KILMALLOCK FOUR-MILE ROAD RACE, Friday May 16th 2025
On a warm evening for running, Declan Moore from the Bilboa repeated his victory from last year at the annual Kilmallock four-mile race.
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| Declan Moore receiving the Jim Hogan Perpetual Cup from Mary Murphy, sister of the late Jim. Also pictured is Mary’s husband Donal |
His time of 19:54 was outside the 19:31 he ran last year but it gave him a clear advantage over runner-up (for the second year) Karl Lenihan of West Limerick (21:33), with Derek Kiely (Limerick) third in 22:35.
Breda Gaffney from Mallow was equally a clear winner of the women’s race in 23:56 ahead of Pamela Kirby (Bilboa), 24:57, with Susan Glennon from Mullingar finishing third in 25:09.
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| Breda Gaffney, first in the women’s race, receiving the Tommy Hanley Memorial Cup from Mike Reynolds, Kilmallock AC |
Along with his prize, Declan Moore also received the Jim Hogan Perpetual Cup in memory of the locally-born runner who famously won the 1966 European Marathon while representing Great Britain. The cup was presented by Mary Murphy, a sprightly 93-year-old sister of the late Jim who attended along with her husband Donal.
Born back in 1933, Jim Hogan changed his name from Cregan to Hogan after moving to England for work. He ran for Ireland in the marathon at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. There, he was in medal contention after tracking eventual winner Abebe Bikila for more than 20 miles before being forced to drop out in the closing stages due to severe dehydration.
In 1966, he went on to win the European Marathon title in a time of 2:20:04 – on this occasion wearing a British singlet, having declared for the UK citing indifferences and frustrations with the way in which Irish athletics was being run at the time. A number years ago a book was published on his life titled ‘The Irishman who ran for England’.
Jim Hogan passed away at the age of 81 back in January 2015. Such was the esteem in which he was held that former world 10,000m record holder Dave Bedford travelled from the UK for his funeral which took place in the little village of Athlacca.
In an interview back in the day, Bedford – who also served as Race Director of the London Marathon - was asked if he admired any particular athlete. He replied: “At one time I used to like Jim Hogan’s running, partly because he was a very controversial character – I like controversial characters – but also he had guts and said what he thought.”
A welcome return to the winners’ rostrum at Kilmallock was Mallow-man Pat Kerrigan, first in the M70 category. In only his third competitive outing for many years – apart from parkruns – Pat’s appearance brought back memories of the 1970s and 1980s when he was one of the outstanding runners in the county, very rarely outside the prizes.
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| Pat Kerrigan, first in the M70 category, receiving his prize from Mike Reynolds |
And it wasn’t just on the Cork circuit as he also travelled overseas to compete at a time when many did not. One such trip was to the New York Marathon in 1982 where he ran 2:32:48, finishing just outside the first 200 of the 13,500 finishers.
Accompanying him on that occasion was his regular training and racing companion, Andy Neenan, who also ran an impressive time of 2:36:58 around the streets of New York.
Full results...
