Campaccio XC 2026

10 Things I Think About The Campaccio XC 2026

1. €1 Espresso

I think Italy is great, what a great country, a country where coffee isn’t out of control. €1 for an espresso at a café just outside probably the best running park in a city anywhere, Parco Sempione. There was no Trevor to run with this time like I had done before Cinque Mulini, although he was still in Milan, managing a team of Great Islanders and introducing them to the joys of Hotel Poli and The Birra. I should be getting commission at this stage.

2. Straight Down Rain

I think that the rain in Italy is much better than the rain in Ireland. Italian rain comes straight down because there no wind, also because there is no wind it’s not even cold. The weather for the Campaccio weekend was nothing like the almost summery weather we got for Cinque Mulini in November. I was hoping for enough rain to turn the course into a mucky swamp like last year but unfortunately all we got was enough rain to make the course a little mucky and a little soft in places.

3. How Dare You

I think that I was horrified to see M40 on the envelope when I went to collect my number for the race. The Italians do things differently, along with banning juvenile athletes from wearing spikes, age categories are based on the year of birth not the actual date so being born in 1986 makes me M40 already which is terrible as I’m still only 39 and a half. The only good thing is if they let me run this year I still have 5 more years left which is great.

4. Burundian Warm Up

I think that it is worth going to these Gold Label XC races just to see how the real athletes prepare for the race. An hour before the race just as Rhona was getting ready for her race, the Burundian ON athletes were warming up with a most impressive, synchronized skipping routine. I can do the skips but not this type of skipping, this was next level skipping, no wonder they are so much better than us.

5. Zero Craic

I think that the best level of running is my level, the level where things like results and times don’t really matter and it is just from fun. There was very little craic in the warm up pen before we were brought to the start line. I tried talking to the Burundians in the ON kit but I got no response. So I moved on to David Nillson a Swedish runner with Puma who was probably the second oldest man in the race after me albeit with a slightly faster 2:10 marathon time. He was a little bit more responsive than the Burundians, then we were called up to the line for the real craic.

6. Lesson Learned

I think that the most important thing with running these cross country races in Italy is that you have to get out fast at the start otherwise the race is over. I think I learned the lesson a little too well though as after a few 100m in Campaccio I was not far off the top 20 and ahead of my Swedish 2:10 marathon runner friend. This didn’t last long and as soon as we hit the twists, hills and turns of the middle bit of the 2k lap I began to be passed and passed and passed some more until it felt like I was last.

7. Turn Right then Turn Right

I think that I need to remember that the Campaccio course has some unique challenges that other cross country courses don’t have, the middle of the 2k lap is a mixture of almost all right hand turns which is a terrible thing when you have a very bad right ankle like I do. It didn’t seem so bad last year when the course was 95% muck but in this less mucky edition it was proving very difficult, a difficulty that was amplified by my poor choice of footwear in the Dragonfly 2 instead of the Dragonfly XC although it’s almost a course where a trail running shoe would be the best choice.

8. Backwards

I think that it is an awful feeling to be passed by loads of runners. Everyone in Campaccio is really good at running, most of whom are probably doing double threshold and stuff like that, so any mistakes like going out too fast will be punished badly. A lot of people passed me over the first three of the five laps. The only advantage of going out fast was that it seemed very unlikely that I would end up lapped which is my main concern at these races anyway.

9. Francesco Meade

I think that I have done enough of these races now to have some enemies. It took until the second last lap for my enemy from Cinque Mulini, Francesco, to pass me. I had just beaten him back in November so I decided that he was going to be last person that was going to pass me. As I got to the end of my fourth lap I saw the Burundians on the other side of the course heading out on the last lap so I was sure of not being lapped which made me happy.

10. Hot Lemon Tea

I think that the best part of the Campaccio is the hot lemon tea in a special Campaccio mug with the masot on it that you get after finishing the race. I didn’t manage to catch Francesco but I did hold off everyone else by sprinting as hard as I could on the track which makes up the last 300m of the lap. I collected my hot tea said well done to Francesco and walked back over to my shoes where I explained to an women in Italian that her son would be fine with 9mm spikes. Then I went back for a second cup of tea.

