March 11th 2025 – Munster Roads and the return of an old friend
Munster Road Championships:
The first Sunday in March can only mean one thing – the Munster Road Championships. This year’s event was held over a 4 mile course in Ballinameela, Co. Waterford on a calm, dry day. In an event in which it has excelled in the past, East Cork athletes (or rather the Hartnett family wagon) came home with heavy pockets on the day with 18 medals in the collective pockets.
Paul Hartnett led the charge, breaking free from the pack on the hill at the 3-mile mark to collect his first Munster senior roads title, winning with 8 seconds to spare over North Cork’s Jeremiah Sheehan and Bilboa AC’s Declan Moore. In doing so, Paul also secured the novice title. Nicky O’Donoghue was next up in 15th, collecting novice silver in the process. Ciarán McNamee, trying out a bright new pair of Vaporfly 3s for the first time, flew around the course, coming home 23rd with a 21m 09s personal best. John Spelman was next up in 33rd creeping home in just under 22 minutes. Stephen O’Brien soldiered home 42nd. Aaron McEvoy put in a great shift coming home 58th in a tight finish (23m 24s) and Ollie Smiddy was 72nd (24m 23s) – a mirror image of Aaron’s time. In terms of team medals there was club senior silver and club novice gold (Paul, Nicky, Ciarán & John), county senior gold (Paul, Nicky & Ciarán), county novice gold (Paul & Nicky) and county M35 gold (Nicky & Stephen).
In summary – a successful day for the club.
Road Races:
Ballycotton 5:
We also saw the return of a Ballycotton 5 mile race for the first time since 2017, held this year as a fundraiser in aid of Scoil Realt na Mara. East Cork representation was blunted by the clashing championship event in Waterford but the local boy, Michael Furlong, couldn’t resist the opportunity to impress the neighbours on his home roads. Unfortunately he also could not resist the chance of playing a match for Ballinacurra the day beforehand, but on tired legs he still bagged a podium spot, finishing a rueful 2nd to Watergrasshill’s Paul Cashman. Tamzin Muldowney was our other podium representative, finishing up as 3rd female.
Midleton 5 and Seville:
Michael who also was in Seville a few weeks ago coming 5th in a 5k there in 14.49 took the win in Midleton having a strong battle with Sean Doyle of Cork City AC the whole way. Michael pulled away in the final mile to record a very fast 50.16. They turned at the halfway point in 25.35 into a solid headwind and let loose on the way back to run a sub 25 min 5 mile in the second half of the race. Stephen O'Brien broke the 60 minute barrier for the first time so recorded a PB of 59.24, with no sign of a t-shirt on the start line everyone knew he was taking it seriously. Michael Furlong had a strong run to also run sub 60 in 59.39. Ollie Smiddy ran a good 67.12 with Tamzin pacing Norah to a 73.05 in preparation for her half marathon debut in a few weeks. Denis was next home in 89.30. Well done to all the East Cork pacers as well on the day - Matt, Chris, Brian, Diarmaid, Avril, Christine all did a super job to help so many people to run as fast as they could.
The first Sunday in March can only mean one thing – the Munster Road Championships. This year’s event was held over a 4 mile course in Ballinameela, Co. Waterford on a calm, dry day. In an event in which it has excelled in the past, East Cork athletes (or rather the Hartnett family wagon) came home with heavy pockets on the day with 18 medals in the collective pockets.
Paul Hartnett led the charge, breaking free from the pack on the hill at the 3-mile mark to collect his first Munster senior roads title, winning with 8 seconds to spare over North Cork’s Jeremiah Sheehan and Bilboa AC’s Declan Moore. In doing so, Paul also secured the novice title. Nicky O’Donoghue was next up in 15th, collecting novice silver in the process. Ciarán McNamee, trying out a bright new pair of Vaporfly 3s for the first time, flew around the course, coming home 23rd with a 21m 09s personal best. John Spelman was next up in 33rd creeping home in just under 22 minutes. Stephen O’Brien soldiered home 42nd. Aaron McEvoy put in a great shift coming home 58th in a tight finish (23m 24s) and Ollie Smiddy was 72nd (24m 23s) – a mirror image of Aaron’s time. In terms of team medals there was club senior silver and club novice gold (Paul, Nicky, Ciarán & John), county senior gold (Paul, Nicky & Ciarán), county novice gold (Paul & Nicky) and county M35 gold (Nicky & Stephen).
