Waterford...Preview of the Touraneena 5 km road race - Mon 1st June 2009

The main event in Munster this weekend is of course the Cork City Marathon & Relay. For anyone not taking part in the Marathon event, there is a 5 km road race in Touraneena in West Waterford later on Monday evening at 7:30pm. This small village is located roughly halfway between Dungarvan and the town of Clonmel.

Directions...
From Cork, take the Youghal bypass and the bridge over the Blackwater. A few miles after that, look for the turn off left for Clashmore (R671). Just stay on this road, accross the main N72 road and carry on towards Clonmel. Look for signs for Touraneena. An alternative route would be to go as far as Dungarvan and take the road for Clonmel.

Additional info from James Veale of West Waterford AC...."There's a 100 meter hill to the finish line as you come back into the village, but it would be considered a flat course. Coming from Cork, going through Clashmore, keep on the road for Clonmel, two miles of the race are on the Clonmel-Dungarvan road and the village Touraneena is off the Clonmel road which will be well signposted."

Info from West Waterford AC......

The 14th Annual Dunford’s Lounge Bar sponsored Touraneena Racquetball club organised 5k race and walk takes place this Bank Holiday Monday June 1st. The race gets under way at 7.30 PM. and is race number 4 in the Ger Wyley/Nike Summer Road Racing Series. All Runners, Joggers and Walkers are welcome to come along and participate in either the walk which gets under way at 6.30 pm and if you’re over 16 the 5k run at 7.30 pm. The walk begins from outside the Community Centre while the run will begins one hour later from the back road at Dunford’s pub. A full array of the usual Senior and Masters prizes will be on offer for both Men and Women on the night, The first three Senior Ladies and Men will be awarded cash prizes.1st Male finishers over 40-45-50-60 and Junior and Ladies over 35-40-45-50 and Junior. Entries will be taken at the Community centre where changing and shower facilities are also available by kind permission; The entry fee is 8 euro for the run and 5 euro for the walk. The presentation of prizes will take place after the race at the community centre where we will be treated to the traditional ice cream and strawberries. (The highlight of the evening for many.)

Waterford...Results of the Portlaw 5 Mile Road Race - Fri 29th May 2009

A crowd of 149 runners turned out for 'Tom Jordan Memorial' 5 mile road race in Portlaw, Waterford on Friday evening, the 29th of May. The full results are now available HERE.

Tipperary...Results of the 'Walls of Fethard' 6km road race - Thurs 28th May 2009

A total of 93 runners turned out for what was the 4th race and final race in the Tipperary Challenge Series. 35 runners completed the full series. The results of the Fethard race are now available HERE.

Tipperary...Results of the Poulmucka 8km road race - Fri 22nd May 2009

A total of 155 runners turned out for this race near Clonmel.

The full results can be found HERE.

Races in Munster this weekend...Fri 22nd -Sun 24th Mat 2009

There are 3 events on in Munster this weekend.

Friday 22nd May...
Tipperary........There is the Poulmucka 8 km road race in near Clonmel and Caher. This starts at 7:30pm.

Sunday 24th...
Cork...There is the Emer Casey 10 km road race in Youghal which starts at 1:30pm. There is an entry form HERE with more info.

Waterford......There is a Mountain race in the Comeragh mountains. On the IMRA website, it's not exactly clear where this is on. Trying ringing the number given HERE.

Clare...There is the Clare Crusaders 5 km Fun Run. This race starts at 11am from Lee's Road in Ennis.

Waterford...Results of the John Treacy 10 Mile Classic - Sun 17th May 2009

A total of 399 runners turned out for the first running of the John Treacy 10 Mile Classic road race in Villerstown, West Waterford on Sunday, the 17th of May. The rain threatened for a while but held off so that it was more or less dry for the duration of the race.

Course.....It turned out to be a tough enough course although not as bad as I thought it might be. The 1st mile was a slow but steady uphill ascent as predicted. The 2nd mile seemed more or less flat so if it was uphill, it wasn't really noticeable. The 3rd mile was more or less a steady downhill so it was pretty fast. After that, it was reasonably flat until we got near the 8 mile mark and a good steady climb. The last mile was more or less downhill with a fast finish. Overall, tough, a good challenge and I'd guess probably not the fastest of 10 mile courses.