Cork County Masters XC 2026

1. PGA Tour vs LIV Golf

I think that we have reached a crossroads in running. Racing is being replaced by time trials, time trials that can only be run on idyllic days in Valencia and no where else. No one cares where they finish, you have fellas crossing the line in 497th place celebrating like they won the Olympics, it’s mad. This didn’t happen in Golf, no one cares if you shoot 59 on an easy course. It’s about Augusta and the challenge, maybe it’s a bit of stretch to compare a field a few miles outside Bweeng to Augusta but it’s my Augusta.

2. Boys in the Better Land

I think that I probably shouldn’t have watched the Valencia 10k before heading off to Bweeng. It was sort of like being in fifth year in school and seeing the easy Leaving Cert Maths paper the sixth years got, thinking that’ll never happen again, they’re going to make it harder next year. Do we all have to go to Valencia? I’ve been there before and I prefer Bweeng and Italy. I suppose there’s always Grange Fermoy on New Years’ Eve, that was fast this year.

3. The Trifecta

I think that it was great to finally get a day with perfect cross-country conditions. We basically had the opposite of Valencia 10k. We had wind, very strong big wind, wind that whistled through the electricity wires, wind that broke tents. We had big rain, the sideways rain that you can video even on an old iPhone, rain that hurts you like its hailstones but is actually only fast-moving big droplets of rain. We had muck, all kinds of muck, sticky muck, slippy muck, dirty muck, treacherous muck, cold muck, deep muck, something for everyone. Fantastic stuff, perfection, idyllic, bliss.

4. First Annual Athletics Ireland Award for Excellence and Sportsmanship

I think that I should get an award from Athletics Ireland for offering shelter to a rival club runner in the stormy horrific weather. As I was searching for the horsebox with the numbers, I came across Trevor Cummins from our great rivals Great Island Athletics. He was trying and failing to get changed outdoors in the cold rain and wind. It was a far from glamorous sight as he did the flamingo pose in a failed attempt to remove his soaking pants. He asked if he could use my car to get changed into the green and white, “of course, no bother, come with me to the purple Scirocco”.

5. Sheltering Behind a Bush with Barry

I think that there is only one problem with the conditions that we encountered and that is staying warm and dry before the start. The organisers did a fantastic job, when you consider that it was basically a storm that the race was run in. Luckily there was a perfectly positioned bush where I stood with Barry Twohig to shelter before the race. I tried to persuade Barry to go home as it was too wet and windy and he’d been there all day; he was almost on the point of leaving but then Dan Kennedy turned up so he had to run.

6. Point of Order

I think that I should have ruled Michael Herlihy out of order when he suggested not doing the two 500m laps that had been planned to make up the 7000m distance. “Just do 3 big laps”. I don’t know why I didn’t object; it could have been that Michael Herlihy is a big scary man that looks like he should be responsible for deciding how long that we should be racing for. Anyway no one objected so we were left to race over the shortened distance of three two-kilometre laps.

7. Bad Decisions Lead To

I think that I made a terrible decision when I decided where to line up on the start line. I picked the inside line because I thought we were doing the 500m small lap which would have meant a left hand turn first. Because of Michael Herlihy’s point of order the first turn was now right which meant that the outside was the place to be especially as the ground was better out there. You know who was on the outside, Barry Twohig. The race started and Barry Twohig was gone, I was left floundering in the muck, happy but floundering.

8. Gonna be Golden

I think that despite my atrocious start I still thought I might win. I was very tempted to barrel through the people who were in front of me on the downhill to the first corner but instead I stayed calm and waited for the course to open up before making a move up to second. I’ll catch him no bother on the downhill I thought, just get through the zig zags and it’ll be no bother. I was correct, up to the top of the hill and then down the hill onto the back of Barry Twohig. Phew, now just get up the big big hill.

9. Mountain Dew

I think that last year I said that there were two men I was terrified of on a course like this. Barry Twohig and John Meade. I was very right, very right. It is a pity that there wasn’t a drone following Barry Twohig up the big big hill so everyone else could witness what I witnessed. He clearly had some sort of insider knowledge about the ground near the tidy high quality fencing as he seemed to be almost magnetically attracted to the fence as he flew up the hill effortlessly, it was incredibly annoying, the only way it could have been any more annoying is if it was Barry Twohig and John Meade together and they were whistling or telling each other stories while flying up the hill.

