Wednesday the 3rd of July at 8pm the Coillte 10k Road Race in Dundrum Co Tipperary will be run for the 39th consecutive year by the local Dundrum Club. The race which started out as part of a local long weekend festival which was so popular back in the eighties is still going strong 39 years later.
Online Entries have been flooding in from all corners of the country and beyond over the past few weeks with numbers well over the 200-mark last Sunday evening. Late entries will be taken on the night in the Community Hall but there will be no guarantee of the Souvenir Towel which is only guaranteed to all online entrants.
This year’s official race starter is Liam O’Dwyer. The Rossmore man has been involved with the club since 1965 both as an athlete and volunteer. Liam excelled in all the throwing events, winning many County, Munster, and National medals over the years.
Race HQ is Dundrum Community Hall Eircode E34 EY28 where the club has its athletic facilities. Race numbers can be collected there on the evening of the race. The race HQ is only 200 metres from the start and finish lines. There will be a huge spread of refreshments for everybody in the Community Hall after the race.
For an excellent guided tour of the course road by road Google the Running in Munster Ireland Website.
The race which also incorporates a 5K for juniors (age between13years old on day of race and 19 years or under on 31/12/2024). There are prizes in every category from Senior to over 70 years for both men and women. With the Master categories at the standard five-year intervals from Over 40 years plus. There will be the usual specially Embroidered Souvenir Hand Towel for all online entrants to be collected on the night. For Tipperary athletes there is the added incentive of Tim Crowe Memorial trophy (kindly donated by Dominic Moore) for the first Tipperary athlete to finish the 10k.The present holder is Kevin Moore Dundrum who won the overall race for the third time last year and Tim Crowe for the fourth time.
The club is delighted to have Coillte once again as our main sponsor. Dundrum is surrounded by trees and forest trails for running and walking developed by Coillte over the years. It is appropriate that Coillte are involved with us in the healthy sport of running. The Company’s managed forest trails around Dundrum and indeed around the Country are a haven for people to get out for a bit of fresh air and exercise never more appreciated than during the recent Covid lockdown. The semi-state company has been involved in this race every year since it was set up in 1988, which is appreciated by the Dundrum club.
The planned village of Dundrum from the old Estate era and the two-lap course make it ideal for spectators to view the race and encourage the athletes as the race progresses. One section of the course in the village allows viewing of the race at four different locations by moving only about one hundred meters.
Featured Image: The calm before the storm. The iconic 230 meter finishing straight in Dundrum will be a hive of activity on Wednesday 3rd July for the 39th Annual Coillte 10k road race.