Castlegar XC 2026

10 Things I Think About The Castlegar XC

1. The Famine is Over

I think that the cross-country season is too short. It has been way too long since the last cross-country race. September to January outside of that it’s relentless road races. I prefer cross country always have, always will. I think the reason that all my road race great P.Bs by me are in December and January is because my legs are strong from all the cross country races.

2. Any Excuse to go to Galway

I think that even if there wasn’t a high-quality cross-country race on in Galway, I don’t require too many reasons to make a trip. It’s a great place to spend a weekend, nice coffee, good restaurants and nice hotels. It seems other people think so too as all of the hotels in the city seemed to be either booked out or charging €400 a night. Luckily cross country is possibly the least popular form of running so the Clayton right by the course in Ballybrit was available for a reasonable price.

3. No Messing, High Quality

I think that even though cross country isn’t exactly popular in the same way that marathon running is, that doesn’t mean that a smaller field is necessarily lesser quality. Everyone who enters a cross-country race is good at running. Castlegar was no different from tough men like Kenny Rodgers, international athletes like Rory Chesser and up and coming stars like Oisin Davis and obviously me.

4. Popupraces Tent

I think that the one problem with Galway apart from the traffic is the weather, the weather is not good. It is very good for cross country but for general activities like standing outside watching a cross country it is very bad. Rhona ran the women’s race which started off in normal enough Galway conditions, a little bit of rain and a lot of wind. She had completed one of the two big laps when what can only be described as a mini hurricane struck Ballybrit. Billy and I took shelter under a Popupraces tent which while impressively built felt as if it was about to take off. I sent Billy into the stands while I stood in the warm rain and wind preferring to avoid the risk of being carried away by a Popupraces tent.

5. Tots Race

I think that it was amazing how the mini hurricane disappeared the moment the women’s race was over. It was just as well as the next race up was Billy’s race. Billy was a little upset with the choice of music for his race, he would have preferred the Seanie Maguire song Free from Desire that the girls crossed the line to rather than Blinding Lights that soundtracked his storming run to the finish.

6. No Cross Country for Moderately Old Men

I think that 10 minutes is plenty of a warmup for a race. I have nearly perfected it now, three or four minutes of jogging and then three by one minute of a bit of an effort. It was a bit intimidating to realize that myself and Niall Shanahan were probably the only masters runners in a field of predominantly young fellas. Kathryn Casserly organized us all on the line, told us the number of laps, one small and five big and away we went. It didn’t take long for the youngfellas to disappear.

7. T-Shirt and Asics

I think that just like in a road race one of the worst things that you can see in front of you a few minutes into a race is the sight of a fella wearing a t-shirt and non-magic shoes. There is another level to this awful sight, that is when the fella in front of you is in a cross-country race and is wearing a t-shirt and Asics Cumulus with no spikes and you are wearing top of the range Dragonfly XC 2s. Thankfully it only took the first small lap to go past the fella in the t-shirt and the normal shoes.

8. Moving on Up

I think that jumps over hay bales should be mandatory in cross country. After a few laps the race was pretty spread out. I could see Oisin Davis getting the better of the Ennis Track lads on the section where the course looped back on itself in what looked like a close battle. I had hoped to use Niall Shanahan as a gauge for my race but after three of the big laps he was nearly a minute ahead, so I just focused on beating the two Galway City Harriers fellas who I ended up running with. The four or five jumps every lap kept the race kept things interesting in the absence of any great enemies.

9. Beautiful Day

I think that it was amazing how good the weather was for the men’s race. It was a total contrast to the women’s race, blue skies, a gentle breeze, nice and warm, very uncross-country weather. There were a few wet spots in places because of the ridiculous downpour of rain but nothing that would slow down a fella wearing a pair of Asics Cumulus and a t-shirt too much.

10. 14th Good Performance?

I think that it is always hard to judge how great and excellent you are doing in a cross-country race. It wouldn’t make for a great Instagram post. “Well done to me for coming 14th in the cross country, I beat this fella who trust me is good”. It’s not as easy as “I ran 2:29 in the marathon aren’t I great.” In the end I beat the two Galway City Harriers fellas, I was surprised however to cross the line and see right behind me the fella in the t-shirt and the normal shoes. Surely, he must have another lap to do? But no, he was finished. I told him afterwards that he’d have beaten me if he’d spikes which he would have. Turns out that he’s David Carter’s cousin, the only Galway man who runs races in Cork and a very handy runner himself. So, it was a good performance even if the pictures say that I was nearly beaten by a fella in a t-shirt with no spikes.

Photo: rhona

Pacing The Charleville Half Marathon 2026

10 Things I Think About Pacing The Charleville Half Marathon 2026

1. Hardest Possible Job

I think that I worry about what running will be like in 10 years’ time. There are too many people like me and not enough like Michael Herlihy. Too many people who don’t like volunteering. We may need to consider implementing some sort of mandatory voluntary service. I always feel guilty about the Charleville Half Marathon, so I normally volunteer to do some pacing although last year I stood at the side of the road in the wind and rain wearing two jackets handing out water bottles. This year it was pacing, pacing 1:20 the hardest possible pacing job.

2. Clinical Organization

I think that it is terrifying how much organization goes into the Charleville Half Marathon. It is so well and thoroughly organized that it would put anyone off organizing a half marathon. Arriving in Charleville to see the thousands of runners running around the place warming up and collecting bibs with no sign of any chaos. I collected my bib and pacing balloon in less than five minutes, leaving time to talk to John Kinsella and John Meade before warming up. John Kinsella was a bit nervous about his new Pumas, he need not have worried.

3. Swedish Warmups

I think that there are very few good sources of information about running. There are a lot of charlatans and snake oil salesmen about. Let the buyer beware. The only decent source of information is interviews with athletes like Andreas Ahlmgren. He said in a recent interview that his warmup includes 4x1min threshold efforts which seems like a good idea, so I stole it and tried it before my pacing job. It did a good job of covering me in a thick layer of sweat.

4. I Don’t Speak Instagram

I think that for a moderately old man like me, discussing running with youngfellas is like when I run in races abroad and you can’t talk because you don’t know the running terminology in the different language. I was very fearful of being unable to communicate with the 1:20 group as I don’t speak Instagram, so I planned to stay quiet and not be a shouting encouraging style pacemaker.

5. Beautiful Straight Exciting Road

I think that Michael Herlihy is a great man. He is responsible for this course with its never-ending straight road from Charleville to Kilmallock. It is so long, it feels like at least 10 miles to someone like me who can’t concentrate. I was lucky to have Alan O’Brien to chat to for the first 3 miles to pass the time. Apparently proper runners like running on straight flat roads.

6. Balloon

I think that pacing balloons are not needed after the first few miles. As we reached the end of the never ending straight road to Kilmallock after clocking off what felt like 21 3:46 minutes per kilometer splits I saw a little boy about Billy’s go hopping up and down at the side of the road. He looked like he would appreciate a balloon, so I disconnected my 1:20 pacing balloon from the handy clip on my shorts and handed it him before rejoining my 1:20 pace group.

7. Peloton

I think that as we passed through the historic old town of Kilmallock which is a great town as it signifies the end of the terrible 10 mile straight road from Charleville I thought that I was going to lead a big gang of runners under 1:20. There were loads of them with me. No one seemed to be in any great difficulty although the air was thick with humidity, never a good thing for running half marathons.

8. Echelons

I think that it was interesting how the group thinned out on the nice bit of the course on the winding country roads back to Charleville. I kept clicking off the 3:46 kilometers but almost as often as a 3:46 would appear on the watch another person would disappear from the group. I felt bad about this but there wasn’t much I could do except stick to the pace.

9. Smithereens

I think that the last 6k were very interesting. I kept to the pacing regime but despite the constant pace I passed a lot of people in various degrees of running and walking. By the time we emerged back onto the straight road at 10 miles my group had been reduced to just one man from Mallow, Aaron Cahill. He was still able to talk so I was confident that we would make it to the finish together.

10. 1:20:00

I think that the picking up the pace at the end of Charleville is unlikely. The mallow man had notions of picking it up which I neither confirmed nor denied as a possibility, “we will see when we get to a kilometer to go” I told him. On the way home we collected a few more members of our group which made it seem like I had done a great job brining so many people home under 1:20. As we entered the last few 100m I let them all go and jogged home exactly, precisely and accurately at 1:20:00 which was great as it meant Michael Herlihy couldn’t give out to me.

Rob Heffernan Mile 2026

10 Things I Think About The Rob Heffernan Mile 2026

1. Josh Kerr W.R. 3:42.66

I think that after a summer where the world record for the mile was broken by the most humble athlete in the world Josh Kerr it was great to have the opportunity to do a mile race. I hadn’t run anything shorter than a 5k since last years mile which is a great pity as it is probably my favourite race distance to do.

2. What Are You Building?

I think that the best thing the minister for health could do in the morning is to ban all races longer than a mile. Marathons should definitely be banned as they are exceptionally bad for health causing stress fractures and relentless social media posting about training blocks and builds. We would all be a lot healthier and happier if we only trained for distances up to a mile, maybe 5ks would be allowed too and the odd 10 miler.

3. Ingebrigsten Session

I think that it was a bad idea to copy the Jakob Ingebrigsten, day before a 1500m race mini session, the day before the mile. I am a moderately old man, 40 years of age and I have not run fast all year apart from the death sprint against Viv in Donoughmore which took me nearly a week to recover from. 200m, 150, 100m, 100m with a walk recovery in between. That couldn’t hurt you could it, it’s not even a kilometre. Unfortunately, on the morning of the race I woke to same feeling I first felt as an U10 GAA player in February after running a few laps of the pitch after a winter of inactivity.

4. Discombobulatingly Early and Late

I think that I am almost used to being late for races. I thought that I was going to be very on time for this race arriving at 1:30pm but the traffic apocalypse at Mahon Point and a Munster senior cross country style timetable meant that I arrived just as the senior men’s race was about to start. I was a little discombobulated by everyone being on the actual start line waiting to go, so much so that I considered not running as I am a confirmed moderately old man and racing without a warmup at my age can lead to injuries that would bring my illustrious running career to a premature end.

5. Putting on Magic Shoes Race

I think that I was lucky that Rob Heffernan kindly delayed the start while I put on my beautiful colourful Puma Fast R3s which are exceptionally hard to put on. I didn’t feel at all stressed about the situation. I took my time and made sure to double knot the laces while Rob told everyone how I had finished 4th in the mile last year beating Denis Coughlan who was horrified at the time and probably still is.