In summary – a successful day for the club.
Road Races:
Ballycotton 5:
We also saw the return of a Ballycotton 5 mile race for the first time since 2017, held this year as a fundraiser in aid of Scoil Realt na Mara. East Cork representation was blunted by the clashing championship event in Waterford but the local boy, Michael Furlong, couldn’t resist the opportunity to impress the neighbours on his home roads. Unfortunately he also could not resist the chance of playing a match for Ballinacurra the day beforehand, but on tired legs he still bagged a podium spot, finishing a rueful 2nd to Watergrasshill’s Paul Cashman. Tamzin Muldowney was our other podium representative, finishing up as 3rd female.
Midleton 5 and Seville:
Michael who also was in Seville a few weeks ago coming 5th in a 5k there in 14.49 took the win in Midleton having a strong battle with Sean Doyle of Cork City AC the whole way. Michael pulled away in the final mile to record a very fast 50.16. They turned at the halfway point in 25.35 into a solid headwind and let loose on the way back to run a sub 25 min 5 mile in the second half of the race. Stephen O'Brien broke the 60 minute barrier for the first time so recorded a PB of 59.24, with no sign of a t-shirt on the start line everyone knew he was taking it seriously. Michael Furlong had a strong run to also run sub 60 in 59.39. Ollie Smiddy ran a good 67.12 with Tamzin pacing Norah to a 73.05 in preparation for her half marathon debut in a few weeks. Denis was next home in 89.30. Well done to all the East Cork pacers as well on the day - Matt, Chris, Brian, Diarmaid, Avril, Christine all did a super job to help so many people to run as fast as they could.
January 1st to February 24th 2025 update
Cross-Country winds-up – county and national masters/intermediate:
The 2024/2025 cross-country season has drawn to a close with further successes for the club at county and national levels.
County Masters:
On the 12th January, Bweeng played host to their first ever County Masters and Intermediate championships. The course lay hidden under a foot of snow in the days preceding the race but by Sunday all traces of the white stuff were gone and the athletes were greeted with surprisingly firm underfoot conditions for racing. The never-ending climbs into a stiff southerly breeze more than made up for the lack of muck though. A lack of intermediate entries meant that both masters and intermediate men set-off together for a 7k battle against the elements. Nicky O’Donoghue led the charge for East Cork, and gained valuable insight into Donal Coakley’s ability to use gravity to devastating effect on the downhill sections, finishing 2nd overall to his Leevale adversary. That translated to 2nd M35 and a county intermediate gold medal.
Brian Harty used his Walshtown experience to great effect on the hills, coming home a strong 5th (3rd M40). Donal Giltinan just came up short in his efforts to beat Bandon’s Naoise O’ Flatheartaigh and finished up 7th overall. Matt Horrigan finished was next up in 8th following a race-long and ding-dong battle with Grange/Fermoy’s Liam O’Connor, picking up a bronze M35 medal. Stephen O’Brien was one place behind that duo in 10th while Denis McCarthy finished up in 73rd, earning a bronze M60 medal in the process. All this was good enough to earn the East Cork men M35 club gold, our third such title in four years.
In the ladies’ race, Niamh O’Connor finished up in 20th spot with Eibhlin Cleary continuing her cross-country adventures for the season in 50th. Unfortunately, on this occasion we did not have a full complement to compete for club honours on the day. All credit to Bweeng Trailblazers who put on a great day’s activities despite the adverse weather conditions over the week.
National Masters:
All roads then led to Westport in County Mayo for the National Masters & Intermediate Championships on 9th February where, after a couple of intermediate withdrawals, we had a team of six lining up in the masters race. The course, laid out in the grounds of Westport House and under the watchful eye of Croagh Patrick, was firm in places and soft in others, featured a lot of tight turns, off-camber running, and a couple of short climbs to keep the athletes honest. The course, as originally designed, had to be re-routed to avoid a giant tree which had been brought down by Storm Eowyn thus depriving the athletes of a grueling uphill section.
