Top-Class Ballycotton Line-Up...by John Walshe

John Walshe of Ballycotton has written the following piece on the upcoming Ballycotton 5 mile road race which is coming up on Thursday 27th Aug 2015.

TOP-CLASS BALLYCOTTON LINE-UP

When Ryan Creech ran 24:27 at Churchtown South last month, it was the fastest time in a Ballycotton Series race in almost 20 years. Although the Leevale athlete has now returned to university in the US, tomorrow night’s Ballycotton ‘5’ promises to be another high-class affair with a number of British runners expected to take part.

Also in the line-up will be Mark Hanrahan of Leevale, using the race as part of his final preparations for the Berlin Marathon in a month’s time. After running 34:40 for the tough seven miles at Donoughmore, Hanrahan could be on for a very fast time at Ballycotton and he will also have overall Series leader Michael Harty (who ran 24:59 on his own at Ballyandreen) to contend with.

Andy & Dave Norman

The overseas contingent is led by the Norman brothers – Dave and Andy – from the Altrincham & District club near Manchester. Sons of the famous Jeff Norman who ran the Montreal Olympic marathon in 1976, Dave has won the Manchester Marathon on two occasions (2012 and 2013) and has a best time of 2:18:34.

Last Sunday he finished third in the Rochdale Half-Marathon (just three seconds covered the first three), and has also clocked 14:52.22 for 5000m and 8:35.38 for 3000m on the track this summer. Brother Andy has a best of 14:06.99 for 5000m and ran 14:38.77 this year.

Also in the group is Simon Deakin from the Leeds City club who has PBs of 14:00.55 for 5000m and 24:38 for five miles and who finished this year’s London Marathon in 2:29:09. Another of the visitors, Nigel Stirk of Tipton Harriers, now in the M40 category, has a best of 24:47 for five miles.

Leon Foster and Mike Burrett (15:35.21 for 5000m this year), both from Leeds City, and Mick Hill (Tipton) make up the seven taking part and unfortunately two others in the group, Andy Parker and Ian Mitchell, are unable to run due to injury.

Mick Hill, who has ran the Ballycotton ’10’ in the past and who has connections in the Ballynoe area near Conna, is organising the trip to Ireland where they are also taking in visits to Limerick and Dublin as well as Cork.

Although women’s course record holder Lizzie Lee will not be running, her sister Rosaleen MacKeown will be going for a clean sweep in the Series, having improved her time each night since the first race at Ballyandreen.

And finally, a reminder once again that the race starts at 7.30pm and in view of traffic diversions which may apply in the area, people are asked to make a special effort to arrive early. The entry fee on the final night is €6 of which €1 is donated to charity, the chosen cause this year being Marymount University Hospital & Hospice.