What's suprising about this marathon is just how good the prize money was with £2,500 going to the first man and woman.
Open Female
Sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank
1st £2,500
2nd £1,500
3rd £1,000
4th £500
5th £250
Photos by Chris Grayson
Showing posts with label Leevale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leevale. Show all posts
Monday, October 03, 2016
Nollaigh O'Neill from Cork wins Jersey Marathon
The Jersey Marathon in the Channel Islands was held on Sunday the 2nd of November and attracted a smallish field of 354 runners. The first woman home was Nollaigh O'Neill of Leevale AC in Cork in a time of 3h 01m.
What's suprising about this marathon is just how good the prize money was with £2,500 going to the first man and woman.
Open Female
Sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank
1st £2,500
2nd £1,500
3rd £1,000
4th £500
5th £250
Nollaigh is no stranger to winning marathons after winning the Cork City Marathon in 2015 and 2016.
Photos by Chris Grayson
What's suprising about this marathon is just how good the prize money was with £2,500 going to the first man and woman.
Open Female
Sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank
1st £2,500
2nd £1,500
3rd £1,000
4th £500
5th £250
Photos by Chris Grayson
Monday, October 12, 2015
Results of the Cork County Senior Cross Country Championships...Sun 11th Oct 2015
The numbers were pretty modest again for this years County Senior Cross Country Championships which were held near Macroom on Sunday the 11th of Oct 2015. In the mens 10k race, there were 43 men taking part, down one on the 44 in 2014. There was a big drop however in the number of teams competing with only 4 this year compared to 6 in 2014.
Senior Mens Teams
Place Club Positions Points
1 Leevale A.C. 1, 4, 5, 7....17
2 East Cork A.C. 2, 3, 9, 14....28
3 St. Finbarrs A.C. 6, 10, 13, 15....44
4 Togher A.C. 24, 25, 27, 33....109
In the Senior womens 5k race, there was a field of 21 runners compared to 17 in 2014. The number of teams was 3, the same as last year.
Senior Womens Teams
Place Club Positions Points
1 Leevale A.C. 1, 3, 5, 6 ....15
2 Youghal A.C. 4, 8, 10, 14 ....36
3 St. Finbarrs A.C. 2, 13, 15, 18....48
The full results can be seen HERE
Senior Mens Teams
Place Club Positions Points
1 Leevale A.C. 1, 4, 5, 7....17
2 East Cork A.C. 2, 3, 9, 14....28
3 St. Finbarrs A.C. 6, 10, 13, 15....44
4 Togher A.C. 24, 25, 27, 33....109
In the Senior womens 5k race, there was a field of 21 runners compared to 17 in 2014. The number of teams was 3, the same as last year.
Senior Womens Teams
Place Club Positions Points
1 Leevale A.C. 1, 3, 5, 6 ....15
2 Youghal A.C. 4, 8, 10, 14 ....36
3 St. Finbarrs A.C. 2, 13, 15, 18....48
The full results can be seen HERE
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Guest article...Cork Cross Country Victory of 1974
The following article was written by John Walshe for the Evening Echo and is republished here with his kind permission.
CORK CROSS-COUNTRY VICTORY OF 1974...By John Walshe (Evening Echo, Tuesday January 28th 2014)
It’s been all of 13 years since a Cork team last won the National Senior Inter-Counties Cross-Country Championship. In that period Dublin have won an amazing 11 successive titles and look set to continue that trend for the near future.
Things were different 40 years ago and this month marks a famous Rebel victory which took place at Mallow Racecourse on January 27, 1974. It was a day also notable for the conditions endured and the individual win by a man who is still very much involved in the local athletics scene here in Cork.
The weather during all of January 1974 was something akin to that experienced in recent weeks, with heavy rain and storms an almost daily occurrence. As competitors and spectators made their way to Mallow on that Sunday morning, the bright sunshine had given way to steady rain. As time moved on to the main attraction of the day, conditions continued to deteriorate.
Deirdre Foreman had led Dublin to an easy team win in the opening race which saw the Mellerick sisters from Fermoy – Maura and Dervla – finish fourth and fifth. As the 170-strong men’s field toed the line, they faced the prospect of seven-and-a-half miles of heavy and undulating terrain in torrential rain and gale-force winds.
On the second lap of five, Danny McDaid, Tom O’Riordan and Des McGann had prised open a slight gap on the large chasing group. Shortly after, they were joined by the ominous figure of Cork’s Donie Walsh.
