'The buzz of the Cork City Marathon that makes it so special'

INTERVIEW

"It's the buzz of the Cork Marathon that makes it so special"

Says veteran runner, Dolores Duffy

Dolores Duffy took to running later in life, but the Cork mum has certainly made up for the delayed start in the 14 years since. Newly divorced aged 40 and “a little bit overweight”,

Dolores decided to start pounding the pavements as much as for her mental health as for any physical gains. She quickly discovered a love of longer distances and within four years had started running marathons - racking up a staggering 79 of the races across the globe since.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the

Cork City Marathon is one of her favourites – and one she has tackled multiple times previously. And Dolores will be lining up among the 10,000 other runners expected to turn out on June 5 to take on the 14th staging of the race.

She told Irish Runner: “I do it every year. Obviously being my hometown, that has a lot to do with it, and all my running friends will be doing it too so this year for me it’s a goal marathon and I’ll be trying to do the very best I can. I’ll train specifically for it.

“I came third one year at 3.14 but I’d like to get under 3.15 this year, I’d be very happy with that. Another aim a lot of

Cork girls would have would be to get in the top 10, so to do OK in your age category. That'd be everything.”

The passion and love Dolores, 54, has for her hometown marathon is palpable and for any newbies this year, or for anyone still deciding if they should sign up, she has this advice.

“It has a big city feel to it, the support is amazing and there’s a massive buzz at the start line and the finish line. But people shout for you all the way through. Also, what's good about the Cork City Marathon is that they have relays. So at the relay stations there are a few 100 runners waiting to run and they all scream and roar as you go through and it’s a massive buzz and that's what's brilliant about Cork. I love it for that." Surely a veteran at this stage, and aiming for the stars under the tutelage of running coach Gary O’Hanlon, Dolores shared some of her top tips for success on the Cork City track.

She explained: “Definitely increase your mileage. Start a training plan, you can get one online or go with a coach. That's what suited me best because then you structure it correctly. So you increase your weekly mileage bit by bit, then start cutting a few weeks out. Also, try to do a speed session once a week. So you could do that with a club or you could do a short race. Maybe do a short race every couple of weeks. That would really bring somebody along as well.

"And more rest is really important. If you're going to train for Cork City Marathon and you're going to increase your mileage, and you're going to put a lot of hours into it, then definitely try to allocate an extra hour per night sleep, it makes all the difference. So personally, if I'm increasing my mileage by 10 miles a week, I'll give myself an extra hour in bed because honestly, it’s all about recovery. Recovery is more important than training because you can destroy yourself and you might be out then for six months so I’m more concerned with recovery time.

“It’s also important to plan your race. How are you going to nourish yourself throughout the race? Are you going to carry gels or what's really helpful is to have people on the course to give you your favourite drink or favourite gel.“I usually plan my nutrition for the marathon so I'd have a friend give me the isotonic drinks or if I don't have any friends at the race, I’ll carry gels and then there’s the water stations.”

What she’s wearing is also a huge motivating factor for Dolores. She said: “I spend money on the trainers, a pair of trainers that suit you, a pair of trainers that make you feel like you're on springs. I like Nike Alphafly,

"It has a big city feel to it, the support is amazing and there's a massive buzz at the start and finish line."

they’re my favourite shoe and I prefer to put the money into that rather than the clothes because they're not going to give you any performance boost. For the day of the marathon itself, I like to have a whole new outfit and I have it all laid out about a week beforehand so if you’re feeling good and fresh and ready and spruced up for the day then you feel a million dollars and you're going to run better.

“You can run best when you're feeling confident in yourself, happy in yourself.” Back to the topic of nutrition, fad diets have never played a part in Dolores’ fitness journey. The key to her success is balance – and the odd glass of wine and some chocolate.

She said: “I just try to eat healthy, basic traditional foods. I eat everything so I certainly don't follow any fad diets. I prefer to eat real protein and prefer to eat loads of carbs because when you're running you need carbs. But I suppose I try to limit how much junk I eat because you don’t benefit from that. You have to remember you're putting your body under stress, so you have to put whatever you take out, back in. I try to eat fruit and vegetables every day. I love red meat, I think that's very important. And also, I think a chill out once a week as well, a few glasses of wine, chocolate.”

If you are feeling motivated to follow in Dolores’ footsteps and reach her level of success, we asked the running enthusiast for a breakdown of her typical training week. She revealed: “I'm doing probably 50 miles a week at the moment and then coming up to the marathon, I go up to 70 miles a week. So you increase your mileage coming up to it, but you can't maintain that so you taper off for two weeks beforehand. But I’ll be doing a few marathons before Cork anyway.

“I'm thinking I might do Limerick at the start of May. And then Waterford is the month after Cork, that's another very good one. Then there's the Dungarvan 10-miler so doing the 10-mile races or half marathons are all good training towards a marathon.”

Her hobby obviously takes a lot of dedication and gruelling training, so what’s her secret? “I just found that I loved running and it was a new social life. It just made me feel really good. Finding the time is the hard part but you have to make the time. So I spent less time drinking coffee and shopping at Mahon Point and more time running! “I love marathons especially, it's my favourite distance. And I think the older you get, you find the longer distance easier than the shorter distance. You start to lose speed as you get older. Well, I never really had speed and I still don’t, but I can do endurance and you can get endurance through hard work and just putting in more miles. And so the marathon then feels like a huge achievement. It's the biggest buzz.”

Dolores was the first lady home in the 2021 Tralee Marathon in a time of 3:24:29 and she tackled the Clonakilty Marathon again recently, finishing in a time of 3.15 and earning herself a place on the podium. And it’s Clonakilty that has a special place in her heart. She told Irish Runner: “I loved Clonakilty. It’s all country roads and you're on your own for a lot of it, in the wind and rain. And then you do something like Cork City, which can be really hot and there are people all the way through, so it's the contrast that makes them interesting and enjoyable.

“My best marathon memory is actually probably winning Clonakilty a few years ago, 2016 I think. It was my first marathon win and I just couldn't believe that I could win a marathon. “But you should dream. I firmly believe in dreaming and not ruling things out just because you're getting older or for whatever reason. Try to stop the negative talk, dream big and you never know.” So after clocking up 79 marathons to date, is retirement on the horizon?

Dolores quipped: “I’ll never hang up the runners! But reaching the 100 marathons mark would be great. I’m in Marathon Club Ireland so being there, you get a medal at 100 marathons so that’s a big deal so maybe the end of next year I’ll aim to do that at Clonakilty. It’s a really big milestone.”

Calling all potential sponsors!

The organisers of the Cork City Marathon plan to grow the event past 20,000 participants over the next three years and transform a race day into a weekend experience. This opportunity is ideal for a brand looking to:

• Connect with more than 12,000 experience-seekers during one of the sporting highlights of their lives over 3 races: Full Marathon, Half

Marathon, Team relay • Partner with an established race brand that is helping people become a better version of them • Increase brand awareness through mass media exposure • Engage with the local community in Cork and

Munster • Engage with the running community in Ireland • Ireland is ranked no. 7 in the world for most improved marathon times over the last 10 years. • Ireland is ranked no. 5 in the world with 53% of all marathon runners being women.

MEDIA IMPACT

• 207 media touchpoints • €542k ad value equivalency across 5 channels (National & local newspapers, online, TV &

Radio) • €1.6m editorial value equivalence • 4.4m people projected reach

FIRST PLACE WITH 3:24:29

AT 2021 TRALEE MARATHON

75

MARATHONS IN TOTAL

70

MILES WEEKLY WHEN PRACTICING