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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.  
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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….    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. 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.   Championship Races: National Senior XC: The National Senior XC went north again this year and was held in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh. This year saw another change to the course distance down from 9k last year to 7.5k. We had a team of 5 competing on the day with some excellent results! Paul was 14th overall and importantly 5th U23 which booked him a plane ticket to Turkey and an Irish cap for the European XC championships in December. I think this is the first time an East Cork athlete will run in these championships, congrats Paul it is richly deserved after a few near misses the past two years. His experience running the European Club XC race in 2023 in Spain and the Cross Cup XC in Belgium will be valuable. Frank was next home with a strong showing in 36th, Tony was next in 59th with Nicky and John in 132nd and 139th. Overall we were 10th team and the only Cork team in the race so fair play to everyone who made the effort to go and compete. National Novice XC: The National Novice was in Tramore Racecourse and we had 5 on the start line for everyones favourite race of the year. 217 athletes and not a lot separating them leads to chaos and an action packed race. However we did not have anyone in the top 100, some soul searching and deep questions must be asked to understand what sort of training has actually been happening in Market Green and Welchtown the past few months... A debrief can be had at the Club social on December 19th! Saying that the team packed very well, there was only 4 seconds separating Ciaran (106th), John (107th) and Stephen (110th) at the finish. With 10 seconds between Graham and Chris in 155th and 161st. Well done for flying the East Cork colours at another National Championships. Munster Masters XC: The Munster Masters were held in the usual XC course Twomileborris. Nicky led the team home valiantly for 3rd overall and 2nd M35. Stephen was next in 15th with Matt, taking a break from his Tik Tok career after being catapulted to overnight fame during the Coast to Coast in the summer, running his first race of the year in a competitive 18th. Chris was 23rd and Ollie 38th. With this we won the M35 team title and Nicky and Stephen also scored on the Country gold team for Cork. Well done lads! County Novice B XC: Aaron and Karl continued their cross country exploits this year with strong runs in the Novice B race. Aaron was 16th and Karl 23rd. These are excellent races for building experience and racing nuance. Road Races: Catching up on last month well done to Michael Furlong who ran the Chicago marathon in 3.05. There have been lots of races in the past few weeks, we have had 4 in the top 10. Michael won the Cloyne 4k in 11.58, Kenneth was 5th in 13.09. Tamzin was 5th in the Glenville 4 mile in 25.40 and Nicky ran his first half marathon and was 7th in Waterford in 74.04. Next Up: Paul running in Turkey at the Europeans. It will be live streamed on European Athletics HERE and also on RTE. Pauls U23 mens race starts at 1pm local time so 10am Irish time. Also the Christmas dinner is on in the Rock Cloyne December 19th. If you have not let Lorna know by now please do, to confirm your place.   County Senior XC: Another great day in Conna at the County Seniors for the club. It was the 101st county senior championship and the course was in great condition considering the rain the day before. In a twist from the past two years and perhaps the changing of the guard Paul took the win and lead the team to gold. Paul went to the front from the very start and kept the pace honest throughout the 7.5km race. A group of four developed with the ever present Michael and Charlie O'Donovan right on Paul's heels. Paul didn't worry too much and kept churning out the laps and with the proverbial bell ringing in his ears on the last lap he must have felt some deja vu. The whole field was dropped and were playing for the bronze medal, except for the man from Cloyne again. To Paul's testament he did not panic and made a decisive move with about 600m to go and finally get a gap to cross the line in 24.18 and his first county senior title. He is now the 6th man in the clubs history to win this race along with Donnacha (x6), Tim (x3), Michael (x2), Liam and Garreth (x1). The team packed well after that to take a comfortable win over Leevale. Michael 2nd, Frank 4th, Tony 5th, Timmy 8th, Nicky 16th, John 19th, Karl 38th, Denis 49th. Paul also won the U23 gold with John getting silver. Munster Senior XC: This was in Tramore racecourse and the going was good but with little flat. Michael took the honor's and dismantled the field to claim the win and led the team to a gold. Tony got himself on the podium too with a super run for 3rd. Nicky and John completed the team in 22nd and 25th. Stephen and Donal did well to keep them on hteir toes in 29th and 30th. John visited the ambulance after the race after consuming a can of Monster energy drink beforehand looking for marginal gains. Michael and Tony also scored on the gold Cork team. Munster Novice XC: The girls took on the Munster Noice and bagged bronze medals for their troubles! Tamzin led the team home in 6th, Annelise on her comeback from illness ran a great effort for 16th, Christine was next in 26th with Niamh in 29th. Well done all. County Novice XC: No medals in the county Novice this year but we had some good runs. Tamzin was 5th in the womens race with Christine in 23rd. In the mens John was 7th, Stephen 12th and Donal 13th. East Cork Novice: We had a bumper haul at the East Cork Novice in Carrignabhear. Stephen won the mens race and Tamzin won the womens! And also Chris Kelly was second in the mens and Annelise was second in the womens! We won the womens team title. Well done to Tamzin, Annelise, Niamh and Christine! Ollie was 5th in the mens race too but we were one short for the team. Autumn Open XC: We had three make the way to Abbotstown for the quality XC race that is now known as the Autumn Open. Michael showed again he is the top masters athlete in the country with a win in the masters race. Nicky was 25th with another good run. Tony was in the senior category and was 20th in a very competitive field. Road Races Well done to Chris McGrath in the Dublin Marathon. He had a cracker of a run to finish in 3.08. Kenneth took a trip to Germany to run the Munich half and ran very strong to post 74.59. Olwyn ran 27.13 in the BHAA Defense Forces 5k with the IUAA Road relays on too and we had Frank, John and Ciaran all running them for their colleges. Congrats to Chris Kelly too on a brilliant Ironman in Portugal finishing in 10.5 hours! AGM: The AGM is on next Tuesday 12th after training at 8pm in Ballintotis.   