Like McDaid and McGann, the Leevale man had run the Olympic marathon a year-and-a-half before though the streets of Munich and was now back living and working in his native city after a four-year scholarship at Villanova.
Passing the racecourse’s grandstand for the third time, Walsh took the lead and stayed in front for another mile, before McCann, running the race of his life, drew level. As conditions continued to worsen, the pair ran shoulder to shoulder until a surge by Walsh proved decisive, gaining him a vital 20 yards advantage.
McCann tried all he could to regain contact but the 26-year-old Corkman was not to be denied in front of his home crowd and eventually crossed the line with 13 seconds to spare over the gallant Meathman with O’Riordan, representing Kerry, just another five seconds back in third.
Every bit as exciting as the individual battle was the team contest and when the points were tallied up, Cork had come out victorious by seven points (89 to 96) over Galway with Dublin third on 174. The Cork scoring sextet were: Donie Walsh (1st), Richie Crowley (8th), Freddie Down (14th), Finnie Long (15th), Dick Hodgins (24th) and Denis Manning (27th).
As the victorious Cork team made their way home amidst the rising floodwaters around the town of Mallow, they were able to reflect on a famous victory achieved in the most appalling of conditions.
But for Donie Walsh, it marked the end of a remarkable month of January that had produced four brilliant achievements the likes of which wouldn’t even be contemplated nowadays by any of our full-time athletes.
On the first Saturday of the month, along with colleagues Tony Shine and Tim Donovan, Walsh had travelled by train to Belfast where he won the prestigious Miskimmon Cup cross-country over a very tough six-mile course.
The following day, he was back in Ballincollig for the Cork senior championship which, like all championships at the time, was over a distance of seven-and-a-half miles. A steady start saw Walsh back in 10th position in the early stages as clubmate Ray Treacy set a gruelling pace but after two miles Walsh – wearing his familiar headband – had opened up a gap on his nearest challenger, Richie Crowley of St Finbarr’s.
At the finish, the margin of 15 seconds was sufficient to give Walsh another title ahead of Crowley with Finnie Long holding off Treacy for third. Leevale easily took the team title on 41 points, 14 ahead of St Finbarr’s, with the scorers being Walsh (1st), Treacy (4th), Gene Mealy (5th), Dick Hodgins (8th), Jerry Murphy (9th) and Wally Young (14th).
Two weeks later, January 21, was the day of the Quinlan Cup road race at Tullamore. Road races today may revolve around times and accurate distances, but Tullamore was all about competition. Winners over the years would read like a who’s-who of Irish running with the likes of Eamon Coghlan, John Treacy, Ray Treacy and John Hartnett tasting victory around the streets of the Midland town.
For once in that month, conditions were good as the huge field of around 400 headed off on a course of approx 11,000 metres (the acronym ‘10k’ had yet to be invented). Six runners broke away shortly after the start – Walsh, Crowley, McGann, Paddy Murphy, Tom O’Riordan and his namesake, Pat O’Riordan. The latter, also a Leevale man, soon suffered an injury and had to drop out.
This was the signal for Walsh to take the lead and in a fiercely contested last mile he withstood the tremendous challenge of the chasing bunch to reach the sanctuary of the tape just six seconds ahead of former winner and fellow Corkman, Richie Crowley. Murphy, from Kildare, took third with McGann fourth, John Scanlon from Galway fifth and journalist Tom O’Riordan sixth.
Walsh’s performance no doubt inspired his clubmates and despite Pat O’Riordan’s mishap they packed magnificently to take coveted Quinlan Cup ahead of holders Donore on a scoreline of 69 points to 100 with Clonliffe third on 151. Those six Leevale scorers were Walsh (1st), Dick Hodgins (9th), Ray Treacy (10th), Pat Duggan (14th), Gene Mealy (16th) and Tony O’Leary (19th).
The headline on the Cork Examiner the following day read ‘Day of glory for Walsh and Leevale’, and so it was. And there was to be further glory for Walsh the following month at Tuam Racecourse when, on February 24, he retained his BLE Inter-Clubs crown ahead of Joe Scanlon, Fr Paddy Coyle and Danny McDaid.
However, Donore gained revenge over Leevale when taking the team title by nine points, 33 to 42. Remarkably, given all their achievements over the four decades since, it’s still the one national honour that has eluded the Cork club.
CORK CROSS-COUNTRY VICTORY OF 1974...By John Walshe (Evening Echo, Tuesday January 28th 2014)
It’s been all of 13 years since a Cork team last won the National Senior Inter-Counties Cross-Country Championship. In that period Dublin have won an amazing 11 successive titles and look set to continue that trend for the near future.
