The club is pleased to announce that entries to the 2015 Cheetah Run 4 mile race in Fota Wildlife Park will open on Thursday the 30th of April… In 2014, all of the 900 entries were sold out online on the day. This year, we will be following the same format again in order to accommodate people at work and at home, 450 entries will be made available from 10am and 450 from 7pm on Thursday the 30th of April. More details on our race page for the event.
Another result from last weekend.
Manchester Marathon: We had two members taking part in the Manchester Marathon last weekend. Well done to Eddie Trimble who finished in 3:56:48, and to Ken Nyhan who finished in 4:09:37.
Congratulations to club member Vivian Foley who broke the 3 hour barrier in the 2015 Boston Marathon! Vivian ran 1:26:41 for the first half and 1:32:27 in the hillier 2nd half of the race.
The Great Railway Run was held this year in warm and sunny conditions and the club had 14 members taking part as far as we can tell.
In the 25km race which started in Cork City and finished in Carrigaline, Eric Browne took one of the podium spots when he finished in 3rd place. Frances O’Connor and Betty McKenzie finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in the O50 age category.
Eric Browne (R)…3rd in the Great Railway Run 25k race from Cork City to Carrigaline
25km…Cork to Carrigaline
3 Eric BROWNE 1:36:44 Open (2) Male (3)
37 Elaine GUINANE 1:52:00 Open (2) Female (5)
45 Ruairi EGAN 1:55:05 Ages 40-49 (17) Male (40)
Ruaira Egan in the 25k
52 Martin O LEARY 1:55:53 Open (25) Male (46)
89 June O’SHEA (210) 02:03:37 02:03:33 Open (6) Female (14)
142 Patrick O GORMAN 2:12:27 Ages 40-49 (41) Male (116)
143 Frances O’CONNOR 2:12:17 Ages 50-59 (2) Female (27)
147 Betty MCKENZIE 2:13:51 Ages 50-59 (3) Female (28)
In the 10km race from Monkstown to Carrigaline, John O’Callaghan took another podium spot with a second place finish. Bernadette Lee was 1st in the Over 40 category.
10km…
2 John O’Callaghan 38:16 Ages 40-49 (1) Male (2)
18 Cathal TWOMEY 45:37 Open (10) Male (15)
21 Bernadette LEE 46:03 Ages 40-49 (2) Female (4)…1st F40
In the 5km race from Shanbally to Carrigaline, Paul Cotter finished in 4th place overall.
Paul Cotter…4th in the 5k race
5km…
4 Paul Cotter 17:58 All Ages (4) Male (4)
9 Patrick Walsh 19:33 All Ages (9) Male (9)
32 Ann Hayes 27:42 All Ages (9) Female (9)
Photos courtesy of Doug & Kieran Minihane
The first evening race of the Summer kicked off in style with a record number of over 1700 runners at the 2015 Ballintotis 4 mile road race. The club had 19 members taking part…
11 Alan OBRIEN Eagle AC M (21:44) 21:44
31 John OCALLAGHAN Eagle AC M40 (23:23) 23:24
35 Donnacha LEHANE Eagle AC MO (23:31) 23:32
46 Pat OCONNOR Eagle AC M45 (24:08) 24:08
53 Damien KENNEALLY Eagle AC MO (24:17) 24:20
73 Damien MALONE Eagle AC MO (24:52) 24:57
76 Neil MACKAY Eagle AC M40 (24:56) 24:59
112 Jonathan KENNEALLY Eagle AC MO (25:54) 25:59
114 Richard PIOTOWSKI Eagle AC M65 (26:01) 26:03…1st M65
117 Denis CARROLL Eagle AC M55 (26:03) 26:07…3rd M55
142 Pat TWOMEY Eagle AC M60 (26:30) 26:34…2nd M60
283 Frank COTTER Eagle AC M50 (28:43) 29:02
285 Bernadette LEE Eagle AC F40 (29:03) 29:03
292 John MCCARTHY Eagle AC MO (28:57) 29:15
453 Tracy COTTER Eagle AC FO (31:17) 31:56
621 Irene KEOHANE Eagle AC F40 (33:52) 34:46
667 Nora CORCORAN Eagle AC F35 (34:29) 35:22
894 Anne HAYES Eagle AC F55 (38:59) 38:59
934 Margot PHELAN Eagle AC F45 (38:25) 39:55
Another busy weekend with club members taking part in races far and wide.
