Great Railway Run 25K 2025

10 Things I Think About the Great Railway Run 25K 2025

1. In Brussels

I think that if it wasn’t for the terrible nearly running career ending calf tear and stress reaction in my left fibula back in February, I’d probably have been running the European Road Running championships in Brussels. It was very unfortunate as using the Michael Herlihy method of calculating where you would have finished in races you didn’t run I would have helped the Irish team to a bronze medal. It is comforting to at least know that for sure. The Railway Run was a good substitute.

2. Lateness

I think that races that send out the numbers in the post are great. It allows for chronic ridiculous lateness. Parking at 9:20 for a 9:30 start is fine, absolutely no problem, 5 minutes to put on magic shoes and 5 minute warm up to the start. I probably should have done 5 miles before hand to make it 20 miles for the day to get ready for Cork like most other people seemed to be doing.

3. Evan and Paul

I think that it was terrible to see both Evan Fitzgerald and Paul Moloney on the start line. I was pretty sure that the rampant marathon mania combined with Easter holidays and the Brussels event had taken care of all my known competition like John Meade and Barry Twohig from last year. I suppose a €500 first prize is always likely to draw out the big guns.

4. Kilometer of Hope

I think that it would have been great if I had been fit enough to run with Paul Moloney, even until the hill in Shanbally would have been grand. Evan made it clear from the start that he was going to win by being out of sight after only 500m, I ran the first kilometer full of hope with Paul until we ran back through the start where it became obvious that 5:30 pace was not possible to maintain so I let him go and resigned myself to a best possible finish of third.

5. I Go Solo

I think that it was much better last year when I had company for the whole 25k. This year I was left solo from kilometer one until kilometer twenty five, twenty four kilometers of solo running. I am not good at running on my own. I am not particularly motivated by time so I just get slower and slower as time goes on. My mind starts wandering and thinking about other stuff when I’m running on my own. I tried to focus on keeping the kilometer splits at 3:35, not for any particular reason other than that’s the first split I saw on the watch when I started looking at it once we got onto the line. This worked for about 5k then I lost interest and started looking across the water to Cobh.

6. Session Obsession

I think that the Railway Run is a great run to do as preparation for Cork Marathon. Even if I was solo there were plenty of water stops and the act of pining on a number provides a little bit more motivation than doing a session on the same route. It’s kind of odd really how because of Strava if I did this run as a session and ran the same pace as I did in the race I would expect to be hailed as the second coming of Christ but instead because it’s a race and I came third it’s only ok. Sessions are greater than races for some reason these days. I blame YouTube and Instagram.

7. Julius 300

I think that Julius in Monkstown provided key information that halted the exponential pace decline that was occurring. I asked him was there anyone behind expecting the answer to be “no you’re fine”, instead I got “300m”. 300m is very close so I started concentrating again, then I got a flashback of last year when the dynamic duo of Barry Twohig and John Meade flew by on the run to Raffeen which was very scary.

8. Shanbally Shakeup

I think that the U-turn around the traffic island in Shanbally provides the perfect opportunity for seeing who is behind you. The 300m that Julius had calculated had become about 100m by the time we reached Shanbally with Nathan and Ruairi closing the gap on the very steep raffeen hill where a barking dog provided more information on the proximity of my pursuers. As we began the climb out of Shanbally I remembered last year when I caught Danny Mullins with a kilometer to go to take third. Maybe it’s my turn to get caught with a kilometer to go I feared.

9. Fear

I think that there is no better motivator for running than fear. It is far better than clock watching, a bit of fear of being caught is wonderful, if you had both fear and hatred you’d be flying it all together. The fear of being caught made the last four miles fun. Luckily the fear provided enough motivation to get to the finish in Carrigaline in third again just like last year which meant prize money which is one of the reasons I like running races so much, no one gives you money for a good session, just kudos on Strava and emoji comments which are not money.

10. Race to the 220

I think I had the logistics of the race well worked out, once I crossed the line I met Paul, we had a photo then I ran over to the 220 bus stop where amazingly there was a bus waiting. I hopped on the bus, talked about golf to an 85-year-old lady and horrified everyone else on the bus with my short shorts, got off at St Finbarr’s hospital to have a short warm down back to the car. Drove to Glanmire to collect Billy from babysitting before back to Carrigaline to collect Rhona and my third place prize. I was almost as proud of the logistics as I was of the race.

