Anyone checking the parkrun website for results or future volunteer rosters will have seen a message like the one above.
The 'Scheduled Maintenance' is most likely because the website will need to be updated as two critical security vulnerabilities have been identified which threaten sites using #PHP , a language present on nearly 70% of the web. These vulnerabilities can enable cyberattacks and data theft.
A total of 144 runners and walkers took part in the inaugural Dungarvan event which starts in Ballinroad on the Dungarvan to Waterford City Greenway. Ballinroad is about 4 kms to the east of Dungarvan town.
The course itself is pretty much dead flat. It's 2.5 kms out, around a cone and 2.5 kms back.
It's hard to be sure what the long term average might be like but I think it might be about the same as Mallow which had an average of 72 finishers per event in 2025.
That would a reasonable number for an out and back course where space is limited. As can be seen from the photo below, the course is about 3-metres wide and would be unsuitable for say 200 plus with runners going in both directions.
Full results HERE
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| First 3 women in the 10k (L-R) Kim Muckian 3rd, Caitriona McGettigan 1st & Catherine Murphy 2nd |
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The new Carrigaline 5k parkrun has started and the inaugural event was held on Saturday 17th of October 2026. The first event was a low key event so that it wouldn't be overwhelmed with huge numbers.
The official name of the course is the Cork Harbour Greenway Carrigaline parkrun.
As the map shows above, the parkrun is an out and back course and it's held on the Carrigaline to Crosshaven Greenway and it's about 1.5kms east of the town.
This is a more detailed map of the area.
The car park at the start of the Greenway is reasonably small and the organisers ask all parkrunners to use the much larger car park at the Primary Care Centre. There will be stewards available every Saturday to guide visitors to this car park.
The Primary Care Centre is only a few hundred metres away from the start of the parkrun.
This is the road junction near the parkrun. Parkrun visitors are asked to turn right here for the Primary Care Centre.
You can see the traffic lights ahead where people can cross the road to get to the parkrun.
The course is dead flat and it's basically 2.6 kms out, turn near the car park by the Rabbit Island car park and then 2.4 kms back.
The course is quiet narrow and is only about two metres wide in places. The capacity of the course is about 100 runners so it would help a lot if you could delay your visit to give the numbers a chance to calm down.
I am a runner but I want to stay running through the winter. How do I do it?
We all need motivation, a plan, encouragement to keep us going. No one is a Duracell bunny the whole time. There will be dips and stress periods where it is a struggle to go outside the front door but we must persevere.
What is your motivation?
Have you a Winter or Spring race in mind that will force you out. I use the word force but once we enter a race then we feel the need to properly prepare ourselves to give it a go.
A race entry might seem expensive but taken against the mental and physical benefits of training and achieving over the next few months then it is small change. A round of drinks or a meal in a good restaurant would be a lot dearer with no benefits.
Do you run to get out of the house and have a little me time? That is good
Do you run as a health prescription to keep the weight down and to help offset long term issues that could arise. Fair play
A plan
I will run 3 times a week.
I will run 20 miles a week.
I will do a parkrun each week.
I will run once, do strength training and do an aerobic session in the gym.
I will make my life fit around getting out for a run.
I will get out and enjoy it.
It actually doesn’t matter once you set a realistic plan for yourself and follow it through.
Encouragement
I cannot stress this one enough. We all need help. Find a running buddy, make yourself accountable to someone else. This will drag you out when you don’t feel like it.
I have repeatedly stated on this page how toxic social media is, but an odd post for your friends only, about a run or something noteworthy achieved and give yourself the boost of a bit of love and praise. Genuine people love seeing genuine people just doing something. That sounds basic and simplistic but it is true. I love seeing my friends do well. Why wouldn’t I? They are my friends.
Treat yourself to a cuppa afterwards. Share the joy. I ran with you, didn’t we do well. Positivity brings more rewards than negative. Highlight the can do, rather than the doubts.
When possible find somewhere scenic to run it might encourage you to return.
As an aside a good pair of leggings, a breathable running jacket, a pair of gloves and a nice hat can be of great use. The Summer was great so they maybe buried somewhere deep and quite smelly but in the fresh air no one will notice. .
"I don't know when the end of the journey will come, but I know that sure as hell I'm going to enjoy every path along the way" Ciara Mageean.
#pwr
Plans for a new 5k parkrun in Killorglin, Co Kerry are well advanced at this stage but one major obstruction that has popped up is confusion on who actually owns the old railway bridge across the River Laune.
In order to get the parkrun course certified by the official parkrun website, organisers need letters of permission from every landowner along the route.
The Iron Bridge in Killorglin, also known as the Laune Viaduct is shown above and below.
Kerry County Council said the lands at the bridge and around it are not registered with the land registry and are not sure who actually owns it.
Despite this, Kerry County Council carried out extensive repairs to the bridge back in 1993 and recently installed lights on it.
A council official said it would take a ‘number of months’ to find the physical records as they would need to access a national archive in Dublin.
Once it gets going, it will be the sixth 5k parkrun in Co Kerry.
Killorglin has a population of about 2200 people so there should be enough people locally to support a 5k parkrun in the town.
