Cork athletes medal at national intermediate & masters cross country...Sun 8th Feb 2015

The Athletics Ireland Intermediate & Masters Cross Country Championships took place in Tuam on Sunday, 8th of February 2015. A number of Cork runners featured in the medals.

In the Mens Intermediate team competition, Leevale AC took Gold with 57 points. The Cork team took silver.

Club Team Points
Place Club Positions Points
1 Leevale A.C. 4, 15, 18, 20 57
2 Rathfarnham W.S.A.F. A.C.5, 24, 31, 48 108
3 Crusaders A.C. 23, 26, 28, 33 110

County Team Points
Place County Positions Points
1 Dublin 5, 9, 11, 13, 16, 27 81
2 Cork 4, 8, 15, 18, 19, 20 84
3 Offaly 1, 34, 38, 72, 75, 76 296

Grace Lynch, Maria McCarthy, Shona Heislip, Karina Teahan and Niamh Clifford

In the womens Intermediate competition, Kerry were dominant yet again taking Gold.
County Team Points
Place County Positions Points
1 Kerry 5, 7, 13, 19...44
2 Dublin 4, 11, 15, 17...47
3 Galway 8, 12, 18, 30...68
4 Sligo 3, 20, 22, 29...74
5 Cork 23, 33, 35, 54...145

In the Masters men competition, Tim Twomey of Leevale won an individual bronze in the M35 category while the Cork team won Silver in M35.
M35...3rd Twomey Tim Leevale A.C. Leevale A.C. Cork

Men O35 Team County Team Points
Place County Positions Points
1 Dublin 3, 7, 12, 16, 22, 27 87 27
2 Cork 5, 13, 21, 23, 29, 79 170 79
3 Donegal 2, 31, 34, 46, 49, 50 212 50
4 Laois 15, 19, 36, 43, 44, 57 214 57

In the Masters M50 category, the Cork team finished 3rd.

Men O50 Team County Team Points
1 Dublin 6, 72, 91, 100, 105, 107...481
2 Clare 98, 128, 130, 179, 194, 214...943
3 Cork 134, 149, 160, 162, 187, 203...995
4 Galway 109, 155, 159, 186, 210, 213...1032

In the Masters women, Carmel Crowley of Bandon AC and Carmel Parnell of Leevale AC took Silver and Gold respectively in their own categories. The Cork F50 womens team took Gold.
Masters Women O45...2nd Crowley Carmel Bandon A.C. Cork
Masters Women O55...1st Parnell Carmel Leevale A.C. Cork

Gold for the F50 ladies team from Cork

Women O50 Team County Team Points
Place County Positions Points
1 Cork 24, 65, 108, 116...313
2 Donegal 68, 73, 83, 91...315
3 Dublin 46, 87, 95, 104...332

The full results can be seen on the Athletics Ireland website.

No Bandon Half-Marathon in 2015

Every year, Bandon AC held their annual half-marathon and 10k in May. This year, the club has decided not to hold the event.

Although it wasn't the flattest of courses, it was a nice quiet rural course to the west of Bandon. In 2014, a total of 520 runners took part in this event...221 in the half-marathon and 299 in the 10k.

Saturday Athletics...Leevale retain title, Irish Euro Qualifier & Irish team finish 3rd in Boston

There were loads of athletic events on Saturday the 7th of Feb 2015.

Leevale AC retain League title.....The Leevale AC womens team from Cork retained their title on Saturday when they finished first in the National Indoor League Final held in Athlone. The Leevale mens team dropped to 3rd this year after their 1st place last year.

Report on Athletics Ireland website.


Irish team finish 3rd in Boston...An Irish team consisting of Claire Tarplee, Christine McMahon, Katie Kirk and Ciara Mageean finished third in the distance medley relay at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston on Saturday night. You can see from the splits below that they were in 3rd place for the whole race.

1st leg 1200m...Claire Tarplee
2nd leg 400m...Christine McMahon
3rd leg 800m...Katie Kirk
4th leg 1600m...Ciara Mageean

Race video HERE but it really just concentrates on the first two teams.

