Report by Martina Nolan-Jones

Photos thanks to Anna Delaney, Sandra Kelly and Grainne Lynch

So my turn has come… I thought I would be a lot further into my Sportsworld running career before I would be asked to write a race report! I am not sure whether Michael was smiling so much due to the look of surprise on my face when he asked me if I had written a race report before.. or whether he smiles like that everytime he asks people to write a report.. either way it was hard to say no!

Race reporter Martina in white

As a TCD graduate I couldn’t resist the BHAA TCD race night.  I kept smiling to myself that day because I never dreamt in a million years that I would ever be part of a running club or would run around the cricket pitch in TCD while I was in college!

I parked up in Drury St at 5:30pm and made my way to TCD.  I met Grainne in Front Square and we walked down to the Moyne Institute to register and figure out what our grade would be since we had never run an 800m or 1 mile race before!  There was a great turn out from the club and Myles smiled telling us all that he expected an equally good turn out at the next graded run in Tallaght!

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The first race (Women’s 800m Std 14-30) kicked off at 7pm.  Katie took off like a rocket leaving us all behind. Patricia, Breda and Grainne were in front of me, and I gasped as I tried to keep up! I stayed on Grainne’s heels but couldn’t pass her out. There was great support from the club all around the track and Patricia won the race for Sportsworld!

Next up was the Women’s 800m Std 1-13,  Margaret represented the club in this race, followed by all the Men’s 800m races.  There was great representation from the club in all the men’s races too, including Bambi (who promised to remember my name from now on!). 

The 1 mile races started ahead of schedule at 7:50. I felt good and strong as I set off at a fast pace.. however, I was totally out of my comfort zone as I led the ladies in the first 200m.  As we approached the Sportsworld crew outside the Pav, all I could hear was Myles and Emily’s voices in my head telling me that I was going too fast! Katie and 2 other runners passed me, but thankfully from that point on I held my position and finished in 4^th place.  Much to my delight, I received the 3^rd place prize later because one of the runners ahead of me was eliminated from the prizes!

Again, all the subsequent 1 mile races were very well represented by Sportsworld. The men put in a great performance especially Will, Karl, and Karol who won their races.  With everyone in high spirits after Karol’s exciting finish to win the last race, we all walked up the steps to the Pav for well deserved refreshments.

Overall it was a great night of running, camaraderie, and fun! My love of running and Sportsworld grows with each of these events!  Hopefully, I’ll be back next year to win one of the 1^st prize TCD umbrellas which you may spot several of the club members using in Bushy Park in the coming months!!

Unfortunately, the race results were not online in time for this week’s update so apologies for not including all the other great performances and wins on the night!

Report by Padraic Moran

The Start

Siobhan, Ann, Eileen, Audrai and Phil had agreed to enter a Sportsworld Ladies’ team into the Cork Marathon relay on 3rd June, the Sunday of the June bank holiday weekend. Not having anything else to do, and faced with the prospect of minding five handbags on a Cork street for the day, I put the word out looking for a team of my own. As luck would have it, Eileen’s Killarney-based brother-in-law Mike had four runners ready to go, with one free slot remaining. Sign me up! My Masters status and slightly-less-than-elite athletic capabilities didn’t seem to matter to Mike; the team was part of the Cork Sanctuary Runners Cork Marathon Relay initiative so inclusion and diversity was the priority on the day.

The Cause

The Sanctuary Runners initiative gets Irish people running with asylum seekers and refugees in the marathon as part of an initiative to show solidarity with those living in the direct provision system, and to build friendships and community. The Sanctuary Runners relay teams are mixed teams of Irish runners and residents of the direct provision centres from around county Cork, all with an interest in running as well as in establishing and building contacts in both communities. Some have run distances up to full marathons in their home countries; for others, this will be their first running event. Some assistance was provided to help with running shoes, training, transport and accommodation for the event. About 50 direct provision residents took part in the initiative, with an additional 100 people from the broader community.

