The morning of the eagerly anticipated Frank Duffy 10 mile dawned, and no more waiting. Well, when I say “eagerly anticipated”, I mean that I was awake before the 6:30am alarm. On a Sunday. After an early night. On a Saturday.

I actually was kinda looking forward to it, as I was hoping that a good race would rejuvenate my enthusiasm for all those marathon preparation long runs, where I had started to feel I was getting only slower and slower. If I could do around 5:15 /km average, then that wouldn’t be too bad, thought I. I wanted to try out steady pacing, as I know that’s going to be really important for me on Marathon Day. And life is all about Marathon Day, don’t you know.

So, back to the morning – weather looked ideal, and the forecast agreed. Off Padraic and I went to Swords, with the first challenge to find the Pavilion car park without any signs. Luckily, we had loads of time, so after lots of roundabout circling but no stress, we were sorted!

It was lovely to bump into lots of Sportsworld folk en route to the start line, and warming up. Starting in the middle of town is nice too. And we were off! While it was very busy, I never felt in anyone’s way, even at the start, so no stress there. My first km up to the motorway was at 5:03, which was only a little too fast, so no panic, but the 2nd km clocking in at 4:54 meant ah-here-would-you-get-over-yourself-it’s-10-miles-that’s-TEN-MILES! So, after that, I settled into a nice steady pace at around where I wanted to be.

The first few kms on the motorway are not as bad as you might expect, as they’re broken up with a couple of roundabouts, and before long, it’s a left turn into the countryside. It turned out to be quite warm, so tree-lined country roads became very welcome. Having experienced the Rock n Roll half marathon a few weeks ago, I actually didn’t notice any hills – and Strava confirms with only a 55 m elevation clocked up. There’s one part of the course where you can see a really long line of runners up ahead, which was a bit daunting at first, but turned out to be very pleasant as there was some gentle downhill along there. Having made the mistake of not taking enough water at the first water station (cups rather than bottles), I was very careful to drink at the next ones, as it did feel very warm. We were still in pleasant countryside past the half-way mark, so then it became about counting down the kms, which I find a lot easier than counting up! For the last couple of kms, my head went to Bushy Park and the 1km x 5 sessions, and trying to keep up with everyone!

It’s a good few years since I did my one and only other 10 mile race at around 1:36, so it probably doesn’t really count. Overall, I was delighted with a 5:11 /km average pace, and even think I had some energy left at the end, so looking forward to the half marathon. And then onwards to the marathon! (Did I mention that I’m signed up for the marathon??)

I really liked the course, and would recommend it. The organisation was great – plenty of parking close enough to the start line, with a very pleasant finish area also in town. Most of the course feels like it’s in the countryside, and it’s not particularly hilly. And of course, very nice breakfasts to be had close by with great company!

Massive congrats to Ciara for a fantastic 2nd place overall.

Phil Kilgannon 00:57:40 3rd in age cat, Gold Dublin O35 team medal

Andrew Brett 00:59:27 2nd in age cat, Gold Dublin O35 team medal

Kevin Curran 01:00:573 Gold Dublin O35 team medal

Paul O Connell 01:04:49

Mark Hollowed 01:04:49

Ciara Brady 01:05:25 Individual Dublin Gold

Diarmuid O’Suilleabhain (as Neil Purdy) 01:06:00

John Flaherty’s brother (as John Flaherty) 01:06:20

Sean Donegan 01:09:03

Richard Cyganiak 01:09:31

Anthony Gillen 01:10:55 Bronze Dublin O50 team medal

Liam Lenehan 01:12:19

Declan Brady 01:12:23 Bronze Dublin O50 team medal

Johnny Dwyer 01:12:29

Padraic Moran 01:13:39 Bronze Dublin O50 team medal

Karl Shevlin 01:14:15

Martina Nolan-Jones 01:17:39

Philip Kerr 01:19:32

David Culhane 01:19:56

Grainne Lynch 01:20:26

Stephanie Bergin 01:20:31

Siobhan Clarke 01:23:46

Sandra Kelly 01:24:07

Conor Kenny 01:24:29

Bronwyn Murphy White (as Carmel Dolan) 01:25:59

Valerie Lacy Power 01:29:45

Richard Ohle 01:29:59

Caoimhe Donegan 01:35:13

Cliona O Riordan 01:44:45

And so to Clonakilty, or as it is more popularly known, the Land of Pudding. I’ve been training for the Berlin Marathon and with a few weeks to go now I was looking for a shorter race to give the legs a blast without the longer post race recovery time required of a longer race. This 4 Mile race on the 26th of August organised by the Clonakilty Road Runners gave me the opportunity to do this and also visit home.

