Welcome to the Running in Cork blog, home of the Cork running community. This is the largest website in Cork & Munster for news on road races and general running news. Included are a current race calendar, race previews, photos, results as well as some local, national and international news items.
Ray Maker is the owner of the DC Rainmaker YouTube channel and is one of the best reviewers of some running gear like GPS watches.
In the video at the bottom of the post, he reviews the GPS performance of four high end sports watches as he ran around New York City. For a run of approximately 15.5 kms, the watches gave the following readings...
Apple Watch Ultra: 15.56km
Apple Watch Series 8: 15.50km
Garmin Epix: 15.43km
Garmin Forerunner 955: 15.58km
As the screenshot shows above, the watches GPS coverage was quite good in Central Park despite all the foliage. As Ray suggests in his video, modern high end sports watches are much better than the models a few years ago.
The biggest challenge however seemed to be the tracking in amongst the many high rise buildings of the city.
GPS watches are getting better but you need to be aware of their limitations.
Ciara Mageean is one of Ireland's top international athletes and she was in action in the prestigious Millrose Games in New York this weeekend. In the Women's Wanamaker Mile race, she finished in a time of 4m 28.40s to set a new Irish Indoor record.
Women's Wanamaker Mile Place Athlete Time 1 Shannon Rowbury Nike OP 4:24.39 2 Kerri Gallagher Nike 4:26.18 3 Amanda Eccleston Brooks 4:26.63 4 Heather Kampf Asics 4:27.26 5 Morgan Uceny adidas 4:27.99 6 Ciara Mageean new balance 4:28.40 7 Katie Mackey Brooks Beasts 4:28.84 8 Alexa Efraimson Nike 4:28.91 9 Heather Wilson New Jersey-New York TC 4:30.80 10 Dominique Scott Arkansas 4:31.57 11 Leah O' Connor adidas 4:31.83 12 Erin Teschuk North Dakota St 4:34.58
One Mile (Irish women...Indoor Records) 1 4:28.40 Ciara Mageean 6 Millrose New York NY 20 Feb 2016 2 4:30.06 Roísín McGettigan 4 Reebok Boston MA 7 Feb 2009 3 4:30.41 Sinéad Evans 2 NBG New York NY 8 Jan 2000 4 4:32.29 Mary Cullen 1 NBG New York NY 20 Jan 2007 5 4:33.4h Monica Joyce 1 Inglewood 10 Feb 1984 6 4:33.49 Sonia O'Sullivan 1 Boston MA 20 Jan 1991
Irish international Tori Pena was also in action in the Women's Pole Vault competition where she cleared 4.40m. Video clip HERE
This surely must be one of the strangest races out there. The Self Transcendence 3,100 mile race in New York with contestants doing loops of a half mile course. It is run over 52 days with runners starting at 6am and finishing at midnight. In total, runner must complete 5,649 laps of a .5488 of a mile course (883 metres). It claims to be the world's longest certified road race.
This years race started on the 14th of June and finished on the 4th of August. Shane Magee from Summerhill in Co.Meath and who is now called Nirbhasa Magee has become the first Irishman to complete the 3,100 mile race.
The event website says the following......."The eighth finisher across the line was Nirbhasa Magee,35, from Reykjavik, Iceland. The young website planner and designer ran 3100 miles in 51 days +12:12:13 to become the first Irish born runner to reach the 'Everest" of ultrarunning."
To date only 37 people have completed the Self Transcendence 3,100 mile race.
A very strong Irish team finished an impressive second last night in the Men's Distance Medley Relay race at the Armory Track in New York. The Irish team for the 4 legs in order were.....1200m Declan Murray.....400m Brian Gregan......800m Mark English....1600m Ciarán Ó Lionáird.
Some excellent performances with a second place finish which was inside the old world record.
