This year the GCH mens Track and Field team finds itself competing against the top clubs in the country in the Premier Division of the National League. This is a great opportunity to showcase the talent in our club and showcase we will!

In recent years the National league has been an opportunity for our Junior athlete to tog out side by side with the seniors to help our club team to victory. Without the help of our fantastic juniors, we'd never have been promoted last year.

After a successful race last year St Endas will again host a 4x1 mile mixed terrain relay. Prizes will be awared to the first placed team of 'athletes' from the same workplace, as well as: an overall winning team; 1st womens, and 1st mixed team. Excellent prizes have been donated by Ocean Fitness, The Gourmet tart Co. and mile 20 running store. If you are doing the 5km series the Thursday evening race will give you a chance to sharpen up before your next 5km.

The outdoor track season is finally upon us. A few GCH athletes decided to have their opening race at the Leevale track open today at Cork IT. It was a wet, hail stone, sunny and windy day all rolled into one. The wind made for difficult running being measured at +3.6 at one stage. This did not deter our athletes who came away with prizes and pbs.

First up was Caoimhe Daniels in the 800m. Caoimhe had a solid first race running a pb of 2.28.73. I suspect this pb will only last until she runs 800m again. Brendan Glynn ran in the men's 800m.

Thanks to GCH's on-the-spot reporter Jane Walsh for filing the following race-report for Sunday's road-racing extravaganza in Connemara. She also supplies a link away to a Facebook page containing photos of some GCH athletes in action and there is a small number of photos uploaded to our own photo-gallery at:

http://www.galwaycityharriers.com/albums/connemarathon-2012

Once again, well done to all involved!

This year’s Connemara Marathon events (Ultra-marathon, Marathon and Half Marathon) saw over 3,000 runners take to the hills in beautiful spring sunshine. Galway City Harriers were well represented with runners in both the Marathon and Half Marathon.

GCH's Jane Walsh has compiled the following race-report from last Sunday's Craughwell 10 mile road-race. To echo her sentiments, many thanks to all at Craughwell AC for serving up another cracking road-race. Well done to all participants and a special congratulations to GCH athletes throughout the field for performing with such distinction. Take it away Jane...

The morning of this year’s Craughwell 10 dawned in what were absolutely perfect running conditions, with a clear sky, lots of sunshine and little or no wind. No excuses then....

Colm Ó Máille was GCH's sole-representative in what was advertised as Ireland's first-ever barefoot road-race in Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo earlier today. While many competitors choose to run either the 5K/10K course options staged over the regular road-surface in Vibram Fivefingers or other such minimalist footwear, Colm was one of those who covered the 5K route in his actual bare feet. As the attached picture taken at the finish-line shows, he survived the ordeal - hardy lad!

Barefoot running is becoming increasingly popular so it will be interesting to see if this particular event establishes itself on the annual road-racing calendar. Well done to all involved today for staging such a novel race.

Update: loads of photos on the event's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/AmphibianKingMaree.8km.
Thanks to GCH's Jane Walsh for producing the race-report below (including photographs) covering last Sunday's race in Maree. Congratulations to male and female race-winners Matt Bidwell and Anne Moran respectively, as well as the many GCH prize-winners down through the various categories.

Full results can be obtained from the following link: Precision Timing.

This year’s Maree 8k saw over 200 participants take to the road in what were near perfect race conditions. There was little or no wind and, after a light shower beforehand the rain stopped, and the sun even came out just as the last competitors crossed the finish line.

A healthy number of GCH athletes enjoyed a great day's racing at Tuam on Sunday last. Tuam AC have been very innovative with course layout over the past couple of years for their leg of the Galway 5K series, but they surpassed themselves this time around with their newly configured one-lap 8K circuit for their own annual road-race.

An occasional series - the personal musings of a novice runner.

There are many accessible races around the half-marathon distance at this time of year which serve as suitable tune-ups for an autumn marathon. As such, choosing the 15KM Warrior's Run in Strandhill, Co. Sligo (part of the long running Warrior's Festival)
may seem a strange option for such a purpose. However, many athletes do actually run this part-road/part mountain race for the exact purpose of a pre-marathon workout and this year, I too was among that number.