(Above: Yeah, that is a to scale statue of an elephant in a field)

The route of the race is scenic and takes in the two estuaries on either side of the Inchydoney peninsula. The first two miles are as flat as you’ll get in Ireland as you traipse around the seashore. Thereafter the work begins as you negotiate a challenging hill that brings you back into the town. The last kilometre is on a steady downhill so the finish is nice and fast.

(Above: Aerial plan of the race route)

Before the race we were all to assemble at the Model Railway Village. Definitely one of the unusual and memorable tourist attractions. Basically, people have made scale models of the old towns in Cork that the railways used to visit and these little trains drive around and stop at the different stations. Probably needs to be seen to be believed.

(Above: Photograph of the model of Clonakilty Town. There are less livestock in the streets these days.)

A mass warm up had been arranged for everyone in the car park. Mind you it was 20c that morning and 90% humidity to boot.

It was great watching so many people doing the warm up together early in the morning with the tunes blasting. From here we were sheparded to the start line just before the start time.

(Above: One very eager beaver)

The race began and not too long after it came to me that doing the Parkrun the day before hand wasn’t a wise move if I wanted to release the lion within. I quickly came to terms with having to leave the lion indoors for another day and pushed on as best I could.

(Above: Here I am at about mile 2 looking like I’m totally loving it. It was literally all uphill from here, but no photographic evidence exists of that, thankfully.)

It was lovely doing the race on roads I was very familiar with and atmosphere there was buoyant. Although I have ran the distance faster in the past I finished in 5th place which I was chuffed about.

The post race spread was totally class. All home baked or made. I dutifully ate my fill 🙂

(Above: Myself at one of the cake tables in the new sportsworld blue away singlet … ahem.)

Although I had a great experience here it would have been worth doing the race for the tshirt alone.

A group of us had signed up for the relay of the Ironman triathlon 70.3 in Dun Laoghaire (a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run).  We had 5 teams and one very active whatsapp group.

When I agreed to the run part, I had that ever-ready “do it as a tempo” in head but then I was alerted to the price – €415 entry for the 3 person team.  So upgraded my plan and set 90mins as the goal.

Our team was Shane out swimming first, then changeover to my boyfriend Pete for bike and on to me for the run.    Athletes are tracked and you can follow progress on an app, with estimated times given for bike and run as you progress – these are really necessary for relay as you need to be ready for your teammate coming in, especially as bike times can vary by 2 hours.  The only issue with the tracker is that estimated times were based off swim and bike average.   So probably the funniest bit of the day was when a biker on our other team had a really good race, arrived at changeover but his teammate was only out in blackrock dart station making his way in.  To be fair to him, they only lost 26 minutes waiting around.

I also fell victim to this.  Was sitting on a wall, drinking coffee, having the chats, away from the formal changeover area, when my phone pinged to tell me that Pete had finished the bike – a full hour faster than estimated time.  Turned out my most pressing matter of concern was getting garmin satellite reception.  Then squeezed in through spectators and officials to the transition area.

Then the most bizarre run ever, and I really didn’t like it.  It was 3 lap course around dun laoghaire (up/down the east pier and as far as monkstown and back) and I had started with the mid pack gang so there were 100s of triathletes on the course all having done swim and bike and all at various points of a half marathon.  And me, fresh as a daisy trying to weave through them all – knowing that these lads had just completed, by all accounts, a horror of a bike course with 1,300m climb up the rainy Wicklow mountains.  Generally one gets a boost from overtaking – but that’s true in a race, everyone doing the same event; this was completely different and I got zero boost, actually minus boost.  Here my whole run was just overtaking and I did not find one person who was running the same pace as me (they would have probably finished earlier).

I really tried to get into important race mode mindset and kept trying to keep pace consistent.  I was doing fine until maybe around 15k and legs just felt really tired.  This is normal but by that stage I really didn’t have the investment in the race to find my pain cave (© Gareth Murran) .  I plugged away, was hurting but the adrenaline wasn’t there to force the body to really suffer (ah gotta love this hobby).