10. Hyrox Bweeng

I think that Michael Herlihy was right to shorten the race to 6000m. I don’t know if we would have been able for 7000m of that. By the time the last lap came it was more of a survival contest than a race, I had given up on catching Barry and Michael Dullea was probably thinking the same thing about me in third. The last time up the hill was like what I imagine a Hyrox event would be like, my legs were burning and screaming no more, I felt like I was carrying weights. I barely got up to the top of the hill before jogging across the line as best I could as my legs no longer worked. Second to Barry Twohig at what was basically a day’s work for him isn’t too bad I suppose. I’m happy I chose Bweeng over Valencia. Always choose Bweeng.

Munster Masters XC 2025

1. On The Promenade

I think that Tramore was a great venue for a cross-country race. I don’t know if I’ve ever been to Tramore before, it is quite far away from Glanmire but worth the trip. A nice seaside town, like a Spanish town without the sunshine and heat. The course was right beside the promenade in a park with a playground, a bit different to the usual farmer’s field. It was almost like having a cross-country race in a town. A great idea.

2. Norwegian Michael Herlihy Method (NMHM)

I think that the closest thing that I have to a coach is Michael Herlihy, both of us are pretty much uncoachable but we do run together a lot so we must agree to do the same sessions. Before the start of the race, I told him that we should repackage the training program as the Norwegian Michael Herlihy Method and sell it on the internet for €20 a month more than normal training because of the word Norwegian, it could be a sensation, we could even get local Glanmire Norwegian physio Chris Smetana to endorse it.

3. Short, Long or Studs

I think that it is very important to come to a cross-country race prepared for all conditions. Because there is no timetable for these events you may not have a lot of time before the start of the race. What I do is I make sure I am prepared for all eventualities and bring three pre tooled pairs of spikes, one with studs, one with 6mm spikes and one with 12mm spikes. Then you can have a look at the course while collecting your number before taking the appropriate pair of spikes from the boot of the car and running over to the start. In this case the studded Dragonfly XC were chosen.

4. Sure I Wouldn’t Know I’m Just Getting Changed

I think that the self-service number collection system worked well at the event. It was sort of like the self-service checkout at SuperValu where there is a person watching you and they only intervene if you get stuck. I jogged over to the tent and found the numbers neatly stacked in brown envelopes on the table with the club names labelled on them. There was a man in the tent who I asked if I could take the number for Glanmire A.C but he was only getting changed in the tent and had nothing to do with the operation so I just took the envelope and jogged back to the car hoping that I might get a mile of a warmup done.

5. La Source

I think that who ever designed the course in Tramore should get an award for designing the best cross-country course ever. It was wonderful, a triumph of imagination, sort of like a combination of a Scalextric track and a Formula one track except with moderately old men instead of super-fast cars. The first corner was like the first corner at Spa-Francorchamps, I was wary of a first corner collision, so I took it handy off the line and waited for the second or third corner to make my move to the front.

6. Take a Mucky Picture of Me

I think that it was great that there was a bit of muck on the course. It wasn’t anywhere near as mucky as I had hoped for but there were still hairpins with ankle deep muck that made you grind to a halt before getting going again in the opposite direction. It appeared as if there were several people taking pictures which pleased me greatly as it is great to get a picture of yourself running through the muck.

7. Dermot and Me

I think that it was a very tough race with Dermot Gorman. You are always guaranteed a tough race in the Masters division. On the line there were numerous people with marathon times sub 2:30 with Dermot’s excellent 2:28 from New York this year being one of the more recent sub 2:30 marathons in the field. I was particularly worried when he was still following me around like my shadow on the third of the four big laps.

8. Downhill Difference

I think that I was very lucky with the course design. The great person who designed the course helpfully made the uphill section twisty with the downhill section straight, so I was able to push the downhill every lap and survive on the uphill twists. On the second last time down the hill, I managed to get enough of a gap on Dermot that I could see him parallel to me as we went up the twisty hill for the last time. I was still terrified of being caught so I continued to run as hard as I could all the way to the line which is generally a good idea when you are leading a race.

9. The Missing 500m

I think that it was terrible for Michael Herlihy that the course measured 500m short on the infallible GPS watch. It was very clear that he was catching me and only for the short course he would have beaten me. I do wonder about people who look at their watch in cross country race. What is the watch going to tell you? The pace? The distance? All are irrelevant just run faster than the fellas around you and run the number of laps that you are supposed to run, who cares about the distance. I felt like it was a good long race anyway as I was completely out of breath crossing the line, so out of breath that I didn’t see the black dog doing his best dancing priest impression.

