Preview of the Cork BHAA 'HSE' 4 mile Road Race - Sun 4th Nov 2007 (11:00am)

There are now only 3 BHAA races left in the 2007 calendar, all of them 4 milers. The 3rd last one takes place next Sunday, the 4th of November on the Marina in Cork City. The registration is at the Lee Rowing Club clubhouse, marked X on the map above. It is located just next to the Pairc Ui Chaoimh GAA stadium. There are plenty of parking spaces available here at the stadium, outside the rowing club and down along the cul-de-sac by the waterfront (Just above where the 4 is marked on the map).

They got about 250 at this last year so I would expect something similiar if not closer to 300 this year. The race starts at 11am so it is worth getting there a bit early to avoid the backlog at the sign-on.

Course - I am assuming that the route shown above is the correct one. They hold a number of 5km and 4m races in this area using different routes. The route shown above is the usual one.

You can get a better look at the course at this LINK

This is the alternative 4 mile route. Basically, the course is much the same except that the start and finish have moved slightly. If you want to see this course, see this LINK

They have another 4 mile route which heads down the old railway track and passes Mahon Point before returning. They might use that although last year, they used that route for the 'Turket Trot' in December.

So, on to the description. The course is almost dead flat and there are no climbs. The race basically starts on the Marina, takes in 2 laps of the Centre Park Road and Monaghan Road, and then finishes near the Marina again. You can expect your times to be pretty fast on this course. They only thing that you have to be careful about is the road surface. There are a lot of heavy goods vehicles using these roads and the road surface can be uneven in spots. It is not a big issue but just keep it in mind if you are running close behind someone and your view forward is obstructed.

Overall, this is a nice fast course. The roads are quiet at this time on a Sunday morning and it is one of the few places where you can hold a road race in Cork City without traffic being an issue. There are refreshments available after the race in the clubhouse. Enjoy...

First Aid Training in Glanmire - 10th & 24th of November 2007.
I came accross this piece in a local sports newsletter. There are 2 courses coming up in Glanmire college in case anyone is interested in doing one for themselves or their club. Click on the image above to make it bigger.

Weather Forecast for the 2007 Dublin City Marathon - (Updated Sun 11:30am)

OK, I know this blog is about Cork running BUT I thought some might find this post useful as they make the pilgrimage way up North to do the Dublin City Marathon next Monday. I understand that quite a number of Cork runners are making the trip despite the fact that the Dublin Marathon has now been superseded by the Cork City Marathon as the best Marathon in Ireland (...well, this is a blog about running in Cork, what else did you expect me to say ?!?!? ;o)

It looks as if Monday is going to be a cool and blustery day. The current forecast with 1 day to go looks better than it did a few days back. See the chart above...some cold fronts are close to the country but seem to be well to the North. They are predicting a few scattered showers but I think Dublin may miss them. It looks as if the morning might be better than the afternoon so the race might be over before the showers arrive.

The chart above shows that there will be a moderate breeze and the temperatures will be down a bit. The Eastern part of the country should be brighter than the West.

Wind - Expect a moderate breeze from the West. As it is overland, it should be weaker in Dublin than the rest of the country. They expect a high of 12 deg C but it will probably be below 10 dec C during the early part of the race. With a Westerly wind, it will feel a bit colder. Consider wearing a thermal top if you have one.

Met Eireann had given a forecast of "Bank Holiday Monday will be a cool blustery day with bright spells and showers. The showers will be frequent in western counties but more scattered further east."

The current forecast is "Cool and breezy tomorrow, with sunny spells and scattered showers."

