Midleton AC Senior Section 30th
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 15th 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.
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.
