Barcelona Marathon
Great running from our Captain Declan Dorgan when he clocked 3.20 in the Barcelona Marathon in extreme heat. Report to follow later. I am dying to find out how they got the name on the medal so quickly.
The Trip To Tipp Once Again
We had four runners headed to Killesheelan Co Tipperary where Martha McNamara came home with the prize for O/55. She was well supported by Bernie Twomey, Margaret Twohig and Michael McNamara where they experienced four seasons in one day over a hilly (as tough as Cobh) but very scenic route with a fab. spread after.
Duhallow 10 Mile
Picture shows some of our members at the Duhallow 10 mile where club members Helen Gilroy took 2nd O/50 and Esther Murphy took 3rd O/45. Well done all.
Killeagh 4 Mile
Lots Of Prizes For Midleton AC
On a very cold and windy Sunday morning the Killeagh 4 Mile took place. We had a great crowd from the club out and it was great to see so many from the club supporting a local race.
We had some very fine running with Ann Geary taking 2nd Lady overall whilst Caroline Geary won her first prize ever when she won 2nd O/40. Kathleen O'Connell won a well deserved 1st O/65. Fionan O'hAodain was our first man home and Edmond O'Sullivan was flying and once again took 1st O/55.
The Battle of the Runner Beans.
Cork County Road Championships
in Castlelyons 18th March
This race takes place on Monday, 18 March @ 12pm Entries need to be made in advance.
Please contact Sally (087 2265857) if you would like to be entered. We would like to see as many as possible running. Entry is free as the club will pay.
All members are eligible to run in these races and all are well able. Don't let the word Championship put you off. The set up is the very same as most of the other races you run. So come on out and wear your club colours with pride especially at these County Championships on the 18th in Castlelyons its only fifteen minutes up the road. Danny
Coffee Morning by club member John Cashman
We are holding a Coffee morning on Saturday next 9th March from 10 -12.30 at our house in aid of Darragh’s upcoming trip to Lourdes as a helper on this years Diocesan Pilgrimage. We would be delighted with any support. Further information or directions call or text 0872772639.
The Joe Hourigan Memorial 5 Mile Road Race
Keep The Midleton 5 Alive
Remember The Date
Thursday 2nd May 2019
The Last Of The Great Classic Five Milers in East Cork
Best of luck to all running this weekend. I know we have runners heading to Tipperary Duhallow, Killeagh,Crosshaven, Barcelona and no doubt elsewhere as well. So good luck and safe travelling to all. Danny
Munster Bronze For Joan Hough
Huge congratulations to Joan Hough who took bronze in the O/60 Cat in the Munster Road Championships in Dundrum last Sunday. Report in the previous post.
" Nothing speaks louder in athletics than medals" Sonia O'Sullivan Irish Times 07/03/2019
Half Marathon in Killeagh 1979 by John Walsh
The start for next Sunday's race is on Cork Road, and the route takes the competitors up towards Mogeely, before turning left after two miles, towards Garranjames and Clashdermot, finishing at the GAA complex. No doubt, one almost-full lap of this circuit will be enough for most people, but it is no harm recalling when a half-marathon (13.1 miles) took place around the same roads, consisting of three full circuits.
The occasion was Sunday night May 6th, 1979, and the race was just one of the many events that took place on the day of the famous Glenbower May Sunday Festival. The race was organised by two local athletes, Peter Lee and Willie O’Mahony, both members of the Youghal club at the time.
Willie O’Mahony’s contribution to the sport of athletics in the East Cork region has been immense, both as a competitor, administrator (Treasurer of the East Cork Board/Division since 1971), and event organiser. Peter Lee – who used to live beside the start line of Sunday’s race – was one of the few from the Cork area to run the inaugural Dublin Marathon in 1980, which he completed in 3:02:53, going on to run 2:53:29 the following year.
The Glenbower Half-Marathon, as it was called, was somewhat of a step into the unknown, as, in 1979, road racing in Cork was just getting established. The running boom that would follow from that Dublin Marathon was still almost two years in the future. As an example, the Cork to Cobh 15-mile race which took place a week before Killeagh had just 41 finishers – all of them men.
The half-marathon started at 6.45pm, and took in the three laps of today’s course, and it had been measured by the calibrated bicycle method, one of the first in the country, outside of the Ballycotton races to be so measured. Prizes were on offer for the first four finishers, first two teams of three, and the first three novices, confined to Cork. There was also a signed time certificate presented to each finisher.
Entry Fee = 30 Pence!
Entry fee was probably in the region of 30 pence - it’s worth noting that the entry for the Dublin Open Marathon later that summer was advertised as 50p - and while half-marathons nowadays attract numbers in the thousands (with corresponding astronomical entry fees), the result of that Glenbower Half-Marathon of 1979 lists just 14 finishers.
There were one or two non-finishers on the three-lap course; these included a man for whom such a decision to drop-out nowadays would be unthinkable. However, it should be noted that 16-year-old Denis McCarthy (then of the Youghal club) had already taken part in the Cork County U17 3000m track championship, earlier in the day, finishing fifth in 9:57.5 behind Finbarr McGrath (Leevale), and future international Richard O’Flynn (Bandon). Denis had also taken part in the high jump where the records show, unfortunately, that he failed to register a height.
After the first of the three laps on that May Sunday evening, four runners had broken away. There were Liam O’Brien and Paul Mulholland, from Midleton, and the Leevale pair of Jerry Murphy and the late Dick Hodgins, winner of the National Marathon four years before. On the second time round, Hodgins had been dropped, and with about a half-mile to go, O’Brien finally edged ahead of Murphy, but the margin on the line was just two seconds, 70:34 to 70:36. Mulholland finished strongly to take third in 71:03, over three minutes clear of Hodgins.
In the team race, Leevale suffered a rare defeat, as Midleton came out on top by three points, the team consisting of O’Brien (first), Mulholland (third) and Albert De Cogan (fifth). For the first two, the race was more a means to an end, as it served two contrasting purposes. To Liam O’Brien, it was probably no more than what would be referred to nowadays as a tempo-run, as he was preparing for the track season. A couple of months later he would win the second of his eight national steeplechase titles, his time of 8:52.6 being a big improvement on the 9:07.5 he had recorded the year before.
Jerry Murphy was no doubt using the 13 miles as a ‘bleed-out’ for the carbohydrate-loading diet prevalent at the time, as the following Sunday, on his 29th birthday, he would win the Munster Marathon in a time of 2:28:47, ahead of Leevale clubmate Liam Horgan (2:31:44), and Michael Joyce of St Finbarr’s (2:39:16).
In honour of Peter Lee and Willie O’Mahony who were ahead of their time in the promotion of what was probably Cork’s first half-marathon, and to remember those inaugural runners, these were the 14 finishers on that May Sunday evening almost four decades ago:
