Blue 5k
The busy weekend continues as we had three members run at the Blue 5k. An event organised to help fundraise for a very worthy cause, the Autism unit which does fantastic work.
Bridie McGuire, Ollie Stack and Gráinne Hayes all entered and ran the 5k, Ollie & Gráinne loved the course so much they turned around and went back out and ran it a second time !
Gráinne was the 3rd female finisher so congratulations, finishing in good company as Jackie Carty was first.
Mr Oil Intermediate Road Race
A wonderful sight on a bright and sunny day as the clubs from around the County gathered to tackle the Intermediate road race. Lovely to see all the club colours on display as athletes warmed up prior to the races beginning.
This year St Killians stepped up to host the race and they used the well known route of the Ballymurn 5k for the event, just adjusting the starts of both races to finish outside the school. The ladies faced a 4 k loop beginning just past the start of the Ballymurn 5k start and the men started 2k from the finish line meaning they had to run up the famous hill twice. We had 12 ladies and 3 men competing on the day.
Our ladies had the largest entry in our history in the Intermediate race so a big well done to you all. Great to see our athletes performing their best and seeing their training show in their results.
Well done to St Killians AC , Wexford Athletics county Board & Civil Defense for a great event, thanks to our support crew around the course encouraging our athletes and to Tadhg and Helen for the effortless registration for the races.
Club results :
Ladies
Helen Wallace 18:05
Paula Gondard 18:49
Catherine O’Connor 19:33
Mary Gaynor 20:12
Ilze Bedrite 20:21
Helen Sinnott 21:31
Marion Galvin 22:02
Sarah Bermingham 22:04
Nora Boggan 22:38
Carol Dowling 23:29
Sam Donegan 24:00
Marie Casey Breen 28:34
Mens
Tony Harpur 31:29
Tadhg Henderson 39:43
Ali Ashgar Khoyee 40:52
Photo Sportsphoto Ireland
Manchester Marathon
Brian Smyth was in Manchester for the city marathon which took place earlier today, he very kindly sent this report :
On Sunday, while some of our members were running in Liverpool, we had one more just up the road in Manchester.
The Manchester Marathon saw Brian Smyth toeing the line as one of the 32,000 entrants for the race. He had a great run to finish in a respectable time of 3:31:40.
Menapians are taking over England one race at a time.
Great Ireland Run
Super stuff from Eamonn Foley who travelled to his home city to run the Great Ireland Run 10k. He ran well to finish in 46 minutes and 22 seconds.
Congratulations Eamonn.
Liverpool Tunnel 10k
Three of our club members took the ferry to Liverpool to join approx 2000 others in the Tunnel 10k race around the streets of the city passing a plaque to John's grandfather which was a nice touch for him. A nice warm morning for the event saw John finish in 52:15, Helen Burrell 1:03:18 and Sharron 1:25:57
Well done to the three of you.
Quest Glendalough
Quest adventure races. If you never entered and wonder what it involves 2 of our members Tony & Tadhg give an honest account below of their experience of the event. Well done gents and thanks for sharing.
*****Tadhg Henderson.*****
A day out in Glendalough.
Wide awake, at 4.55am I turned off my 5am alarm, got up, grabbed a handful of cornflakes, made some coffee for the travel mug and out the door. What was I doing! A Saturday morning in early April - lashing rain, wind blowing a gale and it only going to get worse, I got into the car and pointed for Laragh, Co. Wicklow, starting point for the Quest Glendalough adventure race consisting of hill cycling, trail running and lake kayaking which I had signed up for a couple of months previously in the hopes of clear skies, warm temperatures and a great day out.
Arriving for registration a little before 7am, I was heartened to see a calm dry day starting out in Wicklow. This mightn’t be so bad! Registered, I drove up the road to the start point at Laragh GAA. Driving through the saturated field for parking as directed, I could feel the rear-wheel drive (very heavy!) electric car slipping and sliding and dared not stop before I got to my spot. Proving the point, the EV driver behind me was not so smart and ended up stuck before the race even began… at least I dodged that one!
Getting out I set up my bike, prepared my bag, checked all my gear and then sat waiting in the car to be called to start. Two minutes before going to assemble in the starting pen the heavens opened. Rain coming from all directions I headed over to the starting area with my bike.
The PA counted down the start from 10 minutes out with in between the race brief and safety talk where we found out that the “calm” Laragh was very different to what was in store on the open mountains – gale force winds from the front, back and side, pelting rain, possible hail showers. Nervous anticipation fed the energy stores and suddenly we were away.
For some reason I had signed up for the hardest course in the event – the Expert course. It had been shortened from 8 to 6 stages due to the weather – the kayak part was cancelled and instead we had one longer run at the end. So basically we alternated between bike and run with three stages of each.
First stage was 6km cycling entirely up hill, followed by a 4k circuit of a mountainous area. This was then followed by the toughest cycle I think I’ve ever done, some really steep climbs made 10 times worse by cycling into a gale, with driving rain burning the eyes out of your face (it was too dark to wear my sunglasses!) The fun was enhanced every so often when I would round a corner (finally no longer into the wind) only to pass a gate or gap in the hedgerow and nearly get blown across the road with a sidewind! That bike leg was 15km.
