The Streets Of Kilkenny 5k is back – the 2020 edition that is – as the backlog of Covid-cancelled events gets cleared locally.
This coming Friday will see hundreds of walkers, joggers, runners take to the streets of Kilkenny from 5pm with those taking starting on The Parade to complete two laps of the current course.
“On March 19, 2020, we had planned to run our fourth version of the Streets of Kilkenny”, says Kilkenny City Harriers’ John Maye in speaking to The Way It Is on Monday evening.
“The previous year we had almost 1,000 people on the streets and were super excited. Obviously, the country went into lockdown and that event never happened.”
Hopefully this Friday we’ll have hundreds of people lining out around The Parade from 6.30pm for a 7.30pm start around the streets of Kilkenny. We have 757 entries (as of broadcast time) and we can take up to 1,000. The last three times we’ve run the event we would have anywhere from 100-150 sign-ins on the night”, he says as all indicators point towards 1,000 people hitting Kilkenny city again this Friday night.
Of the 600 who had registered in advance of what should have been the actual 2020 outing, over 400 of those have stayed with the race and carried their registration through to this year.
This year’s race route
“It’s a 5k”, explains John of the route.
“The first two years we had a course that started on the St. Francis’ bridge and went up around by the river twice, down Bateman quay, John’s Bridge, up along by the War Memorial. THen the race got that big bigger and we needed more space.”
“We start at The Parade, up High Street, down to Irishtown, turn right over St. Francis’ bridge, turn right again at the Barracks and come down along John Street, Rose Inn Street and turn right on the Parade for your second lap, back down High Street. At the end of your second lap then you turn left back on to the Parade with the finish is just outside Rinnucini’s, in front of the castle.”
If you’re thinking about testing yourself on Friday and looking to shave some time off your PB, know this – it’s a fast course, it could be done. The record is 14 minutes and 13 seconds, set by a member of Dundrum South Dublin and last time out there were around 100 entrants clocking up times under 20 minutes.
