Running Events in Wexford

wextipp · 19-07-2012 8:04am

I was asked by a member of a GAA club at the week-end for some advice on organising a road race for fund raising purposes. He was saying he wanted to hide the fact that it was a GAA club behind it because there is an anti-GAA attitude out there. He pointed out that the Faythe Harriers put no mention of GAA on their Run Ireland entry and even say the race is 'devised by runners for runners' (I suppose GAA players do run).
I have to disagree with him. Looking at all the races in Wexford they are all well supported by Athletics clubs and I think it is better to be up-front. What do other people think.

Ross Runner · 19-07-2012 2:20pm

Some of these races are haphazard but some are very well ran. Experience is vital and getting athletic club members involved,personaly i try to avoid them and run club organised races instead have had several bad experiences with charity races in the past!!

BeepBeep67 · 21-07-2012 6:59am

Really enjoyed the Clonroche 5k last night, real old skool feel to the race and a super spread for €3. Results here: http://www.slaneyolympic.com/2012/07/21/record-numbers-in-clonroche-5k/#more-992

Dilbert75 · 21-07-2012 9:28am

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

Really enjoyed the Clonroche 5k last night, real old skool feel to the race and a super spread for €3.

As usual a great event by SO - looking forward to the next one in two weeks.

Ross Runner · 22-07-2012 5:54pm

Super show by Mathews and strong field for a local club race! loved the mud and the clean country air!! thumbs up to SO for another quailty event.... these type of races are what road running is all about and a must for all levels!!!

UpHill · 23-07-2012 10:42am

Well done and credit to Slaney Olympic - great race on an interesting course and very well organised. Agree this is what road running is about.

UpHill · 23-07-2012 10:50am

I think a fair % of runners in the county are from GAA backgrounds - Tom Hogan, Niall Shields are two top runners I can think of.
Castletown are putting on a 6km bog run in October I think that sounds a bit of craic. They are just filling a vacuum. More athletics clubs should be organising races to fund themselves.

Anyone who organises a decent race I'd be happy to support as long as it's fairly priced and accurate. The quality races will survive and thrive (as seen by SO's summer league this year) and people taking the P*ss won't be back the following year

bewleys berry · 23-07-2012 12:14pm

UpHill wrote: »

I think a fair % of runners in the county are from GAA backgrounds - Tom Hogan, Niall Shields are two top runners I can think of.
Castletown are putting on a 6km bog run in October I think that sounds a bit of craic. They are just filling a vacuum. More athletics clubs should be organising races to fund themselves.

Anyone who organises a decent race I'd be happy to support as long as it's fairly priced and accurate. The quality races will survive and thrive (as seen by SO's summer league this year) and people taking the P*ss won't be back the following year

Good points UpHill, and for anyone looking for a lead into some really decent club races in the Autumn (the Mick Murphy four miler, Kilmore 10k, St Pauls five miler etc), SBR are starting their annual Summer league this Thursday evening (July 26th). We'll kick off with a one mile race around Ferns village and the series will continue for the following six Thursday nights, with distances varying from the one mile, through two and three miles, so it'll suit every standard, from fast runners to total novices. EVERYONE is welcome to run, club and non-club members alike and entry for the seven races (or as many as you wish to take part in) is only ten euro, with a prizegiving night at the end of the league. Results and updates will be on SBRs Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/SliabhBuidheRovers

wextipp · 24-07-2012 12:42am

Ross Runner · 25-07-2012 6:22pm

The Mick Murphy four miler is a super race,a must do for all levels! good course for a pb, havnt missed it since i first ran it a couple of years back! super spread afterwards aswell....

wextipp · 01-08-2012 8:51am

Chartsengrafs · 07-08-2012 4:38pm

Is anyone doing the Oylegate Half or any idea what the numbers will be like for it? It'll be my first half, depite having done a load of shorter distance races. Somewhat concerned about pacing myself properly, particularly if/when I'll be running large parts of it on my own.

novice runner · 08-08-2012 2:40pm

Basster wrote: »

Is anyone doing the Oylegate Half or any idea what the numbers will be like for it? It'll be my first half, depite having done a load of shorter distance races. Somewhat concerned about pacing myself properly, particularly if/when I'll be running large parts of it on my own.