The Format

The marathon course is divided into 5 convenient, if not equally-measured, sections, with each team member running one or more sections. The team members between them run the entire 42.2km marathon route. The legs vary in length from 7.4 to 9.3km with the shorter legs being slightly hillier than the longer ones. The first-leg runner starts with the main marathon group at 08:30, and the final-leg runner finishes with the elites, looking fresh as a daisy. In theory at least.

The relay sections were from St Patrick’s Street to Silversprings; to Ringmahon Road; to Victoria Road; to Model Farm Road; and back to the finish line on St Patrick’s Street.

The Team

Our team is from the Drishane Castle direct provision centre in Millstreet. In addition to Mike and me, we have two men and one lady from Africa, who while not actual Kenyan elite runners, have all the enthusiasm, fitness and drive to promise a very good race. Pierre (from Cameroon) is the leader and team coach; a fitness nut with the body to prove it, he is surely Millstreet’s Mr. Motivator. Reportedly an accomplished kick-boxer, he’s no slouch as a runner either. Zandille (from Zimbabe) is Pierre’s wife and, I suspect, his personal project for the Cork marathon relay. She’s a real charmer with a beaming smile. It’s her first real road race, and she’s super-excited; she has brought a Zimbabwean flag to carry to the finish line. Jimmy is from Burundi. He’s quiet and unassuming, but of all of us he’s the one who looks like a real distance runner. Slight, light and full of energy.

One of my challenges, and it’s an unfortunate oversight for someone about to run a relay race, is that I have never met any of my team mates. We’ve swapped mugshots on the WhatsApp Group; but Mike is coming over from Kerry on Sunday morning straight to the start line so I won’t meet him until transition. The rest of us are at race HQ on Albert Quay, where the relay shuttle busses will leave from. I trot on into City Hall, and as luck would have it I recognise my Millstreet team-mates pinning their race numbers onto their sky-blue Sanctuary Runners t-shirts. There’s not much chat at first; the usual pre-race mixture of excitement and nerves has set in and everyone is focused on the job at hand. But when the official duties are finished; numbers on, bags dropped etc. and everyone’s happy that they’re ready to go, we have more time for introductions and strategy.

The Race

Mike is on the first leg. I hop on the relay shuttle bus at 08:00 to the Silversprings Hotel, and bumped into Denis McCaul in a Sportsworld singlet. Out the road in a few minutes, and in plenty of time for warm-up and strides before the elites and the first of the first-leg runners arrived. Gary O’Hanlon, not content with running a marathon without a handicap, was giving Peter Somba a piggy-back at this early stage in the race. Maybe I’m wrong but Ann Henderson was close behind them and may have run a number of sub-4 minute miles to hand the wrist-band baton over to Phil in excellent time. I was keeping my eyes peeled for a tall, youthful-looking Kerryman in a blue shirt answering to the name of “Mike”; luckily I didn’t have long to wait, and also luckily I picked the right guy, as I didn’t have to mug him for his wrist-band. A quick hello and I’m off like a self-controlled version of the clappers.

I’ve got 8.9km ahead of me and I might have volunteered to do it at 4:30 pace. I have a 09:50 appointment with Jimmy at the Ringmahon Road and I don’t want to keep him waiting. Someone told me that the only hill was coming out of the Jack Lynch tunnel. Someone else said “don’t forget the Mahon on-ramp”. I’m not very familiar with Cork, so I thought the Mahon on-ramp was out at the Dunkettle roundabout. Not so, apparently, and it’s a pity no one told me those other hills either. Nonetheless, I made it to the hand-over point more or less at the appointed time, and picked Jimmy out from the crowd on the side of the road, among about a dozen other Sanctuary third-leggers. Job done! Time to relax. I looked around. “So, who’s finished and who still has to run?” I asked. There were a few giggles. “You’re the first Sanctuary Runner home so far!”. Not bad!

