Notice...Boherbue to Kiskeam 4 mile road race in NW Cork - Mon 2nd Apr 2018

Looking ahead to some more races coming up in the near future, this one might be of interest to anyone west or north of Cork City, in Kerry or south and west Limerick. The Boherbue to Kiskeam 4 mile road race in NW Cork is coming up on Easter Monday, the 2nd of April 2018.

This 4 mile road race starts in Boherbue and finishes in the village of Kiskeam. As you can see from the map below, it's a central location for a lot of people in N.Cork, W.Limerick & E.Kerry...

The race is being organised by Gneeveguilla AC, one of the largest athletic clubs in Kerry. The entry fee is €20 on the day and there is a huge array of prizes on offer. These are usually in the form of vouchers for a local co-op and are pretty generous.

There will be the usual refreshments of tea. coffee. sandwiches, etc afterwards as well.

Preview.......A full preview of the course with directions, maps, photos, etc can be seen HERE

Ballycotton 10m voted best 10m race in Munster in 2017

Maybe it was out of a sense of nostalgia but the poll for the best 10 mile road race in Munster in 2017 saw the Ballcotton '10' come out on top! It was certainly a race with a distinguished history and will be missed by many runners.

Dungarvan 10k coming up on Sun 11th March 2018

Any runners that take part in the annual Dungarvan 10 mile road might be interested to know that the 10k version is coming up on Sunday the 11th of March 2018.

Organised again by West Waterford AC, this is a nice fast 10k and it follows much of the same route as the 10 miler.

The entry fee is only €8 online or €10 on the day.

More info HERE...

Off The Ball interview with 3 times Gold medalist Marcus O'Sullivan

There was an interesting interview recently from the Off The Ball team when they spoke with Marcus O'Sullivan. A Cork native and now head coach of Villanova University, Marcus has the distinction of having taken part in four summer Olympic Games, won three gold medals at the World Indoor Championships over 1500m and run a total of 101 sub-4 minute miles!

Winner of Cambridge Half-Marathon disqualified for using someone elses number

The winner of Cambridge half-marathon last weekend was disqualified when it turned out he was running with someone else's race number.

Jack Gray, pictured above third from left, ran the race using the race bib belonging to 'Andrew Rawlings' who happened to be his boss at work who had picked up a hamstring injury. Rather than letting the entry go to waste as they thought, it was given to Jack Gray and off he went. The only problem though was that Jack ran a little bit too fast and won the race!

In a post race interview, Jack Gray said.... "My boss called on Thursday to ask if I wanted to take his place as he was injured, and I thought 'why not? I thought it would be a shame for the place to go to waste and I made a donation to charity as I was now going to take part."

After winning the race, he heard the name "Andrew Rawlings" being called out over the PA system.

"It dawned on me I might have a bit of explaining to do," he said. "People were lining up to interview me, so I thought I'd better 'fess up straight away, and told the organisers I wasn't Andrew."

After Jack Gray was disqualified, Sheffield student William Mycroft, who came second, was declared the winner.

More than 7,000 runners took part in the event.

Full story... http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-43289854

10 Mile Race in Kilsheelan, Tipperary coming up on Sun 11th March 2018

For those of you looking for a 10 mile road race, there is one coming up in Kilsheelan, Tipperary on Sunday the 11th of March.

This is organised in association with Clonmel AC and is just east of the town of Clonmel. It is just 1 hour 20 mins from Cork City by using the M8 and turning off at Cahir.

The course looks reasonably flat except for one section around the 5 mile mark.

The entry fee on the day is €20 which is pretty reasonable and you can pre-enter as well.

More info HERE

Bweeng 10k voted best 10k race in Cork in 2017

Well done to Bweeng Trailblazers after their 10k race was voted the best 10km road race in Cork in 2017. Must be all those cakes! 

Roger Bannister...the first man to run a sub 4 min mile passes away aged 88

Roger Bannister, the first person to run a mile in under four minutes, has died at the age of 88. In May of 1954, he became the first man to break the 4 minute barrier for the mile with a time of three minutes 59.4 seconds.

A statement from his family said: "Sir Roger Bannister, died peacefully in Oxford on 3 March, aged 88, surrounded by his family who were as loved by him, as he was loved by them."



John Walshe of Ballycotton sent on the following article...


MILE CONNECTION

A low-key 10km road race in a small Irish village was the unlikely setting for a meeting between two people with historic miling connections, writes John Walshe

Ballyhooly in North Cork has, for the past number of years, staged an annual race in honour of its most famous son, Olympian John Hartnett.

Winner of the International (now World) Junior cross-country title in 1970, Hartnett went on to have a chequered career at Villanova University where he broke Ronnie Delany’s Irish mile record with a time of 3:54.7 in 1973.

The following year he set an Irish 1500m record of 3:38.1 as well as running 3:56.3 for the mile on grass at the Cork City Sports.

Now living in New Jersey, Hartnett was home to start this year’s race and present the prizes and in a unique coincidence he met up with Julius Bannister - grandson of Sir Roger Bannister - who was on holiday in the area.

