The purple and white of Mooreabbey seen up and down the country

GRADED MEETS

Ben Coughlan was doing the club proud again in Dublin last Wednesday night at graded meets. Ben ran the 5,000m finishing in a very proud 2nd place in 15.27.

GAELFORCE WEST

The Galeforce West race took place the weekend before last on a majestic route through the wildly beautiful landscape of Galway and Mayo. The 60km adventure race took our own Barry Hartnett along the rugged coastline of the Wild Atlantic Way, on to Killary Fjord and finishing on the Connemara mountain.

En-route there was some significant obstacles for Barry to cross, including Killary Harbour and the famous holy mountain of Croagh Patrick, over terrain of sealed roads, beach, bog, grassland tracks, open mountain and open water. Stage 1 took Barry on Bog Run. The race started with a 4km run through the Connemara bog and along a section of the Western Way. Stage 2 was a mountain climb. This was the mountain climb section. Competitors alike climbed one of the foothills of the Maam Turks to an elevation of 342m with stunning views to be enjoyed at the top.

Followed by stage 3 a 17km cycle. The cycling section took place over 2 types of terrain. The first 8km was over forestry tracks through Coillte forest coming out into the Inagh Valley. The next 9km was on sealed roads, not to forget it’s Ireland so a smooth flat pothole-free road was not on the cards. Then onto stage 4, a kayak. The kayak section was a 2 person sit-on so Barry grabbed a partner and took to the Killary Fjord.

Barry’s little team up saw them kayak approximately 2km towards Leenane along the Galway shoreline. They finished off with stage 5, a run/walk. There was a 2.5km road run from when Barry emerged from the kayaks to the beginning of a section of the Western Way. The final 4.5km took Barry along this trail to the finish line at Killary Adventure Centre. Barry finished 5th overall and 2nd in his category.

DROMCOLLOGHER 4 MILE

Monday night saw the return of the Dromcollogher Carnival Festival 4 mile in Dromcollogher, Co. Limerick. With a start time of 8pm Willie O’Donoghue was on the start line for this one.

As the runners crossed the start line the rain started to fall and the wind kicked up. On a tough course Willie finished 10th overall taking first in his category.

GALTEE HALF MARATHON

New to the IMRA Munster RD scene is club man Liam O’Donnell who took on his first role last Saturday morning for the Galtee half marathon. Beginning in kings yard the race was a fully marked open mountain race taking on Galtee Beag, Galtee Mór and Larnagcapaill before returning back to kings yard.

Blown away as marshal on Galtee Mór was Jason Collins while Dariusz Gazdowicz also lent a helping hand on the day. Running the half was Tom Blackburn who finished 7th, Kevin Lenihan, Aoife Courtney and Robert Cunningham.

COOLAGOWN 10K

The Coolagown 10k hosted by St Nicholas AC on behalf of Coolagown Development Group and Kilmagner N.S took place last Thursday night in Fermoy. A sunny warm evening bought a flurry of 170+ runners to the start line. One of those ladies was Deirdre Bailey in the purple and white of Mooreabbey. Deirdre finished well in the top half of the running field.

World Masters Mountain Race Clonmel 2022 will occur on Saturday July 3 (masters aged 35 to 79 years) and Sunday July 4 (16 to 100 years) of September 2022. Open to all.

So if you’re willing to back yourself we are ready to back you and we would only love to see a flood of green jerseys on the trail.

Event details can be found on the website www.wmmrch2022.ie/

ADULT TRAINING

Adult training takes place on Tuesday and Thursday nights in the community field Galbally from 7pm to 8pm. Newbies are always welcome, so should you have an interest in joining us at our training sessions please message us via our social media page, Mooreabbey Milers AC, on Facebook or Instagram and we will point your running shoes in the right direction.