Ultra-Marathon Archive

Condo131

A lot of pre-web era records seem to have been 'lost' to peoples memories, with some daring to claim that recent events were "Ireland's first XX Mile race".

Anyway....I have loads of Irish Runners & Marathon magazines going back to the early '80s and have been scanning results into CARD, so I decided to scan and post the Ultras and other selected longer distance races as i come across them.

The first of these is the Templemore 50 from August 1988 (see next post in thread)

(Btw, if using CARD, use the slower loading Detailed Search - much greater search scope)

Condo131

Came across this in the last few days. Thought that it might interest some of you, particularly in view of the Dingle Ultra. Enjoy!

Krusty_Clown

Very interesting scan. I also found the results of the Donnybrook Dublin Bus Athletic Club 10 Mile road race interesting (September 9th 1988): 75 out of the 202 runners finished in under 60 minutes.
Jackie Canfield 10K: 39 of the 65 finishers were sub-40.

I feel so worthless.

Mick Rice

Condo131 - Great post.

I interviewed Noel Henry for the Irish Runner about two years ago and he spoke at some length about the ultras that were organised around that time, including a 24 hour race that was held in Bray, as far as I can remember. I'm glad I took the opportunity to speak with him when it arose at that time because I believe he's not well enough to remember many of these great races now. I must listen back through the recording and record the specifics. I also spoke with the famous Shufflin' Jim McDonagh in Loughrea who on his return to Ireland from the US in the 70's ran a number of Irish based ultras. Both of these guys mixed it with the very best in international races like the London to Brighton as well and were very well regarded in international ulta circles. Jim in particular was very close to Ted Corbett and I had some correspondence with Ted's son after both Jim McDonagh and Ted died.

Is there a way I can easily identify the Irish Ultra results from CARD is there any way you could send me on copies of what you've unearthed.
Thanks for taking the time to post this.

Condo131

Thanks Mick!

I'm sorry to hear about Noel - I hadn't heard that he wasn't so well. I met him once or twice at the DCM expo. Afaicr, he published several books about running in Ireland - maybe someone might like to list them for us - Lindie probably can - dunno if she lurks here?

Wrt CARD and ultra results, I'm afraid there aren't any in it yet, but I must rectify that anyway, as some of the Eagles have gone mad and started doing ultras - one even did back-to-back marathons in Galway and Longford. :rolleyes:

CARD contains primarily races from Cork, along with selected others (growing list of AAI/BLE chps, a few DCMs and random others with an Eagle presence) CARD stands for Cork Area race Results Database.

I'd love to extend in to include all Irish results. I reckon I'd call it I_NERD - Irish National Extended Results Database.

wrt copies - I'll be posting stuff as I come across it but I can PM it too, if you want.

Searching CARD - use the detailed search - I never use the others. tinker wit any of the fields. Useful ones are Dist = race distance in miles (e.g. 3.11, 4, 6.21, 13.11, 26.22) and Desc - descriptor of race (e.g. 3k, 5k, 4M, 10, HM, Mar) I am working on a revamp and, hopefully, the Detailed search page will load faster - I thought the problem might be the Indexes but apparently not

Mick Rice

Noel's books were 'Irish marathon Legends' and 'From Sophie to Sonia' - both great reads although unfortunately out of print, but they didn't cover Irish ultra running in great detail.

Condo131

Its not 100% clear from the report where this took place - Probably Templemore.

Have a look at the next Report to see more of the winner's exploits. Hunnymonster may be interested in that one!

Source: Irish Runner magazine

Condo131

This was too big to add as a PDF (7Mb), so putting it up as a set of JPGs. Original is very raggy at the edges - it was in the Garage and the mice must have been hungry. (they should have known that there's very little meat on your average runner! )

Photos:
Cover inset: On rear left Paul Parker (I think) and Peter Fenlon on right. Accompanying Doina Nugent and No. 2 just after the Dunkettle roundabout, Cork
Page 2: Noel Carroll applauding Tom Grace, just after the Dunkettle roundabout, Cork

Source: Irish Runner magazine

Condo131

Report from Tullamore, May 1985. Source: Irish Runner magazine

Condo131

Report from Irish Runner Annual 1988

" NEW 24-HOUR RECORD
What was the best-kept secret of the Irish athletics year?
Probably it was the Mullingar 24-hour road-race in September.
True, 24-hour races normally come and go with a minimum of hype, but the Mullingar event was even more muted than most, perhaps because Brian Emmett did so much of the organising single-handed that he had no time to generate publicity.
That was a pity, because Doina Nugent (Galway City Harriers) set a new national and all-comers (road) record of 110 miles — and it went virtually unnoticed.
Apparently the race was run in atrocious weather, torrential rain beating down on the runners for ten hours non-stop and flooding ankle-deep the quarter-mile circuit.
Not that a bit of water was going to bother the unsinkable Doina
— with Bridget McCabe in her corner, she ran the whole distance at remarkably even pace and finished second overall in ridiculously good shape (the skinless feet are par for such events).
Doina is now the proud possessor of two 24-hour national bests
— one for Track and one for road. And the 107 mile she recorded on Tullamore track in 1985 is still, as far as we know, a World under-25 best.
Belated congratulations on all counts, Doina!"

jaymack75

Condo131 wrote: »

Have a look at the next Report to see more of the winner's exploits.

Came across the article below about the winner James Zarei.....what an amazing runner :eek:

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/a-legend-in-the-long-run-closeup-james-zarei-1365573.html

Krusty_Clown

jaymack75 wrote: »

Came across the article below about the winner James Zarei.....what an amazing runner :eek:

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/a-legend-in-the-long-run-closeup-james-zarei-1365573.html

I got curious about Zarei too and was just reading that article. Interestingly, Wounded knee is heading off shortly to participate in that same race (24th-25th September).

