Enjoyable racing at Keypoint 5k and goody bags too

The Poolbeg Nature Reserve and Sean Moore Park provided a spectacular setting for the BHAA Dublin City Council 5km on a glorious summer's evening. The race followed the popular Poolbeg parkrun course, with the route slightly modified to remove the hill, creating a fast and flat course along the shores of Dublin Bay. Despite a clash with the England v Argentina match, the event attracted a good turnout, with over 110 runners crossing the finish line, including many familiar faces from the BHAA racing community and also new ones.  Jim Kelly welcomed everyone, including for their first BHAA race the Sanctuary Runners, at the start before sending the field on its way shortly after 7.30 pm. From the opening kilometre, overall winner Jacob Collins established a commanding lead and was never challenged, crossing the finish line in an impressive 16:47. In the women's race, Orna Dignam also produced a dominant performance, taking victory comfortably in a superb time of 18:47. A sincere thank you to everyone who supported the event and congratulations to all the volunteers from Dublin City Council and BHAA whose hard work ensured another successful BHAA race. Your efforts, both before and during the event, are greatly appreciated.

The Dubliners famously sang that Thunder and Lightning is no lark… They were right! Especially when you are up in The Park, not viewing the zoological gardens but marking the course with ominous clouds overhead and thunder rumbling. The thunder rolled, the rain fell but the show went on. 106 athletes completed the annual BHAA 5km Trail Race in Phoenix Park on Tuesday June 9th. For the second year, the Race Promoter was BCMGlobal. The rain just about held off for the duration of the race around the familiar 2-lap trail. So popular is this race, that the resident herd of deer attempted to join in at one stage. In normal circumstances, nothing will stop a runner in a race but on this occasion, the leaders were forced to slow and let the deer carry on their way. What a pity we have no photographs of the encounter, just the word of the lead pack for this. We did not get a chance to interview the deer for their side of the story. With racing done we returned to Race HQ (Civil Service Harriers) for refreshments and prizes. The list of prize winners is available under the Results tab https://members.bhaa.ie/results A sincere thank you to everyone who made this race possible. To OPW for allowing us to use the Phoenix Park. To Civil Service Harriers for the use of their clubhouse and for providing volunteers. To BHAA for making it look easy! Registration, number collection, race set-up, timing, results and clear up, BHAA volunteers produced yet another successful race. Special mention to the volunteers who made it all possible. BHAA members, friends, family colleagues and clubmates stepped up and helped out. I am grateful to you all. Des, Michelle, Majella, Amanda, Ciara B., Ed, Maria, Carolina, Marie-Claire, Ciara Ní B., Valerie, Mick, Deirdre, Frank, Kathleen, Eamonn, Maurice, Colm, Hugh, Mary K., Mary R., Mary P-S, Patricia, Enda, Charlie. Below is a selection of photos from the course. With thanks to Colm Gormley.

St. Anne’s Park provided the perfect setting for the BHAA Dublin City Council 6km on a cool, bright, and breezy morning. The race followed a meandering route around the lower end of the park, offering a mostly flat course with a few gentle hills to test participants’ fitness. Over 130 runners took part, with many participating as part of the Lord Mayor’s 5 Alive Challenge. The race was officially started by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr Ray McAdam. A big thank you to everyone who supported the event, and well done to all the Dublin City Council volunteers who turned out to help on the day.  The men’s race came down to a thrilling sprint finish, with Patrick Joseph MacGabhann narrowly edging out Sean Doran by just one second, finishing in 19:32. Edel McCreery was the first female home, crossing the line in an impressive 22:42. Gerry Flaherty

At the third attempt, Robbie Beggs and his tenacious crew from Central Bank of Ireland staged their Cross-Country race in Jobstown Park, Tallaght on Saturday 14 th March. A cool breeze from the mountains kept temperatures down, but aside from that, running conditions were almost perfect. The course route was as interesting as the park could be made, with a nice incline included for good measure. The winner was Paul Fleming who lead the race from very early on. The first lady home, in 4 th position overall was Laura McDonnell. There were great performances throughout the field, with all runners across the line within 40 minutes. Well done to everyone. When all participants had crossed the line, it was back to the Tallaght Leisure Centre for refreshments and prizes. The male and female winners were presented with commemorative coins as an extra memento of the race. Well done to all of the stewards and volunteers from BHAA and from Central Bank and fair play to Robbie and the team for not giving up and for keeping this race on the BHAA calendar for another year. Photos and footage from the race and the prize-giving can be found on facebook and on Instagram. 

The Spring is sprung,  The grass is riz I wonder where the BHAA is... After the disappointment of recent race cancellations, it was great to be back! We were warmly welcomed at Clonkeen College, Deangrange by an enthusiastic and efficient crew of volunteer muinteoiri and School staff. The mild, sunny weather on race-day was a welcome change after the wet conditions of recent weeks. Surprisingly, the underfoot conditions were fairly dry and the flat, zig-zag course, skirting the playing fields was well grassed with little or no mud and just a few thistles here and there. 81 runners toed the line for the 6k combined race. KPMG’s Conor Burke was an impressive winner in the men’s division, while Niall Sherlock in 2 nd place had the honour of being the 1 st teacher. Sheila Nolan was the 1 st woman home with Vanessa Sallier 2 nd . The facilities were excellent - It was great to get a hot shower after racing, and the sun shone throughout the presentation of prizes. Those of us who missed out on glory were consoled with tea coffee biscuits and copious slices of cake and brack. With luck, we’ll have this super venue for “Teacher’s race “ for many future years. Thanks to Darren Egan, Jim Lynch and all who organised, volunteered and supported. Thank you to Harry Teehan for the photos capturing a great race.

The Race of the Year 2025 was awarded to BCM Global for their 5k trail race in the Phoenix Park. As a first time race organiser, Sinead Lyons (race director) and her team from BCM Global put in a lot of work into the race and it has been duly rewarded. The trophy was presented to Sinead Lyons (BCM Global) by Stephen Naughton, BHAA Chairman.

The prizes and trophies for the BHAA Summer League 2026 were presented at the AGM. There were 30 cash prizes totalling over €1600 for the individual winners of the various categories. The team winners in the leagues were presented with their much sought after trophies by BHAA President Jim Kelly - Men’s team winners were ESB (Mick Quirke accepting) and Women’s team winners were Bank of Ireland (Eamon O’Neill on behalf of Women’s team). 

The BHAA held its 2025 AGM in Sportsco on Monday 26 January 2026. The date of the AGM was changed from December to January to facilitate easier meeting preparations and allow more time for the annual accounts to be completed. This was agreed through a motion at the 2024 AGM. The BHAA financial accounts for 2025 were presented at the meeting. The accounts were audited by the BHAA auditors and were deemed to be a fair and reasonable representation. The BHAA and Irish Life Dublin City Marathon team continue to work closely on common matters and Jim Aughney from DCM gave a very interesting review of the Dublin City Marathon & Half Marathon as well as the Summer Race Series in 2025 A new committee was elected for 2026, see below; - President; Jim Kelly - Chairperson; Stephen Naughton - Vice-Chairperson; Mary Rigney - Treasurer; Enda Currid - Registrar; Kathleen Horgan - Secretary; Sinead Lyons - Webmaster; Colm Murray - PRO; Charlie Cronin

Nice setting and weather for Maynooth cross country race