Our experienced masters however dealt with the cards handed them by Mother Nature with aplomb, securing M35 bronze for the club. Unsurprisingly, Mike Harty was the flagbearer, finishing up 4th overall and 3rd M40. Nicky O’Donoghue, released from the pressure of facing (the rear of) Donal Coakley, glided home in 17th. After his customary relaxed start, Matt Horrigan rose up the order throughout the race, ghosting past Donal Giltinan on the final lap to finish 27th, one place and five seconds up on his clubmate. Brian Harty finished up in 36th with Stephen O’Brien 43rd of the 160-strong field. Due to some confusion over the entries, some post-race haggling was required to ensure that all our athletes were included in the masters results, thus securing the club the bronze medal – making the long trip up the N17 very much worthwhile. Mike, Nicky and Matt also picked up silver medals for their county. Congratulations to all!
Indoor season begins:
While the old folk were busy ploughing through the fields over the past couple of months the club’s younger speed merchants were busy keeping out of the rain and muck and enjoying some indoor track action.
Representing the club in Nenagh at Munster level, John Spelman picked up silver and bronze medals respectively in the U23 800m (2:14.5) and 1500m (4:26.7).
John, Frank O’Brien and Ciarán McNamee then represented their colleges at the IUAA Indoor Championships in Dublin. Frank placed 6th in the 800m final with a 1:57.6 having won his heat in 1:56.7. John and Ciarán lined up in the 1500m placing 19th and 23rd respectively with John setting an indoor PB of 4:17.9 in the process.
John also lined up in the 2k race walk having spent a significant chunk of his weekdays practicing his technique on lunchtime strolls between Brookfield and The Main in UCC. Sadly, he was disqualified after just 100m, allegedly for walking, not race-walking.
On the roads:
As always there was plenty of East Cork representation on the roads in the past few weeks and detailed results are below. The first big 10-miler of the season took place in Dungarvan in early. Tony Forristal, returning from injury, hobbled around to a ‘modest’ 53m 24s PB. There were also PBs for Nicky O’Donoghue (54m 14s) and Christine Kelly, who sat comfortably between the 65- and 70-minute balloons to finish in 67m 30s. The club also placed second in the men’s team event (Tony, Nicky and Donal). Nicky O’Donoghue picked up a Cloyne double – winning the January and February editions.
Extra-curricular activities:
The 1st February was the dawn of a new era in Midleton with the inaugural Midleton Greenway Parkrun taking place on the former railway line that runs between Midleton and Youghal – aka The Greenway. As they are not officially ‘races’, parkruns do not normally feature on this site but this one deserves special mention as the Midleton area has been crying out for something like this for quite some time. To prove the point, a whopping 636 participants turned out on St. Brigid’s Day and numbers have been strong for the subsequent couple of events. Hopefully that level of interest will be maintained over the coming weeks, months, and years.
Determined to make a mark on home turf, local lad Frank O’Brien was first to cross the finish line in that first event in 15m 34s – a respectable time for a parkrun - unless you go by the names Griggs and Mageean. Frank returned home, course record safely in the pocket. Records are there to be broken however, and just two weeks later, Mike Harty waltzed around in 15m 01s possibly keeping a couple of seconds in reserve for a future visit. The gauntlet has been well and truly thrown down….
The 2024/2025 cross-country season has drawn to a close with further successes for the club at county and national levels.
County Masters:
On the 12th January, Bweeng played host to their first ever County Masters and Intermediate championships. The course lay hidden under a foot of snow in the days preceding the race but by Sunday all traces of the white stuff were gone and the athletes were greeted with surprisingly firm underfoot conditions for racing. The never-ending climbs into a stiff southerly breeze more than made up for the lack of muck though. A lack of intermediate entries meant that both masters and intermediate men set-off together for a 7k battle against the elements. Nicky O’Donoghue led the charge for East Cork, and gained valuable insight into Donal Coakley’s ability to use gravity to devastating effect on the downhill sections, finishing 2nd overall to his Leevale adversary. That translated to 2nd M35 and a county intermediate gold medal.
