(Thanks to Claire Clifford for this report when asked)
Sunday 19th June saw the 3rd annual Castleknock 5km take place, this race is very much a community event and was created by the Doherty family in celebration of the life of their son Rory. Each year it raises much needed funds for a local charity. The nominated charity for 2016 was St Francis Hospice. Sunday morning started out a bit of a ‘soft day’, nice running weather, not too hot, not too cold, plays havoc with my frizzy hair but sure you can’t look perfect at every race! The soft day rapidly turned into Irish monsoon season and by the time we were walked to the start line just outside St Vincent’s Castleknock College we looked like we’d just climbed out of the water in the middle of a triathlon wearing running gear instead of wetsuits! Not deterred by the dismal weather, spirits were high, there was a lot of good natured banter going on while waiting to start. The first part of this race is an absolute dream, there’s a slight incline at the start then a lovely 1.5km descent to the gates of the Phoenix Park near the Strawberry Beds. But as we all know what goes down must go up and the climb starts as soon as you enter the Phoenix Park. I struggle with hills at the best of times but having been out from end April until the start of June due to a bad chest infection and only back training a couple of weeks I knew this was going to be a tough one for me. However, unexpected help was at hand in the form of Minister Leo Varadkar who caught me just at that point and chatted to me up that hill, a perfect distraction. The race then goes through the beautiful grounds of Farmleigh where there’s always great support and a bit of relief for the legs in the form of a gentle descent before heading out of the Park and yes, you guessed it, back up that road that was the lovely downhill at the start! The caretaker from my daughters’ school always volunteers at this race and was marshalling at that gate, he roared at me coming out of the Park “It’s all uphill now Claire”. Thanks for reminding me John! A little further along more welcome support from Fit4Life’s Vivienne who was very strategically placed to cheer us all on over the last couple of hundred metres. Through the gates of Castleknock College, finish line in sight and the speedy Seniors and fitter Fit4Lifers who had finished ahead of me providing encouragement across the line. Despite the hills this is an enjoyable and friendly race, and there were some super times recorded from DAC members, some of whom had run the Dunshaughlin 10k the night before!
Senior’s Somba and Dan, just 12 hours after their respective wins in Dunshaughlin took to the line in Castleknock. Peter was out for the win but this time was beaten into second by home favourite John Coughlan. He finished in a time of 15:38.
Emilia was out to support her colleagues for what was a fantastic cause and sauntered around in almost recovery pace for a time of 21:03.
Margaret finished in 30.30 just minute before Claire!
Well done to all!
Name Time Cat Subcat
Peter Somba 15:38 M2 MS(2)
Emilia Dan 21:03 F5 F40(3)
Margaret Colman O’Reilly 30:30 F122 F40(40)
Claire Clifford 31:26 F136 F40(44)
