BARRS Ladies Shine at 30th Women’s Mini Marathon

Lady luck smiled on the 30th Evening Echo Women’s Mini Marathon as an early morning downpour subsided just in time for the 1pm start. An estimated 10,000 runners put their best foot forward to raise much needed money for their nominated charities. Let’s hope that many of those who participated will be inspired to take up running on a more regular basis.

Clair Gibbons-McCarthy in good form

At the business end of the field, the race was won by Lizzie Lee (Leevale) in a time of 21:58 just six seconds ahead the BARRS’ own Clair Gibbons-McCarthy, back on top form after the birth of her third child. Orla Drumm (UCC) took the third spot in 22:26.

Martina Kiely is left holding the baby

Up-coming BARRS starlet Martina Kiely turned in another great performance to finish 5th in 22:58. Like good wine, club stalwarts Ann Donnelly and Mary Sweeney continue to improve with age. The BARRS golden girls finished 10th and 12th in times of 25:02 and 25:19 respectively.

Another good day at the office for Mary Sweeney and Ann Donnelly

The Saturday, October 1st edition of the Evening Echo will carry a full supplement on the Mini Marathon. Finally, the club would like to thank all those members who took the time to help out with the organizing and stewarding. Such behind the scenes efforts contribute in no small part to the success of the event.

Marian Andrews-Heffernan and Orla Drumm well pleased

30TH Evening Echo WOMEN’S MINI MARATHON, Sunday, 25th September 2011, Centre Park Road, 1pm

All for One and One (Gender) for All

The 30th Evening Echo WOMEN’S MINI MARATHON takes place on Sunday 25th of September 2011 at 1pm. An estimated 11,000 “Ladies” are expected to participate in what has become the biggest Ladies event outside of Dublin. Charities from all over Ireland use the annual event as a fundraiser for some very worthy causes.

Women's Mini Marathon Route - Click here

Head for Center Park Road and look for hordes of Ladies and Laddies who, on any other Sunday afternoon, might raise more than an eyebrow or two. The race (event) itself starts at 1pm from the City end of Centre Park Road covering a four-mile course, which takes in The Marina, Blackrock Village, Ballintemple, Monahan Road and finishes in Kennedy Park. Whether you’re an elite athlete, a runner, jogger, walker, fancy dresser, cross dresser or just a Sunday stroller, have a FUN day out and don’t forget to pick up your goodie bag.

Day Tripper

She got a good reason, for taking the easy way out
She was a Day Tripper, one way ticket, Yeah
It took her so long to get round, but she got round
Baby’s trying to please her, he took her half the way there
She was a Day Tripper, Sunday driver, Yeah
It took Baby so long to find out, but he found out

Charleville Half Marathon Sunday 18th September, 2011

Congrats to Emma Murphy who was 3rd in the Charleville Half Marathon last sunday in 84.50. Geraldine O Shea was 5th in the same race in 86.55. In the mens race Michael Houlihan who has been running very well all summer set another pb finishing 19th in 80.26. Well done to all who ran.

BHAA Cork to Cobh – Pre-entry €10 until 23-Sep-2011

The BHAA ‘Sports Supplies’ Cork to Cobh 15M Road Race takes place on Sunday 2nd of October 2011 at 9:30am. A pre-entry fee of €10 applies until the 23rd of September. On-the-day entries at €20 and changing facilities will be available in the Montenotte Hotel from 7:30am.

All finishers will receive a Goodie Bag and a T-Shirt. The race starts on the city end of the Lower Glanmire Road and takes in the scenic coastal route to Cobh Harbour passing Fota Wildlife Park and finishing in Cobh town centre. Gear bags will be transferred to Cobh for collection at the finish.

Note that on-the-day entries cannot be guaranteed a T-Shirt.

Click here for entry (Word)

Click here for entry (PDF)

Conna to kick off new 2011-2012 Cross Country Season

It’s still only September, but as the lights go down on the soggy summer of 2011, the thoughts of Novices young and old are drawn towards one thing, the new Cross Country season. It’s time for road weary runners to start raiding sheds and attics to resurrect those old weather beaten spikes from last season. Many first timers will be planning to visit their local Sports Specialist to purchase their very first pair of spikes. The 2011-2012 season kicks off with the County Novice, U23 & Masters Cross Country on Sunday 9th of October at Conna in the northeast of the County. The County Junior & Senior Cross Country is scheduled for the hills of Bandon on Sunday 6th of November. No date has yet been fixed for the County Intermediate & Masters Cross Country.

