Friday Fun - Temptation...

Anyone you know??😂

Results of the Run in the Dark 5k & 10k in Cork City - Wed 13th Nov 2019

Almost 2,000 runners took to the streets of Cork City on Wednesday the 13th of November for the annual Run in the Dark 5k & 10k. Considering the rain and wet conditions, that's an impressive number.

There were 820 in the 10k alone which makes it the biggest 10k race in Cork. In the 5k, there was 1009 with a further 82 in the 7.5k.

10km
Male
1     All Ages     Craig HARRINGTON (#1426)     00:37:51
2     All Ages     Stephen KELLEHER (#1226)     00:38:29
3     All Ages     John D. O'CALLAGHAN (#483)     00:38:55
Female
1     All Ages     Orla BYRNE (#1014)     00:40:08
2     All Ages     Rachel SMITH (#1201)     00:40:38
3     All Ages     Mary KELLEHER (#968)     00:43:29

Full 10k results

5km
Male
1     All Ages     Shane COONEY (#583)     00:17:45
2     All Ages     Ioannis SYMEONIDIS (#500)     00:18:02
3     All Ages     Sheldon KIRKWOOD (#2080)     00:18:03
Female
1     All Ages     Fallon O CONNOR (#2077)     00:19:08
2     All Ages     Niamh KINGSTON (#1233)     00:19:59
3     All Ages     Catherine O'DONOVAN (#1266)     00:20:09

Full 5k results

Full 7.5k results 

Photos...
1) The organisers have a gallery HERE

Workshop on involving sports volunteers - Thurs 21st Nov 2019

Cork Sports Partnership are holding a workshop on how to involve more volunteers in sporting activities and how to retain them. It should be of interest to any type of sports club.

From the organisers... Cork Sports Partnership & Cork Volunteer Centre are delighted to announce a new FREE workshop for clubs which aims to address topics such as volunteer recruiting, challenges, retention, rewarding and much more!

Thurs, 21st Nov 2019 - Cork Training Centre, Bishopstown - 6.30-9.30pm - FREE

What are the Objectives of the workshop
   What is Volunteering?
    Expectations of Club (What does your club expect from volunteers within your club)
    Expectations of volunteers (What do we think volunteers expect when they volunteer in our clubs)
    Barriers to volunteering (What other barriers have you come across in your clubs??)
    Designing roles & descriptions (What, when, where, why & how)
    Readiness for recruiting volunteers. Recruitment process
    Platforms for recruitment (online, club executive, club registration nights, AGM’s, club training etc)
    Drafting an advertisement (if required)
    Club Volunteer Application form (if required)
    Screening & Selection
    Placing Volunteers according to skill sets
    Now you have them how do you keep them?
    Support Mechanisms
    Volunteer Recognition
    Challenges/Difficulties that can arise & what to do
    Volunteer Policy & Benefits of having one
    Monitoring & Reviewing

For more info, to to www.corksports.ie/sports-volunteer-workshop

New York Times video on US runner Mary Cain...

Some of the world's fastest athletes were part of the Nike Oregon Project until recently and included the likes of Mo Farah and Galen Rupp who won Gold and Silver respectively in the 10,000m at the 2012 London Olympics.

The organisation had a reputation of pushing the rules to the limit with athletes reportedly on 'medical prescriptions' even though there may have been no real medical reason for doing so.

The Nike Oregon Project was headed by Alberto Salazar who was recently banned for four years for 'multiple anti-doping rule violations'. The Nike company issued a statement in support of Salazaar and then subsequently closed down the whole Oregon Project just two weeks later.

One of the athletes who had been through the Nike Oregon Project was Mary Cain, one of the best US runners in recent times. She did a recent interview with the New York Times and it gives an idea of what the system was like.

I Was the Fastest Girl in America, Until I Joined Nike | NYT Opinion

Notice: Run in the Dark in Cork City - Wed 13th Nov 2019

Following the success of last years Run in the Dark charity events, they will be repeated again this year in various cities like Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway. The date is Wednesday the 13th of November 2019.

Update 4th Nov 2019 :  Fewer than 200 places left now.
Update 8th Nov 2019 : SOLD OUT!!

From the organisers... Run in the Dark Cork – Join us for a 5k or 10k run on Wednesday 13th November 2019
 
Run in the Dark Cork takes place on Wednesday the 13th of November at 9.00pm. Every November, as darkness sweeps the globe, thousands of people in 50 cities across the world will pull on their running shoes and red flashing armbands and hit the streets to Run in the Dark.
 