Championship Races: County T&F: Due to the lack of availablility of tracks in Cork this summer, the county senior and masters T&F was held on the first day of September this year. We had 5 athletes running. In the 800m James was 3rd overall in 2.08 with John 5th in 2.11. Stephen was just behind John in 2.12 but was 1st M35. Ollie was 2nd M45 in 2.17. John raced again in the 1500m and finished 2nd with Denis grabbing a gold in the M60 in 7.21. East Cork XC: More traditionally the cross county season kicks off in September and two weeks after the county T&F we had 13 race in the East Corks in Ballynoe. First up in the ladies race, Tamzin gave it a good rattle and finished 2nd leading the ladies team to a silver medal. In a close team tussle with Midleton AC Christine ran well to finish 4th, Siobhan was 9th one ahead of teammate Avril and Eibhlin just behind them in 12th. On the masters side Christine was 2nd in F35 with Siobhan 2nd in F45 and Avril 3rd F45. The three also were 2nd F35 team. Well done all! The mens race was a pleasing clean sweep. With Tony and Frank showing a gulf in class to the rest of the field battling it out for the full 6000m before Franko finally pulled clear with a strong sprint finish in the home straight and take the title. Tony despite doing all the front running settled for 2nd (for the 2nd year in a row). Stephen O'Brien broke clear from the chasing pack early on and had a comfortable run for 3rd (1st M35). With John completing the team in 4th. Ollie Smiddy was 8th (and 1st M45), with rookies Aaron and Karl finishing commendably in 12th and 13th. Denis finished in 22nd. The mens M35 team were credited as silver team but only had 3 athletes counting so this one can be left as a footnote in the record books! Other Races: The Womens Mini Marathon which is a 5k (don't get Dave Dwyer started!) was on last week and as usual the turnout is massive for the event. We had Tamzin running who was pacing her sister and finished 226th in 26.46 with Siobhan finishing 260th in 27.32. Tony's 8.53 in the Cork City Sports was omitted last month as well. He was 8th in the Open race (The Cork City Sports organisation committee if they see this should look at the link for the 2024 results, it seems to be a bit like Tim O'Donoghue this summer and gone missing) Also a big welcome to Olwyn Reidy who has transferred to the club and will officially be a member on October 1st (just in time to boost the ladies team for the county seniors XC). Next Up: The county senior cross county is next Sunday in Ballynoe hosted by St Catherines. There is no timetable up but the juveniles start at 12pm so womens race should start approx 2pm and mens at 2.45pm. Please get your entry to Eadaoin before the deadline on Tuesday October 1st.    Championship Races National Masters and East Cork T&F: National Masters: We had two competing at the National Masters T&F this year. Donal and Stephen made the trip to Tullamore to compete in the 1500m. Both were in the M40 category and Donal bagged a national medal for his troubles, made all the sweeter no doubt as he also secured the bragging rights with Stephen just behind in 4th. Donal ran 4.29 and Stephen ran 4.31. Both very strong runs at the end of a long summer season. East Cork T&F: The East Corks were split in two this year with the main events held in Carrignavar on their 300m grass track and the 5000m races held separately in MTU a few weeks later. In the Tour De France there is a most combative rider award and this most certainly would have went to John Spelman. He competed in 5 different events ranging from 100m to 5000m and took two Golds and two silvers away for his troubles too! Perhaps the decathlon is where he will specialise in the future! Not too far off him was another prolific racer, Tony ran three events and took home a gold, a silver and a bronze. Ollie proved he is the top M45 around taking gold in the 800m and 3000m and also competing in the 5k on the track. Other golds were in the masters 800m Eibhlin Cleary (F35) and James Mc (M35). In the masters 3000m Nicky took M35 gold. Frank won a tactical 5000m over Tony up in MTU with a blistering last lap to reclaim his title from 2022, winning in 15.30. Tony as mentioned was 2nd in 15.35 and James (2023 winner) was 3rd in 16.19. Denis raced in the 3k and 5k and Michael Furlong was 8th in the 5k. Well done to everyone who took part and helped organise. National League and Cork City Sports: Well done to John, Frank and Paul who all admirably represented East Cork AC competing with the "East Cork Athletics Division" in the National League over the summer. Paul and Frank scored high points for the team in the Finals, both coming 2nd. Frank ran 3.59 in the 1500m behind Sean Tobin and Paul ran a strong 5k in 15.15. Special mention again to John and Frank who both doubled up in the preliminary round. Cork City Sports - Nicky and John both ran in the Cork City Sports in the Open 3k. Thanks as well for all club members who helped out on the night and all the prep work for weeks and months prior with the many jobs that were needed to make the event such a success. Other Races July - Top 5's: Well done to Tony for winning two road races in July, Corkbeg 4 mile (20.29) and Churchtown South 4 mile (20.52). And hard luck to James for coming second in both! Tamzin was 2nd in Corkbeg in 24.47 and 3rd in Churchtown South in 24.38. Nicky was 5th in Churchtown in 21.22. Tony also came 5th in Fermoy 4 mile in 20.43. There were 17 others racing in July. Details below. Bravo too for our Race Directors Eibhlin in Corkbeg and Conor in Churchtown South for putting on two wonderful races to keep the flame lit in East Cork. Other Races August - Top 5's: We had three winners on the roads in August. First up was Tony again winning the Conna 5k in 15.48. Frank ran on the Stryker 4 Mile passing his Grandparents house on route to taking down the win in his trademark style with a big kick for home in 20.23. And finally Michael Harty made a return to the racing after a block of training to win the Amazon 5k in a a swift 15.11. James was 2nd in Rathcormac and 5th in Conna. Tamzin was 3rd in Conna and Paul Hartnett was 4th in a competitive Cork City 10k in 31.17. 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.  