Marathons only really happen twice a year – in Spring and Autumn.  This weekend sees the last of the spring Marathons with both Cork and Edinburgh on.  Okay okay – there is also the womens mini-marathon on as well.    It looks like these races are going to be run in the most idyllic of conditions, and there are many people from Craughwell and Galway running in them.

Here are just a couple of names to look out for in the results next week – if anyone know of others feel free to post a comment!

Cork Preview: 
Fit4Life supremo Val Fogarty is heading south this weekend along with Maura Egan.  Val will be keen to do a good time on her home turf while Maura will be looking to build on her excellent Marathon debut in Dublin last year.  Best of luck ladies!

Further afield – Conor Maloney of GCH is in superb condition again this year.  He came second in the Loughrea 5k this week "running at 97% effort".  He was in great shape for Dublin last year but was carrying a knock that really affected his run-in and made the last 6 miles really tough for him.  I predict that Conor will produce a really great time this weekend – perhaps 2:35 or better.  No pressure Conor!

Edinburgh Preview:
We don't have any club members running this but one athlete that is of interest to all of us is Athenry man Paul McNamara.  AAI regional lead Paul, who is currently based in Roscommon,  is the defending champion and has been noticable by his absence from races this past year.  Even though he is doing the race off a minimal base he is happy with the way things have come together over the last few weeks and though playing down his chances I wouldn't bet against him scoring a pb. 

Womens Mini-Marathon:
A gaggle of Craughwell ladies depart on Monday for the Womens Mini-marathon, raising vital cash for a variety of causes – not least the much needed Craughwell Playground appeal.   If ye get any last minute appeals for sponsorship from these good folk please give generously.  Ehh…  one piece of advice ladies.. if you want to rub your running friends up the wrong way next week tell them that you were a tad stiff after finishing the marathon in just under 2 hours.  The mini-marathon is a good achievement but you'd have to do over 4 of them to do a marathon…