Google+ Running in Cork, Ireland: Results of the Churchtown South 5 mile road race...Thurs 25th July 2013

Friday, July 26, 2013

Results of the Churchtown South 5 mile road race...Thurs 25th July 2013

A total of 546 runners turned out for this year's Churchtown South 5 mile road race, just five short of the record of 551 set last year. This was the 3rd race of 4 in the ongoing Ballycotton Summer Series and the last race will be the Ballycotton 5 on the 22nd of August.

The graph below shows the growth in numbers since the very first race in 1980.


Some points to take from it...
1) You can see the running boom back in the early 80's and early 90's as well as the huge surge in numbers currently.
2) There was a higher percentage of faster runners up until around the year 2000.
3) Notice how the number of those running under 40 minutes has been steady since 2009. The growth since then has been those running 40 mins plus. This might well be accounted for by more women now taking part in road races and making up a higher percentage of the field.

As for the race itself, there was a closely contested finish to the mens event with only one second between the top two.

Place    Time    Name    Team    Race Age Category    min/mile       
1    25:50    MCGRATH, Sean    East Cork AC    M    05:09.9
2    25:51    HARTY, Michael    East Cork AC    M    05:10.1
3    26:13    BERKELEY, Noel    Dundrum South Dublin AC    M45    05:14.5
34    29:30    MURPHY, Emma    St. Finbarrs AC    F    05:53.9
49    30:20    MCCANN, Angela    Clonmel AC    F40    06:03.9
61    31:09    HOLLAND, Ann-Marie    St. Finbarrs AC    F35    06:13.7


The full results can be found HERE

Overall positions after 3 races...These have been compiled by John Robinson of Mallow AC and can be seen HERE

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great race.Lovely weather. Very well organised as usual. Many thanks to all the stewards and to those responsible for tea etc afterwards.

Anonymous said...

First time doing this and despite my poor time it was as usual a very well run event. It's a tough course and probably as tough as any of the other 3. Will be back next year. Great value for a fiver

Anonymous said...

Given that 125 women (versus 222 men) have competed all three races; perhaps consideration should be given to the number of top finisher shirts? 20 versus 50 seems a bit biased.

Anonymous said...

Yes, agree with all above comments. The only gripe is that the road surface is awful, I'm be surprised if it didn't causes a few injuries.

John Desmond said...

Just to tease out the point about the number of t-shirts in the series.

After 3 races, there are 222 men left. There are 50 t-shirts for the top 50 men in the series. So 222:50 = 4.44:1

On that basis, if there are 125 women and 4:44:1 is applied then there should be 28 t-shirts rather than the current 20.

It's obviously up to the organisers and it would probably be best to look at the final standings after the last race and compare it to previous years but there is probably as a case for increasing the number of top t-shirts for women. Maybe 25 or 30?

Anonymous said...

Great evening for a run. Organisation was excellent, quick to register and results up the next day, fantastic stuff. I have to agree though, the road surface on that narrow stretch was dangerous, many potholes circled with paint but impossible to see them when you are running in a bunch as it's so narrow. Saw a few stumbles and heard lots of expletives.

Anonymous said...

The road surface was a big problem alright and injuries are always a concern. I did hear Ballycotton Running Promotions stating last night that they had contacted the council regarding this earlier in the week. It's a pity that the council can't see fit to fix this problem before the race but I suppose this is an ongoing problem all over the country.

Anonymous said...

Great experience: fantastic location, perfect weather, great organization! Well done everybody
Luigi

Anonymous said...

Agreed - but contacting the council should have happened way before this week surely?

Anonymous said...

road surface was a big problem fairly new to running in tatters today,was much tougher than the previous two.

Anonymous said...

Good race, organisation excellent - with results out very quickly - top 200 listed on the night

Course was tough enough the pulls would take it out of you

Anonymous said...

To my knowledge, the local community council have been in contact with the local authorities regarding the road surface for the past number of months, and nothing has been done for that particular stretch of road. Also, Ballycotton Running Promotions did contact Cork County Council regarding the matter well over a week before the race.

John Quigley said...

wrt, those comments relating to the road surface and contacting the council; Earlier today, I was speaking to one of the race organisers and mentioned, in passing, the potholes. He told me that the council had been notified, at a high level, but that nothing had happened in the meantime.

Apparently the locals had been hoping that the presence of the race might bring some pressure to bear on the Council, as local pressure had failed.

I think, unfortunately, that this is going to become an even more critical issue. Virtually every road is in bits. The coming winter, with frost, rain and floods, is going to make them even worse. Little or no maintenance is being carried out on them.

We have some chance in Cork city, however the quiet country roads, on which many races are run, are way down the pecking order, on the priority list for road repairs.

Anonymous said...

there was a few injuries but dont think it was potholes ....start was a bit cramped and ruined a few times but apart from that was well organized

Anonymous said...

I love these races and have been doing them for a few years. Bad stretch of road was a problem but i am an optimistic and discovered after first loop that its a quick mile because u are busy looking down trying to dodge the bumps... :-) on a serious note though i would like to appeal to the cyclists who "think" its a good idea to cycle down the narrow roads of bc on a race nite to possibly think again. So dangerous for drivers and cyclists. I nearly crashed my car trying to overtake a bike. Still shook and still raging over it...