Denis had arrived; and Phil had passed the baton to Audrai. We were a few miles from HQ and it was a beautiful, hot sunny day. Given that it was still early in the day, showers and breakfast beckoned to the other two and they hopped on the bus, but I felt like cutting across through Mahon and the Blackrock Road to the next transition point and meeting up with Jimmy again. By the time I arrived at Victoria Road, Jimmy had already passed the wrist-band to Pierre. Eileen and Ann were watching out for Audrai, all on good time. The half-marathon runners had just joined the marathoners so the crowds had really swelled out, with about 16km left to go. Jimmy looked anything but tired, so we decided we’d re-join the route for another few miles. We were fairly shortly heading back out the South Link Road. I was back at race pace and Jimmy was ambling along beside me; but with 14km already done, I was nearly out of range, out of fuel, and in danger of crash-landing in The Lough like one of those RAF fighter-planes in Dunkirk. I turned back to City Hall for a change and a cuppa. Jimmy continued on to meet Pierre at the next transition point. The next time he was seen was 10 miles later crossing the finish line, having run three of the five relay legs at about 3:20:00 marathon pace!

Meanwhile, Pierre had finished his 9.2km leg to the final transition point and handed the wrist-band to Zandille. Pierre said afterwards it was that he wanted to share the excitement of the finish line with his beloved; Zandille said it was because he knew she wouldn’t run as fast if he wasn’t around; either way, they ran the last leg together, and crossed the finish line to a cheering crowd, with huge smiles and fist pumps. Funnily enough it was Pierre who had the Zimbabwean flag draped around his shoulders.

Ann, Audrai and Phil are back at the finish line by now; Eileen is on her way back from the final transition point. I finally get to properly meet my team-mate Mike; and we spread out along the route to cheer Siobhan over the finish line.

Our multi-national team has finished the marathon relay with an official time of 3:21:44; we’re 38th overall of 617 relay teams; and we’re the first Sanctuary Runners team to cross the line.

The Afters

RocketMan HQ on Prince’s St. is hosting post-race refreshments for the Sanctuary Runners. A barbeque is provided courtesy of the OurTable pop-up restaurant – an inspiring initiative by Ellie Kisyombe, herself living in direct provision for eight years, and working to highlight the need for asylum seekers to be able to select and cook food for their families. The Lord Mayor of Cork visits, to say a few words, and to present some race medals.

All team members make it safely back to HQ with back-slaps and high-fives all round, team photographs and chat until it’s time for us to move on; back to Dublin for me, Killarney for Mike, and Millstreet for Jimmy, Pierre and Zandille. We all agreed that we had a thoroughly enjoyable and invigorating day, meeting people from different backgrounds and sharing an uplifting experience with them.

We didn’t discuss doing it again next year, because, well, who knows where we’ll be in twelve months’ time?

Results

I spent last weekend driving around West Cork and South Kerry from my base in Killarney. In need of a session to keep me ticking over on Saturday morning, I went looking for a Parkrun. I’d run the Killarney Parkrun last December. It’s a fine course but I wanted something new and more interesting. My plan for Saturday was to visit Bere Island in the afternoon. Whilst doing my research I saw they host a Parkrun on the island. After a quick check-in with Parkrun enthusiast Maura Ginty, I had my directions and a glowing recommendation. From Killarney, it is about a 90 minutes drive along the N71. One of the most scenic roads in the country. A 5.45 start but well worth it to see the sun rise on the Cork / Kerry border.

There are 2 ferries servicing Bere Island. Murphy’s Ferry sails between Rerrin Village and the Pontoon. I got this one at 8AM. Bere Island Ferries sails between Oilean na gCaorach, West End Bere Island and Castletownbere. This is the more popular ferry. It leaves at 9 AM and there is a bus to drop you to the start line and back. All for €10. There is no need to book either. If you have a car I’d recommend the 8 AM ferry as it leaves you 5 minutes from the start and gives you time to explore afterward.

Always one to be early. I arrived at the Pontoon at 7.40 AM, after stopping for one too many times for photos. 20 minutes later I was on the island and being greeted by a local lady who asked me if I was here the run? She then kindly invited me in for coffee. The Bere Island park run, which is on the Wild Atlantic Way offers spectacular scenery of Bantry Bay with a route which takes in a Bronze Age wedge tomb, remains of a Viking boatyard and a former World War One military battery.

