2023

The National Juvenile Even-Age, Junior, U23 and Senior cross-country championships took place in Gowran-Demesne on Sunday 19th November in what is the highlight of the domestic cross-country season. It was a day that will never be forgotten by anyone who competed, a fast but narrow opening section enticed athletes to get out fast to avoid the inevitable bottleneck and chaos at the first corner before ascending to a farmer’s field where hills, a stiff breeze and ever-deepening sticky mud awaited them, particularly at the sharp corners where the course churned up. European Athletics posted a video entitled ‘cross-country in Ireland is hardcore’, it is and was perfectly described. In the Senior Championships, pre-race predictions counted for naught as it came down to who could adapt best to the conditions, both mentally and technically. The backbone of the Mens Eurocross team was expected to feature Keelan Killrehill, Darragh McElhinney, Brian Fay and Efrem Gidey but with all 4 athletes failing to finish in the top 3 it left the selection committee with a headache as to who will be the discretionary picks as Brussels will be a much faster course. Carraig Na BhFear AC was represented in the U23 race which was combined with the Senior race by Joseph Daly. Joseph has had an exceptional year and a 178th place finish out of 281 finishers in 41.31 for the 9k course another super run. His fellow club members got great enjoyment watching Joe compete alongside many athletes so familiar to us at local and National level. Congratulations also to Corks’ Fiona Everard from Bandon AC who won the women’s Senior title, Fiona showed in Conna last year that muddy terrain suits her perfectly as she won the Novice title, but it was a major and unexpected achievement to go one better this year and claim the senior title.

Carraig na bhFear ac had 5 athletes competing in the U18 and Junior combined race which had quality in depth throughout the field. The hot favourite Nick Griggs was leading the race until the closing stages before his legs succumbed to the effort and was unable to finish, credit to the young man who took the setback with good humour and later finished his cooldown and normal service was resumed in training the following morning, a great example to all young athletes. Not that our own athletes were fazed by the challenge with all running superbly and giving 100% as always. Our boys U18 team of Aidan Maher, Brian Hawkins, Peter Hawkins and Michael Mullins had all put in the work beforehand and finished as 12th place team Nationally. Individually, Aidan Maher finished in 27th position in the U18 race winning silver team medals with Cork and Munster and also a bronze medal with the Cork Junior County team. Brilliant stuff by the lads! Timmy Hawkins was competing in the Junior Mens race, not finding the conditions easy but another maximum effort from Timmy just a week after the Munster uneven ages gave him a 95th place finish in the overall race in 20:26. In the opening races of the day, Cathal Walsh competed in the U12 boys race finishing in 80th place in the top half of finishers. Cathal is already very experienced at this level and always executes his races well. Running up in age, he was 11th Cork finisher but was only 7 places off the 6th scorer for Cork who placed 4th in the county standings. Cathal looks in great form ahead of his own age Nationals in Navan in 2 weeks’ time. In summary, a great day’s action with all our athletes doing themselves and the club proud. Well done to the coaches, parents and supporters who supported the athletes.

Other News: MJ Walsh had another good outing in the first of the Cloyne 4K race series on Sunday. MJ finished in 22nd place overall and was 2nd Junior, well done!

Parkrun: We continued our streak of good results in the Tramore Valley Parkrun this week. Siobhan Walsh finished in 15th place overall and was 2nd Female home in 21:28. Orla Barry had a parkrun pb of 23:57 and was 2nd in category.

Look Ahead: We are expecting good participation in the Munster ‘B’ cross-country championships in the Cork County board grounds in Riverstick next weekend. The club had not originally targeted this race as we have had a busy calendar in the season to-date but a late change of venue to Cork presented a good opportunity on our doorstep, so we go again! Best of luck to all competing.

