STAR OF THE LAUNE AC

NEW YEARS DAY RUN

Well done to all the participants who took part in the annual Charles o’ Shea memorial 10K & 5K Races on Jan1st. Nearly 300 participants took part this year on an unseasonably warm day which provided perfect running conditions. First home in the 10K was Conor o’ Mahony of An Riocht in an excellent time of 32.44, followed by Tim o’ Connor(33.47) and Sean o’ Sullivan(34.20) both from An Riocht.

First lady home was our own Niamh Clifford who had another excellent run and finished in 37.55 followed by Caitriona Barry (41.00) of Farranfore Maine Valley and Katie Maher(41.20) of Lucan Harriers.

Congratulations to Jerry Forde who was the 1st wheelchair athlete home. As well as Niamh’s result there were many of our club athletes who had podium finishes on the day. Congratulations to Roland Eager who was first club person home and 1st O45, Susanne Foley 1st O40, Vivian Juffs 1st O45 and Anne Mangan 1st O60. In the 5K Aidan Cahill of Farranfore Maine Valley took pole position in 17.30 followed by Denis McCaul (17.41) of Leevale and Dermot Dineen (17.54) of Farranfore Maine Valley. In the ladies 5K Louise o’ Mahony of BMOH AC had a great run and finished in 18.35, 2nd was Michelle o’ Mahony (20.09) and 3rd was Saoirse Tomkins (21.12) of Gneeveguilla.

Congratulations to Ross Gallagher of Gneeveguilla AC who was the 1st visually impaired athlete home. First club athlete home was Ciaran o’ Sullivan while Marina Eager was the first lady from the club and had an excellent race to finish in 4th place followed by Lola Eager (5th) and Ciara Eager (6th). We would like to say a very special thanks to all our sponsors especially Lee Strand and the o’ Shea family for all their help and support. Thanks also to all our volunteers who helped with the registration, marshalling, post race refreshments and the numerous jobs that take place behind the scenes. Thanks too to the Killorglin Pipe Band for providing a great atmosphere at the start of the race. Special thanks also to George McCarthy for all his work with the timing system.

FARRANFORE 5K

Record numbers also turned up in Farranfore on St. Stephen’s Day for the annual 5K run. This is always a very well run event by Farranfore Maine Valley AC. This year running conditions were ideal for the 460 participants. Conor o’ Mahony of An Riocht was first home in 15.46 followed by Tim o’ Connor (15.55) also of An Riocht while Eddie o’ Connor (16.12) of Listowel AC finished third. Winning the ladies race was Michelle Finn of Leevale in 16.48, followed home by Grace Lynch (16.52) of Iveragh and Sorcha NcDhomhaill (17.20) of Donore Harriers.

We had some very good results on the day, most notably Niamh Clifford who was 4th overall and Anne Mangan who was 1st O60. Well done also to Sean Murphy, Stephen Griffin, Susanne Foley, John McGuillycuddy, Siobhan Falvey, Tracy Murphy & Sue Barrett.