6. Youngfellas

I think that the great thing about a mile race is that you don’t have to think. You especially don’t have to think when you have had no warmup of any sort, not even a jog or a stride. There were lots and lots of youngfellas in the race, the majority of them wearing the red singlet of Cork City A.C. They were very fast and impossible to keep up with. There was however a second pack of youngfellas from assorted clubs behind the main pack that were not impossible to keep up with and after 200m they even began to slow and my cold started diesel engine began to warm up so I began to move up the field which was very good for the head.

7. Uh Oh a Gruff

I think that my main fear in the race was being beaten by Gruff. Gruff has run 4:17 or so for the mile and that was without any magic shoes so it was not going to be easy. I thought that I was in trouble after 400m as I could see the distinctive high-quality Glanmire adidas singlet which can be purchased for the low price of €35 in my peripheral vision as we approached the cones that divided the course from 400m to the 800m turnabout. I knew I wasn’t beating Gruff in a sprint so the middle 800m was going to be key.

8. U Turn if You Want To, These Magic Shoes are not for Turning

I think that the course was a little slower this year with the U turn after 800m. The straight-line mile from end to end of the Marina last year with the wind behind us was a dream but I suppose also a bit of a logistical nightmare. I am not a fan of U turns, I can’t do them, especially in magic shoes, it nearly requires stopping as can be clearly seen from the speed graph on Strava. I think I will have to learn how to do the Japanese style turn that the fella in front of me did, although it kind of looks like a sort of magic trick. I didn’t fall over or hit anyone while going around the U turn so I suppose it wasn’t too bad.

9. 4:51

I think that I did well to hold off Gruff on the run to the line, I passed out two more fellas who were running in t-shirts as it is very important to beat fells running in t-shirts but couldn’t beat the only other non-youngfella ahead of me in a Duhallow A.C singlet Eoin O’Connell so I think that I was second non-youngfella which is good. 4:51 was the time on the clock which is ok and when you take into account the U turn probably the same time as I ran last year when I beat Denis Coughlan who was horrified at the time and probably still is.

10. Femke Bol

I think that my favourite part of the day was not actually the mile race at all. It was the relay, a 4x400m relay. We entered a team of me, Rhona, Roselyn and Gruff. In all the many years of my illustrious running career I had never run a relay with a baton in my hand. Everyone else in the relay was at least 20 years younger than us so it had an interesting dynamic. 200m into the first leg and I was last by a good bit but luckily the turbo lag disappeared, and I went from last to 3rd before handing off to Rhona. Gruff had the last leg and was like a man reborn again, bouncing off the ground like he was back in East Tennessee taking us from 5th to nearly 4th. Great fun.

Photo: Rhona

Mooreabbey Milers 10 Mile 2026

10 Things I Think About The Mooreabbey Milers 10 Mile 2026

1. Racing Reunion

I think that it was great to get the chance to recreate one of my favourite races of all time, the Galbally 10 Miler of 2023. The day when Michael McMahon, John Meade and I ran around Galbally in the sunshine with classic tunes from Declan Nerney blaring from the back of Kevin Moore’s father’s Suzuki Jeep. I was very keen to repeat the race so in contrast to the modern runner who actively avoids the potential for bad beatings that won’t look good on Instagram I persuaded both John Meade and Michael McMahon to come to Galbally for a reunion/rematch.

2. Norwegian Lactate Testing

I think that it was very professional of me to get my lactate tested before the reunion in Galbally. My last lactate test was in 2023 with Ian O’Sullivan. The numbers back then were amazing, some say they were the best numbers ever, better than Barry Donovan and identical to Cork’s number one running influencer Tadhg O’Sullivan. This time the test was performed by Glanmire’s only Norwegian Chris Smetana who grew up in a country where lactate testing is mandatory so I trusted him to ensure my values would be excellent. All I can say is that the numbers Chris tested were again very excellent with lots and exactly the right amount of lactate produced. John Meade doesn’t know what a good lactate is.

3. Reluctant Dread

I think that the worst part of any 10 mile race is the warmup, the dread of having to do the race is something special. Galbally has a perfect warm up field right beside the start so there is no stress apart from the dread of having to do a 10 mile race. Everyone including John Meade was very interested in the results of my lactate testing which formed the majority of the discussion during the warm up in addition to how much all of us were dreading the race.

4. I Must Say

I think that it was great to get a boost just before the start. I did one vicious stride before the start to scare my competition but all I succeeded in doing was impressing Kevin Moore’s father in the Suzuki Jeep. “I must say Donal Coakley is looking very well”. I felt apocalyptically bad, so this cheered me up immensely. He said nothing of the sort about John Meade, perhaps it’s the nice purple Glanmire singlet with the purple shorts and colourful Pumas.

5. Cruising Misery Speed

I think that the start was very efficient, we all lined up, Graham Meikle took a photo before sprinting into the distance and away we went. As we left the village of Galbally a group of five formed at the front of the race, John Meade, Michael McMahon, Michael Corbett and Sean Russell. It always amazes me how terrible you can feel 500m into a 10-mile race. I considered dropping out, how can I possibly run 10 miles with McMahon and Meade, this is going to be hell.

6. Magic Roads

I think that the roads around Galbally are deceptively hard. Because Ireland has lots of money now the road surfaces have become more and more excellent over the years. The excellence of the roads has turned a lot of the roads now into magic roads, magic roads where you can’t tell whether it is slightly uphill or slightly downhill. This is no issue for John Meade as he runs faster up hill than on the flat but for me it is very confusing to my head as what appears to be a relatively flat road can be extremely hard to run on. The magic roads led to confusing annoying changes in pace which eventually reduced the group of five to a group of three, Meade, McMahon and I, the original three amigos.

7. The Theory of Greek Gods and Local Elite Club and BHAA Running

I think that there is a hierarchy in Local Elite Club and BHAA Running. It is very similar to how the Greek Gods worked. There is a main god like Zeus was, this is probably Michael Harty, then there are other lower gods like John Meade and Barry Twohig, I am not a god, I am a mortal, a person that you must beat in order to become a god. I am not respected by the gods, but the gods respect each other. A perfect example of this was the key point of the race when we passed the water stop just after 5 miles, if I was Barry Twohig, there is no way John Meade would have put the foot down, but I’m not, so instead of pouring water over my head in an act of respect, Meade poured the water on his own head, put the foot down attacked opening a gap that would never be closed. I wish I was a god.

8. Marauding McMahon

I think that Michael McMahon is not a man you want to have chasing after you. The last four miles were very hard. John Meade was still in sight just up the road, an annoying amount ahead. A fella in a Toyota Avensis going in the other direction pulled down the window and said, “he’s suffering”. This added to the thought of a marauding McMahon behind me provided just enough motivation to get up the last big hill on the course at eight miles before the downhill run to the finish.

9. Sisyphus

I think that running is an extremely annoying sport, I have spent most of my long illustrious running career with one goal in mind, becoming good enough to beat John Meade frequently. I have thrown everything at it, supplements, orthotics from Belgium, magic shoes, lactate tests, even 140 miles a week. I finally achieved my goal in 2019. But much like Sisyphus sentenced to a life of pushing a rock up and down a hill I have been sentenced to a life of get good enough to beat John Meade, only to get injured and having to figure out how to beat him again. It’s a hard life, unfortunately I’m back at the bottom of the hill as he gave me a bad beating by over 30 seconds in the end.

10. Same but Different Podium

I think that it was great to have the same people on the podium as back in 2023. The order was completely different. I went from 3rd to 2nd, McMahon went from 1st to 3rd and Meade went from 2nd to 1st. The times were a little slower but close enough to make no difference. We collected our very generous envelopes sponsored by Hinchy’s garage where my grandfather bought all his Opel Fronteras and retired to the warmup loop for warm down in front of the Galtees. I lost the warm down badly as I was immediately dropped by Meade and McMahon who showed no signs of mortality. Perhaps they are actually gods.

Donoughmore 7 2026

10 Things I Think About The Donoughmore 7

1. Did I Mention I Won This Race Before?

I think that it is nice to go back to a race that you’ve won before. I love that I won this race before because it really annoys Michael Herlihy. Despite my recent terrible career threatening injury I had some hope of winning again as there had been two races already this week, so the potential competition had been worn down.

2. Viv and the Incoherent Nonsense

I think that Viv could be a character in a Shakespearean play. He is a nuanced character. On one hand he is a very nice kind man, one of the nicest you could meet, a gentleman. Then you have the viciously competitive runner that will not quit, and then the side that most people don’t see, the nonsense spouting man saying he would be taking it handy tonight.

3. Irish Singlet

I think I should apologize to anyone that was confused by my wearing of the Irish singlet during the warmup and during Billy’s race. I want to make it clear that I have not ever run for Ireland in a senior race, I know it’s hard to believe, I bought the singlet off the internet for €35. I was going to wear it in the race as it is exactly the same fit and material as my adidas Glanmire singlet, but I thought it might cause too much confusion. You can’t get them anymore now because they are sold out, apparently people have been coming from Gdansk to buy them.

4. Warm Up Session

I think that as I become more and more confirmed in my moderately old man status the more, I need a good fast warm up. A two mile jog doesn’t work anymore I need to do a few efforts to get the legs working. So after Billy’s race I did a few 300m reps on the grass pitch at some bit of an effort. I think it works although I still believe that the best warm up for any race is to arrive at the last minute a little bit very stressed.

5. Moderately Old Man Strength

I think that it is interesting that the top ten of most local cork road races seem to be dominated by moderately old men. During the first two miles of the race I think I could see why. Sean Davin was gone into the distance but the battle for second was between the same moderately old men that have been around since 2010 or so. The sheer strength of fellas like Mike Morgan and Mick Corbett is frightening. It is not strength from a gym; it is strength from running in the terrible shoes that we used to have to race in before 2019 and the dawn of the magic shoe era.

6. Anti-Ageing Shoes

I think that magic shoes are great. They get more and more magic every year meaning that despite the ageing process there is no deterioration in time. Viv is getting better if anything, it’s wonderful, the shoe du jour at the moment is the Puma Fast R3. There is no better shoe for a moderately old man. Mick Corbett was wearing the Saucony Endorphin Elite but Viv, Mike Morgan, Tim Twomey and I were all in the Pumas, the new king.

