The National Masters Track and Field Championships were held in Tullamore, Co.Offaly on Sunday the 26th of July.

In the men’s 5000m race, club member Richard Piotrowski won Gold in the M65 category!

Pos Name Team Cat Result
1 PIOTROWSKI Richard Eagle A.C. M65 19:19.1
2 HUNT Tom Mayo A.C. M65 20:49.4
3 WHELAN Sean Ennis Track A.C. M65 21:32.4
4 BEATTY Tj Loughrea A.C. M65 23:13.0
5 MULLINS Richard St. Abbans A.C. M65 24:36.4

The full results of the Championships can be found HERE

Richard in the middle of the pack just after the start of the 5000m race

It’s a bit like waiting for a bus and two come along together! This is the second race report we have on the Carrigtwohill 5k in East Cork…

Race report: Barryscourt (Carrigtwohill) 5k, July 15…Paul Cotter

This was the fifth or sixth running of this local race, the proceeds of which go to local charity and community organizations. The main organizers are Carrigtwohill AC. This year there was some delay due to an accident in the tunnel and so numbers may have been affected. In any case 534 competitors did show. Chip timing was provided.

The race is on quiet country roads which, while in theory fairly flat, in fact give three short hills on the course, one in particular being steep and harsh. As the course is two-lapped one has to do these hills twice. The evening also contributed to slow times as the temperature was around 18 degrees at start time and humidity high. Nonetheless it was a lovely evening and in general a pleasant race experience if one could let go the fact that the course is basically a slow one.

Eagle results are given below, although one or two may be missing as in my case at least the club tag did not come up on the results even though I filled it in on the form. (Does anyone find it a bit annoying to have to fill in one’s own details rather then have the organizers do it?). My personal race was tough and there were few enough Eagles there, most of my race was spend dealing with Youghal and Midleton runners who seemed to have turned out in big numbers and hung out in groups on the course.

Patrick Walsh, Paul Cotter & John McCarthy near the finish line at Barryscourt Castle

As I’m back in a proper training routine (to be blogged about shortly) for the first time in three years I was hoping to do a sub-21 minute time. First two miles went well enough at 6.38 and 13.45 but that last savage hill done some damage and I came in at 21.12. I was feeling bad about this until I checked my journal (everyone should keep one!) for my other times on this race:

2011, 21.23
2014, 21.48
2015, 21.12

My usual 400 meter kick saw me gain ten to twelve places, catching most of the guys who had passed me in the last mile or so. The spread was fantastic with cakes galore and I joined John and Patrick for the usual race post mortem. As we sat and stared up at the wonderful Barryscourt castle the thought struck me that it would be wonderful to have the food in the main hall of the now restored castle and also a treat for the many family members who had come along to support the runners. This would really add a distinctive touch to this race. This castle is one of the best preserved in Ireland and has a wonderful history (my paper on this is due out later this year published by the OPW). In past years the castle garden was open to race visitors but I noticed that it was closed this year.

Grainne Sheehan & Irene Keohane

In terms of competition the bulk of the entrants were young fun runners and this tends to flatter the times of the athletes competing, for example giving me a placing of 95 out of 534, not bad for an aul fella! This lack of competive runners is probably due to the proximity of the Donoughmore Seven race being held on July 17. I’m happy to give this a skip this year, having ‘done my time’ on its awful last two miles several times over the years. However, best of luck to all competing and to my good friends among the organizers. I’ll be happy to race this again when it becomes the ‘Donoughmore Five’ and ends at the bottom of that last fierce hill. Eagle did prize at Barryscourt if the provisional results are accurate, with Mike McGrath coming in as first man over 55. Several other team members took part:

14 Ciaran Bouse Eagle AC M MO 603 17:49
26 David Levy Eagle AC M MO 370 18:52
41 Patrick Walsh Eagle AC M MO 464 19:28
54 Mike McGrath Eagle AC M M55 403 19:56
95 Paul Cotter M M55 Eagle AC 279 21:12
140 John McCarthy Eagle AC M MO 63 22:36
152 Frances O Connor Eagle AC F F55 54 22:58
182 Tracy COTTER Eagle AC F FO 109 23:45
238 Grainne Sheehan Eagle AC F FO 400 25:07
293 Irene Keohane Eagle AC F F40 493 26:20

Allihies 5 mile : The inaugural Allihies 5 mile road race was held on Saturday the 20th of June and attracted a field of just over 100. Mark Gallagher finished in 8th position.
8 MARK GALLAGHER EAGLE A/C 35:10 M40 56
Bere Island Midsummer Run: We had three members running in the stunning location of Bere Island for the Midsummer 10km Run last Saturday:
228 Wynman Ken 10 00:42:57
211 Gallagher Mark 10 00:45:21
229 Cotter Mary 10 00:50:52

