I came across the start line of an old race yesterday as shown in the photo above. The start was slightly downhill, dead straight and was fast and furious.
Two toots of the car horn from the race organiser and we were off. No chip timing for this one!
What was the race?
See below...
The race of course was the Rising Sun 'Straight Mile' near Ballinhassig. We'd all trundle a mile up the road to the start line and the race organiser Jimmy Murray would toot the car horn for the race to start.
The race was exactly as shown in the photo... dead straight. No corners, no racing line, just straight ahead.
Like now, there were very few one-mile races on the calendar and it was a good opportunity for runners to see what time they could do for a mile.
Previous posts...
Results of the Ballinhassig Straight Mile road race - Sun 12th May 2013... https://corkrunning.blogspot.com/2013/05/results-of-ballinhassig-straight-mile.html
Results of the Ballinhassig Straight Mile - 13th May 2012... https://corkrunning.blogspot.com/2012/05/results-of-ballinhassig-straight-mile.html
Results of the Rising Sun AC Straight Mile - Sun 15th May 2011... https://corkrunning.blogspot.com/2011/05/results-of-rising-sun-ac-straight.html
Results of the Rising Sun 1 mile road race - Sun 16th May 2010... https://corkrunning.blogspot.com/2010/05/results-of-rising-sun-1-mile-road-race.html
Results of the Rising Sun 'Straight Mile' - Sun 17th May 2009... https://corkrunning.blogspot.com/2009/05/results-of-rising-sun-straight-mile.html
Results of the Rising Sun AC 'Straight Mile' road race - Fri 9th May 2008... https://corkrunning.blogspot.com/2008/05/results-of-rising-sun-ac-straight-mile.html
Addendum: Jimmy Murray photographed at the Tramore Valley 5k parkrun in August of 2025.
Was it a one mile race ?
ReplyDeleteThe 1 mile race in Ballinhashig to initially commemorate Roger Bannister sub 4.in mile on the 50th annivetary i think
ReplyDeleteCorrect
DeleteI think Jimmy Murray organised it ?
ReplyDeleteAnyone remember the Golden Mile in Bandon, organised by Bandonbridge AC., an out and back race on the Glaslyn Road, ‘twas previous to the Ballinhassig srace.
ReplyDeleteThe Ballinhassig Straight Mile was always held in May as it was in that month 06/05/1954 that Roger Bannister became the first man to dip under 4 minutes, 3.59.4 on a grass track, I think,,however the record lasted a little over 6 weeks, when the Australian, John Landy lowered it to 3.57.9,I think the number of sub 4 milers now stands at over 2000.
ReplyDeleteWhich one-milers are still on the calendar in Cork?
ReplyDelete