7. Get a Gap

I think that the great thing about being taller and bigger than Viv is that I can run downhill much faster than he can which drives him mad. The Donoughmore 7 is an unusual course, it starts with two miles uphill, followed by two miles downhill, then a rolling mile and finishes with two miles of a climb to the finish. I knew that the two downhill miles were my only hope so once we turned left onto the downhill section I put in a big effort and sure enough the pitter patter of Viv’s feet faded away only to be replaced by the sound of rain falling from blue skies.

8. The Alp

I think that the last two miles to the finish are wonderful, it must be the best finish to a road race anywhere. It is more like a cycling race than a running race. I am utterly useless at running up hills so I was terrified of what was about to happen when I swung left to begin the ascent, I had seen two consecutive 3:00 kilometers on my watch so I knew I had some bit of a gap but was pretty sure than most of the gap had been eroded by a marauding Viv when I saw a 3:48 minute kilometer appear on my Garmin with only one third of the climb completed.

9. Extreme Hatred

I think that no matter how far I was ahead of Viv at the bottom of the climb he was going to catch me. It was inevitable. He runs on hatred of me; it is his super fuel. All of his P.Bs are in races against me because he hates me so much. 400m before the finish the catch was made, Viv had also dragged Mick Corbett with him. I knew they would want to take a breather once they had caught me, so I eased up a little bit, let them catch me before putting in one last final effort in an attempt to keep second place.

10. Death Sprint

I think that if there is one person you don’t want to have to sprint against for a slightly larger John Buckley Sports voucher it is Viv, well maybe Aidan Noone would be worse, but Viv is pretty vicious. As we rounded the corner to the finishing straight, he opened a bit of a gap. I sprinted as hard as I could and was amazed to see the gap closing and not see Mick Corbett also going past. I started to believe I might actually beat Viv in a sprint but alas the finishing gantry came too soon, and I had to accept third place albeit in the same time as Viv. It was just as well he was only taking it handy.

Glen River Park Run

10 Things I Think About The Glen River Park Run

1. Local Park

I think it is great to have a ParkRun so close to Glanmire. Glanmire has lots of houses but no park or track or anything so the closest ParkRun is in the Glen. You could run to the Glen from Glanmire but it is about 5 miles and involves running up a very long steep hill.

2. Volunteering

I think it is amazing that ParkRun works entirely on a volunteer basis. Volunteers are great, I’m not a very good volunteer but Rhona and Billy are, this time they were timekeepers so I had no reason not to do the Glen ParkRun.

3. Warm Up

I think that the Glen is a great place to go for a run. It is a little short of lap but the surface is one of the few remaining no tarmac or concrete loops in the city. I did two laps of the flat loop to warm up in my New Balance 1080s before changing into my Nike Vaporfly 4s to show that I was intent on making a Barry Twohig or Michael McMahon style effort.

4. Visitors from Glanmire

I think that ParkRun is a very welcoming community. Before the start they have a little chat where they welcome all the people from different places. There were people from all over the place, Croatia, Wales, England and Glanmire.

5. English Tourist

I think that I was horrified to see what my running brain saw as an English tourist with significant running ability powering down the hill just in time for the start. I had hoped to be able to make my attack on Barry Twohig’s impressive course record of 16:30 on my own. Now I knew I would have company.

6. “I’m Only Doing a Tempo”

I think that after the first lap I was considering trotting out the usual excuse when you get a bad beating in a ParkRun that I was only doing a tempo. It was very hard work and it seemed to be completely impossible to drop the English tourist in his sunglasses.

7. Mount Glen

I think that I was very lucky that the Glen ParkRun route goes up a huge steep hill twice. It wasn’t so much the going up the hill that made the difference but the going down. The going down is harder than the going up and having navigated the hill with Billy in a buggy I was very good at running down the hill, good enough to get a little gap on the English tourist.

8. One Lap Left

I think that it is great to have courses with laps. Laps are great for breaking down a race into manageable chunks. With one lap to go I had a tiny gap on the English tourist, it wasn’t really a gap as I suspected that if he was anywhere near me on the finishing straight I would be easily out-sprinted so I knew I needed to make another effort up and down the hill.

9. First Finisher

I think I did very well to stay ahead of the English tourist and become the first finisher. In the end there was only 10 seconds or so between us all of which was found on the downhill. Once I had collected the finishing token I realised that it was in fact not an English tourist but a Glen Park regular Marcus Bishop who happens to be from England but is in the process of becoming from Cork.

10. Faster Than Meade

I think the great thing about ParkRun aside from all the other great things like the volunteering and the niceness is the historical list of fastest times. It was great to find out that my time while 30 seconds slower than Barry Twohig’s ridiculous effort was 20 seconds faster than John Meade which is great and wonderful. An indirect bad beating of John Meade.

European Athletics Championships Birmingham 2026 Unity 5K

10 Things I Think About The European Athletics Birmingham 2026 Unity 5K

1. Is There Anyone Left In Ireland

I think the European Championships in Birmingham were wonderful. It was basically a home championships with the amount of Irish in the stadium. “Is there anyone left in Ireland?” was a common question from the Brummies. It probably helped that Seamus Carey booked a lot of the tickets so all the Irish People were sitting together.

2. Noses Up

I think that mass entry races on the route that the actual championships take place are a great idea. What’s not to like about getting to race on the same route as used in the Championships? You’d think with the invasion of running talent that the race would be full of sub elite runners when in fact most of them turn their noses up at the thought of pretending to be an elite runner for the day. I don’t know why.

3. Waves

I think that despite the randomly assigned waves the event was still good fun. I was in the third of three waves setting off at 12:15 or so I thought. I jogged up to the start from the Jewellery Quarter where we were staying with a lot of other Irish people in the Irish chain apart-hotel Staycity. The wave opened at 12:05 so in I went thinking 10 minutes isn’t too long to stand around for before a 5k.

4. Man’s Best Friend

I think that I made a very bad mistake with thinking that the wave started at 12:15. I looked at my watch at 12:10 and said to the fella next to me “only 5 minutes to go”, “mate the start isn’t until 12:35”. It wasn’t that bad. I got talking to a fella that does Canicross which sounds cool, if you thought magic shoes were good being dragged by a dog is way faster, apparently the European Championships are in Ireland next year.

5. Sub Elite Zumba

I think that I can see why the sub elite runners turn their noses up at the prospect of a mass participation event. The 12:15 start that I had thought was the start of the wave was in fact the start of warm up with a very enthusiastic man who was hoisted up on a large cherry picker to conduct a zumba style warm up. It was good fun and was also fun to see the serious looking runner stare straight ahead expressionless and motionless for the entirety of the warm up.

6. Down The Hill

I think that it was interesting to hear what times my fellow runners were expecting to run. A lot of them were very young and seemed to be looking for P.Bs which seemed a little unrealistic given the nature of the course. They were all younger than the youngfellas I race back home so I suppose they didn’t know. After 30 minutes of standing around with a little bit of half hearted zumba in the middle we set off at a ridiculous pace down the hill.

7. Twisty Turny Topsy Turvey

I think that the course was fantastic if you didn’t care about what time or pace you were running. It was relentless, there was at all times either an uphill, downhill or twist and turn to be negotiated, there was no let up. I don’t know how anyone would do eight laps as one lap was bad and wonderful enough. The road surface was typical city roads with filled in potholes, cobbles, concrete and even bricks. It was never too rough but it was very far from the streets of Berlin or Valencia.

8. The Finishing Climb

I think that the last mile of the 5K was impressively hard. I did the first mile in under five minutes and was probably 10th or 12th, maybe the youngfellas were right to be going for P.Bs. Then the hills started the, relentless hills, there were at least four very bad ones, the one up by the nice coffee shop was the longest with the ramp that led up to the Staycity road where I was staying being the steepest. Then to cap it all off the last mile was completely mad with a 180 degree hairpin breaking up a steep downhill before an 800m climb to the finish. It was like a good cycling race circuit, except without the cyclists.

9. Mad Training

I think that Strava has ruined the modern runner. What I have noticed over my many years running is that before GPS watches and Strava a lot of training used to be done on hilly loops, like in Beaumont Park or Doneraile Park, we’d have a time that we knew was ok and would aim for that. Nowadays everyone trains on the flat so that sessions will look good and perfect on Strava. As a result courses like the one in Birmingham are seen as mad, I think I know what is mad, and it’s not the course in Birmingham.

10. Twentyfourth

I think that it was nice to finish in the top 25 of the race, I even made the moderately old man M40 podium in second place. Much like the history of Irish athletes in European Championships I was beaten to top spot on the podium by a polish athlete called Marcin by 7 seconds. After the 5k came the real highlight of the Europeans, the Unity 1K where Billy aka Josh Kerr ran with Rhona. He battered everyone apparently, don’t know where he gets it from.

Cursa D’Age 2026

10 Things I Think About The Cursa D’Age 2026

1. # Font

I think that it is great to be back in Font-Romeu (please, please don’t call it Font) for another training holiday. I don’t call it a camp because that would mean that I was a serious runner. I’m here to race, not to train which means that if the race is on in Age while I’m in Font-Romeu I’ll be there.

2. Rouxpaille

I think that when I was getting up a 7am to go to the Rouxpaille for baguettes and croissants I wished that I was in Font Romeu to train and not to race. I don’t like getting up early which is very not French as they’re all up at the dawn like John Meade. Une paille means drinking straw which is an impossible word to pronounce no matter how many time I have to ask for one for Billy’s kombucha or apple juice. I don’t know what Roux means but the Rouxpaille has great baguettes and average croissants.

3. Shopping Bags

I think that the race in Age has the best goody bags of all. For €15 or so you get a huge big bag of shopping and a chip timed number with your name printed on it. There is no race t-shirt which is great as I have probably over 200 at home in a press all of which will shortly be on sale on Vinted.

4. Portaloo

I think that it is great that they finally have portaloos in Age. I had become fairly good at finding spots in the bushes in the surrounding farm land but this year there was no need as there was a lovely clean brand new portaloo with all the requisite supplies right by the start. I waited until 2 minutes before the appointed start time of 9:30 which meant there was no queue.

5. Col de la Llose

I think that the problem with being in Font Romeu the week before a race is that it is too tempting to do all the nice routes. There are very few flat routes in Font Romeu, even the blue easy facile ones have lots and lots of hills. I thought the route 25 at the Col de la Llose would be a nice flat route but unfortunately Michael Herlihy and John Meade went well beyond the designated turning point and we ended up with 1000ft of climbing in 2 miles. All of which came back to me when the race in Age started off up a hill.

