NEWS UPDATE FROM PETER GUNNING - JOINT P.R.O

Midleton AC Senior Section Monday 28th November 2011

After the drama, excitement, pain and exhilaration of the Dublin City Marathon one would think that this column could hang up his pen and take a well-deserved rest with a not -much-to-report on-the running-scene-this-fortnight-folks sign off. However, no sooner had the vaseline dried on the blisters and the hangover cured form the party in the Maple, when it was off to the starting line again with two significant races enticing our athletes. Both were new races and each had a charitable motivation.

The first was the 6-Mile Mount Oval Race organised by the BHAA with proceeds heading in the direction of the Men’s Health Awareness Movember Appeal. Aptly among the category prize winners was our own Seán O’Sullivan although few would have recognised our normally baby-faced Seán as he crossed the line in 41:18 to take bronze in the highly competitive 0-40 category. Looking like a hybrid of Jimmy Hill and Ronny Drew, it is rumoured that Seán is in negotiations to sign a sponsorship deal with Gillette. Less hairy-faced but equally impressive was John Cashman who won silver in the 0-45 with an excellent 40:37. Dan Horgan made it a great day for the health of our male athletes with a third-placed finish in the 0-55. Our ladies too were not to be upstaged with the wonderfully consistent Mary O’Keeffe winning the 0-45 category. Margaret Rohan and Joan McCarthy also gave prize-winning performances in the 0-50 section. Brian Healy and Ned Ramsell had great runs with Stan Byczek, and John O’Connell also enjoying the challenge of the hilly terrain.

Marymount Hospice was the motivation behind the Tramore Valley 5k held last Saturday which was organised by our colleagues in East Cork AC. We had some terrific runs on the day with both Stan Byczek and Matt Chojan beating the 20min barrier finishing in 18:55 and 19:48 respectively. There seems to be no stopping the rise and rise of Anna Doris who again was well placed in the ladies race with a comfortable 20:51. It was great to see Ned Ramsell returning to form in arguably his best event hitting the line in 21:33 just 13 seconds behind Dan Horgan. Francis Maunsell was also delighted with his 21:48. Pleased too with their fine performances were Marion Cotter, John O’Halloran, Danny McCarthy, Brian Healy, Colm Jordan, Joan McCarthy, Kathleen O’Connell and Mary Toher.

While most of us stayed close to home over the past two weeks the peripatetic Tom Cody threw the runners in the back-pack and travelled to Carlisle for a ten-mile road race. In the English city so far north the natives have Scottish accents, Cody won a category prize and finished in 64 minutes. Super-running from one of our most consistent and most talented athletes. A special mention also from this column must go to Denis Kelleher who after two races in the Killarney 5k winter series leads his category.

It is that time of year when the focus of our runners switches to the ten-mile road race series and specifically the Ballycotton 10. Applications must be in before 15th December and forms will be available at training this week. Also, on-line entries for the Dungarvan 10 are now open. Visit the West Waterford AC website for further details.



Our annual dinner and awards night takes place in the Midleton Park Hotel on Saturday 10th December. Fergal will be collecting money for same at training this week which takes place as usual on Monday 6pm in Midleton College and Wednesday at 6pm and 7pm in the Community Centre.

Until next time, keep on running!