Cork BHAA PWC 5K 2025

10 Things I Think About The PWC BHAA 5K 2025

1. Climate Change

I think that the new climate is great, it rains in Spain and it is beautiful and dry if a little windy in Cork. It makes running so easy and nice. To make it even better the clocks have returned to normal and the evening BHAA races are back.

2. Beautiful Clean Shoes

I think it is terrible that the modern runner believes that they are only a new pair of shoes away from greatness. Greatness can be purchased, victory over that person who always beats you is only a pair of shoes away, you just have to be online at 8am and get the shoes before they are all gone at 8:02am. Last Thursday I was that awful modern runner getting a pair of the Vaporfly 4. I’d have been better off getting an extra run in. Miles are the secret not shoes.

3. On Time

I think that I will try and be on time for the races this year. It is a much more pleasant experience being on time. No stress, no messaging Graham asking him to pick up the number, a warm up, a chat, it’s a better way to operate.

4. Stress Reaction

I think that I did well to limit the impact of a stress reaction in my left fibula to only a 8 week absence from racing. I think I hurt my calf in a cross country race then ran Seville, Dungarvan and the Little Island 5k with a calf niggle which turned into a bone injury. I’m getting wise in my old age so stopped before I couldn’t walk so the recovery was relatively quick.

5. 90 Day Pause

I think that the start of the race was very well organized. There was a line on the road for the start with microphone speakers mounted on a plywood plinth which meant that there was no need for the usual will ye for god’s sake push back, instead we walked forward slowly to the line and then waited for the chip timing. It was a good long wait but it was fine because it was sunny and nice.

6. SuperValu

I think that it was apt that the race ran around SuperValu Pairc Ui Caoimh as BHAA offers truly super value. A 5k race for €5, no inflation, no tariffs. It’s cheaper than a coffee at the Marina Market. The route was one I haven’t seen before, up to the red shed with no walls in front of Pairc Ui Caoimh, around that, then a sharp hairpin before running along the back of the main stand. I got to the stadium in contact with the front group containing one of the Barrys, Tadhg, Mark Walsh, Danny Mullins and Nate but the pace became too much and I lost contact as we went around the Blackrock End terrace.

7. Golden Mile

I think that the new Marina Mile is tremendously beautiful. It is a wonderful surface to run on, like a golden track. This was the first race to use the new path, it was so nice not to have to study the ground for potholes and patches. Unfortunately I was left to run along the path on my own as the front five were way too strong and left me to enjoy the new path on my own.

8. Tadhg Not Like Us

I think that it was great to see Tadhg win the race. I am happy because Tadhg is a believer in the more miles is better and that you don’t need to do 400s to run a fast 5k. For some reason marathon training is better for 5ks than it is for the actual marathon.

9. Not so Solo

I think that I was lucky that I didn’t end up solo to the end of the race, otherwise I wouldn’t have broken the magical 15-minute barrier. I did my best on the long run to the finish along the Marina Market Road to keep Tadhg in sight so that he wouldn’t think that he was that great. As I approached the roundabout I began to hear footsteps, then I heard well done Ray, so I initiated John Meade mode and sprinted for the line and the sub 15 minute 5k.

10. BHAA Vaporfly 6%

I think that instead of being stuck to a phone at 8am to buy magic shoes people need to start running BHAA road races. It is much better value and more fun. According to the GPS watches which have papal levels of infallibility the race was around 4.6 to 4.7k. Sure what harm. I think there should be more races like this, keep us guessing, have course records become a thing, a lap of the Marina is a lap of the Marina who cares if it’s 5k or not, Tadhg still won.

Cork BHAA Janssen 5K 2025

10 Things I Think About The Janssen Cork BHAA 5K

1. In GPS we Trust, Everyone Else Needs a Jones Counter

I think that the Cork BHAA Little Island 5K route might be the most famous 5K route in Cork. It’s the one where everyone runs tremendous times, the one where the Stravalurkers who didn’t run the race think it’s short because they don’t like the times. The GPS watch must be trusted, never mind that it has been measured with a wheel, the GPS watch is always right. I was hoping the Stravalurkers were right I fancied a 5K PB, it’s been a while.

