Tuam A.C. 2012 8km Road Race

THE TUAM A.C. 2012 8km road race will take place on Sunday, January 15th at 2.30 p.m. It will be the 8th running of this fantastic event and the race has grown every year since its first outing in 2005 when 130 runners, joggers and walkers finished the race. By last year that number had risen to over 450 and now we hope to break the magic 500 mark. [private] Tuam A.C. have unveiled a new fast, flat single-lap course for the 2012 race which will avoid the roadworks and will start and finish close to our usual race headquarters, the Mercy Gym on Dublin Road. A permit from Athletics Ireland is pending. The race entry fee has not increased since we started 8 years ago and it will remain at €15 again, which represents great value for money as we have once again managed to secure top quality Kelanji running socks in packs of three pairs and the first 300 entrants for the 2012 race will be guaranteed socks. We will also have our legendary post-race refreshments and a total prize fund in excess of €1,000 including prizes in all of the different age categories. The Tuam race will be one of the first major road races in the Olympic year and we are delighted that both the ladies' course record holder Maria McCambridge of Letterkenny A.C. and the men's course record holder, Gary Thornton of Galway City Harriers, are both in superb form and will hopefully qualify for the London Olympics Marathon in August. Maria McCambridge will be making every effort to qualify in Dublin on Monday and Gary Thornton ran a magnificent race in Amsterdam last weekend where he finished the Marathon in 2hrs and 19 mins which is just outside of the Olympic â€ËœA' standard of 2hrs 15mins. Everybody in Tuam would be delighted to see these two great athletes in action at the Olympics. We wish them all the best for 2012, and we are not forgetting Paul Hession of Athenry A.C. and Olive Loughnane of Loughrea A.C. who will also be in London. Entries for the Tuam 8k Road Race are open now at www.runireland.com and early entry is advised to avoid missing out on the famous socks. For further details please visit our website: www.tuamac.com We wish all of our athletes well in the Dublin Marathon on Monday next including Tommy Joe Whyte, Gearóid Healy, John Brinn, Gerry Synott, Michael McLoughlin, Iarlaith O'Rourke and Sharon and Séamus Walsh. Live coverage of the race on RTE and a full report on the Tuam athletes in next week's Tuam Herald. Tuam A.C. extends its condolences to Mickey Kelly and all of the Kelly family on the death of Billy Kelly. R.I.P. [/private]