The parkrun began on the island on August 29th, 2014 and has grown from strength to strength. Since then, much has changed, the Parkrun has become a regular activity on the Island, making a huge positive impact on the community. About two hundred people live on Bere Island but over six hundred people that have registered Bere Island park run as their home run; I think that says it all.

The course is well marked but there is a allot of holes in the road after the harsh winter. They have a timing clock at the end which is great and a very friendly team of organisers. The local GAA club is used for changing and showers. True to island life it doesn’t get locked. This might have something to do with the fact that the army has a base on the island. The advice from the race marshal was quite amusing in his thick accent “dont run towards the bullets”, “dont run through the village”.

The 5k measured course goes around the eastern end of the island near Rerrin Village. It’s a single lap course but much hillier than most Parkruns that you find in Dublin. The course record for men is 16:04. I went into the race thinking that was doable but after a first KM of 3.40 I was thinking maybe not. The course is amazing. You start off downhill but quickly hit too short steep inclines. To your left is the army shooting range with the sound of gunfire in the distance. You start to pick up the pace when you hear the bullets. The scenery all around the course is top class. Gorgeous cliffs give way to rolling hills. The first 4K is mostly all hills. There is a few flat sections but It’s not until the very last section which is all downhill that you really get moving past 10K pace. They had a lot of visitors on Saturday. 40 or so Air Corps cadets who had been down in the Army barracks all week on an adventure/training camp ran.

It was rather a warm morning (I don’t want to say too hot-we might jinx the great weather we’ve been getting). There was some cloud cover to start with giving a nice cooling effect, but it wasn’t long before the clouds separated letting the sun cast its waves of heat down on us, making for very warm running conditions. I finished in an official time of 17:18 which puts me 5th on the all-time list. It’s rare that I would run so slow for a 5K but I found the heat, holes in the road and hills tough.
I don’t reckon I could take more than 30 seconds off that. It’s a very enjoyable but tough course. At the end of the run, everyone heads to the Bakehouse Cafe in Rerrin Village for a coffee, scone, and a chat.

I cant recommend this enough. Put it on your Bucklist or just drive down some weekend over the summer. I’ll be back in this part of the country allot more. There is a great run down there on July 14th with a bunch from the club going. Check it out!

Report by Conor Keating

Report by Andrea McNamara

Sportsworld Results

As a new or returning runner, you may have come across the term Masters Running and are wondering what that means. A Masters Runner is a runner, male or female, over the age of 35. Being a Masters Runner means that during a race, your time and position can be compared to others in the same age group category as you. This seems fair as a 50-year-old is not going to be able to sprint as fast as a 20-year-old in a 5 KM race. Yet a 50-year-old might have better endurance than a 20-year-old in an ultra-marathon.

It’s tempting to deny that age has any effect at the lower end of this range. After all, Meb Keflezighi’s PR win at Boston came only weeks before his 39th birthday, and many runners continue to improve during their late 30s. However, at 36 I’m starting to say to people I know what you’re talking about. When I first started with the club, putting together a few fast 400M intervals was easy, now it requires effort, it requires focus.

What’s all this got to do with a race in Tullamore? I’m a firm believer, that if it doesn’t challenge you then it doesn’t change you. If you put in the work then you can reach your goals. With the pending onset of old age, I decided this year was going to count. My goal at the start of the year was to take gold at the Maters indoor 1500M track and Masters outdoor 1500M track. Everything was on track, excuse the pun, until early February. Then sitting on a beach in Malibu on the day of the indoors, I knew I had to adjust plan A. I decided I was to run the Dublin Marathon. To do it properly this year and use the early part of the training cycle to work on my speed.

Goals are meaningless without the intermediary steps to get you there. A bold statement, yes I know. Indulge me for a few moments. Setting some goals brings focus to your training.  Goal 1 was to double up in the Leinster Masters Outdoors, running 1500M and 800M. Goal 2 is to win Masters gold in the 1500M at Nationals in August. Goal 3 is to run a PB in the 10K and finally smash the PB in Dublin this October. The journey is a continual process of refinement, leading toward the ultimate victory in October.