Armory Track Invitaitonal 2015 Place Team Time 1 United States of America M Centrowitz (2:49.47), M Berry (46.40), E Sowinski (1:47.60), P Casey (3:56.48) 9:19.93 2 Ireland D Murray (2:53.17), B Gregan (47.40), M English (1:46.59), C O'Lionaird (3:58.23) 9:25.37 3 NJ-NY TC M Rutt (2:52.62), S Lumax (47.75), B Scheetz (1:48.61), K Merber (3:58.20) 9:27.16 4 Kenya J Mutai (2:54.33), C Nkanata (48.87), A Kipketer (1:51.69), L Lalang (3:52.33) 9:27.21 5 Columbia B Fish (2:53.43), C Hammond (48.92), C Claflin (1:50.29), S Haik (4:02.39) 9:35.02 6 Duke N McClafferty (2:52.05), C Hawkins (48.88), J Burton (1:51.91), B Schoepfer (4:03.63) 9:36.47 7 Mississippi C Engels (2:55.60), D Morgan (47.72), H Sherrer (1:51.66), R Domanic (4:05.54) 9:40.51 8 Princeton L Brahm (2:54.99), R Mennin (48.93), N Kauppila (1:53.00), B Paternostro (4:04.67) 9:41.58
Post race interview when Cathal Dennehy of the Jumping the Gun crew caught up with the Irish team...
The New York 5th Avenue Mile Race was held on Saturday the 13th of Sept 2014. Irish athletes Ciara Mageean and Paul Robinson finished 3rd in their respective races and picked up $2,500 apiece.
For Ciara Mageean, her time of 4:21.2 was a huge improvement on the 4:35.47 which she ran last week at the Great North City Games Mile in Newcastle. I'm not sure if the time will count for official record as it is a dead straight course and doesn't have all the corners that are on a full size track but if it did, it would place her second on the Irish all time list. Only Sonia O'Sullivan has run a faster time.
1. Jenny Simpson 4:19.4...$5,000
2. Brenda Martinez 4:19.6...$3,500
3. Ciara Mageean 4:21.2...$2,500
4. Heather Kampf 4:21.4...$1,500
5. Ingvill Makestad Bovim 4:21.9...$1,000
6. Morgan Uceny 4:22.0...$750
7. Hannah England 4:23.1...$500
8. Jordan Hasay 4:23.9...$250
9. Treniere Moser 4:234.3
10. Mary Cain 4:25.5
11. Laura Weightman 4:26.9
12. Sarah Brown 4:28.3
13. Violah Lagat 4:29.3
14. Sally Kipyego 4:29.4
15. Brie Felnagle 4:31.1
16. Beverly Ramos 4:33.6
17. Gesa Krause 4:35.6
18. Diane Cummins 4:40.2
Womens Race video.......remember, she is just 22 years old, just back from injury and only started training last March! What a talent.
For Paul Robinson, it was a great result to finish 3rd in such a prestigious race. His own personal best on the track is 3:54.77.
1. Jordan McNamara 3:51.0...$5,000
2. Garrett Heath 3:51.0...$3,500 3. Paul Robinson 3:51.1...$2,500
4. Augustine Choge 3:51.2...$1,500
5. Ryan Hill 3:52.3...$1,000
6. Matt Centrowitz 3:52.4...$750
7. Dan Hulin 3:52.9...$500
8. Kyle Merber 3:53.5...$250
9. Lawi Lalang 3:53.9 10. Ciaran O’€™Lionaird 3:54.3
11. David Torrence 3:55.4
12. Will Leer 3:55.9
13. Andy Bayer 3:56.9
14. German Fernandez 3:57.5
15. Ben Blankenship 3:57.8
16. Michael Rutt 4:03.4
Mens race video...What a finish by Paul Robinson. Within a whisker of finishing first.
Mark English from Donegal is currently the best Irish athlete over 800m in the country. In a high profile IAAF Diamond League race in New York last Saturday, Mark finished in second place to none other than the Olympic champions and world record holder David Rudisha.
1 RUDISHA David KEN 1:44.63 SB 2 ENGLISH Mark IRL 1:45.03 SB 3 SOLOMON Duane USA 1:45.13 4 LEWANDOWSKI Marcin POL 1:45.23 5 KSZCZOT Adam POL 1:45.37 6 VÁZQUEZ Wesley PUR 1:45.79 7 CHERUIYOT Ferguson Rotich KEN 1:45.90 8 ANDREWS Robby USA 1:46.28 SB 9 RUTT Michael USA 1:46.33 SB 10 RIMMER Michael GBR 1:46.75 SB
In the race video, Mark is in lane 3 in a bright orange singlet. He is by the way, still only 21 years old.