I knew this as I was able to raise a smile for the superb supporters Naoise, Catherine on WAG duty and Margaret and indeed Louise who was volunteering.  I was also able for a sprint finish at end.  Now I feel really bad about this part – other members of relay team can rejoin and go down the finish shoot (Ironman is ALL about the finish area).  So as in any healthy relationship, when I met Pete at rejoin point, all I wanted to do was outsprint him.  So we had a race down the line with no heed for the others who were finishing as individuals (probably also ruining their finish line photos).  I feel really crap about this.  We just didn’t think.My time was 94mins.  I can’t complain but I really should have been doing a road race.

Big thanks to Clodagh who was our group leader and managed to co-ordinate at least 15 people for the event, the gang are very diverse and lots of different hobbies so this was great way to get everyone together.  Also fair play to Margaret Crowley who was one of our fine swimmers!

Actually re the swim – I was chatting to people after and apparently a buoy marker moved and lots of people had an extra 400meters to swim.   Seemingly just one of those things that happens in triathlons.Anyhow, the whole day was really enjoyable – Ironman put on some show and it’s inspirational seeing all the triathletes finish and proud families. And the really cool bikes.

Finally big well done to Nigel Mulleady Elliott for completing the entire thing.  Hopefully we have report from him too.

2017 was my first year as a Master’s runner. One of the great memories of the year was winning a silver medal in the 1500M at the National Masters in the M35 category. After that race last year I had an appetite for more. The hashtag #goingforgold was the plastered across the race photo.

My indoor track season in 2018 was mixed. Having shown some early form with a 2:04 in the 800M in December I completely missed the Leinster, then Nationals and instead set my sights firmly on the Dublin marathon. The long runs are easier to get in when your traveling and the extra miles help keep the pounds off whilst entertaining clients and exploring distant lands.

Marathons aside I wasn’t about to give up on my bucket list goal of being a national champion in 2018. My outdoor build up was good. I ran the 800M and 1500M in the Leinster and came close to winning double gold, narrowly losing out by 1/100^th of a second in the 1500M. In July I ran my best 1500M in 3 years at the Graded’s, running 4.11 in Santry. I signed up for the masters with plenty of time to spare.

Getting closer to race day, imagine my excitement when the start lists were published. The spreadsheet came out and I started to Google all the field. It’s important to suss out the competition. Not quite stalking but just enough obsession…. An hour later, the good news was that the guy that beat me in the Leinster’s was only running the 5K but the bad news was that the guy who came 4^th in the last M35 World Champions and who ran 1.55 for 800M this season was to be in my race.

I drove down to Tullamore last Saturday ready to go to battle. Masters racing is great. You are competitive within your age group and the atmosphere is low key but like at the Senior level you never know who will show on the day. Its quite a long day in Tullamore as you have M35 up to M70 for men’s and women’s in almost all the events.

This year we have 3 from the club running. Michael Cunningham (M40) and myself (M35) were doing the 1500M and Martin Keenan (M45) was doing the 800M. Alan came down with Martin for some welcome support. The lads were great as Martin ran first at 2.30 but they waited until after 7PM to support me and Michael.

Martin Keenan was first up in the 800M. Martin ran a season’s best 2.16 which was an excellent result. Martin kept progressing on from the Leinster’s in June after a lay off from injury. Credit to Martin he always delivers. He finished an impressive 4^th in his race.

I was up next. After 3+ hours of sitting around, I was itching to go. After 3K around the local pitches, I was lacing up my spikes and starting to stare down the competition. When doing a middle distance race you need to be well warmed up, as in felt like you have already done half of your session. Strides all done by 7.10 PM and before I knew it I was standing on the line and ready to roll. After running 1.59 in the 800M earlier in the day I don’t think the result of the race was really, ever in doubt for most people.  If I was to cause an upset there was only one way it was going to happen which was to kick from a long way out and try to hang on. I had also just watched a marathon team ingebrigtsen session on Friday to prepare.

The gun went and off we went. I slotted nicely into second place as the early pacesetter took the first 300M out in 51 seconds.  I was well rested so the pace was very comfortable.  As we came around with 1K to go it was starting to back up a bit, the pace felt slow.  I was thinking to myself that if I let this turn into a slow tactical race then any of these lads could have a kick, not just the 1.55 man. To the front, I went. It’s important to build up the pace slowly at this point. Any sudden moves this early in and you are asking for trouble. The lactic will slowly build up and come the last 400M your legs won’t have anything.