Besides the 'undulations', the route was on nice quiet rural country roads with little or no traffic. And what about the 'Dromana Gate' (shown below). What a dramatic feature to pop out of nowhere during a road race.

Comparing it to the other 10 mile races in Munster, it was on a par with any of them and no doubt will become a popular race on the annual fixtures list.

Room for improvement???......some suggestions...

a) Improve the signposting for the race. I heard that a few people had trouble finding Villierstown as there seems to be a lack of signposts out on the main rain road for it. On the way home, I noticed a 'blue' arrow in the village of Clashmore........was this for the race?? Perhaps it might make more sense to direct the race traffic towards Aglish and then from there, have stewards directing cars towards the car parks?

b) Delay the start of the 5k fun run. Most people are there for the 10 mile race, not the fun run. It seems a bit crazy to have slower runners at the start of the 10 mile race making way for the 5 k runners.

c) Get rid of the generators at the start. Way too much noise, especially if someone is trying to make an announcement. It's not exactly in the middle of nowhere....maybe an extension lead into someones house might make more sense?

d) More sandwiches!!........and more West Waterford ' Taaay ' ;o)

Other suggestions??? Why not leave a comment here? Click on the Comment link.

Results.......the results are now available HERE.

Photos........there are a set of 92 photos available HERE.

Kerry...Lions Club 10k Charity Run - Sun 17th May 2009

This charity run takes place in Killarney on Sunday, the 17th of May at 3pm. The route is mostly through the park in Killarney with only short sections on the public road.

An entry form and map can be found at this link although I'd suspect the map may be incorrect? It looks a bit too short for 10km.

I was also sent the map above which I'd reckon is the correct route. The route out is shown in purple and the route back is in green.

The entry fee is 10 euro and proceeds go to two charities.

There are prizes for : Senior Men, Senior Women, Junior Men, Junior Women, Veteran Men (over 40), Veteran Women (over 35).

Races in Munster...Sun 17th May 2009

There are 3 events in Munster on Sunday, the 17th of May.

Cork.......The Rising Sun Straight Mile near Ballinhassig to the south-west of the Cork City. See the Running in Cork blog for more information.

Kerry.....There is a charity 10k in Killarney. More details later in another post.

Waterford.......The main event is of course the John Treacy 10 Mile Classic road race in Villierstown, West Waterford. You can enter on the day and the cost is €20.

This is a brand new road race so many people may be wondering what the route will be like.

The map on the race website shows the route below...

In fairness, looking at the Ordnance Survey map of the area, the route is nowhere as hilly as that map would suggest. When you see brown like that on a map, it would suggest that the route is going over a mountain!

I have put the route on MapMyRun and the profile of the route shown below gives a more accurate picture.

The first mile is slightly uphill and that's probably no bad thing. It allows people to get into the race proper and stop them from starting too fast. Once you reach the crest of the hill around 2 miles, it's downhill then with some pretty flat running for a while.

Once you get to around 6.5 miles, the route begins to climb with the only really serious section just before the 8 mile mark. After that, it's more or less downhill into Villierstown.

Overall, it looks like it's going to be a nice route. There are a few drags but hopefully, nothing too serious.

For more information, have a look at the Race Website.

Weather Forecast.......it's looks as if there will be a low pressure system over the country on Sunday. Met Eireann predict....."Sunday will bring further outbreaks of rain, with some locally heavy or thundery downpours. Fresh to strong southeast winds will veer southwest and moderate. "

In other words, it might be dry or we might get soaked! As long as it's not persistent, it should be fine.

Tipperary...Results of the 'Bulmers' 10 km road race - Sun 10th May 2009

This race in Clonmel attracted a crowd of 331 of which 80 or so were walkers.

The full results are available HERE.

Waterford...Results of the Waterford to Tramore 7.5 Mile road race - Sat 9th May 2009

An impressive field of 354 runners turned out for the 'Paddy Flanagan Memorial' Waterford to Tramore 7.5 mile road race on Saturday, the 9th of May. Looking through the results, it was obvious that a big turnout by the 2 main clubs in Waterford helped to swell the numbers.

It's worth having a quick look at the numbers for previous years to show how good this year was.

