Ron Hill overlooked as Olympic torch bearer

In a somewhat bizarre move, one of the UK's most famous runners Ron Hill has been overlooked as a torch bearer for the Olympic torch. Some 7300 people will carry the flame across the UK in the 70 days before the games.

73 year old Ron Hill is the former 1969 European and 1970 Commonwealth marathon champion and is still equal 10th all-time on the UK marathon rankings with his 1970 time of 2:09:28. He is perhaps better known for his record-breaking streak of having run at least a mile every day since December 1964. His nomination was rejected on the basis that there were too many applications.

Ballycotton '10' results now official...

The final results with 5 mile splits for the 2012 Ballycotton 10 mile road race are out now. See HERE

In some cases, the times given are from when the race started as opposed to when the runner crossed the start line. The organisers issued the following statement..."Due to technical difficulties with the sheer volume of runners crossing the starting line, some chip times are not available. However, as is the practice in all such events (IAAF rules), it is the gun time which is the correct one and this is always used for record purposes, etc."

In previous years, the organisers used to post the results booklet out to all finishers but this has become increasingly pointless as they are freely available on the Internet. If you want one then they will have the 28-page brochure available at all races in the Cork region over the coming weeks. Anyone outside the area can have a copy posted free if they email the organisers. 

For links to photos and video clips, see this earlier post

Irish Racewalking results from last weekend...Sun 18th Mar 2012

Some of the the top Irish race walkers took part in the Lugano Trophy in Switzerland last weekend in some wet conditions.

In the Womens Under 20 race over 10kms, Kate Veale of West Waterford AC finished in 1st place in a time of 47:01, almost three minutes ahead of her nearest rival. In 4th place, Emma Prenderville of Farranfore Maine Valley AC in Kerry finished in 51:32. Emma had finished in 3rd place in 2011 with 50:50.

In the mens 20k race, Rob Heffernan of Togher AC finished in a time of 1:20:39. In previous years, Rob finished in 1:20:54 in 2011 and 1:20:44 in 2010 so he's in a good shape at the moment as he prepares for the Olympics in London.

In the womens 20k race, Olive Loughnane of Athenry AC finished in 10th place with 1:32:26.

In the Mens Under 20 race over 10kms, James Treanor of Shercock AC finished in 5th place with 45:08.

The full results can be seen HERE

The next major race walking competition is on Saturday, the 25th of March in Dudince, Slovakia. In it, Jamie Costin (West Waterford AC) and Colin Griffin (Ballinamore AC) will be hoping for a qualification time of sub 3:59:00 for 50 kms for the London Olympics. Brendan Boyce (Letterkenny AC) will also be taking part but has already qualified for London having recorded a personal best of 3.57.58 last September

Postscript......Results from the 50km race walkers Jamie Costin and Colin Griffin in Dudince, Slovakia. Both athletes were trying for the Olympic 'A' standard time of 3:59. Jamie Costin dropped out at 32 kms and Colin Griffin was disqualified 10km later after a third warning flag. Brendan Boyce achieved the 'A' standard for the second time in six months by taking six seconds off his personal best time of 3:57:58.

Results of the Cork BHAA Janssen 4 mile race - Sun 18th Mar 2012

A total of 217 runners turned out for this 4 mile road race in Little Island on Sunday, 18th of March 2012. That's down on last year's figure of 261 but that's no real suprise when you consider there were four races on this particular weekend. It says a lot of about how popular running has become when each of the shorter races can still get over 200 entrants each with over 1000 turning out on Monday for the Mallow '10' as well.

The winner of the Janssen 4 mile was Mark Hanrahan of John Buckley Sports in 19:04. The womens race was won by Laura Crowe of Novartis in 23:51.

The full results can be seen HERE

Photos......

1) Doug Minihane has a gallery of photos HERE
2) Joe Murphy has a slideshow of photos HERE

Graham Canty of Cork GAA team promotes Great Island Run

Now that the Mallow '10' is out of the way, some of you may be interested in another 10 mile race coming up in Cork next month. The Great Island 10 mile road race is on Sunday the 15th of April at 10:30am. Pictured above is Graham Canty, captain of the Cork GAA team that won the 2010 All Ireland football championship. Proceeds from the race go to the Irish Cancer Society. The race website is HERE

Jedward run LA Marathon...