The slow build up began. Lap 2 was again slow at 72 seconds so I was feeling good. Lap 3 was about pushing on to break up the field.  As I came around with just over 400M to go still in 1^st position the field had broken up behind. You start to count the seconds between cheers and shouts, in your head, to know who’s in contact.

As the bell rang to signify the last lap there was a great atmosphere around the place. The sounds of cheers and encouragement rang out. Now we’re moving! Careful to conserve some energy I just kept moving forward, pushing the pace but holding back a small bit. With 200M to go, I was still in the lead and it was time to make that move. The turbo boosts came on and I sprinted around the corner and down the home straight. Arms pumping and high needs I was flat out! Then with barely 50 meters to go in the race the inevitable happened, the 1.55 man sailed past and took the win. Not slowing down I ran 63 seconds for the last 400M but not able to react, coming home 1 second behind in second. Disappointed to not be the national champion but content that I gave it everything and would try to run with the same tactics every time. It was gold medal or bust, a silver is a nice perk.

They always say you get slow doing marathon training but at the end of the day, it’s about how much you want it. It’s on to Dublin in 10 weeks and with a 72 minute half in Killarney and a 30K in the Sierra Nevada Mountains behind me, I’m setting my sights relatively high.

Michael was last up in the 1500M. He slotted in nicely in the middle of the pack and kept a good pace to also get a season’s best and maybe a personal best. I think he ran a 4.2X as a young fellla. We’ll have to check the archives.

As we headed into the Tullamore sunset for a cool down there was a feeling of contentment. More so than last year.

Report by Karl Chatterton

On Sunday, the 6^th annual ‘Rock and Roll’ Dublin half marathon took place. It also doubled as the AAI national half marathon championships. This year saw a change to the regular route to allow the Phoenix Park be prepared for the visit of Pope Francis at the end of the month.

There were very mixed feelings about the changes, mostly due to the inclusion of some of the steepest hills in Dublin! Personally I really enjoyed the day and whilst the course was one of the toughest half marathons I’ve ever done, it was quite scenic at times and having the new start finish are at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham was a big plus.

It has been three years since I last did a half marathon so I decided that it was time to give the longer races another go! My PB for half was 1:24 from a race I did seven years ago in York. This was long before I moved to Dublin and joined the club! My aim was to try and break 80 minutes so I decided to sign up for the ‘Rock and Roll’, expecting the same course as the last few years. Training had gone ok. I’d increased my mileage and done a couple of 13 mile training runs in the Phoenix Park. Things seemed to be on track until they announced the course and I saw what was ahead of us!

The morning of the race I met a friend who was also running and we took a nice, easy jog the short distance down to Kilmainham. The start area seemed well organised and I saw a few familiar Sportsworld singlets gathering for the start of the race.

Following a 5 minutes delay the race started with a short downhill, followed by tight right turn and into the first climb of the day! This short climb up onto Thomas Street was to be the first of many hills along the route. I decided I’d try and run a fairly even pace of around 6min/mile for the first few miles as they were fairly flat. We came up Thomas Street as far as Christchurch Cathedral and took the downhill onto the quays.

Another left and back along past Guinness, then over the Liffey at Heuston Station. We then had a long straight and relatively flat section along the side of the Phoenix Park to Chapelizod.  A short detour brought us over the bridge at Islandbridge, through the entrance to Memorial park and back onto the main route. We ran through Chapelizod village and then onto the much anticipated Knockmaroon hill, which according to Strava is about 0.4km with 29m of climb.

Knockmaroon Hill at 8.5k

This was a real slog of a climb, but the main problem was once you reached the top as the climbing didn’t really stop there. It kept going all the way to Castleknock College. From there the course wound its way through the college grounds and up and down some smaller hills, under the M50, up to the Castleknock Hotel before we hit a long steep decline down to Strawberry beds. At the bottom of the hill there was a short hairpin turn, which gave me a chance to see that Andrew and Sadanand were pretty close behind me! I pushed on as the body started to tire nearing 10 miles. The most scenic sections of the course brought us along side of the River Liffey before a climb back up past the Anglers Rest pub to the top of Knockmaroon Hill.

At 10 miles into the race this climb felt even tougher than the earlier climbs. We turned the corner at the top and began the descent back to Chapelizod, where there were plenty of much needed shouts and encouragement from the runners still heading up the hill.