Following on a succession of bad, or well below performance summers, fairness only demands that we be in line for a bad winter. I’m talking really bad, like weeks and weeks of above average temperatures, hopelessly low levels of cloud cover with incessant sunshine and little or no precipitation, gauges on oil tanks all over the country frozen on full, people having to cancel fuel deliveries, Electricity and Gas bills going through the floor. Wishful thinking!  You see, only summers are bad, Irish winters never fail to put in a good performance.

Charleville Half Marathon, Sun 18-Sep-2011, 10am

The Charleville Half Marathon & Team Relay on Sunday 18th September is a brand new event organised by North Cork A.C. as part of the Ballyhoura Active series. The inaugural event hopes to attract the support of club athletes from all around the county and the province. The looped course to Kilmallock and back is flat and fast and the event is AAI approved. This is an ideal course for elite athletes looking for personal bests and likewise for beginners looking for a smooth passage over the 21.1km distance.

Part of the proceedings will be donated to St. Joseph’s Foundation, which is hosting the event. The foundation is hoping to raise funds to support the resurfacing of their 200m track. There’s a generous prize fund for the top 6 Male/Female finishers and the first finisher in each age category. Elite places are available for sub 72min men and sub 83min women. There will be highly visible pacemakers running at 7min and 8min mile pace.

The entry fee is €25 and chip timing will be used. The first 300 entries will receive a technical T-shirt. The event also includes a Team Relay which is split into four legs of roughly 5km. Teams can have two, three or four members to cover the four legs. The relay entry fee is €40 for a team of four. Entry is available on the day and people are advised to arrive early. Due to organisational constraints, Team Relay entries will close on the day prior to the race. This is the final event in the very successful Ballyhoura Active Summer Series of road races. The event is kindly supported by Cavanaghs of Charleville, Maher Sports and North Cork Coaches.

Charleville Half-Marathon & Relay (4x5km) – Click here

Cork Half Marathon, Sun 11-Sep-2011, Blarney (Results)

Après Cork Half Marathon

St. Finbarr’s A.C. would like to offer sincere thanks to all those who participated in the Cork Half Marathon of 2011. We very much hope that your experience on the Blarney-Grenagh circuit was a memorable one and look forward again to your participation in the 2012 race just four weeks after the Games of the XXX Olympiad.

Cork Half Marathon 2011 (Results) Rel.2 – Click here

St. Finbarr’s Half Marathon

Well done to all who ran today in an excellently organised event that went off very well. Thanks to all who assisted in the organisation and stewarding of the race. Your support and encouragement was much appreciated by everyone.

Michael Herlihy of North Cork AC won the race in 1.10.09 with Colin Merritt of Carrig na Bhearr second in 1.11.43. Donal O’Callaghan of An Riocht AC was 3rd in 1.14.40. Our own Cathal O Connell was 4th in 1.14.55 which was a fantastic performance after his efforts in the National Half Marathon Championships last week.

In the ladies race Angela MCann of Clonmel AC won in 1.23.10 with Maria Carey of Ennis Track Club second in 1.23.46. Tracey Roche of Doneen AC was 3rd in 1.24.57. Our own Claire McCarthy was 4th in 1.26.59. Full results will be posted on this web site later.

John Buckley / St. Finbarr’s A.C. Cork Half Marathon 2011

Cork Half Marathon bathed in Autumn Sunshine

   Sunday 11th September – 11am

Blarney, Co. Cork

(inc. Cork & Munster Half Marathon Championships)

St. Finbarr’s A.C. is pleased to announce that this year’s John Buckley / St. Finbarr’s A.C. Cork Half Marathon will take place on Sunday morning September 11th at 11am. Race H.Q. for this event is the Blarney GAA Grounds off Castle Close Road. This race also incorporates the Cork and Munster Half Marathon Championships and follows the traditional looped course from Blarney to Grenagh and back. There will be no separate registration for the Cork and Munster Half Marathon Championships. Cork AAI members will automatically be entered for both championships, while Munster AAI members will be entered for the Munsters.

A large number of entries is expected, so please allow plenty of time for parking, registration and warm-up. To reduce queuing and speed up processing, on-the-day entrants will be required to fill out an entry slip giving Name, Gender, Club, D.O.B, Age Category & Mobile Number details. Just present the completed slip with the €25 entry fee at the desk and you will receive your race number and race chip pre-packed. Post race refreshments and prize giving will take place back at the GAA clubhouse and grounds.