This past Sunday with a mid-week long run in the bag I packed the car and headed to Tullamore. I arrived before 9AM to collect my number. The sun was splitting the trees. I knew I was in decent shape but have never doubled up like this before it was going to be a new experience. Masters running is good as the standard is more approachable. You know that if you’re on form, that you will be there or there about’s. At 10.30 they lined us up for the off.

All the men’s masters 1500m were run together so there was a decent number of athletes in all age groups. I knew from the start that there was one man to keep my eye on. Straight away slotting into second place the first 2 laps went by very quickly, albeit at a canter. I had set my stall out that all I was going to do was cover any moves. The first 2.75 laps were run at 72-second pace so this was going to a fast finish,a championship race. With 400M to go the guy in front kicked. I felt like there was some intention so I decided to keep pace. With 320M to go, I made my move and was committed. I had a flashback of Emily the week before in Tallaght saying to move those arms. With 50M to go I was in 1st position and felt like I was flying then the legs started to tighten just a tad too early. I could sense the guy behind had his second wind. Legs burning I tried to keep the form and then right on the line I see his head leaning forward to take the win. A time difference of only 1 one hundredth of a second. It’s rare that you get to enjoy a race and compete at the same time. I’ll remember this one for years to come. A big shout out to Martin who took 3rd in his age category, over the same distance. Martin recently returned from injury.

2 hours later I was back on the track. Not too much of a warm-up needed as it was now 23 degrees and I was still feeling nice and loose. 800M was my preferred distance as a youngster in my 20’s but now I have moved up to 1500M. They lined the younger Masters runners us up with the senior athletes, who all seemed to still be in school. Standing on the start line I asked one of them what their PB was and he said 1:53. This was going to be two races! Off the line into 2nd again the legs were a bit tired but thankfully the first lap was 65 seconds. It’s rare that you get to run an 800M and run a negative split but after a slow first lap I knew it as on. The trick with an 800M is to maintain your pace on lap 2 and push hard down the back straight. Almost like deja vu, the kick came with 300M to go. This time I was giving chase. Once bitten twice shy, I drew from experience to stay close enough and hold the course. With 30M to go, still, in second place,  I knew the gold medal was on. Keeping the form and pushing every bit of the way to the line, taking the win with 10M to go.

A great running inspiration Steve Prefonatine once said ‘Success isn’t how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started. Vision, consistency and hard work’ Looking forward to the next race. Here’s to staying injury free.

June Bank Holiday can only mean one thing. Forty-odd thousand women descend on the streets of Dublin to take part in the world’s largest female-only sporting event of its kind-The VHI Women’s Mini Marathon. It was this event some 35 years ago that prompted Emily to start Sportsworld running club so obviously the club holds a strong tradition of taking part in this amazing day out year after year. For me personally I think this was my 7th year taking part.  In previous years, I’ve walked, jogged, made my way around the 10km course. This is my 3rd year in a row running it. Yes this is a big race day but more importantly it’s a day when charities are the big winner. So with this in mind, this year I decided to try get a few of the girls in the club together to run for charity swapping our usual red and white for the PWSAI logo singlet’s. I roped in Naoise, Kate, Margaret, Sinead, Katie and the bold Ginty. We met around noon in Buswells Hotel on Molesworth Street, who kindly gave us the use of a conference room for a few hours to meet and get ready. There was a lovely atmosphere as about 40 women on team PWS gathered on a gorgeous sunny day. 1.20 arrived and it was time to get moving towards the start area with a little warm-up on the way. We had Caoimhe with us at this stage who was sporting a bright pink top representing another great charity “Breast Cancer Research in Young Active Women” in honour of her dearest friend Rachel Kenneally. En route to the start we bumped into Val, Ciara and Lucy(who was sporting a little red top showing abs that had us all in awe, the queen of the 6-pack). There was a tense feeling around the start zone. We were marched to the starting line at 1.40, no strides allowed, no moving around. It was a bit early to be putting the race face on but there was an apprehensive, nervous mood rising. Then Lucy, running in her impressive 31st Women’s Mini Marathon decided to change the whole atmosphere and broke into song getting the crowd going with a rendition of Molly Malone. There we are in Fitzwilliam Place, 40000 women swaying side to side with arms in the air singing “In Dublin’s fair city, where the girls are so pretty……………..alive, alive, oh””. This wasn’t a race. This was girl power at its best. Strong women out to support each other. To run for a cause close to their hearts. It was a just a class moment.

