Summer round-up: National records and national medals! - Aug 25th, 2026

The dust has settled on all divisional, county, provincial, national and international track and field championships. All in all, thanks to various injuries and ailments, it has been a quiet season on track for the club but nonetheless there have been a few highlights to report.

Before that however, we must begin on the roads.

Michael Harty – national record holder on the treble
Mike Harty has continued to prove that age is no limit to ambition and in the space of less than two months he has re-written the M45 road-racing record books. 

First up on 26th June was the St. Coca’s 5k in Kilcock, on the banks of the Royal Canal in Co. Kildare. Mike was fourth here last year and this year he went one place better, finishing third in what was a very tight finish. The youthful Jonas Stafford of UCD won the race by a hair’s breadth over Clonliffe Harriers’ veteran Colm Rooney. The winning time was 14m 09s. Mike was just four seconds behind in 3rd place in an M45 record-breaking 14m 13s, knocking 18 seconds off the previous record which had been held since 2019 by Derry’s Declan Reed. As a side note, Rooney had only just recently broken Mike’s own M40 5k record, running 13m 48s in the Bob Heffernan 5k in Enfield, Co. Meath.

Mike was at it again just five days later, this time in Dundrum, Co. Tipperary at the Coillte 10k on a course that takes in two quick, flat laps around the village and its environs. This race was even closer, with only two seconds covering the top three finishers after a sprint to the line. It was won by Clonmel’s William Maunsell from Kilkenny City Harriers’ Billy Coogan. Mike finished in 3rd place in 30 minutes flat, knocking just under a minute off Declan Reed’s previous record. He is now the proud M40 and M45 national record holder over the 10k distance on the roads.

And finally, just last Sunday, Mike was back up in Larne for the Antrim Coast Half Marathon. Last year he set an M40 national record there by the seaside. He was at it again this year, finishing 29th in 65 minutes 57 seconds and bagging his third national M45 record of the summer.

These records are a well-deserved reward for Mike’s hard work and dedication. They will no doubt provide inspiration to the club’s more mature members to strive for the best in years to come….

National T&F Gold and Munster T&F Silver
Congratulations to Niamh O’Connor on winning F45 1500m gold at the National Masters T&F Championships at a sunny Morton Stadium last weekend, having survived the Dublin traffic and a lengthy start-line delay. Niamh has been our only female representative on the track this year and this gold has been added to her national medal collection – an upgrade on the bronze medal she won over the same distance at the National Indoor Masters back in March.

Meanwhile, our M50 800m specialist, Ollie Smiddy took silver at the Munster Masters on a wet and wild Sunday afternoon in early June at MTU. He followed this up a couple of weeks later with two imperious gold medal winning performances over 800m and 300m at the East Cork Track & Field Championships in Carrignavar, where weather conditions were quite the opposite to those on offer earlier in the month.

The Summer-long saga of Donal vs. Stephen
East Cork Track & Field Championships
Donal Giltinan and Stephen O’Brien were our most ever-present attendees at training over the course of the summer. So much so, that crowds of interested spectators found themselves flocking to Wednesday and Saturday sessions in order to observe the latest form and speculate as to who might have the upper hand once the real business began in competition.

It took a while, but that business began at the 59th running of the East Cork Track & Field Championships on 23rd June, bonfire night, on what was a very hot Tuesday evening in the grounds of Coláiste an Chroí Naofa in Carrignavar. As ever, the races were run over an immaculately-prepared 300m grass track. Round one was the M35 800m race. Stephen set the pace in the initial stages until Donal swept by at the half-way mark. The two ran in tandem until, with 50 metres to go, Stephen made a burst for the line to win by one second. 

Next up was the 3000m race, the highlight of the championships. All age categories were in the one race which made for a busy race over the short track. Paul Hartnett took to the start line, and to no-one’s surprise, went on to dominate proceedings. He won the race in 9m 09s, having lapped the entire field. As the field assembled, Paul’s clubmates were comforted by the fact that, according to their own detailed calculations, they would not be lapped. Oh how wrong they were…. Nevertheless, it was Stephen who took up the early running behind Paul as he led the rest of the field for two and a half laps. Donal then swept by again and went on to build a reasonable gap over his nemesis as things settled down, with East Cork looking good for the 1-2-3 finish. With two laps to go Donal had Stephen on the ropes. Stephen started chipping away at that gap though and as the runners took the bell for the final lap he sniffed a chance. He closed the gap and dealt a knock-out blow as they entered the final bend, taking 2nd place overall and M35 honours with Donal in 3rd.

Also on the night, Olwyn Reidy took F50 gold at both 100m and 300m and Eoin Hartnett, making his championship debut, narrowly missed out on a medal in the senior 300m race. Well done to Carraig na bhFear AC for hosting a very enjoyable evening’s entertainment yet again. Given the balmy conditions on the evening, all that was missing was a post-race barbecue….

MTU track night and County Championships
Next up, on the 17th July was the race night organized by MTU Athletics and Cork Track Club at the MTU track. Our two heroes entered the 800m, with this being Donal’s first effort at the distance over a ‘proper’ 400m track. He easily had the upper hand on the night, finishing 8th in the ‘C’ race in 2m 13.9s. Stephen never got going and wound up in 9th place (2m 16.3s).