I think they had over 100 runners for it last year.... you'll get all range of abilities at it and while you mightn't end up running it on your own, there's a strong likelihood of running in twos and threes with other runners well down the road or a good bit behind you - the 13.1 miles always exaggerates the gaps too....... it wouldn't be like the big half marathons or 10ks etc where you have pockets of 6and7 runners all through the field...

Duffryman · 09-08-2012 10:04pm

Not long now before the Ferns Four Mile Run on Sunday August 12. We're looking forward to seeing a big entry and to it going well.

Prize fund is €1250 and there are medals and certificates for all participants. The run will start from the GAA clubhouse (on the Bunclody Road) at 2 p.m. and registration/pick-up will take place there from 11 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. on the day.

Advance registrations will be taken in the clubhouse on Friday August 10 from 7.30 p.m. to 9 p.m. (€20 for runners, €10 for walkers) and online registration is at www.runireland.com

More details on the run are available at www.fernsgaa.com/run

Thanks to all volunteers and sponsors who are helping make the event possible, and special thanks again to Sliabh Bhui Rovers for their input.

bewleys berry · 11-08-2012 8:48am

Duffryman wrote: »

Not long now before the Ferns Four Mile Run on Sunday August 12. We're looking forward to seeing a big entry and to it going well.

Prize fund is €1250 and there are medals and certificates for all participants. The run will start from the GAA clubhouse (on the Bunclody Road) at 2 p.m. and registration/pick-up will take place there from 11 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. on the day.

Advance registrations will be taken in the clubhouse on Friday August 10 from 7.30 p.m. to 9 p.m. (€20 for runners, €10 for walkers) and online registration is at www.runireland.com

More details on the run are available at www.fernsgaa.com/run

Thanks to all volunteers and sponsors who are helping make the event possible, and special thanks again to Sliabh Bhui Rovers for their input.

I'd just like to clarify that (as a member of SBR) Sliabh Buidhe Rovers A.C. don't have any role in the organising of the four mile race in Ferns on Sunday. The GAA race race isn't the annual event (Mick Murphy memorial four miles road race) staged by the athletics club, and SBR don't have any part in the running/stewarding/timing of this race. SBRs race will take place on Saturday September 15th at 5pm in Ferns, just so there's no confusion.

Duffryman · 11-08-2012 12:03pm

Please allow me to try bring some clarification to this topic as well. We in Ferns St Aidans GAA club have had some input and advice from some members of SBR as we organised this run, and indeed, would not even have attempted to organise the event without that help and advice.

We have never attempted to pass this off as the Mick Murphy Run or to try sway people away from the Mick Murphy Run in order to take part in ours instead. Indeed, all participants on Sunday will receive a flyer for the Mick Murphy Run, and all who provide their e-mail address when registering will also be sent a link to the registration page for the Mick Murphy Run when they are being sent the results from Sunday's event.

Our event was born out of what we regarded as the best of intentions to have two similar runs in the town to complement each other, not to compete. It is unfortunate if some have another impression, and we certainly did not wish that to happen.

I honestly don't know what else I can add, apart from sorry for any confusion, and we are still looking forward to tomorrow's event.

bewleys berry · 11-08-2012 3:13pm

Duffryman wrote: »

Please allow me to try bring some clarification to this topic as well. We in Ferns St Aidans GAA club have had some input and advice from some members of SBR as we organised this run, and indeed, would not even have attempted to organise the event without that help and advice.

We have never attempted to pass this off as the Mick Murphy Run or to try sway people away from the Mick Murphy Run in order to take part in ours instead. Indeed, all participants on Sunday will receive a flyer for the Mick Murphy Run, and all who provide their e-mail address when registering will also be sent a link to the registration page for the Mick Murphy Run when they are being sent the results from Sunday's event.

Our event was born out of what we regarded as the best of intentions to have two similar runs in the town to complement each other, not to compete. It is unfortunate if some have another impression, and we certainly did not wish that to happen.

I honestly don't know what else I can add, apart from sorry for any confusion, and we are still looking forward to tomorrow's event.

