Raheny 5, Jan 29 2023

Signed up this morning. My favourite race of the year.

Heading up to this on Sunday for the first time.

Wondering where is the best place to get parking?

Haven’t signed up but tempted today . Do numbers get posted or am I too late ?

Thanks - would you have to be there a long time before the start of the race ?

Is there a bag drop area?

Excellent , much appreciated

Signed up on a whim there.

I've heard good things about it as an event, and haven't run a race since the 2018 marathon, so wanna fix that.

It won't be a pretty performance.

Surprised it was possible to pick up an entry so late, would have assumed a sell out.

Can't wait for it.

Anyone else think they got the distance wrong again? Strava says it was 5.24 miles on my phone, apple watch said 8.15km(which tends to be very accurate).

I saw a lot of times on Twitter with the distance and they were all over the distance too.

how hard can it be to get the distance right?

It definitely wasn’t wrong. My watch clocked 8.11km. Remember 5 miles is 8.05km so 60 metres extra is pretty accurate given all the turns on the course. The watch is always going to show a small bit more due to not taking the perfect racing line. I’d say it was checked 10 times this year after what happened last year

Loved this race! GPS was showing 8.03 for me so almost perfect race line.

usual carnage at the start. The issue over first 2km is generally people too far up the starting area.

very well organised and enjoyable with great support on course

Managed to spot myself here, from the final vantage point. Visual confirmation that I have work to do!

About 3 minutes off my PB, but I've not been at much over the last 18 months, so I'm really happy with the result I got, it was slightly better than I expected.

8.16km was the distance on my Garmin. But I was a decent distance away from a true racing line.

Great event, standard congestion for the first 1km or 2km, but didn't do me too much damage, and I tried ensure I didn't do anyone damage in turn.

Serious goodie bag, fair play to the organisers.

Well done everyone yesterday, looked like about 3,700 finishers. always plenty no-shows as there’s no sellout number (apparently Pat Hooper used to joke that he’d gladly take your money at 3:15 😀).

standard congestion at the start, it’s probably harder in a 5mile to get slower runners to know their finishing times, but for sure there were plenty runners at the very front who get run over in that open km - also not helped by the usual few neighbours who won’t move their cars off the road.

I checked some of the Strava distances for lads who were well within the top 50 finishers and all seemed to measure around 8.13/15, same as me, so I’m not sure it’s congestion related. Indeed I couldn’t find one runner with anything close to 8.05. As others have said, 80-100m is within 1% margin of error, and there was some woodland around mile 4 where I know my watch pace was miles off.

a PB and sets things up nicely for the year

Such a great atmosphere of a race - seriously if you haven't run it before you should give it a go!! Plenty of supportive marshals out on course, didn't feel to me like there were as many spectators even though the weather was good. I was barely able to carry the goody bag after 😋 (which my son commandeered when I got home!).

I do think it felt very congested for most of the route. I've ran it 5 times so I know what to expect in the first few km. I'd never been accidently elbowed or done it myself or clipped people's heels as much (sorry!!). I do get that the start area is probably part of the atmosphere of the event but it's very hard to place yourself. I'm just over 5 foot so I can't really see over the crowds and had no idea if I was too far forward, too far back or just right. I do think they should have markers or signs up to allow people to place themselves a bit better. Naturally you will have people not knowing where to start or being too optimistic but it might just make it a bit easier. But again sure that's part of the appeal of this race is the craziness of it all!!

Be back again next year! 😁

That’s great to know about the cars, thanks 👍. I’ve often wondered over the years how it’s only a couple of cars and indeed yesterday a few minibuses too. Most runners well used to it and roaring ‘CAR!’ on approach.

Impaling yourself into the back of a Peugeot isn’t a good day :)

My first time doing this race yesterday - given I have been posting in here for well over 10 years and over that time I have done over 10 marathons and many many other races AND for 2 years I lived in Clontarf down the road its amazing I never did it before. So glad to have checked it off the list.

I'm older, fatter, and slower than before, so I started about 75% of the way down the field, with only walkers and sundries behind be. But still a bit congested over the first mile or two. But not as bad as I expected :)

Agreed, one of the better races. Last ran it in 2009 so not sure when they changed from staying outside the park along the coast road and then back up Watermill Rd. The newer route using the internal paths of the park very successfully reduces the impact on the main roads in the area.

And I achieved a 5 Mile PB by a few seconds too.

just throwing it out there, and I know it’s tradition - drop the commemorative plaque, or change it to a medal.

it goes in the bin every year, and I know that’s where many others go too.

All I want from a race at the end is a bottle of water. Maybe a banana.

Everything else is nonsense.

Except the bib, I keep them as souvenirs.

A wise man told me recently he was planning on wallpapering a room with them. Might do the same.

I’m the same, I enter loads of races without medals, but I still have every bib from every single race, with the times wrote on them somewhere if they were notable