Clonakilty Marathon

opus

Collected a few numbers (including my own) last night so all ready now.

Best of luck to everyone tomorrow!

slingerz

Scannells is usually a good spot in Clon Aimman

Collected my pack today cold is lifting just the slightest touch left hanging in there

wonderboysam

race day baby! good luck all

wonderboysam

Damn that was tough! (Half)

slingerz

I agree the half was ridiculously tough!!! Those hills were mad altogether especially the first one.

Lonely enough route too not much support around the place

wonderboysam

yea and the terrain in parts was killer!

TFBubendorfer

wonderboysam wrote: »

Damn that was tough! (Half)

The full wasn't all that easy either

ger664

At least the course lived up to its seanic billing

Irish_rat

Damn that was a tough half, finished 1hr50 a bit dissappointed with the time but the hills were tough.

opus

Had a nice run providing moral support for a friend of mine who was doing only his second marathon. Really nice course I have to say, the good weather helped a lot.

Last year those hills would have killed me but seems the training I did as prep for Comrades have helped a lot.

As an experiment, I didn't take anything apart from water for the run just to see what would happen. The answer was not a lot, no wall or anything like that although it was a slightly slower pace than I'd normally run at.

d7h

For my part I really enjoyed it again. Lovely course but yep it is tough. Wished I had trained more! I would just like to thank all involved in putting it on and clon seems like a great town too

boydkev

Just getting over the aches in my legs, Really enjoyed it though. Happy enough with my 1hr 47mins for my first half. Found the second hill very tough especially with the road being rough.
Great atmosphere in clon at the finish and the black pudding mmmmmmm.
Now to practice my downhill running, People were just flying past me.

edhead

How does Clonakilty rate in difficulty terms to other marathons? Ive only done one other course so im no expert. Any input from more experienced runners?

chavezychavez

Too lazy to rewrite this so I'm using the comment I wrote for the RunningInCork blog site :-)

"This was my third marathon this year and by far the toughest marathon course I have ever done.
The hills were more like mountains and I felt them very much so for the last 4 miles.
Thankfully, I had my years marathon goal times completed from the DCM before this run, so was treating it as a nice run to keep me going before Christmas.
Because of the hills and struggle I went through for last 4 miles, I'd nearly love to justify the pain by saying it was a terrible experience, but conditions were perfect, organisation fantastic, water stops plentiful, steward support to notch and views gorgeous.
All in all, it was a great day. Don't know if I'd use it as the final marathon to my running season again but it's definitely worth a trip at least once. You will really know what it is to earn that fantastic marathon medal."

opus

edhead wrote: »

How does Clonakilty rate in difficulty terms to other marathons? Ive only done one other course so im no expert. Any input from more experienced runners?

Harder cause of the hills than CCM or DCM, not as hard as Connemara would be my thinking.

TFBubendorfer

edhead wrote: »

How does Clonakilty rate in difficulty terms to other marathons? Ive only done one other course so im no expert. Any input from more experienced runners?

I think in difficulty it ranks just behind Dingle. It's probably comparable to Connemara, though I haven't done the marathon in Connemara for 7 years, so maybe others are better able to compare.

Without a shadow of a doubt it's one of the toughest marathons in Ireland, certainly harder than the likes of Dublin or Cork. Having said that, there is no such thing as an easy marathon, and if you can run one you can run any.

I've written a race report btw, in case anyone is interested:

http://rubbishrunner.blogspot.ie/2013/12/run-like-idiot.html

edhead

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

I think in difficulty it ranks just behind Dingle. It's probably comparable to Connemara, though I haven't done the marathon in Connemara for 7 years, so maybe others are better able to compare.

Without a shadow of a doubt it's one of the toughest marathons in Ireland, certainly harder than the likes of Dublin or Cork. Having said that, there is no such thing as an easy marathon, and if you can run one you can run any.

I've written a race report btw, in case anyone is interested:

http://rubbishrunner.blogspot.ie/2013/12/run-like-idiot.html

Thoroughly enjoyed that read. Thank you. Congrats on the 50. Im only 48 behind you!

ThebitterLemon

I've done Conn, Dingle, & Clon.

They are all tough, but the one that sticks out in my recollection as being very tough was the Donegal Mooathon Full.

Maybe I was just particularly unfit that year

TbL

Ron Scott

Any word on course changes this year ? I ran in the Ardfield road race yesterday which takes in a small part of the Clon route and there was some talk afterwards about new courses again this year.

