We are a little put out this morning to discover that Facebook are retiring Facebook Notes. This may not mean a lot to most of you but it has been the home of the River Valley parkrun run report for a number of years.
We had to make a decision this morning either to return to using the official parkrun platform of Wordpress or find a new home.
We struggle a lot with Wordpress which is really great for a quick note but it is not really up to supporting writing 2000 words with supporting images that the RV run report often reaches.
We have, at least, temporarily moved home to Blogger. As a result the run report may look a little different this morning so do bear with us as we get through this migration.
The Women's Mini Marathon
This week we have another guest piece and this time it is from Pete's daughter Zoë.
Depending on what facebook groups you are on every year there are two questions asked about the Women’s Mini Marathon:
Why is the mini marathon called a ‘mini marathon’ and not just known as a 10k race?
Why is it a women only event?
Both questions are open to much discussion and even anger every year.
In order to answer these two questions effectively you have to go back as far as the 1928 Olympics. At this time the longest distance event for women was 800 metres. After a hotly contested race where the first three women ran a competitive race and horrified spectators, officials and the media alike. The 800 metre race was subsequently pulled as an event from the Olympics. It did not return until 1960.
Why is this relevant to the current mini marathon? Well because it was believed women were not capable of running more than 800 metres, and they certainly were not capable of running a distance event such as a marathon. Kathrine Switzer challenged this idea in 1967 when she was the first woman to officially run a Marathon. (Roberta Bingay previously ran Boston Marathon unofficially). Until then nobody believed a woman could run a marathon.
Kathrine became an ambassador for women’s running and lobbied to get a women’s marathon event included in the Olympics. In order to get an event to be added to the Olympics, it must be practiced in at least 25 countries and on 3 continents. And so the challenge began.
How does a person convince women they can run a marathon when previously it was thought a woman would grow a moustache if she ran this far? You convince her she can run a 10k. And so Kathrine Switzer began a campaign to get women out running. She travelled to many countries and arranged women’s only 10k races. In 1972, CrazyLegs Shaving Gel wished to hold a women’s only marathon event in New York. However it was felt there were not enough women to hold such a race. It was suggested a 6 mile race (10k) would be a better option. To promote the CrazyLegs Shaving Gel, women were encouraged to wear mini skirts to run the race. In 1972 78 women lined up to run and it was considered a good turnout. And so the Women’s Mini Marathon was born!
In order to have the 10,000 metres added as a women’s event to the Olympics it was necessary to have events such as the one in New York. Events such as this were held worldwide.
The Dublin Women’s Mini Marathon was first held in 1983 when 9,000 women took part. Since then it has been held every year. 2014 saw a record attendance when 41,006 women took part. The Dublin Mini Marathon is the largest female event of its kind in the world.
Oh and for those who are wondering there have been numerous Men’s Mini Marathon events over the years – but none which have garnered the same interest as the Women’s event.
~Zoë
Some of our own ladies from the WMM in 2008.
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Siobhan and Mammy with others in 2008
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River Valley, Swords to be officially twinned with Tralee
Looks like Tralee are yet again going to take the crown and the title 5 weeks in a row! We can only anxiously wait until the close tonight to see the result. There may be some truth to the rumour that a certain junior parkrun event director was actively trying to recruit the River Valley Rangers U12's as they were out running yesterday. There may also be some truth to the rumour that Andy was stopping people running in the park and enquiring as to their parkrun status. He also considered setting up a stand in the park to recruit more people. And they say Pete is the competitive one!!!
We are delighted to see so many people getting out this week particularly the 10 first timers. Now keep it up folks. We will get them eventually!!
The Results
There is one particular call-out this week and that is to Stephen Reid who we think was the first person to complete 50 (not) parkruns. He actually had them done last Sunday but it was too late for the run report. Well done Stephen, some man for one man!
Another big call out is Cecile getting not only a new PB with a sub-20 time but also taking the first finisher spot. Well done Cecile.
First male this week was Dave Gargan and he was closely followed by Sigita as second female finisher.
First junior was Caoimhe with Sadhbh as second finisher. It must be the Women's mini-marathon inspiring them all but all our juniors this week are female. Well done ladies!
Big shout out to the 10 first timers, Liam O'Connor, Tara McFadden, Noel Wilson, Leah Ward, Daniela Turrini, Wendy McLoughlin, Christy Beasley, Rosalind Jones, Fiona O'Reilly and Catherine Brogan.
Well done to all of you. Now that you did the first one keep it up.
A particular well done to Christy who not only did it once but twice and Fiona who went mad altogether and completed four runs!
We also have to give a big shout out to our PB's this week who were
Cecile OLLAGNIER
Sinead DAVY
Mark GRAHAM
Una O'RIORDAN
Ann PATTON
Mark GREEN
Teresa CARROLL
Gerard LEAVY
David WALSHE
Catherine ENGLISH
Michelle WALSH
Caoimhe MCCARTHY
From our Twin
In Tralee they had 4 first timers (are they running out of people?). James Daley was first finisher with a time time of 17 minutes. When we are able to parkrun tourist again remind us to bring Sean Carrick with us when we go to Tralee 😂. Mary Fitzsimons was first female and both James and Mary completed their runs with new PB's. In total Tralee had no less than 16 PB's.
Their first junior was Oisin who was also their second finisher. Looks like they have a Luke Murphy on their hands. Great to see the juniors putting in great times.
The Strava Table
The competition for total distance is hotting up with Ann-Marie Gargan putting in 66km this week to take the top spot. The longest individual run was Bryan Lynch with 33.8km. Phenomenal running by Bryan who also set the fastest pace with 4:48/km.
Big shout out to Ross who told us he was going out for a 27km run but we had doubts when he said he was going over the hill of Howth. Yet there it is on his
Strava he did indeed take on the hill of Howth and as a result took the top spot for elevation gained with 550m.
Now the keen eyed among you will know that Howth is not 550m. So no, Ross did not add in some dodgy metres somewhere! Ross ran Howth twice in one day! And no, the dog was not dragging him along at the time!
The Grove Show
Listening back also puts the playlist up the Mixcloud charts. This week sees some heavy representation from Nirvana! Give it an aul listen when you are kicking back and relaxing during the week.
The Virtual Coffee
We had a great laugh this week and some of the topics included Phd's in Trinity, height restrictions in the Garda Siochana, Brian's hatred of Ukuleles and what are we all going to dress up as for Halloween.
We have a small, regular group now who take part in the virtual coffee but anyone is welcome and we are always keen to see new faces. Audrey was missed this week as she was off completing her WMM 10k and earning that medal. Well done Audrey.
We would also give a shout out to Lorraine who was the first to post her 10k completed on the Whatsapp group. We think Lorraine must have been in the starting blocks waiting to go once Friday morning arrived and the official start of the 10 days of the Women's Mini Marathon.
............and finally
Going to wrap up for this week. Do enjoy yourself this week. Do keep up the fantastic efforts to chase Tralee. Keep posting those runs/walks/jogs. Stay Active!
Remember it is all about staying active and sane in these strange times.
Now we are off to catch up on all the WhatsApp messages that are flying in about people getting dizzy watching the rather unusual London marathon!
Have a great week!!!
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