Haulbowline 2k Junior parkrun is off to a flying start...

The inaugural 2k junior parkrun for 4-14 year olds at Haulbowline Park got off to a flying start on Sunday 14th January 2024 with 122 participants crossing the finish line. Results HERE

122 is a good number for a junior parkrun and suggests that it will be popular in the catchment areas of Carrigaline, Ringaskiddy, Monkstown, Passage West, Douglas and Rochestown.

Located in the centre of Cork Harbour and with the town of Cobh as a backdrop, it's a nice location for a parkrun.

Results & Photos of the Cork BHAA Defence Forces 5k - Sun 16th Oct 2022

The Cork BHAA Defence Forces 5k was held at the new Haulbowline Park next to the naval base and attracted a field of 189 runners. As far as I know, the last race at the naval base was the Army/Navy 5-mile back in October of 2018 when 180 crossed the finish line.

First woman home - Lizzie Lee with a time of 16:41

Top 3 men & women...

1 Gavin Kenny 00:15:47 Temp Reg
2 John Meade 0/40A M1 00:15:54 Dept of Ed
3 Kieran McKeown 0/45B M2 00:16:28 Cranky Coach
7 Lizzie Lee 0/40I F1 00:16:41 Apple
19 Hannah Steeds F2 00:17:22 Eli Lilly
21 Niamh Moore F3 00:17:36 HSE

Full results HERE

Photos...

1) There are two galleries up on the Running in Cork Facebook page...
a) Album 1 b) Album 2

2) Adrian Foley has a number of galleries on the Running in Cork Facebook page...

a) Pre-race b) Just after the start c) Near the finish d) Prizes

New park on Haulbowline Island to open early 2021

 

 Finally! It was announced at Cork County Council Municipal District meeting on Monday the 21st of December that the new grassland park on Haulbowline Island is going to open.

Cork County County signed the lease on Friday the 18th of December and it comes into effect on the 1st of January 2021. It is expected that the park will open to the public in early 2021.

This park was originally supposed to open in May 2019 but got delayed with the wrangling between various state bodies.

The new park is located alongside the Haulbowline Naval Base in the middle of Cork Harbour and directly opposite the town of Cobh.

The image below shows an aerial view from 2019 or so...

As you can see, there is a car park on the bottom left and there are a number of walking / running trails within the park. The outer trail makes for a 1km loop so it's wouldn't be so hard for someone to do a short walk/run of 5k or so by doing multiple loops.

While there are some trees on the site, it is in a very exposed location in the middle of the harbour.

Parkrun?... As with any new park, the question that arises is if a 5k parkrun could be held there? It might be possible to include some smaller loops but I presume the minimum number of big loops for a 5k would be four.

The nearest 'town' as such is Ringaskiddy which is pretty small. The nearest large population areas are  Carrigaline, Passage West and the south-east of Cork City. 

 Cobh of course is just across the water but there is no direct ferry service. There is always the option of coming across via the ferry at Glenbrook.

The one large 'population centre' is of course the naval base itself. It's not hard to imagine getting enough runners for a weekly parkrun.

A children's 2k parkrun could certainly could fit there but that would mean everyone driving there.

Road Race?... It's also not hard to imagine some sort of 5k race being held there. Start in Ringaskiddy... down the road to the new park... do one loop and back again. There would be very little traffic on the road so it might be an option.

Whatever about the various options for events, it's good to see a new public park in the Cork Harbour area.

Previous posts...

New Public Park in Haulbowline in Cork Harbour ...Sept 2018
Work continues on new park on Haulbowline Island ... Oct 2018
Latest update on the Haulbowline Island works ... March 2019

Latest update on the Haulbowline Island works

Update 3rd March: This video below about the transformation of Haulbowline Island was put up on YouTube a few weeks back. As can be seen from the screenshot above taken in December, the island is beginning to turn Green as the grass grows and a substantial number of trees have been planted.

The provisional plan is to open in May of 2019.

Work continues on new park on Haulbowline Island

 

Back in 2017, I had a post up about the new proposed public park on Haulbowline Island in Cork Harbour.... https://corkrunning.blogspot.com/2017/07/new-public-park-in-haulbowline-in-cork.html

Over the last few months, the site which was an old dump for Irish Steel has been sealed and huge quantities of top soil have been transported across to the island.

Pathways are now being laid out and I presume grass will be planted some time in the Spring of 2019. Allowing for this to become established, I presume it will be 2020 before there is a proper grass surface that can be walked on.

 A new video from Cork County Council shows the current state of the works as of Oct 2018...




I'm not sure as to when the park will officially open but it might have the potential for a new 5k parkrun? One obvious disadvantage is that it isn't next to any major population centre so most people will have to drive there.

Would there be enough interest to establish a parkrun there?

Results & Photos of the Cork BHAA Army-Navy 5 mile - Sun 14th Oct 2018

After a miserable and wet Saturday, the conditions for the Cork BHAA race on Sunday morning couldn't have been better with blue skies and sunshine. A total of 180 runners turned out which is in marked contrast to the 294 who turned out when it was an evening race in 2017. That's works out as a 39% drop which is a lot.

