I was enjoying a nice winter break last week (early-February 2008) in Malta with my long-suffering wife and children and had promised faithfully not to do any running during the holiday.
Connemara Marathon Race Director, Athenry AC member and all 'round good-egg Ray O'Connor publishes a semi-regular blog on preparations for the big event in April. He's kindly given us permission to reproduce his latest blog entry. The blog itself can be found at http://www.connemarathon.com/connemarathon-route-tested-race-director
Take it away Ray...
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So it's 7.55 am in a windy Inagh Valley and I'm building a small pile of rocks.
Grassy routes can be difficult to find in Galway and very few people can maintain some level of sanity while constantly circling a football pitch. Most people are aware of the fine facilities at the NUIG Grounds in Dangan, but a less well known facility exists on the other side of the city.
Deirdre Hassett is a Galway-based athlete who competes in a plethora of events including road races, triathlons, soccer and tag rugby tournaments to name a few. A member of the Galway Triathlon Club, Deirdre recently travelled to New Zealand in the company of Helen Lavin (whose ultramarathon trail run reports have featured here before) to spend a few weeks on holiday and to compete in a Half Ironman Triathlon.
Deirdre's race report is excellent and well worth a read. Enjoy....
http://www.galwaytriathlonclub.com/DisplayContent.asp?CID=109
The past two weekends have seen some mighty running, throwing, jumping, and cross countrying at two national events for masters athletes.
Masters, or veterans, athletics starts at the over 35 age bracket and continues at 5 year intervals, up to...well, pretty much indefinitely, assuming someone turns up to compete.
Folks
Just to let you know that Croi have now launched their New York City Marathon 2008 Team!
If you are looking to try something different this year & participate in the ING NYC Marathon and wish to fundraise for Croi, the West of Ireland Cardiology Foundation, telephone Croi on 091-544310 or email seona@croi.ie today.
Guaranteed race entry and all travel arrangements are by Sports Travel International.
The actual location of the MP3 is http://83.138.170.50/podcasts/audio/1202ronniedelaney.mp3.
This file contains a high-quality audio of the total interview, of over 20 minutes duration.
The Athenry AC web site has been nominated for an Irish Blog award.
See the awards shortlist here:
http://www.richarddelevan.com/2008/02/11/irish-blog-awards-shortlist/ .
Well done to all who've made this web site what it is...
A Report by John O'Connor
A group of Athenry AC members and friends headed to the wonderful landscape of Connemara last Saturday morning to shake the legs and get a bit of real training marked down in the log books. The arranged bus was full of smiling faces at 8:30 as it left the Westwood and headed for the wilds. There was various drop off points planned along the Connemara route starting at Lough Inagh with the idea of everyone finishing at Maam cross at mid-day.
There was double success for GCH athletes Orla Ni Mhuircheartaigh and Martin McEvilly in Wexford yesterday with both claiming national titles at the National Intermediate and Masters Cross Country Championships. Orla Ni Mhuircheartaigh ran her usual clever race in the Intermediate All Ireland Championship and came through late in the race to beat Maria Halley of Waterford into second place by ten seconds. Susan Byrne from Raheny Shamrocks and Dublin was in third a further seven seconds back.