We know there are lots of running events out there, so why choose Run in the Dark?!

Apart from being a unique night run taking place in iconic locations around the world, there’s also an important cause fuelling this fundraising run. Run in the Dark is a global running movement helping to cure paralysis in our lifetime.

Run in the Dark is organised by the Mark Pollock Trust, named after blind Irish adventure athlete Mark Pollock. Unbroken by blindness in 1998, Mark Pollock suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury in 2010 when he fell from a second story window that left him paralysed. As Mark strives to walk again, his most complex journey is ahead of him – to find a cure for paralysis.

By taking part in Run in the Dark you are enabling ground-breaking collaborations and research which could change the lives of millions of paralysed people around the world.

Every donation, every step, every study, moves us towards a cure for paralysis and enabling people to walk again.

Sign up HERE

Results & Photos of the Eyeries 5 mile road race - Sat 9th Nov 2019

There was a big jump in numbers for this years Eyeries 5 mile road race with 228 taking part, a 32% jump on last year!

From the organisers....  Great turn out today at the sixth annual Eyeries 5 Mile Road Race in Eyeries Beara, Co.Cork where up to 230 participated in this Murphy's SUPER-VALU Castletwonbere event. A sizeable contingent from far across the county including a gang from St.Finbarrs intent on bringing home some of the seventy prizes on offer and the host club Beara AC who finished off their series in style. 

Early morning downpours gave way to sunshine with a cool NW breeze. Alan O'Shea (Bantry AC) stole all the plaudits when he broke his own course record for a third victory at this event. Wining time of 25:21. Followed by last years winner Shane Harrington (East Cork) who was mightily pleased with his best time over this tough hilly course, of 28:14. A first timer from the 'Barrs Rory O'Sullivan who came third.

Better luck for the St.Finbarrs ladies, who traveled in numbers and took the first three ladies prizes with Orla Byrne (32:16) Anita Locke (34:49) and Irene Eighan (35:59) dominating.

In the Beara AC Race series, over three races; Andrew O'Sullivan of Castletownbere took first place, Kevin Gleeson second and Conor Murphy of host club Beara AC taking third. In the Ladies, top three finishers for the series another local girl, Nina Murphy of Beara AC was first, Helen Anderson (Clonakilty) 2nd and Maria Hurley Bantry. A real West Cork mash-up!

Photos...
1) Joe Murphy has a gallery HERE
2) Anne Marie Cronin has two galleries... Album 1 and Album 2

Despite its remote location, the Eyeries race always manages to attract a reasonable number of runners, especially for a race in November. Many of the other races West Cork have declined in recent years.

Category results at the bottom of the post below...

Full results...
1    0:25:21    O'SHEA, ALAN    Bantry A.C.    M35    05:04.1    573    1
2    0:28:14    HARRINGTON, SHANE    East Cork A.C.    M35    05:38.7    189    2
3    0:28:44    O'SULLIVAN, RORY    St.Finbarr's A.C.    M40    05:44.7    445    3
4    0:29:34    O'BRIEN, JOHN    St.Finbarr's A.C.    M45    05:54.7    492    4
5    0:30:03    COLLINS, CONOR    Cork    M40    06:00.5    584    5
6    0:30:30    CRONIN, MARK    Bantry A.C.    MS    06:05.9    482    6
7    0:30:56    LONGAN, JOHN    St.Finbarr's A.C.    MS    06:11.1    347    7
8    0:31:03    MCCARTHY, PATRICK    Drimoleague    M45    06:12.5    129    8
9    0:31:14    O'SULLIVAN, ANDREW    Castletownbere    MS    06:14.7    352    9
10    0:31:42    GALLAGHER, PAUL    St.Finbarr's A.C.    M40    06:20.3    399    10
11    0:32:16    O'SULLIVAN, VINCENT    Eagle A.C.    M40    06:27.1    585    11
12    0:32:16    BYRNE, ORLA    St.Finbarr's A.C.    FS    06:27.1    344    12
13    0:32:28    GLEESON, KEVIN    Castletownbere    M35    06:29.5    355    13
14    0:32:29    MURPHY, CONOR    Beara A.C.    M45    06:29.7    358    14
15    0:33:39    GEOGHEGAN, STEPHEN    St.Finbarr's A.C.    M45    06:43.7    329    15
16    0:33:59    CORNFORTH, ANTHONY    Beara A.C.    M55    06:47.7    417    16
17    0:34:10    DOLLARD, JOHN    KILBRITTAN    M40    06:49.9    299    17
18    0:34:15    LYNCH, LIAM    Donoughmore A.C.    M60    06:50.9    320    18
19    0:34:39    WOODS, DERMOT    St.Finbarr's A.C.    M40    06:55.7    391    19
20    0:34:46    MINAHANE, CATHAL    Glengarriff    M40    06:57.1    354    20
21    0:34:49    LOCKE, ANITA    St.Finbarr's A.C.    F35    06:57.7    401    21
22    0:35:02    O'DRISCOLL, GARY    Castletownbere    MS    07:00.3    341    22
23    0:35:03    SMITH, RAYMOND    Tuosist    M55    07:00.5    312    23
24    0:35:25    WHITE, DAVID    Clonakilty Road Runners A.C.    M35    07:04.8    488    24
25    0:35:31    LIMRICK, LIAM    Rosscarbery Steam Runners A.C.    M40    07:06.0    360    25
26    0:35:42    MURPHY, BEN    Bere Island    M40    07:08.2    359    26
27    0:35:59    EIGHAN, IRENE    St.Finbarr's A.C.    F40    07:11.6    353    27
28    0:36:20    O'SULLIVAN, DONNACHA    Cahermore    M45    07:15.8    419    28
29    0:36:32    HAYES, WILLIE    St.Finbarr's A.C.    M60    07:18.2    465    29