Great Island 10 mile : Close to home, we had the Great Island 4 mile and 10 mile road race in Cobh. We had just one member in the 4 mile race with Paul Cotter finishing 3rd.
3 Paul Cotter (1700) 23:48 All Ages (3) Male (3)
Paul Cotter…3rd in the Great Island 4 mile
We had 18 members in the 10 mile race
POS NAME (#) TIME NET TIME CATEG (POS) GENDER (POS)
9 Eric Browne 00:59:26 SMen (8) Male (9)
11 Ciaran Bouse 01:00:47 SMen (8) Male (11)
23 Pat O’Connor 01:03:24 Ages 40-49 (7) Male (20)
49 Shane O’SHAUGHNESSY 01:07:23 SMen (29) Male (42)
Ciarán Bouse, Shane O’Shaughnessy & John McCarthy in the 10 mile
52 Colin O’Herlilhy 01:08:01 Ages 40-49 (14) Male (45)
61 Roger O’Mahony 01:08:41 Ages 40-49 (16) Male (53)
72 Pat Twomey 01:09:37 Ages 60+ (1) Male (63)…1st M60
162 John QUIGLEY 01:16:13 Ages 60+ (4) Male (146)
163 Philip Corcoran 01:16:24 Ages 40-49 (49) Male (147)
183 John MCCARTHY 01:17:20 SMen (92) Male (165)
237 Dympna Connolly 01:19:27 Ages 35-44 (12) Female (28)
New PB for Dympna Connolly as she breaks 80 minutes for the first time!
— Elaine Guinane 01:19:50 Pacer
— John Desmond 01:19:50 Pacer
276 Frances O’Connor 01:22:01 Ages 55+ (2) Female (35)…2nd F55
366 Suneta Corcoran 01:28:01 Ages 35-44 (41) Female (73)
371 Tracy COTTER 01:28:25 SWomen (19) Female (75)
— Denis Looney 01:29:50 Pacer
— Grellan McGrath 01:29:50 Pacer
409 Karen HENNESSY 01:31:10 SWomen (27) Female (98)
Colin O’Herlihy, Pat O’Connor & Roger O’Mahony post race
Connemara Ultra : Well done to Alan Foley on completing the 39.3 mile Connemara Ultra-Marathon! This is a well trodden path for Eagle AC members at this stage and Alan completed the course in 6h 36m 25s.
98 Alan FOLEY M40 6:36:25
Brighton Marathon : Going further afield, we had Tony Cambridge taking part in the Brighton Marathon and breaking the 3 hour barrier again.
16948 Tony Cambridge Brighton Marathon – 12 April 2015
Male 45-54 Club: Eagle AC Chip time02:55:56 Gun time02:56:00 Pace (miles)06:42 min/mile
Paris Marathon : Well done to Karen Bevan who recorded a time of 4:13:00 in the 2015 Paris Marathon!
This was a new personal best for Karen, a big improvement on her first marathon in Cork in 2014 when she ran 4:42.
The 5th and final race in the club’s 3000m track series was held on Tuesday evening the 7th of April and marked an end to a successful initiative in which 74 members took part in at least one event.
A total of 5 races were held over a 6 month period with the intent that a race would be held roughly every 6 weeks. These were broken down as follows…
7th Oct 2014…24 members in 1 race
18th Nov 2014…33 members split up into two races…22 and 11
6th Jan 2015…38 members split up into two races…25 and 13
17th Feb 2015…29 members split up into two races…17 and 12
7th Apr 2015…23 members in 1 race.
The idea behind the series was as follows…
1) Give members some idea of the correct pace for doing intervals sessions.
2) A test of fitness so that members could monitor the improvements that they were making.
3) Give members more exposure to track races.
4) ..and of course, a 3000m race is an excellent workout in itself.
With plenty of evening races coming up, the series has now ended but the club hopes to start the series again in October 2015.