2. Late for the Late Start

I think that it was a great achievement to almost miss the start of a BHAA race that started fourteen minutes late. There was a very long queue for registration, very long, it went back into a part of the sports hall that I didn’t know existed. At 10am it looked like the race couldn’t start for at least another 30 minutes, so I decided to drive down to the finish with Rhona and Billy and jog back up to the start. As I was putting on my magic shoes Michael Herlihy offered to drive me up to the start as he said they were just about to start, fearing the speed of the Audi Etron more than missing the race I decided to jog up. Running past the eerily empty sports hall I feared that I was about to meet a wave of runners. Luckily, they were just after the “for god’s sake will ye push back” phase of the start so I was fine.

3. White Shorts

I think that it is too difficult to purchase coloured shorts. Irish people are very boring when it comes to colours. Shorts are grey or black, cars are grey or black, nothing else is allowed. Spanish races are very different, it is like a competition to see who can wear the most colourful costume. My contribution to the battle against the grey and black short brigade is white shorts, yes they look like GAA shorts but they’re not grey and not black. You can get them off Adidas, they’re retro apparently.

4. Tis Neither Good for Man nor Beast

I think that the real reason why the Cork BHAA Little Island 5K route produces so many tremendous times is the prevailing wind direction. The route runs from west to east so normally it has a strong tailwind component for about 70% of the race. Unluckily for us on Sunday we encountered the beast from the east meaning, 70% of the race was run into a block cold headwind. Not good for the PB chances.

5. Two Beasts

I think that the other runners in the race were very lucky that John Meade and I turned up for the race. Two brave men not afraid to run into the wind. The race quickly settled into a formation that would not change from start to finish except for the bit at the finish that actually is the most important bit of the race. John Meade and I up front, Aidan Noone in the quarterback position, flanked by Darren McCann, John Longan and Sean Twohig.

6. Three K Trouble

I think that I knew I was in trouble after three kilometres. Three kilometres in a five kilometre race is a crucial point, if you are in a group at three K you’ll probably be in the group at five K. The group of six was still a group of six. I tried everything I could to shed a few from the group, everything involved trying to run fast down the hill but every time we turned right at the bottom of the hill we were met with a wall of wind and John Meade brought everyone back together.

7. One to Go

I think that I knew what was going to happen with a kilometre to go. The fourth kilomtre marker at the top of the hill signified the start of the actual race. For the second time I tried my only tactic of running fast down the hill. Again John Meade neutralized the attack, unlike the first attack Aidan also followed John Meade so I went from first to third. Aidan had yet to feel a breeze at this stage having cleverly and patiently waited for myself and John Meade to tire ourselves out.

8. John Meade Fan Club

I think that Aidan is lucky that John Meade didn’t take inspiration from Martin Drake who was marshalling the turn for home. Martin is very clearly a John Meade fan and was vociferous in his support for John once we turned right with between 400 and 430m to go depending on whether you are going by GPS or measured course. John initiated the all too familiar John Meade sprint which is usually an insurmountable challenge for all but the best local elite Cork BHAA runners, unluckily for John he had Aidan Noone on his tail, a man who is borderline unbeatable in a sprint as John was about to find out.

9. Swamped

I think that I would normally be able to hold onto some level of contact with a John Meade finishing kick. Sunday was different, once John and Aidan had separated themselves from the group of six I was left in third. I didn’t stay third for long as coming onto the finishing straight Darren McCann flew around the outside of me in a pair of what looked like Adidas Adios Pro 4s, I tried to sprint but my sprint isn’t very sprinty so it wasn’t long until I saw John Longan and Sean Twohig fly by leaving me to jog home 10 seconds and six places behind Aidan.

10. Suspicious Fast

I think that having run the Cork BHAA Little Island 5K route there is something about the course that makes it fast. Despite the headwind and tactical race the times were tremendously fast. I don’t think it is short as I have carefully reviewed the GPS data and it is clear that the GPS is cutting the corners so reading shorter than the route that we actually run. I think it is fast because of magic shoes, a course that lends itself to the formation of groups and being ever so slightly downhill, add a westerly wind and it’s very tremendously fast. Anyway I don’t really understand the obsession with 5K road times, who cares what time you ran, it’s much more important who beats who and Aidan Noone beat us all very badly especially John Meade.

