One thing about the courses in the Ballycotton Summer Series is that they haven't changed since they started. Runners today are starting and finishing in the same spots as they did years ago. As a result, we can compare times from the past to now.
As you can see from the chart above, the 25 minute barrier was broken on a regular basis before.
John Walshe of Ballycotton sent on the following info...
"Michael Harty became only the third runner to break 25 minutes for the Ballyandreen course over the past 20 years. The others were Shaun Tobin (Swansea Harriers) who ran 24:54 in 1998, and Martin McCarthy (Leevale) and William Harty (KCK) who had respective times of 24:43 and 24:48 in 2001.
However, it’s worth noting that Liam O’Brien won the race for 15 consecutive years (1981-1995), breaking 25 minutes on 14 occasions including a course record of 24:00 in 1994 when aged 39. The following year he set an M40 record when winning in 25:15."
Liam O'Brien was fantastic. Will we ever see his like again in East Cork running circles.
ReplyDeleteUnbeatable in his day.
I suspect this is the case for all the Ballycotton races and indeed any current race which existed 20-30years ago especially on the mens side. Check out Ballycotto10 in 1987 when 14 runners ran sub 50 min!! Why is this? I believe athletes today need to train harder and longer.
ReplyDeleteinteresting debate as to why times are not as good among local runners. it's easier tho to say that runners should train harder and longer when in fact those that ran those times 20-30 years ago would probably admit there mileage and training was excessive. also liam was a olympic runner so he was obviously a rare breed in his own right
ReplyDeleteMaybe do similar analysis on Midleton 5 mile over the last few years... Ballycotton races aren't that popular among runners looking to run fast anymore - previously they were because they were the only races around?
ReplyDelete