FULL AND FINAL RESULT NOW APPENDED - 11 April 2011

++

The 2011 Galway road racing bandwagon rolled into the hamlet of



Beagh/Shanaglish yesterday.  Race director Margaret Walsh was



organising her 2nd annual 10KM from the Beagh Community Centre,



which was fully AAI permitted and Jones Counter measured etc.



The proceeds from the race are going to the same Community



Centre.

The weather gods mostly smiled on her and her crew's super



efforts yesterday, with only spits of rain coming before and



after the race itself.  She could do nothing about that or the



very bitter wind that swirling around the start/finish line all



afternoon.  It was a bitter day to be standing about, if not



running :-].

Over 125 (runners and walkers) toed the line, running around a



pan-handled clockwise course which included the small village of



Shanaglish - not unlike Ballycotton in layout.  Thoughts of the



old-time Shanaglish Sports abounded - the Beagh race is a direct



descendent of those mythical flapper sports of the 40s right up to



very recent times?

I was stuck at the centre helping with the finish line and



producing a race result (see attached).

The men's race was won by Jason Broderick, very closely followed



by Timmy Glavey (good luck to Clarinbridge on St Patrick's Day!)



and our own Conor Dolan (fresh from his 67th place finish down in



Ballycotton 7 days earlier) only slightly further back.

The women's race was just as close with Noreen McGettigan



[Letterkenny AC] winning in a good contest from Helen Corbett



[GCH].  Diarmuid Quill split these two women, clocking yet another



PB in the process - he is dangerously close to sub-41 minute



territory now!  Our own Aoife Callan was in the prizes again, for



the third time in a row in recent weeks.

A race result was duly produced and people were out the door and



on their way home 1.75 hours after the race started, 3:45PM.  A



good afternoon's work for all involved.

With the Craughwell 10M next Sunday, I had to test my own fitness



so ran the course myself in semi-time trial mode afterwards,



going out in 23:17 and coming home in a slightly more respectable



22:56.  It had started pouring out of the heavens by halfways,



whatever about the bitterly cold March wind that had been there



earlier which I didn't feel any more.

A scenic and rollercoaster of a course, never knowing what was



around the next corner.  The 6 and 9 KMs are mostly uphill and



are the KMs most likely to lose people time, going in under the



new highway around the 5KM marker and back over it around the



7KM one.

Congratulations to Margaret and her merry band of helpers on a



very efficient race, the second of many I hope; an event that



deserves the support of all road runners in the surrounding



areas.

JAL.

++

A note from Margaret Walsh follows:

The organisers of the Beagh 10km road race would like to congratulate all of yesterday’s winners.  We are pleased that the official course record was set by such a fine runner as Jason Broderick of Craughwell AC.  He recorded a great time in difficult weather conditions.

Thank to all the runners who travelled long distances to participate in our race.

Without sponsorship from the local business we would not have been able to structure such a good event.  Sincere thanks to our main sponsors MJ Sport in Gort and Amphibian King in Oranmore.

We hope you spread the word about our race and come back next year!

Margaret Walsh. Race Director.