2006...221

2007...235...an increase of 6%

2008...257...an increase of 9%

2009...354...an increase of 38% !!

Why such a big increase in 2009???

The full results are now available on the West Waterford AC website.

*************************

Race Report from Donal O'Donoughue...

The 40th annual "Paddy Flanagan" Waterford to Tramore road race took place on Saturday evening, the 9th of May.
This was also Race #3 in the Ger Wyley Sports Summer Series.
It's one of those point-to-point races, rather than a circuit, so people had to make their own arrangement for the return leg. The original plan was to drive to Tramore, tog-out, and get the Bus to Waterford. At the last minute, I decided, as I hadn't done this race before, better not to leave anything to chance, and go direct to Waterford, and worry about the return trip later ;-)
Registration was upstairs in the Dunmore Room, Tower Hotel in Waterford. A filled-in entry form was required. There were separate desks for pre-registered, and those registering on the day. Entry EUR 10 for adults, and 5 for juniors.
This was a Chip timing race. However in this case, the CHIP was a DAG-System large plastic sheet with wire loop & chip stapled to the rear of the bib.
The weather was pretty much ideal on the day, being bright, lukewarm, dry, with only the slightest of breeze near the start.
The start was supposed to be outside the Waterford City Hall, where people duly assembled. However some confusion arose, and people were asked to move off the road, to let traffic pass. A Garda jeep moved in front, and the pack began to move forward slowly. Things then became a little uncertain, and people kept asking "Has the race started?” The Waterford AC car with loudspeakers mounted on the roof then came alongside, and announced "Sorry about this folks, this wasn't in the script!"

So we felt a little reassured, however we appeared to continue to advance at a quick walking space for several hundreds metres, until we can gone past Deevy's Motor & Marine Accessories, in Parnell St. Again like Butlerstown 10k, I didn't hear a start gun, people just started running.i.e. If I had a personal stopwatch, I had no hope of Timing myself. However people seemed to take all this in good humour.

The course can be seen at http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/ireland/waterford/769123859287282653.

Thankfully, there were no steep hills involved.
The route was fully supervised at all junctions, by Gardai and Club traffic marshals. Runners were instructed to keep to run on the left side at all times. In any case, there were no sharp bends to the right, where one could have gained any significant advantage by crossing the road.
There was minor drama about 1 mile out, for the 7min/mile runners, where an Ambulance had to cross the runner’s path, and go the wrong way around a roundabout.
After about perhaps 2 miles, the road widened, and there was a decent hard-shoulder, where traffic could pass in both directions.
There were mile markers at each mile.
At about 4 miles, there was a water station outside Steinberg Fireplaces.
What had started out as a quiet road seems to get busier as we approached Tramore. I presumed this was friends and family of those running, going to Tramore to collect their running friends.
The race ended just outside the Bus Eireann depot. At the finish line, runners had to run through a wire frame, which recorded the Chip times, and gave a reassuring "beep" as you passed through.

Note: This frame would probably allow one person to pass through at a time, which was quite reasonable for the numbers, and the distance involved.
There was a water bottle for all at end, and people were asked to place their bibs/chips inside a box.If the chips were valuable, it may have been better if they organized somebody to actually remove these from people, before leaving the finish line, as people may simply have not seen the sign & box. If you didn't hand it in, please do so at the next race.
It was still quite bright, but getting cool at the finish. Afterwards, there were showers, refreshments and prize-giving at Tramore GAA, which one would have passed at final roundabout, perhaps a mile before the finish line. There were teas, coffees, sandwiches, various large and small cookies.

Now, getting home ??? I had printed the Bus Eireann route 630 timetable, before leaving home. I left the GAA club, with 2 others. It was late, getting cold, very dark and we were in an unfamiliar town. However we spotted, and managed to flag-down the bus, just in the nick of time, and were back in Waterford in no time at all. Those reflective Ron Hill gloves and running bib have a use after all ;-)

The mens winner was Sandis Bralitis, West Waterford AC 38.45

The ladies winner was Pauline Lambe, Tullamore AC 44.08, setting a new course record!