As we turned to cross the bridge at Chapelizod a shout from Neil Purdy let me know that Andrew was now right behind me. Pressure was on now! There is nothing like the challenge of racing a club mate for the last two miles of a half marathon to spur you on when you’re tired and feeling out of energy. Phil was well ahead so we were pushing for 2^nd and 3^rd place on the team. We pushed each other all the way and were picking off other runners as we made our way up the last couple of climbs and into the final 2k stretch to the finish line. I decided to pick up the sprint a little early and set off as hard as I could from the Gaol. As I came down the finish straight I could see the clock creeping towards 80 minutes so it time to dig in and sprint for the line. I managed to get over the line with 3 seconds to spare! Andrew came in right behind me and we finished in a 51^st and 52^nd place overall.

It wasn’t long before the fellows club mates all began to gather on the grass to for a non-alcoholic beer and debrief over how tough the course was!

Team Results

Womens Senior – 4^th Place

Sinead TANGNEY 01:27:58 05:07:43 4
Martina NOLAN-JONES  01:45:54 05:07:43
Eileen ROWLAND 01:53:51 05:07:43

Mens Senior – 4th Place
Sadanand Colm MAGEE  01:20:26 04:07:40 4
Martin DOYLE  01:21:36 04:07:40
Oliver HEDBORG 01:25:38 04:07:40

Mens Masters O35 – 3rd Place
Phil KILGANNON  01:17:32 03:57:33
Karl CHATTERTON  01:19:58 03:57:33
Andrew BRETT  01:20:03 03:57:33

Individual Results
Sinead TANGNEY  01:27:58 5th place
Anne BELTON 01:55:41
Deirdre O’Connell 1:42:50
Martina NOLAN-JONES 01:45:54
Siobhan CLARKE 01:55:34
Eileen ROWLAND  01:53:51 (Bronze O55)

Sadanand Colm MAGEE 01:20:26
Oliver HEDBORG  01:25:38
Phil KILGANNON  01:17:32
Karl CHATTERTON 01:19:58 Sp
Andrew BRETT  01:20:03
Martin DOYLE 01:21:36
Richard Cyganiak 1:33:30
Gerard Neenan 1:38:14
Emmet Wardell 1:41:18
Adrian LANIGAN  01:51:21
Paul CANNIFFE 01:53:04
Padraic MORAN  01:44:11 S

10k Results
Grainne Lynch 47:35
Olive Fogarty 49:11

When traveling for work I always look to get a race in when I’m going to be away for more than a week. This time things worked out particularly well when it coincided with the bank holiday weekend. So when I needed to be in San Jose, California this week I found a 10K race in a place called Chico in Northern California.

California has been dealing with record-breaking fires for the past month and they aren’t even halfway through their fire season. Chico is pretty close to one of those massive fires so a change of plans was called for. I found a race in a place called Truckee, California. The only problem was that the race started at 6200 feet and just went up. Running at high altitudes decreases the amount of oxygen getting to the muscles and there’s an increased risk of dehydration. At 6000 feet above sea level, you exhale and perspire twice as much moisture as you do at sea level.

I signed up and after a Thursday flight to San Franciso, I set out on Friday morning on the 200-mile road trip to Truckee. With a few stops along the way to see some old gold prospecting towns, I arrived to pick up my race number. There was around 250 signed up. The number would decrease on race morning due to the high levels of smoke from the fires.

After running a hard half in Killarney the weekend, and struggling to run a mile in the last graded I opted to sign up for the 30K distance rather than the 50K. The race was on point-to-point trails, taking advantage of the best single track dirt trails between Truckee & Donner Summit, near better known Lake Tahoe. The courses offered scenic views of some of the Northern Sierra’s most stunning terrain, including Euer Valley, Frog Lake Cliffs, Summit Lake, Castle Peak, and other beautiful peaks of the Sierra Crest.

The 30k route crossed over the crest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains offering runners a fun, challenging high altitude route, with plenty of dirt, rock, forest and elevation change. Getting to run some of the Pacific Coast Trail was the chance of a lifetime. Beginning in southern California at the Mexican border, the PCT travels a total distance of 2,650 miles through California, Oregon, and Washington until reaching the Canadian border.

A 5.15 AM start on race morning had me at the finish line for 6.00 AM to be bussed up to the road to the start. At 8.00 AM we were off. Immediately you could see and feel the effects of the smoke from the fires. Breathing was labored and eyes were burning. I was rubbing them constantly in my Sportsworld singlet.