At the same venue, Ciarán Ó Lionáird dropped out of the 1500m race after about 4 laps.

Euro Qualifying Time.....At an indoors athletics meet in Gent, Belgium, Ger O'Donnell of Carrick AC won the mens 60m hurdles race. In the heats, Ger ran a PB of 7.87 seconds, just outside the qualifying time of 7.78 for the European Indoor Championships in Prague in March. In the final race later in the evening, Ger ran even faster to win the race in 7.73 seconds....a new PB, a European Championship qualifying time and 3rd fastest on the Irish all time list.

Race video....

Coverage of the IUAA Indoor Track & Field Championships...Sat 6th Feb 2015

The IUAA Indoor Track & Field Championships were held in Athlone on Friday the 6th of February 2015. Athletes from both CIT and UCC took part in this inter university/college competition.

Almost 6 hours of coverage is shown in the video below. Use the guide further down to get an idea of the sequence of the events.

One race to watch however is the womens 60m final which may as well have been a Senior national indoor final as nearly all the top female sprinters in the country were taking part. The race is at 3:16:00 in the video if you want to pull across slider to that point. On paper, it looked like a straight competition between Phil Healy and Amy Foster. Nothing much has changed from last year in that the two are still neck and neck but Kelly Proper from Waterford stole the show with a comprehensive win.

Other race times in the video...
1:34:40......Sarah Lavin and Catherine McManus going head to head in the 60m hurdles.
2:43:00.....Womens 400m
3:34:00.....Womens 3000m...Sinead O'Connor of UCC and Leevale AC took silver.
3:55:00.....Womens 800m

Use the start times above and the sequence of events further down to find a particular event.

Highlights of the AAI Open Indoor Games in Athlone...Sun 1st Feb 2015

Since the world class indoor facility opened in Athlone in 2013, there has been a steady number of events there allowing top Irish athletes to race on a proper track at home. Athletics Ireland have done a great job recently in getting live streams online and having them on YouTube so people can watch them later.

Last weekend on Sunday the 1st of February, the AAI Open Games were held. In the womens 800m, the Irish Indoor record holder, Ciara Everard (UCD AC) ran inside the required qualification standard of 2:03.50 for the European Athletics Indoor championships when winning with a time of 2:03.39. In the mens 1500m, Danny Mooney (Letterkenny) ran a PB of 3:42.69 to win and get inside the European qualification standard of 3:43.00 .

You can see the highlights of the games in just over 5 minutes can be seen below...


If you want to go through the 4 hours plus of coverage then go HERE

Races this weekend...Sat 7th & Sun 8th Feb 2015

With the forecast for the weekend being cool and dry, there are plenty of events on offer depending on where you are.

In Little Island, the Cork BHAA have a 6km race which should be pretty popular. If you want to try out a trail race then there is a really nice one near Clonakilty. It's right on the coast so should be pretty spectacular. In Kerry, there is a 5k race in Killarney national park and there is also a charity 5k/10k event up near the Coom Pub on the Cork/Kerry border. As always, the weekly free 5k parkruns are on.

Here is your choice...
Cork...Sat 7th (9:30am)...Macroom 5k parkrun...€free...Castle Demense...
Cork...Sat 7th (9:30am)...Clonakilty 5k parkrun...€free...Showgrounds...
Cork...Sat 7th (9:30am)...Bere Island 5k parkrun...€free...Beara Peninsula...
Clare...Sat 7th (9:30am)...Clarisford 5k parkrun...€free...Lough Derg...
Kerry...Sat 7th (9:30am)...Tralee 5k parkrun...€free...Tralee Town Park...
Kerry...Sat 7th (11am)...Killarney Spring 5k Series #2 of 4...€6...Organised by Gneeveguilla AC...info...

