2024 June Update - July 4th, 2024

Championship Races National Senior T&F:
We had four competing at the National T&F this year up in Morton Stadium. With Olympic qualification on the line all was to play for. First up we had Paul and John in the 1500m heats. It was top four to qualify automatically and both gave it a good go but were just outside this target. In a tactical race with a burn up at the end Paul was 6th in 4.02 and John 13th in 4.17.

Next up was nearly man Frank. He has been 3rd in his 800m heat the past 3 years (with top 2 to auto Q) and despite giving it a right crack and taking the pace on right from the gun we was just pipped in the home straight and finished in 3rd again in a swift 1.53. Tony took on the longer 5000m and ran a solid 15.36 for 4th in the C race. Well done all. The National Seniors is the ultimate test for us as club runners and fair play for keeping the East Cork flag flying up in Dublin.

Other Races - Top 10's:
Catch up race for Paul who ran in the Dublin Graded League in Morton Stadium earlier in the summer and was 3rd in 3.58. Donal and Stephen travelled to DSD's new track to run in ht e5th round of the Dublin Graded League and acquitted themselves well in the 3000 B race, Donal was 4th in 9.32 and Stephen ran 9.44 for 9th. was Frank was 4th in the Watford Grand Prix 800m in 1.54, Nicky continued his comeback in the Coolagown 10k with a 4th in 33.43. Tamzin had a smashing run in the Musgrave 5k with a 5th place finish in 18.27. Frank also ran in the Bracknell BMC 800m in Birmingham during the month and was 5th in 1.53. Donal went across the county bounds and was 6th in the Killarney 10k in 35.26. Well done to everyone else too for the other races in June.​

Coast to Coast Relay:
The Coast to Coast Relay was another slightly alternative race that we participated in over the weekend of June 23rd-June 25th. But we had a bumper turnout with 20 club members racing, pacing or driving.

The race started in Bray Head in Wicklow at 12am Saturday morning and we finished it on Monday morning at 6.46am at Bray head signal tower on Valentia Island Kerry, a monster 570km with approx 13,000m of elevation gain and loss. The route was devised 20 years ago as a means to link up all the national trails "ways" through the country. These include Wicklow Way, South Leinster Way, East Munster Way, Avondhu Way, Duhallow Way and the Kerry Way.

There were 4 relay teams and 13 ,ad individuals at the start line. Stephen O'Brien took responsibility to start us off on the right foot and apart from a little bit of trouble at Bray Head Cross he didn't put a foot wrong (until later that night when he fell and bashed his ribs up somewhat) as he navigated the large network of trails and roads to pass to Donal shortly before the Wicklow Way and the relative safety of the yellow men! Donal, Stephen, Matt and John continued through the night running, driving, pacing and creating mildly humorous What App videos until they reached The Dying Cow Pub (halfway point of leg 8 on hte Wicklow Way) where they passed the tracker to Elaine, Avril, Siobhan and Tamzin. The girls took on the next 70km or so with one or two wrong turns quickly corrected by the diligent crew before finishing at the picturesque Graiguenamanagh and passing to Eibhlin and Ger who did a team effort to run around Brandon Hill and pass to Tim, Ollie and Kenneth at Inistoige. The lads put in a solid shift and had no issues apart from Tim driving away from Ollie with the keys of the second car with him! All was resolved quickly with the use of the mandatory mobile phone and as the night was drawing in they passed on to Tony, Kevin and Diarmaid. Tony didn't get the memo that it was to be an enjoyable run at a leisurely pace and took off like he was in the 5000m A race at the National Seniors and blitzed his first section with some difficult navigation in the mist at night up on the Commeragh hills south of Clonmel. The lads continued though the night before finding Diarmaid asleep under a tree in a sleeping bag at Glenseskin Woods near Kilworth.

The motley crew of Donal. Matt and John were back again Sunday morning with Chris McGrath in for Stephen for this section. Albeit a little tired, a few cramps and a bit sore they soldered on throughout the morning till mid afternoon before Eadaoin, Lorna and a hungover Annelise took up the mantle for the difficult Duhallow Way to Shrone Lake. Tony, Ollie and Stephen waited patiently admiring the view on the other side of the Derrynasaggart Mountains for the tracker to reach them. Stephen now out of action due to injury took pictures and offered words of support to Ollie and Tony who covered a lot of distance as the evening turned to night and pushed through the Black Valley and far into the extremely remote Bridia Valley to hand over to Tim, Paul C and Kevin. After some wild overgrown trail, open mountain and blustery misty conditions dawn finally broke as Paul arrived in Cahersiveen to no hype whatsoever. Tim did a few stretches and felt quite at home on the 10 mile road section to Portmagee. After crossing the bridge from the mainland the final 2km up to the signal tower beckoned. All keen for glory Tim, Paul, Stephen, Kevin, Lorna and baby Robyn trekked the final part together and dutifully touched the tower as per the race instructions to complete the epic trip across Ireland. Stephen E was there to greet the team (2 days earlier than he had anticipated) and gave a warm welcome and some encouraging words.

In the end it took 54 hours 46 minutes and 30 seconds to be the first relay finishers of the inaugural Coast to Coast race. Well done to all who helped out on with logistics, planning and organising. Also a big thanks to the Race Directors for putting the event on and to the 13 brave individuals who set out to complete it all on their own. In the end 6 finished the full course with sore feet but a lot of personal achievement.


Next Up:

Corkbeg 4 Mile Race - July 4th with a 8pm start time. If you are not racing please come along and Race Director Eibhlin will find a job for you to help with.