Forth Mountain Trail
Forth Mountain 13k Trail Run.
Barntown National School have created a brilliant event utilising the forestry roads that carve their way through Forth Mountain. Possibly the most scenic
run around these parts of the country with wonderful views of the South Coast the reward for reaching the halfway point of Skeeter Rock. Mostly run on stony trail paths through the forest athletes have lots of room to stretch their legs as they pace themselves around the 13k route which starts and finishes at the gates of the historic Barntown Church.
Well done to
Ryan Ellard 1:01:44
Fran Rea 1:03:10
Sharon Martin 1:05:19
Paul Harpur 1:08:30
Tadhg Henderson 1:11:15
Gareth Lloyd 1:17:00
Jennifer Kehoe 1:21:29
Glynn 5k
Sunday morning saw club members take the short trip outside town to Glynn for the 5k race. As always entry was a breeze and a warm welcome along with refreshments for everyone afterwards. The well known route feels like you are either running up a hill or down one but it's a fair and challenging route.
Club results :
Micheál Kinsella 24:50
John Dier 25:16
Marion Galvin 28:23
Helen Burrell 31:19
Bridie McGuire 40:56
Sharron Dier 43:50
Enniscorthy Combined Events
Fiachra Mehigan tallied an impressive 2510 points at the Enniscorthy Combined Events challenge at the weekend in Enniscorthy. His performance saw him finish as top U16.
Keep up the good work.
National 10k Dunboyne
Martin Kelly took part on the National 10k which this year took place in Dunboyne Co. Meath. Local club Dunboyne Athletics Club were this years hosts and and provided a well organised event on a testing but fair route.
As anyone who knows Martin will tell you he gives it everything and this time was the same as he completed the race in 48:09 representing the club with pride and finishing in 4th place in the M70 age category, another fantastic result.
Fair play to you Martin, an inspiration to us younger athletes .
Wicklow Half Marathon
Ryan Ellard has developed a taste for Half Marathons lately and at the weekend he doubled up by running the Forth Mountain Trail on Saturday and followed that run by competing in the Wicklow Half Marathon on Sunday. Known as one of the more hilly half marathons on the race calendar he was not sitting back as he clocked a very respectable 1:37
Well done Ryan, a tough weekend of racing completed.
Liverpool Half Marathon & 10 mile
The short propeller plane trip across the Irish Sea brought Brian, Dermot, Enda, Darren, Ollie & Gráinne into John Lennon Airport at the weekend as they looked forward to tackling the event on Sunday morning. With heavy rain overnight the hope was that it would clear before the 9am start and thankfully it did as 12,000 athletes of all ages and abilities congregated around the large plaza in front of the historic Liver Building. There was a carnival atmosphere as music was playing, drummers were drumming and athletes were looking for toilets all in the build up to the starters gun. Bang on time the race started as both events kicked off with everyone running the first 3.5 miles together before the Half runners took a left and the 10 milers turned right. The routes rejoined for the last sections. One big plus was that the entire course of road and parks was lined with supporters who clapped and cheered every runner along. The km's seemed to fly by as you soaked up the enthusiasm of the crowd.
The crowd loved their signs and reading them raised a few smiles to the athletes faces along with music blaring from lots of locations around the route. The Mersey River provided the spectacular views for the final 7 km which was all away from any traffic allowing the athletes to breathe in the fresh air assisting their final push towards the finish line.
The final stretch was the most noise I have heard at a finish as the drummers were still drumming since before 8.30am and showing as much stamina as the athletes and the noisy crowd roared their approval of everyone's efforts. The medal and race tops were collected and then the recovery began. A couple of stadiums were even visited before a well earned dinner was consumed along with a few bottles of pop !
The event comes highly recommended to anyone, seemless race morning, huge support, carnival atmosphere and the usual trimmings after the finish line.
Half results :
Brian Smyth 1:33:42
Dermot Foley 1:34:39
Enda O'Sullivan 2:06:42
Darren O'Grady 2:09:08
10 Mile result:
Ollie Stack 1:40:31
Enda wrote a great account of his experience, just click the link
parkrun
Saturday saw 14 members take part in the Wexford Racecourse Parkrun and one complete his across the Irish Sea in Liverpool.
Enda was over in Liverpool and took in the Prince's Park Parkrun while there for his 23rd different location to complete a parkrun.
In Wexford Racecourse Parkrun Eamonn Foley, Helen Wallace, John Hyland, Rob Casey, Geoff Hoffheinz, Rob Mehigan, Hazel Doyle, Dave Clancy, Helen Burrell, Sarah Bermingham, Michael Murphy, Dave Percival, Bridie McGuire & Sharron Dier all finished their Saturday morning 5k.
Well done to everyone.