* 4th Thursday *
As I write this I think longingly back to the great Ballycotton Summer series. 4th Thursday of every month May to August in Ballyandreen, Shanagarry, Churchtown South and finally in Ballycotton village in August.
7.30pm for the last one, instead of 8pm as the evenings were closing in and invariably every year someone forgot this fact..!
Is Shanagarry on tonight?
This isn’t some old guy looking back with rose tinted glasses and lamenting how running has changed and advanced. No, it is a poor effort at capturing the scene as it existed then and putting it on paper as a form of entertainment and historical fact.
While the Ballycotton 10 was the premier distance race in the Country at the time, for us in the running scene in Cork and Waterford then the Summer Series was the bread and butter of our lives. It dominated the Summer. Holidays were booked to avoid missing one and once you tackled Ballyandreen in May, you were hooked for the series.
We have got used to online entries in advance, chip timing on our race numbers, instant results online and various bad photographs of our suffering scattered across the web.
Contrast this with how it all started in 1979 and carried on for 39 years until the final races in 2017. Queue up and pay on the night was the method of entry.
Gun timing as the only result available and time lost going over the start line was your own issue.
To get official results you probably had to wait until the next event where a sheet would be posted near the entries for you to check out. If you were lucky you might meet John Walshe at another race in the meantime and he would have a few spare copies.
As for photographs there was very little taken as there really was no place to display them. Facebook was a long way into the future.
None of the courses were easy as they all contained some form of hill at some point of the race.
When you go to a race that has a hill called the Beast of Ballyandreen then you know you are in for a testing evening. The hill was on mile 3 to mile 4 and sweet Lord, you would be offering novenas half way up it to end your suffering. Climbing poles were optional.
Shanagarry had a lovely 2 mile start to Garryvoe, but then a solid mile of a hill to Mullins Cross. After a handy enough 4th mile the last mile contained the pull up to the Cookery school. A slight downhill last half mile, that is if you were still running.
Churchtown South had a good few rolling hills and a nice climb back into the village passing the graveyard….! The mental cruelty came when you realised it was a 2 lap course and as you came alongside the finish line, then please do it all again.
And finally Ballycotton which was too bad except for an 800 stretch nearing and of mile 3 in Ballybraher that just got steeper as you went up it. At least it was the last one. Summer over.
They were brilliant, pure racing and just go for it. Nothing easy in any race and times weren’t too important. I got my first Casio digital watch on my Honeymoon in the Canaries and boy did I feel that I’m the fancy one. Actually it made it harder as before that I ran on feel. With a watch, I actually knew I was slow.
My favourite was Ballyandreen. It kicked off the Summer and you knew if you tackled this one then nothing would beat you. I once coughed up a lung or so it felt but thankfully I survived.
Thanks to John W, Seamus, Tommy and all the crew for the many years they gave us. Also to Liam O’Brien for being on both sides of the fence as an outstanding runner plus a serious administrator. I am open to correction on this but I do think Liam won something like 29 races in a row at one stage. Considering only 4 races per year that is some feat. Denis Mc Carthy or John W both serious historical statisticians will correct me if I’m wrong.
Running has evolved and advanced. It is more organised and more inclusive than ever before. Lots of people are taking part in various outdoor activities and that is to be welcomed. Running also provides a home for older athletes like myself and not sidelined once the competitive days are over.
Thanks also to John Desmond for launching the Cork running blog late 2006 and it gave us a site to preview races and look up race results. Big game changer in promoting running locally.
But still there was something simplistic and magical about racing back then. There has never been another 5 mile like these ones. They were the best and set the standards for what was to come later in other places.
'The sun gives life, and it takes it away
But like all the greats, it'll burn out someday' …..Bell X1
For the record Cool Down and Chip had entered our vocabulary back then. After Shanagarry a large Bulmers in a Pint Glass with loads of ice in the nearby Goalpost Bar was the cool down and on the way home a bag of Michael Keohane’s finest Chips and a battered sausage rounded off a great evening. You know you lead me astray L O’C. Is it any wonder I never got an Olympic Qualifying time.
Have a lovely weekend
#pwr