Hot news from the world of showbiz! ;o)

Apparently, the dynamic duo of John and Edward Grimes, otherwise known as Jedward, ran the Marathon in Los Angeles last Sunday. Their time for the 26.2 mile course was just over 4 hours but they are not in the official results as they were too late to enter.

Maria McCambridge qualifies for London Olympics...

Just two weeks after winning the Ballycotton 10 mile road race at the start of March, Maria McCambridge from Letterkenny AC has now qualified for the 2012 London Olympics. On Sunday the 18th of March, Maria ran 2:36:37 in the Rome Marathon, breaking the 2:37 'A' standard qualifying time by 23 seconds.

Running 18:23 for the first 5k and 36:43 for the first 10k, Maria was in 100th place overall and the 19th woman at that stage. She went through the halfway point in 1:17:34 which was on target for running 2:35:08. In the latter stages, she slowed slightly but less so than her fellow competitors. At the finish line, she finished as the 9th woman and in 43rd place overall.

Video clips of run HERE

Three Irish women have now qualified for the Marathon in the 2012 Olympics. Linda Byrne ran 2:36:21 in Dublin last October. Ava Hutchinson ran 2:35:33 in Houston, Texas in January and now Maria McCambridge running 2:36:37 in Rome last Sunday.

The important point here though is that Ireland can only send three women athletes to the Marathon in the Olympics. There are still Marathons like Barcelona at the end of March and Rotterdam in early April and someone else may yet post a qualifying time from those. In light of that, the 16 second difference between Byrne and McCambridge may yet be all important but it may come down to current  form and consistency if someone has to be dropped.

Results of the Mallow 10 mile road race...Mon 19th Mar 2012

A record 1088 runners took part in the 2012 Mallow 10 mile road race on Monday, the 19th of March 2012. This is an increase of 45% on the figure for 2011 which is a huge jump. To paraphrase a certain former politician, the running boom just got 'boomier' ;o)

The winner of the mens race was Alan O'Shea from Bantry AC in a time of 52:35. In second place and just 8 seconds behind was Martin Conroy of Ballina AC in 52:43. Looking at the photos of the race near the 6 mile mark, Martin was back in 3rd place then with a considerable gap so he must have really put in a fantastic last 4 miles. In third place, George Waugh of Bandon AC ran 53:03 after finishing second in the Ballinhassig 4 mile just two days earlier.

In the womens race, it was another closely contested affair with just six seconds between the first two. As you can see from the picture above (right), Lorraine Manning of Raheny Shamrocks AC (1166) and Angela McCann of Clonmel AC (616...obscured) were almost neck and neck near the six mile mark. In the end, Lorraine managed to stay ahead winning in a time of 58:55. Angela was 59:01. In third place, Barbara Cleary from Dublin (143 in pic above) ran 59:32.

Results......The results can be found....HERE

Photos.....

1) Doug Minihane has a huge gallery of about 800 photos HERE
2) A slideshow of photos by Joe Murphy of Eagle AC HERE 

Video...

1) A rough video clip of the start......


2) Just before the start...

3) Two video clips from Ruairi O'Mahony of the finish...
a) Finishers up to roughly 64 mins....

b) Finishers between 64 and 75 mins...

43 years ago this weekend...The International Military Championship in Ballincollig

St.Patrick's Day 1969. Some 7,000 people gathered in Ballincollig to watch the Olympic 5,000m champion Mohammed Gammoudi from Tunisia take part in the International Military Cross-Country Championships. The article below was written by John Walshe in 2009 for the Evening Echo and is reproduced here with his kind permission...

FORTY YEARS AGO (John Walshe)

St Patrick’s Day in 1969 fell on a Monday and the weekend was marred by torrential rain and gale-force winds. But despite the inclement weather, around 7,000 spectators braved the conditions and headed to Ballincollig where they witnessed an inspirational performance by an Irish Army team who finished second in the International Military Cross-Country Championships held over a gruelling course.

And they were also privileged to see one of their own, 22-year-old John Buckley from nearby Blarney, not only lead the Irish team home but also notch up an illustrious victory over the man who had won the Olympic 5,000 gold just five months before, Mohammed Gammoudi of Tunisia.