Results are online at :-

http://www.westwaterfordathletics.org/WaterfordtoTramore2009.pdf http://www.waterfordac.com/pages/Results0809/waterford_to_tramore_race_2009.htm

(As John Dunphy has pointed out, many of the Club's names have been omitted, which is disappointing, especially as an entry form was required, and the race is part of a series)

A good write-up is also available at :-

http://www.westwaterfordathletics.org/content/view/336/19/

This was a good race, and I highly recommend it, but do keep in mind the logistics of getting home afterwards.

The next race in the Ger Wyley Sports Summer Series is the Touraneena 5K, which will be held in three weeks time, on the Bank Holiday Monday, June 1st at 19:30.

Note: Unfortunately, this clashes somewhat with the Cork City Marathon, but if one is only involved in a relay section, one could do both!.......Donal O'Donoghue

Races in Munster this weekend...Sat 9th-10th May 2009

There no less than 3 races on offer in Munster this weekend, 2 road races and 1 mountain race.

Saturday 9th May....
Waterford...There is the 7.5 mile Waterford to Tramore road race starting at 7:30pm. Note that this is a point to point race so you may need to organise your own transport back to the start?
Registration from 6.00pm in Dunmore Room, Tower Hotel. Entries are €10 and they are using Chip Timing.

Note from the organisers......

"Its the 40th Annual Waterford to Tramore 7.5Mile road race and the 3rd race in the Ger Wyley / Nike summer series (details of which can be found on the West Waterford AC website)Entries for the race are taken at the Dunmore Room, Tower Hotel (access from the quay side entrance), and the race itself starts then around the corner outside the City Hall on the Mall, Waterford.
There will be shower and changing facilities along with refreshments and presentations afterwards at the Tramore GAA Clubhouse. It must be noted that this is an A to B course so lifts maybe required to collect your car afterwards if you park up in Waterford.
This race will be chip timed and results will be up on both waterfordac.com and westwaterfordathletics.org websites latest Sunday.
Brea Cooke, Waterford AC"

There is a race flyer HERE.

Sunday 10th May...
Tipperary...There is the Bulmers 10km road race in Clonmel starting at 2pm. A flyer for this race is available HERE.

Limerick.....For you want to try something different, the Irish Mountain Running Association are holding a hill race in Doon in the East of the county at 1pm. More details HERE.

Clare...Results of the Tulla 10k race - Sat 3rd May 2009

Tulla Soccer Club 10k Road Race at Cragg, Tulla Co Clare 03-05-2009.
Results:
1 Kenneth Rodgers St Cronans 33 : 48
2 Cathal Kelly St Finbarrs 35 : 25
3 Keith White St Johns 36 : 19
4 Pat Hogan Ennis Track O/40 36 : 24
5 David Mullins Tuam O/40 36 : 25
6 Christopher Kuluvic Austria 37 : 21
7 Domhnaill Rodgers St Cronans 38 : 45
8 Alan Hehir Tulla 39 : 06
9 Tom Mackey Kilmurry Ibk./Nth Clare O/50 39 : 22
10 Brian Spring Marian 39 : 48
11 Tracy Guilfoyle Kilnaboy Lady 40 : 31
12 Kevin Burns Cloughjordan O/40 40 : 44
13 Ciaran Mc Mathuna Newmarket On Fergus 41 : 39
14 Michael Kelly St Marys O/40 42 : 36
15 Dermot Moran St Marys O/50 44 : 32
16 Loretta Duggan St Marys Lady 44 : 52
17 Richard Lenihan West Limerick O/55 46 : 36
18 Sender Kacseryalc Ind. O/50 46 : 58
19 Aoifa Nash Ennis Track Lady 46 :59
20 Martin Grealish Ennis Track 47 : 00
21 Ann Reidy Walsh Tulla O/40 47 : 02
22 Mark Maloney Limerick O/45 47 : 39
23 Sean Ryan Ennis Track 47 : 57
24 Louise Clune Ennis Meet & Train Lady 48 : 01
25 Kieran Liddane Olympic Harriers 48 ; 11
26 Christine Organ Kilmurry Ibk./Nth Clare O/45 48 : 12
27 Carmel Mc Domhnaill West Limerick O/50 48 : 13
28 Ciaran Barry Tulla O/40 48 : 20
29 Robbie Downes Ind 48 : 30
30 Caroline Griffin Ennis Track Lady 48 : 42
31 Dave Henchy Newmarket On Fergus 49 : 28
32 Michelle Casey St Marys Lady 49 : 31
33 Emer Connolly Ennis Meet & Train Lady 49 : 40
34 Linda Daly Whitegate O/45 49 : 46
35 Michael O Dwyer Ballinchinch O/40 49 : 57
36 Gerard Garry Ballynacally O/45 50 : 29
37 Marco Cavalleri Tulla O/40 50 : 30
38 Alan Kenny Gort 50 : 40
39 Olive Liddane Olympic Harriers Lady 51 : 31
40 Noreen Mackey Kilmurry Ibk./Nth Clare Lady 51 : 46
41 Siobhan Landy Ennis Lady 51 : 49
42 Olive Harte Ennis Meet & Train O/40 52 : 41
43 Edel Murphy Ennis Track Lady 55 : 05
44 Marian Molloy Tulla O/40 56 : 56
(...with thanks to Verena Tarpey of West Limerick AC for the above results)