The next run leg was 6km up, up and up through a wooded section then out into open mountain on a stone trail. Near the top I was delighted to turn left (found out later they had closed off the part of the course at the top due to the wind) only to find that I now had to run across a boggy stretch where your legs sank right down into the ground randomly!
Back on the bike we were now headed on the 18km leg back to Laragh which thankfully had quite a lot of downhill and wind to the rear.
Bike racked at Laragh and feeling rested from the relaxing spin down, I took off on the final run – 10km up towards the Spinc then back down to the lake where the kayak leg should have been (the water was flat calm!) and completing the loop back to the finish area.
Done. 20km running, 39km bike. Finally finished, totally wrecked, destroyed with dirt and muck, but finished, and delighted with myself, I took to the task of finding a few strong lads to push me in the car out of the mud to get straight back out on the road home! Another race and a new discipline for me done. Will have to give this another crack on a better day some time!
*****Tony Harpur.*****
This was a new thing for me, it had been on my radar for a long time but weekend trips to the west for a quirky race were never really on the cards. Finally Quest Glendalough lined up with my schedule so why not? The distances looked harmless enough, but just in case I would bite off more than I could chew, I settled on the Sport race. With the Kayak cancelled because of course there was a named storm at the weekend, it was just 6k cycle, 6k run, 20k cycle and 10k run. No big deal right? Ohh and being rediculously busy and time starved in the build up to the race, I'd barely managed a glance at the race brief and was blissfully ignorant of what lay ahead. I expected a bit of a rolling bike course on crappy road surfaces, and a run around a few fire roads on surfaces much the same. Longstory short, on race morning I just made the start of my wave. I wasnt feeling particularly motivated. I hate early morning starts. So I headed off at the back of 662 competitors. The road started gently climbing straight away, but inside the first kilometre we turned right onto a big steep climb, and I actuality started smiling from ear to ear and thought finally someone has made a race for me.(I always feel hard done by when swimmers get their head start in triathlon) I then got to work on the climb passing one rider after another and I was actually sorry when it was over. At the top you rack your bike and head off running. As expected the nice fire road lay ahead. I'd decided against trail runners, I bought a pair last week and found them rediculously slow, but was I in for a wake up call. The fire road ended and next thing we're still going down but its knee deep mud and a river of run off water to deal with instead of hard packed stone. Then we turned and started climbing and clambering through 1 person wide tracks, bushes and rocks. It was insane I couldnt believe it, this had nothing to do with running. At the top there was a vehicle width trail through gorse, so there was no leaving it, and I was literally wading through mud up to my knees. Madness, like xc on steroids. Run survived it was back on the bike, zooming down the otherside of the big hill we'd just climbed. Until the fun police got involved and you had to dismount and run with your bike as they were afraid someone wouldn't make the final bend. I'd have happily taken my chances to be honest. Back on the bike on rolling roads, and having no idea of what was ahead I went hard but held back just a little as there could be something crazy thrown in. The bike was over far to soon. I was really enjoying passing people, of course I'd no idea if we were in the same race, there were people of all shapes and sizes on all sorts of bikes, there was no way to know who was doing what. Its a bit like the end of ironman when everyone is on the circuit running the marathon but you've no idea who's on what lap. Absolute chaos. Anyway the bike ended back where we started which was handy as I wondered where I'd be picking my bike up from. Then it was off on the final 10k run. It was muddy twisty and turny to begin with, and tbh I expected just a quick lap of the lake. Ahh no. Up a great big hill again. At this stage my quads were screaming for mercy, but I was still passing people and wanted to give a good account of myself so no mercy was given (to them or my quads). Once we crested the hill the surface improved and it was time to empty the tank, now leg speed and actual running more than brute force came into play, so I went hunting for victims. I got into a bit of a battle with a few guys, but with the line in sight and my love of 400m racing there was no doubt in my mind who was winning that one. So I finished more in relief than enjoyment. What an absolutely mental day. The finish area could have been great for swapping war stories, given the weather conditions it wasn't bad, but outdoor socialising in Ireland during a storm is not so great. Tgat was a great pity. It was probably the biggest drawback of the day. They were giving free Erdinger out, when to be honest a free cup of tea would have been much more welcome. Also you'd no idea where you finished. Like i said earlier there were people going in all directions. That was bad on the course, but at the finish it was mayhem. I couldnt access the online results onto that evening. Finally the biggest challenge of day came. I'd been dreading this all morning (its still only 11:30), how the hell am I going to get my car out of this mudfest? Basically it came down to some good advice from a marshall, there was a runway to get up to speed so you could slide through the deep mud onto the tarmac. Adventure still not over. You weren't allowed to drive back the way you came, and my phone is in a pocket in my dryrobe (was using it to keep warm and dry after getting changed and getting some money for a cuppa) in the back of the car somewhere, so it turned into a long drive home. I had to just use the force and head for somewhere I recognised the name of. What an absolutely mad day. Well worth a go. Its Monday morning writing this and I can only just manage walking down stairs, so thetes got to be a big fitness boost coming from it. The medal and hoodie are top class too.