John Buckley Sports is one of the main running stores in Cork and Munster and they are now moving to a new location!
The new store is literally just 90-metres east of the old one and still across the river from the Opera House.
Some photos of the interior are shown below.
John Buckley Sports also released the following...
During the summer and autumn of 2026, Stephen Murphy set out on the challenge to complete all of the 5k parkruns in Co Cork.
The eleven parkruns are shown below with a visit to Malmo, Sweden thrown in for good measure.
Ballincollig 10/10/2026 445 73 25:56
Malmö Ribersborg 26/09/2026 353 49 26:01
Midleton Greenway 05/09/2026 81 38 25:24
Mallow Castle 15/08/2026 242 28 24:57
Glen River 08/08/2026 323 26 25:30
Tramore Valley 01/08/2026 213 87 25:45
Pobalscoil na Tríonóide 25/07/2026 220 20 25:43
Bere Island 18/07/2026 554 25 26:12
Macroom Castle Demesne 04/07/2026 584 20 26:20
Glengarriff 20/06/2026 459 22 26:27
Clonakilty 13/06/2026 535 18 24:59
Castlehaven 16/05/2026 465 8 27:09
I often wondered how many people have completed all eleven? The vast majority of parkrunners stick to their local event and a lot have maybe two or three.
After that, the numbers drop way off and I'd guess maybe only 50-100 people have done all of them. Maybe it's less?
This is a huge issue at the moment and something close to my heart. I have no qualifications and I do have my own spells of doubt. It is only by talking and acknowledging the issue that we have any chance of helping.
Just run
I know that is so simplistic and maybe underestimating the problem but it works for me. I don’t do personal in this forum but the last few years haven’t been the easiest. The running community is the finest you could meet. There are people there better than the finest psychiatrists you could find anywhere. Solid people with a smile, a welcome, a hug. They won’t knock on your door, you must go to find them.
I ran today at parkrun. I did the course check on my bike in advance and met the buzzards circling, the kingfisher at the weir, the cat out for a morning stroll and yes there was people as well.
The run was good. Hi, how are you, good to see you, are you slowing up a bit, the usual from the gang. I chatted with people from Waterford, Norries, A German lady living in Cobh and a married couple from Carrigtwohill who volunteered to help. It takes everyone to make an event. It is only by dragging yourself from the bed and going that you can get the embrace of love that comes from the run.
Highlight was running with my offshore friend R who got a PB today. One of the moments of my year was the Bere Island parkrun so to help a island native achieve in the Midleton run was a sense of payback… she will kill me. But then who will run with her?
Is that all about me… NO. It is to encourage everyone to go out and take part. The world is brighter outside the four walls. The world is full of beautiful people if you go out to find them.
Mental health is a huge issue.
Just be kind, be nice, avoid negative people. Social media can be toxic so be careful. Don’t get drawn into the abyss and caught up in the shite. Be yourself, read a good book, watch a great film, say hello to someone, message someone to meet for a cuppa, volunteer to help at some event, just get off the couch.
Please don’t think I am over simplifying this or making it out I have the answers. I DON”T. I am just highlighting that it exists and I want to help.
#pwr #bekind #smile
Results HERE
Photos...
1) Joe Murphy has the following galleries... a) Album 1 b) Album 2 c) Album 3 d) Album 4 e) Album 5 f) Album 6
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| Michelle Kenny was the first woman home with a time of 17m 55s |
For more information about the weekly 5k parkruns in Co Cork, go to this page HERE.
We enter October and the Summer is behind us. The best of the year may be past but there is still life in what is left. Many runners are turning their focus towards Dublin or one of the many marathons that populate the Autumn. For others it is a case of finding the motivation to keep running as the days grow shorter. Patrick Kavanagh always had a good line in poetry and his ‘October’ poem is no exception.
‘O leafy yellowness you create for me,
A world that was and now is poised above time,
I do not need to puzzle out Eternity’
It can be a beautiful time of the year to run as the cooler weather is much nicer after the heat we had this Summer. No danger of heat exhaustion or dehydration. The colours in the trees and hedges, the birdsong from the brambles. I do miss those long runs this time of year when I was training for marathons. Fantastic early Saturday morning runs were the highlight of many a week. Now my early Saturdays are course check on my bike for the parkrun. But I love it.
Kavanagh also used the poem to compare October to the current phase of his life. The best might be behind but who knows what lies ahead. I can empathise with that as while I would love to run another marathon I know that my body wouldn’t take the training program required. I cut my cloth to suit and have found peace and acceptance in shorter runs. It takes a change of mentality but it is better to be running short runs that pushing the body until it is crocked. NCT – Fail isn’t much good as a medical diagnosis.
‘It is October over all my life’
I would encourage everyone to just keep going. Don’t be drawn into something that could do damage to you or make you lose the love of running. Saying NO can be a sign of maturity. It actually only took me 60 years to discover that. Who knows what lies ahead next week, next year but I do intend making the best of it. Just attending and taking part, mixing with like minded runners, swapping stories and having fun. Birth-cert age is one number, mental attitude has a different measuring tool. There will be good winter wheat in my life. There are other challenges to be conquered. Life is what you make of it, don't waste it.
#pwr