Brian Harty used his Walshtown experience to great effect on the hills, coming home a strong 5th (3rd M40). Donal Giltinan just came up short in his efforts to beat Bandon’s Naoise O’ Flatheartaigh and finished up 7th overall. Matt Horrigan finished was next up in 8th following a race-long and ding-dong battle with Grange/Fermoy’s Liam O’Connor, picking up a bronze M35 medal. Stephen O’Brien was one place behind that duo in 10th while Denis McCarthy finished up in 73rd, earning a bronze M60 medal in the process. All this was good enough to earn the East Cork men M35 club gold, our third such title in four years.
In the ladies’ race, Niamh O’Connor finished up in 20th spot with Eibhlin Cleary continuing her cross-country adventures for the season in 50th. Unfortunately, on this occasion we did not have a full complement to compete for club honours on the day. All credit to Bweeng Trailblazers who put on a great day’s activities despite the adverse weather conditions over the week.
National Masters:
All roads then led to Westport in County Mayo for the National Masters & Intermediate Championships on 9th February where, after a couple of intermediate withdrawals, we had a team of six lining up in the masters race. The course, laid out in the grounds of Westport House and under the watchful eye of Croagh Patrick, was firm in places and soft in others, featured a lot of tight turns, off-camber running, and a couple of short climbs to keep the athletes honest. The course, as originally designed, had to be re-routed to avoid a giant tree which had been brought down by Storm Eowyn thus depriving the athletes of a grueling uphill section.
Our experienced masters however dealt with the cards handed them by Mother Nature with aplomb, securing M35 bronze for the club. Unsurprisingly, Mike Harty was the flagbearer, finishing up 4th overall and 3rd M40. Nicky O’Donoghue, released from the pressure of facing (the rear of) Donal Coakley, glided home in 17th. After his customary relaxed start, Matt Horrigan rose up the order throughout the race, ghosting past Donal Giltinan on the final lap to finish 27th, one place and five seconds up on his clubmate. Brian Harty finished up in 36th with Stephen O’Brien 43rd of the 160-strong field. Due to some confusion over the entries, some post-race haggling was required to ensure that all our athletes were included in the masters results, thus securing the club the bronze medal – making the long trip up the N17 very much worthwhile. Mike, Nicky and Matt also picked up silver medals for their county. Congratulations to all!
Indoor season begins:
While the old folk were busy ploughing through the fields over the past couple of months the club’s younger speed merchants were busy keeping out of the rain and muck and enjoying some indoor track action.
Representing the club in Nenagh at Munster level, John Spelman picked up silver and bronze medals respectively in the U23 800m (2:14.5) and 1500m (4:26.7).
John, Frank O’Brien and Ciarán McNamee then represented their colleges at the IUAA Indoor Championships in Dublin. Frank placed 6th in the 800m final with a 1:57.6 having won his heat in 1:56.7. John and Ciarán lined up in the 1500m placing 19th and 23rd respectively with John setting an indoor PB of 4:17.9 in the process.
John also lined up in the 2k race walk having spent a significant chunk of his weekdays practicing his technique on lunchtime strolls between Brookfield and The Main in UCC. Sadly, he was disqualified after just 100m, allegedly for walking, not race-walking.
On the roads:
As always there was plenty of East Cork representation on the roads in the past few weeks and detailed results are below. The first big 10-miler of the season took place in Dungarvan in early. Tony Forristal, returning from injury, hobbled around to a ‘modest’ 53m 24s PB. There were also PBs for Nicky O’Donoghue (54m 14s) and Christine Kelly, who sat comfortably between the 65- and 70-minute balloons to finish in 67m 30s. The club also placed second in the men’s team event (Tony, Nicky and Donal). Nicky O’Donoghue picked up a Cloyne double – winning the January and February editions.
Extra-curricular activities:
The 1st February was the dawn of a new era in Midleton with the inaugural Midleton Greenway Parkrun taking place on the former railway line that runs between Midleton and Youghal – aka The Greenway. As they are not officially ‘races’, parkruns do not normally feature on this site but this one deserves special mention as the Midleton area has been crying out for something like this for quite some time. To prove the point, a whopping 636 participants turned out on St. Brigid’s Day and numbers have been strong for the subsequent couple of events. Hopefully that level of interest will be maintained over the coming weeks, months, and years.
