Author: traleerunning

It is with great relief that BTR welcomed back to training our members on Tuesday night (30/06/20). Meeting in the unfamiliar surroundings of the Brandon Car Park as the Aqua Dome remains closed (and we wish our friends there a speedy and successful return to business) the crew assembled for a brief run out the St Pat’s GAA club and back to ease us back into activity after the months of lock down. It was a happy and chatty reunion as people caught up with each-other’s news from the intervening months. It was a reunion tinged with sadness though as it was our first evening’s training following the death of club stalwart Conor Cusack and an impeccably observed minutes silence was lead by club chairperson JJ O’Connell.

The couch to 5k group, whose programme was so cruelly cut short at the very last moment, also returned to training and it was a delight to see so many turned out to get their fitness goals back on track.

Social distancing, hand hygiene and good cough and sneezing etiquette continue to be essential and we ask everyone to be vigilante in their adherence to this. Also pleas be extra cognizant of other road and foot-path users giving people plenty of space when passing them. Everyone should have received their return to training questionnaires by now and if you haven’t done so already, please get it back to club secretary Rose Brosnan ASAP at info@borntorun.ie

It’s fantastic to have the club back in action after this very difficult time and hopefully we can look forward to a long period of uninterrupted running with our wonderful friends and club-mates.

Kind, Caring, Positive, Happy, Inspirational, Determined. Just some of the many words used in the last few days to describe our good friend Conor.

In all the lovely tributes to Conor, one word has been used more than others and that word is Gentleman. If you check its definition in a dictionary it will tell you that a Gentleman is a man who is of good family, civilised, educated, sensitive and well-mannered…how perfectly does that describe our friend!

The Cusack coat of arms is predominantly Blue & Yellow and these colours signify loyalty, truth and generosity and Conor certainly lived up to his family morals. Conor was generous with his time and gave of himself so much, from his tireless fundraising for charities close to his heart, to mentoring the beginners who joined our Born to Run family over the years. He gave of himself and never sought anything in return, only companionship and company, along the road.

Conor was a proud person. He was immensely proud of his hometown and particularly proud that he was a Kerryman and when his travels took him out foreign, he wore the green of Ireland with great pride.

Conor was a determined person. Joining the Born to Run Couch to 5k program in 2013 he had a goal and nothing was going to stop him reaching it. And in Clonakilty in 2018 an emotional Conor crossed the finish line to complete his 100th marathon. What he achieved in those intervening years was nothing short of amazing.

Over the years, Conor would let us know through Social media that he had ‘lost’ his running mojo but we all knew it was only ‘misplaced’ and he would be back out on the roads in no time.

Conor’s friendship and kindness spread far and wide, like ripples on a pond. We, his friends, felt those ripples and will continue to feel them for a long time to come.

“Conor, you touched so many of our lives and because of that, you occupy a space in all our hearts that will be forever filled with great times, great memories and great stories, and as long as we hold you in our hearts, you will never be dead.”

To finish, Conor would often post a goodnight message on Facebook before he’d go to sleep for the night, sometimes it was a positive message, other times a beautiful sunset photo taken from his home. On June 9th Conor said goodnight to his many many friends with these words… “At the end of the night, before you close your eyes, be content with what you’ve done and be proud of who you are” Goodnight Conor, know that we are all very proud of you and we will miss you greatly.

With the ongoing unwinding of lock-down restrictions athletes may now train in groups of 15 or less. Remember the same social distancing rules of 2 meters apply and hand washing and other hygiene guidelines continue to be in place.

We hope you all continue to stay fit and safe and we’re looking forward to returning to full training very shortly.

Born to Run is delighted to announce that in accordance with specific government guidelines all members can return to limited group activity from Monday 18th May.

This is a very welcome development and I’m sure you all are excited to be getting away from the weeks of solo runs and reconnecting with other club members.

However official club training remains suspended and members are responsible for insuring they adhere to government guidelines when partaking these activities. Key parameters that must be met on Phase 1 of the Government road-map are;

People can engage in outdoor sporting and fitness activities, either individually or in very small groups (maximum 4 people), where social distancing can be maintained and where there is no contact.

Training must only take place within a 5k radius of the members home.

Remember to avoid personal contact so no hand-shaking, hugging high-fives and so forth.

You should stay at home if you: Have been in contact with someone with COVID-19 in the last 14 days, have been overseas in the last 14 days, have flu-like symptoms or are feeling unwell.

