Cork County T&F Day 1 and Road Racing - May 16th, 2022
Updated on Limerick Last Week:
This was actually a Munster championship event. So congrats on Tim, Graham and Donal who all won individual medals. Graham was 2nd and Donal 3rd in the marathon and Tim with his club record was 1st in the half.
As quirks have it they all won their medals in the M35 category but they would have also won the exact same medals if they were in the Senior category.
Cork T&F Champs (Day 1):
The Cork County Track and Field day 1 was on last Monday. John Spelman was there to improve his speed and won the bronze medal in the Junior Mens 100m (in 14 seconds) and silver in the 800m with 2.16. Denis won silver in the mens M55 3000m with 14.09. Paul Hartnett also ran and won the A 3000m race in 8.44. This was not a championship event on the night however.
Road Racing:
Lots of road racing the last couple of weeks. We had two podium finishes with Michael dominating and winning the Midleton 5 mile with a superb solo 24.21 on Thursday the 5th. Nicky was 2nd in the Youghal 5k Thursday 12th in 15.56. Hopefully everyone else is building fitness and shooting for PB's!
This was actually a Munster championship event. So congrats on Tim, Graham and Donal who all won individual medals. Graham was 2nd and Donal 3rd in the marathon and Tim with his club record was 1st in the half.
As quirks have it they all won their medals in the M35 category but they would have also won the exact same medals if they were in the Senior category.
Cork T&F Champs (Day 1):
The Cork County Track and Field day 1 was on last Monday. John Spelman was there to improve his speed and won the bronze medal in the Junior Mens 100m (in 14 seconds) and silver in the 800m with 2.16. Denis won silver in the mens M55 3000m with 14.09. Paul Hartnett also ran and won the A 3000m race in 8.44. This was not a championship event on the night however.
Road Racing:
Lots of road racing the last couple of weeks. We had two podium finishes with Michael dominating and winning the Midleton 5 mile with a superb solo 24.21 on Thursday the 5th. Nicky was 2nd in the Youghal 5k Thursday 12th in 15.56. Hopefully everyone else is building fitness and shooting for PB's!
East Cork Road Champs, National Record, Club Record and more.. - May 5th, 2022
East Cork Road Champs:
The East Cork road championships were held in Ballynoe last Thursday night. We had 11+1 athletes running on the night. The 3k ladies race was up first and Fiona lead the team to a gold medal finishing 4th overall. Niamh O'Connor was next in 9th with Eadaoin just pipping Avril for the final medal in 15th. Avril was 16th, Lorna 17th and Claire 23rd. Well done for winning the team title. It is a pity the press corps did not get a picture of the team accepting the trophy. They will have to win it again next year now!
The mens race was split in two. Nicky was in one race and the rest of the field were in the other. Nicky comfortably took out the win with an impressive solo run in 27.09. I will have to trawl through the record books but this might be the first time in the East Cork roads that the trophy was passed from one brother to another. John Spelman, the +1 in the above was running as an individual until his limbo period ends on May 1st, was second home after a good battle with Chris Kelly in 28.47. Chris faded a bit on the last lap and gave the ever present Stephen a chance to snipe past him in the final 100m for 6th with Chris just behind in 7th. Diarmaid Collins was 11th with Denis in 32nd. This was good enough for the team silver medal.
National M40 track Record:
Some unfortunate news came in this week that the Streets of Kilkenny course was a bit short and the Road natoinal record that mike won was scrapped. However that might of provided more motivation to go get another one. This time Mike got the National M40 record on the track while racing in the high quality IMC meet in Dublin on Saturday. Mike was 5th and ran a time of 14.24. Congrats Mike.
Great Limerick Run and Club Record:
We had four runners competing in this event. Firstly Graham and Donal (affectionately known as "the splinter group") completed the marathon. Graham showed his experience at the distance to clock a very impressive 2:38.52 for 6th overall. And Donal who only decided to chance the marathon a couple months ago ran a very competitive 2:44.45 for 11th.
Tim and Chris McGrath ran in the half marathon. Tim was 2nd overall and ran a new club record of 65.04. This is 4.58 miling for 13+ miles. Super going. Chris ran in 1:44.17.
Other races:
James ran the first MTU track night of the year in the 3k and ran a solid 8.49 for 7th overall. And Eric was 9th Bartlemy 6k in 23.46.
Up Next:
- Tonight is the long standing Midleton 5 mile race. Starting at 8pm.
- A part of the County Track and Field championships are on next Monday night in MTU. Championship events are 800m, 3000m (for all women and masters men only). Enter online per Liams email.