Molly out of the way, gone with her wheelbarrow, and the green flag went down. We were off down Lesson street heading for Donnybrook. The sun was in peak position in the sky. This was going to be a hot one.1km in and I heard the familiar voices of Emily, Myles, Catherine and Will. I thought feck I have a bet with Myles about my performance today, didn’t actually expect he’d be here to see if I held up to the challenge or not. On into Donnybrook, 2km mark and another familiar voice, Gemma, shouting us on, quick thumbs up and we were out on the dual carriageway. This is a tough part of the race, the Stillorgan Road brings us out past UCD and back around taking us from 3km to 6km. This stretch is tough as it’s a slight hill all the way out before you turn around to come back in the other side. I had the company of Kate on the way out to keep me going up the slight climb, turn at the top and I hear cheers from the other side, Caoimhe, then Margaret to give you that boost just when the legs are starting to tire.  6km mark, turn the corner onto Nutley Lane and I hear ‘Heres Sportsworld’, Paul O’Connell (sporting one of his trendy Lanza straw hats), Aoife and baby Maebh giving a shout out. 4km to go. Beginning to hurt now but the support out there on the streets is like no other. I remind myself why I’m doing this, think of Martha, think of Emily telling you everyone is hurting, it’s not just you. Keep plugging along. Have my eye on a group of 4 girls ahead, I can see they’re tiring too, I’m closing the gap, slowly.

The Kilometres tick past. 8km mark, I look at my watch for the first time, it says 5 bloody miles, double Dutch to me, I’m a kilometres girl. I know Emily and Myles will be at the 800m mark, its where Emily was last year. i don’t want them to shout me to run faster, i’m fecked but they’ll be there. On I come, the roars start, I can hear Myles for about 400 meters after I pass but its just what i needed, there’s still something left in the tank. I’ll catch those girls ahead. My cousin pops up with shouts of encouragement about 400m meters to go, one last burst over the little bridge and catch that last girl in the home straight. Finish Line. Done. I wobble like a drunk woman for a good 60 seconds. Look at the watch. Think I’m seeing things. It’s a PB alright, by a minute and a half, I can’t believe it. I ran exactly 5 minutes slower in this exact race 12months ago. It’s crazy. But most importantly I win the bet with Myles. Take position on the kerb just past the finish line and one by one the Sportsworld girls fly into the finish area. Incredible performances by all the girls especially in that heat. Little post mortems start, we catch up with running pals from other clubs, the atmosphere is one of unity, of strength, of empowered woman. All Sportsworld ladies gathered and we make our way back to the hotel. Katie has also managed to secure a PB. Sorry if I’ve missed anyone else.

Special shout out to the now famous ‘Mammy Jones’, coming home in 1.27 like a young wan and to my little Ledge Martha completing the whole 10km in just over the 2 hours mark, what an achievement. Go on Mart!! I want to say a special thank you to all the Sportworlders who so kindly sponsored the Jones Ladies and PWSAi and especially the 6 girls who wore the PWS logo on the day to spread awareness of PWS.A proud day for all involved.

A nice little surprise today when the results come out. Sportsworld girls have secured the 3rd team. Great achievement in a heavily talented field.  #squadgoals. See you all again next year.

Sinead Tandney 37.57
Maria Jones 38.32
Kate Kelly 39.38
Ciara Brady 41.06
Caoimhe Daniels 42.19
Naoise Waldron 42.45
Maura Ginty 42.52
Caoimhe Costigan 44.14
Katie Nugent 45.49
Margaret Crowley 47.18
Lucy D’Arcy 49.12
Jessica Kennedy 49.06
Val Power 50.39
Bronwyn White 50.42
Delourdes Seymour 51.03
Shaunna Impey 55.49

Ailson Mackey 59.55

Michelle Byrne 1.01

Helen McGrath 1.00

Aoife Lavin 1.08

Hazel McMahon 58.15