Championship Races Munster Senior and Masters T&F: On the championship trail we had a solid Munster Senior and Masters T&F in Templemore in May. Paul won silver in the senior (and U23) 1500m in 3.57. John also won siler in the 3000m S/C (Sen and U23) in 11.18. Frank took the bronze in the 400m in 51.90 seconds. In the Masters races Donal was 2nd overall in the race and first M40 in 9.43, Stephen took 2nd M40 in a time of 10.10. Well done all Frank was also racing in the University National T&F in the UK in May and reached the semi final after winning his heat in 1.56 in the 800m. He improved to 1.52 in the semi final but just missed out in the final by 1 position after having a storming finish. Other Road Races - Top 10's: There were plenty of other road races on, the biggest result of the month was Michael winning the Midleton 5 in 25.30, Tony was 2nd in 25.54 and Nicky also getting in the top 10 with a good comeback race in 26.47. Tamzin was 5th in the ladies in 31.50 with Annelise also cracking the top 10 in 33.14. James had a trip to the beach for himself over the border to Ardmore and was 6th in the Ardmore 5 Mile in 26.49. All the other results are below as well. Congrats to any PB's and and personal duels won. Wicklow Way Relay: Well done to everyone who participated and helped out to retain our Wicklow Way crown. On the 21st anniversary, it was another monumental effort to get 8 people fit to the start line and all acquitted themselves admirably. Graham had the selectors worried earlier on in the year but put all doubts aside in Ballynoe and backed up that performance with a cracker of a leg 1, breaking the 60 min barrier in 59.37 and importantly also handing it over to Tony in 1st place with a slender 12 second lead, a lead we did not relinquish. Tony an experienced mountain runner with some impressive wins in the past year or two was our trump card for 2024 and he did not disappoint running an extemely strong 62.23. Unfortunatly Tony's Strava did not upload after the race. Annelise was on leg 3 with a point to prove and she certainly did running a great 40.14 and passing to Donal at Oldbridge with a 42 second lead on fierce rivals Rathfarnham AC. Donal, a little uncertain what to do at the front of a race, put his head down and powered up the steep hills at the start of his leg and decended well throught he tricky single track forest section to run 40.44 and pass to Kevin in Glendalough with the specter of "Matt 2023" hovering over him. After a bit of a wardrobe malfunction Kevin got to work on leg 5 and ran a solid 57.21 (and importantly banished the pesky specter once and for all). In Glenmalure Kevin tagged Nicky, whose baton changeover was inspired from Irelands recent success at the World Relay championships, still in first place but only 1.10 up on Rathfarnham. Nicky's 5 star preparation turned into a 5 star performance with a gutsy run in 57.03 to increase our lead out to 5 minutes and pass over to Tim in Ironbridge for leg 7. Tim produced an improved performance on last year and opened up a another 12 minutes on 2nd with a 74.09 for the 20km route (with 600m of climbing). TT Racers had slipped into 2nd at this point after Rathfarnham took a wrong turn on this long leg and ran an extra 1km or so. Tamzin was well warmed up after leap frogging through the legs for the day and knew what was ahead of her. Annelise had filled her in on the finer points of leg 8 on the trip up in the car too. Tamzin showed her good form again and ran a very impressive 43.01 for the hilly 10k route. She crossed the line in Shilleagh village at 2.14pm giving us an overall time of 7.14. Thanks to everyone else who helped out behind the scenes and on the day, Lavinia, Zack, Ava, Lorna, Eadaoin, Fiona, Kenneth and Matt. And while not strictly a pure athletics event it is one of the great team events each year that brings the club together with a common purpose to to round it off with a win is a bonus. All Ireland Schools: Special mention to Mathew Mahony was ran a really well run race in the Junior Boys 1500m in Tullamore as well to come second in a PB of 4.16. Mathew was not afraid to take the race to the field and let loose with 500m to go and showed great strength and composure to hold onto second with a fast charging pack in the home straight bearing down on him.    Championship Races County Roads: Firstly well done to all who competed in the County and East Cork Roads the past number of weeks. We have had some great success individually and teamwise. First up was the special Ballintotis 4 mile held on April 18th on a lovely balmy spring evening. For the first time the County Road championships were held in conjunction with Ballintotis and it added an extra element of spice with medals up for grabs. Paul blazed a trail for the first few miles leaving all but Sean Doyle in his wake but unfortunately for Paul, Sean pulled away becoming the 5th ever winner of the race putting his name on the trophy with esteemed company. Paul ended up 2nd in a great time of 19.26 so took the silver senior and gold novice medals home. Next home was Tim in 5th and 2nd M35 in 19.36. Kenneth who will always be competitive in any age category was 2nd M45 in 21.40 as he returns from injury. Donal was 3rd M40 and just dipped under the 22 minutes. Tamzin had a great run for 6th lady overall and earned her first medal for East Cork with 2nd Novice in 25.08. Avril like a fine wine keeps on showing she is one of the best F50's in the county with 2nd in F50 category in 27.12. We also had a bumper team haul (the home advantage might have helped) with team wins in Senior Men (Paul, Tim, Tony and James), Senior and Novice Women (Tamzin, Niamh, Avril and Sarah), Novice Men (Paul, Nicky, Donal and Graham), and M35+ Men (Tim, James, Nicky and Kenneth) Others who ran but did not medal were Michael in 22.51, Stephen 23.00, Ollie 23.58, Martin 24.45, Denis 32.02 and Claire 31.48. This group has two options for next year 1) Either train harder or 2) Hope they move into a new age category. Championship Races East Cork Roads: Also on were the East Cork roads in their usual spot in Ballynoe, the place with "the hill". Tony turned the tables on James from last year and took the win in 26.34 with James in a comfortable 2nd in 27.46. Graham was a very uncomfortable 3rd battling all the way with youngster Timmy Hawkings and Donal with only 2 seconds separating the three of them at the finish line. With the top three not included for the team results Donal, Michael, Ollie and Denis combined to take 3rd team and the bronze medals. Well done all. In a dominant performance Tamzin blitzed the womens field to take the gold in the Senior womens race in a great time of 11.51. Niamh had a gutsy run to finish 6th in 12.44 with Christine in 9th in 12.54 and Avril 12th in 12.59. With Tamzin excluded they were the scoring three for the gold winning team. Backing them up was Sarah in 19th in 13.33 and Eibhlin in 17.23. Well done all. Other Road Races: There were plenty of other road races on some notable results were Tim winning the Cobh 10 miler in 51.37. John Spelman was 2nd in Cloyne 4k Race 5 and wrapped up the overall series win, importantly winning the trophy back from Leevale hands. Niamh O'Connor was 3rd lady in the same race. Christine Kelly and Chris McGrath took to the roads of Rotterdam for a big hit at a fast flat big European marathon. Christine stormed home in an amazing 3:19, this great time was richly deserved after getting through a 'savage' training block. Chris McGrath ran a solid 3:34 but will be looking forward already to his 25 marathon later in the year to get back down to his PB level. Frank ran a decent 15.12 in the Podium 5k race in the UK, showing the high standard of races there this was good enough for 177th! A full list of all others racing is below, if anyone was missed please let me know. Track and Field: John Spelman was our sole representative in the IUAA T&F Championships running the 3000m S/C in 11.05. He was also on the UCC 4X400m team that reached the final.   