- The Wicklow Way relay - On Saturday May 7th at 7am. You should know your route by now and have reccie done or planned. More details to follow by email.
The East Cork road championships were held in Ballynoe last Thursday night. We had 11+1 athletes running on the night. The 3k ladies race was up first and Fiona lead the team to a gold medal finishing 4th overall. Niamh O'Connor was next in 9th with Eadaoin just pipping Avril for the final medal in 15th. Avril was 16th, Lorna 17th and Claire 23rd. Well done for winning the team title. It is a pity the press corps did not get a picture of the team accepting the trophy. They will have to win it again next year now!
The mens race was split in two. Nicky was in one race and the rest of the field were in the other. Nicky comfortably took out the win with an impressive solo run in 27.09. I will have to trawl through the record books but this might be the first time in the East Cork roads that the trophy was passed from one brother to another. John Spelman, the +1 in the above was running as an individual until his limbo period ends on May 1st, was second home after a good battle with Chris Kelly in 28.47. Chris faded a bit on the last lap and gave the ever present Stephen a chance to snipe past him in the final 100m for 6th with Chris just behind in 7th. Diarmaid Collins was 11th with Denis in 32nd. This was good enough for the team silver medal.
National M40 track Record:
Some unfortunate news came in this week that the Streets of Kilkenny course was a bit short and the Road natoinal record that mike won was scrapped. However that might of provided more motivation to go get another one. This time Mike got the National M40 record on the track while racing in the high quality IMC meet in Dublin on Saturday. Mike was 5th and ran a time of 14.24. Congrats Mike.
Great Limerick Run and Club Record:
We had four runners competing in this event. Firstly Graham and Donal (affectionately known as "the splinter group") completed the marathon. Graham showed his experience at the distance to clock a very impressive 2:38.52 for 6th overall. And Donal who only decided to chance the marathon a couple months ago ran a very competitive 2:44.45 for 11th.
Tim and Chris McGrath ran in the half marathon. Tim was 2nd overall and ran a new club record of 65.04. This is 4.58 miling for 13+ miles. Super going. Chris ran in 1:44.17.
Other races:
James ran the first MTU track night of the year in the 3k and ran a solid 8.49 for 7th overall. And Eric was 9th Bartlemy 6k in 23.46.
Up Next:
- Tonight is the long standing Midleton 5 mile race. Starting at 8pm.
- A part of the County Track and Field championships are on next Monday night in MTU. Championship events are 800m, 3000m (for all women and masters men only). Enter online per Liams email.
- The Wicklow Way relay - On Saturday May 7th at 7am. You should know your route by now and have reccie done or planned. More details to follow by email.
National Road Relays and Ballintotis 4 Mile - April 25th, 2022
Ballintotis 4:
Firstly the much loved Ballintotis 4 Mile race was on again after a 3 year enforced absence last week. A lot has changed in the world since then but an East Cork AC winner on the trophy remains consistent!
Michael took out his second Ballintotis 4 win in mightily impressive fashion. He made his move on a big bunch of rivals with 1000m to go along the main road and once he got the lead he didn't look back and cruised away to a fine victory in 19.18. Tim was second in 19.25 with Paul 4th in 19.41. James completed the top 5 and sub 20 finishers in 19.57. Our next bunch had evergreen Kenneth securing the bragging rights as Kenneth, Nicky and Matt were 14th, 15th and 16th in 20.59, 21.03 and 21.27.
Chris Kelly was 35th in 22.51 with our newest recruit John Spelman just behind him in 22.55 and winning the 1st Junior Man prize. Diarmaid Collins, former Inter schools 1500m champion and stalwart of the Glenbower generation, made a racing comeback with 23.19 for 44th. Eric Meade was next in 25.22 with training squad member Tamzin running her first race in a few years just behind in an impressive 25.31. Fiona only 4 months after giving birth to baby Holly also made a comeback with a very impressive 25.36. Niamh O'Connor finished like Usain Bolt to break the 27 minute barrier and it worked clocking 26.55.
Avril Crowley, Denis and Claire all had good runs with 28.09, 28.42 and 28.57. Conor O'Driscoll made his long awaited debut for the club and finished with 29.28 with one of the old guard Tom Walsh, National Road Relay gold medalist from 1988, just behind in 29.54. Lorna rounded off our runners with 30.02.
Well done to all who helped out on the night. East Cork had a very large presence on the night helping out with stewarding, results, cleaning up before and after. All mostly unseen work. And finally a lot of credit to the Ballintotis community and organising committee to produce such a wonderful race in the heart of East Cork each year.
