Report on the 2016 Munster Senior & Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships by John Desmond & Keith Burke.

Report by John Desmond…..Exactly 12 months ago, James Ryan and myself made the long trip to Nenagh in Tipperary for the annual Munster Senior & Masters Indoor Track  & Field Championships. This was after the club had been absent from the event for five years after fielding 4 in 2008 and 1 in 2009. The 2015 entry was more of a re-introduction of the club to the event and having a presence there. In the end, the trip was worthwhile as we not only got a better idea of what the event was about but we also won two Bronze medals. 2015 report HERE.

I had hoped that perhaps if we went back with double our numbers in 2016 then it would be a success but in the end, it was even better as we had 7 taking part! This was a record attendance for the club at this championship event.

In terms of numbers from Cork clubs, this is how we compared to others taking part…Leevale AC 12, Liscarroll AC 8, Eagle AC 7, Rising Sun AC 7, East Cork AC 4, St.Finbarr’s AC 3, Togher AC 1, Grange-Fermoy AC 1, North Cork AC 1, West Muskerry AC 1 & Fanahan McSweeney AC 1.

In contrast to the two events that we took part in last year (Shot Putt & 3000m), this year we had entries in nine…60m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 3000m, Shot Putt, High Jump and Long Jump. As well as our increased participation, we also came home with three medals…a Bronze in the Shot Putt and a Silver and Bronze in the 800m. More details in Keith’s report.

Overall, it was a very good day out for the club with plenty of lessons learnt for future events. A work of thanks also to our Competition Secretary Pat Murphy…our ‘8th man’ on the day who helped out at the finish line for most of the track races.

David O’Donovan took part in four events. Photo Credit : Dooneen AC

Report on the 2016 Munster Indoor Track & Field Championships…by Keith Burke

The 2016 Munster Senior & Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships took place at the Nenagh Indoor Stadium on Sunday 17th January last. This year, seven Eagle AC members entered the Championships, a significant increase on our participation in the 2015 edition of the Championships. With increased participation came increased success and the team can be proud of their medal haul of 3 together with some very unlucky 4th place finishes and a number of other strong performances.

Chris Bristow preparing for the 200m. Photo Credit : Dooneen AC

The medals came from Denis Looney (Silver in the M45 800m), David O’Donovan (Bronze in the M35 800m) and John Desmond (Bronze in the M50 Shot Putt). In fact, John was successfully defending his Bronze medal from the 2015 Championships! James Ryan was extremely unlucky to finish outside the medals in the M50 3,000m after taking the best part of a minute off the time which saw him take a Bronze in the M45 3,000m at these Championships last year. Kevin Sievewright and John Desmond finished 9th and 10th respectively in the same race. In addition to his 800m medal, David was just outside the medals in the Long Jump and High Jump and also finished 5th of the Championship competitors in the M35 60m. Derek O’Keeffe was 5th in both the M40 800m and M40 1,500m.

The Senior Championships were held in tandem with the Masters Championships and Chris Bristow put in strong runs in the 200m, 400m and 1,500m.

Video…James Ryan near the front in the M50 3000m…

The full results of the event are available HERE. The extracted Eagle AC performances are as follows (placings exclude guest participants in the race/event):

Bristow, Chris (MS)…200m – 10th 27.99, 400m – 6th 60.66 and 1500m – 5th 5:07.27

Desmond, John (M50)…3000m – 10th 11:20.00 and Shot Putt – 3rd (Bronze) 6.39m

Looney, Denis (M45)…60m – 9th 10.77, 800m – 2nd (Silver) 2:49.65 and Shot Putt – 5th 5.45m

O’Donovan, David (M35)…60m – 5th 8.20, 800m – 3rd (Bronze) 2:34.06, Long Jump – 4th 4.71m and High Jump – 4th 1.45m

O’Keeffe, Derek (M40)…800m – 5th 2:30.36 and 1500m – 5th 5:03.44

Ryan, James…(M50) 3000m – 4th 10:47.00

Sievewright, Kevin…(M50) 3000m – 9th 11:12.00

Derek O’Keffe in action on the indoor track….Photo Credit : Dooneen AC

Well done to all who took part and a thank you also to Pat Murphy who attended the event as the club’s official. Many of the Eagle AC squad were newcomers to track & field competition having sampled the “try track racing” nights which the club held at the end of 2015. Why not try something new and participate at future club racing nights and/or track & field competitions!

Chris Bristow in the Senior 1500m…Photo Credit : Dooneen AC

Club member Paul Cotter appeared as a contributor during the BBC Health Series “Trust Me I’m A Doctor” on the 13th of January 2016 (Season 4 Episode 2).

