Report by Neil Kingston

Munster Masters Track & Field Championships 2019

Eagle A.C. Medals:

Ken Higgs (M65): 1st 400m, 1st 800m, 2nd 1500m

Pat Murphy (M60): 2nd 1500m

Tom Fox (M50): 2nd 800m, 2nd 1500m

Neil Kingston (M45) 2nd 400m

Four members of Eagle AC travelled to Templemore on June 9th to compete in the Munster Masters Track and Field Championships. The track is similar to CIT and in the coming weeks they are spending €75,000 on resurfacing which is the next best thing to digging it up and completely replacing it. With an indoor track in Nenagh and the soon to be resurfaced track in Templemore, athletes in Tipperary have excellent facilities to train and compete all year round.

The 800m was first up for team Eagle, it seemed to take everyone by surprise as events were running slightly ahead of schedule. Ken and Tom did well to perform under the circumstances. Gold for Ken, silver for Tom. The next race on the Eagle programme was the 100m for Neil who had to turn on the after burners after a very hesitant start from the blocks. But making up lost ground in a 100m sprint is near on impossible so he was just edged out of the medals.  There was quite a wait for the next event and in the meantime the weather turned. A downpour leading up to and during the 400m made it difficult for Ken and Neil and the other competitors both for preparation and racing. No nonsense from Ken as usual, just doing the business. Neil was leading down the home straight but at the finish line the eventual winner threw himself over the line to snatch the gold by a fraction of a second. Exciting racing and a valuable lesson. So another gold for Ken and silver for Neil.

Fortunately the weather cleared for the final event which was the 1500m and Tom, Pat and Ken were all in the one race with the age groups mixed. All the Eagles ran smart steady races and produced fast finishing kicks to round out a great day for the club. Three more silvers. Ken deserves a special mention for competing in both the 400m and the 1500m as they were held only 25 minutes apart. While still getting his breath back from his exertions in the 400m he had to report to the check in area to sign in for the 1500m!

The performance of the day was by Tom Fox who bagged silvers in the 800m and 1500m. What was particularly impressive were his steady splits, strong finishes and the times he produced. Tom is coming to the middle distance events from the endurance end with no special speed work done. In fact Tom had won the men’s over 50 category prize in the Cork City half marathon just 7 days before. What a range. With some specific middle distance training Tom can definitely shave a few seconds off his times which will make him competitive for national medals.

Special message from Tom: “Competing in track races is not much different to the track work that members do on a weekly basis at CIT. The club would encourage members to check out results of the Cork County & Munster Track & Field Championships on line. There are many members who would be competitive at both levels and apart from the opportunity to win representative medals, track races  are good days out  with the feel -good factor of  being part of a team and cheering on fellow club members.”

Finally a special word of thanks to our competition secretary Pat Murphy for taking care of the entries as always.

Neil