The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
WITH the Saturday morning Parkruns at Illaunmanagh now having been going on for six months, the organisers are looking to get more local people taking part.
“It is going well, but we would still like to have more people. We would normally have around 25-30 people each week and we’re hoping to get more because Shannon is a big town and this is quite close to the Town Centre,” said Rob Stephen, who has been involved in staging the runs since the outset.
“The Clare Sports Partnership are doing one of these couch to 5k things at the moment and at the end of that, in November, they’re aiming to join us then to do the 5k parkrun at the end of it.
“There are about 40 people doing that, so hopefully once that’s done some of those people might be encouraged to participate.”
He feels it’s important that people aren’t put off by the name, and they should know that walkers are as welcome as runners.
“People see the name Parkrun and they think it’s just for runners, they get put off because of that. But in Shannon there’s probably about a third of people who walk, they might bring their dog or a child in a buggy.
“There are people who like to go fast and try and beat their previous time, but for others it’s just a bit of a walk in the morning and we’re trying to get that message across, it’s not really an athletic event, it’s more of an activity and a social event.
“We’re trying to help get people active and out and about. In the research that has been done it’s found that it’s good for you physically and mental. Also, people who volunteer can get a bit of confidence from it.”
The Parkruns provide a chance for people to meet up and talk as well.
“It’s a social thing as well. There’s a core group that’d be there most weeks, there’s a great bunch of volunteers, maybe 30 or 40 people have volunteered over the last six months.
“We’d normally have a cup of coffee afterwards and it’s a nice way to wrap up the morning.”
Parkruns take place around the world, and there have been many international visitors to the Shannon one.
Included in those was a Scottish woman who once completed two in the one day, on separate continents.
“She was a lady from Edinburgh. She contacted us and said she was coming along, said Rob.
“After the Parkrun we go for a cup of coffee at Tea and Tones and she told us she had done it. She had done a Parkrun in Australia in the morning, then she went to Canada, travelled back across the international date line and did one there. She went from the sun of Australia to the snow of Canada!”
Another woman is doing the ‘Fibonacci challenge’ of parkruns, which means she is running Parkruns with the event numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610.
After coming to the inaugural Shannon event, she was back for the 21st one, a few weeks back.
“It’s gas really, we’ve had people coming in from abroad, fly into Shannon, stay in a B&B, maybe visit relations or something like that, then fly back. It’s quite interesting the people you meet,” said Rob.
St Senan’s Rugby Club have been very helpful, he said. “They’ve given us a key so we store our gear there and we can use the toilets there and use their car park as well, that’s really helpful to us.”
He also said that some good work has been done to clear the area close to the route.
“In fairness to the Council they have done a bit of work at the path in Drumgeely, it was in a bad condition around the soccer pitch up near the flats in Drumgeely.
“There were a lot of brambles and stuff growing on the bank, but they recently cut back all of that and they’re finishing the car park near the Crematorium,” said Rob.
Owen Ryan
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked for a number of other regional titles in Limerick, Galway and Cork.
