Favourite race, and why?

OOnegative

What’s your favourite race? Why? Bit of fun hopefully and maybe give some an insight into races here, there & far. Mine is the Cara Bundoran 10 mile. Why? Great race with an honest route with great views of the Atlantic and Benbulbin, it tests you every bit of the way. Plus what’s not to love about Donegal, fabulous place.

adrian522

Do I have to pick one?

I'd be thinking Dunshaughlin probably. Dunboyne 5 Mile too. They both have a great atmosphere before and after, really fast courses, really well organised and are what running should be all about.

I always seem to run into people there I haven't seen in a while. Always seems to be sunny there too and late evening races are really good too.

Obviously I'd pick Terenure also as it was one of the first races I did, really enjoyed it, ended up joining the club and now part of organising the race.

Enduro

Currently the Tor De Geant. (Massive lap of the Aosta Valley in nothern Italy, ~320km, ~24000m of climb and descent, about 750 places available) Awesome experience. Stunning running terrain. Brilliant scenery. Top class organisation. Unbelievable support all over. I think nearly everyone who has run it comes away with it as their #1.

Swashbuckler

Following on from Enduros spectacular sounding race I'm gonna go with the equally spectacular and unique town of Adare. Haha.
Adare 10k for me although I suspect that might change as I broaden my horizons a bit over the next year. Really well run. Good course and can be fast or challenging depending on the conditions. Strong field. Great atmosphere. And the scene of my current 10k pb so all good.

Annie get your Run

Yeah, not fair Enduro!!

I can't pick one either, Stook 10 mile, fantastic race, challenging course, USP in the flying mile and who doesn't love a cow bell instead of a medal!!

Kinvara Half Marathon: Very well organised, stunning route with a good mix of all seasons thrown in for variety, post race massage (although the Q was too long to avail of it)

Dunshaughlin 10K, as Adrian said, top notch organisation, fair but challenging route, someone goes to the trouble of writing all the names up the hill, excellent post race spread.

Dunboyne 4 & 5 mile races: Great courses, great support (particularly in the 4 mile) great category prizes (again the 4 mile) and undoubtedly the best post race spread anywhere - Emilia's cakes and ice cream!

Jingle Bells for so many reasons, Raheny 5 has to get a mention too.

Interestingly, all my favourite races are club ones....

Djoucer

Probably Transvulcania on La Palma. Spectacular course.

Starts at sea level in the dark and climbs along the ridge of La Palma island, passing forests and multiple volcanoes. As you get higher, you end up above the clouds and can see the neighbouring Canary Islands. Course reaches its highest point at caldera where some of worlds best telescopes are located.

From there, it's an epic 10 mile descent to the sea. Whole island turns out for it, it's like the Tour de France in places as you run through small villages.

70 odd km long but every km is spectacular. The race also starts to to the sound of AC/DC thunderstruck.

Swashbuckler

Annie get your Run wrote:

Dunboyne 4 & 5 mile races: Great courses, great support (particularly in the 4 mile) great category prizes (again the 4 mile) and undoubtedly the best post race spread anywhere - Emilia's cakes and ice cream!

What dates are these on usually?

Annie get your Run

Swashbuckler wrote: »

What dates are these on usually?

4 miler is 25th March and you can sign up here

https://www.myrunresults.com/events/dunboyne_ac_4_mile/2503/details

The 5 mile is 29th May and register through the BHAA.ie website

opus

The one that always comes to mind is Comrades for me. There could well be others as good or better but haven't taken part in them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz2FtwTJ_eY

Chivito550

International Flanders Athletics Meeting (IFAM) in Oordegem, Belgium is hands down the best track meet I’ve ever done.

It was a fantastic experience, one of the best I have had in athletics. 2700 athletes competing from 10:30am to 2:00am. There was free massage. There was non stop lively music. There was BBQ. There was beer (strong and normal). There were more women competing in 100m and 200m than men, something which is a million miles from what we have in Ireland. Live results appear on one of the many little electronic screens around the track within 60 seconds of finishing the race. And the best part of it all was that each race cost just €5 to enter.

There were about 100 Irish over there too which added to the enjoyment. There was super craic in the evening, with a fair few of us enjoying the strong Belgian beer (my races were finished by 4pm, so had the rest of the day to enjoy the festivities). Probably the funniest part of the day was one poor lad who travelled all the way over to run in a 5000m, which was the very last event on the programme, kicking off at 1:45am. We felt obliged to stay (over one last beer) to give the poor chap some moral support. I'd been drinking for 8 hours by that stage!

It pains me that I will miss it this year as I’ve a family wedding that day.

National Outdoors is probably the most special meet for me though. It seems to bring the best out of me, and my 2 best moments (400m PB and 200m PB) have both come from there. I’m missing that this year too, because of a family wedding.

It’s not to be this year.

Carrauntoohil. The Irish Championship race, as opposed to the Munster Championship one from the other side.

It's the World Cup Final of the "straight up and down" challenges on the island.

Testosterscone

2 that stand out for me;

Armagh 5k and Night of 10,000m PB's.

While the standard is ridiculous to get into both (sub 16 and about 33 min usually for the latter) it's not just the fact that these are fast races that is the appeal.

