Double delight as Carraig AC men crowned East Cork Roads champions
It was a surprise to many of us to recall that Carraig na Bhfear AC had won the East Cork Senior men’s and women’s races as recently as 2018, such has been the disruption to routine in the intervening years. Perhaps a slight feeling of a hollow victory for the men that night as East Cork had the first 3 finishers, excluding them from the team scores. A welcome return to normality was the staging of the Ballynoe race in its traditional late April slot with a fine turnout on the night despite Ed Sheeran obviously not reading the fixtures list properly!
Our men’s team took centre-stage on the night with a comprehensive if somewhat unexpected victory given the high standard in the East Cork Division. Since 2018 an injection of new blood in the form of Timmy Hawkins, David Maher and Tadhg Crowley adding significant depth to our squad. The one constant from that year was Willie Walsh albeit a reconditioned and rejuvenated version 2.0, bettering his time from that race by 73 seconds and playing a captains’ role in orchestrating a pack of 4 athletes working together to run the hilly 5-mile course, all under the 30-minute mark.
No better sight in team athletics than seeing a team packing together lap after lap, the significance not lost on the spectators before Willie launched an attack on the final lap to give Timmy (29:05) and Tadgh (29:06) the platform to drive on and take the 4th and 5th individual places (first scoring places) with nothing between them. Willie (29:33) and David (29:47) had enough left in reserve to take impressive 9th and 10th places respectively to seal a fine championship win with a total of 28 points with the same number of points to spare over East Cork who finished in second place with 56 points.
Well-supported by Rian O’Luasa (18th place) in a well-paced 33:04, the ever-smiling crowd favourite David O’Riordan (24th place) with a great time of 35:33 and an impressive 31st place finish for Liam Colbert in 38:36. Liam continuing to improve month after month a great addition to the squad in the last year. An impressive turn-out by Carraig who almost matched local club St. Catherines with the largest turnout.
There must be something in the coaches’ water because Rhona Lynch also improved on her 2018 time finishing in 8th place in the women’s race in a time of 12:42 for the 3k course in what was a tough battle for team places. Siobhan Walsh shrugged off an injury to finish in 11th place (13:21), the team scoring completed by championship debutante Orlaith Merritt in 20th place (14:09). Our 4th team member was Orlaith Gorman, also making her debut finishing in 25th place (16:31) and our newer squad members, a major high point for this team also. With team scoring tight across 5 teams, an anxious wait was rewarded with the news of a bronze medal and a great result for our women’s’ team.
A thoroughly enjoyable night for athletes and spectators alike and much to look forward to as we build and develop squads for the future, well done and congratulations to all!
On the previous Sunday in Youghal, the East Cork track and field day 2 took place. Some outstanding performances and again some athletes making a breakthrough. In middle distance our boys were prominent in the 1500m races with gold medals for Cian Ryan, Dylan Mulcahy and Peter Hawkins U14, U15 and U16 respectively and Aidan Maher taking silver in the U17 – 19 race.
In the 200m boys U15 race a fine win for Matthew Lynch and Cathal Whooley taking bronze in the U17-19 race. In the 200m girls’ races bronze for Faye O’Riordan and Laura Moore in the U15 and U16 races. Leah Dunne took gold in the U17-19 race with Lily O’Riordan pushing her all the way to take silver.
In the field events Caoimhe Geoghegan showed her versatility as an athlete taking gold in the U1719 girls shot. MJ Walsh also giving the shot a go taking the bronze medal in the U13 boys competition. Our U12’s not to be outdone in the throws won silver in the U12 girls’ Turbo Javelin with Mary-Kate Dawson and in the U12 boys’ Paul Colbert took bronze, no doubt getting some goods tips from brother Timmy!
Another very enjoyable East Cork event brought the Juvenile track and field events to an end for this year, some excellent performances and athletes tasting competition for the first time. Ideal preparation for the County championships.
OTHER NEWS
While the East Cork Road race was in full swing in Ballynoe. MTU Lions were hosting an open track night, a good opportunity for a competitive track race ahead of the upcoming county and provincial competitions. We had several athletes competing with Isobel O’Meara running an excellent 29.21 in the first 200m race. In race 3 Ciaran Nugent had a 3rd place finish in an excellent time of 23:58, a well-balanced race with just over a second separating all 5 athletes. Ciaran also providing his expertise to pace an 800m race to 400M. In the 3,000m Aidan Maher ran a great PB of 9:56:20 to dip under the 10 minute mark for the first time, well done to all!
On Saturday last the Irish Milers Club hosted a high-profile event in Santry that attracted high quality fields from clubs the length and breadth of Ireland. Not ideal conditions on a wet and blustery day but this didn’t detract from some great times. Ciaran Nugent was in action again bringing his A-game to the B Race taking the win in a blistering time of 50.71, a brilliant PB for Ciaran who is having a great start to the season. Daire O’Sullivan lined up in the 1,500m A race and certainly looked at home at the top-level clocking 4:01:64, a cracking performance given the conditions.
Last but not least was the Regeneron Great Limerick run with several events taking place. In the Marathon Ruairi Myers completed the distance in 3hrs 54mins, breaking the 4 hour mark, a good start to his marathon career which I am sure will be the first of many. Ruairi has a great engine and no stranger to taking off on a long run on road or trail. In the 6-mile race Siobhan Walsh ran 43:56 for a 6th place category finish! Well-deserved for Siobhan who has put in the hard work in training consistently and had been the second scorer for the women’s team in Ballynoe on Thursday, well done Siobhan!
LOOK FORWARD
The big focus for May will be the county competition and schools’ races, stay tuned to our social media platforms for updates.