Cross Country: A little late in reporting but none the less a huge congratulations goes out to National Cross Country winners Tim and Paul in the Masters and the Intermediate races in Dundalk in February. For such a small club to win both these races on the same day is monumental achievement. Tim in fact has now won the masters XC the past 3 years in a row and is showing even as the hair goes greyer he is still as prolific as ever over the mud. Paul added to his National Novice title to bag the intermediate title so we will all be keen to see the Senior title too in the years to come! Tim took the masters race by storm and in similar fashion to how he disposed of Mick Clohessy in Gowran last year he did the same in Dundalk. He took the lead after about 1k from the Dublin masters winner Colm Rooney and never looked back opening up a sizable gap all the way to the finish line in 24.50. Paul took control in the intermediate race too from early on but did have a sizable chasing pack hot on his heels the first few laps, Paul made a strong push at the 5k mark to open a solid gap of about 15 seconds that he help all the way to the end cross the tape in 29:03. Paul also led our Intermediate team to a brilliant silver medal in the team results. Paul was ably back up by a great run from Tony Forristal, who came through the field like a train in the final lap to finish 6th, John Spelman who is have a real breakthrough season close behind in 14th and Stephen O'Brien who upset the form book to bag 4th on the team in 25th overall. Donal was next in 30th. Well done all another national team medal to add to the lists! Paul is our 4th ever winner of this race and it is the 4th time we have teams in the podium. Details below in the pictures. Munster Road Championships: Well done to all who travelled to the Munster Roads in Dundrum. Eadaoin had the best run of the day overall to finish 21st in 27:00. Stephen forgot he was in a race until the final 100m where he decided to put the after burners on and pip the unfortunate Donal by 1 second for 22nd place in 22.08, Donal was 23rd in 22.09 both won county Gold medal in the Novice and Masters M40 teams. Ciaran McNamee was next home in 28th and 22.32 after a blistering opening mile! Michael Furlong completed the team with 35th in 22.46. Intervasrsities: Indoor: Paul, Ciaran and John all competed in the National Intervarsity indoors the day before the Intermediates. Pual was 4th int he 3k in 8.35, John 6th in this 400m heat in 58 seconds and Ciaran was 21st in the 3k in 10.00. Cross Country: Paul, Ciaran and John also travelled to Queens in Belfast for the Intervarsity XC. Paul was 9th, John had a fine run for 45th and Ciaran was 71st. Well done all. Other Road Races: Tim followed up his Master victory with another win the Kinsale 10 milers. In very tough conditions Tim cruised to a 52.05. John Spelman won the 4th Cloyne race in another good time of 12.51 and puts himself in pole position to win the overall series. Tony ran the Stook 10 mile in Killkenny with an infamous hill and reportedly the fastest mile (all severely downhill) in all of Ireland, he was 2nd in the race in 54.39 and had a split for mile 9 of 4.34! Other Podiums were Donal gaining revenge on Stephen in his local Killeagh 4 mile coming 3rd and newest member of the club bagged 3rd as well in the ladies section. She needs no introduction, welcome Tamzin to East Cork. Hopefully it will be the first of many podiums! Well done for all the other races done in the past few weeks. All should be captured below A quite enough January on the racing front. Although this weekend we will see our Intermediate team in action in Dundalk on Sunday. Best of luck to them and also Tim, who is looking to retain his title in the Masters race. Indoors: Paul Hartnett competed in the National U23 indoors in January in the 1500m. He finished 6th in a time of 3.59. Cross Country: Frank ran in the Bucs XC intervarsity and finished in 33rd place in 35.50. This time he hopefully enjoyed a warm down instead of dashing across Europe to another race the next day. Road Races: Michael Furlong kicked off the year finishing 12th in the Beaufort 10k in 36.09. Siobhan, Niamh and Avril all ran in the IFF BHAA 5k and all broke 21 minutes, with Siobhan pipping Niamh by 2 seconds to take club bragging rights. Donal travelled to Dublin for the high quality Raheny 5 mile and ran a PB of 27.15. The third Cloyne 5k race was also on. John Spelman recorded his second victory of the series to keep his hopes of overall series winner very much alive. On a very windy Sunday morning John ran 13.05 for the win. Michael Furlong is also still in the hunt after winning the first race of the series, he was 4th in 13.51. Ollie Smiddy had a good run chasing down Rebecca McEvoy running 15.09, Martin Hennessy had a strong run to break 16 mins in 15.55. Denis was 49th overall in 19.04 and Eibhlin is continuing her journey back with another solid 22.04.  Firstly well done to everybody who ran in 2023 for the club, especially those who won medals, got PB's and filled up teams when you were needed. There have been 52 individual results since the last update so I will just give the highlights in the report and hopefully every result is captured in the detailed list below. If not please let me know. Championship Medals: The best place to start is as always the medal table. Tony followed up his County Intermediate title with the Munster title in Riverstick on November 26th. He also led the Cork county team to gold. The other individual medal winners in the past 6 weeks were Eadaoin and Siobhan in the County Masters in Glanmire. Eadaoin won the bronze F35 medal with Siobhan running very nicely for the bronze in a competitive F50 category. The team were 2nd then in the F35 team event with Niamh O'Connor and Christine Kelly scoring on the team too. Well done all. Club Records (Super Shoe): 2 records, one man! Big congrats to Paul Harrnett on two very big results in the past few weeks. Firstly he knocked 1 second off Michael Hartys super shoe club record by 1 second when he came 3rd in the Newmarket Classic in 14.19. To prove it was not just a lucky run Paul reckoned he better back it up so on St Stephens Day he headed to Clonmel and became the first person in the clubs history to ever run under 19 minutes for a 4 mile race. Timmy and Liam have both ran 19.02 in different decades (even millenniums!). Paul was again 3rd in the race behind Sean Tobin and Peter Lynch and clocked 18.51. Congrats Paul it is well deserved. National Senior XC: While we did not scale the heights of 2022, we did have a competitive team competing at the national senior XC in Gowran this year. The team packed well in the 40's but just a bit too far back to be in contention for medals. Well done to Michael, Timmy, Paul, Tony and Frank for racing on the day. Cloyne Commons 4k: Well done to all who have raced in the series so far. We have had great turn outs