Dungarvan 10 Mile 2025

10 Things I Think About The Dungarvan 10 Mile 2025

1. Sometime that I used to Run

I think that I’m beginning to understand what it’s like to get properly old. I’m pretty sure that I’m not going to beat my 10 mile time from 2023 so I need to find new things to focus on to make racing interesting. Luckily Dungarvan provided other things to focus on as nearly everyone was running it. I decided to focus on beating Tadhg and fending off a resurgent Michael McMahon.

2. Fear of Carparks

I think that Irish people in cars are magnetically attracted to parking on grass, or even better a grassy kerb or most preferably of all a grassy kerb outside someone’s house. It is great to know this because no matter what time you arrive into Dungarvan on race day you can sail through the town and park in a lovely tarmac car park less than 400m from the start. Aidan who came with me was very impressed with my knowledge.

3. Dashboard Warning Light

I think that no matter how many terrible stress fractures and injuries I get I will never be able to resist ignoring the signs of a potential terrible injury. I probably shouldn’t have run Seville Half never mind Dungarvan as I’ve been suffering with sticky outside of calf syndrome where one part of the calf attaches itself onto the other and won’t come free. It’s not in any physio books so it is a new injury. If it was a warning light on a car it would probably be yellow so I just press the reset button for the race and drive on which will probably only work for so long.

4. Ballycotton 10 Style Field

I think that the field for this years Dungarvan 10 was the strongest deepest 10 mile field I have seen since the days of the Ballycotton 10 in non-magic shoes. Everyone from Cork, Waterford, Tipperary and a few invaders from Dublin turned up. Looking around I was thinking top 20 would be a great achievement. Tadhg asked me to drag him around to 53 minutes which made me want to beat him and put him back in his box even more.

5. This is Mad

I think that the start of the race was very mad. It went off more like a 10k than a 10 miler. Fearghal and Sean Doyle were gone gone, like properly gone with a few stragglers thinking about following. I was left miles back in a huge group of heavily trained or highly talented runners. I made up a bit of ground on the downhill before the one mile mark but was quickly passed out again as we went around the GSK roundabout and ran downhill towards the slippery U turn. I looked at my brand-new watch with AMOLED display which clearly showed that we were all going way too fast, so I let the group go and waited for the inevitable lull in proceedings to occur.

6. This is Grand

I think that it is very helpful to have run a race a good few times as it inevitably plays out the same way each time. Once the huge group reached the U turn with the slippery surface the pace dropped nicely, I used the downhill to catch back up to Tadhg and Michael McMahon who were my main targets for beating. Once I found them, I sat in and waited for the wind to start between miles 3 and 5 which seems to always be the case at this time of year in Dungarvan.

7. Tadhg’s Back

I think that Tadhg is very similar to Viv. He would love to beat me, it is very important to him. He is also similar to Viv in that he doesn’t seem to know what to do when he gets to the front of a group. I nearly had to jump up on his back to avoid crashing into him after four miles as when he found himself at the front of the group, he just stopped running. I don’t like tactical running as we are all way too useless to be using tactics so after the near terrible collision, I just ran near the front of any group to stay out of trouble.

8. Tailwind Time

I think that the section between 5 miles and 8 miles in Dungarvan is one of my favourite sections of road to run. It is probably because it is slightly downhill, is nearly always run with a tailwind and has a nice windy smooth road surface. I thought I was doing great as I was flying along catching Shane Collins and Tony Forristal until suddenly at seven miles I was passed at what seemed like twice the speed by a group containing Kris Liepins and Niamh Allen. It was an unfollowable group but at least it didn’t contain Tadhg, Michael McMahon or Viv.

9. The Two Barrys

I think that the last two miles of Dungarvan are horrendous. Mile 9 is utterly awful, a hill with a gradient that only impacts tall, elegant runners like myself. To make it worse you can see miles ahead. Mile 9 was a bad mile. I was fooled into thinking I was catching Barry Twohig when in fact I was not and was about to be passed out by the other Barry, Barry Donovan who stormed by on a mission.

