From the organisers....‘Rosscarbery Steam Engine’ 5km Fun Run on October 7th supporting two Local Charities Lisheens House and Owenahincha Bay Water Safety Association
Now in it’s seventh year, the Annual Rosscarbery Steam Engine 5km Fun Run will take place on Saturday October 7th at 5pm. This race has been growing in popularity every year and in 2016 was voted the Second Best 5K in Cork! This year the organisers are hoping to make it the best in Cork!
The run is named in honour of the one-time Irish and USA Champion 400-metres champion runner T.J. O’Mahony aka The Steam Engine and is a 5km (3.1 miles in total) double circuit of the scenic lagoon in Rosscarbery.
Every year a different local charity is chosen and this year, all proceeds from the race are going to two very worthwhile causes viz. Lisheens House (suicide prevention) and Owenahicha Bay Water Safety Association.
Lisheens House is a community based Suicide Prevention & Mental Health Awareness Charity that offers free counselling, education and training to aid recovery and promote Positive Mental Health! Based in Bantry and recently a Training & Support Centre in Skibbereen, Lisheens House is committed to reducing the number of suicides in Ireland! Lisheens House Helpline is 023- 888 8888.
Owenahincha Bay Water Safety Association was formed following a tragedy that occurred on Owenahincha beach in September 2006. Two brave young men were lost to the sea when they went to the aid of others who survived because of their heroism. The aims and objectives of the association are to relieve suffering and distress amongst persons endangered by accidents or natural hazards, by the provision and maintenance of a trained rescue association to operate throughout the greater Owenahincha Bay /Rosscarbery Area. The Association has recently acquired a boat, fondly named J DOGG (nickname of Jonathon, one of the heroes who lost his life in 2006).
Every year the race has been sponsored by local businesses, and as a result every Euro raised in registration goes direct to the Charity. We would publically like to thank all our sponsors and in particular O’ Reilly’s Centra, Rosscarbery who provide the water and fruit every year, Gavin Fox, Dare2B for prizes and Jeremy Murphy Auctioneers who cover printing and insurance costs.
Registration costs just €10 for adults and €5 for children aged between 12 and 16years. For safety reasons, under 12s have to be accompanied by an adult.
Runners, walkers and families alike are all welcome and there will be music in the square for the duration. This event has something for everyone, good fun family atmosphere,a good fast 5k for the competitive runners with Alan O’ Shea from Bantry AC holding the Male course record and Ronnie Barry from Bandon AC holding the Female course record.
Refreshments will be available in the Social Centre afterwards where the ‘nicest cup of tea’ can be had, along with plenty home-baking.
Registration is on the day from 3.30pm at the Social Services Centre directly behind the Centra Shop at the corner of Rosscarbery Square.
The event will start at 5pm from the main square in the centre of the town.
The run is organised in co-operation with Rosscarbery Steam Runners AC & Rosscarbery Community Council.
Background to the run:
In October 2011, a plaque was unveiled in his honour in Rosscarbery town square and the first annual 5km run-walk held. The memorial plaque was unveiled by legendary commentator Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh.
In December 2011, the only known photo of T.J. O’Mahony was presented to the GAA Museum in Croke Park, Dublin, by the organising committee.
In May 2012, a ceremony was held in Glasnevin cemetery in Dublin to remember T.J. O’Mahony and a new headstone erected at his grave.
More recently, a folder containing the research into T.J. O’Mahony and the GAA’s Gaelic Invasion Tour of 1888 was presented as a reference resource to Cork City Library.
In 2015 Rosscarbery Steam Runners AC was formed, taking it’s name from the Steam Engine himself! The club is going from strength to strength with approx. 80 members honouring the legacy of TJ O’ Mahony and the tradition of running in the town.
About T.J. O’Mahony aka The Rosscarbery Steam Engine
At a time when the GAA was actively involved in track and field sports, TJ O’Mahony was GAA Irish Champion in the quarter-mile (400 metres) in 1885, 1887 and 1888 and Irish Amateur Athletics Association (IAAA) champion in 1886, before grabbing all the positive headlines as part of the GAA’s ‘Gaelic Invasion’ tour of the USA in 1888, when some of the country’s finest hurlers and track and field athletes were dispatched to promote Gaelic sports in America. O’Mahony was unbeaten on the tour and won the American Championship 400 metres title as part of it.
While hurling proved of great curiosity to the Americans on the unique tour by 48 Irish sportsmen, it was O’Mahony’s feats on the track - defeating the best the US could offer - that made the newswires, with gushing headlines like “Unconquerable Steam Engine”. The American athletes were the international benchmark on the track at the time and he beat the USA Champion in some style. This was before the era of the modern Olympics and he was described at the time as the de facto World Champion.
The son of a shopkeeper, Timothy Jerome O’Mahony was born at home in Rosscarbery town in 1864 and trained in all weathers (even after school) in a local field, with no coaching, his powerful and distinctive rhythmic style of running earning him the moniker ‘The Rosscarbery Steam Engine’. He was also first Secretary of the local Carbery Rangers GAA club in 1887.
After his feats on the US tour in 1888, over 1,000 people turned out for a celebratory torchlight procession through the small town to give him a rapturous hero’s welcome home after the long boat-trip across the Atlantic. He retired some time later, moving to Dublin where he filed stories as a sports reporter.
He died in Dublin in 1914, aged 50, of cardiac failure. His death certificate cited his profession as ‘Press Man’ (journalist).
In an obituary at the time by journalist ‘Carbery’ in The Cork Examiner, he wrote: “To the younger generation of athletes the ‘Steam Engine’ is only a name, but to the athlete of a quarter of a century ago the pseudonym calls up visions of exciting finishes and heroic deeds on every track from Dublin to Cape Clear and from New York to San Francisco… his early demise is little less than a national loss.”
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