26th of October 2007... Blog is 1 year old today !!! -

It seems a lot longer than 12 months since I started this blog. A year ago, I had been mulling over the idea of starting one. I had a few reasons for starting one but no good one!! One reason I had was that I wanted to mess about with a blog just to see what they were like and see what they were about. Some people write blogs as you would a diary but I had no interest in anything like that. I think I'd get bored writing it let alone reading it! The second reason was that I thought it might be a useful way to keep track of my own training. Maybe set a target, write up a training schedule and chart my progress so I could look back over it. After all, blogs can be private as well and I could have blocked access to it. So, a year ago, I set myself some targets for 3 months time, i.e. February 2006. However, after a small bit of speed work, I reached my target a lot sooner than I thought I would and I began thinking at that stage that the idea of the blog might be pointless.

At the same time a year ago, I started off doing the East Cork AC Winter 3 km series, which I try and do every year. I noticed however, that while the results were e-mailed out, they were not available on any website. So, putting them up on the blog seemed like a good idea. From that and the feedback I got, I put up more results of other races. Then, I started getting queries about the races....When is it on? / Where is it on? / Where is the registration? / What is the course like? ....and so on. So, then I included maps, race previews and other info. It soon became clear to me that there were a lot of new people out there who were looking for information on what was happening locally. As someone who has been doing races for some 15 years, I knew I could provide some of the answers that people were looking for.

At the start, the traffic to the site was pretty low but soon built to 200 to 300 hits per month. That's roughly 7 to 10 visitors per day which suprised me...I thought it would be a lot lower!! The blog also appeared in the Google rankings but it was way down on the 8th or 9th page so I rarely got any hits from it. And so it stayed until the Cork City Marathon and the Summer races. Then, the hits started coming hot and heavy ;o) And as the traffic went up, so did the blog's rating within Google. Now, the blog gets on average about 70 hits per day and very often appears on the first page after a Google search. At the moment, each month breaks the record for the previous month and it looks likely that with 1 week to go, the blog will easily break the 2000 hits mark for the month of October 2007. So, for the moment, it is very much 'work in progress'. I kept the term 'experimental' blog in the introduction as I don't know what it's future is. I know that for some, they use it as their primary source of information as to what is going on locally and that's great!! So, as long as I feel that people are finding it of value, I'll keep it going. For me, I feel that if I can in some small way encourage people to attend more races and help keep the local running scene more active, then it is worth the effort.

And finally, I'd like to thank everyone who contributed in their own way to the blog over the last year. Be it snippets of information, photos, links, results, etc. I like to think that this blog acts in a way like a public noticeboard for others as well so that they can share information with their fellow runners. In that way, we all benefit from it.

So, roll on year 2..!!

Ballycotton Running Promotions announce the entry details for the 2008 Ballycotton 10 -
Ballycotton Running Promotions have just announced the entry details for next years Ballycotton 10. Basically, they have kept the same entry format as the 2007 race.

See below for the official info...

************************************
BALLYCOTTON ‘10’ - Sunday March 9th 2008

ENTRY PROCEDURE

Once again due to safety and logistical concerns we are left with no option but to limit the numbers that can be allowed participate in next year’s Ballycotton ‘10’.

The following is the procedure (similar to 2007) that has been decided on -

1) People apply for forms during month of November by sending a SAE to: Ballycotton Running Promotions, Ballycotton, Co. Cork.

2) All forms will be posted out on the weekend of Friday November 30th/Sunday December 2nd – ideally to arrive with applicants by Mon/Tue, Dec 3rd/4th.

3) Entry form will be put up on website www.ballycottonrunning.com on
Monday evening December 3rd, also in John Buckley Sports (Cork) and Ger Wyley Sports (Dungarvan) and local shops (Ballycotton/Shanagarry) that same afternoon.

4) The first 2,500 postal entries opened will have automatic entry.

5) All bona fide AAI (Athletics Association of Ireland) registered club runners accepted (by post) up to Tuesday December 18th, along with any runner who has competed in one of the four 2007 Ballycotton Summer Series 5-mile races.

6) All bona fide overseas entrants (by post) accepted up to Tuesday January 8th.

7) As per usual, a small number of elite entries accepted up to near race day.