Results & Photos of the Glen River 5k parkrun... Sat 9th Nov 2019

76 runners turned out for this weeks 5k parkrun in the Glen in Cork City.

1 Kieran O SULLIVAN Male VM45-49 St Finbarrs AC 19:41
2 Arno FRICKE Male SM25-29 20:35
3 Michael MURPHY Male VM60-64 St Finbarrs AC 20:38
12 Yvonne WALSH Female VW40-44 23:23
20 Rosarie LAPIERRE Female VW40-44 24:29
21 Aoife O'NEILL Female SW30-34 24:36

Full results

Photos...
1) The organisers have a gallery HERE

Results of the Ballincollig 5k pakrun... Sat 9th Nov 2019

This weeks 5k parkrun in Ballincollig Regional Park got a turnout of 356, the highest number since mid-September.

1 Colm FITZGERALD Male SM20-24 St Finbarrs AC 17:19
2 Unknown
3 Paul KENNEDY Male VM35-39 Leevale AC 18:53
13 Jennifer GOGGIN WALSH Female VW35-39 Carraig na bhFear AC 19:38
26 Mairead PEREZ Female VW45-49 20:49
27 Anna KLIMEK Female VW35-39 Polish Runners Club Ireland 21:02

Full results

Marathon event in Sixmilebridge cancelled...

The annual marathon event in Sixmilebridge, Co.Clare was due to take place this year on Sunday the 17th of November. Due to the low number of entries, the event has now been cancelled.

More info... https://munsterrunning.blogspot.com/2019/11/clare-sixmilebridge-event-in-doubt.html

Sign of the times?

Doping in sport: why it can't be stopped | The Economist

Interesting video released recently by The Economist highlighting the huge issue of doping in athletics and sport.

Notice: Eyeries 5 mile road race, West Cork - Sat 9th Nov 2019

The Eyeries 5 mile road race in West Cork is coming up on Sunday the 9th of November 2019.

The Beara Peninsula in West Cork is one of the most scenic parts of the country and an ideal backdrop for this road race in November. It might well suit any clubs or small groups who are looking for a day or weekend away.

On a nice sunny day, it's an absolutely stunning spot. The town of Castletownbere is only 4.5 miles away so there is plenty of accommodation on offer.

Entries... The race starts at 2:30pm and it costs €12 on the day. You can also pre-enter online for €10.60 by going to this LINK

***
 
From the organisers.....EYERIES 5 MILE ROAD RACE...Now in it’s sixth year, the Eyeries 5 Mile Road Race is now established as a firm favourite in the West Cork running calendar. This stunning location, set on the Beara Peninsula punches well above its weight, attracting up to two-hundred entrants each year including a steady stream of runners from the city and county clubs.

With one of the largest selection of prizes it’s no wonder it has maintained it’s popularity. Category prizes from the junior’s boys and girls, F35 M40 and upwards plus a new course record bonus prize, brings the number of prizes to over sixty!

The Eyeries event, sponsored by Murphy’s SUPERVALU Castletownbere, is the final race of three in the new Beara A.C. Autumn Race series. The preceding races, in Allihies and Bere Island have whet the appetite of this small, but enthusiastic running community and they will be looking to finish off the event on a high note on Saturday 9 th November next, starting at 2:30pm.