The segment in the programme deals with artificial sweeteners and how effective  they are. For anyone using them as a sugar substitute, the latest information should raise some concerns.

Paul’s contribution is around the 8 minute mark…

The rescheduled Waterford Half-Marathon was held on Saturday 9th of January 2016 and 16 Eagle AC members made the journey East.

Waterford Half Marathon
24 Foley Vivian 1:18:37 6:00/M M45 Eagle AC
48 O’Connor Pat 1:21:53 6:15/M M45 Eagle AC
108 Kenneally Damian 1:27:33 6:41/M SM Eagle AC
214 Dooley Michael 1:33:40 7:10/M M50 Eagle AC
224 Moore Gregg 1:33:56 7:12/M M45 Eagle AC
241 Guinane Elaine 1:34:50 7:15/M F35 Eagle AC
276 Malone Damien 1:36:27 7:22/M SM Eagle AC
334 Scannell John 1:38:22 7:32/M M45 Eagle AC
410 Hawkins Richard 1:41:09 7:45/M M45 Eagle AC
474 Fitzgerald Ed 1:43:08 7:55/M M40 Eagle AC
546 Bevan Karen 1:45:35 8:06/M F35 Eagle AC
564 Geary Kevin 1:45:46 8:08/M SM Eagle AC
636 Corcoran Nora 1:48:23 8:19/M F35 Eagle AC
791 Cronin Helen 1:53:46 8:44/M F35 Eagle AC
979 O’Riordan Fiona 2:00:09 9:15/M F45 Eagle AC
1136 Mc Kenzie Betty 2:10:07 9:58/M F50 Eagle AC

Results & Photos

A total of 20 Eagle AC members took part in the annual Togher 5k road race on Monday the 28th of December 2015. Well done to new member Eileen O’Callaghan who was the first F40 across the line.

20 SUTTON EDWIN EAGLE AC SM 17:35
26 O’CALLAGHAN JOHN EAGLE AC M45 17:55
29 O’CALLAGHAN RUAIRI EAGLE AC SM 18:00
40 O’CONNOR KILLIAN EAGLE AC SM 18:40
49 O’CONNOR PAT EAGLE AC M45 18:57
50 GEARY KEVIN EAGLE AC SM 19:01
55 RYAN JAMES EAGLE AC M50 19:25
61 BRISTOW CHRIS EAGLE AC SM 19:55
66 O’CALLAGHAN EILEEN EAGLE AC F40 20:17…1st F40
75 EGAN RUAIRI EAGLE AC M45 20:43
77 O DONOVAN DAVID EAGLE AC SM 20:48
86 O LEARY MARTIN EAGLE AC SM 21:08
94 LEE BERNADETTE EAGLE AC F40 22:00
99 O FARRELL ANDREW EAGLE AC M60 22:15
110 FITZGERALD ED EAGLE AC M40 22:33
128 TWOMEY CATHAL EAGLE AC SM 23:41
133 TRINDLE EDDIE EAGLE AC M40 24:00
143 O CONNOR FRANCES EAGLE AC F55 24:39
151 LOONEY BER EAGLE AC F45 25:01
159 O CONNOR STEVEN EAGLE AC SM 25:27

The full results can be seen HERE

There is a selection of photos of Eagle AC members now on the clubs Flickr account.

John O’Callaghan, Ruairi O’Callaghan & Ed Fitz. Photo: Doug Minihane

Ed Sutton & David O’Donovan. Photo: Doug Minihane

The club held its annual Christmas run on the 24th of December on what was a cold but sunny morning. As in previous years, the run tied in with Grellan McGrath’s run where he runs his age in miles on his birthday…which was 50 miles this time!

Proceedings got under way at 4am in Ballincollig with Damian Kenneally and Tim McCarthy joining Grellan for the first two hours. A relief crew joined him for his second loop and more joined up on the run in from Ballincollig to the Lee Rowing Club where the main run started at 9am.

The 4am crew…Damian, Tim & Grellan

Over the course of the morning, we had about 23 members out with 17 taking part in the main run at 9am.

Grellan’s time for the 50 miles was 7h 32m 57s which works out as an average 9:04 minute/mile pace.

There is a small gallery of photos by Joe Murphy on the Eagle AC Facebook page.

The annual Newmarket 5km road race organised by Duhallow AC was held on Sunday the 20th of December and attracted the usual high quality field. This was reflected in the results with an impressive 43 runners breaking 18 minutes.

There were 5 Eagle AC members present for the race with Damian Kenneally recording a new PB of 17:29 and Richard Piotrowski finishing first M60.