10. Medals

I think that it was great to win the first cross country medal for the newly reformed Glanmire A.C. I don’t know the history of the old club as the internet only goes back to about 2006. I presume someone from the old Glanmire N.A.C.A club would have won some sort of medal at some stage as Glanmire is a great place for running. Hopefully it is the first of many more medals for Glanmire A.C.

Photo: James Veale

93rd Cinque Mulini XC Race 2025

1. The New Marathon

I think that cross country events like Cinque Mulini will eventually become the new marathons. Cross country races abroad are a far superior experience to marathons. Cheap flights (Ryanair), cheap four-star hotels with jacuzzi baths (Poli Hotel), no problem entering and a unique experience where you run through a few old houses. It’s only a matter of time. Trevor Cummins and Mark Gallagher have already been converted.

2. Milano Nord

I think that much like the marathon weekend it is important to have a shakeout run the day before. For our shakeout run we took in two venues, the incredibly cold but somehow ice free Milano Nord ParkRun for Mark and Rhona followed by a influencer style collab run by myself and Trevor around Parco Sempione which must be the best city centre park for running in the world.

3. Campione Trevor

I think that it was great to get to watch Trevor and Mark run in the masters race early in the morning on Sunday, they ran the same course as the international race, the only difference being three laps instead of four. Trevor who much like myself is experiencing new club fever ran like John Meade and ended up winning his age category. Not since Michael Herlihy beat me badly in a session a few months ago have I seen a man as happy as Trevor going up on the podium to receive his gold medal for first in the M40 moderately old man category.

4. Bravissima Rhona

I think that the great thing about international cross country races versus marathons is that a couple can both run and not need childminding to do so. It’s something that is rarely thought of in Ireland. Rhona’s race started after Trevor’s podium with two laps of the course which means two runs through the houses. The only reason I discovered the Cinque Mulini XC is Rhona, she had heard about the race where you run through the houses and had always wanted to do it, so was great to see her have bravissima and dai! shouted at her as she navigated the frosty course in the glorious November Italian sunshine.

5. Rules and Regulations

I think that I am very lucky to still be able to run the international race. Technically it is limited to non-moderately old men as you can’t enter online with a date of birth after 1990, luckily I am very good at reading all the clauses in the regulations and it said that if you could run under 33:00 for 10k you could enter as a moderately old man so I emailed them and was let in. I think it may also have helped that I ended up 96th in the World Cross Country Tour last year mainly because of the race in Castlegar, just ahead of Aregawi and Crippa.

6. Drills and Troy Parrott

I think that the warm up for these big international races is nearly the best part of the whole experience. Getting to see the elite Kenyans and Ethiopians doing their A,B,C skips while trying to do my own hobby jogger version of an A-skip is great fun. To make it even better I spotted a fella warming up in full Hungarian kit so I ran up behind him and whispered Troy Parrott in his ear. I was surprised to have him reply in a Dublin accent but it turns out that he is coached by Feidhlim Kelly so he caught the accent too. Istvan was his name, he beat me badly.

7. Great Sport

I think that running is the only sport where a total amateur like me gets to compete side by side with the best in the world. On the start line I was standing beside Iliass Aouani who had finished third in the World Championship marathon. I had been talking to him the day before at the elite athlete presentation as he was in college in America with Ryan Creech who he said was a legend which is correct. Anyway there is no other sport where this happens. It is unique, then the race started and I realized that there is a reason why this doesn’t happen in other sports as I wasn’t able to keep up.

8. Don’t Come Last

I think that when you are one of six moderately old men in a field of 100 youngfellas a lot of whom are Kenyans, Ethiopians and World Championship medallists the best you can hope for is not to come last. This was proving quite difficult initially as the race went off at a pace that I simply cannot run. Luckily for me there was a small bit of muck at the far side of the course which slowed them down a little bit allowing me to gain a good bit of a buffer from the tail end of the field.

9. Trevor in the Houses

I think that running through the houses is every bit as good as it looks. It never gets old, I would happily run this race forever it is so perfect and great. The first time through the house there was even a bit of a traffic jam which meant that I had to stop and wait for the backlog of runners to clear. Then on the last few laps I spotted Trevor who had somehow snuck into the area around the houses which is not for spectators, this was very good for me as he managed to take some rare video footage of a tall moderately old man like me navigating the houses expertly.

