Results of the Belgooly 4 mile road race...Fri 26th Dec 2014

415 BRIAN KEANE LEEVALE MSNR 1 19.43
422 CILLIAN O'LEARY IND MSNR 2 20.21
453 JOHN MEADE ST FINBARRS AC MSNR 3 20.37
70 UNA PLANT KINSALE TRI CLUB F40 49 1ST LADY 25.22
192 ANNA O'NEILL DOHNEY AC F45 2ND LADY 25.49
151 TERESA MURPHY KENT F35 3RD LADY 26.17

The results can be seen HERE

Belgooly AC present cheque for €3,730 to cancer charity

The annual Belgooly 4 mile road race was held on St.Stephens Day last December with €5 from each entry going towards charity.

Recently, Belgooly Athletic Club made a presentation of a cheque for €3,730 to Bowel Cancer Treatment Fund at Cork University Hospital.

Here is a statement from the club...
Belgooly Athletic Club would like to thank all athletes, joggers, fun runners and walkers who competed, Our Main Sponsor, Belgooly Farm Store, Belgooly G.A.A. Club, Belgooly Hall Committee, Kinsale Gardai, Emerency Services, Kevin O'Donovan, Noel Allen, Timmy O'Donovan, Stewards, Officials and the catering staff. Some prizes are still unclaimed, please contact 086-8411193

Results of the Belgooly 4 mile road race...Thurs 26th Dec 2013

The annual Belgooly 4 mile road race on St.Stephen's Day attracted a large crowd as usual and just over €3,700 was raised for the Bowel Cancer Treatment Fund at C.U.H.

1    BRIAN KEANE    LEEVALE    MSNR        19.36
2    JAMES MCCARTHY    EAST CORK AC    MSNR        19.43
3    SEAN MCGRATH    EAST CORK AC    MSNR        20.02
22    JILL HODGINS        F35        23.02
34    NIAMH WALSH    LEEVALE    F35        24.20
38    ANNMARIE HOLLAND    ST. FINBARR'S    F35        24.23

The full results can be seen HERE

Photos...
1) Michael Dunne has a small number of photos HERE

(Photo courtesy of Michael Dunne)

Results of the Belgooly 4 Mile Road Race - Sun 4th Apr 2010....
A total of 231 turned out for this 4 mile road race in Belgooly to the south of Cork City. Despite the nice day, this was well down on the usual numbers that attend this race. On Stephens Day 2008, they got over 500. I thought the numbers might be down but not by that much. It just goes to show that the Belgooly 4 mile race on St.Stephens Day is a bit of a Christmas tradition. A lot of people know that it's on, even those who don't normally run in races and may be involved in other sports. For them, they might attend the Belgooly race just like others might go for the traditional Christmas swim. Move the event away from St.Stephens Day and it loses it's special appeal.

So looking at it from the perspective that it is just another club race then 231 is excellent!

I suppose the major downside of the lower numbers is that they will have only collected half as much for the Bowel Cancer charity.

Results.......
These are now ready and can be seen HERE

Photos...

Just after the start...

Danny Smith of Ballynonty AC winning the Belgooly 4

Lizzie Lee of Leevale AC winning the Ladies title in a time of 22:58

Thanks to Denis Kelleher of Midleton AC for some of the photos above.

Garry Lee has a large photo gallery of the race HERE.

Races in Cork over the Easter period........
There are no shortage of road races in Cork over the Easter weekend with 3 races on offer. If you are prepared to travel then there are at least 8 races in the Munster region. For these, check out the Running in Munster website.

Sunday 4th Apr......
The main event this weekend is of course the 4 mile road race in Belgooly to the south of Cork city. This race usually takes place on St.Stephens Day over the Christmas period but had to be cancelled last year due to ice. Perhaps it justs goes to show how vibrant the local running scene is when you consider the fact that it took until April to find a free Sunday that did not clash with any other local or championship race.

Here is the info from the flyer......

Run, Jog or Walk

The Annual Dick Copithorne 4 Mile Road Race

Easter Sunday - April 4th 2010- 12 noon

promoted by Belgooly A.C.

Entry fee €10.00 - 50% of the entry will be donated to the Bowel Cancer Treatment Fund at C.U.H.

Entries taken at Belgooly G.A.A. Grounds from 9.30 a.m. to 11.45 a.m.

Start and finish in Belgooly

Open to all athletes, joggers, fun runners and walkers.

Details and entry forms available from Rose @ 086-8411193 or John @ 086-1713500

Getting there.......the race starts and finishes in the village of Belgooly which is on the main Cork to Kinsale road. The sign on is in the local GAA hall which is shown as a Red X on the map above. The start is about 400m from the GAA hall.

Route......the race starts on the main road and you run back towards Cork City. With the exception of a small hill just after the start, the first 2 miles are pretty flat. Please note that this is a very busy road. It's very likely that they will want all runners to stay on the left hand side of the road as there will probably be a lot of traffic heading from Cork City towards Kinsale at that time of the day.

After 2 miles, you take a sharp left and then there are some hills for the next 1.25 miles. The last 1km or so is more or less flat or downhill into the finish.

Usually this race attracts a very large crowd on St.Stephens Day. Will it be as large on Easter Sunday? I'd kind of suspect that the numbers might be down but there should still be a big turnout.

Remember.......big turnout = big queues registering........get there early to get easy parking and avoid the hassle.

In the next post, I'll look at what is happening on Easter Monday.

Next big race in Cork....the Belgooly AC 4 Mile - 26th Dec

This 4 mile road race in Belgooly on the way to Kinsale is a bit of a Christmas tradition for a lot of people and is likely to attract well in excess of 500 entries. The race starts at 12 noon and with the big numbers entering, you should try and get there early to avoid the queues.

Note that the entry fee is €10 and 50% of that will be donated to the Bowel Cancer Treatment Fund at Cork University Hospital.

A flyer for the race can be seen HERE.

A rough preview of what the course is like can be found on the Belgooly AC website.

Note that this year, the start and finish points have been moved slightly and the course has been re-measured by John Quigley of Eagle AC.

With the current cold snap, you might be wondering if there is any chance that the roads will be icy and that the race might be cancelled? The current forecast is that the temperatures will rise to about 5 - 7 deg C in the next 48 hours and that should be enough to get rid of any ice.

Next race.........the Kinsale Regatta 5 mile road race - Fri 24th of July (8pm)

This is the only race on in Cork this weekend and it has a reputation of being one of the fastest 5 mile road races around. It basically starts up on a hill and the rest of the race is either downhill or along the flat with little in the way of hills in the way. If you want a good fast time, this is the one to go for.

I have details of the course and a race flyer up on the Belgooly AC website.

Belgooly Athletic Club launch new website...
I was asked by John Copithorne of Belgooly AC some time ago to put together a website for their club. I decided to use a blog format as it will be easier for them to maintain and all the information that they requested can be displayed on it.

You can see their new website at... http://belgoolyac.blogspot.com/

Belgooly AC are a small club who concentrate on track and field events mainly for children and teenagers. They have members from both Cork City and County. They train at the CIT track in Bishopstown every Tuesday and Thursday night between 7 and 8 pm and down in Crosshaven on Wednesday nights. So, if you know of anyone in that age group who might be interested in starting athletics, you should contact John Copithorne. His details are listed on the new website.