There was a large number of races on over the Easter weekend and these are a few of the results with Eagle AC members in them. There are an increasing number of races that don’t identify the club so we may have missed a few.
Joe Murphy and Mark Gallagher at the Kenmare Bridge 10k
Results of the Doneraile Park 5k…Fri 3rd Apr 2015
10 Roy Harrington Eagle 18.33
16 Patrick Walsh Eagle 19.05
Good Friday Run 5 mile, Killarney…Fri 3rd Apr 2015
33 Mike MCGRATH M55 32:56
71 Joe MURPHY M55 35:23
Kenmare Bridge Run…Sat 4th Apr 2015
Murphy Joe 43:43
Gallagher Mark 44:49
IMRA Temple Hill Race…Sun 5th Apr 2015
30 Gerard Down M50 1:14:39 Eagle AC Cork
Gerard Down on the way up Temple Hill in the Galtees
One of the final races of the weekend was the Boherbue to Kiskeam 4 mile on Easter Monday. Pat Walsh recorded a 4 mile PB here while Deirdre O’Callaghan took the 1st F40 prize.
Boherbue – Kiskeam 4 mile road race…Mon 6th Apr 2015
18 25:19 WALSH, Patrick Eagle AC M 06:19.6
39 27:39 CARROLL, Denis Eagle AC M55 06:54.6
49 29:14 O’CALLAGHAN, Deirdre Eagle AC F40 07:18.4 …1st F40
Results
Accidental tourists or the Liverpool Half Marathon Race report…by Denis Looney
Three Eagles, Elaine Guinane, Ruari O’Callaghan and Denis Looney traveled to Liverpool on Saturday March 28 for the city’s half marathon on the following day. Elaine brought her better half Javier along for the experience and because he had visited Liverpool a few times in the past. We arrived in a very windy Liverpool on Saturday morning. Ruari, whose brother Liam lives in Liverpool and thus has knowledge of the city, was a bit concerned as the last 4 miles of the race were on the promenade and into this wind.
We checked into our hotel and walked the 1K to the start/finish area. Not much to see of the race on Saturday but it’s right in the heart of Liverpool docks with museums, the Liverpool Arena, the Tate and Liver building. Apparently it’s a World Heritage site, so we soaked up a bit of culture for the afternoon.
On Sunday morning we awoke to a grey wet day. Lots of surface water but the cold was just bearable and yahoo, no wind 🙂 . Elaine and I went to the start a bit early as my number hadn’t arrived in the post. The rain was persistent but not heavy, however it was now beginning to feel cold, about 8 degrees. In fairness the race started almost bang on time, with myself and Elaine in position between the 1.30 and 1.40 pacers saying we’d settle for 1.35. Ruari was up ahead with the elites as he was targeting sub 1.25. The starting chute was narrow but that meant we were running at race pace right after crossing the start line.
1st mile for the 5,000 competitors was flat on a wide city street. The biggest climb of the day was over a 400m stretch just after the 1 mile mark. Then it was a slight downhill to mile 2 through residential areas with a slight climb at mile 3 into Sefton Park (a much bigger version of Beaumont Park where the BHAA XC takes place). Miles 4 to 7 took us through Sefton Park, on fairly flat tarmac roads. Between mile 6 and 6.5 we had an out and back view of slower runners entering the park at their mile 4. Just before mile 8 we went through a pedestrian underpass and emerged in another area of covered parkland called Otterspool. The tarmac paths were a bit broken up but other than a few pools of standing water and mud from the persistent rain, no major issues.
Just before the 9 mile mark we had a slight climb before hitting the 4 mile promenade section running north west with the Mersey on our left hand side. It was here you could truly appreciate how a wind off the Mersey (it’s a big piece of water at this point 🙂 ) could play havoc with your pace. From mile 9 to 10 it was dead flat and dead straight. From mile 10 to the finish it was still flat but we had a series of 90 degree turns as the promenade snaked in and out (right, left, left, right) which could break any rhythm you might have going. Over mile 11 and 12 the surface changed to man-made paving slabs and cobblestone (all very new but not the best road racing surface). You also had to contend with decorative obstacles (viewing seats, ships mooring bollards, 20 foot decorative anchors) all handily marked with barber tape. After the 11 mile mark we were back on the Marina, through a small business park, past the Liverpool arena and onto a cobbled section for the last mile or so.