Waterford...Sun 7th (12 noon)...AnneValley 5 mile challenge...€13...
Cork...Sun 8th (11am)...Cork BHAA Janssen 6km road race...€5 reg/€8 non-reg...Little Is...
Kerry...Sun 8th (12 noon)...Run for our Angels 5k/10k charity run...€21.40...Kilgarvan...
Cork...Sun 8th (12 noon)...Kilmacsimon Rowing Club 10k fun run/walk...€10...
Tipperary...Sun 8th (12 noon)...County Intermediate Road Championships...€club only...Galbally...
Clare...Sun 8th (1pm)...Corofin 10k fun run...€10...  
Cork...Sun 8th (1pm)...MMRA Munster Sunday League...Clonakilty Trail & Beach...Race 2 of 6...info...

Limerick...Sun 8th (2pm)...Tom Walsh Memorial 10k road race...€20...Caherconlish...

As always, a full list of upcoming events can be found HERE

Usain Bolt Reveals The Secret To His 9.58 100m World Record

New parkrun starting in Ennis

Fresh on the heels of the new parkrun in Tralee, it has just been announced that a new parkrun will be starting in Ennis in Co.Clare.

That brings the total number of 5k parkruns in Munster now to six. In the order of which they started, they are....

Cork...Macroom...18th May 2013
Cork...Clonakilty...1st Feb 2014
Cork...Bere Island...30th Aug 2014
Clare...Clarisford...25th Oct 2014
Kerry...Tralee...24th Jan 2015
Clare...Ennis...14th Mar 2015

The Ennis 5k parkrun will start in Lee's Road at 9:30am on the 14th of March.  If anyone is interested in being a volunteer, then call Cathy on 0656865454 or email cathy@claresportspartnership.ie

They will be running an information evening on the 18th February in the West County Hotel at 8.15pm. People will be able to hear the experiences from the volunteers at Clarisford Park parkrun, in Killaloe.

Where next? Will we see more starting in Co.Cork in 2015?

Report says too much running may be bad for you

A recent report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology says that running too much may be as bad as not getting any type of exercise. Scientists studied more than 1,000 healthy runners and non-runners over a 12-year period. Those who exercised at a steady pace for less than two and a half hours a week were the least likely to die in this time while those that ran for more than four hours a week or did no exercise had the highest death rates.

The scientists concluded the ideal pace was about 5mph (8km/h) which is 12 minute mile pace!! :o))

The scientists also found that it was best to run no more 3 times a week or two and a half hours in total. And it gets better.....They also said that those that ran faster than 8:30 minute mile pace three times a week were as likely to die as those that didn't exercise at all. In other words, you're all doomed! ;o)

Researcher Jacob Louis Marott said..."You don't actually have to do that much to have a good impact on your health. And perhaps you shouldn't actually do too much. No exercise recommendations across the globe mention an upper limit for safe exercise, but perhaps there is one."

Make of that what you may.

Samsung Night Run in Cork next April cancelled...

The Samsung Night Run was held in Cork for the first time in April of 2014 and it was a big success. This year however, the Cork event which was due to be held on the 26th of April has had to be cancelled. See below the message sent out to anyone who had entered so far...

"Dear Samsung Night Run Cork entrant, We're sorry to say we’ve taken the decision not to host a Samsung Night Run event in Cork in 2015. This is due to a number of factors including production schedules, overall event logistics and other commercial constraints.

We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to you having already registered for the Cork race. We would like to offer you a full refund of your entry fee. Alternatively we can facilitate moving your entry to the Dublin event which will continue to take place on 26th April. We will be in touch in due course to provide you with information on how to avail of a full refund or to move your registration to the Dublin event.

Please contact info@samsungnightrun.com; if you have any questions in the meantime. Best wishes, Samsung Night Run Team "

Official Response...
“Samsung would like to thank everyone involved who made Night Run Cork 2014 such a success, particularly the runners, Cork City Council and Athletics Ireland.

Samsung would like to apologise to all participants who have registered for the Cork race; those registered will be fully refunded (via Athletics Ireland) or alternatively facilitated within the Dublin event if easier”

Is Racewalking a sport?

Food for thought....


As the video shows, it's probably no stranger than a lot of other sports.