PLEASE NOTE: When applying for entry forms please enclose a large SAE with the correct postage, stating the number of forms required (we prefer people to enter on the official form, no need to photo-copy). If the correct postage is not on the envelope, we cannot be held responsible for delays in the postal deliveries.

Ballycotton Running Promotions

*********************************************
So, some brief explanations...

a) If you are new to the running scene, you may have not heard of the Ballycotton 10. It is basically one of the largest and most popular races in Cork. It is probably 2nd only to the Cork City Marathon in terms of size and attracts runners from all over Cork, Munster and Ireland. Quite a few runners come over from the UK for this event as well.

b) If you are a member of an AAI registered running club (eg. Eagle AC / St.Finbarrs AC / Midleton AC...etc), then you have a 2 week window to get your entry in (between the 4th and 18th of December).

c) If you did one of the Ballycotton Summer series races in 2007 (i.e. Ballyandreen 5 in May, Shanagarry 5 in June, Churchtown South 5 in July or Ballycotton 5 in August), then you have the same 2 week window.

d) If you are an overseas runner, you have a 5 week window. From Dec 4th until Jan 8th).

e) If you do not qualify under b, c or d above, then you need to make sure that your entry is one of the first 2,500 that they open. What this means is that if you post your entry on Tuesday, the 4th of December, then you will probably get in ok. If you decide 'oh sure, I'll do it next weekend', then your chances are a lot lower. Once the 2,500 quota is reached, they will only accept entries from those who qualify under b, c and d listed above.
To be honest, the fact that you are reading this now in mid-October means that you are already way ahead of the pack so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just don't forget about it though!!

So that's basically it. All you have to do for the moment is to decide if you are doing the race next March and then decide if you will send off a SAE in November for an entry form or do you wait until it appears on the Ballycotton website on the 3rd of Dec.

I'll put up a reminder here in mid November for anyone going for the SAE option. Just check back here from time to time.

Looking ahead to next year (2008) -
For those of you new to the running scene (...or maybe not so new ;o), it might be an idea to think about what is coming up next year and to see if you want to set yourself some goals.
So, lets look at some events coming up in 2008....

a) Cork City Marathon...2nd of June 2008.
If you check out some of the training schedules for a marathon, they are typically 16 weeks long. That means that if you were following one, you would be starting to train from early February. So, why talk about it in mid-October, more than 7 months from the event? Two reasons....
1) If you have just started running, a moderate amount of training over the Winter months will get you in an excellent condition by the start of February to start your Marathon training proper and...
2) There is a series of four 10 mile road races in Munster coming up in the Spring of 2008. If you complete some or all of these, you should be in very good condition by the start of April. You would be in an excellent position then to increase your training for the last 2 months of April and May to get a very good time in the Marathon.

b) Munster 10 mile Spring Classic Series. It consists of 4 races. The provisional dates are...

Jan 6th 2008...Mallow, N Cork
Feb 3rd 2008...Dungarvan, W Waterford
Mar 9th 2008...Ballycotton, E Cork
Apr 13th 2008...Kilnaboy, W Clare

A typical training schedule for a 10 mile race is 8 weeks. So, 8 weeks from the Mallow race is early November which is why I am bringing it up now. If you are new to this distance, you have 2 to 3 weeks to think about it and get a schedule ready. With these races, you can enter on the day with the exception of one, the Ballycotton 10.

c) Ballycotton 10...March 9th 2008
Outside of the Cork City Mararthon and relay, this is one of the biggest road races in Cork. Entries are restricted to about 2,500 for safety reasons and usually, the quota is filled by early December. You need to decide if you are doing it in the next few weeks and then get your entry in early. Check in here to this blog and I'll keep it updated with info on what is happening.

So, start planning for 2008...

Gebrselassie sets new marathon record -

Just a little something for those of you training hard for the Dublin Marathon ;o)

Haile Gebrselassie ran the Berlin Marathon last Sunday in a time of 2 hours 4 minutes and 26 seconds, breaking the old record of 2h 04m 55s. Before you get your calculators out, that works out as an average pace of about 4 minutes and 45 seconds per mile!!