6. Meade and the Youngfellas

I think that John Meade was made for this race in Age. Unfortunately both me and John Meade are now moderately old men which means that we can never be confident of winning races ever again due to youngfellas. Unfortunately there were packs of youngfellas in Age and they got quite a gap on both me and John Meade in the first mile. Not to worry I thought, the old man strength will kick in. It did for John but I think I left mine on the Col de la Llose

7. Picking Them Off

I think that despite not being able to stay with John Meade as he chased after the youngfellas I did well to pick off the fellas between me and John Meade. I got two of them on the road before the trail began at 4k. Up ahead I could see that John Meade was about 150m behind the pack of youngfellas at the front. 150m is a lot I thought.

8. Buen Dia

I think that it was great to have someone to race. I ended up battling with a fella who said buen dia to all of the volunteers on the road. He seemed like a nice fella so I couldn’t really generate any desire to beat him so I just ran alongside him as we were going quickly enough not to be overtaken by anyone else.

9. Deadly Rocks

I think that I did very well to drop my buen dia buddy on the deadly rock section. I am normally terrible on the deadly rock section as I have size EU 47.5 feet and the chance of clipping a rock is significantly higher than with a EU 42.5 foot like John Meade. I even managed to make inroads into the next fella up the road. I wasn’t too worried as I reckoned I had done enough to make the moderately old man podium which was my B goal after my A goal of administering a bad beating to John Meade.

10. Chaos and Moderately Old Man Podium

I think that the last kilometre was very eventful. It’s a pretty straightforward route but one of the youngfellas up ahead went off on a trail that wasn’t part of the course. The fella in front of me told the youngfella he was gone wrong and was going to wait for him but the youngfella was gone a long way wrong and looked wrecked anyway so we kept going. I ended up 7th and 2nd in the moderately old man category which was great but not as great as John Meade who overhauled all but two of the pack of youngfellas to finish 3rd overall. John Meade is suspicious fast.

Me, Josh KERR AND rHONA, bILLY RAN A RACE TOO.

Churchtown South 4 Mile 2026

10 Things I Think About The Churchtown South 4 Mile 2026

1. On Holidays

I think that I hope my running and blogging was terribly missed. I hope everyone was wondering what I was up to. The answer is that I had a grade three bone stress response in my right anterior calcaneus. Basically my right foot was a bit sore under the arch and I had to stop running for 6 weeks. Chris Smetana fixed it with the magic shockwave machine and now I am fine again. I did 50 minutes of Zwifting most days while I was not supposed to run which was impressive enough for Chris Mintern to say that I should do Triathlons, although he probably just wants to give me a bad beating.

2. Sun, Sea and Churchtown South

I think that Churchtown South is a great place to go for the first race of the best summer in years. It has been extremely sunny; I am taking the credit for the sun as I got solar panels for the house and ever since they have been installed it has been sunny. The sun makes the Churchtown South race as there is nothing better than the view of the sea at about 2 miles.

3.Hatred y Agua

I think it was great that John Meade showed up as it made me motivated and nervous. The perfect combination of natural performance enhancing substances, nerves and hatred. The modern runner takes nomio shots, beetroot shots, bicarb, carbohydrate gels and lactate gels before races to maximise their performance. All I need is hatred and some water.

4. Revolut is King

I think that I was very bad turning up to a race with no cash. It just doesn’t feel right not putting the cash into the biscuit tin but I was very late and didn’t have time to go to the ATM. I had to jog up and down to the registration twice as the first time I didn’t have my phone as I thought I’d be able to pay with my Garmin watch but it was payment via Revolut so I had to go back down and get the phone. It all worked fine and excellently and I had a warm up and a number completed with 10 minutes to spare.

5. Multi Colour Pumas

I think that it is great how terrified Irish men are of wearing colourful shoes or clothing. It means that it is very easy to get clothes and shoes on discount. I’ve had this pair of multi coloured Puma Fast R3s sitting in box for the last three months. I probably should have worn the Vaporfly 4s as they would have been better on the rough section of the road but I couldn’t resist wearing the Pumas as they work very well with the purple Glanmire A.C singlet.

6. Bluffing

I think that when you haven’t done a lot of training the best thing to do in the first race is to bluff the first mile and pretend that you are as fit as you were before the injury. It is very obvious from watching many races that gaps are rarely closed in races so if you can open a gap in the first mile that is probably it. So when the race went off I ran the first mile as hard as I could, only John Meade came with me.

7. Two Kilometres

I think that I did very well to get to the two kilometre beep on my watch with John Meade. We ran 3:10 pace or 5:10 mile pace for the first two kilometres which was way too fast for me and the minute the course tilted any bit upwards John Meade opened a gap, a gap that with all the hatred in the world I could not close.

8. In Sight

I think that I did well to keep John Meade in sight for the rest of the race. I figured that if I can maintain the gap to him that it was unlikely that anyone would catch me as that would mean  they were catching John Meade which we all know is impossible.

9. Ineffective Training

I think that I will have to reevaluate my training as it seems not to work much if at all. All my training seems to be worth around 40 seconds over four miles which is pretty pitiful and a poor return on investment. While I was injured I asked Claude to analyse my training over the last 16 years on Strava. It concluded that the biggest single factor that resulted in faster times was the use of magic shoes.

10. Moderately Old Man Prize

I think that it was great not to win the moderately old man prize by finishing second overall instead. It means that I have yet to win an over 40 prize. There is something horrifying about seeing the three letters M40 after your name in results although if the M40 is towards the top of the list of results it’s not so bad and sure isn’t it great to be still racing and being beaten by John Meade.

Achill 10K 2026

10 Things I Think About The Achill 10k

1. Anterior Calcaneal Bone Stress

I think that I have been very lucky over the years to get to run the Achill Half Marathon. Unfortunately this year in April I was struck down with a stupidity induced anterior calcaneal bone stress injury. Without an MRI I would have thought it was plantar fasciitis not that it particularly mattered what it was.

2. 6 to 8 weeks

I think that I was lucky that my heel injury only took 6 weeks to heal. It gave me a chance to salvage a race from the trip to Achill. Although having spent the weekend in Achill last year sans race participation it’s not that much of a punishment not to run when you can stay in the nice B&B on the beach and not be exhausted from running around the island.

3. Change Down

I think that it was great to be able to change down to the 10k. I definitely wasn’t ready for a half marathon but after two or three weeks of running without issue I was confident I could do a decent 10k and test out how well Zwift had worked at maintaining my running ability if it can be classified as ability. Changing distance was no problem, I went up to the tent in the field where the numbers were to be collected on the Friday evening, they clicked a few buttons on the Popupraces app and away I went with my 10K number. Very efficient.

4. Vaporfly 4 Curse

I think that when returning from injury it is very important to choose the right shoe. I decided to give the Pumas a rest as I had attributed some of the blame for my stupidity induced injury to them. Instead I chose to wear the Nike Vaporfly 4s which had laid idle for the last year as I had blamed them for my last terrible career threatening injury. In truth it is never the shoe that causes the injury, it’s always the stupidity.

5. Wet Day Big Crowd

I think that it was nice to experience the last wet and cloudy day in Ireland. The morning of the race was a typical west of Ireland scene. Rain, wind and grey, almost dark even at 10am. It was still beautiful even if you couldn’t really see the sea. As always there was a huge crowd, even the 10k was massive. I thought about stats and how unlikely it was that I was the fastest 10k runner in this sample size of runners.

6. Follow the Chinese EV

I think that when you have been injured for a while and are back for your first race it is very important to bluff the first mile. Just run as hard as you can and see if anyone comes after you. Luckily for me in Achill I had a nice Chinese EV to follow and no one came with me. I was amazed so I carried on bluffing and hoped for the best.

7. 325

I think that it was very nice to see 3:25 show up on the watch for the first kilometre. I hadn’t really done any hard running since the injury so wasn’t sure how fast I could run. I managed another similar kilometre before the lack of running started to tell and I could feel myself start to slow. Although I was running uphill in the wind and rain so it was hard to know whether it was lack of fitness or the weather.

8. 1730

I think that I was very happy to see 17:30 on the watch as I passed the 5k mark just before the course links back up with the end of the half marathon. The 10k route is basically the half marathon route cut in half and leaving out most of the long hills. It’s still hilly but it’s nowhere near as hard. The first 5k had been relatively easy as we had basically been blown away from Keel by the incredibly strong wind off the beach.

9. Last 5k of the Half

I think that it was nice to have the half marathon runners to chase for the last 5k. They had stated 45 minutes before the 10k so we were only catching the front of the field. I only passed one runner as the weather was particularly bad and I wasn’t exactly hopping off the road. I never looked behind because you aren’t allowed to do that in a race. I can never tell the difference between the wind blowing my number against my singlet and the sound of someone running behind me so I pretended there was somone right behind me the whole way to the finish.

10. Pop up Pups

I think that it was great to be recognised by Popupraces as a running celebrity/influencer after winning the 10k. I have worked very hard to attain this status and it is nice to be recognised. I was however even happier than my heel survived the 10k and that the Vaporfly 4s had been absolved of any blame for injuries. The 10k is every bit as good as the half marathon in Achill, although hopefully next year I will be injury free and back for the half marathon and if not I’ll be there anyway to stay in the nice Stella Maris B&B.

Mooreabbey Milers Curley 4 Mile 2026

Mooreabbey Milers Curley 4 Mile

1. Children Chasing Conan

I think that it is a little-known fact that Galbally is the ancestoral home of Conan O’Brien. It is also the ancestoral home of me. This ancestoral link was the main reason I had for doing a four mile race a forty five minute drive from Glanmire on a Wednesday evening at 7.30pm. That and I also like races organized by the Mooreabbey Milers.

2. Sabotage

I think that I was very horrified to see Michael Harty parked up getting ready for the race when I arrived. I had said to Rhona on the drive up that anyone could turn up in Galbally but I was thinking more along the lines of John Kinsella or Niall Shanahan, certainly not Michael Harty who lives even further away than me and as far as I know does not have ancestors from Galbally and is not a Conan O’Brien fan.

3. Stop The World and Let Me Off

I think that it was great to have Kevin Moore’s father in the jeep commentating and playing excellent music for the race. The Galbally 10 mile race where I ran with John Meade and Michael McMahon to an excellent soundtrack is still my favourite race of all time by miles. Unfortunately once the National Anthem had been played before the start, no music was played for the rest of the race. Perhaps he thought that Michael Harty would not appreciate his course record being run to the sounds of the remix of Declan Nerney’s classic Stop the World and Let me Off.

