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.