10. 81st

I think that I did very well to finish 81st out of the 100 starters despite being the second oldest man in the race. The fact that there was an older man than me running in the race is great because it probably means I can run it again next year. The fella that won it Amanuel from Eritrea was born in 2007, 21 years later than me which is very scary but also great. Once finished I collected my nice cup of hot lemon tea and returned to the nice hotel before a nice pizza and some wine at the other reason that this is a far better weekend than any marathon TheBirra. Everyone should run Cinque Mulini, it is the Boston Marathon of cross country races.

Autumn Open XC 2025

10 Things I Think About The Autumn Open XC 2025

1. Zero Year

I think that it is awful to be getting old, what makes it worse is that the degree of oldness in running is measured in chunks of 5 years. I have reached the end of the M35 moderately old man chunk which is probably the worst stage of moderately old man running as you are up against 35-year-olds when you are 39 which basically makes it impossible to get on the Irish Masters XC team.

2. Bere Island to Dublin

I think that it is a great pity that the Bere Island 5 mile is on the day before the Autumn Open XC, in the past I have experimented with doing both full tilt but one runs the risk of have to listen to annoying people praying for you to either get injured to confirm their correct suspicions that back to back races is a bad idea. In my old age I have become wise to this problem so instead I ran the 5 mile race in Bere Island at a controlled heart rate to reduce the risk of having to listen to annoying people.

3. Moisturizer

I think that it was about time that the October rain arrived. We were very lucky in Bere Island the day before as somehow it stopped raining for the race. Luckily the rain resumed in time to moisturize the Abbotstown course which remains my least favourite cross-country course in the world although it is slightly improved with moisture.

4. Two Bibs, Two Races

I think that I missed a trick by not registering for both the senior and master’s race. For some reason you had to enter each separately which doesn’t make much sense as they are the same race. I probably won’t get any world ranking points now to add to my huge collection of points as I only entered the moderately old man race. Despite not entering the second of the two races within the one race I still got to put on two bibs, one for the timing chip and one to mark me out as a moderately old man in the M35 category to aid other moderately old men in hunting me down.

5. Self-Made Singlet

I think that it was great to be the first person to represent the newly reformed Glanmire A.C in a national cross-country event. Our new Adidas singlets in the club colours of purple and white have not arrived yet so I had to make my own singlet from a purple Asics singlet, iron on lettering from amazon and an iron on club logo from stikets. I think I did a pretty good job of making it look like it was the actual club singlet. The only problem is that it is very difficult to find shorts to go with a purple singlet.

6. There Were Two Barrys

I think it was great to have the two Barry’s from Cork at the race. Barry Twohig was of no concern to me as he is in a different category of moderately old men, whereas Barry Donovan was in the same moderately old man category and needed to be avenged for the curious incident at the finish line in Carrigadrohid. I warmed up with Barry Twohig who kindly also allowed me to shelter in his tent before exchanging pleasantries with Barry Donovan in the starting area.

7. Slipping and Sliding

I think that the start of the race was great fun. The rain made the course sound different to previous years, the crunch and crack of spikes on the narrow gravel section 200m into the race was replaced with splashes and whatever noise those studded Dragonsflys make. You could almost tell who had the studs and who had spikes from the sharp slipperly left hand turn at the bottom of the hill. Those with spikes had no grip, with at least one person ending up on the ground each and every lap. I had the studded Dragonflys which are magical in the muck.

8. Nice Try, Now Get Out The Way

I think it is always interesting to catch the junior athletes after two laps. I wish I was young again and could run so hard that I literally grind to a halt after two laps. It must be great to be young and be able to produce so much lactic acid that you end up looking like Mark English 750m into an 800m race except two laps into a cross-country race. It was also at this point in the race that I managed to overhaul one of the two Barrys, Barry Donovan. I made sure to give him plenty of space as I passed and avoided any unnecessary contact.

9. Four Big + Two Small = No Good

I think that the four 1.5k laps followed by two 1k laps was a very bad idea. It was very odd, I was almost used to the 1.5k lap, then on the fifth lap we had to take this horrible left hand cambered bend to go onto a 1k lap that was completely different to the course we had been running on. It also meant that I was lapping people while also being in grave danger of being lapped myself. It was all a bit confusing and unnecessary. It would have been better to do the small laps first and then go onto the big laps.

