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Carrigaline 5 Mile: Michael Harty laced up for the Carrigaline 5 mile road race last weekend and continued his good form by winning the race and beating his current O40 nemesis Paul Moloney for the 3rd time this season. Great to see Michael back to winning ways especially with many big races coming up. Upcoming Team Events: - National Road Relays: The National Road Relays are on Sunday April 24th. We are aiming to have a Senior mens team and also a Masters mens team entered for this. The Senior team will take priority if someone is eligible for both. If the ladies would like to enter a team that would be good too. The relays are a prestigious club event held in Dublin each year. In the past East Cork AC have won this on three separate occasions. Back in 1988 for the first time, on the team that day was Tom Walsh, Bryan Meade, Gerry Wallis, Laurence McCarthy, Liam O Brien, and Donncha O Mahoney. We also won it in 1991 with John Kearney, Donncha O Mahoney, Gerry Wallis, Bryan Meade, Liam O Brien and Martin Drake.And finally our last win was in 1997 with Liam O Brien, Donncha O Mahoney, Garreth Barry, John Kearney, Diarmuid Geary and Rob Fitzgerald.. In the past the Senior was 6 people per team now it is 4 with the order of the legs - 2 mile, 1 mile, 3 mile and 2 mile. The Senior Womens and Master O35 mens team is three people with the legs 1 mile, 2 mile and 1 mile. If you are interested in this and want to be part of one of the team please let Liam or Kevin know. Trials might be needed. - Wicklow Way Relay: The other team event we are looking to enter a team in is the Wicklow Way Relay on May 14th. The is an eight person relay along the Wicklow Way from Marlay Park in Dublin to Shillelagh village in Wicklow. It is 105km in total with legs ranging from 8km to 21km. The team of eight needs a minimum of two vets (O40's) and two ladies. The other four can be of any category you like. The trails are hilly but mostly fire trails so very runnable. Generally some of the running clubs in Dublin enter teams so it is competitive. If you are interested please let Timmy or Kevin know. Entries open for this on April 9th and sell out quick enough. One requisit is that you must recce your route at least once (and preferably twice) before the race to make sure you are familiar with it for race day. Similar to the road relays trials might be needed if enough interest.  
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National Masters XC: The National Masters XC was held quite locally on Sunday in nearby Castlelyons. As a club most travel farther to the East Cork XC races, so this was a treat to have a national championships at our doorstep! A credit to St Nicks for organising such a large event so well. Home advantage certainly played a part in a wonderful day for the club. We won two gold individual medals and we were silver M35 team. Tim led the charge with another dominating performance to add to the National Masters M35 title to his CV. Tim broke from the field after about 3k and Michael was the only person brave enough to go with him, leaving some big names back in the chasing pack. Tim kept turning the screw however and proved just a bit too strong on the day winning by 22 seconds from old foe Sergio Ciobanu. Michael battled valiantly on tried legs for the final 2k and finished 6th overall and first M40, a super performance for a man who is on the comeback from a long spell out. Fingers crossed this is a springboard for him to have a big summer of racing. James was next home for the team with a strong finish over the final 500m to pick off a few Rathfarnham athletes and finish 16th. Donal and Graham had a big battle for the final spot on the team. Donal got a gap and came through in the final 2k to get a few very important places in the final 100m to finish 47th for the team. We were 2nd only on countback to arch rivals Leevale so every place mattered more than normal! Graham was just behind in 56th. Stephen O'Brien also on the way back from injury had a solid run in 94th and Ollie Smiddy should some great game finishing in 136th and is improving at a rapid rate. Tim and Michael also scored on the gold medal 35 Cork team. Niamh and Eibhlin ran in the ladies race. Niamh was 57th overall and Eibhlin was 131st. Well done to all, It is always a big moment representing the club at the highest levels and taking medals home is a bonus. Long may it continue! Road Races: Frank O'Brien has been racing away for his college St Marys throughout the year but togged out at the Podium 5k on Friday night in Battersea Park at a very high caliber race. He was 138th in the race with a time of 15.15. A sub 15 is surely not far away. In Little Island on Sunday morning we had two of our masters that must have taken a wrong turn to Castlelyons running in the BHAA 6k. Kenneth was 4th overall (3rd man) in 19.48. Eric was first O45 home in 23.27. Social Corner: In other non racing news training last Saturday at Welchtown was taken over by a Wilderhen. The less said about it the better but a picture paints a thousand words. There have been a few races on the last couple of weeks. Eric Meade ran in the BHAA 6k in Little Island finishing 36th in 22.56. Paul Hartnett running for UCC ran in the Irish Intervarsity's Indoor Championships in AIT. He was 10th overall in 4.03, with the race being won by Darragh McElhinney in 3.42. Tim O'Donoghue was up in Raheeny looking for a super fast time in a very high quality race but the course was measured 500m long. Perhaps it was the racing Gods getting fed up with all the new Supershoe times exacting some revenge. Either way it added approx 90 seconds to Tims time. He finished 5th in 25.15. The Dungarvan 10 was back as well on Sunday and it was great to see full fields again finally. We had 7 runners racing in the very windy conditions. Tim was 3rd overall in 49.45. Kevin O'Leary making a comeback after being out for 7 months ran 53.26 for 11th. Donal Giltinin was next home with a PB in 58.07. Chris Kelly was back in action too and ran a solid race in 62.02. Annelise Hutch was our first lady home and ran a massive 70.28, great to see all Annelise's training paying off she has barely missed a Tuesday or Saturday training all winter. Avril and Lavinia had great runs too with Avril finishing in 76.44 and Lavinia in 89.59. Next Up: The National Masters and Intermediate XC is on next Sunday in Castlelyons. All support would be most welcome. We have a strong mens team entered which will hopefully give us some interest at the pointy end of the race. Ballintotis 4 Mile: Registrations have opened for Ballintotis as well. This will probably sell out soon so get in there if you wish to run in an excellent local race. https://www.njuko.net/ballintotis_4_mile/select_competition |
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