Midleton AC Senior Section 30^th April 2012

The Midleton 5 Mile Joe Hourigan Memorial takes place this Thursday night at 8pm with registration in the GAA club from 5pm and an 8pm start on Dwyer’s Road. This event has mushroomed over the past few years to become one of the biggest five-milers on the road-racing calendar with over 600 athletes expected to finish. The course is excellent. Virtually traffic-free, relatively flat and with a super sprint-enticing final 600metres, PB chasers may very easily be rewarded.

Once again race director, John Cashman together with club captains Sally, Edmund and the ever-diligent organising committee literally have left no stone unturned (as this column goes to press, our friends in the council are busy pouring tarmac into potholes on the course). The large team of stewards will guarantee the safety of all runners on the night while back at race HQ in the GAA club the catering crew will ensure refuelling before prizes are presented to both the front runners and the randomly selected. Pre-registration will take place in the Community Centre from 6-7pm on Tuesday. We would encourage members to avail of this opportunity to beat the queue and collect your bibs in advance.

Apart from the organising of our annual race it has been a hectic few weeks on the running circuit with members representing the club in a variety of events both long and short, local and international. On 15^th April Mary Toher added yet another completed marathon to her bulging CV donning the Midleton AC vest in Brighton. Meanwhile on the same day, Peter Gunning showed signs of a return to more expected form in running a comfortable and even-paced 3:36 in Rotterdam. A week later, Peter’s training partner Seán O’Sullivan ran a superb 3:17 in London. Wonderful running in London too by  Rosari Griffin  whowiped 35 minutes off her recorded time last year. Further afield in Kracow one of our Polish colleagues, Stanislaw Bychecz equalled Seán’s 3:17 wearing his AAI endorsed Midleton AC colours. Stan, we salute both your modesty and your talent. Unfortunately Declan Ó Dorgáin failed to complete the Paris Marathon having sustained a broken foot at the start of the race. No doubt Declan will be back minus the cast very soon to chase a sub 3:20 in Dublin in the autumn. While we congratulate all our above mentioned marathoners, this column’s  laurel wreathe must go to Seán O’Sullivan, not only for the excellence of his run but for his joining that elite band of marathoners who have completed the world’s recognised five majors, Berlin, New York, Chicago, Boston and London.

Following on the theme of star performances, Denis Kelleher’s growing reputation as a Midleton master on the ascent was further enhanced with a third place overall in recent Stride by the Tide in Redbarn. Also successful at the seaside event were Donie O’Connell and Danny McCarthy who took gold and silver respectively in the O-60 category, Christine Murphy, first O-40, Joan Hough first O-50, Eugene McCarthy first O-40. John Cashman had a terrific run also on this demanding surface with  “I was only jogging” Neilus Aherne taking bronze in the O-55.

With the buckets and spades tucked away for another year it was off to Ballynoe last Thursday night for the annual East Cork Road Racing championships. In the ladies’ 2k event Sheila Buckley picked up a well-deserved bronze. Following closely in Sheila’s slipstream, Claire Fitzgerald, Margaret Jones, and Helen Gilroy took gold in the team event with Susan Delaney and Trish Murphy narrowly missing out. In the men’s gruelling  5 miler which included Everest times five, Darragh Canavan won silver in 29.19 with John Hennessy four seconds behind taking bronze. Kevin Smith led the Midleton AC team home to take silver with Marc Dalton, Tom Cody and Denis Kelleher joining him on the second rung of the podium. Well done to all who braved the elements and represented the club on one of the most demanding courses on the road-racing circuit.

On the busy calendar of events over the past two weeks one race stands out both for the participation of our members and for the incomparable local community spirit. Overseen by our own John Cashman, the Ballintotis 4-miler attracted over 700 athletes (110 from our own club) to the picturesque lakeside course. The race itself was an exciting affair witnessing superb running from several of our members. Special mention must go once again to Darragh Canavan and John Hennessy who both subbed 23mins. Kevin Smith, Marc Dalton and Kieran Mulcahy  all came home under 24 min while Mick Dolphin, Neilus Aherne, Morgan O’Regan, Brian Cott and Emmet Ronan all ran close to the six minute average mile mark. Michelle Kenny, Claire Fitzgerald, Sheila Buckley, Helen Gilroy, Kara Reilly and Joan Hough were amongst the too many to mention of our ladies who did us proud. Well done again to John and his team for providing us with a terrific local race and for designing a course which is ideal for marathon preparation.

Training continues on Monday nights 6.30pm in the CBS field and on Tuesday’s at 7pm meeting at the community centre. Until next time ...bígi ag rith ...keep on running!

Also please note -
 The Chi running workshop which was to have taken place on June 16 will now
 not be taking place until September.  If you are interested in taking part
 please contact Sally, tel. 087 2265857 or thedrennans@eircom.net.