to support this great local race. And on top of that we have had the overall winners in both races so far. Michael Furlong won the first race in 13.19 and John Spelman the second in a great PB and sub 13 performance for the first time in 12.57. Other Events: The Captains Christmas Run was held at Youghal Parkrun this year. We had a good turnout and some handy performances as well to justify the coffee and cake afterwards. Also on was the annual training trip to Inch beach in Kerry. It was also well attended and good to see some youth on the dunes again to build for the next generation. Club membership is now due for the year. Can you please arrange this with Liam or Nicky. It is €40. Munster Senior XC: We had a very successful medal haul at the Munster Senior XC Championships this year held in Two Mile Borris. Oddly enough the race was held the weekend before the National Senior XC but this didn't deter 6 of our dedicated athletes. Michael had another stormer of a race sitting on defending champion Jake O'Regan for the majority of the race making him feel very uncomfortable before releasing his inevitable trademark kick with a few hundred meters to go and taking a decisive win. This was Michaels second individual win last claiming the title in 2015. Michael lead the the team to golden glory with John Spelman, Ciaran McNamee and Donal Giltinan having their own individual battles against each other. John came out on top finishing 11th with Ciaran just behind in 12th and Donal completed the scoring 4 in 13th, his first race after Berlin marathon in September. Fergus Meade was 19th overall as well. Congrats to the team on winning another Munster title. Michael, John, Ciaran and Donal also scored on the Cork team who finished 2nd behind Tipperary. Eadaoin was our sole lady representative in the womens 6k race where she finished a strong 11th overall. Road Running: The Thomas Kent 10 was on Sunday in Castlelyons . Michael Furlong was 29th in 38.45 and Christine Kelly had a great run to finish 8th lady in 42.42. John and Ciaran also raced in the University Road Relays in Maynooth on Friday. Both ran mile legs, John ran in the first leg for UCC in 5.27 with Ciaran on the anchor leg for MTU in 5.16. Munster Championship XC History: - Overall since the club first competed in the Munster Senior XC championship we have won an impressive 24 out of 38 runnings of the event. - We have won the individual title 10 times by five men: Donnacha O'Mahoney (x4), Liam O'Brien (x2), Michael Harty (x2), James McCarthy (x1), and Tim O'Donoghue (x1). - Donnacha on his own has won 4 times with an unprecedented 14 team titles along the way stretching over 20 years from 1987 to his final team title in 2010. - Our longest streak was 9 wins from 2004 to 2012 until St Johns won in Limerick Racecourse in 2013. - Of the 24 titles won 25 men have contributed directly to the team by scoring in the top four (see table below). - As mentioned Donnacha tops this list with 14. Right on his tail is Sean now with 12 and James on 11, both are soley responsible for the consistent run of team results in the mid 00's. - Note: Traditionally the Munster Senior XC was held in January which fitted naturally in the XC calander a number of weeks before the Interclub All Irelands. However with the merging of the intercounties and interclubs to one race in December the Munsters changed to a November date in 2015. Which is why there were two races in that year. Up Next: The National Senior XC is on in Gowran Park on Sunday the 19th. We have our Silver medal winning team from last year on the start line again looking to repeat their success so promises to be another great day of racing. AGM: The club AGM is on Tuesday November 21st in Ballintotis Hall at 8pm sharp. Everyone is welcome to attend and participate. Christmas Night Out: The Christmas night out is on in Rosies in Aghada on December 14th at 7pm . If you/your partner would like to attend please let Lorna or Kevin know asap so the booking can be finalised.    County Novice, Intermediate, Munster Novice and Autumn Open XC: We had two individual medal winners in in the past few weeks. Tony is now the county intermediate XC champion after his win in Ballynoe at the weekend and John Spelman took the Munster U23 bronze in Cooraclare. Well done lads. We were fourth in a few team events missing out by small margins but the Novice men did take Silver medals at the Munsters. Well done to John, Ciaran, Michael and Matt. Stephen supervised the proceedings in his capacity as club captain. In the Autumn Open XC held in Abbotstown Michael Harty had a great race to finish a close second behind Eoin Everard, showing again he is in great shape for the upcoming Munster Seniors and Nationals. Paul Hartnett was 11th overall in the Senior race with Tony not far behind in 18th. Ciaran got some great big race exposure finishing 35th. Dublin Marathon: Tim had a tough day in the office in Dublin. Despite running 2:26.50 Tim had ran a race of two halves. After going through in just over 68 mins for the 13.1 miles and right on track for a strong PB, the wheels came off (similar to his support crew!) and it was a struggle home from there. On the positive side there were no injuries so hopefully he will be able to reload for the National Seniors in a few weeks on fresher legs. Up Next: Nov 12th: Munster Senior and Junior XC in Two Mile Borris Nov 19th: National Senior XC in Gowran  County Senior XC: The 100th county senior XC was held in Carrigadrohid last Sunday and again the weather was glorious, warm and sunny in start contrast to the rain from the day before. The course was in great condition and the organising committee had a different course set up again which keeps the venue interesting every time a XC race is held there. High level it was a carbon copy of the 2022 race. Michael wins, Paul battles valiantly for 2nd, Tim settles for bronze and we win the team from Leevale. The 2023 race did have Tony Forristal stepping in for Frank to match his 5th from last year. The race started slowly with a large pack together for the first two of six 1500m laps. This year notably the race was reduced to 9000m to be in line with new National and European XC distances. Tim felt the pace was too slack at 3k and went to the front to push things along. Michael, Paul and Gavin O'Rourke went with him and a large chasing pack formed. Tim grinded the pace along for the middle part of the race and dropped Gavin leaving the three main protagonists together again. Paul took a turn at the front but they lads stayed together until 7k, where Michael put a fierce burst on that sealed the race. He opened up a 20 second lead on Paul and cruised home to retain his title from 2022. Not bad for a recently turned 43 year old. Tim was about 15 seconds behind Paul for a comfortable 3rd place. Paul was also first U23 finisher. Tony lead the chasing pack for a while before putting the foot down and putting a substantial gap on them in the middle of the race which he held right to the end for a very good 5th place and sealed