Elaien & Denis at Lime St. Station
Given the weather there were decent crowds at the finish and at the major junctions. Well stocked and manned water stations at mile 3, 6, 9 and 12, a medal and good quality dri-fit. Plus I finished well enough up the field to not have to queue for the free massage afterwards. Times – Ruari 68th overall, 1:21.28. Elaine 4th F35, 22nd lady home 1:31:29, me 1:31:52. PBs all round. Ruari’s brother Liam, in only his second race ever, a very impressive 1:38:51, must be in the genes. Perhaps we should set up a Liverpool branch of Eagle AC.
Ruairi at one of Liverpool’s most famous roads
If you want to see the conditions, overhead and underfoot, the organisers have a clip on YouTube. Elaine makes an appearance in the Eagle colours around 1:35 to 1:40 on the LHS.
So why have the words Accidental tourists in the title. Well, after the race we were sitting in a city centre restaurant at 12.30 having lunch before departing for Liverpool airport. The gloss was taken off our excellent morning’s running when we got a text from Ireland’s largest airline telling us our 3 pm flight was cancelled. Turns out the high winds in Cork meant the plane never came across that morning. Phones out and Wi-Fi on.
Elaine & Ruairi during the race
Next flight we could get from Liverpool with Ireland largest airline was 6 days later. Yeah, right.
Change of tactics. I got a flight back that night and Elaine and Javier decided to extend their stay to the following morning. (Ruari was already coming back the following day). Problem was we had to make a quick dash to Manchester Airport by train for the flights home. So we saw a lot of North Western England by foot, taxi, train and plane in the space of 30 hours……………….
Would I go back again? Sure thing, if (for multiple reasons) I could be guaranteed that there would be no wind on either side of the Irish Sea.
Official results and three PB’s to boot from the 2015 Liverpool Half-Marathon…
RUAIRI O’CALLAGHAN Male MOPEN 53 EAGLE AC 1:21:28
ELAINE GUINANE Female F35+ 4 EAGLE AC 1:31:29
DENIS LOONEY Male M45+ 29 EAGLE AC 1:31:52
After doing 2 marathons in a short space of time last year I said that I’d hold off for a while before I’d do another one but after being slightly jealous of everyone doing Dublin last October, I decided some spring sunshine in Barcelona would be a good choice for my 3rd one. Over the next few weeks I persuaded Sandra, Damian and Finbarr to come along and then found out that Grellan, Kevin, Nora and Edwina had also booked it. So, 8 of us from the club headed to Barcelona for the marathon.
I headed for Dublin on Thursday evening with Finbarr and Damian (and our supporters club) and overnighted in a hotel near the airport. We headed to the airport at 4:30am for the 6:40am flight to Barcelona on Friday. I knew our hotel was near the start line but I didn’t realise how close it was until we got there on Friday before lunchtime. The hotel was called Pestana Arena. It’s in an ideal location as its only 400m from the start/finish line, the expo centre and there are plenty of nice places to eat nearby. We all went to the Expo on Friday afternoon to collect our race numbers and then relaxed for the rest of the day.
On Saturday some of us went touring in the morning. We had arranged to meet everyone at McCarthy’s Irish pub in the city centre to watch the Ireland v Wales rugby match. There was plenty chat about gels, pace and tactics and the result of the match was forgotten about. We arranged a club photo for 8am the following morning on the steps of the expo centre to the right of the red brick towers.
The big day arrived for me at 5:30am. Damian and I went for a small walk down to the start line, then headed back to the hotel for breakfast with Finbarr and our supporting/suffering wives 😉 It was a lovely clear day about 8°C with no wind, an ideal day for running. Sandra arrived on the metro from outside Barcelona and met us at our hotel. We all headed off for the group photo at 8am. We couldn’t find the rest of the gang as about 10,000 other people had the same idea as us. We all wished each other well and made our way to our starting waves.
At the start there was a massive fanfare of confetti and music blaring for each wave start and this was brilliant. This was my 1st time ever running with km splits and I turned off the min/mile averages on my Garmin. I ran with a 42 x 1k splits wristband with the time it should be at each split. My Garmin had just time and HR on it. My target was 3:28:59; this gave me a minute of a cushion for my sub 3:30.