In his first-ever road race,15-year-old Julius from Notting Hill recorded a time of 50:39 which won him the junior award.

Julian Bannister & John Hartnett

Links...
1) 6th May 2014...60th anniversary of the first sub 4 minute mile
2) Bannister recounts the first sub 4 minute mile...
3) Unique Meeting at Ballyhooly by John Walshe 

Reflections on no 2018 Ballycotton 10

First Sunday in March...1:30pm. The 2018 Ballycotton 10 mile road race would normally been starting around now with the buzz and excitement of about 2,300 runners waiting for the starting gun.

That is of course now a thing of the past since the Ballycotton '10' is no more. Since the announcement was made last year, nothing has replaced it.

In any event, it's likely that it would have been cancelled this year with all of the snow on the ground in Cork.

The Balycotton '10' was always a race that somehow seemed to dodge the bad weather. Rain on the Saturday or on the Sunday, rain before or after the race...but it always seemed to have more than its fair share of luck when it seemed to be dry most years.

Will we ever see another 10 mile road race in Cork with the same popularity or stature? I suspect not.

Killeagh 4 Mile Race on Sun 4th March 2018 Postponed

It looks like the Killeagh 4 mile road race next Sunday the 4th of March is another victim of the icy conditions. The organisers have just announced that they are going to postpone it until a future date.

Duhallow AC 10 mile road race in Newmarket postponed

 It looks as if the Duhallow AC 10 mile race in Newmarket has been postponed. See the statement below....

It is with deep regret that we have to inform everyone that the Duhallow 10 mile road race due to take place in Newmarket, Co.Cork on Sunday 4th of March has now been postponed until further notice.
The current extreme weather situation right across the country is very serious and we feel we would be putting people at risk by asking them to travel to this event.
This decision has not been taken lightly and is based entirely on the safety of runners, spectators and volunteers. This is our number one priority and we believe that it would be unfair to expect volunteers and runners and medical staff to stand out in these conditions
We have carried out a course inspection and consulted with the relevant statutory bodies and are in agreement that the risk is just too high.
We hope you appreciate and accept our decision as well as understanding the safety implications.
Whilst we are conscious of the fact this Sunday may be clear in Newmarket , we have to take into account other factors such as participants traveling from all over Ireland and we do not want to risk leaving it until Saturday morning to inform these people of the sudden change. They may have booked accommodation and may need to give 24 hours notice.

We want to make this a safe and enjoyable race for all alike.

We can confirm that everyone already registered on line for our race will automatically be registered for the new date TBC and your T-shirt and hat and is guaranteed also.

We hope to have a new date in the middle of next week.

Stay safe out there

Yours in sport

Thanking you kindly

Duhallow AC

Cork County Council to explore creation of dog-free walking areas

In a recent Irish Examiner article, it was said that Cork County Council officials are exploring creating dog-free walking areas in towns and villages in an attempt to cut down on dog fouling.

As a general rule, any walking area is usually a good area for running as well. While most dog owners are responsible, there is a sizeable minority who don't clean up after their dogs.

Full article

Update on the weekend events...

With the current cold snap, a lot of you will no doubt wondering about the events at the weekend and if they will be cancelled?

The cold easterly winds brought the first of the snow on Tuesday evening and this was topped up on Wednesday. The moisture that was picked up over the Irish Sea was however dumped as snow mainly on the East and South coasts. This meant that places east of Cork City got plenty of snow while other places like Mallow has escaped the worst so far.

Newmarket didn't get the snow that fell on Tuesday but got some on Wednesday.

The basic truth is that organisers have no idea about what the snowfall levels are likely to be after the blizzard associated with Storm Emma arrives on Thursday evening. We'll just have to see what it is like on Friday afternoon and what the thaw will be like on Saturday.

As for the Duhallow AC 10 mile race in Newmarket on Sunday, the organisers have postponed the event. See statement here... http://corkrunning.blogspot.com/2018/03/duhallow-ac-10-mile-road-race-in.html

As for the parkrun in Ballincollig, the Regional Park is closed until Saturday morning. The organisers will make a decision to go ahead on Saturday morning but it may well be too early for a proper thaw.

The organisers of the 4 mile race in Killeagh haven't said anything yet but I would imagine that they are in the same boat as everyone else...just a case of wait and see.

Cork runner Sinead Kane sets new 12 hour Ultra record

Well done to Cork runner Sinead Kane from Youghal who recently set a new Guinness World Record for furthest distance on a Treadmill in 12 hours by a Female. Sinead ran a total  of 130.50kms in the 12 hours. That is 81 miles in old money.

The pace was an impressive 8m 53s per mile for 12 hours!

Dry Fit top for the Duhallow 10 mile race in Newmarket

The big race in North Cork next weekend is the Duhallow 10 mile road race in Newmarket on Sunday the 4th of March. Organised by Duhallow AC, the club now has some of the dry fit tops on display.

In addition to this, they also have a hat for runners.

You can find more info on the race page on the club website HERE