BHAA 2015

ArgieExile wrote: »

We must have been in the same races last night as I'm a 17 as well -

I was somewhere in the sub 5 min pack in the 1.2k race. In the 5k race I was the unfortunate chap in the orange t-shirt who went out with the lead two, realised just how fast they were going, then seemed to go backwards for the rest of the race. I held onto third place, just picking a target or two to lap, but I was not in good shape at all on that third lap. (Just over 8:30, but that was probably a 90 second lap followed by 4 x 105 sec efforts). Definitely needed something out of a crate labelled 'Acme' if I was going to keep up with the two roadrunners ahead in that race. Great night out though.

Ok, everyone ready for the 3 x 5k mini-series?

Grass, track and road races. This offers a diverse range of underfoot conditions.

http://bhaa.ie/events/5km-summer-series/

The combination of weeknights and weekends may not suit everyone but they're still a great opportunity to get a few different challenges in to break up the monotony of the 10k weekend races that monopolize every Saturday and Sunday over the summer months.

I live near the Phoenix Park, but haven't ran a decent race there in about 5 years, so alas will probably be doing my own version of the Tugg Speedman character in 'Tropic Thunder'.

I don't run too well on track. Ok not so whingy-sounding as Thom Yorke on Radiohead's "Bends" but still a bit much to endure when I'm turning 4 times for each 400 metres, not to mention having to also navigate Irishtown Park without wondering aloud about 'Fake Plastic Trees' or 'My Iron Lung'.

The road race in Marino should be great. My nephews have just grown out of Fireman Sam but I can still sing about 'move aside, make way' as I lumber around.

Definitely worth doing as a 3 race series, with a t-shirt on offer too.

Looking forward to tonights 5K ? struggled in the heat in Dunshaughlin on saturday, so hope it cools down a tad tonight.... (Can't please anyone with the weather in this country!)...

Well, that was enjoyable, a bit tricky underfoot but well-measured and not too many chokepoints, it thinned out nicely after about 3/4 of a mile.

I missed the attempt at making venison chops: I gather that those on 15-20 min finishing times encountered a herd of deer. I was told that nothing was harmed, and I didn't see anyone strap a stag to the bonnet after the race, but as I chomped through the sambos I began to wonder what meat was used all the same.

Btw nice spread afterwards. I thought the overall number of entrants looked encouraging: there may need to be over a hundred t-shirts printed for the 3-race mini-series.

Nice race last night, though I was stopped dead by a large herd of deer at 2km as they were crossing the course at speed. Lost maybe 10/15 seconds, never ideal stopping, especially in a 5k. My team won 1st B prize so I made a tidy profit of a fiver! Looking forward to the next one. Great value as always.

I think we can be reassured that tomorrow there'll be no deer on the course at Irishtown stadium or in the adjacent park.

The course is a lap of the track, three circuits of the park, then a lap of the track to finish:

http://bhaa.ie/events/dublin-city-council-5km-2015/

Ok, so no doe a deer, a female deer etc but I'm sure we could have the sub-20 min athletes sing "Sixteen Going on Seventeen", or those being lapped could strike up a few bars of "So Long, Farewell". Hmm, if the new track hasn't been laid properly and is a bit lumpy we could do a verse of "Climb Every Mountain" etc. (Ok, had better stop before every prospective athlete plants my head in anything remotely looking like an edelweiss in the park).

I was disappointed with the race tonight - the directions were poor and the park was packed. Because the course was so short, the faster runners kept lapping the slower ones and there was a lot of confusion. It said one lap on the site but it was 2 and a half laps on the track. I won't be returning to it next year.

hotmail.com wrote: »

I was disappointed with the race tonight - the directions were poor and the park was packed. Because the course was so short, the faster runners kept lapping the slower ones and there was a lot of confusion. It said one lap on the site but it was 2 and a half laps on the track. I won't be returning to it next year.

Although organised by Dublin City Council, they couldn't evacuate the park, so it was going to be packed in that weather. There were stewards at each junction, so the directions weren't too bad, though I did hear of one or two complaints about crossing the car park from the track and entering a narrow chokepoint lane into the park via a hairpin bend, but I was back in the field and found that leg of the race to be relatively smooth. (I think the additional lap of the track at the start helped to thin out the field in order that there'd be less problems when the runners reached the approach to the park).

That young Jennings lad was a joy to watch. It took a long time for anyone to lap us after him, but the steady stream of athletes lapping others began to occur on the second lap of the park. However, it was not a prolonged experience, as most runners had started into their third lap by the time the leader and his trailing pack were leaving the park after their three laps, i.e. it was unlikely that many were lapped twice.

However, I can understand if people have a negative experience of a race, as it's unusual to have a track and path combination. Personally I prefer to have a route that takes in the park, as that freshly-laid track was a little too bouncy for me, and there would've been chaos to attempt anything more than 900 metres to 1k of the 5k on the track given the number of athletes involved.

The third race in this mini-series is this Sunday, a more traditional road race.

http://bhaa.ie/events/dublin-fire-brigade-5km-2015/

Very sorry to hear of the death of Séamus Kilcullen, a BHAA stalwart.

http://rip.ie/showdn.php?dn=263461/Seamus%20(Shay)KILCULLEN/Walkinstown/Dublin

Very sad news, since getting into IMRA this year, I've met him a few times, as recently as last Wed at Glen of the Downs , where he cheerily waved on other runners. RIP.