Introduction

On Saturday April 29th 2017 I made my parkrun debut at Ballincollig parkrun. Julie and I were dating at the time (we’re now married with one child). In 2016 Julie came with me to the Dublin Marathon and she caught the positivity bug straight away. So much so she entered the entire the Dublin Marathon Race Series in 2017. I still remember her excitement when she told me she had entered. The delight at taking on this challenge and the anticipation of adventure.

My opening pitch to Julie on all things marathon couldn’t have been worse. The 2016 Cork Marathon was a catastrophe for me. The day was an inferno, the half marathon went the wrong way and ran against the marathon field. If that wasn’t enough whilst I was waiting for the bus back to the park and ride my abdominal muscles cramped and I ended up writhing in pain on the footpath outside of Connolly Hall. I’m amazed Julie kept me around after witnessing that shocking display of weakness. The Dublin Marathon four months later was completely different. Superbly organised and growing in confidence as the 4th largest marathon in European the Dublin Marathon appealed directly to Julie’s ambition. All that display of living a full life added to me finishing a marathon with a smile rather than writhing around the floor had Julie convinced she had to do this.

That first parkrun in April 2017 was the start of our training program. The run we came to know as long run into parkrun. It took us two years to get involved regularly at a parkrun (Glen River). That would prove to be one of our greatest adventures.

That first parkrun coincided with a VHI visit. I can’t remember why this giant shoe was there but we got a photo in it and then jogged home.

Since parkrun into long run we’ve had a few memorable experiences at Ballincollig parkrun. We were there for the last New Years Day Double in 2020. For those who don’t know what this was. On New Years Day parkrun allowed events to offset their usual parkrun time and allowed participants to take part in two events back to back. Ballincollig kicked off at 9.30 am and then Glen River went ahead at 11.00 am. I remember the optimism that New Years morning of 2020. I joked about the beginning of the roaring 20s. 90 days later we were all at home dealing with the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021 on Christmas Eve my sister suggested we go to Ballincollig parkrun. In truth I was after a terrible day. The pandemic year had caught up with me and I’d had a terrible row with sister earlier that day. Christmas morning at Ballincollig parkrun turned out to be one of the most hilarious results ever when my sister Shirley was told she finished second on her parkrun debut. We burst our hearts laughing. We were all very much hungover from the night before. The results had gone ascue.

Course

Ballincollig parkrun is classic two lap marked with kilometer posts. You begin in the middle of the park and run west flat and straight for almost the first kilometer. Next up you’ll hang a left around the pitch then right as you take the center walkway across the pitch into a slight right where you’ll run probably the most beautiful part of the course past the rushing river and into the trees. Fair warn the terrain gets a little rough here. Penultimately you will cross a narrow metal plated bridge before emerging about 400 meters east of the finish line. Loop around a second time then make the most of that sprint finish.

Stroller safe

Julie and I both took Edward in the basonette around Ballincollig. You will travel on gravel and the forest part can be a little mucky but otherwise it’s a lovely spot to take the baby for a stroll in the buggy.

Live a Little

I’m going to highlight one person whom I believe everyone should meet at Ballincollig parkrun. His name is Graham he walks, jogs, volunteers, photographs and encourages everyone as he goes around. I’ve never found the guy in bad form and he’s consistently at running events all over the country. He has an eye for a how a race will emerge. Watch out for him and say hello.

Controversy from HQ

At the time of publishing this blog post (Feb 2024) parkrun had just removed the course records and age record results from their websites. This caused quite a stir. I listened to an entire section on Newstalk radio (Ireland National Radio Station) where the discussion centered around a gender debate. The move to remove the statistics was seen as a dodge by parkrun, a sort of we don’t need to worry about gender because we can just delete the records or kick the can down the road. Many sporting organisations are wrestling with this issue. They are however professional organisations. The parkrun I know is volunteer led and you can bet it will be us volunteers answering awkward questions on this. Indeed at Ballincollig on Feb 10th 2024 I reassured people that it is still ok to run fast. Which as ridiculous as it sounds actually happened.

After much digging I managed to get a hold of the memo from parkrun. Apparently the intention to remove the records was leaked and the original plan was for parkrun HQ to softly explain their reasoning.

I will be clear I don’t care what gender you identify as. I feel parkrun is there for you if you want to particpate. Many moons ago I was the University College Cork boxing Captain and I remember walking back to campus with one of the lads after a night out. I asked him how he fared with the women this evening. I knew we both had no luck but none the less I thought we could laugh about it. Hesistantly my friend told me he preferred men and then jumped away in fear. It took me a few steps to realise he was behind me with his hands guarding his face. I stupidly turned seeing his hands up and asked if he had got something in his eye. Turns out he was terrified I’d beat him up. We laughed about it years later but at the time I thought my god I must be projecting something that says down with this sort of thing. Since then I’ve tried where I can to be as inclusive in my activities. Is that inclusive mindset reflected in the parkrun records probably not. I think parkrun are a world leading participation body and they need to set the standard not duck or cop out when it comes to this. I don’t understand gender identification completely but I know we have people in our society who identify differently. The gender division of simply male and female has evolved. The stats probably need to reflect that in someway. It’s unlikely to be perfect but I feel we need to try and engage.

I don’t know why parkrun are pointing at course records as a barrier to particpation. Most participants I know don’t care about those records. If anything my experience from trying to get my mother involved in parkrun involved explaining that the average time is not what is expected of every participant. I do find with controversies like this parkrun seems to have lost focus on it’s everyday participant. I worked in Sport and Exercise for 12 years and after a certain amount of time offering lifestyle and physical activity programs I realised that you reach the people who have no interest in being active. You can offer them free everything but they don’t want it. I think parkrun is approaching this point. The people who want to be there and run 5k weekly are coming in droves. The people who don’t want to be there are who parkrun are expending huge resources to engage with and I’m not expecting a large return any time soon. The best parkrun can do is be available but we need to respect people who say no to participating as well and stop annoying them.

Volunteers

Despite attending Ballincollig quite a bit I’ve never volunteered there which is mad considering several of their Run Directors became stalwart volunteers and friends at Glen River and Tramore Valley. We would have been lost without their guidance when we started out and then restarted. If you would like to volunteer please email ballincollig@parkrun.com

Conclusion

The hidden beauty of Ballincollig is how much of Cork city’s parkrun history flows from it. It became the main parkrun destination after Tramore Valley was shut down in 2016. I imagine the disappointment was huge back then. And yet like the bloom in Ballincollig park the parkrun grew and then supported Glen River. When it came time to resurrect Tramore Valley I couldn’t help but notice regular Ballincollig runners and volunteers lifting up another parkrun.

Quote of the Week

‘Kaizen’ is Japanese for resisting the plateau of arrested development. It’s literal translation is: continuous improvement.