A closer look at the damage to the Glen River Park - Oct 2023

Thanks to the deluge of rain last week, three 5k parkruns in Cork were cancelled last weekend... Glen River, Ballincollig and Mallow. At the time of writing, the Glen River event has been cancelled for the 28th of Oct as well.

While the Ballincollig and Mallow events were cancelled last week due to flooding and standing water, the Glen was cancelled due to the damage done to the paths in the park. The photo above after the storm shows where the path used to be. The actual Glen River can be seen at the top of the photo on the other side of the wall.

This is another photo showing how the torrent of water dug out a channel in the path.

In fairness to Cork City Council, they were on site within a day or two filling in the damage with aggregate.

They then finished it out with a more compact surface.

The issue at the moment is that the Glen River is still at about twice its normal level and some of the paths are still not safe for large crowds. Hopefully the parkrun will be back in early November.

Local councillor calls for pathway in Blackway to be cleared

If you live in the countryside then you probably have a wide choice of routes to run on but if you live near the centre of a city like Cork then it's a different matter. Any pathway or walkway that can take you away from the noise and traffic is welcome for runners and walkers alike and these must be maintained and protected.

Local councillor Fiona Ryan put a video up on Twitter this week highlighting how a public walkway from Spring Land to the North Ring Road was now almost completely overgrown due to a lack of maintenance by Cork City Council.

This is the video....

Take a walk with me on part one of #corkcitycouncil #TourofNeglect of otherwise useful & beautiful amenities left to devolve into ruin. Starting with a trip up the short cut from Blackpool to the Glen River Park pic.twitter.com/aUwO8owGVb

— Fiona Ryan (@CllrFionaRyan) July 21, 2020

The pathway in question is about 190 metres in length and runs parallel to the railway track running north out of the city towards Mallow.

It's obviously suffering from years of neglect as the entrance on Spring Lane doesn't look very inviting...

I wonder has anyone used this path for training runs in the past??

Looking at the map, it does offer a shortcut for residents in Blackpool or Fair Hill to access the Glen River Park. The exit on the North Ring Road is just across from the western entrance to the Glen.

At some stage, the 5k parkrun in the Glen will return on Saturday mornings and anything that makes it easier for people to get there must be welcome.