Carraig AC athletes triumph in Templemore!
Summer racing hit full swing this week with plenty on offer for our members and we were well represented throughout the week which finished with a double trip to Templemore for the Munster school’s finals on Saturday and the National League on Sunday where we were supporting the East Cork division.
JOHN BUCKLEY 5K
This is always a well-supported event with 595 runners this year, a flat course an ideal opportunity to notch up a pb and indeed we had some very fast times. First home was Tadhg Crowley in 30th place overall with an excellent 16:52 and was part of the UCC team that finished as second men’s team. Michael Mulcahy showing great form finishing in 18:39 with Rian O’ Luasa clocking a big pb in 19:35 followed closely by Adam Farrell in 19:52 and Colm Crowley breaking the 20-minute barrier running 19:55 (chip times). Siobhan Walsh ran 21:17 to take a coveted age group prize in 3rd place F40. Well done all on some great racing in windy conditions.
CHEETAH RUN
This unique event is held in the beautiful Fota Wildlife Park after normal closing hours, a fantastic occasion and always organized to the highest standard by Eagle AC. The first race was the Cheetah 1-mile Race which is open to children 15 and under and was sold out well in advance.
All our runners finished well up the field of 86 runners to take home a unique finishers medal. Plenty of friendly rivalry drawing the best out of each other, Peter Hawkins finishing 6th overall in 5:42 to edge out Luke Mullins (5:47) in 7th place with Michael Mullins coming home in 15th (6:04). Robyn Maher was 22nd overall and 7th girl home with a fine time of 6:35, Lucy Davis was 30th (6:45), Paul Colbert 33rd (6:50) and Anna Mullins 35th (6:51), all finishing in sub 7 minutes, excellent running!
The 5k adult race had over 700 finishers snaking around the wildlife park and paths of the Fota Island Estate. It was a very successful night for our juniors with Sinead Roche winning the prize for 1st junior girl in a time of 25:50. In the boy’s race Timmy Colbert running 19:52 held off a late challenge from Rian O’Lusa in 19:54 to take the 1st junior boy prize with Rian finishing 2nd junior. Our adult competitors used their winter group training to good effect running great times with many PBs.
First home was John Aherne with an impressive time of 19:25 followed by Richard Hawkins 19:56, David Mullins 20:55, Liam Colbert 23:11, John Maher 23:17, Helen Roche 25:50 and Orla Barry 25:52. Richard picked up a category prize as 3rd M50 to round off a successful week.
JOHN HARTNETT 10K
On Friday night David and Denise Maher put their local knowledge to good use, the Ballyhooly roads familiar territory for training runs. David running in very good form this season finishing 5th overall in 36:37 and winning the prize for 1st Junior. Denise ran a fine pb of 59:01 finishing well under the hour mark. Well done to the Mahers, each family member having great races this week with Aidan also featuring strongly in the school’s competition!
PARK RUN
No stopping Rian O’Luasa this week with his 3rd 5k in 5 days, finishing in 4th place overall with a time of 21:46. Well done Rian!
MUNSTER SCHOOLS TRACK AND FIELD
Templemore was the venue for this years’ Munster Schools competition, it was a well-organised event that actually ran ahead of schedule with a very high standard of competition. Our athletes performed exceptionally well, many winning medals and earning a place in the national finals in Tullamore on 4th June, not easy given that only 2 qualify from laned events and 3 from the distance races and field events.
The programme kicked off with the walks with Aoife Martin (Col Chroí Naofa) having a comfortable win in the 1200m junior girls race in a time of 5:57. The intermediate girls 2000m walk was a high standard race with Odhrna Hurley (GC Mhuire AG) having to settle for 4th place despite a fine effort in 11:42.
The hurdles events were a bittersweet affair, Áine Sheridan (Coláiste Muire Cobh) won bronze (en route to Dublin to play Bohs at 2pm!), Lily O’Riordan (St Angelas, Cork) also taking bronze before sister Faye (St Angelas) who was also in the bronze medal position clipped the final hurdle taking a tumble. Unfortunately, Faye will be out of action for a few weeks, but such is her positive attitude she will come back stronger and I’m sure will deal with unfinished business next year!
Timmy Hawkins took 11 seconds off his PB winning the 2000m senior steeplechase. He couldn’t have picked a tougher opponent, second placed Flobater ‘Foo-Foo’ Fares (North Mon) represents Ireland in MMA and was also the first Irish 17-yearold to complete a 200km ultra marathon, running from Cork to Galway in under 27 hours last year! Well done to Aidan Maher (St Colmans, Fermoy) who was 4th in the inter boy’s steeple but showed no signs of the effort with a strong run in the U16 mile taking silver in 4:52! Lucy Lynch was part of the St Als, Carrigtwohill junior girls 4 x 100m relay team who ran a fast 56:30 but were outside the medals.