The two were back two days later for the County Track & Field Championships – this time for the 1500m. The event was poorly attended, and all male age categories took to the start line for the one race. Finnian Lawton of Durrus AC won with ease. Stephen had his usual sprightly start, tracking the West Cork man early on but had been overhauled by Donal and Togher’s Cian O’Mahony before the 300m mark. Donal dropped to 3rd place behind the Togher athlete not long afterwards and he was to stay in that position to the end of the race, taking county M40 honours in 4m 31s flat. As seems to be the custom, Stephen dropped away from his rival as the race progressed but was being kept honest by Cork Track Club’s Craig Harrington who nipped at his heels throughout. With 200m to go Stephen pushed on, finishing less than one second behind his clubmate (4m 31.8s) to secure M40 silver. There were no other M40s in the race….

Earlier in the morning, Denis McCarthy picked up his 99th county medal and counting - a remarkable haul - taking M60 silver in the 3000m.

Final Graded League and National Masters
The final graded league of the season was held on a windy evening at MTU on Tuesday the 4th August. Donal and Stephen were back for another pop at 1500m as a precursor the National Masters Championships which were to be held the following weekend. There was a bit more quality in the (paced) field on the evening and one wonders how this was not possible for the county championships. The Dynamic Duo finished one behind the other yet again. This time, Donal was ahead by a comfortable margin, finishing 7th in 4m 32.6s, with Stephen 5.5 seconds further back in 8thplace.

Donal had by now gained a clear upper hand after five rounds of track action. Could Stephen arrest the slide in the big one or would Donal hold on to claim club bragging rights into the Autumn?

The National Stadium in Santry was this year’s venue for the National Masters Track & Field Championships. In a break from tradition, competition kicked off on a Friday evening with the event of interest to us being the 1500m. Spurred on by Niamh O’Connor’s aforementioned success, Donal and Stephen were in action not long afterwards in the first 1500m race which was run for the M35, M40 and M45 categories. The action got underway in warm evening sunshine and the pace was fast from the start, with several groups forming at an early stage. Running faster than he had done before over the distance, Donal hung on to the train as best he could as Stephen decoupled from the rear, a couple of seconds behind his clubmate. Donal struggled to maintain the pace over the final lap though, and with 150m to go his maroon singlet began to act like a red rag to the charging bull behind…. Stephen has been responsible for several late muggings in the past but this one took the biscuit as two surges saw him pass Donal to take club honours - for that was all that was on offer - with just metres to go to the finishing line. Stephen finished 14th in 4m 26.3s, just one hundredth of a second off his best, with Donal finishing 15th in 4m 26.6s, a one-second PB. The two lads’ previous bests had been set at the nationals back in 2022 so it is great to see that, despite creaking bodies, they can still do it four years later. East Cork had claimed M40 1500m bronze for the previous three seasons (2023 Stephen, 2024 Donal, 2025 Brian Harty), but that sequence was broken and we had to make do with 5th and 6th placed M40 this time around. There were no other M40s in the race….

In other business
· Christine Kelly was our only representative over the full distance at the Cork City Marathon which was held on the June bank holiday weekend. This year, for the first time, all races finished up on Grand Parade. There was a buzz around the city centre on the day with participants running through a tunnel of spectators along Washington Street before turning right for the line. Christine put in the hard yards in the months leading up to race day and her efforts were rewarded with a fine 26th place finish overall in the ladies race with a strong 3hrs 17mins effort. Stephen O’Brien, Annelise Hutch, Tim Mahony, Sarah Goulding, Olwyn Reidy and Lavinia Swords all ran in the 10k race. So too did Eoin and Paul Hartnett, with Paul, on pacing duty for his older brother, offering non-stop encouragement throughout the entire race. Rumours that Eoin wished the non-stop encouragement would have stopped at times are thought to be wide of the mark, and the two were seen speaking to each other in Carrignavar just a few short weeks later.

· Michael Furlong could not be dragged off the roads over the past two months. Energised by the super-turbo V10 Puma boots, he blazed to a 5 mile PB with a 7th place finish at the Willie Neenan 5-miler in Millstreet at the end of June (28m 08s). He pushed his 5 mile marker on even further with an impressive 27m 42s a month later in Kinsale, finishing in 27th place on the night. There were also some impressive runs over 4 miles at Churchtown (22m 21s – 5th place) and on his adopted home roads at Kilgobnet, Co. Kerry (22m 15s – 2nd). He finished it off with the Youghal Bay Half Marathon, less than two days after Kilgobnet - though one suspects his legs were somewhat finished by the end of that race!

· The Corkbeg 4 miler was held in glorious sunshine on the 2nd July. Although club representation in the race itself was low, plenty of members were there on the night to help ensure that the event ran as smoothly as always. Thanks to all for this!

· Dave O’Dwyer travelled to Galway for his annual victory in the Mary Courcey 5k in Cleggan.

· Martin Hennessy picked up plenty of category prizes in the various BHAA races run over the summer months.

· Paul Hartnett made a return to the roads finishing runner up to West Waterford’s Evan Fitzgerald in the Rathcormac 4 miler on 20th August.

· Congratulations to Eve Buckley on her impressive 2nd place finish at the recent IMRA Galtymore Mountain Race. Walshtown will hold no fear at all for her over the coming months!

Winter training
​Contrary to rumours of its demise, Market Green still exists for the time being, and we will continue to use it for as long as that remains the case. Winter training shall therefore resume at Market Green on Tuesday evenings from 6pm, starting on 25th August. Hill sessions will recommence at Walshtown Woods from Saturday 29th August with the usual 10am start. Allcomers are welcome. Let’s see how long it takes for those hard-earned summer sun tans to fade away!