A great quote from the article:

Consider Zarei's remarkable run in the Hiroshima to Nagasaki event (279 Miles) in August. He led until two miles from the finish of the four-day event, at which point he collapsed and was taken to hospital suffering from heat- stroke and dehydration. He was attached to two saline drips for six hours, then returned to the course and completed the distance. Such had been his lead, he still finished runner-up.

brutes1

Fascinating stuff, there are some great articles , thanks for sharing them -
It seems like there was an ultra running boom in the 80s in Ireland, similar to today??.. just before my time!!

A couple of potential interviewees for your masters series mickrice, where are Doina Nugent and Maurice Mullins now- Galway originally it seems from the articles ...

locteau

This is amazing!

I wasn't there at the time, but have a great interest in your work.

Maybe you have some more data.

really nice thread you should keep talking about the past events and athletes of all distances.

Zuppy

Great articles. Nice to see Ultra running was so big.

locteau

I really enjoy this post recently in Triathlon on the 18th of sept, Portaferry is reopening their event.

"It was held 4 times from 1990 and was an ITU world Cup race. Irelands Garret McGarthy and Alison Hamilton two of Irelands greatest ever Triathletes won the first event.

ITU elite and Hawaii Ironman world pro champion Karen Smyers won in '91. World no1 Brad Bevan won the mens in 92.

Many of the worlds greatest Triathletes raced here including ITU and Ironman World Champion Greg Welch Robin Brew, Spencer Smith, Richard Hobson, Melisa Mantak and Carol Montgomery."

Some great video on TV at the time too : http://www.triathlon-ni.co.uk/news

A bit of topic but you might enjoy.

Condo131

Article from Irish Runner, May/June 1992, Vol 12, No 3.

Condo131

Race report from Irish Runner, October 1983, Vol 3, No 7.

locteau

Hi Condo,

Can you tell me what was pedamed it looks like and advert, but is a cool name for a magazine.

Doina time is impressive 8h19 along with her 24h.

the 50 miles article is cool, funny that there is always a Gerry Ryan running in the country every decades ! one of those names I suppose. They seemed to have some kind of road closure too in templemore for 5h ?????

CorkRunning

Just out of interest.........are any of the people mentioned in those articles still running??? Anyone know?

Condo131

Well, apart from anyone else, Billy Gallagher, winner of the 1983 Templemore 50, is still a pretty handy runner at M50, e.g. Carramore 10k

locteau

Any other old and historical things from yoru old Magasine ?

Is anybody know what is the oldest running event recorded in Ireland ?

Hard Worker

locteau wrote: »

Any other old and historical things from yoru old Magasine ?

Is anybody know what is the oldest running event recorded in Ireland ?

Probably the Clonliffe 2 mile race.
Book currently being penned about the 125 year history of Clonliffe Harriers. It will include a section about the oldest race in Ireland.

locteau

This is very interesting, let us know when it is released.... will definetly get it.

Any other publication of the past of Irish athletics you would recommend.

I do know a few is collecting information but what is available out there at the moment.

I would probably be happy enough of my Irish knowledge of the sport for a french man, but just really love to learn more history which made what we are today.

Condo131

Irish Runner V17 No5 Nov Dec 1997 P52

Condo131

Irish Runner V26 No3 Jul Aug 2006 P48

locteau

Condo131 wrote: »

Irish Runner V17 No5 Nov Dec 1997 P52

This is great, and what a time. It does go with the recents publication saying runners don't run faster than in the past but that the general runners level do gets higher.

Really nice piece by Lindie

Condo131

From the Irish Runner, Vol 10, No7, Page 23

locteau

Hey Guys,

Do you think it would be a good idea to set up a google map with events which disappeared from the actual athletic calendar.

It would be kind of a historic mapping of past events in which we could add those articles ?

I would not mind to do it with some help !

hotd

Not sure if ye heard but Noel Henry passed away last week after spending quite some time in a nursing home in Graystones. He was a member of Clonliffe Harriers and had run in the London to Brighton 50 on more than a few occasions. Noel was a very convivial character and was more than generous with his time and knowledge in helping and encouraging his fellow athletes. I know that he accompanied blind runners in at least one Dublin City Marathon and in her early days before becoming a National and International athlete, Ann O'Brien says that only for Noel she would never have reached her goals in athletics. These included around 20 Irish titles and 2 Womens AAA Championships.

Gravale

I'm really sorry to hear of Noel's passing. He was very inspirational during the marathon boom of the 1980's and had a great following amongst new runners and joggers at that time. The last time I saw him was in 1993 at the Dublin City Marathon pre-race event where I spoke briefly to him and purchased a copy of his book Irish Marathon Legends. I also ran with him in 1983 at the 50-mile Ultra Marathon in Templemore. I just wish that I'd known he was in the nursing home in Greystones.

15 Sep 1968 1st 2:39:01 Marathon Sligo IRL Yeats Open
25 Jun 1966 3rd 2:46:03 Marathon Dublin IRL All-Ireland Ch.
28 Jul 1963 1st 2:37:28 Marathon Killarney IRL All Ireland Ch.


Noel Henry of Greystones, Co. Wicklow and former All Ireland Marathon Champion, passed away peacefully,on Wednesday 11th January 2017, in the kind and loving care of Eyrefield Manor Nursing Home, Greystones. Pre-deceased by his devoted wife Nano in March 2016, treasured and deeply mourned by his children Jan, Jill and Ron, brother-in-law Mickie, sister-in-law Sheila, son-in-law Seamus, daughter-in-law Julie and by his loving grandchildren Eoin, Ruairí, Conor, Tomás and Honor.