Category Results & Photos of the Cork BHAA 'ESB/Fota Island Hotel' 5 km road race - Sun 13th Mar 2011

There was a big turnout of just over 400 runners for this Cork BHAA 5 km road race near Carrigtwohill. This was the first time the race was run over this route and considering the numbers, it would seem to be more popular than the race route in Mahon which attracted 272 in 2010 and 288 in 2009.

The first man home was George Waugh in a time of 15:54 while the first registered man was Wieslaw Sosnowski. In the womens race, Emma Murphy was the first woman in 18:12 while the first registered woman was Sinead Ni Chonchuir.

ESB/FOTA ISLAND HOTEL 5km
Men: George Waugh (non-reg) 15:54; 2 Wieslaw Sosnowski (Olympic Landscapes) 16:05; 3 John Meade (Joyce Wolfe Physio) 16:14; 4 P Gallagher (UCC) 16:15; 5 W Walsh (Army) 16:25; 6 Kevin Wilmot (EMC) 16:38; 7 Donal Coffey (Pilz Ireland) 16:45; 8 E O’Donovan (non-reg) 16:57; 9 Conor Tierney (McGrath Landscaping) 17:07; 10 Paul Tierney (Cork Garda) 17:13.


Team: (Grade A) 1 Cork Garda 27; 2 Army 46; 3 Bord Gais Eireann 87. (Grade B) 1 EMC 39; 2 Naval Service 61; 3 Midleton News 86. (Grade C) 1 IPS 100; 2 Flexible Connectors 128; 3 EMC 177.

Women: 1 Emma Murphy (non-reg) 18:12; 2 Sinead Ni Chonchuir (Colour is Magic, F40) 18:47; 3 Niamh Walsh (non-reg) 18:54; 4 Louise Cavanagh (SCP, F40) 19:39; 5 M Crowley (non-reg) 20:06; 6 Jessica Vonhatten (non-reg) 20:11.


Team: 1 (Grade A) Dept of Education 239; 2 HSE 280. (Grade B) Novartis 377; 2 Bank of Ireland 429.
 
(...with thanks to John Walshe for the above results)

The full results are likely to be out sometime later in the week.
 
Photos...
Thanks to Doug Minihane, there is a large gallery of 455 photos HERE

Preview of the Cork BHAA 'ESB / Fota Island Hotel' 5 km road race - Sun 13th March 2011

For the last few years, the Cork BHAA 'ESB' 5k was held in Mahon near Cork City. This year, it moves to a new location and will be held in conjunction with the Fota Island hotel. Registration /  Prizegiving / Refreshments will be in the hotel while the 5 km race is on the roads nearby.

Getting there...Coming from Cork City, take the N25 east (Midleton Rd). Follow the signposts for Cobh and take the turn off at Cobh Cross near Carrigtwohill. The entrance for the hotel is on the main road to Cobh.

Note that the entrance for the hotel is on the right while the race will take place on the roads to the left.

Hotel entrance...hard to miss!

Follow the stewards instructions / direction and follow the roads inside to the parking area.

Registration.........as per usual with Cork BHAA events, the entry fee for non-registered runners is €8 and for registered runners, it's €5. There will be seperate entry desks for each.

Time.........Please note that the hotel is located about 1 km from the main road. Allow plenty of time for the queues at registration and for time to get back to the start line.

The race starts at 11am

Race route.......Basically, it is an 'out and back' course with a small loop at the end. The photo above shows the start / finish area as seen from the main road.

The first mile is reasonably flat. At around 0.7 miles, you take the left at the large sweeping bend. On past the 1 mile mark and you'll see the small road junction ahead...

This is the start / finish of the small loop. On the way out, you carry on straight ahead and up the small hill. After this, you just keep turning left. First a long straight section and then you turn left and down a small narrow road and past Barrycourt Castle...

Continue on the narrow road....up a short sharp hill...turn right and back onto the larger road....pass the 2 mile mark and retrace your steps back towards the finish.

Overall...a reasonable course with a 2 small climbs but nothing too serious. Please note that there are some potholes near the start / finish so watch out for these. As you can imagine with an 'out and back' course, you  may meet runners going in the opposite direction so follow the stewards instructions.

Cork BHAA are also looking for helpers so if you are not running on the day, why not turn up early on the day and lend a hand?

If you want to see a map of the route, I have it up on the MapMyRun website. Click on the + / - there to zoom in and out.