Some useful guidelines are provided here by Athletics Ireland, and by government here, we would encourage you to read them.

We know it’s though these days but everyone is in this together by being apart and as a club we’ll come back stronger than ever when this is all over. Until then be safe and run strong.

Born to Run Tralee Marathon Club in light of recent Government announcements will suspend training until the at least the 29th March

It has been a difficult decision, but our first thought is to protect the health of our runners. We understand that this decision will result in inconvenience and disappointment to our many runners, however, we are sure that all will understand that the decision is taken in the best interests, not just of our runners, but of the wider community.

People should follow the advice that has been provided by the appropriate agencies regarding the best way to minimise the risks to infection as well as what you should do if you feel unwell and are developing symptoms. This can be found in greater detail within the links below.

https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/coronavirus/coronavirus.html

https://www.gov.ie/…/472f64-covid-19-coronavirus-guidance-…/

Unfortunately due to ongoing developments in the Corona virus (Covid 19) situation, and in light of this mornings directives from the government the difficult decision to postpone this years Couch to 5k graduation had to be taken. We deeply regret any disappointment caused and the lateness of the decision but in the interest of public health we felt it was the correct one to make. Please keep in contact with our social media pages on Facebook and here for updates as they develop.

We will let you know as soon as we do when this event will go ahead and we thank you for your understanding at this difficult time.

In the meantime we would encourage you all to keep your training going and we hope you all feel proud of your progress to date. It’s been our pleasure to have you all with us over the past 8 weeks. Hopefully when this crises passes we will be all on the roads together again in the near future.

BORN TO RUN
40 MILER: Registration for this year’s 40 Mile Ultra and Relay event which takes place on July 25th is open at https://www.njuko.net/btr40miler
PARKRUN: Huge congratulations to Noreen Quirke who completed her 150th parkrun last Saturday.COUCH-TO-5K: The 2020 couch-to-5k participants will take part in their graduation run this Thursday, March 12th, from Áras an Phobail at 6.30pm. Well done to all the participants, coaches, training coordinators and the mentors who volunteered their time each night! Just a special note to the graduates to say if you want to keep running, just come long to the Aqua Dome on Tuesdays and Thursday nights at 6.30pm! 10 MILER: Congratulations to Michelle Greaney on hosting a hugely successful 10 Miler and 5k run on Sunday March 1st to raise much-needed funds for charity.  TRAINING: Club nights continue on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6.30pm from the Aqua Dome. New members always welcome. For details of routes and training schedules, check out the Born to Run Facebook page. Anyone who may be out from running at the moment, please join us on Tuesday nights anyway for the cup of tea and a chat.  

All the hard work is nearly over and the finish line is in sight for our hard working couch to 5k novices. It’s not been easy with the weather doing it’s best to put a spanner in the works on an ongoing basis but this group is made of stern stuff and have refused to allow their progress be haulted.

We hope the club will come together on March 12th to see them run their first 5k and complete the programme in style at Aras An Phobail. All finishers will be presented with medals and refreshments well be available afterwards.

Thanks to everyone who took part and to all our mentors who supported our participants. We hope this is only the beginning of many years of running with Born to Run

The rain and hail gave way just in time to see our athletes set off in dry and somewhat sunny conditions for the third running of the Tralee 10 Mile and 5k event. There were numerous PBs and people reached new milestones in terms of distance.

Our own Michelle Greaney organised the event in aid of the palliative care unite and as always put one a wonderful show. The flat fast 5k course was ideal for the speedsters and the 10 Mile course while containing a couple of testing pulls was a fair test for the runners.

Thanks to the Rose Hotel and their staff for hosting us as we recovered post race, the food and drinks were just what was needed to warm us all up again as the temperatures fell once again post race.

Attention now returns to training and preparations for Tralee Harriers Half Marathon and 10k on St. Patrick’s weekend.

Baile Mhuire announced as Charity Partner of 2020 40 Miler Event

Born to Run Tralee Marathon Club are pleased to announce, that Baile Mhuire Day Care Centre is our charity partner for 2020. Baile Mhuire Day Care Centre opened in April 2014 and presently operates 4 days a week; Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdays and Saturday. It is already working at capacity with up to 30 Older People attending per day. Volunteers were instrumental in the establishment of Baile Mhuire back in 1988 and they continue to play a pivotal role in the daily running of the centre. The HSE provide a grant towards the running costs along with Funding from a variety of sources ranging from collections and flag days as well as other events and grants.