Club member Sean Murphy who recently finished 3rd in the M45 category at the Rotterdam Marathon was host for the evening. He gave an outline of how he took up running just over ten years ago when he came to the end of his gaelic football career. He introduced both guests with career summaries and set the ball rolling for the evening. 

Catherina McKiernan world cross country medallist and top marathon runner addressed the inaugural coaching workshop. She outlined her pathway from running for the sheer joy of being outdoors though her schools career and on to elite success particularly in cross country and in major city marathons. She spoke of the inspiration she drew from the support of family, friends and neighbours. She went to the line in her races knowing that to do well she would have to endure some hardship to achieve. At the end of her elite career she reassesed her training methods and intensity. Her focus changed to continuing as a runner for the rest of her life. To help achieve this aim she studied the Chi running method and is now an instructor of this technique. She stressed the importance of training with specific aims,commitment to a routine which includes proper rest and recovery. Throughout her career she has tried to train as much as possible on grass. Her experience as a cross country runner was seen as an advantage when she moved up in distance. 

Barry McEntee is a physiotherapist who has a large sporting clientele. He is currently working with the Meath senior gaelic footbal team. In his presentation he pointed out the risks to sportspeople presented by biomechanical issues. He puts a lot of emphasis of correcting the root causes of sports injuries. He uses video analysis to point out issues and alter movement to strengthen athletes and prevent reoccurance of injuries. He encouraged athletes to use cross training on their non running days. He encoruages runners to improve theri strength, flexibility and proper warm up drills using dynamic movement which in so far as possible mirrors running action.

A question and answer session followed covering a wide range of topics from the large crowd drawn from within our own ranks and was well supported by a number of clubs in the area. The evening concluded with a raffle for three running jackets kindly sponsored by Enda Markey, Inverse2Ireland and three free entries to the Braveheart 5km on Friday 16 June. Among the attendance was Liv Daly who won the Facebook comptition which the club ran in advance of the event.

The club is planning a number of other running workshops over the coming months which will cover other topics which we hope will assist runners in the pursuit of their sporting targets.

Thanks to Brendan Conway, manager of the Castle Arch Hotel for his assistance with this event and to our event organisers Barry Clarke, Mary Carr, Laura Cotter and Ann Tobin.