Update on CPR & Defibrillator training...(Updated 17th Oct 2007)

The following information was provided by John Quigley of Eagle AC

CPR/Defibrillator Training:
Pfizer, Little Island are going to provide training for up to 20 volunteers. This will take place in the Pfizer Sports & Social Club in Ringaskiddy on the evening of Wed Nov 7th or 14th (to be firmly set yet). Once it's finalised I post again. At the moment, we have about 20 interested, between Eagle, AAI and BHAA, so I hope everyone can be accomodated. If it's oversubscribed, between all interested parties, we'll try to ensure that no volunteer is left out.

The present status is:
The AAI have asked me to get prices for defibrillators.
One health insurance provider has declined to sponsor
Waiting on a response from two other health insurance providers
An Eagle member has generously offered to put up a substantial amount towards a unit and another is considering it.

John Quigley, Eagle AC

Results of East Cork 3km Winter Series Race (No.1 of 7) - 16th Oct 2007

East Cork AC 3Km Winter Series Race 1 16/10/07
1 James McCarthy East Cork AC 9.19
2 Roy Fahy East Cork AC 9.48
3 Denis McCarthy East Cork AC 10.13
4 David O'Dwyer East Cork AC 10.15
5 Frank O'Carroll East Cork AC 10.23
6 Kevin O'Leary Glenbower AC 10.30
7 Tony Lilley Togher AC 10.36
8 Eoin Casey Glenbower AC 10.38
9 John Lynch Cork 10.39
10 Ian O'Sullivan East Cork AC 10.46
11 James Collins Mount Uniacke 10.49
12 Liam Cotter Kilmichael 10.50
13 Shane Maher Grange/Fermoy AC 10.52
14 Denis Carroll Eagle AC 10.54
15 Tom Cody Midleton AC 10.57
16 Frank Cashman East Cork AC 10.58
17 Alan Lane Glenbower AC 11.05
18 John O'Callaghan Rising Sun AC 11.06
19 Lawerence Collins Mount Uniacke 11.13
20 Billy O'Sullivan Midleton AC 11.27
21 John Dunphy Cork 11.29
22 Sean O'Sullivan Midleton AC 11.31
23 Niall O'Neill Midleton AC 11.34
24 Kevin Geary Ladysbridge 11.35
25 Trevor Mahoney Midleton 11.36
26 Coran Swayne Midleton GAA 11.37
27 Ivan Sheahan Cork 11.39
28 Orla Farmer Midleton AC 11.40
29 Matthew Boonaert Cork 11.42
30 Ned Ramsell Midleton AC 11.50
31 Terry Higgins Pfizer 11.53
32 Sean O'Keeffe East Cork AC 11.55
33 John O'Riordan Rising Sun AC 11.55
34 Eoghan Cotter Whitegate 12.00
35 Clare O'Hanlon Eagle AC 12.01
36 James Cleary Whitegate 12.03
37 Trevor Collins Naas AC 12.04
38 Terri Hennessy East Cork AC 12.07
39 Dermot Murphy East Cork AC 12.09
40 Ken Owens Togher AC 12.11
41 Brian Healy Dunboyne AC 12.15
42 Ger O'Sullivan Youghal 12.17
43 Peter Stanley Carrigaline 12.18
44 John Walshe East Cork AC 12.22
45 James Power Whitegate 12.28
46 Kevin McSweeney Midleton GAA 12.32
47 Dan Murphy Ballincollig 12.39
48 Liam Callanan Whitegate 12.40
49 Shane Barry Glanmire 12.40
50 Lisa Cronin East Cork AC 12.41
51 John Cashman Midleton AC 12.42
52 Cathal McCarthy Midleton AC 12.42
53 Anthony Barry Glanmire 12.43
54 Mick Walsh Midleton AC 12.44
55 Olan O'Brien Midleton 12.52
56 John O'Halloran Glouthaune 12.55
57 Niamh Walsh Youghal 13.02
58 Colin McGregor Cloyne 13.06
59 Tom Elliott Passage West 13.07
60 Batt Kearney Leevale AC 13.09
61 Adrian Walsh Midleton 13.09
62 Colman Quirke Midleton GAA 13.13
63 Keith O'Mahony Cork 13.15
64 Mike Hornibrooke Glanmire 13.16
65 Ann Geary Lisgoold 13.17
66 Vince Hurley Cork 13.18
67 Danny McCarthy Midleton AC 13.19
68 Tom O'Neill FMRC 13.23
69 Austin Murphy St Finbarrs AC 13.31
70 John J Cotter Cobh 13.33
71 Mark Walsh Midleton 13.40
72 Peter O'Brien Glenbower AC 13.47
73 Donal O'Donoghue Little Island 13.50
74 Finbarr Lyons Midleton 14.01
75 Vincent Connelly Midleton AC 14.02
76 Bernie Smith Cork 14.04
77 Jim McMurtry Midleton AC 14.05
78 Mark Copley Cork 14.10
79 Jimmy Murray Rising Sun AC 14.12
80 Ger Flanagan Youghal AC 14.16
81 Mary O'Keeffe Midleton AC 14.20
82 Louise Lilley Togher AC 14.22
83 Niamh Savage East Cork AC 14.24
84 Samatha O'Keeffe East Cork AC 14.25
85 Mick McCarthy West Waterford 14.28
86 Padraig O'Regan Ladysbridge 14.31
87 Willie O'Mahony Youghal AC 14.36
88 Elga Ryan Midleton AC 14.37
89 Brian Murray Cork 14.39
90 Vincent Murray Midleton 14.52
91 Grainne Lynch Cork 15.01
92 Oonagh Mee Fermoy 15.07
93 Dick O'Brien Castlelyons 15.09
94 Carrie Higgins Carrigtwohill 15.39
95 Margaret Beausang Midleton AC 15.53
96 Aileen Cotter Carrigtwohill 16.13
97 Claire Brosnan Eagle AC 16.29
98 Joan McCarthy Midleton AC 16.34
99 Mairead Cummins Eagle AC 16.40
100 Jerry Forde BIAC 17.31
101 Mary Toher Midleton AC 17.57
102 Claire O'Leary Midleton 18.33