10. What Number Did You Do?

I think that I did well to finish 22nd. That last little hill up to the finish is very stressful for someone like me who can’t run up hills, so I focused on staying in reasonable proximity to Tony Forristal which worked well in fending off the vicious dual attack of Tadhg and Michael McMahon. Once across the line I was delighted that ignoring the dashboard warning light had not led to an inability to walk or jog which is very important. I collected my nicely coloured Nike T-shirt, told Sergiu and Sean Doyle where to get Vaporfly 1s and walked/jogged back to the nice car park with Aidan. It looks like Dungarvan is becoming the 10 mile race, you can see why, it’s like the Valencia Marathon of 10 mile races.

Seville Half Marathon 2025

10 Things I Think About The Seville Half Marathon 2025

1. Escaping Éowyn

I think that Ryanair have a great can do attitude. Only Ryanair will get you to Seville no matter the weather. Going to bed Thursday night I was pretty sure that a flight to Seville scheduled to take off in the midst of a red weather warning was both unwise and unlikely. Luckily there was some winter fat in the Ryanair schedule so the only impact of the storm was a welcome lie in and a three hour delay in departure.

2. Unsevillean Weather

I think that I was probably overdue some rain in Spain. Seville to me means blue skies, no wind and air so light it makes running almost effortless. Unfortunately on this occasion Seville resembled Cork on a soft damp day in May. Wet, humid, almost warm and a little windy.

3. Sub Elite Cajón Rojo

I think I’d be better off if I had never experienced what it is like to be in the elite start. Somehow the last time I did the Seville Half they gave me an elite number so I didn’t have to queue up with everyone else. This time I had to make do with the first corral of sub 1:20 runners along with my great enemy, friend and rival John Meade who was terribly disappointed when I told him that he hadn’t a hope in the M45 category because of Reyes Estevez who has run 2:16 for the marathon at 48.

4. In the Trenches

I think that the only issue with having to line up with the masses is that you have to experience what it is like to stand huddled nervously for about 15 minutes with mainly other men. It is mildly unpleasant but would make you appreciate that you were born in 1986 rather than 1886. I will never understand why so many people have to sprint the first 400m of a 21 kilometer race. The pushing and shoving is totally unnecessary, at least the roads are good and wide so it only lasts for a minute or too before normality is resumed.

5. Woman + Man = Pacemaker

I think that the great thing about big city half marathons is that there are always pacemakers to run with. They aren’t actually advertised easily identifiable pacemakers but if you see a woman running side by side with a man in the same shoes and uniform you know that you have a professional steady pace to follow for the entire race. It took me about 3k to find my Asics pace group which was moving along at a relatively metronomic 3:25 per kilometer. I got myself comfortable and tried to turn off my brain which is very difficult if not impossible.

6. Inoperable Water

I think that it is amazing how much trouble water causes in races. The trouble in Seville was the bottles. The bottles were very unusual with a weird cap so hard to open that it would have been easier if the water was in Calpol bottles. Then to cap it all off the fella in front had a nasty habit of just dropping his bottle onto the ground without any consideration for the people behind. Luckily my agility and nimbleness of foot is at its peak it being cross country season.

7. Juan Meade

I think that I had a good fifty minutes of running without sight or sound of John Meade. I was expecting him to turn up at some stage as he had completed an impressively intense week of crash training the week before with nearly 30 miles at or below 6 minute mile pace which was two miles more than I had managed to do. As I passed the 13k marker I was convinced that I could hear him behind so without looking I said hello John Meade, to my surprise the man making the exact same foot and breathing sounds as John Meade was not John Meade but a Spanish runner of similar stature and stride. Phew I thought.

8. The Water Trick

I think that I should be better at resisting the spirit crushing tactics of John Meade. Three kilometers after my initial misdiagnosis of John Meade I was horrified to be greeted by actual John Meade just after the water station at the 10 mile mark. He could clearly see that I had managed to open the unopenable water bottle but being the astute racer that he is he offered me a drink from his bottle almost as if to say “you look terrible, here have my water which I don’t need as I am fine”. I declined the water and watched horrified as the St Finbarr’s singlet surged ahead making impossible inroads into the many groups scattered along the road by the unsevillean wind.

