Last Sunday saw the staging of the National Novice x country in WIT, Waterford. With an untimely distracting event taking place on the Friday prior to the race our athletes could be excused for not having the best preparation. The course was made up of 1km and 1.5km laps with muddy underfoot conditions. A member of the club found themselves on the course one day in advance of the race, clearly disorientated from the previous day. He did however provide some useful information on the conditions of the course. A change to the usual route over the last few years meant athletes had a greater amount of an incline to cover. In the woman's novice, Eadaoin O'Neill ran a composed race to finish 58th and her club mate Eibhlin Clearly finished in 105th. In the men's race Kevin O'Brien was the sole club representative. Kevin, who had two day's previous raced down the isle in Waterford, found himself in the mix for an individual medal. A lead group of around 12 athletes set the early pace with Kevin placed strategically off the back of the group. As the race progressed he moved through the pack to find himself closing on 4th in the final lap, a brave move saw him overtake 4th and 3rd on the long hill. With second in his sights Kevin found himself caught on the inside of the final bend losing his stride in an extra muddy patch, this would prove disastrous as both athletes ahead of him opened a slight gap to leave Kevin finishing in 4th. A great effort from Kevin, who will now focus his efforts on the National Intermediate x county in February. He led home the Cork county team to take silver.

Results at the following link http://www.athleticsireland.ie/competition/results/

The 10th of December saw the staging of the East Cork Novice Championships in Watergrasshill. Our Woman's team consisting of Lorna Santry, Niamh O'Conner and Eibhlin Cleary took home the team gold with Lorna taking home an individual silver. Great stuff from Lorna and the ladies team.

Elsewhere on the roads a number of our athletes lined up for the Cloyne Commons race last Sunday. James McCarthy lead home Sean Mcgrath in second. Eric Meade finished inside the top ten, with Martin Hennessy, Denis McCarthy and John Walshe also representing the club.

Sunday saw the highlight of the x country session taking place in Abbottstown. We had seven athletes representing the club, on what was a cold day with the course in relatively good condition barring a few sticky patches. Fiona Santry put in another impressive display to finish 29th on the 8km course, just inside her aim of a top 30 finish. Her exploits at the same distance in Galbally 2 weeks previous clearly proving beneficial. Fiona fought hard all the way finding herself in a mighty race with a group of 6 athletes for the second half of the race, before finishing strongly. Our Men's team were the next up to do battle with five 2km laps in what was a highly competitive field of 170 athletes. The lads placed well from the gun, with the leaders setting a ferocious pace. Tim O'Donoghue put in a solid performance working hard to stay in touch with the front pack before picking off a few places to finish well inside the top twenty in 15th position. This was enough to earn Tim second place on the Cork team who secured third place county team on the day. James McCarthy was next placed scorer on the East Cork team finishing in 30th place after working hard through out, great running from James who also picked up a bronze for Cork. Kevin O Brien came home in 46th position finding himself running large parts of the race solo, which no doubt made it more difficult, Kevin also picking up a county medal. The recent x country races should provide Kevin with a decent foundation for the upcoming Novice and Intermediate All Ireland. Rounding off the team scoring on the day was Sean Mcgrath in 57th who fought hard, putting in a monumental finish to claim another few places. A tough four weeks of racing for Sean who is continuing his return to form. The All Ireland Masters will be firmly in his sights for February. Fergus Meade, fresh from his 3k indoor track victory on Thursday, ran a fine race to finish in 79th followed by Kenneth Kelleher in 83rd. A valiant effort from the guys who finished in 7th team position overall out of 19 teams.


Results at the following link http://www.athleticsireland.ie/downloads/eshop/Sen_Men.pdf

Next race is the Novice All Ireland on December 17th in WIT, Waterford, the only important event that weekend.

This weekend coming will see the staging of the Munster Intermediates on Sunday December 3rd in Beaufort, Shane Harrington and Kevin O Leary are the sole club representatives.

​Another day, another X country race in Riverstick. One might think our athletes could be getting a little tired of the drive to Riverstick, but this was certainly not the case today with a double gold for the club and a host of County medals for Cork won by our athletes. Weekend three of Sean Mcgrath's four weekend racing streak saw the Ballyandreen man take control from the gun to power home in first, taking the Munster Masters title in the process. Sean struggled with the drive home due to the extra weight in the jeep of three gold medals. All positive signs from Sean which should set him up nicely with Abbottstown on the horizon next weekend. Shane Harrington and Frank Hayes bunched well for the majority of the race before Shane made a move with a half a lap remaining to finish in a well fought 9th place, 4th M35. Shane showing great form as of late following his second place finish in Eyeries last weekend. Frank Hayes swapped the dancing shoes for the spikes this weekend finishing strongly in 11th position, taking second in the M45 category also. Brian Harty ran a steady race to round off the team scoring in 17th, 9th M35, consisting training from Brian now starting to prove dividends. Donnacha O'Mahony finished in an impressive 28th position, 3rd M50, Pat O'Connor finished in 33rd, 9th M40, a fine run for a man with little running under the belt, Conor Tierney finished in 42nd, 13th M40 with Denis McCarthy in 75th position, 13th M50. Elsewhere, Kevin O Leary tore up the runway on Friday night to win the Cork Airport 5k.

Results at the following link https://www.corkathletics.org/latest-results/2017/65-november/726-munster-masters-and-juvenile-relay-cross-country-championships-2017.html

Next up is the big one in Abbottstown next Sunday November 26th where our Men's Senior team are in action along with Fiona Santry in the Ladies Senior race.