Preview of the East Cork AC 3km Road Race - Tuesday 16th of October (7:30pm).

Intro - This will the first in a series of seven 3 km road races that will be held in Midleton in East Cork over the Winter months. The first race is on Tuesday, the 16th of October at 7:30pm and then every 3 weeks after that. It is open to all club and non-club athletes and you can do as many as you like. If however, you do 5 out of the 7, you will recieve a special T-Shirt.

Directions - See the image on the left. The circle shown at the top is the roundabout that is on the Midleton Bypass.

So, if you are coming from Cork, you need to take the 3rd exit and take the road South towards Whitegate. Almost immediately, you will pass a SHELL garage on the right. What you are looking for then is the 2nd turn right. The 1st one is a housing estate. Take the 2nd one and it will bring you down onto the 'Dark Road' which ends in a T-junction. Registration will be near here.

Course description - The course is basically 3 laps of a 1 km course. See the map...the start point, the 1km, 2km and finish points are shown. It can be a bit crowded at the start but it thins out after about 500 metres. By the way, you need to be carefull when you join the main road (bottom right hand corner on map). Even though you are running inside the hard shoulder, it is narrow at this point and it is easy to end up out on the main road.

Overall, the course is pretty flat. There is a short little uphill section when you join the main road (bottom right on map) but otherwise there's nothing.