9. 100m, SOS

I think that there is no beating John Meade if he passes you late in a race. You are in big big trouble. It doesn’t matter who you are, if John Meade gets within a mile of the finish you are in trouble. I could see from his stride that he was delighted with himself having passed me out. I did my best to hold the gap but as we ran down Ryan Creech’s beloved cobblestone road past the giant mushroom the gap began to open to the length of at least six shops.

10. A Monk Swimming

I think that the last kilometre of the race was a little odd. It was like I was running in a race that I didn’t belong in. All of the men had been filtered out and I was left in a battle I didn’t want to fight with five women all but one of whom outsprinted me. Once across the line I said Well Done John Meade, collected my medal, before commencing a slow jog back to the apartment with the winner discussing the ridiculousness of going all the way to Seville to race only each other. Well Done John Meade.

County Masters XC 2025

10 Things I Think About The County Masters XC 2025

1. Lombardy to Lombardstown

I think that I must be the first man ever to run cross country in the regions of Lombardy and Lombardstown in the one week. I kind of couldn’t not run the County Masters XC after going all the way to Italy for a cross country race the week before plus it was a cross country race in a new field in Bweeng and I love running in new fields.

2. Snow Way

I think that I was very clever to do a session on Friday as a hedge against the race being cancelled because of the snow. On Friday evening it seemed almost certain that the race was not going ahead as a message in a Whatsapp group said it was “definitely not going ahead, don’t tell anyone.” I did 10 miles on Saturday morning waiting for the official announcement of the cancellation before seeing on Facebook, a source of great facts, that the snow was all gone and the XC was on again. Great.

3. Bweeng Mountain Dog

I think that the parking for the cross-country venue was amongst the best ever. It was directly across from the course in the driveway of someone’s house and a big friendly Burmese mountain dog came out to greet us. I parked up directly behind Tim O’Donoghue, possibly the actual best moderately old man cross country runner in Cork who I was thrilled to hear was not running.

4. The Beautiful Field

I think that the field in which the race was held is one of the best fields I have ever seen. If I was a farmer I would buy it immediately, it was free from rocks and showed no evidence of any snow or rain with high quality fencing. The high quality fencing reminded me how lucky I was that Barry Twohig was doing a long run rather than making my life miserable on the hills of Bweeng. The snow reminded me of how lucky I was that John Meade was snowboarding on the Galtees and not flying down the hills of Bweeng. The only thing that wasn’t great was the wind.

5. Intermediate + Masters

I think that it was great that the intermediate and masters races were combined together. This was key to my race tactics as I needed someone to take the race out hard as masters races always go off sensibly. I was delighted to see Naoise from Bandon tear off at the start as it gave me a target to chase down the first hill. I knew that Michael Herlihy and Nick O’Donoghue would hate this, so I went absolutely mad down the hill and then again the second time we went down it before heading out into the great field to begin the first of four long laps and big big hills.

6. Col de la Bweeng

I think I had major problems with the big big hill at the far side of the beautiful great field. Luckily everyone had similar problems with the big big hill. It was about 400m long, 15 to 20% gradient with a headwind, vicious. The first time up the hill I thought I was in big trouble as Naoise effortlessly reduced the gap I had opened down the hill I was fully expecting this pattern to repeat for the next four laps but luckily when I ran hard across the top of the hill and down the hill back into the main beautiful field Naoise didn’t follow.

7. Lovely Shorts

I think that it was great how many supporters were out on the course. It was a very picturesque setting for the race with the even hillier fields in the background still speckled with the last remaining few bits of snow. I must have added to the scenery as I received compliments on the course about how lovely my shorts were, more useful were the shouts about the distance back to my main rival Nick O’Donoghue who seemed to go from 20m to 80m behind depending on whether we had recently gone uphill or downhill.

8. Nick and Mike

I think that you couldn’t find too tougher moderately and properly old men than Nick O’Donoghue and Michael Herlihy to race on a course like the great beautiful field in Bweeng. I spent the full four laps terrified that they were going to catch me. I wasn’t particularly worried about Nick catching me as he is a perfectly pleasant man, on the other hand I was terrified that Michael Herlihy was only playing with me like a cat plays with a mouse and was going to initiate full terminator mode on the last lap, plough up the last hill and laugh at me as he waltzed past like he has done so many times over the 15 years of defeats I’ve had to put up with.

