10 Things I Think About The Bartlemy 6K

1. Bartlemy, Where is That?

I think that no one knows where Bartlemy is. “I’m doing a race in Bartlemy” is always met with the response, “Bartlemy, Where is that”. Turns out its just up the road from Glanmire, slightly to the east of Watergrasshill. It’s a lovely place that reminded me of where I went to school in Anglesboro. We even had to stop to let cows cross the road just before arriving in the village, I haven’t done that in a long time.

2. The King of Bartlemy

I think that that most people in the local elite cork club BHAA runner circuit know that John Meade is the King of Bartlemy. He also owns the title of King of Dingle Half Marathon, yes it is possible to be King of more than one place at the same time, it’s just not very common, for example Charles V was King of both Spain and Austria at the same time. I always wanted to be King of a place so I was very motivated by the prospect of potentially beating John Meade in Bartlemy just like Denis Hegarty had done the year before.

3. Back in the Pumas

I think that it was great to be back in the Pumas again. My knees were very good after Ballintotis so I decided that it was safe to return to the knee crushers. I wore the original colourway which just like the old Vaporfly 1 seems to be better than the later colourways. Why do the shoe companies do this? Make a perfect shoe and then change it slightly, it doesn’t make sense.

4. Is Bartlemy in Spain?

I think that Bartlemy could have been mistaken for a small village in the hills above Malaga on Sunday. I love these small races in small villages. Add the bit of sunshine and it was exactly like one of the approximados races in Spain without the approximados bit and an accurately measured 6k course. Collecting the numbers was a very efficient process in the hall with a nice warm up out and back the first mile to where the cows were crossing the road.

5. Ready Steady Go

I think that it was great to see a sea of Glanmire A.C singlets on the startline. Along with all the Glanmire A.C singlets there were a lot of children running in the race which made the first few 100m a little challenging as they start much faster than moderately old men like me and John Meade.

6. Youngfellas in Magic Shoes

I think that it was a little worrying when after a kilometre myself and John Meade still had company. It inevitable that with running becoming cool because of people like Tadhg O’Sullivan, youngfellas will start to dominate these races and myself and John Meade will be forgotten about. Luckily today was not that day and as we got to the bottom of the hill the group reduced to the King and his worst enemy

7. Quiz Run

I think that it was an excellent idea to look at the route on Strava before the race. I knew that the there was a major climb from 1k to 4k What I didn’t know was that the race also involved a quiz with quiz questions written on the back of each kilometre marker. Surprisingly John Meade didn’t stop and do the quiz, instead he concentrated on trying to drop me on the 3k long climb which he failed to do try as he might.

8. He Breathes

I think that I thought I was in with a great chance as we started the descent from 4k to 5k. John Meade was breathing hard, I have never heard him breath before. It was very promising so I pushed as hard as I could down the hill. I looked at my watch which I rarely do and saw a 3:00 minute kilometre split. This might be enough I thought, I thought wrong.

9. Logotherapy

I think that John Meade’s primary motivation life is beating me in races. How else could you explain what he did on the climb to the finish a little back further up the hill than where we started? He finished in a time 30 seconds faster than he had previously run on the course before. I was left to trail home three seconds later. Why didn’t I run faster up the hill? I tried as hard as I could, but it is very hard if not impossible to overcome a motivated John Meade.

10. Sparkling Water and a Spread

I think that the organisers must have known that I like nothing more than a bottle of sparkling water after a race. It is the first time in Ireland that I have been handed a bottle of sparkling of water. So good, very popular in Germany. It made up for having to watch John Meade collect his winners prize before I got my second place prize. After a short warm down we returned to the hall where a spread the like of which has not been seen since the Coolagown 10k was on display. Then John Meade was asked to draw the raffle for the signed Cork jersey, he really is the King of Bartlemy.