1 Enda Cloake M1 00:27:20 Navy M-A-1
2 Finbarr O Dwyer 0/45B M2 00:27:48 CPO
3 Nigel Sheehan M3 00:27:58 Simply Suits
22 Katie Hickson 0/40I F1  00:32:38 Glenside
37 Linda O Connor 0/40I F2 00:34:09 Musgrave F-B-1
39 Mary Buckley 0/50K F3 00:34:15 HSE

Full results

Photos...
1) There are 2 galleries up on the Running in Cork Facebook page
...a) Taken about 4.1 miles (first half)
...b) Taken about 4.1 miles (second half of field)
2) Derek Costello of Eagle AC has a gallery HERE

Katie Hickson... winner of the 2018 Cork BHAA Army-Navy 5m race

Former Cork County player and manager Billy Morgan heading for the finish line

 

New Public Park in Haulbowline in Cork Harbour

Updated post about the works on Haulbowline Island...

Video from Cork County Council Sept 2018...



 More info below...

Results & photos of the Cork BHAA Army / Navy 5 mile race... Wed 9th Aug 2017

The annual Cork BHAA Army/Navy 5 mile race was held in Halubowline on Wednesday the 9th of August on what was a lovely sunny evening. A total of 294 runners took part.

1 Conor O'Keefe 00:27:34 Depuy Synthes
2 Rory O'Sullivan 0/40A 00:27:38 Musgrave M-A-1
3 Mark Smith 00:27:45 Temp Reg
41 Helen Leonard 0/45J 00:33:13 Dept of Ed F-A-2
59 Anita Locke 00:34:40 Temp Reg
67 Orla O'Rourke 0/50K 00:34:53 Keen on Sport

The full results can be seen HERE

Photos...
1) There are 3 albums up on the Running in Cork Facebook page. Photos taken just before the 3 mile mark. ... Album 1 ... Album 2 ... Album 3
2) Andy O'Rourke has two galleries... #1 ... #2 

As can be seen from the chart below, the numbers have been hovering around the 300 mark for the last few years...

Results & photos of the Cork BHAA Army-Navy 5 mile race...Wed 10th Aug 2016

267 runners turned out for this years Cork BHAA Army Navy 5 mile race in Ringaskiddy on Wed 10th Aug 2016. This represents a 7% increase on last years numbers which makes it the second Cork BHAA race so far this year to record an increase. As you can see from the chart, the numbers used to be up around the 320-350 mark for a number of years.

1 Sean McGrath M1 00:26:29 Harty Tax Consulting
2 Chris Murphy M2 00:27:20 Navy M-A-1
3 Maurice Feehan M3 00:28:00 Ervia
31 Maebh Fenton 00:32:15 Temp Reg
37 Carmel Parnell 0/60M F1 00:32:57 Cork Shops
61 Esther Murphy 0/40I F2 00:34:43 RR Donnelley

The full results can be seen HERE

Photos... 
1) There are 226 photos on the Running in Cork Facebook page HERE

Results & Photos of the Cork BHAA Army/Navy 5 mile race...Wed 12th Aug 2015

The annual Cork BHAA Army/Navy 5 mile race was held in the Haulbowline Naval base on Wed 12th of Aug 2015. Conditions were almost ideal with a nice sunny evening and no wind.

A total of 249 runners took part which was down 25% on the 330 of 2014, perhaps a sign of just how many races are on at the moment.

One of the Golden rules when organising a road race is that there should be race stewards at every road junction. At the front and back of the field, the gaps between runners can be large and it may not be obvious to a new person which is the right way to go. That happened last night for one runner at the junction near Moog when they were out of sight of the runners in front of them.  Just by chance, there was someone there taking photos to redirect them. It's a mistake to assume everyone knows the course.

1 Darren Molloy M1 00:26:44 Navy M-A-1
2 Con Marshall 00:27:06
3 Michael Corbett M2 00:27:11 Musgrave M-A-2
48 Margo Dinan 0/45J F1 00:33:56 Fit4Life F-A-2
54 Angela Shine 0/40I F2 00:34:09 Kepak
62 Anne Wolfe 0/40I F3 00:34:47 Joyce Wolfe Physio

The full results can be seen HERE

Photos...
1) Doug Minihane has a gallery of 290 photos HERE 
2) Kieran Minihane has 214 photos HERE
3) There are 166 photos up on the Running in Cork Facebook page HERE

Results of the Cork BHAA Army/Navy 5m road race - Wed 13th Aug 2014

1 Tim O'Donoghue M1 00:25:58 EMC M-A-1
2 John Meade M2 00:26:26 Joyce Wolfe Physio
3 Owen Casey 00:26:39 Temp Reg
23 Martina Kiely F1 00:29:44 Dept of Ed F-A-1
31 Jill Hodgkins 0/35H F2  30:23 Joyce Wolfe Physio
51 Carmel Parnell 0/55L F3  31:50 Cork Shops

The full results can be seen HERE

Photos...
1) Doug Minihane has 300+ photos HERE

Photos of the Cork BHAA Army/Navy 5 mile race - Wed 16th Aug 2012

There was a big drop in numbers this year for the Cork BHAA Army/Navy race with with 216 turning out as opposed to 359 in 2011. That's roughly a 40% drop. I can only presume some people give it a miss due to the very windy conditions?

The winner of the mens race in this 5 mile race was Sean McGrath in a time of 26:24. Eddie O'Neil was second in 26:42 with John Meade third in 26:48.

The womens race was won by Carmel Parnell in 32:24, a full 50 seconds ahead of Geraldine O'Shea in second place in 33:14. Gillian Cotter was third in 33:20.

The full results are now available HERE.

Photos.....

1) Doug Minihane has a gallery of photos HERE