Well as I said Duffryman I was just clarifying which race was taking place on Sunday, obviously neither yourself or myself intended getting into an argument on boards about it. The main reason for clarifying is that there have been members of other athletics clubs in touch with our club members to say they're coming down for the race on Sunday as they thought it was the Mick Murphy and indeed at last nights Slaney Olympic Summer series race in Davidstown there were some runners who thought the GAA race was the Mick Murphy too - as I say I'm just on here so that club runners, non-club runners, joggers, fun runners and walkers who are taking part on Sunday are clear. There was some consultation with members of SBR (myself included), but it was on a guideline only basis, advice which we were more than happy to help with. Anyway there'll be a number of SBR runners taking part in the race, so hope to see a large crowd field out for it

wextipp · 13-08-2012 10:10am

Duffryman · 13-08-2012 1:31pm

Well, our run went ahead yesterday, and it was won by Brian Maher of Kilkenny City Harriers in a time of 20 mins and 4 seconds.

SBR took the team prize and also provided the first local man home in the form of the one and only Tommy McElwaine.

Again, we are sorry if the impression went out there in some quarters that this was either the Mick Murphy Run, or an attempt to sway people away from the Mick Murphy Run, as that was certainly never our intention.

This was new to us and perhaps we made mistakes along the way. We have certainly learned a lesson or two which we hope will stand us in good stead should we decide to try go ahead again next year. One thing we would certainly try to do is find a date much earlier in the season, as our original idea of having the two relatively close together (so that people could set one time around four miles in Ferns and then see how their second one might compare) certainly doesn't seem to have worked out the way we would have liked.

Thanks to the SBR members and indeed everybody who took part, and we in the GAA club 100 per cent hope that they are all back in Ferns for the Mick Murphy Run next month.

wextipp · 13-08-2012 2:00pm

I think the whole road race thing has reached saturation now and it is hard to find a slot in the calendar. There are a lot of races around. There is a race each week-end in September in Wexford and there only so many runners. As a fund-raiser it is a risky undertaking now and races all over the country are seeing dropping numbers. For the athletics clubs it is not too bad as they are usually putting on races for the sport/athletes and not to make money. They will continue to put on races no matter what. They too are making mistakes. The St. Pauls AC, Kilmore AC and SBR AC are on consecutive week-ends which is silly as well.

UpHill · 15-08-2012 9:32am

Duffryman wrote: »

Well, our run went ahead yesterday, and it was won by Brian Maher of Kilkenny City Harriers in a time of 20 mins and 4 seconds.

SBR took the team prize and also provided the first local man home in the form of the one and only Tommy McElwaine.

Again, we are sorry if the impression went out there in some quarters that this was either the Mick Murphy Run, or an attempt to sway people away from the Mick Murphy Run, as that was certainly never our intention.

This was new to us and perhaps we made mistakes along the way. We have certainly learned a lesson or two which we hope will stand us in good stead should we decide to try go ahead again next year. One thing we would certainly try to do is find a date much earlier in the season, as our original idea of having the two relatively close together (so that people could set one time around four miles in Ferns and then see how their second one might compare) certainly doesn't seem to have worked out the way we would have liked.

Thanks to the SBR members and indeed everybody who took part, and we in the GAA club 100 per cent hope that they are all back in Ferns for the Mick Murphy Run next month.

I would never knock anyone who is trying to put on any sporting event - the more the merrier as far as I'm concerned. There are still some A/c clubs who don't put even one race during the year which is a bit of a shame.

The GAA and Athletics use to be one organisation and Ireland was a real bright light on the world stage esp for field sports like the shot - pity there are not now as both could really benefit from each other (that's another debate).

Sunday's race might have been more of a success if

1. Race time of 2pm is a disaster on a Sunday, 11am or 12 would have been much better I think for most people.

2. 20 euro is too much for a 4 mile race with no pedigree as yet, timing chip could have been dropped and charge 12 euro and build on it for the following year. I would think hard about paying 20 euro for any race < half marathon

3. Timing - Slaney Olympic had a 4 mile race the friday night i think for 3 euro - Slaney along with SBR would be the two biggest clubs by a long way

Looked to have been very few Ferns players in the run Duffryman?

wextipp · 15-08-2012 5:22pm

Having 2 races over the same distance and over the same route in the same village so close to each other was not a good idea. It lead to confusion. In fairness the organisers did consult with the local running club before they put plans in place and went with that advice. They also tried unsuccessfully to get an AAI race permit. It appears they did try to do the right thing but were given bad advice and poor support as regards the race permit.