Today, John Buckley is the proprietor of the well-known sports shop that bears his name just across from the Christy Ring Bridge on Mulgrave Road. The enthusiasm for the sport is as great as ever, the runners’ physique still remains and it’s hard to believe four decades have passed since that famous day

Known as the CISM Meeting, the International Military Championship had at last come to Ireland in 1969 and the eight national teams taking part included squads from Tunisia and Morocco, the latter having finished in the top three for the previous six years. There was also a prominent team from the United States selected from all branches of the armed forces. It included former indoor three-mile record holder Tracy Smith from California and Bill Clark, runner-up in the previous year’s Boston Marathon.

But unquestionably the star attraction was Gammoudi, the defending champion. Born in Sidi Ach, Tunisia, he was one of the pioneers of the African long distance running revolution that would change the face of the sport forever. One of the favourites for the 10,000m at the previous October’s Mexico Olympics, Gammoudi was out-sprinted by Naftali Temu of Kenya and Mamo Wolde from Ethiopia, leaving him with the bronze medal. A few days later, in the final of the 5,000m, three runners were in contention at the bell with Gammoudi leading Temu and another Kenyan, Kip Keino. The last lap was run at a furious pace, and although the two Kenyans gave charge, Gammoudi held on to his lead to win the gold.

The Irish challenge for Ballincollig was made up in the main from members of the FCA, as John Buckley explains. “I suppose you could say we were headhunted because of our running talent, I can’t say we did much military training,” he recalls with a smile. “We felt we had a very good team with the likes of Sean O’Sullivan who was the National champion, Tom O’Riordan, Danny McDaid from Donegal, Kildare-man Jim Timoney and of course Matt Murphy from Rising Sun.”

At the start of that winter’s cross-country season, Buckley had two main aims - to make the Irish national team for the International (now World) Championships in Glasgow and to get on the Irish military team for Ballincollig. His training had gone well, clocking up an average of 100 miles a week. Made up of ten sessions, it included a long run plus an interval and hill session. “I worked as rep for Bachelor’s at the time so I was away two nights a week but when at home I trained with the likes of Ritchie Crowley, Pat O’Connell, Jerome O’Leary, Haulie Madden, Tim O’Donovan and my brother Denis.”

Buckley was in great form coming up to the All-Ireland but came down with a bad ‘flu the week of the race. Against his better judgement he decided to run but finished well down the field and was controversially omitted from the Irish team for Glasgow. One week later, in the trial for the military team, he felt a good deal better and came in third. “I really wanted to prove a point in Ballincollig so there was a fair bit of pressure coming up to the race,” remembers Buckley. “There was great hype in the build-up with Gammoudi coming. I had met him two years earlier in Luxembourg and had my photo taken with him and his brother, who also ran.”

On the Sunday morning when Buckley woke early and heard the rain beating on the window, he was happy. It would make the race more a test of stamina rather than speed and he preferred it when the going was soft. “I felt good before the race, the confidence was high and of course we had huge support on the day which gave us all a boost.” Buckley got away with the leaders and as the race progressed he knew from the crowd that the Irish team were in with a chance of making the medals. He was the leading Irishman and ahead of Gammoudi which really spurred him on.

Up front, the Moroccans were well in control with the 22-year-old unknown Ou Moha Bassou defeating his countryman Haddou Jabor by a foot in a thrilling sprint to the line. Hannachi of Tunisia and Joachim Leiss, the West German holder of the European 1,500m indoor title, finished within three second of the winner to take the third and fourth spots.

The winning time was 32 minutes and 32 seconds with Buckley crossing the line just 23 seconds later for a brilliant ninth position, two places ahead of his team-mate Sean O’Sullivan with Gammoudi following in 12th place. Tom O’Riordan came in 15th, Matt Murphy 19th, Jim Timoney 25th, Danny McDaid 26th, another Corkman, Pat O’Connell 42nd and the late Eddie Spillane 46th. When the points were tallied the Irish had a total of 105, giving them the silver medals ahead of Tunisia, France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium and the fancied USA who never got to grips with the conditions.  “I was delighted with my finishing position and of course the silver team medal was the icing on the cake,” recalls Buckley.

Writing the following week in the Sunday Independent, John Comyn described the Corkman’s race as “one of the greatest performance I have seen by an Irish athlete in an international event.” Comyn also commented on the huge crowd who braved the elements which proved “that there is still a great following for the sport in Cork.”

John Buckley would go on to win the All-Ireland Inter-Clubs and Inter-County titles in 1972 and then, almost 20 years later, become World Veterans champion three times over in the M45 age-group. But that wet and muddy day exactly 40 years ago on the fields of Ballincollig where he defeated the famous Mohammed Gammoudi must surely rank as one of his finest moments.

