The Runners Diary podcast was originally set up in September 2021 by Brian Ahern, it was done to help highlight race results in the Cork area and also upcoming fixtures. After 29 episodes Brian looked to bring more to the show and to the listeners so Damian Kenneally came on board as a co-host and the show went from 15 min episodes to 60 minutes. Of course the fixtures and results stayed but features like interviews with race winners was introduced to this section. Feature length interviews were then introduced and this changed everything for the podcast, listenership shot up as we interviewed local runners of all abilities, this way listeners got to know the stories behind these runners and what made them fall in love with running so much.

My name is Brian Ahern and I’m a member of Bweeng Trail Blazers running club. Sports always played a major part in my upbringing with my main background being in GAA, in later years I also played Soccer locally too. It was following the death of my father that I decided to run the Cork City Marathon in aid of Irish Cancer society and the rest as they say is history. Being competitive running was my new sport and it was through my own running that my club was formed in many ways with some of the original discussions taking place in my house leading to a C25k which led to the club as we know today. I have also been race director of the Bweeng 5k for the last several years. Running and the Club has changed my life, through the club I have made many great friends both in my own club but also in the running community. Running has also given me a great platform to give back to several individual and charity organizations, this is one of the greatest achievements to date for me. I always had an interest in following up on results and looking ahead to upcoming fixtures. I would share this information with my own club which then led to the Runners Diary which gave an opportunity to share with a larger community.

My name is Damian Kenneally and I’m a member of Eagle AC. I played GAA for years and after I gave up my bother decided it was time for me to get off the couch, Jonathan dragged me out for a 4k run and I didn’t hate it. It was from this day that running became a massive part of my life. I joined Eagle shortly after and this gave me a fantastic place to thrive. Iv been lucky to have great training partners throughout my time in the club and this pushed me to improve year on year. I would now class myself as a marathon runner and ran my pb 2.38 in the Cork City marathon 2022. My favourite distance though would be 10 miles and I plan to get back to this distance and more in 2023