After only a few minutes of running, we turned to start climbing up the mountain in front. Within 5 minutes I was run-walking on small steep sections. It took around 20 minutes to settle into 5th place, a position that I would hold onto for the majority of the race. A few times during the race I got quite close to the two runners in 3rd and 4th. The eventual 3rd placed runners held her position the whole race. She was very impressive at the high altitude, being well adjusted. As soon as we got to the next hill they could run away from me.  I gained some confidence as none of the other runners around me, could run the flats as fast, my only issue being that there were very few flat sections.

The race was broken up into 3. The first 10K was the most difficult I’ve ever run, the middle 10K gave some respite with around 50% being downhill. At 20K I felt great but by the time I got to the last 5K  I was starting to feel light headed and struggling to keep myself from tripping. One runner passed me with 6K to go on a very technical section of the course. I almost made the back in the closing section but ended up 50 seconds behind in 2.49. The winning time from last years race was 2.35 so I set a goal of breaking 3 hours. At times was having real doubts as some sections of the course were incredibly tough. starting out at 6200 feet and going close to the top of two 9000+ feet mountains. The scenery was magical, passing through redwood forests, alpine lakes, and rocky outcrops. descending with switchbacks that passed through meadows of summer flowers. It was incredible. our only instructions were to respect the altitude and follow the pink ribbons that marked the course.

All runners had to carry their own water bottle as disposables were not allowed on the course. They gave out a fantastic fold up a water bottle in the race pack. These were great as you could drink and then stick it in your pocket. I was amazed at all the belts, water packs and devices people had.

After the race and awards presentation, there was a great buzz about the place. The finish was at a ski resort so there were plenty of facilities for refueling and cleaning up. I spent the rest of the weekend exploring LakeTahoee along the California and Nevada state line. Its a magical place that even pictues cant do justice.  A highlight was running round echo summit, which is where the 1968 US Olympic Trials took place for Mexico city. Seeing the track cut out of the forest was some site.

Lewis Dillwyn once said of Killarney “The air was filled with the fragrance of wildflowers, and the eye wherever it turned beheld a region of delight, in which nature seemed to have unlocked all her secrets”. I’m a massive fan of this part of the country. Few places beat driving Slea head or seeing the Gap of Dunloe for the first time. A run around Muckross Lake knocks the socks off the also special Phoenix Park. You get the picture!

Killarney is a picturesque town on the shores of Lough Leane in southwest Ireland’s County Kerry. It’s a stop on the Ring of Kerry scenic drive, and the finishing point of the Run Killarney Half Marathon. Run Killarney gives runners the chance to run one of the world’s most breathtaking and scenic routes through Muckross House and Killarney National Park.

Sinead Tangney won the race in 2017 in a blistering 79 minutes and gave it the thumbs up as one of her favorite races. When I heard Martin Doyle had signed up for this year’s race I was straight on to book a hotel.

Driving down on Friday we were able to go for a walk around town, get a few non-alcoholic beverages in us and get to bed early.
It was an early start on Saturday but on a beautiful Kerry morning.

We were being picked up by a bus at 6.30 outside the famous Gleneagles hotel. The race started at Molls Gap outside Avoca Cafe. No time for scones though as the drive took almost 40 minutes and the race was to start at 8. As the gradient went up and up, the view gets a little nicer but it started to seem like a very long way back to the Gleneagles. You don’t need to warm up for a half marathon but when you plan to go flat out in the first kilometer to try and break 70 minutes you need a bit of one. Yes, my goal was 70 minutes, but more on that later.

Martin and I met a smiling Sinead at the top of the gap. She was eyeing up the competition and happy to be showing off her home turf. She pointed out a few of the lads I should stick with. We did a few strides and got a few selfie tips from Sinead.

At 8 we were ready to go. After a quick safety announcement, the race began. The start of this race is fast, so fast in fact that my mile time was in the 4.3Xs. I had my mind set on bringing one of those Run Killarney trophies home, preferably the big one. The eventual race winner was the Cork lad Sinead pointed out. I wanted to test him out in the first few kilometers and ran alongside. Shortly after the 3K, we hit about a mile of climbing. It was clear that I wasn’t going to be taking home the big trophy. The pace was too fast.

