Great old buzz at the John Buckley last night – 900 runners ripping up the Marina and the Centre Park Road behind a high quality field on a beautiful sunny summer’s evening. The JB is quality as well as mass participation – usually the top 50 are under 17 minutes, the top 100 are under 18 minutes and the top 200 are under 20 minutes. You could easily argue that this race is the number one running event in Cork each year.
I picked up the number (a cool one as well, 222) no hassle, warned up with a three-miler down the Monkstown line and then headed into the start line crush. I know 900 is a lot of folks to manage but in fairness, it wouldn’t kill the BHAA to put a few start pens in place – Sub 16, Sub 18, Sub 20, Sub 22 and then the rest. They’re taking in thousands in revenue for the event.
With the crush the start was a real mosh pit, first 250 metres after the gun gimping along with the elbows out and making sure lads don’t cut in front of you. Coming towards the Atlantic Pond it thinned a bit but then a fierce bunchup again at Lee Rowing Club just before the turn. Still, it always seems worse than it is and even though I was puffing hard we came through mile 1 in
6:13. My injury-prone mentality had as priority 1 to get through the race without a hamstring failure, then priority 2 was to get under 20 minutes if I could. That means 6:24 miling so we were good at that first mile post.
There was still fierce bunching on the road as we turned onto Centre Park Road and headed up the long straight towards the city. I was starting to settle now and was passing a lot more than passed me, so there was a fair bit of dodging into gaps still needed. If there can ever be said to be an easier part of a 5km race, this is probably it – first mile is done, you’re in full aerobic mode and there’s still another 5 or 6 minutes of VO2 max before the absolute suffer-fest takes over.
The turn for home at the top of Monahan Road
Towards the end of Centre Park Road I passed a few runners that I wouldn’t expect to be ahead of so that was a good boost and even though you’re over a mile from home it’s a good feeling as you turn onto Monahan Road – that’s the turn for home and I clipped through the 2-mile mark in
6:08. I had a decent cushion now for the sub-20 target. This was as fast as I had run in any race in years (not due to a performance boost – it was also my shortest race in years) so the Monahan Road flew by as I was targeting runners ahead. Around 2.6 miles the pain really kicked in and at this point, no matter how good the buzz, you really do want it to be over. Just approaching the Pairc I was really on fumes and wasn’t moving up or down the field any more. Blessedly, the 3-mile buzz pinged on the watch as we came in off the Monahan Road.
6:07, and the finish was in sight over beyond the corner at the far end of the Astro pitch. Round the bend to see the beautiful sight - the finish clock, a little earlier than I had expected. Brilliant, over the line, stop the watch (
19:09!) and just about stay standing.
A few hand slaps and fist bumps and I eventually found timeout to sup some water with and go for a 2-mile warmdown. Jaysus, the hamstrings were in bits in the first warmdown mile but the second mile was easier alright. Either way, a great night out