the team title once again for East Cork. James was next home in 16th. John, the East Cork Novice champ, was 30th and 2nd U-23 with the great man Denis completing his 41st County Senior championship in 40th. Well done to all. History: This was the clubs 22nd county Senior title since our first in 1985. We have had 26 different club member contribute to scoring teams in the 22 wins (Up till 1995 it was 6 to count on a team). Donnacha leading the way with an enormous haul of 15. On the other end of the spectrum Tony has now joined club heavyweights such as Kevin and Frank O'Brien and Paul Mulholland on 1! Michael retain his title to move ahead of Liam and Garreth Barry on individual wins. Tim is still ahead of him with 3 and Donnacha again is the class apart on 6. More detail in the chart below. Radisson Blu BHAA: Well done to Elaine, Niamh and Avril who all ran the BHAA 5k on Sunday morning. Elaine was 3rd overall in 19.32, Niamh just behind in 5th in 19.53 with Avril in 7th with 21.03. Up Next: Up on Sunday is the County Novice XC in Bandon. We have teams entered in both the mens and womens so best of luck to all.     Rathfarnham 5k: Michael continued his hot streak in Rathfarnham last Sunday morning, winning in 14:32 against a strong field. This is another superb win and time by Michael and surely puts him as favourite for next weeks County Senior Cross Country where Michael will look to defend his title won back in 2022. Berlin Marathon: Graham, Donal and Lavinia all travelled to Berlin looking for fast times last week in the Berlin marathon and found them! In perfect balmy marathon running conditions Graham and Donal took full advantage both running great PB's. Locked together for most of the race Graham pushed on to open a small gap at the 18 mile mark which he help to the finish. Graham crossed the line in 2:36.11 and Donal not far behind in 2:37.19. Lavinia had a checkered training schedule leading into the race with pesky injuries so was a bit off her PB but did finish to add another major marathon to her collection. Well done all. East Cork Senior and Masters XC: The East Cork Senior and Master Championships were held in very very wet and windy conditions in Whites Cross last week. Despite the weather the underfoot conditions were actually somewhat reasonable for decent running on. Niamh had a superb race to finish 2nd overall and first F35. Christine had another good run finishing 7th overall and 3rd F35. Well done both. Paul retained his East Cork Senior title with ease. He kept his powder dry (somehow) for the first 5k sitting in the pack, then moved into 3rd gear for the final kilometer to win comfortably. Paul also might have something to say about Michael being favourite next Sunday! Tony was the only person to go with Paul when the move was made and finished 2nd. Kevin was next home in 5th overall and 1st M35, pipping John Spelman on the last lap. John was 7th with Stephen 8th overall and 3rd M35. Matt was next in 11th with Ollie not far behind in 14th and 2nd M45. Denis was 29th. We won the Senior Mens team (Paul, Tony, Kevin and John) ahead of Carrig na bhFear and Ballymore Cobh. We also won the M35 team (Kevin, Stephen, Matt and Ollie) ahead of Ballymore Cobh and St Catherines. Up Next: Up on Sunday is the 100th County Senior XC. After winning the title last year for the first time in a few year we will be looking to follow it up again this year. It looks like we have a strong team on paper. Last years 1st, 2nd and 3rd (Michael, Paul and Tim) are all ready to do battle and should be backed up well by rookie Tony and John to complete the 4 for our team. Denis will be running his 41st county senior race in an astonishing record of consistency. Best of luck to all on the day!  Cross Country is back and Nice Half Marathon Victory from Michael Harty - September 24th, 20239/24/2023 Charleville Half Marathon: Michael and Kenneth travelled to nearby Charleville to compete in their great half marathon. Michael held off a strong field to take the win in his first race at this distance in 67.03. Well done Michael. Kenneth continues his marathon build up with a strong 75.07 for 17th. East Cork Novice XC: The opening cross country race of the season was on last weekend in Ballynoe, hosted by St Catherines. John Spelman won the mens race finally! He won it 2 years ago but was too young to qualify for the title so has had a bone to pick ever since. He lead the mens race from start to finish and held off fast finishing David Barrett in the final 400m. Stephen finished in 3rd place to round off the podium, hopefully he received his medal this time. Chris Kelly was next in 4th. Ciaran McNamee was running as an individual as his transfer is going through, he finished 7th. Ollie Smiddy was right behind in 8th. John, Stephen, Chris and Ollie won the mens team Annelise lead the women team home with a 4th place finish. Eadaoin was hot on her tail in 5th with Christine on her 2nd year of cross country looking very strong in 7th. Norah made her long anticipated racing comeback with a great run in 11th with Claire not too far behind in 14th. Annelise, Eadaoin, Christine and Norah also won the womens team title. Next Up: - East Cork Senior and Masters: Sep 24th - Carrignafear - County Senior XC: Oct 1st - County Novice XC: Oct 8th Track and Field: National Masters T&F: Congrats to both James and Stephen who travelled to Tullamore for the National Masters during the month. James took home a bronze medal in the M35 5k in 16.05 and was 5th in the M35 1500m. Stephen was third in the M40 1500m in 4.32 but due to a logistical error his medal was not available on the day. Unfortunately because of this nobody in the car park believed him when he was telling them he really was third! Now you can refer them to the East Cork AC website for clarification at least! National League: Well done to Paul and Frank who competed in the National League for the East Cork Division also in Tullamore during the month. Paul won the 5000m in 15.03 to take full points and Frank running injured was 5th in the 1500m in 4.16. Roads: Top performance of the month goes to Michael Harty in the Cork City 10 miler. Michael gapped the field by a large margin early on and powered home to a big PB of 49:39. His first time sub 50 after being so tantalisingly close in the Ballycotton 10 in 2016! Congrats Mike. Tony was 4th in 53.46. Tim ran in the International Antrim Half marathon and was 27th in a world class field in 66:53 (winner was 58 mins..) Tony won the St Catherines 5k in 15.38 with James 3rd not far behind. Nicky travelled to Kinsale and was 2nd in a PB of 36.13. Many more great runs in the past month. All should be listed below. Other Events: Well done to Tony on winning the Galtee mountain race as well following up his Carrantuohil victory in July. And congrats to Chris Kelly for completing the Ironman in Youghal in 9 hours 35 mins and was 37th overall. Hopefully both them performances will set you up nicely for the cross country season!   