Catching up on news from last weekend, Ciarán Ó Lionáird from Cork set a new personal best time of 3:52.20 in the Wannamaker mile last Saturday (16th Feb) at the Millrose Games in New York.
Place Athlete Name Affiliation Time
1 Lopez Lomong Nike Oregon TC 3:51.21
2 Matthew Centrowitz Nike 3:51.34 3 Ciaran O'Lionaird Nike Oregon TC 3:52.10
4 Chris O'Hare University of Tulsa 3:52.98
5 Lawi Lalang Arizona 3:54.56
6 Ryan Hill NC State 3:54.89
7 Garrett Heath Saucony 3:55.55
8 Ryan Gregson Nike 3:55.97
9 Donn Cabral Nike 4:00.21
10 Liam Boylan-Pett NJ/NY TC 4:05.49
Not only was this over two seconds faster than the his previous best of 3:54.76 which he ran in February 2012 but he also becomes the 4th fastest Irish man over the distance on the Irish alltime indoor list.
Irish Alltime indoor list...Mile sub 4.02.00
1 3.49.78 Eamonn Coghlan 27.02.83
2 3.50.94 Marcus O'Sullivan 13.02.88
3 3.51.20 Ray Flynn 27.02.83 4 3.52.10 Ciaran O'Lionaird 16.02.13 (Old PB 3.54.76 11.02.12)
5 3.52.30 Frank O'Mara 25.01.86
6 3.54.50 Mark Carroll 18.02.01
7 3.55.04 Alistair Cragg 21.01.06
8 3.55.40 Niall O'Shaughnessy 28.01.77
9 3.55.75 David McCarthy 28.01.12
10 3.56.39 Paul Donovan 25.01.86
In the race video below, Ciarán is in the black and green strip and is safely at the back of the pack in about 7th place for the initial few laps...
Rae Baymiller, 68, set a single-age world record in the New York Colon Cancer Challenge 15K on Sunday, running 1:07:36 to win the 65-69 age group and finish 33rd out of 1,464 women. Her time smashed the previous record by almost nine minutes. According to the Association of Road Racing Statisticians, Baymiller currently owns five single-age world records:
15K, Age 54 (59:03) and Age 67 (1:06:43); Half-Marathon, Age 67 (1:33:43) and Age 68 (1:37:50); Marathon, Age 55: 2:52:14
Baymiller ran her first race, the 1992 Twin Cities Marathon, at the age of 49, finishing in 3:18. But that’s not to say that the training came naturally. “My body just fought it,” she said. “The first time I finished the six-mile loop around Central Park, I sat on a rock with an ice cream and thought, ‘I made it!’”
For seven or eight years, Baymiller tore through the age-group record books before taking what she thought would be a short break from competitive running. The break stretched to over a decade before Baymiller came back in 2010, immediately breaking the U.S. 65-69 age-group record for 15K at the Ted Corbitt 15K.
Just because Baymiller doesn’t know how many records she has set doesn’t mean she isn’t interested in setting them. “I really would like to get the 15K age-group world record and the half-marathon age-group world record, for myself and for the aging population” she says. “People get into their 60s and kind of give up, and you should just never give up. Some of these older runners are just amazing. It’s wonderful. I would like to be part of that group.”
Back in late January, I had a post about David McCarthy from Waterford winning a mile race in Boston in an impressive time of 3:55.75
Last Sunday (19th Feb 2012), David was in action at the Armory Indoor track in New York for the Big East meet. He won the 3,000 metre race in a time of 7:57.50
The video clip below is a bit shaky but still ok to watch...(David is in the Black and White singlet)
Not only did David McCarthy break the 8 minute barrier but he also set a new 3,000 metre record for this particular Big East meet. The previous record was held by Mark Carroll of Leevale AC (8:01.56)
3000m Run
Meet Record: 8:01.56, Mark Carroll, Providence (1995)
Armory Collegiate Record: 7:49.98, Richard Kiplagat, Iona (2006)
Finals
1 1132 David McCarthy SR Providence 7:57.50M 10
2 924 Andrew Springer SO Georgetown 7:59.55M 8
3 1282 Mathew Mildenhall SO Villanova 8:04.45 6
4 1136 Shane Quinn FR Providence 8:05.22 5
5 1292 Ryan Sheridan SR Villanova 8:05.79 4
A video of the 2012 Wanamaker Mile from the Millrose Games at the Armoury in Upper Manhattan, New York can be seen here...
