Carraig na bhFear AC out in force as competition heats up
The Munster U12 to U16 multi-events, Junior, U23, Senior and Masters competition took place in Templemore on Saturday 27th in glorious conditions which made for a very enjoyable day’s viewing.
Six of our middle age training group took on the challenge of a multi events competition for the first time. Five of our strong squad of U13 girls entered their competition with the intention of gaining experience and exposure to competition on the beginning of their athletics adventures.
Stand-out performances were Hannah Coffey in the shot put, Allie Philips in the 60m hurdles and Emma Johnson had enough energy for a really strong 600 metres in their last event of the day. Aoibhe Dunlea and Mary Kate Dawson made up the quintet who had a great day in the sunshine and learned how exhausting multi events competition are.
Our one other multi eventer was Jess Akinkoulie in the U15 competition. Jess is an accomplished hurdler but had never participated in a multi competition previously. Furthermore, she had never high jumped in any competition either. You would not think it as she won every one of her five events to take a wonderfully commanding Munster gold medal.
Hopefully, a sign of a new star on the rise for our younger athletes to follow. A wonderful experience for our young developing athletes to be around our junior and young adult members and watch them preforming in the hope that our young will emulate them in the future.
JUNIOR, U23, SENIOR AND MASTERS
There were also outstanding performances among our Junior to U23 athletes competing on the day. Lucy Lynch and Ruaidhri Boyle look to be peaking at the right time with the National schools finals next week, both athletes winning their Junior 400m race in personal best times of 58.41 and 51.70 respectively. More medals followed in the women’s 400m U23 race, Orla Coffey winning silver in a tight battle, running 1:01.00 and followed closely by Isobel O’Meara winning bronze in 1:04:31. Orla followed this performance with a bronze medal in the senior women’s 200m in a time of 27.57. Caoimhe Geoghegan qualified for the final of the Junior 100m women’s sprints, finishing 6th in a fast time of 13.67.
Emma Akinkoulie won silver in the U23 women’s 100m with an excellent time of 13:23. In field events, Caoimhe Geoghegan stepped up to Senior level for the long jump, finishing in 6th place with a best jump of 4.71m. Blessing Alamu had a convincing win in the Senior women’s discus with a throw of 34.28m. Our U23 women (Isobel, Orla, Emma and Blessing) came together for the 100m relay running 58.00 to take the gold medal.
The 1500m middle-distance races also took place with an exciting, combined Junior and U23 men’s race. A steady three opening laps were followed by a double pick-up in pace for a blistering last lap. Aidan Maher took the win in 4:15:91 with Timmy Hawkins wining bronze in a pb time of 4:19:26. Joseph Daly took U23 gold with a time of 4:35:54. Well done to the lads on a great race in warm conditions. In the Masters 1500m race, Richard Hawkins won the silver medal in the M55 category with a time of 5:21:99.
DAY 4 CORK COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Meanwhile, in Castleisland Day 4 of the Cork County Championships was taking place with the running of the field events and U9 to U11 track. Really good performances all round, the highlights were Hannah Coffey 2nd in U13 javelin, Isabelle Walsh 3rd in girls U10 500m and Cathal Walsh 2nd in boys U11 600m. Well done also to Sarah Nyhan, Una Cotter, John Forde, Laoighse Nott. Ivy Forde, Liam Walsh, Aidan Walsh, Emma Walsh and Emma Forde, all putting in great efforts on the day. Congratulations also to Timmy Colbert, gaining momentum nicely in his season throwing 51.34m to take the gold medal in boys U18 javelin.
Finally, in track and field competition, Ciaran Nugent was among the large contingent of Ireland’s current crop of promising stars who travelled to Oordegen in Belgium for top-class competition. Fantastic to see Ciaran moving to the next level, one of five Irish competitors in the 400m hurdles, including Olympian Thomas Barr. Ciaran had a solid season opener running 55.98 and will undoubtedly build on this in the coming months. Well done to Ciaran!
In summary, a very satisfying week of track and field for Carraig na bhFear AC, being represented at home and abroad at all levels from U9 through to Junior, U23, Senior and Masters across the full spectrum of track, jumps and throwing disciplines. An extremely healthy state for the club, all credit to coaches, helpers and parents for their support.
OTHER NEWS
BHAA John Buckley 5k: One of the most popular road races on the calendar, always attracting the top local runners to the Marina Course. Outstanding running on the night from the following athletes who were well up the field of 897 finishers (updated chip times): Conor Kelly (17:49), Michael Mulcahy (17:53), Brian Hawkins (17:55), Richard Hawkins (19:06), Peter Hawkins (19:29) and Rachael O’Callaghan (22:41). Super running!
JUNIOR PARKRUN
Allie Phillips somehow had the energy after an exhausting day in Templemore to finish 2nd in the 2k Junior Parkrun in Ballincollig Regional Park on Sunday morning with a fast time of 8:05!
And for something completely different… our lovers of more diverse and strenuous activities had plenty of choice to entertain themselves over the weekend. Dave and Bobby O’Riordan continued their progress through the IMRA ‘Whisky in the Jar’ mountain running series, this time completing the 8.64km course in ‘The Paps’ Killarney which has an elevation of 708M! Dave Mullins and Cliona Lynch completed the challenging 139km Ring of Beara cycle and Liam Aherne finished 2nd in the CUH short sprint triathlon race in Farran Woods. Awesome stuff!
LOOK AHEAD
Wishing Lucy Lynch, Ruaidhri Boyle, Aidan Maher, Robyn Maher, Anna Mullins and Aoife Martin the very best of luck as they compete in the All-Ireland Schools Track and Field finals in Tullamore next weekend. Locally, there will be massive Carraig na bhFear AC involvement in the Cork City Marathon, both stewarding and competing. We have six teams of six athletes going head-to-head in the inaugural 10k race as well as several athletes who will hope it won’t be too warm as they tackle the half-marathon and full marathon distances. Looking forward to catching up afterwards with all the news!