East Cork T&F - Day 2: MTU June 21st, 2021

Carrignavar hosted the second day of the East Cork T&F championships up in MTU track on Wednesday July 21st. An ideal balmy evening for track racing was instore for the 26 entrants and the East Cork athletes did not disappoint, taking home 4 of the 6 medals on offer!

In the first race there was a ding dong battle for the title between Frank O'Brien and Tim O'Donoghue. Frank lead Tim and James out for the first 3k in a consistent 9.30. With 2k to go Tim tried to make his move but Frank would not leave him pass despite 3 or 4 attempts, the wind sprints in the CBS a few weeks ago paying off. With 400m to run Frank injected a bit more speed and opened up a 30m gap that he held to the finish, winning in 15.32. Tim just behind in 15.37. James was 3rd home in 16.10 with Nicky in 6th in 16.55 and Donal making his racing return in 10th in 18.20.

In Race 2 we had Jen leading the women's race from gun to tape, winning in a time of 19.45. Annelise was 2nd after a titanic battle with Rhona Lynch of Carrignavar in a time of 21.49. Ollie Smiddy made his debut for the club too in a brand new pair of spikes, running a very solid 19.30 for 2nd. Denis McCarthy running his 65th ever 5000m on a tartan track was 14th. The fastest of these he ran 14.58 in back in the 1980's!! Not to be content with a short warm down, Denis was also still clocking some mileage as most people were driving home. Denis has an incredible ambassador for East Cork and Irish athletics over the years.

Next Up

-Munster Junior & U23 T&F Championships: July 24th, Templemore
- Conna 5k: July 30th 8pm, Conna
- Munster Senior & Masters T&F Championships: July 31st, Templemore
- Irish Life Health National Masters T&F Championships: September 5th, Tullamore