Reasons to do it -

a) It's a good speed session and should help you improve your breathing, fitness levels and speed.

b) Good excuse to get in a run on a dark Winter evening!!

c) It is a very good way to test your fitness level. As the course is identical every 3 weeks, you can see how your training is going. For example, if you are training for the Ballycotton 10 in March, then you should see your times improve by the time of the last one in February.

Additional info -

a) Entry fee is €3

b) If you are still not sure of where it is, then try this link and zoom in and out to get your bearings.

c) If you did this race last year then you might be interested in the following. I have put together a chart showing the finishing times for everyone in alphabethical order. The link is HERE.

d) Last year, 240 runners took part in the series with 11 people doing all 7 races. I'd expect the numbers this year to be up a good bit.

e) Don't forget to wear a reflective bib!!

2008 Cork City Marathon - 8,000 entries expected -
There was a piece in the Irish Examiner recently about the Cork City Marathon next year. The organisers of the race have recieved very good feedback from the 2007 event and expect the 2008 race to be a lot bigger. "In 2007, we had over 1,700 individual entries and nearly 3,000 took part in the relay - in 2008, we expect those numbers to grow to 8,000" the Race Chairman Jim O'Donovan is quoted as saying.
This race will take place on the 2nd of June, the bank holiday Monday. For anyone really eager, you can enter online from the 1st of November.

Ballycotton 10 entries.........rumours, rumours, rumours

Word is that next year's Ballycotton 10 Road race is on Sunday, the 9th of March.

Rumour has it that the entry details will be announced in 2 weeks time. Watch this space !!

East Cork AC announce their Winter 3km Series -

East Cork AC have just announced that their popular Winter 3km series of road races which will start on next Tuesday, the 16th of October. There are 7 races in the series. They are basically on every 3rd Tuesday after the first one, with the last one being held in late February. They are a great excuse to get out and run on what can be very dull and dreay Winter evenings. They are also very good speed sessions and are a great way to improve your times. As each race is over the exact same course, you can compare your times and see if you are getting faster over the series.
A few years back, they used to get about 40 to 50 at each race. Last year however, they started getting 100+ so I think they are going to introduce some additional stewarding this year to cope with the numbers. Note however that you should wear a reflective bib. As the saying goes... ' Be safe, be seen '
I will post more details about this race here next weekend.

Details from their flyer are posted below...



East Cork Athletic Club
PRESENT THE TENTH YEAR OF THE EAST CORK AC ‘3K’ WINTER SERIES

Total of 7 runs over 3km (just short of 2 miles) in Midleton between October and February – Run ANY FIVE and receive a classy printed long-sleeve T-shirt!

The Series takes in three laps of a 1km circuit around Bailick and Ballinacurra. Entries, along with the start and finish, are at the bottom of the Dark Road.

ALL COMPETITORS ARE REQUESTED TO WEAR A REFLECTIVE BIB

DATES:
Tuesday October 16th 2007
Tuesday November 6th 2007
Tuesday November 27th 2007
Tuesday December 18th 2007
Tuesday January 8th 2008
Tuesday January 29th 2008
Tuesday February 19th 2008

Entry fee: €3.00 per race (East Cork AC members and all Juveniles - €1.00). Time: 7.30pm each night.
Give your e-mail address when entering and have the results sent directly to you!

Results of the Poll...' What is your preferred distance for a road race? '
This poll got 54 votes and thanks to everyone who took the time to vote. Originally, I was going to include 'No preference' as an option but I thought that too many people might click that and it does'nt really provide any relevant info. I wanted visitors to the blog to make a choice and provide some feedback.

Results - So, lets look at the results. With 54 votes and with most of the visitors to this blog coming from Ireland, I would think that it is a big enough sample to indicate the preferences of 'local/Irish' runners. So, here are the main points...
a) The most popular distance was 5 miles. Only one person picked 4 miles strangely enough. I assume that most people here went for the shorter option of 5 kms or the longer option of 5 miles.
b) I thought it was unusual that 31% went for the 10 km option even though there are very few 10k races locally. The BHAA UCC 10k is the only one that springs to mind. Perhaps some of the non-Cork visitors picked this one?
c) I was a bit suprised to see that so few picked the 5km option. I thought that this would have been one of the most popular.
d) Some basic stats from the poll...
67% of runners (i.e. two thirds) prefer races that are about 5 to 6.25 miles in lenght.
82% of runners prefer distances of 5 miles and over.