Sparkles2012

I read an article about it recently, it said they have a new start/finish line, a new looped course and a new start time of 8.30am.

Everything is starting from the Quality Hotel, Clonakilty.

chavezychavez

Sparkles2012 wrote: »

I read an article about it recently, it said they have a new start/finish line, a new looped course and a new start time of 8.30am.

Everything is starting from the Quality Hotel, Clonakilty.

You don't have a link to that article do you?

Don't worry about me, I'm gone lazy in my old age, its on the main site.

http://www.runclon.ie/html/course/marathon/full_route.html

slingerz

After doing the half here last year i wont be going back for another cut off it until I have drastically improved fitness and training. Found the hills to be killers altogether and the route lonely enough as I was out on roads on my own at times

Pink11

Hi there,

Just reading through the thread and your blog post was great TFB. Belated congrats on the 50 mark!

I have a lot more research on when/where but after years of running I want to take it to the next level (for me!) and I'd like to get aim for my first marathon before the end of the year. (training has been underway for months now)

So it's apparent this course is difficult and I'm not sure how I feel on the route - you'll have to turn and run back the course you've just ran. This is my first marathon and I'm concerned that will mentally break me. I think I'd need just one big loop where I'm not running back over things. Has anyone any advice on that?

In the FAQs I was concerned to see they only offer water or coke (!?) along the route. Don't know about you guys but don't think I could stomach coke! I've emailed the organisers asking if that will the case for 2015.

Señor Fancy Pants

Pink11 wrote: »

Hi there,

Just reading through the thread and your blog post was great TFB. Belated congrats on the 50 mark!

I have a lot more research on when/where but after years of running I want to take it to the next level (for me!) and I'd like to get aim for my first marathon before the end of the year. (training has been underway for months now)

So it's apparent this course is difficult and I'm not sure how I feel on the route - you'll have to turn and run back the course you've just ran. This is my first marathon and I'm concerned that will mentally break me. I think I'd need just one big loop where I'm not running back over things. Has anyone any advice on that?

In the FAQs I was concerned to see they only offer water or coke (!?) along the route. Don't know about you guys but don't think I could stomach coke! I've emailed the organisers asking if that will the case for 2015.

I did it last year. It's actually not the worst but if route repetition is going to break you then this will definitely break you

Hitting the same inclines is annoying and it always felt like I was running uphill. The refreshment tables were perfectly spaced apart and (I'm not very fit) but you don't need to use each one you come to as another one isn't too far away.

I remember there being water, coke and some sort of sports drinks bring available. I think a few gels, Jaffa cakes and jellies were there too. I did that marathon without taking anything on board. It was a mistake and I'd never do it again but it's still my PB route.

Overall, the weather was great, the route isn't really that bad. You should really give it a go if you want to, forget about the repetition. Best of luck, might see Ya there!

Pink11

Señor Fancy Pants wrote: »

I did it last year. It's actually not the worst but if route repetition is going to break you then this will definitely break you

Hitting the same inclines is annoying and it always felt like I was running uphill. The refreshment tables were perfectly spaced apart and (I'm not very fit) but you don't need to use each one you come to as another one isn't too far away.

I remember there being water, coke and some sort of sports drinks bring available. I think a few gels, Jaffa cakes and jellies were there too. I did that marathon without taking anything on board. It was a mistake and I'd never do it again but it's still my PB route.

Overall, the weather was great, the route isn't really that bad. You should really give it a go if you want to, forget about the repetition. Best of luck, might see Ya there!

Thanks. You've helped me make up my mind!

I'm relived to hear there is some sort of energy drink i.e alternative to coke! on offer along the route!

I also emailed the organizers who sent me a lovely reply saying they are still finalizing the details and will let us know in July. And that they will do everything they can for runners comfort.

Pink11

Got another lovely email from the organizers today who confirmed they are going to look into sourcing energy drinks for the marathon. Great customer service!

Hope some more of you consider this one. I love that it's on in December.

Button_y

The lapped course is not the nicest, crossing the finish line 3 times before getting to cross it at the end was a little disheartening. I intended on having a couple of gels throughout the race, rather than carrying them all I gave them to my family and gave them a rough time I'd be passing by on the laps so they were there to hand them to me. Easier to have your own plan in place rather than depending on the organisers on the day. I did find the coke and a jaffa cake useful on the last lap when I didn't feel like a gel but needed a boost.