Things were different 40 years ago and this month marks a famous Rebel victory which took place at Mallow Racecourse on January 27, 1974. It was a day also notable for the conditions endured and the individual win by a man who is still very much involved in the local athletics scene here in Cork.
 |
| All Ireland Cross Country Championships at Mallow race course |
The weather during all of January 1974 was something akin to that experienced in recent weeks, with heavy rain and storms an almost daily occurrence. As competitors and spectators made their way to Mallow on that Sunday morning, the bright sunshine had given way to steady rain. As time moved on to the main attraction of the day, conditions continued to deteriorate.
Deirdre Foreman had led Dublin to an easy team win in the opening race which saw the Mellerick sisters from Fermoy – Maura and Dervla – finish fourth and fifth. As the 170-strong men’s field toed the line, they faced the prospect of seven-and-a-half miles of heavy and undulating terrain in torrential rain and gale-force winds.
 |
| Donie Walsh of Leevale |
Like McDaid and McGann, the Leevale man had run the Olympic marathon a year-and-a-half before though the streets of Munich and was now back living and working in his native city after a four-year scholarship at Villanova.
Passing the racecourse’s grandstand for the third time, Walsh took the lead and stayed in front for another mile, before McCann, running the race of his life, drew level. As conditions continued to worsen, the pair ran shoulder to shoulder until a surge by Walsh proved decisive, gaining him a vital 20 yards advantage.
McCann tried all he could to regain contact but the 26-year-old Corkman was not to be denied in front of his home crowd and eventually crossed the line with 13 seconds to spare over the gallant Meathman with O’Riordan, representing Kerry, just another five seconds back in third.
Every bit as exciting as the individual battle was the team contest and when the points were tallied up, Cork had come out victorious by seven points (89 to 96) over Galway with Dublin third on 174. The Cork scoring sextet were: Donie Walsh (1st), Richie Crowley (8th), Freddie Down (14th), Finnie Long (15th), Dick Hodgins (24th) and Denis Manning (27th).
As the victorious Cork team made their way home amidst the rising floodwaters around the town of Mallow, they were able to reflect on a famous victory achieved in the most appalling of conditions.
But for Donie Walsh, it marked the end of a remarkable month of January that had produced four brilliant achievements the likes of which wouldn’t even be contemplated nowadays by any of our full-time athletes.
On the first Saturday of the month, along with colleagues Tony Shine and Tim Donovan, Walsh had travelled by train to Belfast where he won the prestigious Miskimmon Cup cross-country over a very tough six-mile course.
The following day, he was back in Ballincollig for the Cork senior championship which, like all championships at the time, was over a distance of seven-and-a-half miles. A steady start saw Walsh back in 10th position in the early stages as clubmate Ray Treacy set a gruelling pace but after two miles Walsh – wearing his familiar headband – had opened up a gap on his nearest challenger, Richie Crowley of St Finbarr’s.
At the finish, the margin of 15 seconds was sufficient to give Walsh another title ahead of Crowley with Finnie Long holding off Treacy for third. Leevale easily took the team title on 41 points, 14 ahead of St Finbarr’s, with the scorers being Walsh (1st), Treacy (4th), Gene Mealy (5th), Dick Hodgins (8th), Jerry Murphy (9th) and Wally Young (14th).
Two weeks later, January 21, was the day of the Quinlan Cup road race at Tullamore. Road races today may revolve around times and accurate distances, but Tullamore was all about competition. Winners over the years would read like a who’s-who of Irish running with the likes of Eamon Coghlan, John Treacy, Ray Treacy and John Hartnett tasting victory around the streets of the Midland town.
For once in that month, conditions were good as the huge field of around 400 headed off on a course of approx 11,000 metres (the acronym ‘10k’ had yet to be invented). Six runners broke away shortly after the start – Walsh, Crowley, McGann, Paddy Murphy, Tom O’Riordan and his namesake, Pat O’Riordan. The latter, also a Leevale man, soon suffered an injury and had to drop out.
This was the signal for Walsh to take the lead and in a fiercely contested last mile he withstood the tremendous challenge of the chasing bunch to reach the sanctuary of the tape just six seconds ahead of former winner and fellow Corkman, Richie Crowley. Murphy, from Kildare, took third with McGann fourth, John Scanlon from Galway fifth and journalist Tom O’Riordan sixth.