My own vote - By the way, my own vote was for the 10 mile option. For me, all of the races between 5k and 10 km are much the same. The courses are different of course, but the way I run each race is much the same.
But with a 10 mile race, it's different. Some people start too fast, some too slow and positions change all the time. It's a fine balancing act between how fast you can run and how far you have to run. For me, the long races (10 miles +) are something special.

Conclusion - Before the poll, I would have expected a lot more people to have picked the shorter options but that didn't turn out to be the case. Most runners seem to prefer the medium to longer distances. About 10 years ago, there seemed to be a glut of 5k races. More recently however, especially with the success of the Cork City Marathon and big numbers at the Ballycotton 10, Munster Spring Classic 10 mile series, Cork Half Marathon and Cork to Cobh race, the trend now seems to be going in the other direction. So, maybe the poll results aren't so suprising after all.

and finally...there is a new poll now on the right hand side of this page. The poll question is...How long have been you been running on a consistent basis? Just click and vote !

Defibrillator & CPR Training

Most of you will probably be aware of what happened back in August during the 'Streets of Cobh' 5 km road race when Gerry Lawton suffered a heart attack and needed the use of a defibrillator to get his heart started again. (You can see my old posts on this HERE ). Well, the good news is that Gerry is ok now and it was great to see him as a spectator at the Cork to Cobh race last Sunday at the 9 mile mark watching everyone go by.

Since last August, John Quigley of Eagle AC and others have been working away behind the scenes, looking at the possibility of getting defibrillator units. Following on from this, John released the following notice last week. Please read it and let John know if you are interested. If you are, you can contact John directly or send an e-mail to me (my address is shown on the right hand side of this page) and I'll pass on your e-mail.

*********************

" I am looking for volunteers representing the athletic communities, particularly representative bodies and clubs. The volunteers should be available for approx 4 hours training, at a time and date yet to be specified, probably in November.
Pfizer are willing to train 20 people over 4 sessions (5 per session) in both CPR and Defibrillation. The trainers are certified in this area and each session takes 4hours to do it properly.
We will provide the venue and are hoping to run it sometime in November.
I am grateful to Pfizer for offering this training and also Terence Higgins of Pfizer, who stepped forward following the appeal after the incidents last month and proactively pursued the matter.
So why should YOU do this training?
The prime purpose behind this crusade is to ensure that trained and capable people are available at races IN ADDITION to any ambulance, medical or emergency personnel.
However, the chances are that it is not at a race that YOU will be called upon to use the skills learnt, but in your everyday life, particularly in the company of friends or loved ones - when trained people are particularly scarce.
Terence Higgins writes: "I can tell you that it is invaluable to have the training in everyday life especially if someone close to you is in trouble. Might be a good selling point to let people know they can use the training in their homes if, God forbid, they had to.
Interested people should text me at 087-6261178 or write to "Cluain Mhuire", Trabeg Lawn, South Douglas Road, Cork
In the event of the sessions being oversubscribed, places will be allocated based on criteria such as wide representation, frequency of presence at events etc. If there are more volunteers than can be handled - and I hope there are!! - then we will look into making arrangements for more training sessions, though this may take a bit longer, as we will have make arrangements with other training bodies.
Regarding the provision of defibrillators for the athletic bodies, there is some progress to report but no firm commitment has been made. Currently, one pharma company is considering donating a unit, another firm has offered a large sum towards the cost of a unit. On a negative front, a healthcare provider has declined to sponsor, however I'm awaiting responses from others."...John Quigley