This year’s race will incorporate a number of new features:

  • Chip timing will be provided by Precision Timing.  The chip will allow for timely and accurate collation of results. Runners’ individual finish times will be confirmed by Text on the day of the race.
  • In conjunction with our sponsor John Buckley Sports, highly visible race pacers (1:30, 1:45 and 2:00hrs) will be used for the first time to help participants reach the finish line while maintaining pace, staying safe and most importantly, having fun! The race pacers will be equipped with balloons, brightly coloured tee-shirts and a target time on their backs.
  • All finishers will receive a goody bag with a souvenir and money off voucher from John Buckley Sports.

Cork Half Marathon Map - Click here

According to Google, the approach road, start road and lead-off road for this race are listed as “Unknown Roads”. I’ll have to check this out and get back to Google Maps. Anyway, to get to the Blarney GAA Grounds, head out of Cork on the N20 (Mallow Road) and exit at the Blarney (R617) slip road at (A). Take the first left turn (Route 1) after the roundabout and follow the Clogheen-Milcon Walkway on your left. There’s a car park for users of the walkway about half way down this road on the right. At the next junction turn right and then left to arrive outside the GAA Grounds at (B). There’s a small lay-by with limited parking facilities between these two junctions adjacent to the START line. There’ll also be limited parking both inside and outside the GAA Grounds on Castle Close Road, and there’s also parking available in the Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál secondary school just off the R617. To arrive at the school, take the second left hand turn (Route 2) beyond the roundabout.

CHM Route - Click here

CHM SAT - Click here

The heavily wooded back roads just north of Blarney village provide a leafy backdrop for the Cork Half Marathon.  At the outset, we’ll have to concede that ours isn’t exactly the flattest Half Marathon around, but it might just be one of the Greenest. If you’re running the course for the first time, you may indeed be a little disorientated at times. In truth, there’s so much woodland and foliage along the route that it can sometimes be hard to see the wood for the trees. On the other hand, all this natural greenery makes for welcome protection in the event of adverse weather conditions. Anyway, foretold is forewarned as they say. 

There’ll be four water station locations – one at the FINISH and three on the course. Two of the stations are passed twice along the way giving a total of six water stops. Click on the Route Map above for details. The course itself is like a giant paddle, the handle running northwards from Blarney past Waterloo, Monacnappa Estate and Lower Kilmona. For the most part, the route runs parallel to the N20 Cork-Mallow road, whose traffic can be heard in the distance. At about 4.7M, it loops clockwise around the blade, the tips of which comprise Genagh (6.5M) and Lower Rathduff (7.1M), before heading back down the handle to the FINISH on Waterloo Road. The race starts at a Y-Junction just outside and to the right of the GAA Grounds. You take the right fork up Castle Close Lawn past the secondary school and turn left past the garage with a slight pull up Shamrock Terrace before turning right onto Waterloo Road and the beginning of your hinterland odyssey.

You’ll pass the FINISH at around 1km. There’s a relaxing downhill section about 200m further on, the only one between here and Grenagh. For the next mile, you’ll be running through woodland with the river Martin on your right. At the Waterloo Inn (2M), you’ll go over Putland’s (Waterloo) Bridge and on past the church and the round tower on your right. At the 4.6M (7.5km) mark, you’ll have been climbing steadily at 37ft/M (Av. 0.7% gradient). From 4.6M (7.5km) to 6.3M (10.2km), the climb rate increases to 124ft/M (Av. 2.4% gradient).

When you reach Grenagh at 151m, you’re at the same elevation as Cork Airport. After a right angle turn through the village, there follows a rapid descent at -140ft/M (Av. -2.6% gradient) to Lower Rathduff on the opposite edge of the blade. Now you’re really flying! Another right angle turn and for the next 2M you’re heading along more wooded roads albeit at a more sane rate of descent. At the 9M mark you’re back on the main road heading down the handle for home. About 400m out, there’s a 150m uphill section, which gradually levels off leaving you with a 250m dash for the FINISH. Don’t forget to pick up your water bottle and goody bag before heading back to the GAA Grounds.

St. Finbarr’s A.C. members have put a lot of time and effort into preparations for the Cork Half Marathon. We greatly appreciate your participation in our race and will do everything possible to ensure that yours is both a pleasant and rewarding experience. Please note that the public roads will remain open to traffic during the race. Therefore, runners must run on the left hand side whilst exercising due care and caution. In the event of an emergency, all stewards will be issued with an emergency contact number. We wish all of you the very best of luck on Sunday and look forward to seeing you back at the GAA Grounds for some refreshments.