4. Dog Impeded Warm Up

I think that it was a very bad idea to bring two dogs to the race. I was already cutting it tight to get to the race so when we arrived at five past seven I thought I would have plenty of time to do a warm up and jog up to the start. Unfortunately the dogs started barking like mad when I went to jog down to collect my number so I had to walk at 13 year old labrador pace to the hall and back. My warm up was the jog up to the start which was plenty as it turned out.

5. A Fitting Tribute

I think that I was even more surprised to see Aidan Connell on the startline than Michael Harty. Aidan had run and won the Stryker 4 mile road race the previous night just over the road from me in Carrigtohill. I had skipped it as I thought it was a bit risky, being only one day after the Brutal Battle of Bartlemy with John Meade. I suppose it was a fitting tribute to Curley who was never shy of back-to-back races or even two races in the same day.

6. Tactically Astute

I think that I probably went off a bit too hard at the start. Michael Harty had the race won within 400m, leaving me with only Aidan Connell for company. I knew that the last thing a fella who has run a race the night before wants is a fast opening mile so I ran the first uphill mile with the wind as hard as I could. It must have been very fast as I could easily have hit Michael Harty with a stone if I wanted to after a mile.

7. I Have a Gap

I think that I thought I had second place sewn up after about 3k. I had a bit of a gap on Aidan and felt like I was moving well in the Pumas. Unfortunately there was a little hill up to the left hand turn back to Galbally at the 2 mile marker and Aidan used this hill to close right back up to me for the primarily downhill run to the finish in Galbally

8. Man of the Rás

I think that cyclists turned runners are a fearsome species. First I had to deal with Barry Twohig, now I have to deal with Waterford’s answer to Barry Twohig, Aidan Connell. They are both viciously strong on any sort of hill, ridiculously strong, nearly impossible to follow. Unfortunately I got to witness this power on the final climb of the race just after 3 miles. I thought I had a good chance with the downhill run to the finish but on the little climb Aidan put in a dig that seemed impossible and opened a gap so large that I’m pretty sure he was going faster than Michael Harty at that point in the race.

9. Asymptotic Curve

I think that most people don’t think of running and times correctly. People think that if you improve from say 21:10 to 20:59 over four miles in a 6 day period that it represents a 0.87% improvement. When in fact because the performance has an asymptote, a limit that you can technically never reach, which in my case is probably about 20 minutes flat, this represents a performance increase of 15.7% which is amazing and excellent and also why that 119 minute marathon is difficult to understand because all humans are limited by their asymptote.

10. Podium, Irish Flag, Statue

I think that the post race setup was excellent. They had a lovely podium with the statue and the Irish flag flying in the background. There was no waiting around which was great when you have to drive back to Glanmire on a school night. I did my warm down with Diarmuid McNamara who I went to college with. It is terrible to think that we are both nearly 40 which doesn’t make any sense as we both look exactly the same as we did in college. Running must be great for the ageing process.

Bartlemy 6K 2026

10 Things I Think About The Bartlemy 6K

1. Bartlemy, Where is That?

I think that no one knows where Bartlemy is. “I’m doing a race in Bartlemy” is always met with the response, “Bartlemy, Where is that”. Turns out its just up the road from Glanmire, slightly to the east of Watergrasshill. It’s a lovely place that reminded me of where I went to school in Anglesboro. We even had to stop to let cows cross the road just before arriving in the village, I haven’t done that in a long time.

2. The King of Bartlemy

I think that most people in the local elite cork club BHAA runner circuit know that John Meade is the King of Bartlemy. He also owns the title of King of Dingle Half Marathon, yes it is possible to be King of more than one place at the same time, it’s just not very common, for example Charles V was King of both Spain and Austria at the same time. I always wanted to be King of a place so I was very motivated by the prospect of potentially beating John Meade in Bartlemy just like Denis Hegarty had done the year before.

3. Back in the Pumas

I think that it was great to be back in the Pumas again. My knees were very good after Ballintotis so I decided that it was safe to return to the knee crushers. I wore the original colourway which just like the old Vaporfly 1 seems to be better than the later colourways. Why do the shoe companies do this? Make a perfect shoe and then change it slightly, it doesn’t make sense.

4. Is Bartlemy in Spain?

I think that Bartlemy could have been mistaken for a small village in the hills above Malaga on Sunday. I love these small races in small villages. Add the bit of sunshine and it was exactly like one of the approximados races in Spain without the approximados bit and an accurately measured 6k course. Collecting the numbers was a very efficient process in the hall with a nice warm up out and back the first mile to where the cows were crossing the road.

5. Ready Steady Go

I think that it was great to see a sea of Glanmire A.C singlets on the startline. Along with all the Glanmire A.C singlets there were a lot of children running in the race which made the first few 100m a little challenging as they start much faster than moderately old men like me and John Meade.

6. Youngfellas in Magic Shoes

I think that it was a little worrying when after a kilometre myself and John Meade still had company. It inevitable that with running becoming cool because of people like Tadhg O’Sullivan, youngfellas will start to dominate these races and myself and John Meade will be forgotten about. Luckily today was not that day and as we got to the bottom of the hill the group reduced to the King and his worst enemy  

7. Quiz Run

I think that it was an excellent idea to look at the route on Strava before the race. I knew that the there was a major climb from 1k to 4k What I didn’t know was that the race also involved a quiz with quiz questions written on the back of each kilometre marker. Surprisingly John Meade didn’t stop and do the quiz, instead he concentrated on trying to drop me on the 3k long climb which he failed to do try as he might.

8. He Breathes

I think that I thought I was in with a great chance as we started the descent from 4k to 5k. John Meade was breathing hard, I have never heard him breath before. It was very promising so I pushed as hard as I could down the hill. I looked at my watch which I rarely do and saw a 3:00 minute kilometre split. This might be enough I thought, I thought wrong.

9. Logotherapy

I think that John Meade’s primary motivation in life is beating me in races. How else could you explain what he did on the climb to the finish a little back further up the hill than where we started? He finished in a time 30 seconds faster than he had previously run on the course before. I was left to trail home three seconds later. Why didn’t I run faster up the hill? I tried as hard as I could, but it is very hard if not impossible to overcome a motivated John Meade.

10. Sparkling Water and a Spread

I think that the organisers must have known that I like nothing more than a bottle of sparkling water after a race. It is the first time in Ireland that I have been handed a bottle of sparkling of water. So good, very popular in Germany. It made up for having to watch John Meade collect his winners prize before I got my second place prize. After a short warm down we returned to the hall where a spread the like of which has not been seen since the Coolagown 10k was on display. Then John Meade was asked to draw the raffle for the signed Cork jersey, he really is the King of Bartlemy.

pHOTO: rhona

Ballintotis 4 Mile 2026

10 Things I Think About The Ballintotis 4 Mile 2026

1. Brigadoon

I think that the Ballintotis 4-mile road race is an incredible event. An amazing logistical achievement. I have often dropped Rhona to a Mary Kelly yoga retreat in the community centre in Ballintotis and wondered how anyone ever thought of holding a road race here on a route that runs along a national main road. It is amazing to return on the actual night and see the race appear from nowhere almost like it was a magical event which it probably is.

2. What Do Ye Be Doing?

I think that the people who turn up for a race that starts at 745pm at 6pm are great. It is because of them that I can rock up at 715pm without issue. But I do wonder what do ye be doing for the nearly two hours? A warmup takes 15 minutes max, putting on the number 5 minutes, putting on magic shoes? Even the pumas can be put on by an old man like me with tight hamstrings and an immobile back in less than 5 minutes, still loads of time left. Instagram, I suppose.

3. Puma Fast R Kneecrushers

I think that the Puma Fast R3s are an amazing shoe, definitely by miles and miles and miles the best 5k, 10k and 10 mile shoe out there. They do however have a slight flaw in that they are crushing my already battered knees. After the 25k on Sunday my knees were not good, so I decided to try out the more forgiving shoe geometry of the Asics Metaspeed Edge Tokyo. The Asics are very different, very very bouncy, perfect for a moderately old man with temporarily sore knees. A few wallsits and I’ll be able to tolerate the Pumas again but I think I will stick to the bouncy bouncy Asics for half marathons and above.

4. Tribal Rivalry

I think that it is great that the Ballintotis 4 mile incorporates the county road championship. You could feel the tension and the hatred between the different clubs on the line, it was wonderful, like being back playing GAA. “Why don’t we like Banogue? I don’t know we just don’t”. I’m with a new club now Glanmire A.C who are like a beautiful labrador puppy that none of the established clubs see as a threat, “ah look at them aren’t they cute in their lovely white and purple adidas singlets”, so I didn’t have to worry about anything which was both terrible and wonderful as I love a good inter club battle and even better a battle to get into the top four of the club team.

5. Youngfellas

I think that it was great to see so many youngfellas on the line. It is ridiculous that I am nearly 40 and I’m one of the younger people towards the front of races. The youngfellas were mainly from Rob Heffernan’s Cork City A.C, they were very good youngfellas the sort of youngfellas that would make nearly 40 year old men like me consider not turning up for races in future. When the race got under way the swarm of youngfellas took off at a ferocious speed led by their leader Sean Doyle, only Jeremiah Sheehan, Mark Walsh Niamh Allen, Michael Bruton and David Carter were able to follow.

6. A Masterpiece of a Road

I think that the road surface in Ballintotis should be preserved and perhaps some day put in a muesum. It would be difficult to make a road like that again. Years and years and years of filling in the potholes, it is a work of art. The perfect test of a good local club runner, can you navigate the filled patchwork of potholes at 5 minute mile pace or faster. You really do have to concentrate. I was a little worried as the Asics aren’t as nimble as the Pumas so I had a few scares.

7. An East Wind Blows No Good

I think that the wind direction was a big problem for me in Ballintotis. After the first ridiculously fast mile I was left in the second group on the road which comprised of essentially the moderately old man section of the race plus Chris Mintern. Being worried about the last mile I took the lead of the group and tried to run as hard as I could to see if I could maybe drop some of the other moderately old men before the inevitable swamping on the home straight by the lake. I obviously wasn’t as strong as I thought because Niall O’Callaghan had to take over at the front and push the pace on, he was followed by Maurice Feehan so at least I had some shelter.

8. How Do You Run Faster?

I think that it is very difficult to explain what a four mile race feels like at the three mile mark. It’s not very pleasant but at the same time it is wonderful. I’d love to be able to get to that point in a race and be able to start running faster but it has always seemed impossible to me. Like how do you run faster if you have no oxygen left, your legs hurt and are moving as fast as they can? It doesn’t make any sense when fellas like Conor McCauley, John Shine and a Cork Track Club athlete start flying past you from every direction like the race has only started. Maybe I need to pace myself better?