Athletics Ireland to issue Membership cards for life

This is a news item of interest to all club members. Athletics Ireland have just announced that they will begin issuing Membership Cards For Life to all clubs over the coming weeks.  The cards will be posted to the clubs with cover letters and enveloped individually.

From now on, the Life Registration number will be the number that club members will use for competition entries etc.  This number will only work when you are registered for the current year.

The card will not be reissued on an annual basis and there is a small charge to replace lost cards.

Results & photos of the Dungarvan 10 mile road race...Sun 1st Feb 2015

Over 1500 turned out for this 10 mile race in West Waterford. Results and photos over on the Running in Munster site.

Munster Athletics News...Sun 1st Feb 2015

Some updates from Munster Athletics...

1) Munster Indoors....These were held in Nenagh on the 23rd of January. Updated results. Munster Athletics are now conducting an online survey on how to improve their indoor competitions. You can see the survey HERE

2) Courses & workshops....An updated list for the South-West of Ireland can now be found HERE

3) Championship races....An updated list of all Championship races in Munster can be seen HERE

4) Munster Star Award Winners 2014.....This was held in Blarney on Sat 31st Jan 2015. These are the awards that went to Cork athletes...
Indoor & Track and Field Awards...
Cork Vicki Cusack Liscarroll A.C...&...Cork Jack Murphy Leevale A.C.
Junior Women Grace McKenzie Belgooly A. C.
Junior Men Sam Healy Leevale A. C.
Senior Men Barry Healy Youghal A. C.
Master Men John Murphy Liscarroll A. C.

Hall of Fame Cork

Achievement Awards
Michelle Finn Leevale A.C.
Louise Shanahan Leevale A.C.
Phil Healy Bandon A.C.

Club Awards
Indoor Juvenile Leevale A. C.Junior/Senior Leevale A. C.

Track & Field Juvenile Leevale A. C.
Junior/Senior Leevale A. C.

County Awards
Indoor & T/F Juvenile Cork
Indoor & T/F Senior Cork
Indoor & T/F Masters Cork

Juvenile Cross Country Awards
Cork Rhona Pierce Leevale A. C.

Cross Country County Awards
Best Juvenile County Cork
Best Senior County Cork

The full list can be seen HERE  &   Photos HERE

Irish team finish 2nd in relay race at US Armory in New York

A very strong Irish team finished an impressive second last night in the Men's Distance Medley Relay  race at the Armory Track in New York. The Irish team for the 4 legs in order were.....1200m Declan Murray.....400m Brian Gregan......800m Mark English....1600m Ciarán Ó Lionáird.

Some excellent performances with a second place finish which was inside the old world record.

The race video is excellent. You can see it HERE

Armory Track Invitaitonal 2015
Place    Team    Time                       
1 United States of America
M Centrowitz (2:49.47), M Berry (46.40), E Sowinski (1:47.60), P Casey (3:56.48)    9:19.93
2    Ireland
D Murray (2:53.17), B Gregan (47.40), M English (1:46.59), C O'Lionaird (3:58.23)    9:25.37
3    NJ-NY TC
M Rutt (2:52.62), S Lumax (47.75), B Scheetz (1:48.61), K Merber (3:58.20)    9:27.16
4    Kenya
J Mutai (2:54.33), C Nkanata (48.87), A Kipketer (1:51.69), L Lalang (3:52.33)    9:27.21
5    Columbia
B Fish (2:53.43), C Hammond (48.92), C Claflin (1:50.29), S Haik (4:02.39)    9:35.02
6    Duke
N McClafferty (2:52.05), C Hawkins (48.88), J Burton (1:51.91), B Schoepfer (4:03.63)    9:36.47
7    Mississippi
C Engels (2:55.60), D Morgan (47.72), H Sherrer (1:51.66), R Domanic (4:05.54)    9:40.51
8    Princeton
L Brahm (2:54.99), R Mennin (48.93), N Kauppila (1:53.00), B Paternostro (4:04.67)    9:41.58

Post race interview when Cathal Dennehy of the Jumping the Gun crew caught up with the Irish team...