Participants of all three events receive a Beara A.C. commemorative medal. Like the other races on the peninsula there is no shortage of scenery on the Wild Atlantic Way. As every runner knows, scenery can only mean some hills are involved. The course takes you through the colourful award-winning village on a tough uncompromising loop that saves its toughest hills for the fourth mile. A fast and spectacular finish on the flat and downhill into the village again with views over the north Beara coastline brings you to the end line.

Registration, prizegiving and post-race refreshments in the nearby village hall give this event a special atmosphere that keeps participants returning each year. If you haven’t ventured thus far it might be time you made your way to Eyeries to see what they’re all talking about.

€10.60 Online Pre-registration: click HERE

Or Register on the Day: begins at 12 noon on the day in Eyeries Hall. €12.00 per person if registering on the day.

***

In November, this stunning part of West Cork can be very quiet and I'm sure they would appreciate all the support that they can get.

Course Preview...A full preview of the course can be seen HERE

This short video of the race in 2014 gives a flavour of what it's like...


Beara Race Series....... The Eyeries race is also part of a new Beara AC 5 mile road race series as shown below.

Cork runner Dan Sweeney does 90 laps of the Lough for charity!

This is probably a recent ultra run that you may not have heard about.

Dan Sweeney from Bishopstown recently completed a 100km ultra in Cork City. Dan took on the challenge of completing over 90 laps of the Lough in 24 hours. With the aid of his support team, he started at 9am on a Saturday morning and finishing at 9am on a Sunday.

When asked why the Lough as opposed to somewhere else, he said..."Everyone's asking me why I picked The Lough but it's purely for ease of my support team. It's just easier for everyone because I can have a set place for people to give me food. There are a certain amount of calories I want to consume every hour. Some people said I should have run from West Cork to the city but that would be so difficult for my support team to coordinate and the roads would be dangerous when it got dark so The Lough made the most sense."

Thanks to the sponsorship collected, Dan managed to raise much needed funds for Edel House, a homeless charity.

Update on Cork Runner Claire O'Brien in San Francisco...

 Back in September, I had a post up about how Cork runner Claire O'Brien was heading to San Francisco to live for a while.

It looks as if Claire has hit the ground running so to speak finishing first in the local 5k parkrun and finishing 3rd in the Golden Gate Half Marathon in San Francisco in a time of 1h 26m 45s.

New Van for West Waterford AC

James Veale (R) of West Waterford AC taking delivery of a new van for the club

I spotted this on Facebook during the week. How many clubs are so big that they need their own dedicated van for races?

While most clubs might organise one race in the year, West Waterford AC organise roughly one a week! This obviously takes a huge amount of work to keep the show on the road.

Their most popular race is of course the John Treacy 10 mile in Dungarvan which sold out last week with the 3,000 or so places going in a few hours.

Irish results from the 2019 New York City Marathon

The New Cork City Marathon was held last weekend and as always, it attracted a large contingent of Irish runners.

Doing a search for finishers from Cork City resulted in these names...

John Comerford M39 IRL BIB 3271 2:55:02
Jason Crosbie M33 IRL BIB 9525 3:35:53
Shane Kearney M40 IRL BIB 3380 3:36:54
Dean Fitzgerald M29 IRL BIB 28650 3:44:23
Julieanne Buckley F41 IRL 23124 3:46:19
Paul Twomey M38 IRL BIB 27069 3:49:33
Eimear Cotter F35 IRL BIB 35662 4:02:16
Jackie Cavanagh F55 IRL BIB 35699 4:08:20
Michael Keohane M42 IRL BIB 45649 4:11:22
Amelia Shorten F35 IRL BIB 26573 4:24:54
Mary de Barra F50 IRL BIB 43182 4:32:29
Kerry Constant M64 IRL BIB 42140 6:06:24
Conor Cavanagh M58 IRL BIB 61278 7:01:12
Carol Ahern F46 IRL BIB 71846 8:01:08

The Irish results can be seen HERE

Some stats...

a) Over 53,000 people finished the marathon

b) This might be of interest to anyone who ran the Dublin marathon recently. The average finish time in New York was 4h 23m for men and 4h 52m for women.

c) And for a piece of trivia : The oldest female runner who was 89 years old finished in a time of 5h 39m.... almost one hour ahead of the youngest female runner who was 18.

d) The breakdown of the ages is shown below. Notice how there women outnumber men in the 25-29 age category.