9. The Waiting Game

I think that I might try playing the waiting game in a race some time. It doesn’t seem like much fun, I much prefer the feeling of utter misery from the very start, it seems pure and how it should be. Perhaps we could introduce judges into running like in race walking where you get a yellow card, and then a red card if you aren’t visibly suffering enough during the race. I think it would work well introduce a bit of jeopardy into the event. Michael Herlihy would be a good man for the job.  

10. Fifteenth

I think that fifteenth wasn’t a bad result on the night. I was less than two minutes behind Jeremiah Sheehan who somehow managed to beat all of the youngfellas and their leader Sean Doyle. I was fourth in the M35 moderately old man category which meant I didn’t get any medal which was awful and terrible but I’m well used to it so I didn’t mind. I did a good long warm down with Ciaran and Mark Walsh which was supposed to be a mile but ended up being nearly four. By the time I finished it was nearly dark and nearly time for the magical race to disappear again for another year.

Great Railway Run 25K 2026

10 Things I Think About The Great Railway Run 25K 2026

1. Sub 1:30

I think that there is a very important time barrier in 25k running that no one talks about. The sub 1:30 25k. You never hear anyone on about it, there are no Instagram hashtags, nothing. For me however it is very important having run all four of the 25ks that I have finished in under 1:30. It is probably my proudest achievement in running, I should probably get a tattoo of it.

2. No Marathon, No Problem

I think that it is an enormous relief not to be doing the marathon in Cork this year. I was probably the only person doing the race who is not training for the marathon. Not training for the marathon meant that I could arrive on at 8:35, 25 minutes before the start and do 2k of a warmup. No big, long four or five mile warm up to make the race even harder and absolutely no chance of missing the start of the race like Dave Buckley and Andy Goulding.

3. All You Need is Love

I think that there was someone very popular in the lead group that formed on the first lap of the Ryan Creech Tempo loop before we headed out along the Marina. “I love you” was shouted at our group on two occasions. It wasn’t directed at me because Rhona was at home. We discussed it as a group before Barry Twohig said that he loved me and we continued off on our 25k journey to Carrigaline.

4. Second Best Priest

I think that I owe a woman on the Marina an apology. I need to practice my water bottle throwing while running. Just before we turned right at the playground on the Marina, I carefully lobbed a bottle that I had just picked up towards the large bag for collection of the bottles. Unfortunately, I missed the bag and the bottle collided with the foot of a woman who was sitting on a bench behind the bag. She sounded very cross as you would be after being hit with a water bottle while minding your own business on the Marina on a Sunday morning.

5. Tadhg and The Moderately Old Men

I think that it didn’t take Tadhg long to tire of the presence of the three moderately old men that joined him for the first four kilometres of the race. On the small climb off the Marina onto The Line, he put in a small carefully calibrated increase in pace from his usual setpoint of 3:25 a kilometre to 3:23 a kilometre. This increase in pace was enough to jettison myself, Brian Murphy from Kerry and Barry Twohig.

6. Comfortably Uncomfortable

I think that 25k pace is a lot more comfortable than marathon pace. I’m convinced that my body knows what race I’m doing and allows me to run at a pace that it knows won’t do any real damage. Perhaps if I could trick it into thinking a marathon was a 25k then I could finally break 2:30 in the marathon. Anyway from about 4k to 16k nothing happen except that I ran in the quarterback position right in between Brian and Barry. It was very pleasant if slightly uncomfortable at approximately 5:31 minutes per mile or 3:25 minutes per kilometre for the people who are Tadhg’s age.

7. 120g of Carbs per Hour

I think that the number of gels that people had on them for a 25k race was ridiculous. Barry Twohig had so many gels stuck to his bicep that I’m surprised he could still swing his arms; no wonder he got faster as the race went on as there were less gels to carry. I brought one SIS beta fuel gel with me which contains 40g of carbohydrate because all of the youngfellas are putting the amount of carbs that they consume during the run into the description on Strava now, so I didn’t want to be uncool and old.

8. Bye Bye Brian and Barry

I think that I am not designed to take gels. I am probably a low carb athlete or whatever they call it. Because the minute I went to take my gel at 16k I got dropped by Barry and Brian. I think the gels crash my blood sugar. I’ve run marathons fine with no gels like. It didn’t matter too much as I had no intention of trying to run up the hills from Raffeen to Shanbally at Barry Twohig pace, all it meant was that I had to do a few extra kilometres on my own and didn’t get to see who won in the battle for second behind Tadhg who was well gone at exactly 3:23 a kilometre.

9. Puma No Marathon

I think that if I was doing Cork marathon I would not be able to wear the Puma Fast R3. They are a wonderfully fast shoe up to about a half marathon but once you get tired there is no heel to heel strike with so it causes unusual pains. The pains for me came in my knees probably because I was heel striking. The pain only happened if I forgot to run up on my toes so it was kind of good as it kept me on pace to run under the all important 1:30 barrier which I did with two minutes to spare finishing fourth behind Tadhg, Brian and Barry in that order.

10. The Box Down

I think that it was so nice not to feel the pressure to do some mad length of a cool down after the race to make up numbers for Strava and the Cork marathon gods. A long warm down after a 25k race is completely insane when you think about it. It should be called a beat down instead of a cool down. Bash the badness into your legs even more, that’ll definitely make them better. Running is an impact sport, it’s not cycling, swimming or rowing, it’s more like boxing and you wouldn’t take more punches to warm down from being punched in the head, would you?

Cobh 10 Mile 2026

10 Things I Think About The Cobh 10 Mile 2026

1. Social Media

I think that social media has a lot to answer for. It’s causing a lot of problems. Big problems. People don’t want to run races with hills because of social media because you are supposed to run a P.B in every race and be in a state of perpetual improvement and betterment, regression will not be tolerated. Time goes out the window in Cobh, it’s a race, it would probably work better as a random distance, whatever the lap is.

2. Down With This Sort of Thing, Careful Now

I think that there is always something to worry about with races. This was a new one on me. Will I have enough diesel to get to the race? Will the protesters have taken the roads in? Luckily the scirocco sips diesel as slowly as I run up hills so there was no problem. I took the backroad of the backroad from Glanmire to Carrigtohill on the advice of John Meade who rang me as he was on his way to Cobh while I was having my breakfast of brown granary toast with peanut butter and an aeropress coffee which was very nice.

3. The Ascent

I think that my favourite part of the Cobh 10 is the ascent to the start from the town centre by the cool coloredy houses that tourists come to take photos of. I don’t know why that hill isn’t in the race. It would make the race better, probably attract more lunatics like me, the flat track runners are already deterred by the lesser hills in the route. Actually start the race in the town up the hill and make it 18k. Perfect. Imagine the photos, my calves would look excellent.

4. Sted Sarandos

I think that John Meade isn’t to be trusted. You never know what he is up to. There was no sign of him on the entry list, perhaps he entered under a pseudonym Harry Styles style because as soon as I completed the ascent to the start I spotted him looking fresh and rested having lots of photos taken with all his fans. I should just assume he will be in Cobh as it is made for him.

5. Sonia Asked Me

I think that John Meade is a genius mind game player. He loves to play tricks on his opponents. The first thing he said to me was “Sonia has asked me to pace Lily”, “We ran 53:30 last year”. It must have been totally made up as within half a mile John Meade was gone having resigned from the pacing job and appointed me in his place.

6. Me a Lady and a Bike

I think that once John Meade resigned from his pacing duties and disappeared up the road I had a nice stress free race. I didn’t really mind John Meade beating me as much as I normally would as I won the East Cork Road Championship on Thursday so I had enough glory for the week, I wouldn’t want my head to get too big, I could end up minding myself and selecting two races a year to peak in. Miles two to seven were hilly but fine running along with Lily Partridge and the bike assigned to the first lady.

7. Let Me Help

I think that I would have been better off resigning from my unofficial pacing job rather than being fired after seven miles. I thought I was doing an excellent job but on the long straight slightly uphill section into the relentless wind after mile seven Lily didn’t seem to appreciate my help anymore and said “let me help” before opening a gap that I only closed on the downhill before turning left under the railway bridge at mile eight.

8. Mná na hÉireann

I think that it would have been better if John Meade had stuck to his assigned pacemaking role as he could have responded as gaeilge to the shout of Mná na hÉireann as I ran past struggling to hold onto the back of Lily Partridge. Unfortunately my gaelige doesn’t work at 5:30 pace so I couldn’t correct the error.

9. Two Miles Easy

I think that the last two miles would remind you why people like running great P.Bs by me on nice flat courses with no wind. It’s really lovely and effortless to float along on a flat road in magic shoes. I looked at the watch and realised that all hope of a sub 55 clocking had vanished so I ran home at an enjoyable effort only to pass Michael McMahon who was obviously and visibly horrified at my lack of pointless suffering.

10. Aperture

I think that I was very unlucky not to get to go up on the bandstand and meet Sonia. I was first of the people who got no prize, a thing that will probably never happen to me again once I finally turn 40 in May. Shane Myler felt sorry for me so he gave me a hat to compensate which was nice. I also got another cup, the second of the week, the Cobh 10 cups are very good cups having the perfect aperture for sitting an aeropress on top. It’s a great race the Cobh 10 once you free yourself from the tyranny of times or perhaps run under a pseudonym if you must.

East Cork Road Championships 2026

10 Things I Think About The East Cork Road Championships 2026

1. A for Effort

I think that I made a serious effort to run the East Cork Road Championships. I watched for too many years with envy as the mythical fantastical first race of the evening running season was announced with the proviso that it was open only to East Cork affiliated athletes, also known as No Leevale. It had to be done, leave Leevale, setup a new club, get affiliated with East Cork Athletics by going to a meeting, run the race and you’d never know maybe win.

2. Ballynoe

I think that Ballynoe is a special place in running, it is almost as if the roads were built with running races in mind. It’s a great place with cross country courses, road race courses, a community hall and probably more important people who want to put on a road race and not make €40,000 from the race.

3. Photos > Internet

I think that running history is very important, the internet has forgotten all of my great races in my early days. It’s terrible because youngfellas like Tadgh O’Sullivan don’t realise how great me, John Meade and Michael Herlihy are. It was great to see that Denis McCarthy had created a display of all the people who had won the East Cork Road Championship over the years in a physical form that can’t be lost because someone forgets or doesn’t want to pay GoDaddy.