Track and Field: The national U23 individual medalist takes the headlines again this week. Having chipped off 1/10th from his own club 800m record on July 19th in the Eltham BMC Frank let rip a week later in Tooting to crack the 1.50 barrier for the first time in the clubs history. Frank clocked 1.49:71 and was 2nd in the race. National Senior T&F - Frank was also our only entry in the National T&F championships this year. He was third in his heat in 1.56 and just missed out in qualification for the final by one spot. East Cork T&F - The other track championship race was the East Cork 5000m championship. James won the mens race in 16.21 and Eadaoin won the ladies in 20.44. John Spelman was 5th in 18.12 and Denis was 26.19. It was held in the Maradyke while the MTU track is still being upgraded. Road Racing: National 10 Mile - Tim ran the national 10 mile in the Phoenix Park as well and was 5th in 51.06. It is a hilly course and Tim is in the middle of a block of training for Dublin marathon so hopefully some good things to come in the coming months. Local Races - Locally we had the long running Corkbeg 4 and the brand new Churchtown South 4 mile. We had large numbers from the club racing in both and also helping out as stewards and behind the scenes. a lot of work goes into organising these races so thanks to all involved. James won Corkbeg in 20.36 and Tony won Churchtown in 20.51. Many many other results and great times and PB's being set. All (I hope) are listed below. Special Mention: Well done to Tony too for winning the Carrantoohil Classisic Mountain race. Starting and finishing in Cronins Yard and going via the zig zags route Tony clocked 93.30 for the victory.     National U-23 Championships: Frank continued his excellent track season on home soil over the weekend with a terrific bronze individual 1500m medal in the National U-23 T&F in Tullamore. In a very exciting race the bunch sat behind Dean Casey of Ennis for the first kilometer as the pressure built on the leading contenders to get their tactics right. Frank was hovering in about 5th place in lane 2 watching the pack. With about 450m to go Frank moved around the outside to briefly take to lead at the bell. Mark Hanrahan of Ennis pushed with Frank and settled just ahead of him as the top 4 broke away from the rest of the group. All was up for grabs at 200m to go when eventual race winner Callum Morgan kicked hard. Frank showed his 800m speed as they closed in on the finish line to hold off a fast finish by Matteo Mary and claim a individual national medal. The top 4 were separated by only .9 of a second. Congrats Frank. East Cork T&F: The East Cork T&F was on last week in Carrignabhfear. We took home 6 gold medals, 2 silver medals and 3 bronze on the night with everyone who ran taking a medal home. So well done to gold medalists James (x2), Tony(x2), Ollie and Annelise. Silvers and bronzes were won by Stephen (x2), Nicky, Denis and Jonathon. National League: The National League was on as well and well done to Tony and Frank for representing the East Cork DIvision team on the day. Tony was 2nd in the 5000m in 15.45 and Frank got full points in the 1500m in 4.01. Frank also contributed to the 4*400m team that finished 2nd. Road Racing: Lots of road races on the past couple of week as well. The list is below (please let me know if any are missed). Well done to James and Michael for their wins. James one the Depuy BHAA 4 mile race in 21.09 and Michael won the local Cloyne 5k in 14.53. Thanks to everyone in the club as well that helped out on the night in Cloyne to ensure another well organised smooth event. Up Next: We have the Robbie Steele Corkbeg 4 mile race on Thursday night at 8pm. Anybody who is not running can help out on the night. You can let Liam know if you are free to lend 30 - 60 mins.  Wicklow Way Relay: Also on was the annual Wicklow Way Relay where finally on the 4th time of trying over a 10 year span we managed to get the win! We have endured a painful 2nd (in 2022), lost runners (Frank Hayes, Frank O'Carroll, Fiona Santry!), missing starts (Frank Hayes...again) but finally in 2023 everything went well with a strong clean run by the whole team. We had a solid start and worked our way through the field to give Fiona a clear run to the finish line completing the 104km route in 7:28.36. Rookies Diarmaid Collins and Matt Horrigan put in storming performances on the day with Eadaoin proving a very able replacement for Annelise on short notice. Donal and Graham didn't have marathons in their legs this year and their times reflected it, each gaining valuable time. Nicky didn't stray onto Military road this year. Tim ran 3 minutes slower than last year so he will have to focus a bit more next year to get back on the team for 2024. And Fiona followed the signposted roads to Shillelagh village with no issues! Matt has written a great report below summing up the race. Well done to all who helped out as well - Lavinia, Hugo, Ava, Zack, Eibhlin, Ger, Briana, Una, Ben, Holly. Ye are the unsung heros! Matt Horrigan - Guest Article: On a picturesque day in the heart of the Wicklow Mountains, the Wicklow Way Relay 2023 unfolded with teams from all over the country eagerly competing for the coveted title. Amidst a backdrop of breathtaking landscapes and challenging terrains, East Cork AC emerged as the winners of this thrilling race by just 2 minutes. Graham Swords kicked off the relay on Leg 1, ascending from Kilmashogue Car Park to Curtlestown Wood, covering a distance of 13.6 km and conquering an elevation gain of 556m. Graham's performance set the tone for East Cork AC's victory, handing over to Donal in an impressive time of 61 minutes and 37 seconds. Donal Giltinan, on Leg 2, displayed remarkable agility as he dashed from Curtlestown to Lough Tay, tackling a challenging route of 15.1 km with an elevation gain of 680m. Donal's determination was evident as he completed the leg in a commendable time of 73 minutes and 39 seconds, over two minutes faster than last year. Eadaoin Giltinan, Donal's wife and boss, as the team playfully acknowledged, embarked on Leg 3, gracefully maneuvering from Lough Tay to Oldbridge, an 8.3 km stretch with a gentle elevation gain of 126m, in an excellent time of 39 minutes and 52 seconds handing over to Diarmuid. Diarmuid Collins, a former Inter Schools 1500m champion, took charge of Leg 4, conquering the 10 km stretch from Oldbridge to Glendalough. With a challenging elevation gain of 363m, Diarmuid's speed and endurance shone through, clocking in at 43 minutes and 36 seconds. Matt Horrigan, on Leg 5, traversed the scenic route from Glendalough to Glenmalure, covering a distance of 13 km and surmounting an elevation gain of 560m. Matt's steady pace resulted in a solid time of 57 minutes and 56 seconds. Nick O'Donoghue, famously known for his love of coffee, fearlessly tackled Leg 6, traversing the demanding path from Glenmalure to Iron Bridge. Covering a distance of 12.7 km and battling a formidable elevation gain of 533m, Nick's impressive time of 57 minutes and 5 seconds enabled East Cork to claw back approx. a minute on both TT racers