I ran the first 8 kilometers on the heels of the guy that would come 2nd. This part of the course was a real adrenaline rush. Going through kilometer after kilometer, never going slower than 3.05. I was starting to think the sub 70 was on, or better. Between 8-10K through the course flattens out. It hits you like a wall to not be running downhill anymore and have to face some rolling hills. At this point, I went through a bad patch and the guy in front got out of sight ahead. I later learned that he stopped to get sick at 13K but got going again. My PB for 10K is 33.00 but I went through in 32.35. That’s a reason to do the race in itself.

It’s around 12K that things get tough. The run into the Killarney via the park is full of rolling hills, none are huge, but they are long and challenging. I had some bad spells where the speed in the legs was just gone, doubts crept in and with nobody to run with it got tough to focus. I passed through 10 miles in 55.03 and was doing the math in my head. The slow agonizing pace over the past 3K had killed the dream of a sub 70. All of those kilometers were 3.4X and for no good reason, just feeling sorry for myself.

When we came off the road into the park I think there around 4K to go. I got a short boost down the hill into the park but then hit more hills. There were a few shouts for Sportsworld at Muckross House which was a welcome relief.

As we came out of the park I could hear footsteps behind me and was about to be passed. I didn’t come all this way and make such a concerted effort to go home empty-handed. I decided to let the guy pass me out and then let him bring me home.

Confident that I can outsprint most, I matched every surge waited until there was 300 to go and raced up the hill. My legs were about to fail as I passed over the line as if I’d just run 800M. Nice to finish 3rd satisfied with my time? NO satisfied with my effort in the day? YES

Not far behind was Martin with a fantastic PB of 76 minutes. We had only just caught our breath to see Sinead cheered home in 82 minutes in 1st place. When she wins next year, they plan to name the trophy in her honor.

After a quick cool down 8K and a shower, Martin and I walked back over to the Gleneagles and had a well-earned pint before collecting our prize haul with Sinead. The prize includes a free entry in 2019. I will be back to not go out at such a fast pace and try to bring it home a little easier and faster. This is one hard race, the course profile and fast start does fool you into a false sense of security.

We got to do do the tourist thing in Glengariff on Saturday afternoon with Whiskey In The Jar playing on full blast as we drove over the Cork and Kerry Mountains.

A good night was had in M Reidy’s in Killarney and a hike to the top of Carrauntoohil on Sunday morning topped it off. A fantastic weekend was brought to an end by an evening run around Muckross lake. This race is a must do. Whos coming in 2019? this will be more in demand than dip in the jackuzzi in Lanzarote.

Report by Michael Cunningham

Report by Emmet Wardell

Having dabbled in the art/effort/grunt of mountain running sporadically in recent years and each and every time I promise myself I must do this more! You will see this noted in Barretstown Dublin Mountain Way Race Report here.

So I signed up to IMRA Howth Summer on June 20^th and enjoyed it more than ever (despite getting lost and losing a load of places!), so I thought enough is enough, I need to start getting involved in this more regularly.  With my birthday coming up, the timing was good too – I asked my very generous big sister to get me a pair of proper trail runners which she kindly did. I invested in these puppies – v cool I am sure you agree?  Knowing that I would now have proper grip on the mountain trails, not to mention look like a complete boss, I was itching to find more mountain runs.

Thankfully IMRA has plenty on offer at this time of year!  I took on Seefingan (8km, 500 metre gain) on July 18th. This involved 4 gruelling peaks but my god the views. How are places so beautiful located so close to Dublin and so few of us know about them?!

This was not my finest effort, there was a lot of walking.  In my defence I had been feeling poorly (well had drank wayyyy too much on the weekend!) but enjoyed it nonetheless.  Another IMRA race chalked up but the appetite for more remained!

Balinastoe (11km, 550 metre gain) was the following week and this was probably my favourite course.  It had it all – gruelling gruelling uphills where even to keep walking can be tough.

There was also some real technical descents where each and every foot placement must be carefully chosen. We went through dense dark forests, over big ditches, through mud, over rocks, ducking under long hanging branches, over disused fences with each and every challenge coming thick and fast and unexpected giving you little time to think about how tired you are.

There is always a competitor on your tail forcing you to push push push, go go go! Next a trail through gorse that looked like it hacked open with a slash hook. Brambles scrape you. Blood tricking down the legs. Who cares – keep going!!

