advice on track events for seniors

ash_18x

I am asking this for my husband, he is looking for advice!

Right, he is 31 years old and was into running as a child up until he was 19 and he's been training on and off for the last three years. His problem is he wants to run track but no club around seems to be able to help him as he is an adult. He can train away himself but no one can tell him when the events for seniors are on, he is self employed so opens his business on a Saturday so he can't compete these days. Do many events take place on a Sunday if he was to start training himself?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

RayCun

where are you based? I think the Dublin graded meets are on weekday nights

ash_18x

Hi RayCun, we are based in Co Waterford!

RayCun

Cork within travelling distance?
There were meets there last year, weekdays and Sundays, open to people from outside the county
http://corkrunning.blogspot.ie/2012/04/event-noticecork-graded-track-and-field.html
probably on again this year?

ash_18x

Ya, it would be actually, I will get him to look into that. Thank you

a_non_a_mouse

West Waterford and ferry bank and waterford ac all have adult sections.
Most clubs would be happy enoug to have someone join and still do there own stuff.
I would suggest contacting one of those clubs and talk to them
Web site details for them on Munster site
Munsterathletics.com
Where there are also fixtures listed, but would neeed to be member of a club to compete in most of the track events.

Hope this helps

ash_18x

thats great thank u i will get him to have a look

ecoli

As was mentioned earlier Ferrybank and West Waterford should be able to cater for an adult. I know many clubs welcome people to train and compete in events where normally they are thin (Field events during National Leagues are a time where many D1 clubs would chop your arm off for anyone willing to try something new)

In terms of Track events Cork host the graded meets as well as Dublin one. Looking at the Dublin dates for this year they are on a Wed night every two weeks from May through to early August

Aside from these the athleticsireland website can show open meets around the country also

Pisco Sour

Could run in various County Championships aswell as an invite. Also the Provincial champs.

It's a shame there isn't a comprehensive list of track races in Ireland all grouped together (in a seperate section to road and cross country races) on the AAI website in a clear and easily read format. Instead people who want to run track have to go out of their way to find races by posting on forums, checking multiple websites etc, sending emails, or just simply by being in the know! Surely this would take less than a day's work to compile?

ash_18x

that is so true its so hard to find dates and times

RayCun

If you join a club, someone from the club would normally attend meetings of the county athletics board and would know the local race calendar. I think there are very few T&F athletes outside the club system.

a_non_a_mouse

Pisco Sour wrote: »

.

It's a shame there isn't a comprehensive list of track races in Ireland all grouped together (in a seperate section to road and cross country races) on the AAI website in a clear and easily read format. Instead people who want to run track have to go out of their way to find races by posting on forums, checking multiple websites etc, sending emails, or just simply by being in the know! Surely this would take less than a day's work to compile?

Would be good to have a definitive list alright.
AAI web site do have a list of events which have permits and this should include all Track events organised by clubs. Issue is (as far as I know), county boards and regional boards don't actually have to have a permit from AAI to run track events, so the AAI listing won't typically include them.
So for anyone interested in Track, best resource is typically the web site of the local county/province. Munster/Leinster/Ulster have good sites, Connacht less so, but sites like GCH should provide any info for anyone in that neck of the woods.
With regard the dates for Cork T&F League, those dates as far as I know are not set yet, but the league is defo going ahead this year again.
Probably one of the earliest T&F dates for senior athletes this year is Leevale Sports in April. Other Open sports might have senior events, but this would be the first with a comprehensive program solely for seniors
Program not on site yet..
http://www.leevale.org/

ecoli

Here are dates for the Graded Dublin (meets) during the summer. These allow guests participate

Outside of this there are very few races other than Championship races and the odd international meet which are AAI members only

The odd time you will will find an open race (which allow non AAI members) again these are on the AAI site. Cork County board and Munster county board would also be good sources of reference outside of these you will find very little info simply because there isnt as many races for T&F due to the lack of demand

wrstan

Thanks for that ecoli, that's really helpful.

Can you tell me if you are from a club outside of Dublin do you have to enter as a guest? Also can you direct me to somewhere that explains the various grades.

ecoli

wrstan wrote: »

Thanks for that ecoli, that's really helpful.

Can you tell me if you are from a club outside of Dublin do you have to enter as a guest? Also can you direct me to somewhere that explains the various grades.

No you can put down all clubs.

The grades are a guideline so that they can match you up into a race of your suitable ability. There are guideline times beside each time on the entry forms each night.

You will get the odd person who will enter a grade to hard and be out the back or a person who is looking for a handy win that will run a lower grade and blitz it thinking they are great but best way to find out what kinda level would be look at previous results and see where you figure and make the choice accordingly

Also note that sometimes you will find especially in longer distances that due to lack of numbers they can combine grades (B & C combined or C & D)

notsofast

...and do Seniors/Juniors compete together or are they separated? Thanks

ecoli

notsofast wrote: »

...and do Seniors/Juniors compete together or are they separated? Thanks

In gradeds there is only a minimum age requirement (I think its 16 not sure on that though) after that races set by ability rather than age.

In championships they are seperate