Having said all that the support from the GAA community was poor for the race as Uphill pointed out. Compared to the Duncannon 10k where the support was big from the GAA players.

wextipp · 17-08-2012 2:36pm

UpHill wrote: »

There are still some A/c clubs who don't put even one race during the year which is a bit of a shame.

You have to remember road racing is a very small part of athletics. The club's that havn't put on a road race are probably very busy training a lot of athletes in a lot of very varied and technical athletics disciplines, running, jumping, throwing etc. Putting on a road race is way down their to-do list I would say and rightly so.

Duffryman · 17-08-2012 5:33pm

Thanks for your thoughts, folks.

There have been many lessons learned, and in hindsight, perhaps we should have come on here first to seek advice too, long before the race!

I hope everybody accepts we did everything with the best of intentions, but I won't harp on about that one anymore. And while we were acting in many ways on certain advice received, maybe we were still naive ourselves in thinking some things would be okay when really they should have been done differently.

On a few of the specifics raised:
A 2 p.m. start time may indeed be unsuitable. However, 11 a.m. or 12 noon wasn't really an option for us on account of the route going past the church, and the main Mass there being at 11 a.m. You'd have had runners and Mass-goers trying to manoeuvre around each other no matter what.

We had about a dozen Ferns GAA players taking part, which was indeed very disappointing. Part of this was due to a match being unexpectedly fixed for the Sunday evening. The few of us on the run committee had tried insofar as possible to keep the day free of GAA fixtures, but then one ended up being played on the day anyway.

€20 may well have been steep and we accept that.

As pointed out previously, the four-mile distance a few weeks before the Mick Murphy was decided upon at the suggestion of some people that the runs would therefore complement each other, but as it turned out, it appears to have been the biggest mistake of all.

Maybe others can learn from this too, and avoid the mistakes we did.

Anyway, personally I'm off to run the four-miler in Tombrack on Sunday, so long as nothing unexpected happens between now and then. I hope to be in the Mick Murphy Run too. Hope they both go well for all concerned.

Cooldog · 17-08-2012 6:58pm

Very well said Duffryman, I am sure there are not a lot of club's out there Athletic, GAA, Soccer etc that don't make mistakes. The point is we can all learn from and help each other.
The Tombrack race Sunday is a perfect example, the openly admit to making mistakes with the inaugural running of their race last year but they have learned from them and by all accounts it will be much better this year.
Hope you hold the race next year with more success, I personally feel that your frankness and polite manner in dealing with the issues posted on here will do you no harm at all.
Times are tough and the more we work together and help each other in organising these races the greather benefit it will be to both organisers and participants alike.

UpHill · 20-08-2012 10:38am

wextipp wrote: »

You have to remember road racing is a very small part of athletics. The club's that havn't put on a road race are probably very busy training a lot of athletes in a lot of very varied and technical athletics disciplines, running, jumping, throwing etc. Putting on a road race is way down their to-do list I would say and rightly so.

That's a fair point wextipp - not knocking anyone - my point is that A/c clubs could raise their profile in their communities by putting on a race and also raise a few quid in the process. If you can get Mams/Dads involved (and that's what the current running boom is - people in their 30s/40s coming back to running) they are alot more likely to bring their kids to A/c clubs. Monkey see Monkey do and all that

Fair play Duffryman - will certainly add it to the calendar for next year if you decide to run it again next year.

Cooldog · 27-08-2012 7:40am

Anyone know if the results for the half and 10K are up anywhere yet?. Thanks.

Chartsengrafs · 27-08-2012 9:34am

I would like to see same.

Super day for the half, not a cloud in the sky. Sunny South-East indeed!

Chartsengrafs · 27-08-2012 12:29pm

Results are on their website now.

It was my first half, so ran pretty conservatively. Happy enough all the same even if I could've / should've pushed harder, 1:42:04, 42nd out of 108.

KILMOREAC · 03-09-2012 10:11am

The next race coming up in Wexford is our little 10k, details here http://kilmoreathletics.com/index.php/2012. You can book on-line or on the day. Full range of prizes for categories and teams. If are unsure you are up to running the full distance then why not enter as a walker and jog as much as you can. Our aim for our race is to give back as much as we can to the runners and if we make any profit at all then it goes back in to juvenile athletics in the area.

Running Events in Wexford

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