Results of the Ballydehob 10k - Sat 17th March 2012

The numbers were up this year with 235 runners taking part in this 10k road race in Ballydehob in west Cork, an increase of 15% on the figure of 205 for 2011. The mens race was won by Stephen Cleary in 33:57 with Maura Regan of Eagle AC winning the ladies race in 40:28.

The full results are HERE

The walkers can be seen HERE

Results of the Ballinhassig 4 mile - Sat 17th March 2012

Just over 200 runners turned out for this 4 mile road race in Ballinhassig on the 17th of March, 2012. The mens race was won by James McCarthy of East Cork AC in a time of 20:17 with George Waugh in second place with 20:28, just 11 seconds adrift. In the womens race, the top two positions were only decided in the last few hundred metres with Martina Kiely of St.Finbarr's AC taking first in 23:47, just 9 seconds ahead of Carmel Crowley in second with 23:56.

 Results........you can find the full results HERE

 Photos......
1) John O'Driscoll has a gallery of photos HERE

Preview of the Mallow 10 mile race - Mon 19th March 2012

At this stage, online entries have closed and they are up around the 1,100 mark which is way ahead of last year. You can still enter the race on the day for €20 but it's important that you get there early so that they have plenty of time to put everyone into the system.

All entries and number collection will be in the Mallow Youth Centre. The race starts at 12:30pm. The organisers are saying that the last entries to be taken will be at 11:30am. The Dry-Fit running top will be given out to ALL runners at the finish line.

The thing to remember with the Mallow race is that there are 3 main points in the town that you will be using...

A.....This is the location of the Youth Centre. Entries, race number collection, prizes, refreshments, etc will be here.

B......This is the START. It's about 1 mile from the Youth Centre so allow yourself time to get there.

C.....This is the FINISH. It's a short walk back to the Youth Centre.

Getting to the Youth Centre..........If you are coming from Cork City, then turn right at the main roundabout on the main N20 road and drive into the town. Keep going STRAIGHT.....shown above as Davis Street. You need to look out for the statue on the left....see pic below...

Turn left here and head up the hill. As it flattens out, you'll see a shopping centre on your right and then the road takes a sharp left. After this, the Youth Centre is just down there on the right. Parking is available in three different car parks within 250 metres of the centre. Just follow the race stewards directions on the day.

Pacers....The Mallow race will have pacers again this year. There will be one pacer for 60 mins and two pacers for the other pace bands. Each pacer will have a matching colour singlet and helium filled balloon as follows:

60 min - BLACK singlet
70 min - WHITE singlet with WHITE balloon
80 min - GREEN singlet with GREEN balloon
90 min - RED singlet with RED balloon.

Safety Notice...!

1) The organisers have also said that there is no need to bunch around the pacers. Give yourself some distance as you need to be able to react to potholes, bollards etc… or if someone trips.
2) There is an unexpected obstacle just before the 9 mile marker. Emergency flood relief works have caused one lane of the road to be unavailable. They will have Gardai on duty, and there are traffic lights also, but theyneed people to be aware of traffic in this area (only for about 30 metres)

Headphones / MP3 Players / iPods / etc.....As the roads are not closed, all of these devices are
banned!

Munster Ten Mile Series.....The Mallow '10' is also the third race in the John Buckley Sports Munster Ten-Mile Spring Classics Series. The others are the Ballycotton '10', Dungarvan '10' and Kilnaboy '10'.

Water Stations....Water on course at mile 4 and 7 and at the finish

Course...See the map above....please note that the start point for the race is about 1 mile from the hall where you collect your number. Keep this in mind and plan to use it as part of your warm-up for the race.

While there are a few small hills and drags, there is nothing really bad. Some people have posted their fastest 10 mile times on this course and it is probably as fast as say the Dungarvan 10 course.

The race starts in a residential area just beyond the garage shown above and heads out of town. The first few hundred metres are on a straight and wide road.

As you approach the bridges, you run downhill....run underneath them....and after this, there is a steady climb. Nothing too serious and considering that they are around the 1 to 1.5 mile mark then they shouldn't take too much effort. Around the 1.5 mile mark, you join the main N20 road. From here until the roundabout, you are running inside a pretty wide hard shoulder so you are not near the passing traffic.

The only spot where you have to be careful is near the roundabout where the hard shoulder gets a bit narrow.