10. Foubyfivek Virus

I think that there is a terrible virus doing the rounds at the moment. It is called Foubyfivek virus. A terrible virus for men over 40, it takes them weeks to recover from it. They catch it from younger men who watch YouTube, the younger men are unaffected, in fact the virus makes them faster. Foubyfivek virus meant that I didn’t have to worry about Michael Herlihy in the race as he contracted it last Saturday. Normally entering the finishing straight of any cross country race you could be assured that Michael Herlihy was catching you but not in Abbotstown, all I had to worry about was Barry Donovan who I just about managed to beat avoiding any collisions in the finishing straight crossing the line 8th in the M35 moderately old man category which unfortunately is not good enough to make the Irish team. Luckily next year is year zero of the M40.

Cork County Senior XC 2025

10 Things I Think About The Cork County Senior XC 2025

1. Nerves and Terror

I think that the County Senior is the only race that terrifies me. No other race induces nerves like it. It’s great as it is the only race all year where almost everyone turns up to see who is the best in Cork at running around a farmers field with long grass and big hills. High stakes stuff.

2. Bethpage, Carrigadrohid

I think that I had another reason to fear going to the county senior this year. It was the first time I would have been at a cross-country race in 10 years where I wasn’t going to be wearing the Leevale singlet. I feared constant abuse from the sidelines, instead all I got was a handshake from Terry, good luck with the new club and a few encouraging shouts during the race. All very gentlemanly.

3. Number for The Unwashed

I think that the other thing I feared was going to collect the number from the horsebox. Due to the rules and regulations, I had to run as an unattached runner with no club for the race. Running club purgatory isn’t a great place to be, there is no team to run for, no tent, no one to collect the number for you, no one to tell you what not to do, no one to care whether you run well or not. I trotted up to the horsebox on my own to collect the number which was retrieved from the envelope labelled unattached and handed to me with instructions to make sure I wore a white singlet.

4. White Singlet of Shame

I think that it is bad enough that I had to run in club purgatory, to make it worse the rules and regulations stipulate that all runners in purgatory must wear a white singlet to indicate purity of club. As Cork’s second most popular running influencer after Tadhg O’Sullivan I decided that I would use the opportunity to create my new brand, Dónal, so I got Dónal printed on the back of my white adidas singlet. You too can do the same on the adidas website, it’s free with every white singlet, other colours are available too.

5. Dynamic Undulations

I think that the course in Carrigadrohid was designed by Barry Twohig and John Meade, there is no other explanation, Meade drew it out, Barry fenced it off. It was purposefully designed to favour the more dynamic powerful runner and not lumbering long limbed elegant creatures like me. There was no flat, no respite. The start was down at the lowest point of the course with an immediate steep 300m hill to make sure that everyone was at max heart rate from the off. When we got under way everyone tore off up the hill which filtered out the Barry Twohigs and John Meades from the Michael Herlihys and Nick O’Donoghues. I was left quite close to the back with the Michael Herlihys.

6. Jakob Ingebrigtsen

I think that I took inspiration from Jakob Ingebrigtsen in making my move to the front. It was very similar to a 5k track race where he is at the back of a big long pack, they cut away to a high jumper and then cut back to the 5k and he is magically at the front. It was a very good move. I could hear Michael Herlihy laughing at me as I went by which meant that it did exactly what it was supposed to do.

7. Content Creator

I think that it was great to get accused of trying to create content by Rob Heffernan. The cheek from a man who’s job it is to generate content. I don’t even use Instagram plus I have form of leading the county senior before. I used to do it long before there was social media, back when we did things because they are fun, a bit of craic and not because you might get 20000 followers and get sent a free pair of socks in the post. Anyway leading the county senior was great fun, I probably could have led for a bit more if it wasn’t for the John Meade and Barry Twohig designed hill.

8. Wet Socks

I think that I suffered far more than I thought I would from going to the front of the race. It actually wasn’t that fast, 5:25 minute miles but I was losing so much ground on the hill each lap that I was just getting slower and slower every lap as the lactic acid bath that I had poured for myself filled to the brim. It was particularly painful by the end, pain that was amplified by a poor choice of thin socks which slipped down off my heel and crumpled up under the arch of both feet. Socks are important, vital almost, at least I didn’t have wet socks.

9. The Barry Lane

I think there needs to be a separate finishing lane for Barry Donovans. It is not safe to have athletes like me crawling to the finish while Barrys tear in at twice the speed. Without separate finishing lanes for Barry Donovans collisions are inevitable. The only thing worse than having to run up the hill five times was the feeling of Barry Donovan running into the back of me 20m from the line. Feeling the unwanted contact, I immediately remembered that I didn’t have to beat Barry for Leevale so I waved him through to the finish so that he could score an extra point for my good friends in Cork has two tracks and one of them might be mondo Track Club.