4. Road Cross Country

I think that there should be more cross-country style road races with laps. Laps are great, it’s easier for the organisers, good for spectators and great fun if there is a big huge massive hill every lap with an even longer downhill. I had never actually seen the famed hill in Ballynoe until the warmup, it was a very short warm up as taking inspiration from the cross country the start time was once the women’s race had finished. We got a 10 minute warning which was way more than we get in cross country so I was fine.

5. Shoe Chat

I think that the start line was a very relaxing experience. I have come to realise that I prefer smaller races, the big races are terrible, the stress, the crowds, the queues, the phones, the go pros, it’s become awful. The only technology in Ballynoe was shoe technology which I was having a good chat with Jim Harty about the difference between the Puma Fast R3 and the Asics Metaspeed Edge when suddenly the race started, Jim must not have been paying much attention to me as he was gone before I realised the race had started.

6. Colin Merritt

I think I was very afraid of Colin Merritt, Colin Merritt is a serious operator, and way better than me at running up hills and running in general. Once we got the only section of the course that is not repeated out of the way and passed through Ballynoe for the first time I realised that the race was between me and Colin. I ran down the hill as quick as I could, but when we started the hill for the first time Colin took over, I feared the worst. I sat in behind and hoped that the hill wouldn’t get too hard.

7. 0.7 Miles Downhill

I think that I was very lucky that the lap that is repeated four times in Ballynoe contains a lot more downhill than uphill. I may be terrible at going uphill, but I am magnificent and almost excellent at going downhill. I have also watched a lot of cycling races so I know that the most important thing on a hill is to go hard over the top to start the downhill with momentum so as Colin approached the top of the hill I ran as hard as I could to try and get a gap.

8. 0.4 Miles Uphill

I think that the race must have been entertaining to watch, a yo-yo race where I would gain going down the hill before Colin would gobble up the gap on the hill each lap. I was worried by the length of the gap that Denis McCarthy told me I had each lap. 20m gap with a lap to go, 20m is nothing when you can’t run up a hill and the race finished on the top of the hill and not at the bottom.

9. Where is The Finish?

I think that there is something great about finishing a race on a hill. Most race nowadays don’t even have hills never mind finishing on hills because everyone wants to run a great P.B by me and put it on Instagram and Strava to justify their perfect training. The great thing about hills is that they cause blow ups in races. People rarely blow up on the flat, but anything can happen on a hill. Unfortunately for me I feared greatly that I was going to blow the last time up the hill and that Colin Merritt would dance by. The stress was added to by not knowing where the finish was, to the left or the right at the top of the hill? Luckily Denis McCarthy was on hand to tell me it was right and I just about made it to the line in first.

10. Big Big Trophy and Photo

I think that it has been a long time since I won a big big trophy. Big big trophies are great because they are big and great and people ask you about them. The last time I won one was when I won the Cork County Novice Cross Country, did I ever mention that? I also got a photo with the trophy and an interview with John Cashman which I did in my best Cork accent. Hopefully Denis McCarthy will be able to find space for my photo on the display, it’s nice to be in the physical history books.

Streets of Killarney 5 Mile 2026

10 Things I Think About The Streets of Killarney 5 Mile 2026

1. What Are You Tapering For?

I think that the first inkling I had that I was going to be in trouble in Killarney was on Wednesday when Micheal Herlihy said he was tapering for the race on Friday. Races for Michael Herlihy are chosen only when the time is right, he probably sensed my weakness after Mallow, so the time was probably right to initiate taper mode. It was a worrying sign.

2. Check In

I think that you can accomplish a lot in the forty minutes before a race. I managed to collect a number, check into a hotel, do a 2km warm up and change into fast Pumas in the forty minutes that I had to spare before the race. The hotel right beside the start and finish is the dream combination. Michael Herlihy had arrived before even John Meade would have arrived for the race if he had been racing. An extensive warm up had been completed. I was in trouble.

3. New Shoes All The Time, Train Occasionally

I think that the variety of shoes on display at the start of races these days is very interesting. I do not understand people buying shoes that are shown not to be as economical as others. There is very clear evidence that the three most beneficial shoes from a running economy point of view are the Puma Fast R3, Asics Metaspeed Edge and the Asics Metaspeed Ray. Yet people still buy other shoes, I don’t understand it. Michael Herlihy was wearing the Adidas Pro 4s.

4. The Game is Up

I think that as I approach the date when I turn 40 and become an actual moderately old man I have come to realize that the days of having any chance of winning road races is over. This running boom is terrible. There are too many young fellas running and training properly. I used to be the only lunatic doing 100 miles a week, now all the young fellas do it. It’s terrible, there is no defense, a 40 year old man doing a 80 miles a week cannot compete with a 25 to 30 year old man running 100 miles a week. The old fellas when I started running were a lot cleverer, they used to tell the young fellas to run less and run faster, ingenious really.

5. Ready Steady Go

I think that the Killarney race gets better every year. I seem to run exactly the same time every year yet my finishing position is getting worse and worse. Oisin Murray, Jake O’Regan, Conor Kissane and Juan Pena were in a different race to the rest of us and were out of sight before we even left the gardens. A moderately old man group formed behind with a few random young fellas like Tommy Arthur and Darragh O’Leary thrown in. It was a very big group, too big and very worrying as I felt like I was running as fast as I could even if I was leading the group.

6. Elbows Up and Out

I think that the first two miles were a bit stressful. The moderately old man peloton was a bit too big for the narrow paths that winded around the gardens and park. It was complicated by the presence of the agile youngfellas who were much better at cornering than the stiff old men like me who don’t take corners well. I did my best to ensure I didn’t fall by making plenty of space for myself before every corner. It worked very well as after the first corner most people were afraid of me. Michael Herlihy stayed well back, waiting.

7. Why is Mikey Hiding at the Back

I think that anyone watching the race would have thought that I would have no trouble beating Michael Herlihy after one lap of the town. The peloton had reduced to myself, two other moderately old men (Maurice Feehan and Michael Dullea) and Darragh O’Leary who I always seem to end up running with around the streets of Killarney. Michael Herlihy had been detached, the elastic had broken or so it seemed.

8. Keep Left

I think that the most important two words in this race were “Keep Left”. Before the start of the race the race director had told everyone to stay left on the laps of the town as because of the two laps there would be some traffic to navigate. As anyone who has had the pleasure of sharing a track with Michael Herlihy will know he loves shouting “Track” at people to clear them out of the way when he is powering around the track. So, as we started the second lap of the town, when I heard him behind bellowing “Keep Left” I knew I was in big, big trouble. Sure enough, it wasn’t long until he came powering by, every utterance of “Keep Left” seemed to result in even more power and anger, there was nothing I could do, he was unstoppable.

9. Had He His Hurts Before?

I think there is only one thing that one can do when faced with a powerful Michael Herlihy on top form and that is try and overtake him in the hope that he gets disillusioned by the terribleness of the athlete (i.e. me) that has overtaken him and gives up. There was only a kilometer to go when I overtook him for the last time. Unfortunately, my brave strategy did not work and instead of becoming disillusioned he seemed to become even more motivated and possibly angry too, which was a dangerous combination.

10. Bad, Bad Beating

I think that the last few 100m of the race were great fun. It was pure running, total hatred, hatred built up over years of running and training, wonderful stuff, added to by the chaos of trying to negotiate the lapped runners. On the second last corner the two Michael’s took the outside line even running up onto the footpath to find a clear line. I went with Maurice, nimbly weaving through the traffic like two Italians on mopeds in Milan on a Friday evening. I tried everything I could to close the gap to Michael Herlihy before the finish, but I could do nothing and he danced away probably laughing to himself as he crossed the line victorious in the only race that mattered. A bad beating, but probably a good lesson in running, the lesson being, in running anyone can beat anyone so always respect your fellow runner.

Photo Credits: RHONA

Mallow 10 2026

10 Things I Think About The Mallow 10 2026

1. Excitement

I think that I will have to do something about my lack of enthusiasm for racing. It’s getting very bad, the only thing that makes me nervous or excited is a cross country race. I wish I could be like the youngfellas at the races who are all excited and motivated about P.Bs. Perhaps I will have to start giving the races code names like Operation Epic Fury or something like that, that might work.

2. Hi B

I think that I have the logistics in Mallow down to a fine art. Please don’t move the start from the Castle it is very excellent. I wouldn’t have known the Castle was there only for the race, apparently there used to be a nice Castle in Mitchelstown too before they built Dairygold on top of it. Anyway the best place to park is outside the Hi B leisure centre in the middle of the town because if you ask kindly, they will let you use the bathroom which is great.

3. Kneerly Better

I think that it is very terrible to be getting even more moderately old. There is no solution to it. I have aches and pains everywhere. They move around the place randomly, you fix one thing and another thing pops up. My hamstring was bad for a few weeks now it’s perfect, now it’s my knee, the same leg, probably linked, maybe not. It doesn’t get any worse running on it so it’s probably fine. I wish I was younger; injuries are simpler when you are younger the bit that’s going to get injured just fails suddenly not gradually like now.

4. The Six Foot Club

I think that it is a myth that you must be over 6ft to be in Glanmire A.C. As we walked to the line in a pack someone said, “Do you have to be over 6ft to join that club?”. The height is purely a coincidence, and we probably look taller anyway in the purple and white singlet, it has that effect. It’s not exactly an advantage to be tall for running, we’d all be better off being about 5’6, that’s probably the ideal height for running.

5. Out the Gap

I think that the start of the race was very hard. There were a lot of very good runners which was terrible for my prospects of getting my €42 entry fee back. Paul Moloney, Sean Davin, Tadhg, Evan Fitz and Nate O’Leary were gone within 800m of the start, taking with them all the prize money. There is no moderately old man M35 prize so I essentially had nothing to run for except maybe trying to beat Aidan, Kris and Brian Murphy who are all very likeable fellas and hard to generate any desire to beat. Break 55 minutes, that’ll do I thought.

6. Bad Bad Legs

I think that there are days when you wake up with a bad body, there isn’t much you can do about it, it’s just random, somedays you feel good somedays not so good. The not so good days seem to be occurring more frequently these days. I knew after 400m that it was a bad bad leg day. It took emotional exertion to catch up to the second group on the road containing Aidan, Kris and Brian Murphy an unusual feeling, blocked, I think that’s what they call it in cycling.