Glanmire 4 Mile:
13 » Pat O’Connor M M45 139 (23:50) 23:51
16 » Paul Cotter M M40 151 (23:55) 23:55
55 » Kevin Fennessy M MO 340 (26:22) 26:51
71 » Pat Twomey M M60 389 (27:25) 27:27
132 » John Dunlevy Eagle M M50 362 (29:30) 29:38

East Ferry 5 Mile: We had four representatives at this scenic race in East Ferry
52 0:35:12 SPEIGHT, David Eagle AC M40 07:02.3
63 0:36:37 O’CALLAGHAN, Deirdre Eagle AC F40 07:19.2
91 0:37:55 O’CONNOR, Kevin Eagle AC M45 07:34.8
154 0:41:47 BEVAN, Karen Eagle AC F 08:21.2

Exclusive Run Series 5k : Well done to Ciarán Bouse who finished 2nd in the Exclusive Run 5k in Craggaunowen Park, Co.Clare on Wed 24th June….
2 Ciaran Bouse Eagle AC MO 18:00

Courtmacsherry 10k : The annual Courtmacsherry – Timoleague 10k road race was held on Friday the 26th of June and 8 members took part. Alan O’Brien managed a podium place with a 3rd place finish while Pat O’Connor, Ronan Boland and Richard Piotrowski each won their category. It’s worth noting that Richard’s time of 39:57 was just outside the Irish M65 Masters 10k road race record of 39:53.

3 Alan O BRIEN 00:35:13 Ages 35-39 (1) Male (3)
7 Killian O CONNOR 00:37:08 Senior (3) Male (7)
8 Ronan BOLAND 00:37:22 Ages 50-54 (1) Male (8)
9 Pat O’CONNOR 00:37:39 Ages 45-49 (1) Male (9)
23 Richard PIOTROWSKI 39:57 Ages 60+ (1) Male (22)
25 Raymond HARRINGTON 40:09 Ages 35-39 (9) Male (24)
45 Denis LOONEY 42:10 Ages 45-49 (6) Male (40)
146 Ber LOONEY 50:06 Ages 45-49 (8) Female (40)

Waterford Viking Marathon : The Waterford Marathon was held on Saturday the 27th of June and we had 3 members completing the full.
9 Eric BROWNE Eagle AC MS 2:58:24
26 Shane O’SHAUGHNESSY Eagle AC MS 3:11:39
65 Ken MULCAHY Eagle AC M40 3:26:28

Fota Trail Race : There was a 8km trail race organised by Fota Island Resort on Sunday the 28th of June. Pat O’Connor finished 17th out of 250 finishers.
17 Pat O’CONNOR 32:49 All Ages (16) Male (16)

Corkbeg 4 mile : This 4 mile race near Whitegate was held on Thursday 2nd of July and we had 2 members present.
42 26:10 MCCARTHY, Tim Eagle AC M 06:32.4
59 26:50 GUINANE, Elaine Eagle AC F35 06:42.4

Ballinascarthy 10km: We had several members running in the Ballinascarthy 10km race.
6 Neil Mackay M 0:39:47
51 Deirdre O’Callaghan F 0:47:22
101 Fiona O’Riordan F 0:55:03

Donoughmore 7: we had 8 members take part in this more unusual distance of 7 Miles in Donoughmore, four of whom took category prizes.
19 481 NEIL MACKAY EAGLE AC M45 00:45:0333… 2ND M45
437 KEITH SEXTON EAGLE AC M50 00:47:46
50 531 JOHN SCANNELL EAGLE AC M45 00:49:52
55 474 DENIS CARROLL EAGLE AC M60 00:50:2467…2ND M60
539 CATHAL TWOMEY EAGLE AC SM 00:51:01
68 443 JOE MURPHY EAGLE AC M60 00:51:10…3RD M60
96 463 KEVIN O CONNOR EAGLE AC M45 00:53:55
171 530 FIONA O’RIORDAN EAGLE AC F45 01:01:50…2ND F45

Shannonvale 10km: On the same night as the Donoughmore race, there was also a ten km race in West Cork at which we were also well represented, with several once again in the prizes.
17 James Ryan M Eagle AC 00:39:47
20 Frank Hill M Eagle AC 00:40:01… 1ST M50
21 Richard Piotrowski M Eagle AC 00:40:07… 1ST M60
28 Trevor O’Sullivan M Eagle AC 00:41:45
43 Ken Wynman M Eagle AC 00:44:18
49 Ita Kirwan F Eagle AC 00:45:01… 1ST F40
79 Mary Cotter F Eagle AC 00:48:06…1ST F50

Catching up with some recent results…Well done to club member Ed Sutton who won the Brandon Bay Half-Marathon recently in Co.Kerry.