Then suddenly more uphills. Gruelling uphills!  Stay on the toes, try to keep jogging. Swing the arms using all 4 levers as the IMRA veteran lectured you last week after the Seefingan run/walk debacle.  MORE GRUELLING UPHILLS!  God I can barely walk up this, legs so heavy after 8 plus km of all terrain and challenges. Hang to the guys in front, you can pick a few off on the downhills.  Finally reach the final summit and you recognise where you are. It is literally all downhill from here – 2km of wreckless descending and I have managed to keep something in the tank. Let’s be ‘aving ya!  Stay relaxed and let the arms swings.

With IMRA times are out the window and it is all about how you place. The long legs and greater abandon help me start to pick a few off.  Past another! How can it possibly feel so exhilarating going from 42^nd to 41^st in a field of only a 100 odd?  I am not sure but it does!!! Keep going, more downhill. Pick your own line, always faster!  On no, lace undone!  1km to go. What to do? Can’t possibly stop – might drop back to 42^nd!  Try to think rationally/sensibly but heart rate so high – sure my feet are never close enough together that I could possibly trip. I am only running at about 3.30 per km pace down the side of a mountain trail. Perfectly safe!!  Keep going!!

On I push, pick off a few more on the final bit of fire road and collapse over the finish line.  Exhausted but beyond buzzing – 38^th spot of 140 off – what a freakin’ champ!!! Safe to say I have never ever enjoyed running on the road as much as the adventure of the 68 minutes just passed (to be fair my first DCM probably does top it but everyone knows that that feeling is all but unbeatable).

Last night I did the final Leinster league summer race in Downshill (9.5km, 350 metre gain) County Wicklow (I initially thought it was entirely a downhill race when I saw it first!).

All in all, it wasn’t my favourite route but the race itself was epic. I was knackered starting off but sure aren’t you always before a race? It was a big field. People crammed in on some laneway.  Off we go on a mad 150metre dash up the laneway and then a left turn. Bang!  Straight up a gnarly gnarly climb.  In and up we file!  Check my watch 0.32km covered and heart is thumping and I can barely keep moving forwards, upwards. How on earth can I get through this? But you can. You always can and you always do!

I settled into a groove and just dug in. I spend the next 8km of ups and down keeping Phil (a new IMRA carpool buddy) and Paul (former Sportsworld member whose better half Lucy D’arcy is well known down the club) in my sights. Hang on to them if you can. Don’t go past as you will blow up. Hang on though and we can maybe have some fun at the end.

We reach the top of the last proper climb and it is on!  Myself and Paul have exchanged places a few times at this point but he pulls away from me. He’s catching Phil, but so am I. I know that there is a small climb left that will hurt as people are so tired. I also know the race finishes with 500metres of sharply descending and challenging trail before 150 fire road downhill to the finish. Paul slows on the uphills. Phil too. I am past them both. But Phil sees me go past and comes alive again!  He is hot on my tail. In an epic mind numbingly speedy dash to the finish line I hold him off.  57^th place out of 158 competitors. I usually finish in around the top 10-15% of the road races I do. Here I barely make the top half but the buzz is far far greater.  Garmin tells me my max speed was 28.kph coming down the last 500 metres. I am not sure I believe it. It felt more like 128!!!

Race reporter Emmet. Before he scratched his pins

Aside from the thrill of risking limb and bone, other brilliant things about IMRA are the sense of community, the comradery and the self-respect between runners.  Additionally the association is completely not for profit and volunteer based with races costing as little as €5-7. There are carpooling initiatives in order to be environmentally conscious as well as help ease traffic. They give you one race number which you keep for the year/life. Again environmentally considerate. On top of the carefree fun of running in the mountains, there are just a few of the other things that make IMRA feel a great thing to be a part of and one from which many organisations can learn.

Eoin asked me to do a report to try and promote the joys of mountain running (Michael had been pestering too!). Crikey I thought!  But actually once I started it all came back to me and on I typed (in case you didn’t notice). I hope the above gives a sense of what a different challenge and of how much fun the mountain running can be. I would strongly encourage everyone to give it a good try – if you like a challenge and love the outdoors, you’d be mad to not give IMRA a go: www.imra.ie/events/

Sportsworld Results

13th Eoin Keith 0:44:50
58th Emmet Wardell 0:52:18
63rd Paul Mitchell 0:52:36
109th Lucy DARCY 0:59:37
124th Gerard Keating 1:03:52