The annual Bartlemy School 6km fun run was held this year on Sun 27th Apr 2025 with 78 taking part, an increase from the 59 in 2024.
Back at the start of April 2025, Fearghal Curtin from Youghal finished 5th in a field of 19,443 runners at the 2025 Berlin Half-Marathon.
On Sunday the 27th of April 2025, he was back in action at the Dusseldorf Marathon where he finished in 4th place with a time of 2h 11m 35s.
As far as I know, this would put him in the top 10 Irish men in terms of marathon finish times.
Top 3 men & women...
Full results HERE
Half-Marathon - Top 3 men & women...
Full results HERE
10k - Top 3 men & women...
Full results HERE
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| 250 volunteer credits for Donal O'Donoghue |
It's sad to hear about the recent passing of Stan Byczek who was very much part of the Cork running scene for many years.
Carrigtwohill AC wrote the following... 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡, 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗥𝗨𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗠𝗔𝗡 – 𝗥𝗜𝗣
It was with great sadness that Carrigtwohill AC received the news that Stanislaw Byczek passed away on Easter Sunday in his native Poland. His funeral was held yesterday. We extend our sincere and heartfelt condolences to Stan’s family and friends.
Stan grew up in Kraków. In his younger years, he did a lot of kayaking but running became his life passion. Along with a friend, Stan set up the KB Dystans Kraków Runners’ Club at the turn of the century. It was on his initiative that the Marzanna Half Marathon was set up. It is still held annually, over 20 years later.
East Cork Division Road Championships in Ballynoe - Thurs 24th April 2025. Hosted by St Catherine's AC.
The annual Shandrum 4-mile road race in north Cork was held on Thurs 25th Apr 2025 on a very wet evening.
As can be seen from the chart above, the damp conditions really seem to have had a big impact on the numbers with a drop of 42% on last year.
Full results HERE
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| New course record for Sean Doyle |
The 2025 edition of the Bandon AC 5k was held on Thurs 24th April on what turned out to be a really wet evening. This was the second year of this 5k race in Bandon.
Despite the awful conditions, there were 316 finishers which is down 3% on the 327 for the inaugural year in 2024. Fingers crossed for a dry 2026!
Full results HERE
Note that the results are provisional for the moment, give them time to check them.
ONGOING
Back in May and June of 2024, Cork County Council carried out a consultation on the concept of a 'West Cork Greenway'. The resultant report can be viewed HERE
The second consultation is now open and submissions will be accepted until the 2nd of June 2025. The corridor options are shown above and as you can see, there are plenty to choose from.
Crossbarry to Bandon: Consultations of the proposed Cork City to Kinsale Greenway are now past the second consultation phase and the report from that is covered in this previous post.
All going well, the Greenway at Crossbarry will connect to the Goggins Hill tunnel and then onto Cork City.
The route choices from Crossbarry to Bandon are shown below...
The BROWN option pretty much follows the R589 road and I'm not sure it has much going for it.
The GREEN option basically just follows more roads and again, pretty boring.
The PINK option closely follows the old railway line and it has a lot going for it.
a) It follows the route of the old railway line so the gradients are gentle.
b) It's a quiet route and stays mostly away from busy roads.
c) The 122-metre long Kilpatrick Tunnel will be a major feature on the Greenway.
A new elevated bridge over the Bandon River would need to be constructed. This again is another scenic feature. Here is a view of what it was like when the train was running...
From this viewpoint, the train would cross over the river and then into the tunnel.
d) The Claire O'Leary Walk is also marked on the map. This is being refurbished at present and a new section connecting it to Bandon is being built. If the Greenway doesn't go along this route then the Claire O'Leary walk effectively connects to nothing. The north-east end of the walk ends on the busy N71 road which is unsuitable for walkers or runners.
Bandon to Clonakilty: The main routes which are the BLUE and PURPLE seem to pretty much track the N71 south the Clonakilty. It probably isn't the nicest route but the gradients are the easiest.
The GREEN route by contrast is quieter but the route is much hillier.
I've also shown the route of the old railway line which went from Ballinascarthy to Timoleague. This is a lovely quiet area and is pretty much flat.
A new walk called the Argideen Valley Trail was developed recently with signage maps and way markers. It's a linear walk and goes from Ballinascarthy to Courtmacsherry with various historic points of interest along the way.
It's supposed to be a walking route but I have my doubts that many people walk it. I've cycled it twice and it really is a nice route.
The photo above shows a footbridge over a small river on what is known locally as Ford's Lane. The old railway was on the far bank.
Monteen Castle is another historical feature just off the old Ballinascarthy to Timoleague railway line.
The options closer to Clonakilty are shown below...
The Joe Walsh Walk is an existing greenway which goes from the hospital entrance to the West Cork Technology Park. It would seem likely that any new greenway route is likely to connect to this rather that going further west via Shannonvale to Clonakilty.
The DARK BLUE route basically follows the R600 from Clonakilty to Timoleague.
The ORANGE route is extremely hilly and just seems to be there for the sake of being an option.
South of Clonakilty, there are options to put in a Greenway to Inchydoney.
In conclusion: Needless to say, a lot of people will have many different opinions on the various routes. It's easy to say such and such a route is best but the landowners especially farmers may have a very different opinion.
Go to the project website, have a closer look at the information and then fill out the survey form.
The website is https://www.wcgbandon.ie/
Well done to Cork runner Gene Dywer who was the first woman home in the 10k race on Valentia island in Co Kerry last Saturday, 19th of April 2025.
Looking through the results, the numbers at the Valentia Half-Marathon & 10k have really grown in the last two years as can be seen from the chart below.
For years, the numbers for the half and 10k were pretty poor but it has really taken off in 2024 and 2025.
Full results for the 2025 event can be found at https://my.raceresult.com/335921/
Following on from the success of the inaugural Bandon AC 5k last year, the second edition is coming up this year on Thursday 24th April 2025 at 7:30pm.
Update Mon 21st Apr: Just 50 places left!
Entries HERE
Bandon AC are currently developing a full size 400m athletics track and all proceeds from the race go towards this project.
Latest info from the organisers: "Registration and number collection: Colaiste Na Toirbhirte from 6pm last number collection 7:00pm
Late registrations: This option will not be available if race sells out. it will be €25 on the night and will be accepted up to 7pm.
Full results HERE
Photos... Updated Mon 22nd Apr 6pm
1) Joe Murphy has several galleries... Album 1 ... Album 2 ... Album 3 ... Album 4 ... Album 5 ... Album 6 ... Album 7 ... Album 8 ... Album 9 ... Album 10 ... Album 11 ... Album 12 ... Album 13 ... Album 14 ...
2) Siobhan Russel has a few pics HERE
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| First place finish for Catherine Murphy of Eagle AC |
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| New course record of 49m 16s for Ryan Creech of Leevale AC |
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| Another weekend, another race! Visiually impaired runner Ross Gallagher completes the 2025 Kinsale 10-mile road race in a time of 97m 38s. |
A belated congratulations to Ross Gallagher who completed his 200th 5k parkrun in Glengarriff back on the 12th of April 2025!
It's a fair achievement for anyone to rack up 200 5k parkruns but especially so for a visually impaired runner.
Ross has completed 141 of the 200 at the Tralee parkrun while he has completed 32 in Co Cork.
We should also give credit to all of those volunteers who gave up their time to guide Ross around the various courses.