34 KENNEALLY DAMIAN EAGLE AC 17:29 Senior Men
78 CARROLL DENIS EAGLE AC 19:53 Men over 50
82 PIOTROSWKI RICHARD EAGLE AC 20:03 Men over 60
103 FENNESSY KEVIN EAGLE AC 20:52 Senior Men
141 FENNESSY ELEANOR EAGLE AC 23:01 Senior Women

The full results can be seen HERE

These are some results from recent road races in November & December

The Donal Ahern 5km charity run was held on the grounds of Blarney Castle  on Saturday the 28th of November. Clubs were not listed, but we had quite a few members taking part:
10 791 James Ryan 0:19:06
36 178 Denis Carroll 0:20:39
43 767 Charlie Byrd 0:21:40
52 420 Cathal Twomey 0:22:15
63 410 Joe Murphy 0:22:52
64 571 Maura Regan 0:22:52
65 454 Michael Dooley 0:22:53
Results & photos

The Glenville 4 mile race was held on Sunday the 29th of November 2015 and we had at least five members taking part…
27 Denis CARROLL 27:17 Ages 55-59 (2) Male (24)
35 Kevin FENNESSY M 00:27:43
43 Joe MURPHY 27:57 Ages 60+ (1) Male (37)
76 Michael DOOLEY 30:43 Ages 45-49 (10) Male (67)
86 Eleanor FENNESSY F 00:31:02
Results

Annual floodlight Cross Country: Several members took part in the CIT Cross Country event on Friday evening the 11th of December. The Men’s race was 4600M in length:
21 371 David Leavy Eagle AC M 20:18
23 383 Denis Looney Eagle M 20:59
26 398 Gerard Down Eagle M 22:07
Results & Photos

Shanagarry Christmas 5k : We had one member in this low key 5km race in East Cork on Saturday the 19th of December.
21    0:20:36    LEVY, David    Eagle AC    M    06:37.7
Results & photos

The Munster Masters Cross Country Championships were held this year in Cappawhite, Tipperary in wet and muddy conditions.

Congratulations to Alan O’Brien and Vivian Foley who were both on the Cork team that won Gold in the M35 Inter County Competition.

Men O35 Team County Team Points
1 Cork 1, 7 (Alan O’Brien), 8, 10, 14 (Vivian Foley), 18… 58 pts

Vivian also won an individual Silver in the M45 category…
2nd M45 Vivian Foley Eagle A.C. Cork

Richard Piotrowski and John Quigley also both won silver and bronze in their respective categories.
2nd M65 Richard Piotrowski Eagle A.C.
3rd M60 John Quigley Eagle A.C.

The full results can be seen HERE

Athletics Ireland have just released the latest membership stats for the end of November 2015 and they show that the club has exceeded the 200 mark for the first time ever.

The club now has a record 203 members which is up almost 6% on numbers at the end of 2014. Compared to adult membership in other athletic clubs in Cork, we are now joint second with Midleton AC .

The annual British & Irish Masters International Cross Country Championship was held in Dublin last weekend in what were very wet and muddy conditions. Among a host of Cork athletes taking part, Richard Piotrowski of Eagle AC was representing his native England in the M65 category.

M65
1. 2805 6505 Martin McEvilly m M65 Ireland 23:21
2. 2806 6506 J.J.Murphy m M65 Ireland 23:40
3. 2845 6545 Richard Marks m M65 Wales 24:10
4. 2825 6525 Terry Eakin m M65 Northern Ireland 24:24
5. 2815 6515 Mark McNally m M65 England 24:44
6. 2818 6518 Peter Whitcomb m M65 England 24:53
7. 2837 6537 Alex Sunderland m M65 Scotland 24:54
8. 2808 6508 Pat O’Shea m M65 Ireland 25:02
9. 2816 6516 Richard Piotrowski m M65 England 25:11
10. 2807 6507 Barry Potts m M65 Ireland 25:32
11. 2836 6536 Robert Marshall m M65 Scotland 25:33
12. 2817 6517 Roy Treadwell m M65 England 25:38
13. 2828 6528 Charles Meban m M65 Northern Ireland 26:32
14. 2838 6538 Colin Youngson m M65 Scotland 26:39
15. 2826 6526 Barry Morris m M65 Northern Ireland 26:56
16. 2848 6548 Paul Allen m M65 Wales 27:06
17. 2847 6547 Mike Davies m M65 Wales 27:33
18. 2846 6546 Dic Evans m M65 Wales 27:45

As can be seen from the team results below, Richard was the third scoring member of the English team that won a team Silver medal behind Ireland.

British & Irish XC 2015
Men 65
Place 1 2 3 Total
1 Ireland 1 2 8 …11 pts
2 England 5 6 9 …20 pts
3 Scotland 7 11 14 …32 pts
4 Northern Ireland 4 13 15 …32 pts
5 Wales 3 16 17 …36 pts

Link to Results & Photos