Report by Richard Hawkins

21/11/23

The Munster Senior and Juvenile Uneven age Championships took place in Two-Mile Borris, Co. Tipperary on Sunday 13th November. Carraig na bhFear were well represented on the day on a familiar course which was a bit sticky underfoot but held up well and we were treated to some great racing. Our U11 Boys team of Cathal Walsh, Finn Dunne, Oscar O’Riordan, John Forde and Noah Donohoe were first into action. A big step up in class for the boys but they did extremely well, finishing 12th team overall from the 16 teams taking part. Cathal Walsh finished in 16th place overall and was 5th scorer for the Cork team who won the provincial gold medal. Cathal will represent Cork in the National finals in Navan Racecourse in December. The girls U13 race was another huge field of runners at this age with 137 finishers! The girls team again competed well and gained valuable race experience at a high level. Well done to the team of Hannah Coffey, Allie Philips, Amelia O’Donovan, Lily O’Keeffe, Mary Kate Dawson, Rebecca McCarthy and Aoibhe Dunlea.

Our U17 girls’ team of Faye O’Riordan, Theresa Dorgan, Caoimhe Gray-Walsh and Laura Moore all put in good individual performances over the 4.5k course to win the bronze team medal, just 3 points adrift of Ennis Track in the Silver medal position. Faye O’Riordan finished in 12th place overall winning an individual bronze medal and will represent club, county and province in Nationals. Theresa Dorgan in 14th was also in the top 10 Cork athletes who would typically represent the county in Nationals. The girls also secured qualification for the National finals, congratulations to the team who are having a great season! Brian Hawkins was in action in the U17 boys’ race, in a vey competitive field Brian showed great determination to stay with a pack and not get isolated. He couldn’t have done any more on the day and can certainly build on his 22nd place finish as he has had some outstanding performances this year.

The final Juvenile race of the day was the boys U19 race over 5k. Timmy Hawkins paced it well from the start race to finish in 6th place overall winning an individual bronze and team silver with Cork. Congratulations to Timmy who is looking in good form ahead of representing the club at county and provincial level in Navan.

Other News: The ever-popular Thomas Kent 10k road race hosted by St. Nicholas AC took place in Castlelyons on Sunday 12th.with 407 finishers. Perfect conditions for running with Sergiu Ciobanu and Shona Heaslip the first two across the line, both setting course records. Diarmud Kiely showed little sign of his recent Dublin Marathon effort, dipping under the 40-minute mark in 39:58 for 43rd position overall. Helen Roche also bouncing back well from the marathon with a fine run in 47:39 winning a prize placing 1st in category! well done to both athletes.

Parkrun: As competition winds down for many, the local parkruns provide a great opportunity to maintain fitness while also being very social. The Glen River parkrun is a good local option for many of our members with some good hill work thrown in. As an alternative Tramore Valley Park has excellent infrastructure with a great running surface, parking and toilet facilities. In TVP this week Willie Walsh finished in 4th place overall having paced MJ Walsh to another PB of 19:36 and a brilliant 6th place overall from 203 runners. A PB also for Katie Walsh in 21:26, finishing in 20th place overall!

Look Ahead: The Senior, Junior and even-age cross-country finals take place next weekend in Gowran, Co. Kilkenny. It is the highlight of the domestic season with Irish Singlets on offer for the upcoming Euro Cross Championships in Belgium. Best of luck to Cathal Walsh, Aidan Maher, Michael Mullins and Peter, Brian and Timmy Hawkins who will represent Carraig na bhFear AC.

Report by Richard Hawkins

14/11/23

The County Intermediate, Novice ‘B’ and Juvenile ‘B’ cross-country Championships took place in Ballynoe on Sunday 5th November, hosted by St. Catherine’s AC.  Thankfully, the incessant rain had abated in the preceding days but as the ground started to dry out, the mud became extremely sticky and almost glue-like as athletes struggled to drag their feet free from the mire! The course churned up as the day progressed making it one of the toughest outings in recent years, particularly for the later races.

The Juvenile races were notable for the size and quality of the races, every bit as competitive as an ‘A’ race with over 100 athletes in the U11 girls race alone! Carraig na bhFear AC had a good start to the day with the U9 girls race, Ivy Forde and Caoimhe Hughes worked well together, well up the field in 15th and 16th places, great running! The Boys U9 had a good outing also finishing in 6th place overall but less than 20 places separating the lads from a bronze team medal. There was an individual bronze for Ben O’Leary in 5th place overall and he was well supported by Aidan Walsh, Noah Foley, Liam Walsh, Fionn Casey and Ciaran Sheehan.