The Irish interest in this race was David McCarthy from Waterford who won an indoor mile recently in Boston in 3:55.75 .
NYRR Wanamaker Mile 2012
1 Centrowitz, Matthew Nike 3:53.92A
2 Batty, Miles B.Y.U. 3:54.54A
3 Heath, Garrett Saucony 3:55.24
4 Kisorio, Silas Unattached 3:55.84
5 Van Ingen, Erik Binghamton 3:56.37
6 O'Hare, Chris Tulsa 3:56.63
7 Levins, Cam So. Utah 3:57.16 8 McCarthy, David Providence 3:57.86
9 Milne, Taylor New Balance 4:00.78
10 Merber, Kyle Columbia 4:02.83
11 Boylan-Pett, Liam N.J.-N.Y. 4:10.86
12 Olmedo, Manuel Nike 4:16.71
Post race interview with David McCarthy...
Another race with an Irish interest was the Byron Dyce College Men's Distance Medley Relay. John Coghlan and Mark English made up part of the DCU team.
Finals
1 Villanova University 'A' 9:38.02 2 Dublin City University 'A' 9:39.68
3 La Salle University 'A' 9:48.52
4 University of Albany 'A' 9:49.90
5 Duke University 'A' 9:52.96
6 Manhattan College 'A' 10:15.54
An event called the Millrose Games is being held in a 5,000-seat armory in Upper Manhattan, New York on Saturday. Back in the 1980's, the Millrose Games were the centre of indoor track and field in the United States and Eamonn Coghlan was one it's biggest stars. He won the famous Wanamaker Mile seven times and earned himself the title Chairman of the Boards as a result.
Eamonn Coghlan will be there again on Saturday to watch his son John in action after he ran a sub-four-minute mile indoors for the first time in Boston last month. John will be running anchor for Dublin City University in the distance medley relay at 7:40pm (Sunday morning 00:40 am Irish Time).
The main event, the Wanamaker Mile starts at 9:49 pm (Sunday 02:49am Irish Time). The Irish interest in this is David McCarthy from Waterford who won an indoor mile recently in 3:55. Video in an earlier post.
If you are interested in watching the games, I'll have the link up live here on the blog. Coverage of the Millrose games start at 9pm Irish Time on Saturday evening and I'll put the video link up then.
The complete list of events can be seen HERE. Remember that those times are for the USA. Add five hours for the Irish time.
Just nine days after turning 70, Marie-Louise Michelsohn ran two new world record times for the 3,000 and 5,000 metres. Representing the Central Park Track Club-New Balance, Michelsohn wasn't deterred by Monday's windy conditions at Icahn Stadium in New York (17th Oct 2011). Running the 5,000 metres she first broke the world mark for the 3,000m en route. Her 3k split of 12:58 crushed the previous best, set by Elfriede Hodapp in 2006, by 26 seconds.
She finished the entire race in 21:59, shaving seven seconds off of Cecelia Morrisson's previous 70-74 age group record.
A mathematics professor at Stony Brook University on Long Island, Michelsohn came to running after the age of 50.
In an interview with the website Women Running Together a few years back, she explained her athletics background from her scholastic days. "I played tennis, but nothing else," she said. "I was busy studying. I put all my energies into mathematics.
Now that we have a bit of lull in the number of road races, it's time to catch up with a few other posts.
A few weeks back, the annual Empire State Building Race took place in New York. This is one persons unique take on it. If you thought the start of the Ballyandreen '5' was narrow then this kind of puts it into perspective ;o)
