Midleton AC Senior Section
by Peter Gunning
It is a sure sign of summer when we run with the cheetahs, pack up
the buckets and spades for a trip to Youghal and then line up for the first of
the four-race Ballycotton 5 mile series as sights are set on the bank holiday
weekend and the Cork City Marathon. Ah yes fellow runners, check the road-racing
calendar, summer has most definitely arrived.
Leaving the cheetahs for dust, Kevin Smith finished a terrific
eight place in the highly competitive Eagle 4 miler in Fota Wildlife Park with a
time of 23.19. Marc Dalton came in 22nd place in 24:07 with Tom Cody
and Emmet Ronan comfortably inside the top 40. Tom once again came home with a
golden category prize for first over 55. Also on the podium were Donie O’Connell
and Danny McCarthy, first and second respectively O-60. There was great running
also from John Cashman, Morgan O’Regan, Brian Cott, Fergal O’Meara, Owen
O’Connell and Barry Aherne. Michelle Kenny led our ladies home just ahead of
Margaret Jones and the resurgent Anna Doris. Cork-marathon bound Sheila Buckley
also had a fine run narrowly missing the 28 minute mark. Margaret and Anna took
category prizes at the event as did Mary Toher and Cathleen
O’Connell.
In Youghal last
Sunday the Emer Casey 10k proved a gruelling course for the twenty club
members who donned the sun-cream
and headed to the sea-side town.
Congratulations to Morgan O’Regan who broke the magic 40 minute barrier
in a comfortable 39:49 to lead our team home.
Great running too by our next three male athletes, Seán O’Sullivan, John
Cashman and Kevin Cooney. Once again, Michelle Kenny was our first lady with
Mary O’Keeffe, Sheila Buckley, Margaret Jones and Denise Hickey making up our
first five. Good to see Bernie Twomey back on the road here again to join Marion
Cronin, Mary Smith, Joan McCarthy, Sheila Bulman and Ciara Baldwin amongst our
finishers.
The main event of the last two weeks however, took place last Thursday in Ballyhandreen as the
now synonymous with summer Ballycotton 5 Series kicked off. The huge field led
to the predictable slow start and with
the undulating terrain many of the athletes found the course challenging and
were unable to maximise the generous descent to the finish line. The beauty of
this four-race series however is the variety offered by each of the four courses
ranging from hilly to flat and monotonous to scenically breath-taking.
Ballyhandreen is notorious as a tough introduction to the series. The much
coveted T-shirts for the Top-50 men and Top-20 women will be well-earned.
Darragh Canavan 29:04, Kevin Smith 29:26, Marc Dalton 30:09, Denis Kelleher
30:13 and Adam Duchnicz 30:14 are well-placed going into the second race in
Shanagarry in June as are Nigel
Carroll 30:40, Mike Dolphin 30:43, Kieran Mulcahy 31:10 Tom Cody 31:18 and Emmet
Ronan 31:52. After a frustrating season it was wonderful to see the return of
Donal Broderick who along with John Cashman, Fergal O’Meara, Francis Maunsell
and Alan Kelly will all be battling to improve their overall standings over the
next three races. Our ladies once again
seem to set to dominate the leader-board. Michelle Kenny 35:50, Susan Delaney
37:01 and Mary O’Keeffe 37:03 can all run faster. Helen Gilroy 37:33 and Sheila
Buckley 37:34 ran conservatively, no doubt mindful of the challenge of next Monday’s marathon. Kara Reilly, and Catherine Terry are
new club members who caught the eye with hugely impressive finishes while Breda
Cahill and Marian Aherne are among the more senior members who hope to be
sporting T-20 logos come the autumn.
Best of luck to all our athletes who are taking part in next Monday’s Cork City Marathon. There
will be a post-marathon post-mortem in the Maple on the night where club member
and proprietor, Brian McCarthy will be displaying his blisters after his
morning’s 26 mile jog through the city streets.
Brian has informed this column that his Carlsberg works wonders for
nipple bleed (probably) while Guinness possesses restorative respiratory
qualities (definitely). Whatever is your cure, Brian and Gary will find it for
you behind the bar from (or before) 8.30pm.
Training continues on Mondays 6.30 at the CBS and Tuesday from the Community Centre at
7pm. Check the blog for fixtures and updates and remember to contact John if you
want to mention any personal running
achievement, particularly a PB or a run in an unusual location. With over 200
members it is not easy to track every member’s itinerary.
Until next time.... keep running!