National Road Relays:
The National Road relays were on Sunday in Raheny. What was once an annual pilgrimage for the club has been a bit more sporadic over the years. We had a strong Senior team this year with Paul, Frank, Tim and Micheal running well for 8th position out of 25 teams. All the top runners for the big Dublin clubs were running so the standard was very high. The lads averaged 4.44 a mile for the 8 miles which included a grueling 3 mile leg for Tim.
Our M35 team won the gold medal in the Masters race. Stephen led off and sat in the pack nicely bidding his time for a big kick in the final 200m to pass over to James in 4th position. James racing experience played an important part in the team win. He worked with the group to slowly close down the 9 seconds lead that Donore Harriers had and then pounced on his second mile to get the team into the lead and give the vulnerable anchor man Kevin a chance to hold on. Luckily he did and we took away our first medal at the masters road relays since 2006 where Denis McCarthy, Donnocha O'Mahony and Eric Made took home bronze that day in 20.13. Interestingly the team averaged 4.52 a mile for each leg to finish in 19.28.
Up Next:
The East Cork road championships are on Thursday night in the traditional venue of Ballynoe. We will be hoping to fill teams for both the men's and women's races so if you are around please do come along. €5 entry on the night with the Ladies 3k race at 7.15pm and the mens 5 miles at 8pm.
Firstly the much loved Ballintotis 4 Mile race was on again after a 3 year enforced absence last week. A lot has changed in the world since then but an East Cork AC winner on the trophy remains consistent!
Michael took out his second Ballintotis 4 win in mightily impressive fashion. He made his move on a big bunch of rivals with 1000m to go along the main road and once he got the lead he didn't look back and cruised away to a fine victory in 19.18. Tim was second in 19.25 with Paul 4th in 19.41. James completed the top 5 and sub 20 finishers in 19.57. Our next bunch had evergreen Kenneth securing the bragging rights as Kenneth, Nicky and Matt were 14th, 15th and 16th in 20.59, 21.03 and 21.27.
Chris Kelly was 35th in 22.51 with our newest recruit John Spelman just behind him in 22.55 and winning the 1st Junior Man prize. Diarmaid Collins, former Inter schools 1500m champion and stalwart of the Glenbower generation, made a racing comeback with 23.19 for 44th. Eric Meade was next in 25.22 with training squad member Tamzin running her first race in a few years just behind in an impressive 25.31. Fiona only 4 months after giving birth to baby Holly also made a comeback with a very impressive 25.36. Niamh O'Connor finished like Usain Bolt to break the 27 minute barrier and it worked clocking 26.55.
Avril Crowley, Denis and Claire all had good runs with 28.09, 28.42 and 28.57. Conor O'Driscoll made his long awaited debut for the club and finished with 29.28 with one of the old guard Tom Walsh, National Road Relay gold medalist from 1988, just behind in 29.54. Lorna rounded off our runners with 30.02.
Well done to all who helped out on the night. East Cork had a very large presence on the night helping out with stewarding, results, cleaning up before and after. All mostly unseen work. And finally a lot of credit to the Ballintotis community and organising committee to produce such a wonderful race in the heart of East Cork each year.
National Road Relays:
The National Road relays were on Sunday in Raheny. What was once an annual pilgrimage for the club has been a bit more sporadic over the years. We had a strong Senior team this year with Paul, Frank, Tim and Micheal running well for 8th position out of 25 teams. All the top runners for the big Dublin clubs were running so the standard was very high. The lads averaged 4.44 a mile for the 8 miles which included a grueling 3 mile leg for Tim.
Our M35 team won the gold medal in the Masters race. Stephen led off and sat in the pack nicely bidding his time for a big kick in the final 200m to pass over to James in 4th position. James racing experience played an important part in the team win. He worked with the group to slowly close down the 9 seconds lead that Donore Harriers had and then pounced on his second mile to get the team into the lead and give the vulnerable anchor man Kevin a chance to hold on. Luckily he did and we took away our first medal at the masters road relays since 2006 where Denis McCarthy, Donnocha O'Mahony and Eric Made took home bronze that day in 20.13. Interestingly the team averaged 4.52 a mile for each leg to finish in 19.28.
Up Next:
The East Cork road championships are on Thursday night in the traditional venue of Ballynoe. We will be hoping to fill teams for both the men's and women's races so if you are around please do come along. €5 entry on the night with the Ladies 3k race at 7.15pm and the mens 5 miles at 8pm.
