It’s a bit like waiting for a bus and two come along together! This is the second race report we have on the Carrigtwohill 5k in East Cork…

Race report: Barryscourt (Carrigtwohill) 5k, July 15…Paul Cotter

This was the fifth or sixth running of this local race, the proceeds of which go to local charity and community organizations. The main organizers are Carrigtwohill AC. This year there was some delay due to an accident in the tunnel and so numbers may have been affected. In any case 534 competitors did show. Chip timing was provided.

The race is on quiet country roads which, while in theory fairly flat, in fact give three short hills on the course, one in particular being steep and harsh. As the course is two-lapped one has to do these hills twice. The evening also contributed to slow times as the temperature was around 18 degrees at start time and humidity high. Nonetheless it was a lovely evening and in general a pleasant race experience if one could let go the fact that the course is basically a slow one.

Eagle results are given below, although one or two may be missing as in my case at least the club tag did not come up on the results even though I filled it in on the form. (Does anyone find it a bit annoying to have to fill in one’s own details rather then have the organizers do it?). My personal race was tough and there were few enough Eagles there, most of my race was spend dealing with Youghal and Midleton runners who seemed to have turned out in big numbers and hung out in groups on the course.

Patrick Walsh, Paul Cotter & John McCarthy near the finish line at Barryscourt Castle

As I’m back in a proper training routine (to be blogged about shortly) for the first time in three years I was hoping to do a sub-21 minute time. First two miles went well enough at 6.38 and 13.45 but that last savage hill done some damage and I came in at 21.12. I was feeling bad about this until I checked my journal (everyone should keep one!) for my other times on this race:

2011, 21.23
2014, 21.48
2015, 21.12

My usual 400 meter kick saw me gain ten to twelve places, catching most of the guys who had passed me in the last mile or so. The spread was fantastic with cakes galore and I joined John and Patrick for the usual race post mortem. As we sat and stared up at the wonderful Barryscourt castle the thought struck me that it would be wonderful to have the food in the main hall of the now restored castle and also a treat for the many family members who had come along to support the runners. This would really add a distinctive touch to this race. This castle is one of the best preserved in Ireland and has a wonderful history (my paper on this is due out later this year published by the OPW). In past years the castle garden was open to race visitors but I noticed that it was closed this year.

Grainne Sheehan & Irene Keohane

In terms of competition the bulk of the entrants were young fun runners and this tends to flatter the times of the athletes competing, for example giving me a placing of 95 out of 534, not bad for an aul fella! This lack of competive runners is probably due to the proximity of the Donoughmore Seven race being held on July 17. I’m happy to give this a skip this year, having ‘done my time’ on its awful last two miles several times over the years. However, best of luck to all competing and to my good friends among the organizers. I’ll be happy to race this again when it becomes the ‘Donoughmore Five’ and ends at the bottom of that last fierce hill. Eagle did prize at Barryscourt if the provisional results are accurate, with Mike McGrath coming in as first man over 55. Several other team members took part:

14 Ciaran Bouse Eagle AC M MO 603 17:49
26 David Levy Eagle AC M MO 370 18:52
41 Patrick Walsh Eagle AC M MO 464 19:28
54 Mike McGrath Eagle AC M M55 403 19:56
95 Paul Cotter M M55 Eagle AC 279 21:12
140 John McCarthy Eagle AC M MO 63 22:36
152 Frances O Connor Eagle AC F F55 54 22:58
182 Tracy COTTER Eagle AC F FO 109 23:45
238 Grainne Sheehan Eagle AC F FO 400 25:07
293 Irene Keohane Eagle AC F F40 493 26:20