The 12th running of the Ballintotis 4 mile road race, hosted by Ballintotis Area Community Council and held in association with East Cork AC, will take place this year on Thursday April 20th (starting time 8pm.)
In 2010, the first staging of the race took place and attracted 425 runners, a figure which at that time well exceeded
the organisers' expectations. Our 10th anniversary race in 2019 saw a record breaking 1240 finishers.
The event formerly took place in Castlemartyr, but East Cork AC moved the race to Ballintotis, which has proved
a hugely popular location, with the venue boasting in excess of 1,000 participants on a number of occasions.
The scenic 4 mile loop includes a lap of road bordering Loughaderra Lake in the closing stages.
Again this year's race offers great value for money with a very attractive prize structure overall and a full list of
category prizes in all age groups (1st 2nd and 3rd) as well as the opportunity to win one of the many spot prizes
on offer. As always all participants will receive the famous Ballintotis running Buff.
In the inaugural race 12 years ago James McCarthy took top spot with a time of 19:54. McCarthy went onto win
the race a remarkable eight times in a row, his best time being 19:23 set in 2016. Then in 2018 ... a new man was
on the podium as another East Cork A.C competitor Michael Harty won in style and in the process set a new course
record of 19:15, with the previous record also being broken by Sergiu Ciobanu who was runner up. Our 2019 race
saw a new name on the roll of honour - as yet another East Cork Man - Kevin O'Brien broke the tape in a time
of 20.13.
The entry was a remarkable 1,170 runners in 2015. Irish Olympian Sonia O Sullivan was among those taking part
that year following up on her previous visit in 2013.
Fellow Olympian Lizzy Lee from Leevale is the ladies course record holder (21:22), with her Irish International
colleague Claire McCarthy posting the second fastest time around the course. Fiona Santry of East Cork A.C
made it back to wins in the ladies race in 2019 to complete a fine double..
Last year was a truly memorable one for both Michael Harty and Lizzy Lee who were crowned race
winners again in Ballintotis after their respective superb performances.
Anybody requiring further information on this year's race can e-mail their query to ballintotisrace@gmail.com or
call 086 8778182. .
***Updated race info will be issued nearer the event.