Streets of Killarney 5 Mile 2024
/10 Things I Think About The Streets of Killarney 5 Mile
1. Running Weekends
I think that Killarney has the best Eason’s in the country, I haven’t seen an Eason’s like it in years, they even have newspapers and magazines. It’s great. They had one very interesting magazine called Football Weekends about trips to football matches around the world. Perhaps Irish Runner could relaunch as a magazine about doing races in tourist friendly locations with 100s of hotels like Killarney. I’m sure Discover Ireland could find some money to fund it, it could be a whole new industry.
2. Pre Race Hotel
I think that it is a bad sign when you turn up to a race hoping that no one else will show up. My hopes were dashed withing two minutes of arriving at the car park. First I saw Tommy Arthur, then Oisin Spillane, all hopes of victory were gone but there were prizes for the top three so there was still hope of some money to pay for the hotel. I had to book a hotel as I think it is against the law to go to Killarney without staying in one of the hotels.
3. Cold Cold Night
I think that Discover Ireland will have to do something about the weather on Good Friday in Killarney. It was unacceptably cold on the start line. While the scenery was stunning with snow-capped mountains enveloped in big black clouds which were dumping buckets of rain into the lake it was quite unpleasant to stand around in. If we could have the scenery without the cold it would be perfect, just a suggestion.
4. UL Lions
I think that it was bad enough for Oisin Spillane to turn up to the race but for him to bring another UL Lion in Darragh O’Leary with him was terrible. It doesn’t matter that they are from Kerry and I am not, I had entered the race in expectation of winning and it is very disappointing when you already know you aren’t going to win before you start. Then to make it worse Gavin Sweeney jogged up to the shivering start line cementing my position just outside the prizes.
5. House Party
I think that the setting for the race start must be one of the best in the world. It has a big big house in the background with lovely gardens framing the lakes and the mountains. When we got underway at precisely 6.30pm we took off on a lap of the house which was like the Parkrun route but in reverse. Oisin and Gavin took to the front quickly and by the time we looped back to the big big house they had opened a gap that would only grow larger.
6. A Million Marshals
I think that the marshalling of the race was particularly excellent, there must have been a million marshals on the route making sure we went the right way. They even brought Trevor Cummins down from Cobh to help out. They were very important in the park as I hadn’t a clue where we were going. We navigated the first two miles in the park well before starting on the more straightforward laps of the town by going out the gate by the gate keepers lodge.
7. Downtown
I think that races around towns are my favorite types of race, they are even better when it is just getting dark. For the last three miles we did laps of the town on a one mile or so loop. The roads were fully closed with no cars and plenty of people lining the streets to watch moderately good old men runners like me. There was a great atmosphere and it definitely helped to keep the motivating going even if the locals were shouting primarily for their own runners.
8. Groupetto
I think that the best racing on the night came from the gruppetto that formed around me. The groupetto was battling for third place. I never really got into third place as Darragh O’Leary with his local knowledge led us around the streets of Killarney. I did my best to hang onto him and waited as more and more people gradually fell off the groupetto train until on the last lap I could only hear one set of footsteps and shouts of go on Conor from the crowd. I didn’t know who Conor was so I didn’t know whether to be worried or not.
9. Mach 5
I think that when you are in a sprint with someone it is very important to check what shoes the other person is wearing. On the last lap the elastic connecting me to Darragh finally snapped and I was left with just Conor in 4th place. As we rounded into the finishing straight in the car park Conor went ahead, I normally expect to loose sprint finishes so I began to give up immediately once challenged. Then I looked down and saw that he was wearing the Hoka Mach 5, a non magic shoe, this triggered a notion in my head that I might actually be able to win the sprint so I tried really hard and started to get back up to him passing him just on the line for the all-important 4th position and first person without a prize or so I thought.
10. Anatomie d’une finishing chute
I think that there will have to be a court case about the results of the race. I was full sure that I had finished in my usual position of 4th due to a combination of my excellent sprint and magic shoe advantage but when I checked the myrunresults website a few minutes after the race I was both shocked and horrified to see that I was 5th not 4th in exactly the same time as Conor and the Mach 5s. Thankfully I have both photographic and video evidence to back up my case. If it were not for this terrible error the race would have been perfect, instead I was second man without a prize which just isn’t right.