Closing date for cheap entries for the John Treacy 10 Mile Classic

This brand new race in Villierstown, West Waterford is coming up on Sunday, the 17th of May. Considering that it is within easy reach of Cork City, Waterford City and South Tipp, it should attract a big crowd.

The closing date for cheap entries (€15) is Friday, the 8th of May. You can enter online or you can fill out and return the entry form attached to the race flyer. I have put a scan of this form HERE.

You can also enter on the day and the cost then is €20. A t-shirt is included in the entry fee.

Tipperary...Results of the 'John Joe Barry' 5 km road race - Fri 1st May 2009

This race took place on a fine evening in South-East Tipperary on Friday, the 1st of May. the following race report was provided by Donal O'Donoughue......

The "John Joe Barry 5k" was held in The Commons, a village in the Slieveardagh area of Co. Tipperary. http://www.ballingarry.net/pages/Area-Map.html
108 runners turned out - 4 more than last year. This was an excellent evening - quite a contrast to the damp conditions experienced at the 'Pfizers 6' in Ringaskiddy in Cork on Wednesday.
Registration and the start line were at the cross roads in the village.
Runners set off downhill, past the Primary School, and the GAA grounds, heading south in the direction of Ballingarry. The road rises and falls in several places, but is reasonably straight ahead. At 2.5km from the start, one loops around a traffic cone, and head back along the same route.This is interesting like the recent Redbarn "Stride by the Tide", where the slower runners get to see the race leaders charge back to the finish. The immediate approach to the U-turn was uphill, and the returning runners were going downhill, and appearing to go very fast indeed. The first two appeared exceptionally fast.
The finish line was at the crossroads. As stated earlier, the start was downhill, so the finish just had to be uphill :-( .........and it looked far steeper on the return journey! The evening was still quite bright as the runners came home.
There was a Traffic Marshall at each of the few road junctions.Whilst the roads may not have been officially closed, it was a quiet setting, at a quiet time of day, with no traffic worries. Each km mark was marked with an orange sign. Basically 1k and 4k, and subsequently 2k and 3k were at the same point.
A classroom was made available in the local Primary School, where Refreshments were provided, thanks to the local community. There were many prize categories, followed by several spot prizes.
The first man home was Sandis Bralitis of West Waterford AC (winner in Butlerstown 10k the previous Friday)The first lady was Siobhain O'Doherty, Borrisokane (winner in the recent "Marine Climb 6", Dungarvan)
Results Summary :-
Men

