The ‘Ballycotton 5′ is steeped in tradition and with winners throughout the years such as Liam O’ Brien, Donie Walsh, Ray Treacy and Marcus O’ Sullivan, to name a few, I was looking forward to testing myself in this historic race.

Throughout the years my season would usually be finished by the end of August so this race wouldn’t have been in the plan but this year was different and it was falling the perfect time before the Berlin Marathon on the 27th September.

A dry sunny evening with a strong sea breeze were the conditions we faced last Thursday evening. Over 550 started and with a fairly flat first mile, I clocked my second fastest mile of the evening at 4.45. The second mile was similar at 4.49. Tough pulls in the third mile meant my pace dropped to a 5.06 mile but I was feeling good so drove on and was able to pick the pace up to a 4.45 for the fourth mile. The last mile although it had a tough drag at the end I managed to clock my fastest mile of the night at 4.41 and finished strong. My finishing time was 24.10, the fastest time in over 20 years on this course.

This was a great final race to do before the taper for Berlin begins next week. I got to test out my race kit that I will be using for the marathon and took my new black reflect Nike Air Zoom Streak 5 for a second run before they will be put away for Berlin.

I had an enjoyable evening down in Ballycotton and it certainly is nice to be now part of the Ballycotton tradition.