Midleton AC Senior Section
by Peter Gunning
As the last of the blister pads are peeled away and the
chaffing scars begin to fade, twenty of our athletes can now proudly add Cork
City Marathon 2012 to their running cvs. Indeed it was day of both success and
celebration not only for those aforementioned hardy souls but for the twenty-one
Midleton AC members who ran the half-marathon and the too many to count who took
part in the relay event.
Finishing in an outstanding 9thoverall out of
570 competing relay teams, Midleton AC International clocked a most impressive
2hr 48min. Led out by Maggie Chojan the team included Matt Chojan, Stanislaw
Bychecz, Michal Reymer and Warsaw’s adopted son, Denis Kelleher. It was a
tremendous achievement for our club to have a top ten finishing team and our
heartiest congratulations are extended to the team otherwise known as Four Poles
and a Pad.
It was another of our Polish members, Adam Duchnicz who
led the marathon team home in a most creditable 3:07. Adam was a little
disappointed not to dip the 3hr mark but has now set this target for Dublin in
the autumn. Sub-3 hour veteran, Neilus Aherne found the going tough towards the
latter stages of the race but finished nonetheless in a fine 3:13 while Francis
Maunsell was delighted with his 3:25 virgin run. Don O’Callaghan was next man
home in 3:29 while Peter Gunning and Mike Geary both ran comfortably in 3:42 and
3:45 respectively. With due respect to the wonderful Team Maggie Built, Teamwork
of the Day Award must go to the Team Helen Trained, with Helen Gilroy, Sheila
Buckley and Margaret Jones running together for the entire 26.2 miles before
crossing the line hand in hand in hand in a terrific 3:49. Ladies, your club
salutes you and three laurel wreathes await your crowns. (Incidentally, Margaret had run a Triathlon
the week previously in Athy!) Well done to Don Ryan for at last beating that 4
hr barrier with four minutes to spare.
To Catherine Carroll, Barry Aherne, Colette Barry, Brian McCarthy, Elaine
O’Riordan, Mary Walsh, Ned Ramsell, David Burke, Olive Hallahan and Mary Toher ,
the club extends both congratulations and respect for completing the real deal
of the day.
Our half-marathoners included several PBs and some
stand-out performances. Darragh Canavan was pick of the pack with a solid 1 hr
22min run, which keeps his Dublin sub-3hr plan firmly on track. Michael Dolphin
continues to perform on an upward ascent with a terrific 1:27 while Alan Kelly,
despite a lack of training at this distance, finished in the Top 100 with a
blistering 1:34. Mark Walsh shaved 20 seconds off his previous best to claim
silver in the 0-50 in 1:35 while John Carey and Kevin Cooney followed in his
slipstream in 1:36 and 1:37 respectively. Soon to be officially, nicknamed The
First Lady, Michelle Kenny was again just that at 1:38 while half-marathon
virgin, Catherine Terry was thrilled with her 1:47. Trish Murphy and Marie
Murphy also broke 1:50 while there were also solid performances from Danny
McCarthy, Ger O’Shaughnessy, Kay Furlong, Ronan McManus, Sinéad Buckley, Elaine
Hennessy, Sinéad Ivers, Noreen Emerson, Claire Lane, Kenneth Lynch and Marion
Cotter.
The John Buckley 5k held on the Thursday before the marathon saw a huge
field take on this exceptionally fast but demanding course. Super running here
from Kevin Smith 17:17. Darragh Canavan 17.19 and Marc Dalton 17:41. Denis
Kelleher continues to exhibit increased acceleration at all distances running
well within himself at 18:03 with both Stanislaw and John Cashman behind Denis,
finishing comfortably under the 20 minute mark. Mary O’Keeffe, Susan Delaney and
Kara O’Reilly were the first of our ladies in this BHAA organised event. Tom
Cody and Fergal O’Meara headed to Kinneigh on marathon day to run the Round
Tower 10k. Rumour has it that the marathoners had it easier as this was a course
designed under the motto “what goes up must not necessarily come down”. Needless
to say both men rose to the uphill challenge with Tom winning the 0-50 category
and Fergal taking silver at 0-40.
On Friday
we have the Murphy Memorial Inniscarra 4 Miler at 8pm.
Next
Saturday 16th sees the Ballyclough Harbour 5k. Check the blog for further
details of this and other races. Training continues at 6.30pm on Mondays in the
CBS and at 7pm from the Community Centre on Tuesdays. Till the next time... keep
on running!
