of it and after my first DCM and my last DCM I would rank it the most enjoyable race I have ever done.

Despite of course being shattered at the end I never felt in big big trouble meaning I could enjoy all the good things that an IMRA race has to offer. These good things of course being the amazing scenery – on this occasion the view down to Lough Tay and then across Dublin Bay being the highlights – the joy of reaching the top of a big climb, descending the far side at an irresponsible speed and of course the camaraderie amongst runners and stewards alike. While running as an activity generates camaraderie aplenty regardless of terrain, the atmosphere in terms of encouragement, support and all-round positivity at the IMRA events is up at another level making them really special events to be a part of. On Saturday I also had the pleasure of Liam Lenehan’s company for large chunks of the race. Liam is one of the club’s true gentlemen and in fact you would travel far and wide to find a nicer man. To take the high and lows and up and downs of the Maurice Mullins half in the spring sunshine with Liam as company was a pleasure – thanks Liam!

A little over 2.5 hours after leaving Ballinastoe I was elated to be approaching the finish line in relatively good shape. I was absolutely buzzing having passed a hand full of competitors over the last few kilometres and loved every minute of the entire experience. My finish line ‘high’ was somewhat interrupted though, when Brettster, showered and changes at this stage, spotted me and shouted “what took you so long?!?!”! What a b&%$x!!!! If I had had the energy to stop and make a fist I may have turned around and clocked him one!

To be fair to Andrew he ran a cracker of a race finishing 9th out of 180 competitors in his first ever IMRA. He came in 1:57 compared to my 2:33 so possibly did have a point! He is a phenomenal runner and 2019 could be a big year for him. Other Sportsworld competitors were Liam, Ronan Murray a man for the long distance as always, Denise Cill Chainnigh extremely impressive only months after giving birth, Gerard Keating and then of course Shay doing the MM full.

Recent years have seen a kind of retrospective effort by society to become more active, spend more time outdoors and of course be more environmentally friendly. It just so happens, that these three things are at the core of what IMRA as organisation represents. The active and being outdoors element needs no further explanation and on the environment front, IMRA works to a ‘zero trace’ policy on its events and goes even further with initiative such a carpooling (think I mentioned this in the last report – you can tell I don’t have a car!!!!).

The organisation is of course Not for Profit. Above all though the sheer joy of running in the mountains/hills/forests/trails is very hard to beat and we are blessed to be spoiled with endless mountains and trails on our doorstep. Finally the IMRA stuff can really compliment your road running efforts as it is an excellent endurance builder, provides a fresh challenge and also strengthens a wider range of muscles to road running which can help prevent injury long term.

Full disclosure on the mountain running experience – be sure to expect a lot of pain afterwards. Is that good pain you ask? Erm, yes, but barely! My quads and IT bands are only just recovered and that is 4 days later! It is the downhill running where the body takes the real punishment.

In short if you have not tried an IMRA event or two you are mad!! As you may have gathered at this point I am fan. There is a Sportsworld IMRA WhatsApp group so if you have any questions just ask to join and fire them out there.

That’s all for now I believe. Well done to all Sportsworld’ers and all competitors who took place in last Saturday’s race.

Sportsworld Running Club

Lisbon Half Marathon March 2025

Meet and Train Race Abbottstown

National Masters & Intermediate Westport 2025

Meet & Train Marino 2025

Dungarvan 10 mile 2025