National Half-Marathon 2010 Race Report by Deirdre Quinn, Athenry AC I set off from Athenry at 8.50am SHARP travelling with my chauffeur Owen Curran and co-pilots Frank Burke and Maeve Noone. We arrived at St.Abban’s AC in Monavea in Co.Laois in good time - 11.30am - for start time of 1:00pm - just...

by Martina Passman Hello to all you fellow running people out there! Maybe you read the piece that I wrote about how, where, when and why I started running? Well, I'm nearly six months a 'Fit for Lifer' now,and I'm going to send in a report to this site every now and then about how all this running...

One of the things I miss about working in Galway is the lunch and tea rituals. Lunch tends to be rushed or desk affairs in the US, and while the Irish abroad normally make time to go to the canteen here, I miss the long (and often frankly ridiculous) conversations over cornflakes. One long discussed...

Afton 25km Trail Run July 3 rd A Race Report by Deirdre Hassett A few years ago on a road trip in Cuba, my friend and I used to play a game tactfully called ‘Spot the Big Irish Potato Head’. This involved sitting in a bar and picking out people with hearty peasant features, milky white legs and...

MEMORIES OF A RECENT BALLA 10K BY RUNNER 202 The sun was still high in the sky as I drove towards Balla for their annual 10k run and walk. A gentle northerly wind would ensure it was an ideal evening for running, training had been going well and I would be happy with anything under forty minutes...

There's absolutely no stopping Deirdre Hassett these days. Her sojoun in the 'land of the free and the home of the brave' seems to be sitting extremely well with the girl. Her latest athletic exploits are detailed on the Galway Triathlon Club's website (we only own half her soul apparently) at http...

I’m a little obsessed (among many other things in my life) with glossy magazines. I read them in newsagents, buy them, beg them from friends and surreptitiously swipe left behind ones on airplanes. Fashion, oh yes – but also running , triathlon, health and fitness magazines. Why? I think it’s...

The Atmosphere Sitting in the Imperial hotel in Cork on Sunday night I began to ask myself some serious questions. I was in the company of a world record holder, an elite ultra marathon runner, a marathon runner with over 230 marathons completed and another crazy who had completed the Brathay 10 in...

Pic: Ray pictured at the finish with the Physio Team "The Body Rehab". Everyone at Athenry AC who has been following Ray O'Connor's exploits in the UK over the last week or so can't fail but to have been impressed, not to say amazed, by his achievements. It's one of those occasions where saying...

Day 6 The day started really badly with the news that one of the guys has had to pull out due to serious injury. His head said to carry on but his injury didn't agree and unfortunately two time IronMan Phil Love is out! Sad news for the entire camp. I really didn't know what to expect today other...

Day 4 I stayed up late last night, getting to bed at 11.30, so I was tired this morning. The usual post marathon soreness, not triple soreness, just normal and nothing really to worry about other than a slight twinge on my right knee. Maria will sort that out I thought as I headed to the Physio...

Photo: Athenry's Golden Girls Deirdre Hassett, Miriam Wall, Jane Anne Healy and Eimear Butler A Race Report on The Craughwell 10 Miler By Jane Anne Healy The Craughwell 10 was for me, more than just a race. I haven’t raced since September 2009 due to a stress fracture and, after a disappointing Cork...

By Deirdre Hassett Lil is firstly my dad’s dog. She’s secondly, and in a small way, mine – I have a unique selling point that my dad can never match, despite their years of teaming around together – I take her out running. Every two months or so I descend on my parents’ house; a fairy dogmother...

By Deirdre Hassett I’ve given up New Year’s resolutions. They mostly involve giving up cake, which I always fail horribly at. And why run if you can’t have cake? I had some goals for 2009, which Mick’s 2010 call to arms reminded me of, and inspired me to check out what I’d planned to do for the year...

National Inter County Cross Country Race Report (Kilbeggan, 22 Nov.) By Deirdre Hassett Okay, I had fun. Kind of. And we are the proud owners of B division All Ireland silver medals (and for the smart among you, I like to quote el Jefe Mick: “Well, there may only have been two teams but they weren’t...

This says it all better than I could: http://www.lyallguiney.com/2009/11/dublin-marathon/

(aka Seven Deadly Runs) by Deirdre Hassett With apologies to the late, great Frank O’Connor. Readers please note that some or all of the below may be marginally or wildly exaggerated and some of it may be a true account of the 2009 Dublin City Marathon. Please take your leisure to figure out which...

New guys and gals took the honours at the Athenry AC 5k Club Championships 2009 at Dangan on 6th Oct. with Orla Keady-Giblin taking the Senior trophy, and Tony Killarney winning in the Veteran category. A surprised-to-win Orla came home in 28:18 and beat her handicap by 1 min and 52 secs, a fine...

Well as you all know I have done very little running for the last year. On Tuesday the 25th of August I was in so much pain with my back and left hip and pain going down my leg. I thought I would never run again. I thought I would never walk straight never mind run!!!!! But, thank God, I went to a...

Find enclosed as good a visual report(!) of a marathon as you are ever likely to see. I met Maurice the day after Cork in the Westwood Hotel after the Dangan leg of the Galway May 5KM series and happened to flick through the Cork Marathon programme he had with him. He had just annotated the centre...

Lyall's three recent reports say more than I ever could so the URL is all you need It's an easy one to remember too! http://www.lyallguiney.com Great work!

Well done to Mick Rice, 1st and Valerie Glavin, 3rd, who competed in the Connemara 100 on Saturday 15th August. Full results and race reports will follow in due course. Here are some photos of the competitors. There are 35 photos in all: that was a long trail. http://www.flickr.com/photos/39856927...

The Gobi March is a 250km self-sufficient endurance race across the Gobi Desert. This year the event was located along the ancient Silk Road in the remote Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture in the Xinjiang Province of Western China. As this is a restricted area, special permits for competitors...

Race Report from Elizabeth Murphy All pictures are by local freelance photographer Corrine Beattie Ballina fit4life ran a very successful 10k fun run for runners, joggers and walkers on Thursday evening 16th July as part of the Ballina Salmon Festival programme. 125 participants crossed the start in...

Race report from Miriam Wall from This Year's Kilkee Triathlon Photo Credit - Gordon Thompson - More of Gordon's great photographs can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/gordon_thomson/sets/72157620449653985/ For those of you not familiar with the triathlon scene the ‘Hell of the West’ or the...