9. Bad Beating of Michael Herlihy

I think that I will never tire of beating Michael Herlihy in races. It is only great because I have spent nearly 15 years being absolutely destroyed by him in nearly every session and race so to finally get to beat him is excellent, tremendous and wonderful. It should serve as a lesson to younger athletes that you should never give up on beating people just because they seem impossible to beat, just get more bitter and angry, then use that anger and bitterness to fuel tremendous victories in the County Masters.

10. Ranking Points

I think that it is a great pity that there are no world ranking points for winning the County Masters. Coming into the race I was ranked 299th in the world cross country rankings, which is probably the highest ranking ever for a Cork moderately old man. It is a shame really because the show put on by Bweeng in the fantastic field with picturesque backdrop was up there with any World Athletics Gold Label event. Perhaps we could have Kenyans and Ethiopians running the hills of Bweeng, they’d probably love it even more than I did.

Campaccio XC 2025

10 Things I Think About The 68th Campaccio XC 2025

1. Italian Races

I think that Italy might be my favourite place not in Ireland for doing races. They really do races excellently. Everything is wonderful, the registration is cheap, €12 for an international cross-country race, the courses are imaginative, and the races are packed with elite athletes and lots of “sub elite” Italian fellas like me who like running. They even have squirrel dragons as race mascots.

2. Capital of Cross Country

I think that Legnano might have the two best cross country races in the world. It is a very small place to have both the Cinque Mulini and the Campaccio races. We stayed at the same hotel as we did for Cinque Mulini, Hotel Poli because it was excellent and near the squirrel park for Billy. All of the elite athletes also stay in the hotel so you get to see how they get treated and how early they leave for the race, 12:30 for a 2:30 start which is approximately an hour earlier than me.

3. Irish Weather in Italy

I think that it was great for the race to be held in conditions so wet and cold that it was almost like being in Ireland. The only thing that was missing from an Irish race was wind, there was absolutely no wind, but the thick continuous wet rain that we get at home was there along with 4 to 5 degree temperatures. Perfect for cross country and slowing down the track runners.

4. Rhona Recce

I think it was great that Rhona’s race was on earlier in the day so that I could get an idea of what sort of spikes would be needed. Rhona ran in Dragonflys with 6mm spikes which she said were fine but with the continuous rain I was pretty sure that 9mm would be perfect by 2:35pm by which time a lot of rain and a lot of races would have torn up the course.

5. If Only I Had 9mm Spikes

I think that I was lucky that the box of spikes that said 9mm actually had 12mm spikes in it. I am slightly obsessed about spikes as they are very important. I was slightly worried that the Italians wouldn’t allow me run with 12mm spikes as some of the course was on the track so I got to the call area very early so that I would have time to change the spikes if a man deemed them too long. Luckily no one looked at my spikes so I had to stand in the call area for about 10 minutes waiting for everyone else to finish their elaborate technical warmups. I asked one of the On sponsored Burundian runners what spikes he had, he said 9mm which was probably the safest option given the sections on the track.

6. Penguins

I think that I should have gone further up towards the front of the start line. I was very cold after standing around in the call area so it was nice to be bunched together on the startline like a bunch of penguins sheltering from the cold. I was a bit worried about falling so I took it handy off the start which was a big mistake as the course was quite narrow so I ended up miles back after a few 100m.

7. 93rd

I think that I did well to recover from my slow start. The race was televised live on RAI as Italians don’t have GAA so this is the equivalent of the National League GAA matches. According to the TV coverage I was 93rd after the first of the ten kilometres which was quite near the back. It took me a while to figure out the twisty turny up and down course but after a lap I had it figured out and I started to make progress.

8. Habemus Grip

I think that it was only after a lap that I realised that all of the Italian runners had the wrong length spikes on. It was like in a Formula 1 race where one driver has wet tires on and everyone else has slicks. Any bit of muck and I would fly by the Italian fellas slipping and sliding while I was nailed to the ground in my 12mm spikes. It was great fun, I was passing what felt like the whole field, although when you are 93rd after a kilometre there are a lot of people to pass.

9. Fanclub

I think that it was great to have my own fanclub on the course. A group of Italians who were standing with Billy and Rhona started cheering for me every time I went passed which was a lot of times as the course looped back on itself a lot. I think they thought I was called Dada not Donal because of Billy but sure what harm.