After that, you turn left onto the main Killarney road. It's not the nicest of roads but the sheer number of runners makes the traffic slow down. The first water station is around 4 miles.This section of road has a reasonable hard shoulder so there is plenty of space for runners. Out around the 5 mile mark however the road narrows and the Gardai usually have to control the traffic here.

Out around the 6 mile mark, you start the nicest part of the course with mostly quiet rural roads...

 ...and after the bridge over the river Blackwater, there is a gradual pull until you reach the road heading back in towards Mallow at the 7 mile mark.

The road here is pretty flat with long straight sections for the next mile or so. Just before the 8 mile mark, there is a short downhill section, a sharp right followed by a sharp left...

Just after this, there is a short flat section which is then followed by a small hill. Nothing serious but with tired legs, it can have an impact. Eventually, you should see the road and rail bridges ahead and the 9 mile mark is just beyond it....

From here, you run due east and parallel to the river. Just after the church, there is a slight downhill to the bridge as you turn left over the river Blackwater for the last time...

Then left after the bridge and run due west for several hundred metres until you see the final bend up ahead....

Once you get around this corner, there is only about 100 metres to the finish.

If you want to have a closer look at the course, Mallow AC have put up the course on the MapMyRun website.

Launch of the 'Leevale 2012 Open Track and Field Meet'...

Last Wednesday evening, Leevale Athletic Club held the launch of their 'Leevale 2012 Open Track and Field Meet' at Mahers Sports in Cork City. Amongst those present was Ciarán Ó Lionáird who was home on a short break. Ciarán echoed the comments of the other speakers, saying that he felt kids starting off in athletics should have an opportunity to try sprints, jumps and distance events and the Leevale meet fills an important gap in the athletics calendar. He also had plenty of words of  advice for the youngsters who attended on the night. Ciarán has now returned to the USA to resume his training for the 2012 Olympics in London.

The Leevale Meet for adults and juveniles will be held at the CIT track in Bishopstown in Cork City  on the weekend of Sat 14th and Sun 15th of April 2012. More info on this flyer for the event.

Looking ahead to the road races next weekend...Sat 17th to Mon 19th March 2012

You know the joke about waiting for a bus and then two come along together. It's a bit like that this weekend when there will be four races in Cork in just three days. The main event is of course the 10 mile race in Mallow on Monday which is likely to attract 1,000 or so entrants. For anyone looking for a shorter distance event, you can choose from the following...

Sat 17th March...
1) Run West Cork 10k........For those of you in west Cork, there is a 10k race in Ballydehob to the west of Skibbereen. This race starts at 11am and you can see more details in an earlier post.

2) Ballinhassig 4 mile.........Closer and just to the south-west of Cork city, there is a 4 mile race in Ballinhassig at 11am. Organised by Rising Sun Athletic Club, this is the one that may well struggle to get the numbers with so many other races on. If you're thinking of just one short race this weekend then you might consider this one. Rising Sun AC are a small club and every person that they get helps make the race viable financially. It costs €8 to enter and there are the usual refreshments available afterwards.

Sun 18th March.......The Cork BHAA have their Janssen 4 mile road race in Little Island at 11am. Entry is the usual €5 for registered runners and €8 for non-registered. Note that the start line is about 1 mile from the hall so give yourself plenty of time.

Monday 19th March....Mallow 10 mile....as of Thursday morning, they had 980 entries. Online entries for the Mallow '10' close on Thursday (15/3/12) at midnight. After that, you can still enter on the day for €20 and there is a dry-fit top for ALL entrants. More info in an earlier post. Full preview of the race on Friday.

Maeve Kyle...the first female Irish Olympian in athletics

Back in 1956, Maeve Kyle became the first Irish woman to take part in athletics in the Olympics when she competed in the 100m and 200m in Melbourne. At the time, it caused a bit of consternation in consevative Ireland with some people writing some 'stern' letters to the Irish Times! ;o)

She would later take part in the 1960 Rome Olympics and 1964 Tokyo Olympics (where she reached the semi-finals of both the 400m and 800m). She then went on to take bronze in the 400m at the 1966 European Indoor Athletics Championships in Dortmund. As well as being involved in athletics, Maeve also played hockey for Ireland and gained 58 caps.

The Newstalk Off the Ball sports programme interviewed Maeve recently and you can hear the 20 minute interview here...

On the Running Review website, James Sullivan also has another interview. You can read it HERE