10. The Most Important Thing

I think that the county senior is the greatest race of the year. It was a great event, well organised with a great atmosphere, it was great to see so many youngfellas in the senior race to dilute the abundance of moderately old men like me. Michael Harty showed that moderately old men can still perform at the highest level and beat any youngfella in the county which is great and inspirational. The most important thing though is; and it is very important, I gave Michael Herlihy a bad beating.

Castlegar XC 2025

10 Things I Think About The Castlegar XC 2025

1. The Best Time of Year

I think that cross country season is the best time of the running calendar. It is the purest form of running, no times, no gels, no magic shoes, just magic spikes and grass. The Castlegar XC has become the Ballintotis 4 mile of the XC season, the opening event of four to five months of racing.

2. Popularity

I think it is great that XC running isn’t as popular as the marathon. I think I might be finished with marathons. They have become too popular. Imagine if you had to enter a XC race a year in advance although it isn’t that long ago that you could enter Valencia marathon a few weeks before hand, popularity spreads quickly, maybe someday there will be 50,000 people trying to enter a XC race in Galway.

3. Calf Rippers

I think that it is very important to do a few session in spikes before racing in them. I am very lucky to have the UCC Farm and the great Michael Herlihy to do sessions in spikes. The new spikes are great because they don’t immediately tear the calves off you like the old ones did. I am yet to decide which are better the track Dragonflys or the XC Dragonflys with the studs. For Galway I went with the studs.

4. Glanmire to Galway

I think that it is amazing how close Galway is with the new road. Many years ago when I was young it was impossible to go to Galway as it took 5 hours. Now it takes 2 hours and twenty minutes which is great and as quick as going to Dublin and as XC races are always on in the afternoon it is easy to do as a day trip especially when the weather is nice like it was on Saturday

5. Tot’s Race

I think that it was great that Billy got to run a race on the same course as me. The tots race took place just before my race. They ran the last 250m of the loop with even a few bales to jump over. Billy has the same agility as me so he climbed over the bales rather than jumping before passing someone out on the downhill run to the finish just like me. He seemed to enjoy racing as much as I do which is good.

6. The Dada’s Race

I think that I noticed how old I am on the start line. I was one of the oldest people racing, I could have been the father of a lot of the field which is both great and terrifying. Road racing has become the preserve of moderately old men so it was interesting to race youngfellas who just tear off with no respect for anyone. The course was slightly different to last year, nothing major just slightly less downhill from the start.

7. He’s Good

I think that the awful thing about XC racing is that it is very hard to tell if you are running well or not. Pace doesn’t matter it all comes down to position. Because most of the other runners were youngfellas I couldn’t tell whether I was doing well or not. The only runner I could use as a marker was Niall Shanahan. I was briefly ahead of him which I thought was great but then he got a small bit ahead which was also ok as I wouldn’t be anywhere near him on the road.

8. Mark Walsh Proofed

I think it was great that the course had been Mark Walsh proofed after last year. The hay bale jumps were back again but this time it was impossible to bypass them. You had to jump every single one as the course was hermetically sealed around each jump, unfortunately there was no Mark Walsh to actually test out the impossibility. It is interesting that incorporating plyometrics into my ever-expanding non running routine appears to have made no difference to my ability to jump over hay bales.

9. This is Hard

I think that 7.5k sounds like a very short race. It would be on the road, but 7.5k cross country is more like 10k on the road. After four laps I felt that familiar feeling of how the hell am I going to keep going for another lap. Luckily and unluckily, I was in no mans land, a bit behind Niall Shanahan with no one behind me so I thread the line between trying too hard and giving up and got home in the same 15th position that I started the last lap in. Another advantage of XC is that you don’t have to run for a time just a position.

10. On the Ground

I think that my favourite part of a XC race is lying down on the grass after the race. It is a different sport to road running, way way way harder, a far better sport. I was happy enough with 15th as I only recognized Niall Shanahan ahead of me and I don’t mind being beaten by youngfellas that I don’t know and shouldn’t be beating anyway. I did my warm down which was completed without any new pains before going to the best vegan restaurant in Galway Greens. A nice day out.

Photo: RHONA

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.