Results of the Cork BHAA 'ESB' 5 km race - 10th Feb 2008 (Updated Tues 12th...9pm)
There was a fine turnout of over 300 runners for this race in Mahon. This is a big jump up from last year's figure of 239 so it seems as if it was another record entry for a local race. Conditions were ideal...dry, cool with a light South-Easterly wind, exactly as predicted. The course was slightly changed from last years one. By using the entrance to the new car park by Blackrock Castle, the BHAA were able to eliminate the corner at the start and that very sharp dangerous bend by the start of the walkway. A nice improvement!! This year, the race was started by the Lord Mayor of Cork, Donal Counihan and the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin TD.

In fairness to the Cork BHAA, you would easily know that they have been at this for years...a fine big hall, clearly marked registered and non-registered queue's, loads of stewards, a nice long chute at the end to seperate the finishers from the finishing runners and loads of refreshments. They're like a well oiled machine!
So overall, another very well organised race by the Cork BHAA.

Anyone who entered this race will have noticed that they had a special emergency number stamped on their bib. At first, you'd think..."but, none of us have phones when we're running!!" ...(Well, most of us anyway ;o) . But of course, there are plenty of spectators out along any course and having an emergency number to contact is an excellent idea.
At many races, the first aid facilites are near the start or finish of the race. There was an incident last year, in Limerick I believe, where someone collapsed and died out along the course. There are an increasing number of race officials doing CPR and Defibrillator courses and it makes sense that they should be on hand as soon as possible in case something happens. Perhaps the organisers of other local races could take note of this excellent idea.

Anyway, waffle over, here are the category results...

Men :
1 S McGrath (McGrath Landscaping) 15:45; 2 W Sosnowski (temp-reg) 15:49; 3 J Grufferty (Bio-Pharma) 16:15; 4 R Fahy (Bio-Pharma) 16:16; 5 C O’Donovan (O’Donovan) 16:21; 6 G Murray (Murray Coaches) 16:30; 7 O LeGaul (temp-reg) 16:54; 8 M Dunne (Garda) 16:57; 9 S Simcox (Workout Express) 17:01.
M40: 1 N O’Regan (Army) 17:33; 2 J Desmond (Hormann Elec) 17:46; 3 L Cotter (Kerry Foods) 17:58.
M45: 1 S By (Dairypower) 18:03; 2 D Carroll (Blarney Woolen Mills) 18:23; 3 S Cahill (IPS) 19:53.
M50: 1 M Murphy (Novartis) 17:27; 2 J Collins (Team adidas) 17:30; 3 W O’Riordan (Army) 19:21.
M55: 1 T Huff (Team adidas) 18:55; 2 D Cotter (Cork Painters) 20:32; 3 P Gyves (ITW Hi-Cone) 20:43.
M60: 1 J Murray (HSE) 23:21; 2 S Cotter (ESB) 23:21.
M65: 1 J O’Leary (Bookdeal) 23:04; 2 G Webb (Plant Hire) 23:24.
Team:
(Grade A) 1 Joyce Wolfe 55; 2 EMC 150; 3 Pfizer-Little Island 150.
(Grade B) 1 Army 73; 2 Proscon 81; 3 Phoenix Clinic 91.
(Grade C) 1 Cork Co Co 131; 2 An Post/Eircom 154; 3 RPS 173.
Women:
1 A Cooke (UCC) 18:35; 2 M Sheehan (Carraig Court, F50) 19:32; 3 J Vonhatten (temp-reg) 19:47; 4 F Kirwan (Sensory Labs, F40) 19:51; 5 M Nolan (Midleton News, F35) 20:01; 6 G O’Shea (Cork Co Co, F35) 20:34.
F40: 2 H Keleher (HSE) 20:51.
F45: 1 A Murphy (UCC) 22:04; 2 R Kelly (BoI).
F50: 1 M Lyons (Flextronics-Core) 25:00.
F55: 1 M Barry (Midleton News).
Team:
(Grade A) 1 Sensory Labs 12; 2 UCC 15; 3 Midleton News 18.
(Grade B) 1 Cork Co Co 22; 2 BoI 24; 3 Midleton News 35.
(....with thanks to John Walshe of Ballycotton Running Promotions for providing these)

Click on this link for the full results.

Photos...

Pat O'Driscoll of Eagle AC was out and about with his camera at the race and took some fine shots near the finish line. They are now up on the Eagle AC website.

The Cork BHAA have a few shots up on their website as well. The link is HERE.

Comments recieved...

"Hi John, Just out of curiosity, can you explain how the points system works for men's and ladies' teams in the BHAA races? What do the different grades mean and how are the points calculated? Great site by the way! Super source of info!...Anonymous"

"I had to laugh when I saw your question because I tried myself to work it out before and I gave up after trying loads of combinations! As far as I know, once you do a race, you are given a handicap or grade depending on what your time was...a bit like Golf ;o) The faster you are, the lower your handicap. They add up the handicaps of the 3 people in say the mens team and that determines what group you are in..A, B or C. I have no idea though as to exactly how they calculate the scores after each race. I'll try to get a better description...I'm sure others would be curious as well...John Desmond"