1 Sandis Bralitis, West Waterford 15.27

2 Shane Mullaney, Thurles Crokes 15.42

3 Rory McDonnell, Dunboyne 15.56

4 Kenny Curran, Ballynonty 16.41

8 Pakie Heffernan, Fethard 17.14 1st O/45

9 Brendan Delaney, Coolquill 17.17 1st O/40

12 Niall O'Ceallaigh, Clonmel 17.42 2nd O/40

13 Joe Gough, West Waterford 17.47 1st O/55

19 Matt Alexander, Coolquill 18.31 2nd O/55

22 Joe Whelan, Clonmel 18.47 2nd O/45

26 John Moore, Dundrum 18.55 1st O/50

35 Liam Marshall, Dundrum 19.42 1st Junior

36 Ned O'Brien, Clonmel 19.44 2nd O/50

62 Michael Dundon, Thurles Crokes 21.34 1st O/60

67 Willie O'Gorman, St Catherines 22.12 2nd O/60

Women

10 Siobhan O'Doherty, Borrisokane 17.22 1st

14 Madeline Dorney, Thurles Crokes 17.52 2nd

21 Angela McCann, Clonmel 18.39 3rd

31 Aine Roche, Clonmel 19.07 4th

39 Diane Behan, West Waterford 19.55 1st O/35

41 Denise Compton, Dundrum 20.00 1st O/40

52 Nora Kennedy, Thurles Crokes 20.49 2nd O/40

66 Brigid Coffey, West Waterford 22.00 2nd O/35

73 Ann Power, Carrick on Suir 22.38 1st O/45

84 Margaret Power, Carrick on Suir 23.16 1st O/50

92 Marion Hughes, Thurles Crokes 24.05 2nd O/50

The full results are online at :- http://www.tipperaryathletics.com/results/results.htm

I ran with a Garmin watch, and I've created a MapMyRun entry. http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/ie/thecommons/623124122790516125
Whilst this race was a long way from home, it was still an excellent event.

This was Race #1 of 4 in the Tipp Challenge taking place in May this year.The next is the Bulmers 10km Road Race, Sun 10th @14:00 in Clonmel. (See link under "Flyers" on right hand side)

Donal O'Donoghue, Little Island, Cork

Races in Munster this weekend - Sun 3rd to Mon 4th May 2009

Besides the 5km race in Tipp on Friday the 1st of May (details in an earlier post), there are 5 races on over this Bank holiday weekend.

Sunday 3rd May 2009......

a) Cork.......there is the Bay Run half-marathon in west Cork. The route is from Glengarriff to Bantry. Pre-entry only.

b) Kerry.........there is a 5 mile fun run in Tralee organised by the Irish Heart Foundation. This run starts at 3:30pm from Brandon car park . The entry fee is €20. More details HERE.

c) Clare.......there is a 10km fun run in Tulla, east Clare starting at 2pm. Tulla is about 16 kms north of Sixmilebridge and 18 kms east of Ennis. Details below...

Monday 4th May 2009.....

a) Clare.......just a day after the Tulla run is the East Clare 12km fun run. This race starts at 12 noon and the entry fee is €10. Kilkishen is approx 9km north of Sixmilebridge.

b) Kilkenny........I know, not exactly Munster but it's close!! Details as follows.....The annual Carers Association Kilkenny Mini Marathon takes place over a 10km route on Monday the 4th of May. The race commences at Days Hotel Kilkenny at 3pm. Participants have the option to raise money for The Carers Association or for a charity of their choice.
Registration Fee is €12. A registration form can be found at http://www.carersireland.com/documents/MarathonA5Back09.pdf

Overall results of the John Buckley Sports / Munster Ten-Mile Spring Classics Series

The overall results for the John Buckley Sports / Munster Ten-Mile Spring Classics Series are now available. In 2007 and 2008, a total of 94 runners completed the series each year. The figure for 2009 is 115, an increase of just 21 which is perhaps a little suprising. Considering that 245 runners had completed the first 3 races in the series, less than half made the trip to County Clare for the last race in Kilnaboy in April. No doubt there are several factors responsible for people not doing the last race........

a) It was Easter Sunday and a lot of people with kids and young families may not be able to get away for a full day?

b) The long drive from Cork and Waterford to Kilnaboy?

c) Some people may have opted to watch the big rugby match in Limerick with Munster playing?

Perhaps a figure of 115 is not so suprising as it takes a fair bit of effort to travel to all 4 races.

While the Series runners no doubt helped to swell the numbers for the Kilnaboy race, it does howver suggest that this race has now become more popular in it's own right.

Results.............The overall results for the 2009 series can be seen HERE.

Tipperary...John Joe Barry 5 km Road Race - Fri 1st May 2009

There are no less than 6 running events this weekend in Munster with most of them on Sunday and Monday. On Friday evening, there is the John Joe Barry 5 km road race in The Commons, se Tipperary. The race starts at 8pm and is the first race of 4 in the Tipp Challenge series which runs for the month of May. Anyone completing all 4 races get a special series T-shirt.