April Catch Up: National M40 RECORD - April 19th, 2022
A lot has happened in the last few weeks so a bit of a catch up. Interestingly all the races have been 5ks (If I have missed any race results please let me know)
Track and Field:
Firstly Paul competed in the National Intervarsity's in Carlow IT coming 7th in the 5000m in 15.20. Frank raced in the Comeback 5000m in Battersea Park and finished 15th in 15.41.
BHAA - PWC 5k:
Next up was a welcome return to the winning circle for James. He dominated the PWC 5k to comfortably win in 15.12. Stephen O'Brien tempoed around in 18.18 and Ger Lynch had a massive PB in 20.02. So close to the sub 20 barrier. No doubt he will drop this again in the coming weeks on the back of his consistent Market Green sessions and his recent visit to Welchtown.
Streets of Kilkenny 5k:
The big boys (and Nicky!) came out to play up at the Streets of Kilkenny last Thursday night and they sure did not disappoint. Tims status as number 1 ranked runner is now in ruins. Michael ran the race of his life to clock 14.14 on a perfect evening for running. This time is now also a National Master M40 record. These most certainly do not come easy. This race has been part of a steady build up from about September last year, slowly building the fitness throughout the winter building a big base and then opening up the legs with track intervals in the Maradyke. Not to mention all the behind the scenes recovery and strength work and extra aqua jogging sessions that happen. Congrats to Mike on such a great achievement and hopefully it is only the beginning of a very hot streak.
Tim had a solid run off the back of a block of longer slower marathon specific training finishing 8th in 14.39. Nicky also had a very good run coming very close to his PB running 15.48. This was his first race back since the County Senior XC last year so now with the cobwebs blown off and a consistent spell off training under his belt he will be another to watch in the coming races.
Up Next:
All eyes turn towards one of the most enjoyable and rich in history races in the local calendar, Ballintotis 4 Mile. We will have a big turn out running on the night and if anybody would be available to help out please let Liam or Nicky know. It could turn out to be a classic going by the form of Michael and Tim recently. There is mammoth work put in for this race by the local community council and it really is a pleasure to have such a high quality race on our doorstep so enjoy it and don't take it for granted.
Also this weekend we have the National Road Relays in Raheny. The Senior Men's team is: Paul (2m), Tim (3m), Mike (2m) and Frank (1m). The Masters team is Stephen (1m), James (2m) and Kevin (1m). Best of luck to you all.
Track and Field:
Firstly Paul competed in the National Intervarsity's in Carlow IT coming 7th in the 5000m in 15.20. Frank raced in the Comeback 5000m in Battersea Park and finished 15th in 15.41.
BHAA - PWC 5k:
Next up was a welcome return to the winning circle for James. He dominated the PWC 5k to comfortably win in 15.12. Stephen O'Brien tempoed around in 18.18 and Ger Lynch had a massive PB in 20.02. So close to the sub 20 barrier. No doubt he will drop this again in the coming weeks on the back of his consistent Market Green sessions and his recent visit to Welchtown.
Streets of Kilkenny 5k:
The big boys (and Nicky!) came out to play up at the Streets of Kilkenny last Thursday night and they sure did not disappoint. Tims status as number 1 ranked runner is now in ruins. Michael ran the race of his life to clock 14.14 on a perfect evening for running. This time is now also a National Master M40 record. These most certainly do not come easy. This race has been part of a steady build up from about September last year, slowly building the fitness throughout the winter building a big base and then opening up the legs with track intervals in the Maradyke. Not to mention all the behind the scenes recovery and strength work and extra aqua jogging sessions that happen. Congrats to Mike on such a great achievement and hopefully it is only the beginning of a very hot streak.
Tim had a solid run off the back of a block of longer slower marathon specific training finishing 8th in 14.39. Nicky also had a very good run coming very close to his PB running 15.48. This was his first race back since the County Senior XC last year so now with the cobwebs blown off and a consistent spell off training under his belt he will be another to watch in the coming races.
Up Next:
All eyes turn towards one of the most enjoyable and rich in history races in the local calendar, Ballintotis 4 Mile. We will have a big turn out running on the night and if anybody would be available to help out please let Liam or Nicky know. It could turn out to be a classic going by the form of Michael and Tim recently. There is mammoth work put in for this race by the local community council and it really is a pleasure to have such a high quality race on our doorstep so enjoy it and don't take it for granted.
Also this weekend we have the National Road Relays in Raheny. The Senior Men's team is: Paul (2m), Tim (3m), Mike (2m) and Frank (1m). The Masters team is Stephen (1m), James (2m) and Kevin (1m). Best of luck to you all.
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 |