Every competitor shares the same mindset (pushing themselves beyond there limits) while also creating a great atmosphere around the event. These are proper occasions and you can truly appreciate the event both before and after as opposed to many races and people who do so during the event when it becomes more about claps, posing for selfies and everything that goes against the very nature of a race.

With the Armagh, you have hundreds of kids races in the preamble all afternoon and evening who become spectators after there events, its a 1km looped course so the crowds are enclosed and you are never without support

For the Night of 10,000m PB's similar to Chivito's post, Beer, BBQ's and music surrounding top quality racing. The events are built around the primary focus of producing high quality racing and enhancing that rather that trying to distract from it. They are occasions no doubt but the are build around an athletes primary drive to perform to there best. I was in one of the lowest grade races and got to sit back for the evening with burger and beer and enjoy the spoils of a hard effort and support top quality racing.

No Medals, No T shirts and 15e you can't go wrong for what was provided.

Murph_D

For me, the Frank Duffy 10 will always be special, as it was the first 'real' race I did, having entered with a good degree of trepidation that I might be outclassed and embarrassed. My abiding memory of it includes running for a good portion of the race behind a guy with a running prosthetic - typical of the diversity you find in this kind of race. It convinced me that I'd be OK to enter DCM that year, and then within a few more months to enter club races like Raheny and the Omagh Half (another excellent race).

Dublin Marathon can hold its head up with every other marathon I've done, but for sheer atmosphere and organisational excellence - that includes delivering almost every entrant to the start-line point, 26 miles away, then keeping us fed and watered and entertained while we wait there for hours - the Boston Marathon is unparalleled.

Working class heroes

Two stand out for me. DCM and the Wicklow Way Relay.

Don't get out much.

rainbow kirby

For value and a fast course, the Sri Chinmoy Monday evening 5k races in Battersea Park during the summer are great. 7 quid non-club and the course is two laps of a pancake flat loop.

In Ireland, I love the Raheny 5.

ReeReeG

Am I allowed to mention one which is gone? Ballycotton was the race where I got the bug, so I think of it fondly!
Other than that, I really enjoyed Dunshaughlin last year, possibly due to the then PB and the savage food afterwards. 
Terenure 5 is another good one for support at every turn, and a good spread afterwards.. I am easily won over by food it seems!

Singer

Fingal 10k - my local race, my first ever race and two of my best PBs. Hard to beat the last 500m or so getting shouted on by your family

DCM - despite having a terrible DNF there, lots of amazing memories. I wore the Crusaders singlet for the first time there last year and got incredible support on the course.

Corrida S. João - a great 15k race in Porto in early June. I ran it the morning after the third of three late days and nights at a music festival, so not quite all out... beautiful course starting out on the Atlantic coast then into Porto along the river and back. Also - free beer at the finish! A good standard and turnout at the race too, basically their equivalent of Frank Duffy.

IMRA Bray - my first IMRA race, on a stunning early summer evening. Jaw dropping views over Dublin bay, scrambling up steep hills and life-threatening downhill gallops.

AuldManKing

Dunboyne BHAA 5m.

Always sunny.
Always flat.
Always a great spread.

The ONLY race my wife has been to where I've PB'd!!

ASIMON0V

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Yeah, not fair Enduro!!

I can't pick one either, Stook 10 mile, fantastic race, challenging course, USP in the flying mile and who doesn't love a cow bell instead of a medal!!

Thank You!

Im a fan of bohermeen half, good course, lots people to run with, friendly - its like a big small race...have fond memories of connemarathon as well - beautiful place to run and has a special feel about it. Oh...and county intermediate XC - where i am destined to spend the rest of my running life!

Safiri

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Following on from Enduros spectacular sounding race I'm gonna go with the equally spectacular and unique town of Adare. Haha.
Adare 10k for me although I suspect that might change as I broaden my horizons a bit over the next year. Really well run. Good course and can be fast or challenging depending on the conditions. Strong field. Great atmosphere. And the scene of my current 10k pb so all good.

+1 but biased.

Probably for sentimental reasons more than anything else though. My First ever road race at 10 years old and my first race after taking up running again 13 years later.

sideswipe

In Ireland-

Waterford Half in december is a great race, well organised and a nice time of the year to get out for one last hard effort before the end of the year.
Charleville half is also excellent. Nice flat course and excellent organisation.

Overseas-
New York Marathon for the iconic nature of running on closed streets through the 5 burroughs.

DubOnHoliday

The only race I keep going back to is Run the Line, can’t say I love the course, but I love the occasion and every second person is someone you know. Running mountains year round it’s a good feeling to give something back when you can. Wicklow way relay is close second.

Bungy Girl

Has to be The Lakes 10K in Blessington (September). Can be summed up in two words: lemon muffins. Apart from that delicious selling point, it's a scenic course. Brilliantly organised with no congestion due to the fact that they arrange participants by estimated finish time before walking everyone to the start. The roads are closed. It's not flat but it's fast, particularly the last 3k stretch which is net downhill so you can give it welly if you've anything left towards the end. Always a great atmosphere. And lemon muffins. Did I mention there's lemon muffins ?

A few others made the shortlist: Dunboyne BHAA 5 mile, Dunboyne 4 mile, anything in Cow Park (there's a theme emerging in and I'm not even from Dunboyne!), Dunshaughlin 10K, National Road Relays, Jingle Bells 5K, Fat Turkey 10K, BHAA Trinity Track.....ok so that's more of a long list .