10. Pointless

I think that I did very well to get from 93rd to 53rd by the end of the race. I was actually in 52nd just before the line but an Italian destroyed me in a sprint so I lost one of my hard earned places. I didn’t get lapped which was great but I didn’t get on the TV as much as I would have liked as they were doing the podium when I finished 5 minutes behind the Ethiopian winner Bekele. In addition to the nice cup of warm sweet tea in a branded squirrel dragon cup I also collected some world ranking points which have now put me 299th in the world athletics cross country rankings which is utterly pointless but for some reason makes me very happy.

Grange Fermoy 10K 2024

10 Things I Think About The Grange Fermoy 10k 2024

1. Glanworth

I think that it was nice to get to run a race in the town where my father is from. We didn’t get to run past the house as it is in the town but I jogged past it while I was rushing to collect the number and excellent t-shirt. Glanworth is a great place for a race, only 30 minutes from Glanmire with a nice bridge and castle. It was great to see it busy with all the runners when I arrived early 30 minutes before the race.

2. Sure You’re Only a Jogger

I think that Michael Herlihy must own Sixt rental cars in Cork. The poor Scirocco broke down the day after Clonmel so I had to go and get a rental car. When I went to collect it they have me a Dacia Jogger, I pleaded with them for anything else but they had nothing (apparently) so I was left to drive as a jogger to the race in my jogger.

3. French Grinds

I think that it is much better going to Clo’s farm to do a race rather than to do French grinds for the Leaving Cert like I did nearly 20 years ago. It seems mad that 20 years later there is a race starting right outside the farm you could even park in the farmyard if you needed to right by the start.

4. Gone with the Wind

I think that the wind was a big big factor in today’s race.I love a bit of weather in a race as it puts the PB and watch checking runners off kilter. I couldn’t care less what time we run so I led off into the wind like a fool. At least it was downhill so it kind of balanced out. I was surprised to be still in the lead when we turned right at the first kilometre marker.

5. The Pack

I think that a group of runners at the front of the race is like a pack of wild dogs. There is an unspoken known order of assumed greatness that should be established at least after a mile. This race was very usual, because of the wind no one could escape the bunch so the natural order was never established. Perhaps this was the day where the order of the dogs was going to change, perhaps the big hairy dog with tanned long legs wearing pink Vaporflys and yellow shorts would become the leader.

6. Perfect Pacing

I think that it was great to be still leading after 5k. After the race Michael McMahon gave out to me for being an idiot and said that I could have won if I was sensible and clever. I think that he was very wrong though as I prefer to be at the front as it is sort of like a hybrid car in that the battery is getting topped up by the act of leading the race and annoying the other people who feel they should be leading the race.

7. Every Dog Has His Day

I think that when I got to 6k still in the lead I started to think that perhaps Rhona had secretly given me a blood transfusion as my Christmas present. I was ahead of Sergiu even. This never happens, Conor McCauley was under pressure. Very usual, I didn’t even feel terrible. Every dog has his day perhaps.

8. Citizen Kane

I think that Kane Collins ruined my day. When we turned the corner out of the wind at 7km he took off and shook the bunch of dogs apart. Suddenly we were lined out one by one with gaps developing rapidly, Sergiu was second, Kris was third, Conor fourth, Nick fifth and me and Tadhg joint sixth with an actual proper journalist Brian Canty of Sticky Bottle fame right on our tail.

9. Remember When I Beat Hop

I think that today was my chance to beat Conor McCauley like I beat John O’Connell around this time of year many many years ago which was a great breakthrough moment in my running career. All I had to do was follow Kris, instead I got stuck in a battle with Nick O’Donoghue who took a while to shake off. The downhill with the wind run to the finish over the last 2k should have suited me perfectly but it seemed to suit everyone just as perfectly.

10. Shudda, Wudda, Cudda

I think that Michael McMahon was right and that I would have won the race if I wasn’t such a fool running into the wind. The new route for the race is wonderful, a great success, a route for racing, a route for a clever underdog. There were even prizes down to sixth place which is very unusual which I unfortunately couldn’t collect as I couldn’t wait to get back into my Dacia Jogger for the drive back to Glanmire.

photo: GRAHAM Meikle