The weekly Vicarstown 5km parkrun has been hugely popular since it started in the winter of 2014, taking place every Saturday morning at 9.30am along the banks of the Grand Canal.
This weekend they’ll have an extra special guest as former Irish Olympic athlete and World Cross Country champion Catherina McKiernan is set to take part.
The Cavan woman – who is regarded as one of the world’s greatest ever cross country runners – is a four-time World Cross Country silver medallist, European Cross Country champion and has won the Dublin, Berlin and Amsterdam marathons.
Since her retirement from competitive running, Catherina has devoted herself to teaching a new generation of runners as a fitness trainer and an expert on the mechanics of safe, injury-free running.
The parkrun is a free weekly timed 5km run that has races in a variety of locations all over the world.
The one in Vicarstown is the only one in Laois as the rules insist that it must be in a location where there is no traffic.
The Vicarstown run was the brainchild of local athletics supremo John Scully, who was recognised by the parkrun organisers in an article in 2017.
While Catherina McKiernan’s glory days on the track are behind her, you can still expect her to clock a fairly impressive time in Vicarstown on Saturday morning.
And like all the Saturday morning runners, she’ll be welcomed back to the old school in Vicarstown afterwards for tea and buns!
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