Carraig athletes featured prominently again in the field events. Josh Judd (St Colmans, Midleton) facing stiff competition rose to the challenge winning silver in the junior discus (32m20cm) and bronze in the hammer (32.42m) qualifying for Nationals in both. George Alamu (Midleton CBS) is jumping consistently and another great jump of 1.75m good enough for gold in the senior boy’s high jump, Lucy Lynch won silver in the junior girls high jump with a first-time clearance at 1.50m.
Excellent performances in the javelin competition with Timmy Colbert throwing 43.76m for a pb and silver medal, Lily O’Riordan also winning silver in the senior girls with a best of 32.21m. In the long jump Joel Joseph (Midleton CBS) had to rely on his first jump to take the bronze medal on countback as the next 4 jumps incredibly were identical to his opponents, Joels’ best jump 5.64m! Caoimhe Geogheghan (St Marys, Midleton) had a best jump of 4.82m to finish 6th in the senior girls competition which was a very high standard. Well done to all Carraig athletes who performed brilliantly.
NATIONAL LEAGUES DAY 1
The National League Division 1 kicked off in Templemore on Sunday 22nd and Carraig had a strong presence supporting the East Cork divisional team. Great credit to the athletes involved, some having competed in the school’s competition the previous day, most supporting at least one event and even one of the coaches was sequestered (just as well our coaches are all fast!) The National Leagues are great platform for athletes both transitioning and establishing themselves at senior level but also it is a very social and fun day out for all involved.
Orla Coffey was doing her best imitation of Jessica Ennis-Hill with outstanding performances across several events, finishing 2nd in the pole vault and 3rd in the shot putt, 4th with the 4 x 400m relay team and 5th in the 400m. That’s some range of events! Just like Orla, Lily O’Riordan was showing incredible skill and talent across a series of events! Lily was 2nd in 110 hurdles, 4th in the high jump with a best of 1.25m, 4th in the 100m sprint and also ran two relay legs. Blessing Alamu secured the win in the discus throw (1kg) with 33.49m and followed that with silver in the long jump. The brilliant Ciaran Nugent showed his speed by winning the 400m Hurdles in a time of 56.46. Áine Sheridan followed up a hugely successful week with 2nd place in the 400m hurdles in 1.15.46. 3rd place for the talented Odhrna Hurley in the 1500m walk with a time of 9.20.20.
Daire O’Sullivan was 4th in the 1500m with a time of 4.04.8, Daire competing in the relay also, a serious summer ahead for this man! Isobel O’Meara finished 3rd in the 200m sprint. David Maher followed up his success on Friday with a 4th place finish in the 3000m steeplechase and was also part of the 4 x 400m team. Maebh Daly placed 4th in the javelin, very well done! George Alamu finished 5th in the high jump with a jump of 1.65m and followed that up with 4th place in the triple jump with a 11.30m jump. Excellent performances from George. Many more members giving strong performances in the relays including Caoimhe Geoghegan, Cathal Whooley and Willie Walsh. Very well done all and look forward to round 2 on 31st July.
COUNTY JUVENILE B’s
Last but certainly not least, our youngest competitors brought the curtain down on a super counties campaign with some fine performances. We had great representation across the Sprints, distance races, long jump and turbo javelin. Well done to Denis Hourigan, Jack Hourigan, Ayo Osunboyede, Allie Philips, Ellie Long, Marie Cotter and Aoibhe Dunlea, all competing very well and doing the club proud. A few medals to boot with MJ Walsh winning bronze in the boys U13 80m sprints and Rachel Cuthbert taking a well-deserved bronze in the long jump.
OTHER BUSINESS
Preparations are in full swing for our
first hosting of an Irish Life Athletics Summer Camp and we are super-excited! The camp will be held from the 11-15 July on our grass tracks in Coláiste an Chroí Naofa, Carraig na bhFear. The camps are open to U8s to U16s (children born between 2007 and 2015) will run from 10am to 2pm each day and are available at incredible value €65 for one week with a €10 discount for each additional family member. The athletics camp will be focused on fun activities that concentrate on the basics of running, jumping and throwing for younger athletes and the technical aspects of events for older athletes. Full details and a link to enter can be found on the Athletics Ireland website.