Walsh’s performance no doubt inspired his clubmates and despite Pat O’Riordan’s mishap they packed magnificently to take coveted Quinlan Cup ahead of holders Donore on a scoreline of 69 points to 100 with Clonliffe third on 151. Those six Leevale scorers were Walsh (1st), Dick Hodgins (9th), Ray Treacy (10th), Pat Duggan (14th), Gene Mealy (16th) and Tony O’Leary (19th).
The headline on the Cork Examiner the following day read ‘Day of glory for Walsh and Leevale’, and so it was. And there was to be further glory for Walsh the following month at Tuam Racecourse when, on February 24, he retained his BLE Inter-Clubs crown ahead of Joe Scanlon, Fr Paddy Coyle and Danny McDaid.
However, Donore gained revenge over Leevale when taking the team title by nine points, 33 to 42. Remarkably, given all their achievements over the four decades since, it’s still the one national honour that has eluded the Cork club.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Nollaig O'Neill from Cork wins Lanzarote Marathon in 2:52...
The Lanzarote Marathon was held last Sunday the 8th of December and attracted a field of 186 runners. One result of note was that of Nollaig O'Neill of Leevale AC who finished in a time of 2:52:58 to win the womens title. Nollaig was the 7th person overall with the first man finishing in 2:37.
Fast forward to 12:30 to see Nollaig finishing...
Friday, November 08, 2013
Lizzie Lee and Claire McCarthy win Cork Sports Award for Sept & Oct
The recent achievements of two of Cork's best athletes were recognised today when they were awarded the Cork City Sports Athletics Award for September and October respectively.
In late September, Lizzie Lee of Leevale AC finished in 9th place in a time of 2:38:09 in the Berlin Marathon, one of the major marathons in the world.
In the recent Dublin Marathon, Claire McCarthy of Leevale AC finished in second place in a time of 2:39:37. This was over three minutes faster than her previous best of 2:43:15 which she set in Rotterdam last April.
Both athletes are coached by Donie Walsh of Leevale AC who represented Ireland in the marathon in the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Photo courtesy of Gearóid Ó Laoi
 |
| Lizzie Lee and Claire McCarthy |
In late September, Lizzie Lee of Leevale AC finished in 9th place in a time of 2:38:09 in the Berlin Marathon, one of the major marathons in the world.
In the recent Dublin Marathon, Claire McCarthy of Leevale AC finished in second place in a time of 2:39:37. This was over three minutes faster than her previous best of 2:43:15 which she set in Rotterdam last April.
Both athletes are coached by Donie Walsh of Leevale AC who represented Ireland in the marathon in the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Photo courtesy of Gearóid Ó Laoi
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Results of the Leevale Open Sports Day...Sat 16th Apr 2011
The full results can be found in PDF format HERE
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Leevale Open Sports...Sat 16th Apr 2011
"The sports are open to all juveniles U8+, junior and senior athletes. Our distance events (800m, 1500m, 3000m) usually draw a good crowd from the local road race scene, so might be of some interest to readers of your blog. The new stand at CIT also makes the track a great spectator venue, and there will be top-class sprinting action and field events, drawing athletes from across the country. If any of your blog readers have kids who are interested in trying out events before the more competitive meets start later in the summer, the Sports are an ideal low-key fixture for this also.
Entry fees are payable at the gate on the way in to CIT (Entrants & Spectators). There is no additional charge to enter events once you're inside, apart from relays. The fees are €3 (juvenile), €5 (adult), €10 (family), €5 (relays). I think we're probably fairly flexible enough on what exactly a "family" is!
The event is running all day, from 10:30am till 6 pm. The juvenile events take place first, with the senior programme starting at 2 pm. The order of events etc. are all posted on our website.
Further details are at: http://www.leevale.org/2011/leevale-open-sports-saturday-16-april-2011
Saturday, March 05, 2011
Ailis McSweeney bows out of the European Indoor Championships
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Leevale ladies placed 2nd in the National Leagues
Photos HERE
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Video clips from the recent Leevale Sports Day...
Not exactly road running related ;o) but interesting all the same. This is a clip from YouTube of the recent Leevale Sports Day at CIT in Bishopstown. It's very well made and top marks to the club for promoting itself in a positive fashion.
This is the first race in the Mens 3000 metres
This is the second race in the Mens 3000 metres which was run in conjunction with the Ladies 3k
Not exactly road running related ;o) but interesting all the same. This is a clip from YouTube of the recent Leevale Sports Day at CIT in Bishopstown. It's very well made and top marks to the club for promoting itself in a positive fashion.
This is the first race in the Mens 3000 metres
This is the second race in the Mens 3000 metres which was run in conjunction with the Ladies 3k
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