March 11th 2025 – Munster Roads and the return of an old friend

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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