We had a 10-strong team of athletes in the U11 Girls race, playing our part in this epic race. The girls finished a creditable 7th out of 12 teams. Good running by Lucie Beth McCarthy, Caoimhe Browne, Kate Lynch, Sarah Kiely, Ava Moran, Siofra Nott, Hannah Casey, Eabha McNamara, Una Cotter and Emma Forde. It was another 7th place for the club in the Boys U11 race, another big squad with lots of potential on show here. Well done to our team of Finn Dunne, Oscar O’Riordan, Sean Ryan, Zen Barry, Noah Donohoe, Ted Pierse and John Forde.

The U13 girls was another high-standard race with 8 club teams in the hunt for medals. Hannah Coffey had a top-10 finish, leading Lily O’keeffe. Amelia O’Donovan and Antonia Twohig to an excellent 4th place finish. Anna Mullins was our sole entrant in the girls U15 race and produced one of the performances of the day! Anna was in the middle of the pack in the initial stages of the race before using her strength to work her way up to a 4th place finish and an individual bronze medal. Congratulations Anna! Our final Juvenile race of the day was the Boys U15 race and a well-deserved Silver team medal for the lads who put in a great effort. First home was Kevin Barry in 9th place, just behind Kevin was MJ Walsh in 11th place, battling on bravely despite a twisted knee with Sam and Harry Browne in 14th and 15th places respectively completing the scoring. Congratulations!

The Novice ‘ B’ races were equally competitive, not a day for fast times but more ‘horses for courses’ as to who could cope best with the energy sapping underfoot conditions. Well done to our Women’s team of Helen Roche, Megan Murphy, Orla Gorman and Sinead Kearney who negotiated the 4km course and a 5th team place for the Club. Finally, we had the men’s 6K race with the lads finishing in 2nd place, taking the Silver team medal! Following a ‘team-building’ challenge on the start line to attach a race number, the lads manoeuvred their way from the back of the field with Joseph Daly taking the race lead before being pipped in to 2nd place on the podium in the closing stages. Everyone who knows Joseph was delighted for him, working back from injury last year to training and racing consistently this year and reaping the rewards in the cross-country season with excellent performances. Willie Walsh battled as hard as ever to finish 6th overall and the team was completed by Diarmuid Kiely, Sean Gorman and Thomas Hughes. Great to see new faces coming through to the adult squads this year and being able to consistently field competitive teams.

Look Ahead: The main focus for the coming weekend is the Munster Juvenile Uneven age Championships in Two-Mile-Borris, Co. Tipperary. A very familiar venue for Munster’s, athletes will be aiming to qualify for the National Championships in Navan on 3rd December. Best of luck to all travelling next Sunday!

Report by Richard Hawkins

Photo by Michelle Whooley

7/11/23

The 42nd Dublin City Marathon took place in Dublin on Sunday 29th October, the main target for the year for many of our club members and the culmination of many months of carefully planned training. A blustery day with early downpours not detracting from the atmosphere or the impressive finish times with the race winner Kemal Husen setting a course record of 2:06:42. Carraig na bhFear AC had 6 members taking part, great pacing all round and many pb’s. Club PRO Tadhg Crowley was first home, pushing hard on the last few kilometres to ensure a 1-minute pb in an impressive 2:52:19. John Ahern was making his marathon debut and was totally unfazed, again pacing perfectly with a negative split to finish in a time of 3:12:14, fantastic running John! Diarmuid Kiely also completing almost even half-marathon splits for a finishing time of 3:24:03. Dave Mullins targeted a sub 3:30 race and no-one would bet against Dave’s metronomic pacing, just 13 seconds difference in the second half of the race to finish in 3:28:49. Caroline O’Donovan notched up yet another marathon to add to her collection with a time of 4:44:46. Finally, we had the clubs most prolific marathon runner, typically well-paced, Martin Hurley completed a mind-blowing 29thMarathon in 4:51:52. Congratulations to Martin and the Carraig na bhFear AC contingent who represented the club with distinction and I am sure next years event will already be in the minds of our members who will be inspired by these performances!

