INFORMATION: Club records

When you write 'founded 2014' under your logo, you can invariably not expect to carry a star on your logo (signifying an Olympic medal winner from your club) nor adorn the side-bars with stories of medals and championships won and records broken.

Official club records

So as membership becomes official in January 2015, any result set on road or track over distances recognised by the IAAF will become official club records. This includes age group categories (M40, M50, F40, F50 etc.). We will publish these after the first 6 months of the year on a dedicated webpage or document and will attempt to keep it updated. Please simply email Mairead Keenan with any such results. This is not mandatory but we will rely on members sharing their 'war stories' and race performances to keep an accurate record.

Times set before the first official AGM in 2015 will not count even if they are better than times you will subsequently achieve (banish the thought!) but will be considered set for your previous club (or none in case this is your first club).

Competitive spirit

You cannot be a sports club without at least half an eye on performance. The famous quote by Olympic founder Pierre de Coubertin is often mistranslated to 'It's not about winning but participating'. The real quote is somewhat different:

“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning, but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.” –Pierre de Coubertin

The sentiment is one I think we can all support in Glendalough AC: not everyone is destined for Olympic greatness or world class times. But we can all choose whether we wish to 'fight well' in any given race in which we participate.

'Fighting well' also simply means 'enjoying the process' and therefore 'enjoying your running' rather than seeing it as a pure means to some end in itself. It is in that spirit that I hope every club member will participate in training and racing in 2015 - whether you believe you will be among the 'club record setters' or not. For now - we wish you best of luck and 'a good fight'.