Christmas Dinner

Midleton AC annual Christmas Dinner is now approaching on the horizon. Saturday December 4 is the date for the diary and this year’s function will be held at Midleton Park Hotel. Already many members have booked their tickets and we now encourage all those who may intend to do so, to book as soon as possible as numbers are limited. The organising committee also stress that all money must be paid in advance. Please contact Marc Dalton, Fergal O’Meara or Kevin Smith at training either on Monday or Wednesday.



Remember the cost of subsidised tickets for members is just 20 euro. It’s 39 euro for non members.

The highlight of the function will be the naming of both the Female and Male Athlete of the Year award winners. Also this year two new awards are being introduced for the Most Improved Male Athlete and the Most Improved Female Athlete of 2010. After a year of great success for the club there are many outstanding candidates for all 4 accolades.

Winter Sun
A travelling part of almost 30 Midleton AC personnel will be flying high on this Thursday when they head for the sunshine of Lanzarote. There are three races taking place during the 5 days of the stay. Best wishes to all – have a great holiday!.

Back Home
Meantime, back home for those of us who will have to deal with frost and rain, there are two local fixtures in the immediate future. The Inniscarra Community Centre ‘4’ Mile Classic take places under Cork BHAA rules with 11.30am start on Sunday next.

Then on Tuesday week we have the third race in the East Cork AC Winter 3K Series. Already this year some outstanding performances have been recorded by many of our athletes in this Series. The likes of Darragh Canavan, John O’Connell, Eric Owers, Marc Dalton and Owen O’Connell will no doubt be eying up another big performance on Tuesday next in the popular event.

In cross country action the Munster Masters Championships will be held in Dungarvan on Sunday next.


‘10’ Mile Spring Classic Series

The John Buckley Sports Munster Spring Classic Series which takes in four ‘10’ Mile Road Races in three counties is likely to again prove a major attraction for runners in early 2011.

Full details of the forthcoming series were confirmed recently with the popular venues of Mallow, Dungarvan, Ballycotton and Kilnaboy set to be the focal points for many runners’ ambitions over the first few months of the new calendar year.

All roads will lead to Mallow on Sunday January 9 when the host club Mallow AC will hopefully have a clear run with weather this time around. The industrious North Cork club were unfortunate earlier this year when due to freezing conditions they had to move the series opener from it’s original date, a fate that also befell them a few years earlier when dense fog descended on the banks of the Blackwater.

On line entry at a cost of 15 euro for the 2011 Mallow ‘10’ opens TODAY. Whilst entries will taken on race day (costing 20 euro each), advance entry greatly benefits the organising committee. Action is scheduled to begin as usual at 12.30pm.

Incidentally this year’s race was eventually run in early February and saw Carraig na bhFear clubman Colin Merritt lead home a field numbering over 500 in a winning time of 53:17.



Race 2 on the provincial series will take the runners to Dungarvan for the West Waterford AC promoted ‘10’ on Sunday January 30. The event will again be sponsored by Quantum Life, but the local committee have stressed that no entries will be taken on race day. At present intending participants can enter for the race for 15 euro up until December 17. From there until the final cut off point of January 17, entry will cost 20 euro.
It will be 20 years since the inception of the race and the occasion will be extra special as former World Cross Country Champion and Olympic medallist John Treacy will be part of the big day. In his honour the inaugural John Treacy Club Challenge will be launched to find Ireland’s best teams over the classic 10 mile distance.

After that comes the Ballycotton ‘10’, but much earlier the ‘house full’ signs will again be displayed in advance of the most famous road fixture in the land.

Arrangements for the 2011 race are similar to twelve months ago. Application forms can be applied for up until Friday November 26 by sending a SAE to Ballycotton Running Promotions. All forms will then be posted out on the following Monday, whilst forms may also be downloaded from the web site from Tuesday evening November 30. The first 2,500 postal entries opened will automatically be accepted.

Thereafter there will be an extra window of opportunity up until December 16 for AAI registered club runners and runners who completed this year’s 2010 Ballycotton Summer Road Race Series. The big race itself will take place on Sunday March 6. Entry forms will be available at Midleton AC training on Wednesday December 1.
In stark contrast there are no such deadlines in relation to the concluding fixture in late spring. The beautiful Burren landscape which sets the backdrop for the Sonny Murphy Memorial Kilnaboy ‘10’ in April usually attracts no more than 300 runners. Entries on Sunday April 10 will again be taken on the day.

Keep An Eye To The Blog

Again we would like to highlight especially to new members the many ways of keeping in touch with club info and ongoing running details.

Just check www.midletonathleticclub.blogspot.com for all regular updates. E mail contact is midletonac@ireland.com You may also have regular club news, updates and results sent directly to you via our club e mail service. Please give your e mail address to PRO John Cashman to avail of this service. Telephone enquiries regarding the club may be directed to Danny McCarthy on 087-2403940.



Summary



So a quick summary of the next week’s events –



Today - Training at Midleton Al Weather Pitch - 6pm

Wed 17th – Training at Midleton Community Centre 6pm-Beginner’s. 7pm – Other Members

Thursday 18th – Club Tour To Lanzarote

Sunday 21st – Inniscarra ‘4’ Mile Race – 11.30am /Munster Master’s Cross Country

Monday 22nd – Training at Midleton College All Weather 6pm

Tuesday 23rd – East Cork AC 3K - 7.30pm



In the meantime – ‘keep on running’