All roads lead to Tipperary for Coillte 10K on Wednesday night in Dundrum

This, Wednesday, July 5 at 8pm the Coillte 10k Road Race in Dundrum will be run for the 38th 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 38 years later.
Online entries have been flooding in from all corners of the country and beyond over the past few weeks with numbers heading for the 200-mark last Monday morning.
This year’s official race starter is John Kelly, and it could not have been a more appropriate choice. John been one of the founder members of the club back in 1960 and a top-class sprinter winning County, Munster, and National titles in his day,
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.
For an excellent guided tour of the course road by road Google the Running in Munster Ireland Website.

TIM CROWE MEMORIAL TROPHY
For Tipperary athletes there is the added incentive of the Tim Crowe Memorial trophy (kindly donated by Dominic Moore) for the fastest Tipperary athlete to finish the 10k.
Since this trophy was introduced in 2010 in memory of an iconic athlete who hailed from Dundrum it has been won by Danny Smith Ballynonty five times, Christopher Bracken Thurles Crokes once, David Mansfield Clonmel twice, Kevin Moore Dundrum three times, Sergiu Ciobanu Clonliffe Harriers once and present holder Evan Fitzgerald Clonmel. A cracking Tipperary County scoring six if you had all of them togged out together.
The race which also incorporates a 5K for juniors (age between13years old on day of race and19 years or under on 31/12/2023) one lap ran with the 10k two lapper.
The race has 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, with a specially Embroidered Souvenir Hand Towel for all online entrants.
This year the club has once again linked up with Niall O’Sullivan’s Premier Timing Systems for entries and result data to manage the ever-increasing numbers of runners every year.
Entries are online via the link https://eventmaster.ie/ event/w752IPySRQ.
The club would appreciate it if participants could enter at least a week or two before the race date. Early entry gives the organizers an idea of the number of embroidered dated towels required, plus the food requirements for the big spread afterwards. Also, it is a big help to Niall for him to get working on his system early.

COILLTE SPONSORSHIP GOES BACK TO 1988
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 about one hundred meters.

MEN'S RECORD STANDS SINCE 1997
The race will be run over the usual flat two lap circuit with the lap consisting of a series of five straights where one or two records are broken every year. Tanzanian international Daniel Gidumbanda incredible time of 29:45 course record for the 10k has stood since 1997 which is now over a quarter of a century ago.
Irish Olympian Lizzie Lee Leevale smashed the women’s course record in 2021 when running a super 33:45 for the classic distance.
Indeed, Lizzie’s great run that year and Angela McCann Clonmel super run and time of 37:21 in the same race set two National Irish Records for Over 40 and Over 50 women respectively. A tremendous achievement by the two women and a confirmation of the two-lapper circuit been a fast course.