Carlingford Half Marathon 2014

Green&Red

100m short for the 10k on my Garmin. Not complaining, PB!
Nice route

Blarney92

Had it in at 13.04 miles myself

Great race though- perfect conditions and nice route (albeit the hills for the first few miles were worrying)

PB as well by 5 mins for the half- delighted!!

PaddyOisin

A bit short on my Garmin too but what a great day for it and congratulations to the organisers. For a small community based race it was very well done. A PB by 6 minutes was a big bonus.

Jmcmen

It was a wee bit short but I am not complaining. I really enjoyed it. Fabulous route. I'll be back hopefully

Tarakiwa

Seems like there were a lot of PB's on the day.
This was only my secong HM so no surprise that I got a PB too. 1Hr 37 Mins. More than hapy with that.

I think that the traffic at the start line was a little manic, but the route itself was perfect. The hills were not too steep and the scenery was really beautiful.

All in all ........ I think that I would sign up again for next year!

Firedance

it was my first half marathon so I got a pb too unfortunately my garmin conked at the finish line & didn't save, boo hoo, so will just have to go out and do another one now. Anyway, very well organised I thought, lots of stewards and water stations etc. I would say though it was not a flat course... scenic but not flat!! I'm not sure why they changed the start time so close to the day and then did not start on time anyway, would have been much better to leave it at 10.30 especially for people traveling to it.

Tarakiwa

Firedance wrote: »

it was my first half marathon so I got a pb too unfortunately my garmin conked at the finish line & didn't save, boo hoo, so will just have to go out and do another one now. Anyway, very well organised I thought, lots of stewards and water stations etc. I would say though it was not a flat course... scenic but not flat!! I'm not sure why they changed the start time so close to the day and then did not start on time anyway, would have been much better to leave it at 10.30 especially for people traveling to it.

Congrats on the PB.

I agree about the start time. I got the message that they had rescheduled and were due to start at 10am. I felt a little sorry for the serious athletes who had done their warm up and were ready to go at 10am. They were left waiting, and cooling down, until we eventually got underway.

I was just doing it for fun, and for a very worthwhile charity, so I didn't mind so much - but I did feel sorry for those that were going out to run a seriously quick time.

What I heard from folks who ran previous years, was this this route was far nicer than the usueal one. Maybe they will keep it like this for future years?

Wubble Wubble

Carlingford HM 2014 Race Report


This was my third half marathon, having raced both the Clontarf ones last year. However, I suspected my PB of 1:47 was a bit soft, having done a 10 mile in 1:16 last year. I hadn't been feeling well in the lead up, but eventually (Saturday morning!) decided to make the trip. Arrived shortly before 9 o'clock to a quick and easy registration process. Not sure why the start times kept changing, but at 10 past ten we were off and running.

I deliberately started way back towards the rear of the field, not knowing how long I would last before I had to pack it in, but the start was easier than expected, and even with the steep hills early on, I made smooth progress through the backmarkers. At this stage I tagged on behind a couple of Sperrin Harriers runners who ran a decent pace up the hills, so much so that it transpired I was well ahead of schedule very early.

Turning the sharp left and on the steep downhill, I dropped the Sperrin lads to see if I could improve any further. Just around the right hander at the church I spotted a tall guy in a blue Airtricity marathon top who I'd seen well ahead of me in various races, along with two other lads alongside him. I decided to keep them in sight hoping that this would help me to a good time - I reckoned 1:35 or 1:36 if I could keep it going. The next few miles were easier than expected, as I worked my way past more and more runners on narrow country lanes. It was around mile 8 that the really tough bit started. At this point it felt like my quad was on fire, and although I was still keeping pace behind Airtricity, making the required effort to do so was becoming more and more difficult as the pain increased.

We reached the coast a little after the 9 mile marker, and slowly Airtricity began to disappear into the distance as my pace decreased. Although I was still passing people, the short steep little hill immediately on turning left away from the coast took a lot more out of me than I expected. But all the while I knew I still had a major PB on my hands, provided I could stay on my feet!

The last 2 miles after recrossing the Dundalk road should have given some extra momentum, but if anything I got even slower. The metre numbers on the road seemed to take ever longer to come up, and I wasn't passing people any more; a few people went past me in the last mile, where a major pain in my side added to the discomfort. Eventually the finish came into view, and even trundling over the line as slowly as I did, I still managed to bag what turned out to be a PB of almost 11 minutes with a 1:37:07 chip time, and let out a big "YES!!" just after going through. It was (and remains) a great feeling, making the trip to sunny Carlingford a more than worthwhile one. Hopefully next year I can return and try to improve further. Well done to all who took part and helped out on the day.