Determined to make a mark on home turf, local lad Frank O’Brien was first to cross the finish line in that first event in 15m 34s – a respectable time for a parkrun - unless you go by the names Griggs and Mageean. Frank returned home, course record safely in the pocket. Records are there to be broken however, and just two weeks later, Mike Harty waltzed around in 15m 01s possibly keeping a couple of seconds in reserve for a future visit. The gauntlet has been well and truly thrown down….
December 6th - December 31st 2024 Update
European Cross Country:
A little bit late with the reports! We had a big achievement in December where our very own Paul Hartnett the local lad from East Cork was selected for the Irish team, to compete in the European cross country, held in Asia!! It was held in Antalya, Türkiye and marked the 30th edition of a championships. Paul proudly donned the green singlet and ran on the Irish U23 team, he had a great run in a very competitive field to finish 63rd overall. It was great to see Pauls perseverance pay off as in the previous two years he just missed out on selection by the finest of margins. Well done Paul a fine achievement that hopefully be an inspiration to our Senior mens teams for the next few years. Here is a summary of Pauls 2024 with some great results along the way leading to the Euros.
A little bit late with the reports! We had a big achievement in December where our very own Paul Hartnett the local lad from East Cork was selected for the Irish team, to compete in the European cross country, held in Asia!! It was held in Antalya, Türkiye and marked the 30th edition of a championships. Paul proudly donned the green singlet and ran on the Irish U23 team, he had a great run in a very competitive field to finish 63rd overall. It was great to see Pauls perseverance pay off as in the previous two years he just missed out on selection by the finest of margins. Well done Paul a fine achievement that hopefully be an inspiration to our Senior mens teams for the next few years. Here is a summary of Pauls 2024 with some great results along the way leading to the Euros.
Road Races:
We had four top 10's on the roads in December. Nicky won the second Cloyne 4k in 12.53 and was 6th in the Grange Fermoy 10k in 33.12. Tony was 4th in the Stoneyford 5k in Kilkenny in 15.47 and Frank was 7th in the competitive Newmarket 5k and broke the 15 minute barrier in an excellent 14.58.
We had plenty of others competing on the roads, Paul Cleary was 26th in the BHAA Turkey trot but guessed his finish time in advance to the exact second of 19.49.
We had four top 10's on the roads in December. Nicky won the second Cloyne 4k in 12.53 and was 6th in the Grange Fermoy 10k in 33.12. Tony was 4th in the Stoneyford 5k in Kilkenny in 15.47 and Frank was 7th in the competitive Newmarket 5k and broke the 15 minute barrier in an excellent 14.58.
We had plenty of others competing on the roads, Paul Cleary was 26th in the BHAA Turkey trot but guessed his finish time in advance to the exact second of 19.49.
Munster and National Medals - A compilation by James McCarthy and Denis McCarthy
James and Denis have spent a lot of time and effort compiling results from Munster and National championships from the start of time (well 1986). It is very well put together and shows the success the club has had over the years. Thanks to both for this. It might be a trip down memory lane for some people or a source of inspiration to others!
There are one of two gaps that perhaps you might be able to help with. Mainly these are:
- 1989: National Road Relays 3rd team - Missing 3 members of the team.
- 1991: Intermediate Cross Country 2nd team - Missing one member of the scoring team.
- 1996: Munster Cross Country Junior Men 3rd team - All missing!
- 2000: Munster Cross Country Junior Men 3rd team - 2 missing
One wonders if we will have a junior mens or womens team compete again in the near future..
The file can be downloaded below and is also saved in the Club Records section.
There are one of two gaps that perhaps you might be able to help with. Mainly these are:
- 1989: National Road Relays 3rd team - Missing 3 members of the team.
- 1991: Intermediate Cross Country 2nd team - Missing one member of the scoring team.
- 1996: Munster Cross Country Junior Men 3rd team - All missing!
- 2000: Munster Cross Country Junior Men 3rd team - 2 missing
One wonders if we will have a junior mens or womens team compete again in the near future..
The file can be downloaded below and is also saved in the Club Records section.
| east_cork_medal_winners_1986-2018.docx |
