With thanks to Siobhan Campbell, Fit4Life member and coach, for this great report. Congrats Siobhan.

 

 

I have been a member of Fit4Life for over 4 years now and have taken

part in quite a few races over that time.  I just recently realised that

all of these were in either Meath or Dublin.  It was now time to tackle

one in my home county of Donegal and I got the chance to do just that

on Sunday.  The North West 10K fun run and walk was taking place in

Letterkenny and having lived there I knew that it would be a wee bit

hilly! But I would tackle it the same way as any run, one step at a

time.

There was a field of almost 2000 taking part. While there

was a strong competitive group including Maria McCambridge and husband

Gary Crossan, a Letterkenny native, the emphasis was really on the fun

running element. The weather was perfect, with just a few drops as the

race started, Donegal speak for “it started to rain!” This didn’t dampen

the enthusiasm of those taking part or the strong local support lining

the streets.

Just before the 4 K mark came the first challenge, a

km long hill. At the top a welcome water station (3 in total) and a

view of my old house before a very steep downhill. This was almost

harder than the climb as the rain was making the surface very greasy. It

was great to get back to a flat surface and see family at the 6K mark.

And then for the second big hill, up through the town and on to Main

Street in the shadow of St Eunans Cathedral. The last few Ks looped back

to the community centre where a DJ was welcoming people with a few

tunes and requests.

This was a really well organised and yet

very easy going event with loads of parking and easy access. There was

plenty of water, fruit and bars at the end and a bright and well fitting

tee shirt! The proceeds of the event go to 2 local charities each year

which I thought was very decent. Would I do this race again? I would,

sure what else would you be doing on a bank holiday weekend!