For the 1st 5k you are climbing to the highest point on the course out by the Camp Nou. I lost a bit of time in this section with the crowd and my HR was a bit high which made me extra cautious as I didn’t want to blow up like the last time. The next 5k I got back on track with my time as we were going back down in elevation to where we started at Placa d’Espana. Here I saw our ‘WAG’s’ for the 1st time with their Irish flag and they cheered for each of us as we passed. They then hopped on the Metro too try and catch us at some other parts of the course.
From 10k to 16k the route is through a built up residential part of the city. This is great because the height of the buildings means you are running in the shade. There’s a lot of support along this section and you also pass one of Barcelona’s main tourist attractions – the unfinished cathedral Sagrada Familia …. Not that I took any real notice of it to be honest, but it’s fairly spectacular!
The next 5k you’re running an out and back section, with another incline to the turnaround point. I didn’t take much notice of it as I was too busy trying to spot any Eagle singlet’s on the other side of the road. It wasn’t long before I spotted Grellan looking really focused on the other side well ahead of the 3hr pacers. He didn’t hear me shouting so when I saw Kevin I made sure he heard me, we acknowledge each other. Just after the turnaround point I spotted Damian making his way to the turnaround point, smiling and waving in my direction… I presumed he had spotted a camera somewhere 😉 I got to the 20k mark bang on my time of 1:39 but I was still concerned that my HR was too high and it hadn’t gone down from when I started. It was reading between 170-175 after having done all by long run training at 150 (I know my HR is high but it always has been). I was still feeling good so I made the decision to stick to the plan for another 10k and see how it went.
The 20k to 30k section is flat enough but has another long out and back section and by the time I got to the 30k (2:27:35) mark I had nearly a minute built up but was starting to feel it in the legs. I kept telling myself I’m on for 3:28 now and don’t blow it over the next 12k, dig deep and hold what I have, its only 1hr of running. My HR was started creeping up now too around 183.
The next section took us along the marina and the beach but to be honest I was concentrating on keeping the legs moving at the same pace and imagining running my 10k loop in Carrigtwohill, not the beach front in Barcelona. After passing the pedestrian section where we ran under the Arc De Triomf, out from nowhere out popped the WAG’s again at the 37k mark with their Irish flag and screaming my name, the pace picked up again.
At this stage I was counting down laps of the CIT track and the HR was at 195. I got to the 40k mark in 3:18:06, 7 seconds behind my 3:29 wristband – My 3:28 gone and now trying to hold my Sub 3:30.
I remember Grellan saying the day before that the last 2k on Avenue Parel-Lei was a drag and to save something for here… Well I was brought back to Manchester again with the two towers (near the finish) at the end of the 2k street resembling Old Trafford last year… never getting any closer 😉 but in fairness the crowd along the street kept you going as they were right in on top of you cheering you along. When I got to the end of this ‘little drag’ I spotted Grellan hanging over the barrier roaring at me and I picked up again for the last 200m – Job done – 3:29:23 achieved and I left everything out there.
All 8 of us did great times and really enjoyed the race. Grellan did 2:55, Kevin 3:14, Sandra 3:18, Damian 3:43, Finbarr 3:48, Nora 3:57 and Edwina 4:00 (carrying an injury). We all met up for a few sociable pints and dinner that evening to swap stories of our great day.
As I have only ever done 3 marathons I can’t really compare Barcelona to other marathons, but of the ones I’ve done it’s the biggest and best by far. With nearly 16,000 athletes, there are water stations at every 2.5k on both sides of the road with notices 100m before that they are coming up. At the stations there is bottled water, Gatorade, Gu gels, fruit and Vaseline. There were numerous bands and groups playing drums all along the route. There’s lots of support along the way and it’s very easy with the metro for supporters to go to different points. In the 2nd half of the course there’s cold mist showers to cool you down and the area in the run up to the finish line is amazing. Even though there are a few drags, they aren’t too bad as you can see from the elevation below. Would I do it again? Yes, definitely.
Tim McCarthy
Eagle Athletic Club 
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