Our upcoming "remixed St. Patrick’s Day race", Craicfest may be a new event for C5K, but our team has been steady plotting this race for over 10 years! The story starts way back in 2001 when C5K’s Eddie-O was the race director of the Somerville Road Runner’s An Ras Mor in Davis Square, Somerville. It’s a long story, but the race left Somerville in 2003 and moved to Cambridge where Eddie & Clarkie (who runs the excellent Winter & Spring Classic in Cambridge) co-directed the race for a few years before handing it off to fellow SRR members [BTW, check out this year's An Ras Mor on March 30th].

So what's up with the whole legitamification thing? If you take a look at the 486 Irish-themed road races in the United States, you'll see that every single race takes the same nostalgic "emerald isle/blarney stone" approach. We don't have a problem with that, we're just surprised that we're the first to recognize that modern Irish (and Irish American) culture is WAY more interesting. [watch this by Denis Leary]

So what should you expect at Craicfest? We'll be playing the absolute best bix of modern Irish & Irish American music (with a few classic drinking songs mixed in because it's a holiday). If you're a fan of U2, The Pogues, Flogging Molly or House of Pain you'll feel at home. We'll also introduce some of you to new Irish artists like: Ace, GMC, Ham Sandwich, Heathers (hear about their influences here) and Two Door Cinema Club (check out their video above). More info & sign-up: http://cambridge5k.com/craicfest/