This is a half marathon with a difference as it is run entirely on the beach!

1 Edwin Sutton MALE 3892 1:24:09

Now for something new! This time, we have a review of the recent Carrigtwohill 5k road race by an anonymous member going by the title ‘LMG…Low Mileage Guy’.

Low Mileage Guy heads East !

Encountering heavy traffic due to a truck breakdown Low Mileage Guy ( LMG ) headed east on Wednesday July 15th for the annual 5K around Barryscourt Castle. Despite arriving later than anticipated just after 7pm he was directed to an area of the parking field furthest away from the Registration area, leaving the closest slots for the late arrivals ! This has become a very annoying feature of race events recently, where the early arrivals get penalised for being on time !

On route I was handed my registration form to complete with a pen so I was ready when I arrived at the registration table to part with my €10. it was a lovely dry warm evening and the guys from Precision Timing were ready to chip time everyone which was a great feature of this race !

As expected due to the traffic issues the race started about 15 minutes late and having warmed up by running 2 miles around the two loop course LMG was ready for the challenge that lay ahead.

A large crowd of about 500 plus towed the line on a perfect surface for a fast 5K which many felt was relatively flat but boasted 3 very nice hills on each circuit, which you covered twice.

The first mile was covered in a steady 6.15 mins and left Low Mileage Guy feeling calm and running well. The heavy balmy evening started to impact on the 2nd mile and the hills slowed the pace to a steady 6.25 pace and when the last hill at 2.5miles was climbed all that was left was a strong down hill finish to complete what a very satisfying race in just under 20 mins !

An excellent out door buffet in an array of tents was then visited by all where an abundance of sandwiches, cream cakes, teas , coffee, was available for all to feast upon. Within a very short time the presentation of prizes who place , again outdoors and was well attended due to the expediency of their timing !

Alan O Shea was a worthy winner of the men’s race in a fantastic time of 15.13 with Sheila Buckley the ladies winner in 19.23. Thankfully Low Mileage Guy won a category prize for his efforts.

Overall race rating :
Registration : 5/5
Course : 5/5 despite the 3 hills per loop
Parking : 3/5
Organisation : 4/5
After Race Catering : 5/5
Prize Giving : 5/5
Overall Value for Money : 4.5 / 5

Belfast 24 Hour Race: Last weekend, Grellan McGrath travelled to Belfast to take part in the Energia 24 hour race on the Mary Peters Track. With challenging weather conditions, added to the arduous task of running continuously for 24 hours, the going got inevitably tough at times for Grellan. Grellan completed the massive target of 100 miles in around 17 hours 22 mins, and 102.6 miles in total.

Camp 10

This race was advertised as the part of the Run the Kingdom series and because I am regular visitor to Castlegregory I was interested in taking part.

Ita Kirwan and I travelled on Friday night and headed over to the quaint village of Camp to collect our numbers and line up for the race. I was nervous, (well I’m always a bit nervous at the start of a race) about what lay before because the elevation map was telling me I was going to climb almost 1000ft in five mile, with the pinch coming at 4-5 miles.

We lined up, about 62 of us and headed off, almost immediately climbing. After about a mile we went off road, followed the Dingle way for a short period and then right onto another road. We climbed steadily for 3 miles, water at 3 miles with cheery stewards who had a cheery baby. From here you could see the climb (or so I thought), up the hill and around and another cheery steward or maybe she was feeling sorry for me because only then did I see the big MOUNTAIN. Once we were at 3 miles the scenery was breath-taking, the photos of the race give you a glimpse but it was open and you could see for miles.

Ita Kirwan…1st woman

But back to the MOUNTAIN, I made a stab on approach and around the corner but the gradient just was too step for about roughly ½ KM. Almost everybody (except the winner) walked this part. The beauty of the landscape took away from the slog. I knew from the elevation map that at the top the worst of the climb was over and indeed it was, the initial descent was a bit steep and I was slow but then we were on good trails. 6 -7-8 was an out and back with a subtle descent and a subsequent ascent but I was feeling good at this point. Back out onto the Road and 2 miles of significant descent to the finish.

There were Stewards at every junction, who were really encouraging but it was the scenery that was amazing. The finish was great, a DJ, a bbq and loads of sociable chat. Everyone got a t-shirt and medal and even better Ita was 1st lady. This race is not for everyone but everyone should try it at least once. The organisation is fantastic, the route is testing but fair and I’m not embarrassed to mention it again the scenery is just something else.

Fiona O’Riordan

17 Ita KIRWAN (26) 01:28:08 Ages 40-49 (1) Female (1)
39 Fiona O’RIORDAN (31) 01:48:11 Ages 40-49 (2) Female (6)