ATHLETICS: SO IT'S been the coldest winter in 18 years. Up here in the Dublin Mountains it feels like it's been the coldest ever. Yesterday was the first day in nearly two weeks when Woodside Road was clear of snow and the temperature went above zero, writes IAN O'RIORDAN

Whatever happened to global warming? My precious old Alfa Romeo was not built for these conditions and on several mornings last week refused to start. And rightly so. On Monday evening, just when it seemed the worst of this Arctic blast was over, a thick blanket of freezing fog suddenly descended and at exactly the same time I ran out of home heating oil.

With turf supplies also running dangerously low this called for something drastic. Without really thinking about it, I started to chop up an old piano that my godmother had kindly presented to me as a house-warming gift. It was hard work, and while this obviously wasn’t what she meant by a house-warming gift, it made for a fantastic open fire for the rest of the night.

There’s only one way to handle the bitter sting of the icy dawn up here, and that’s to go running. One of the reasons I moved up to the Dublin mountains to be begin with was to get away from the same old roads and footpaths around suburbia and explore new more challenging runs around Ticknock, Kilmashogue and Cruagh Wood. (That, and the close proximity to The Blue Light; best pint ever poured outside of St James’s Gate.)

And there I was early Thursday morning, running the narrow trail across towards Kilmashogue, the snow spread over the mountain and the air crisp and clear. There wasn’t another soul about, nor any sound, and nothing going on in my head except the theme from The Last of the Mohicans.

Just before turning off towards Tibradden Wood a figure emerged on the snowy trail ahead of me, dressed far more sparingly than I was. It was only when we crossed paths I recognised him as my old friend Bill, who briefly sat in on bass in my band The Bathing Caps. He was the last person on earth I expected to meet running in the Dublin Mountains.

We chatted for a couple of minutes and he told me he was recently laid off and now training for the Connemara Marathon. “But what are you doing up here?” I asked, and he told me he’d discovered all these great trails on the new Dublin Mountain website. I didn’t get to ask whether he was still smoking 60 cigarettes a day.

It was tempting to keep it to myself but the website he was talking about is excellent (www.dublinmountains.ie \ ) and deserves wider attention. Hopefully it won’t result in a sudden surge of runners on the Dublin Mountains, and I don’t expect it will, although it does mark some long-overdue improvement to the whole access and awareness of what must be one of the best training grounds in the whole country.

It’s all thanks to the Dublin Mountains Partnership, set up in May of last year, who have realised the benefits in developing an integrated plan for the area, linking existing trails with other public or state-owned lands. They have identified and mapped eight recreation sites so far: Hell Fire Club; Massey’s Estate; Cruagh Wood; Tibradden Wood; Kilmashogue; Ticknock; Carrickgollogan; and Barnaslingan.

Each site is neatly described, and will naturally appeal to hill walkers more than runners. But for anyone thinking about attempting a marathon this year, and particularly the Connemara Marathon, an hour or two of running in the Dublin Mountains will quickly reveal just how fit they are.

Actually it’s too late to think about the Connemara Marathon this year. Although it’s still several weeks away, on March 22nd, entries sold out in early December, and even if you can claim to have been born and raised in a stable in Leenaun there’s no chance of getting in. In fact the event could probably have sold out several times over.

Just yesterday another friend of mine inquired about getting her into the London Marathon. I said I’d see what I could do, and put a call into Dave Bedford, the boss, the man in charge. “No hope,” he said. “The whole thing was shut up weeks ago.”

This merely reflects the return of what is loosely termed “the running boom”. It’s no coincidence that more people start running in times of economic panic. It was the same in the 1980s, when the Dublin Marathon attracted its biggest numbers and road races all over the country were packed out. Running is one of the few things that can go well during a recession.

It makes sense. Running is dirt cheap and requires nothing more than a half decent pair of runners. (The expensive ones will only cause injury anyway.) But frankly, the main advantage is probably mental. If the Six O’Clock News has turned you into a manic depressive then I recommend a 30-minute run, five days a week, preferably before meals.

If you want to test yourself there is no shortage of challenges either. Decent road races are now weekly events, and while they may not generate Olympic standards, what harm? New races are cropping up everywhere. In fact there’s a new one today in the Phoenix Park, if you’re up early enough: Cupids Dash, a Valentine’s Day Fun Run – which may be the first step towards a romance with running.

It’s no secret that such road races are viewed with a certain amount of disregard by the establishment, i.e. Athletics Ireland. It’s not because as an association they’re particularly elitist; more because they feel their business deals mostly with the elite end of the sport.

But perhaps they have lost sight of what they should be about. Something has definitely gone wrong when its core funding is withheld and its 15 staff members are put on protective notice. Athletics Ireland has come a long way in the last decade, and yet the sport continues to be crippled by the selfishness of certain individuals who clearly fail to see the bigger picture, who are in the sport not for what they can give but for what they can gain.

The sport needs competitive structures and needs proper coaching resources and all that but at times like this it seems the only people who are actually developing the sport, albeit at a completely non-competitive level, are those staging the Valentine’s Day Fun Runs or the Connemara Marathons, or even the Dublin Mountains Partnership.

There is a running boom going on and Athletics Ireland can’t seem to get a grip on it. As an association they should be thriving, not fighting – both between themselves, and for their survival. If withholding funding is John Treacy’s way of cracking the whip and bringing them to attention then he needs to keep cracking away. Before the good times return, if you know what I mean.

“ It’s all thanks to the Dublin Mountains Partnership, set up in May of last year, who have realised the benefits in developing an integrated plan for the area, linking existing trails with other public or state-owned lands