Nobody involved in that first race could have imagined what lay ahead. The Dublin Marathon was still three years away, with London following six months later. Nowadays, the popularity of the Ballycotton ‘10’ is only too apparent to anybody who tries to enter, and the numbers taking part in races, along with the variety of events, is at an all-time high. A total of 165 five and ten mile races later, the statistics show in excess of 67,000 finishers and, with the participation of international stars and Olympic medallists, it can be safely assumed that the Ballycotton events have now reached a global audience.
August 1977 is also remembered for another very different reason entirely. Five days after that Ballycotton race, the world was shocked to hear of the death of Elvis Presley. It was, one could say, the end of a legend; although of course his music will always live on. In its own small way, that Ballycotton race five days before was the catalyst of a movement which in the intervening years has also gained a legendary status, albeit of a very different nature. Yes, the ‘King’ may be dead, but road running is certainly alive and well in this picturesque area of East Cork. However, it wouldn’t have transpired but for those pioneers below who turned up in Ballycotton village to run five miles on an August evening all of 34 years ago.
BALLYCOTTON ‘5’ – Thursday August 11th 1977
1 Ray Treacy (Leevale) 23:46.........2 Richie Crowley (St. Finbarrs) 24:16
3 Donie Walsh (Leevale) 24:21.........4 Noel Shannon (Leevale) 24:29
5 Liam O’Brien (Midleton) 25:17.........6 Murt Coleman (Liffey Valley) 25:33
7 Kevin Treacy (Loughrea) 25:46.........8 Jerry Murphy (Leevale) 25:59
9 Micheal Healy (Youghal) 26:18.........10 Jerry Martin (Midleton) 26:28
11 Liam Horgan (Leevale) 26:30.........12 John Delaney (Leevale) 26:43
13 Mick Murphy (Leevale) 26:55.........14 Jack O’Leary (St. Finbarrs) 27:04
15 Flor O’Leary (St. Finbarrs) 27:15.........16 Mick Carey (Leevale) 27:21
17 Gerard Lambe (Glounthaune) 27:23.........18 Michael Joyce (St. Finbarrs) 27:34
19 Batt Kearney (Leevale) 27:56.........20 Joe O’Flynn (Leevale) 28:02
21 Der O’Riordan (Leevale) 28:14.........22 Ger Coulihan (Leevale) 28:23
23 Russell O’Brien (Grange) 28:33.........24 Pat Whyte (Midleton) 28:45
25 Denis Forde (St. Finbarrs) 29:15.........26 Michael O’Riordan (St. Finbarrs.) 29:43
27 Billy Griffin (Midleton) 29:51.........28 John Walshe (Midleton) 30:09
29 Dave Ainscough (St. Finbarrs) 30:14.........30 N. Doherty (Glounthaune) 31:01
31 Willie O’Mahony (Youghal) 31:13.........32 Bernard Lynch (St. Finbarrs) 31:29
33 Tom Houlihan (Midleton) 33:40.........34 Dan Donovan (Midleton) 34:40
Part 1 of 3 can be seen HERE
3 comments:
How many of these runners are still going strong? St. Finbarr's Flor O'Leary is one - an amazing, inspiring athlete - are there others that are still running or involved in athletics?
Out of the 34 that ran the first Ballycotton '5', there are at least 3 still running.
John Walshe, Batt Kearney and Willie O'Mahony all ran the 2011 Ballycotton '5' race.
Billy Griffin Midleton is still racing well and Tom Houlihan is still very active in the club (Chairman) and with training the juveniles also.
Danny Mc Carthy
Midleton AC
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