and Rathfarnham AC. Leg 7 saw Tim O'Donoghue, embarked on a gruelling 20.4 km journey from Iron Bridge to Tinahely. With an elevation gain of 610m, Tim's experience and determination were evident as he completed the leg in a commendable time of 75 minutes and 23 seconds, propelling East Cork to a 1 minute and 53 second lead for final leg ahead of TT racers. Leg 8 Fiona Santry, National Masters XC champion, fittingly took charge of the final leg, racing from Tinahely to Shillelagh, a 10 km course with a modest elevation gain of 147m. Fiona completed the final leg in an impressive time of 39 minutes and 28 seconds, ultimately securing East Cork AC's victory. Tim O'Donoghue, the team captain, offered sage advice during a dinner at Lynhams of Laragh the night before. The advice basically consisted of don’t get lost, sage words none the less. The team's support crew, consisting of Eibhlin, Ger, and baby Briana, provided invaluable logistical support, in-race position updates, water bottles along the route and ferrying of finished runners. All of which ensured smooth transitions and boosted morale. It is important to recognise the exceptional efforts of other teams who participated in the race. The TT Racers and Rathfarnham AC pushed East Cork AC to their limits, with all teams having their own battles and should be commended for their efforts. As the dust settled and the celebrations commenced, East Cork AC were delighted to secure a hard-fought victory at the 4th time of trying in 7 hours and 28 minutes. Track and Field: Frank ran a strong 3k in the past few weeks clocking a nice PB of 8.31 in the Wimbledon 3k. He backed it up a week later with another strong 800m in 1.53 for 4th in the British League Premiership. Road Racing: The Cork city marathon was on the bank holiday weekend. Brian Harty didn't get the race he wanted but he'll be back for more and will have learned a lot from the experience, running 3.09. Chris McGrath jumped in last minute and ran 3.41 in his 22nd marathon. Chris Kelly and Annelise tackled the half and ran 81.41 and 95.36. Chris is in the middle of a lot of ironman training and Annelise was battling a bit of a niggle for a few weeks so great to see both out there. The 10k replaced the relay this year and seems to have been a great success. Tony was 3rd overall in 32.43, Nicky 8th in 33:41, club captain and city local Stephen 28th in 36.20 and Jonathon Finn making a comeback in 83rd with 39:24.. Other road races on were Carrig na bhFear 5k which Martin ran and finished 14th in 19.21. Grant Thornton 5k with Michael Furlong 4th in 17.32. Musgraves 5k with Stephen 12th in 16.58, Niamh O'Connor ran 20.14 and Avril 20.55. Annelise and Denis travelled to the 40th running of Donoughmore 7 mile. Annelise ran 50.11 and Denis ran 60.48. Well done both. Michael Harty travelled to Dublin for the Docklands 5k and finished second in another superb sub 15 - 14.53.  Track and Field: Frank ran in the Watford BMC last week. After a swift 54 first lap gunning for a big pb the wheels, spikes and singlet came off and ended up with a 2.01. Good to see the ambition though! St Finbarrs Track Night - No results online for this but we had a few taike to the track for the St Finbarrs track night a few weeks ago. Tony ran 9.00 for 3k, Fiona ran 10.03. John Spelman ran 4.26 for 1500m and Tim Mahony must have lost a bet or something ran a decent 2.18 for the 800m. Road Racing: Youghal 5k - Bit behind in the updates. Youghal was 2 weeks ago. We had a big turnout, conditions were good and it really turned into a race rather than a time trial at the front with a big pack. Tony was first East Cork man home with an agonising 3rd, pipped by rival Mark Walsh. Surely he'll get him next time they race... Nicky was 5th and looked in good form pushing the pace throughout the race and finished in 16.01. Fiona won the ladies race in 17.14. Tim Mahony was next in 17.44. Ollie ran a big PB with 18.07 with Martin lurking just behind in 18.16. Niamh O'Connor had a suberb run for 19.49 and 3rd lady with Eadaoin also sub 20 in 19.59 for 5th. Avril ran another strong race while in 20.46 waving to the crowd on the streets of Youghal throughout. Lorna is continuing her return to form with another good 21.17. Denis ran 24 flat. John Buckley BHAA 5k - The John Buckley 5k in the Marina is traditionally well attended and usually a fast race and this year proved that again. Paul Hartnett was 2nd overall in 15:04. Tony was next with a big PB of 15:15 (bitter sweet when you see who was 1 second ahead of him....again). John Spelman had the race of his life knocking 82 seconds off his PB (and also overtaking Donal and Stephen in the club rankings) with a splendidly brave 16.02. Matt Horrigan watched on proudly just behind in 16:09. Fiona had another consistent 17.10 for 4th, she is just waiting for the right race for everything to click now for that elusive sub 17! Avril ran a few seconds faster than Youghal in 20:39 with Lorna closing the gap in 21 flat. Marathons - Frank O'Carroll ran in Copenhagen and beat his Garmin watch preticted time comfortably. Frank ran 2:44.46, well done Frank. Also the Munster Marathon results were finalised (finally) and Christine was gold in the F35 category! Up Next: East Cork Senior and Masters T&F is on June 20th in Carraig na Bhfear. Starting at 7pm there are 300m, 1500m and 3000m along with the Mixed relays of 4*300m. See full time table below.   Track: Frank ran in a highly competitive semi final in the British University track championships and was 7th in 1:58. After qualifying for the semi in 1:53 he will be hoping for a big summer of racing ahead. Road Racing: Christine ran a very strong marathon in Limerick over the bank holiday. With a great block of training and a cross county season in her legs she ran a suberb 8 minute PB in 3:21.12 for 11th. Well done Christine. There was also a half marathon and 6 mile race on. Frank O'Caroll ran 90:03 in the half and Martin ran 39.43 in the 6 mile. The Midleton 5 mile was on as well last week and we had a good turnout from the club. Tony Forristal running his first race officially with East Cork came 2nd overall and was in contention for the win the whole way just getting pipped by Mark Walsh in the closing stages. Kenneth ran a solid 26:57 for 8th with Brian deep in a marathon training block running an excellent 27:18 for 9th. Chris Kelly was back on the roads and still has plenty of speed with 28.41 for 12th. Martin ran 30.42, Chris McGrath who seems to have recovered very well from Manchester marathon ran 33.04 with Conor Tierney just behind 33.14. Avril had another great run for 34:02 with Claire next in 39.25. Denis rounded up our numbers on the night in 42.43. In other road races Claire ran the fast Bweeng 5k in 24.10 and Avril ran in the BHAA 6 mile in Ringaskiddy in 41.43. Up Next: Youghal 5k is on Thursday 11th at 8pm. Also we have been invited to run a 3k v St Finbarrs and Cork Track Club Friday May 19th if anybody wants to get a feel for racing a track race.  |
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