The 10 mile race in Kilnaboy has a long history and for the best part of 15 years, the numbers were down around the 100 mark. Around 2005 to 2010, it was part of the Munster Ten-Mile Spring Classics Series and with some advertising, it reached a peak in 2009. After the demise of the series, the numbers fell away and truth be told, the race wasn't really advertised so the numbers dropped back down towards the 100 mark.
With the introduction of the new Run Clare Series in 2015, the race and the series was heavily promoted on Facebook and you can see the new record peak above.
These are the top 5 men and women...
1 Julio Cesar Castro Kilmurry Ibrickane AC M 54:46
2 JAMES LIDDANE BMOH M 55:22
3 JAMES MC INTYRE BMOH M40 55:41
4 Willie Devitt Kilmurry Ibrickane AC M 58:18
5 Kenneth O'Regan Clonakilty Road Runners AC M 58:50
25 Becky COUGHLAN Ennis Track F 1:05:47
33 SIOBHAN LENNON Ennis Track F45 1:08:18
42 MARY CAHILL Ennis Track F35 1:10:11
44 Fiona Kinsella Kilmurry Ibrickane AC F45 1:10:24
47 Orla Cronin Raheny Shamrocks F35 1:10:48
The full results can be seen HERE
Photos....
1) Ennis Injury Clinic have a gallery HERE
2) There are 62 photos from James Sexton HERE
Video...
Looking through the results, some of the times seemed pretty slow. For example, the Great Island 10 mile in Cobh was also held on the same day. That race attracted an almost identical number of runners...528...and 74 broke 1h 10m. The Kilnaboy race had a field of 527 and had only 40 faster than 1h 10m. The course for the race in Cobh is certainly not any easier or faster than the Kilnaboy course.
I then checked out the paces in the 2015 Kilnaboy race and compared it to the previous peak in 2009. In 2009, very few runners ran slower than 1h 40m which is 10 minute/mile pace. The 2015 race by contrast had about 220 over 1h 40m...i.e. about 42% of the field.
Gender Breakdown.......In 2009, about 30% of the field were women. Things have changed in the last few years with more and more women running so it's pretty common now in most 10 mile races liek Dungarvan, Mallow and Ballycotton to have about 40% of the field made up of women.
In the 2015 Kilnaboy race, a whopping 63% of the field were women. As women are generally slower than men the times above are reflected in this. The question remains......where were all the men?
The 2009 race had 256 men while the 2015 race had 188.
Looking at the Running in Munster Facebook page, 58% of the followers are women. That is pretty typical for Facebook as more women are using it than men. Maybe it's because the Run Clare series was promoted on Facebook, it has resulted in a lot more women than men entering?
I'm not sure if it happened in 2009 but this year the Kilnaboy 10mile coincided with the Connemarathon and was on the day after the SPAR great Irish run. If anyone running Kilnaboy yesterday did the run in Dublin on Saturday, they would have ran a slower time. Many of the Galway athletic club runners were in Connemara yesterday so a great turn out in Kilnaboy considering it had stiff competition all weekend.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure Kilnaboy clashes with the Connemara event every year.
ReplyDeleteVery few runners from Munster traveled to Dublin for the Great Ireland Run.
John
ReplyDeleteThe Run Clare Seris has been a great success. It has got the run for fun type of groups (mainly women) to participate in a race such as Kilnaboy 10 that they would normally not do. Most clubs struggle to get these runners as they view these club races as not for them because they are not fast enough. Clearly this will bring down the standard of times but generates much needed revenue for clubs.
Ger, I'm not saying there is anything good or bad about the slow times, it's just a fact. I'm just making an observation about it.
ReplyDeleteIt's just different from the other 10 mile races in Munster and the way it used to be a few years ago.