7. Industrial Estate

I think that my race ended in the industrial estate. I don’t like running around industrial estates, don’t know why, just don’t like them, remind me of work. When we turned right into the estate to complete the lap, I knew I was about to be dropped. I didn’t fight it, off they went, gradually and annoyingly. Then we left the industrial estate and I felt ok again, I couldn’t hear anyone catching me so I kept going keeping an eye on the watch to make sure it didn’t drop below 5:29 pace allowing 1 second a mile for the GPS being off.

8. It’s 9 O’Clock on a Friday Evening

I think that the support out on the course was great. There were thousands of marshals on the course, they even had a fella out playing music of a questionable quality somewhere near the halfway market. I may have been the only person who had to listen to the dance tune “It’s 9 O’Clock on a Friday evening” on repeat. I suppose it was better than some AI written KPop Demon Hunters nonsense.

9. The Strait of Horseshoes

I think that my favourite part of the course was the most controversial. It nearly made more news and caused more Whatsapp messages than the Strait of Hormuz. The 750m in the grounds of Mallow racecourse was brilliant, a nice change from the road, the gravelly surface helped me to start running properly again as I realized that I was starting to heel strike which isn’t a good idea in the Pumas. I could see Aidan, Kris and Brian Murphy up ahead, so I didn’t feel too bad and the grass was nice to look at, there were no horses galloping alongside which is the only change I would make.

10. Wily Willy

I think that the finish is much better on this new version of the Mallow 10. It is such a relief to turn off the N72, there is nothing worse than a big wide open road to make you feel like you are running slowly. Turning onto a nice narrow cycle path is great as it feels like you are running fast again. The winding finish up to the castle was like something from a cycling race in Italy, it was wonderful, unfortunately Willy Hughes found it more wonderful than me and swept around me with meters to go taking 10th place with him but at the same time dragging both of us under the magical 55 minute barrier which is the whole point of running 10 mile races in the first place.

Crosshaven 10k 2026

10 Things I Think About The Crosshaven 10k

1. Tell No One, Absolutely No One

I think that the key to being an elite local Cork BHAA club runner is to tell no one the races you are going to do. It’s hard to define what a elite local Cork BHAA club runner is, it could be sub 50:30 for 10 miles but it’s probably more a case of when you know you know. I thought I had snuck into the race in Crosshaven completely unnoticed, but I made the huge mistake of telling Cork’s number 1 running influencer and fellow elite local Cork BHAA club runner Tadhg O’Sullivan that it was on, who unfortunately decided that he would like a nice flat 10k along the sea to round out his week of running more kilometers than me.

2. Crosshaven

I think that Crosshaven is a lovely place, it is like a mini-Monte Carlo with all the boats. I’d never gone all the way into Crosshaven as the Greenway finishes before the town. I has mistakenly assumed that the race would be on the greenway which filled me with dread, so I was delighted to see the Gardai closing the road and directing us onto the back road as we approached Crosshaven 30 minutes before the 1130 start time.

3. Drone Number Delivery

I think that having number collection the day before the race is great for extremely late people like me. I didn’t even have to collect the number myself as Gruff collected it and pushed it in the letter box on Saturday evening while I was eating a salad in Sprout in town. Having the number already allowed for a relaxed drive to the race as all I had to do was put on my yellow Pumas and jog down the hill to the start.

4. Courtmacsherry/Crosshaven

I think that it was so great that the race wasn’t on the greenway. The race is basically a carbon copy or clone of the 10k in Courtmacsherry, a full road closure on a nice flat winding road that runs along by the sea, great for big lumbering lumps like me. The only problem is the wind, the wind can be an issue, and it was. Tailwind out, headwind back, the worst version of wind.

5. 3000m

I think that the first 3k were lovely. When we got underway I did my best to keep up with Tadhg who seemed determined to run as fast as he could which is what you do when you aren’t a moderately old man like me who would be happy enough to win at the slowest possible speed. Tadhg’s determination and the strong tailwind meant that the first 3k was covered in 9:24 or so which is faster than my actual 3k P.B on the track.

6. Dropped

I think that it was terrible to get dropped by Tadhg. I was probably too worried about how fast we were going and doing a little too much watch checking. As soon as we passed the 3k mark Tadhg put in another surge, it was a malicious surge, the sort of surge that John Meade specialises in, I wouldn’t be surprised if it had been taught to him, it was malicious enough for me to quickly give up and resign myself to holding onto second place which I am quite good at.

7. If Only

I think that I probably should have thought the race through a bit more before the race. It was in effect a 5k race to the turnaround point. If I had gotten to the turnaround with Tadhg I could probably have sheltered behind him all the way back to Crosshaven where I would likely have outsprinted him like I normally do. Instead, I was left to run home with the terrible sight of Tadhg becoming slightly smaller in the distance and kilometer splits appearing on my Garmin that were about 15 seconds a kilometer slower than on the way out. At least they were consistent splits.

8. The Confluence

I think that the 10k/5k combo was very well done in the race. On the way out the 5k turnabout point was not put out until after we had passed. This was very good attention to detail. There wasn’t too much traffic for the last 2.5k when the two races merged and if anything, passing people in the 5k distracted from the misery of suffering into a headwind after running the first 3k too fast and probably also provided some slight aerodynamic benefit.

9. Donal Coffey

I think that the only problem with having the 5k and 10k finishing at the same time was that it was hard to tell who was running which race. The other problem was that Gruff had run the 5k finishing third and was at the finish line whispering into the ear of the man with the mic that “The Mudslayer” from Glanmire A.C was finishing in second. Thankfully the man with the mic recognized this as AI slop and instead called me Donal Coffey which was fine.

10. Bolack Biscuits

I think that Crosshaven is a great place for a race to finish. It was very pleasant with a nice playground and an excellent chipper. I warmed down with Gruff, Tadhg and Evita before returning for the prize giving where I got a nice envelope containing money. The only complaint came from Billy who was outraged at the lack of bourbon creams, so we had to go to Centra to buy a packet and get Rhona a cup of tea. I think if I was doing a rating system for races it would be in bourbon creams. Crosshaven 10k gets 4.9 bourbon creams out of 5, the 0.1 being deducted for the lack of said biscuits.

PHOTO: rhona

Ballycotton Lighthouse 5 Mile 2026

10 Things I Think About The Ballycotton Lighthouse 5 Mile 2026

1. Memory Lane

I think that it was great to go back and run in Ballycotton 17 years after the first time I ran the 5 mile in Ballycotton. It was interesting to look back at the results from that day. I ran 27:59 finishing 14th in a pair of Nike Air Marathoners, the shoe that Paula Radcliffe broke the world record in. In 4th place was Ryan Creech in 26:46 who has improved a small bit since.

2. The Same but Different

I think that is great how little Ballycotton has changed over 17 years. I seems almost identical with a few more modern buildings and the obligatory coffee horse box. I think the registration and prizegiving was in the same hall as back then as well. The only thing missing from 17 years ago was the Ballycotton Running Promotions, John Walshe and the Sean McGraths and James McCarthys.

3. Parking

I think that the logistical challenges of a race in Ballycotton are significant. One road in and one road out. If it rains like it has every day for the last 60 days, then it is impossible to park in the fields like we used to in August. This wouldn’t be a problem if you weren’t incapable of being on time like me. Arriving at 10am for a 1030 start and having to park at the start of the cliff walk meant a very hurried warm up to collect numbers and get back to the car to install magic shoes.

4. Cashman and Gruff

I think that it is very odd to be on a startline where the other runners assume that you are going to win. Paul Cashman won it last year and was back again this year to attempt the double. The only other top 20 finisher from 2009 to be back was Gruff who had finished only 10 seconds behind Creech in 2009. The race started a few 100m further back than the Ballycotton 5 course outside what used to be a chipper I think. When we got under way I ran as hard as I could for the first kilometer, by which time I realized that no one was coming with me.

5. 2009 vs 2026

I think that running in 2026 is very different to running in 2009. Age has little and a lot to do with it. In 2009 I was 23 and could run very hard for the first two miles, then it would get hard and I would slow dramatically for the last three miles. This wasn’t unusual, no one kept running at the same pace all race because you actually had to do the running with your muscles. In 2026 it’s very different, you bounce along at the same pace for the whole race, no one slows down, blow ups are rare. I would have loved to have run in magic shoes when I was 23 it would have prevented a lot of injuries.

6. Eidetic Memory

I think that it is interesting what the brain remembers about race routes. I only remembered the first two miles of the Ballycotton 5 route. I had a video like memory of those miles then nothing of the rest of the course. This is probably because I was completely starved of oxygen for the last three miles every time I ran it in the past. They are a lovely two miles out to the cross roads near Shanagarry where you turn left. The new version of the race seemed to be as well organised with as many stewards as the old great race.

7. Selective Amnesia

I think that I completely forgot about how hard the last three miles are. It is a very tough course. The hill at three miles is mad. When I was going up it I had a flashback of getting dropped by someone, I think it might have been Donal Coffey, it was like a nightmare. I had no one to race but I was still scared, I feared that John Meade might appear on my shoulder having started at the back like he did before in Age. I’m sure he would have told me the story of the time he won the Ballycotton 5 beating James McCarthy in a sprint, he loves that story as he should.

8. Proper Course

I think that there is no way the Ballycotton 5 mile would be popular with the modern runner. There is no way they would tolerate the hill. “You mean it’s not completely flat and I probably won’t run a P.B? What will I put on Instagram? The lighthouse? The time will be slower, what will I do? It will look like I am getting worse, what about continuous improvement. They won’t know what to comment on Strava.” It wouldn’t work; it’s just as well it isn’t on anymore. It was perfect in its own time.

9. Media Training

I think that it was great to win the new version of the race. The finish line was a little different, finishing outside the school on a little hill. I finished in 27:29, 30 seconds faster than in 2009 which isn’t too bad considering that I’m now a moderately old man. Once I crossed the line I got a nice medal with the lighthouse on it and a bottle of water. Then I was interviewed by the man with the mic, I can’t remember what I said but it must have been good because the people listening to it said that I must have received media training.

10. Nostalgia Overload

I think that it was nice to collect the prize for the race in the hall where the prize giving for the Ballycotton 5 mile series used to take place. My best finish in that series was in 2010 when I came 6th, just behind John Meade and just ahead of Donal Coffey. I can’t remember what the prizes were but I think I got a nice Nike hat and an Army Surplus voucher. This time I got a nice envelope from Midleton Credit Union with some money in it. A great day out, the best compliment I can pay the race was that it reminded me too much of the old Ballycotton 5.