Other News: The Annual IMRA Halloween Half-Marathon took place in Glensheshkin Woods, Kilworth on Friday October 27th. Trail running by the light of head-torch is challenging enough but the aftermath of recent storms raised the difficulty level significantly. There were 3 river crossings to negotiate, the widest point required the assistance of a rope to fight against a raging current. Also, a steep descent to a river where it was impossible to stay on the feet and again required a rope to avoid sliding to the bottom. All that remained to was to complete 380m of elevation over 21km while trudging through puddles, deep mud and debris! Well done to club member Rachael O’Callaghan who completed the course in an impressive 2hrs 47mins. Rachael ran her first IMRA race in January but has since clocked up 11 race finishes, this being her 3rd half-marathon of the year and I am sure her toughest race to date, incredible stuff from Rachael! Richard Hawkins also managing to complete the course in one piece (thankfully!) in 2hrs 25mins.

Park Run: MJ Walsh was in action again in the Tramore Valley Parkrun this week, his 18th place finish in a fast time of 19:47 knocking a full 44 seconds off his previous weeks pb! Well done to MJ who is peaking at the right time for the business end of the cross-country season.

Look Ahead: Back to cross-country action next weekend, St. Catherines will host the Intermediate and Novice ‘B’ adult races as well as the Juvenile County ‘B’ Championships in Conna. There will be plenty of Carraig na bhFear AC singlets on show, best of luck to everyone competing!

Report by Richard Hawkins

31/10/23

Day one of the Munster Cross-Country Championships took place in the West Clare Sports Centre in Annaclare, near Kilrush on 22nd October in beautiful conditions for racing. The course was in extremely good condition following heavy rain in the preceding week which was welcome as it was already a very challenging, hilly course. Well done to the hosts who had to juggle a mixture of park and ride and various fields in the vicinity of the course for parking to ensure the event could be held safely.

Isabelle Walsh competed in the first race of the day, the girls U10. Isabelle finished in 72nd place out of 118 finishers and will benefit from the experience. Our boys U12 team were next into action finishing in 12th place overall. Good running by Cathal Walsh, Noah Donohoe, Eoin Cashman and John Ford. Cathal finished in 35th position overall running up in age and was the 9th Cork athlete home on the day and will represent Cork in the National finals. Amelia O’Donovan was our sole representative in the U12 girls race finishing in the top half of the field of 135 athletes, well done Amelia!

The U14 girls team of Allie Phillips, Mary-Kate Dawson, Sarah Murphy and Rebecca McCarthy finished in 10th place, gaining invaluable experience in a high-standard race. The girls U16 race over 4k was a stern test of endurance, plenty of positives to take away from the girls 8th place finish with Robyn Maher and Anna Mullins running up in age putting in great runs to support Theresa Dorgan, Faye O’Riordan and Caoimhe Gray Walsh. This team work extremely hard for each other and will go from strength to strength. Finally, we had the combined U18 and Junior boys race over 5km. Aidan Maher finished 13th overall, picking up a gold medal as part of the winning Cork U18 county team. Aidan also led home Brian Hawkins, Peter Hawkins and Michael Mullins to U18 team bronze and qualification for the National finals in Gowran Demesne. Congratulations to the lads who dug deep for a great result. The boys were joined by Timmy Hawkins who finished in 20th place overall to complete the club Junior team who finished in 4th position.

Thanks to the coaches, parents and athletes who put in a long shift on Sunday to ensure Carraig na bhFear AC were very well represented at Provincial level.

Other News: Storm Babet took its toll on the Cork Parkruns this week with Tramore Valley Park being the only surviving event resulting in a bumper turnout of 323 runners. Sharing the route with a charity walk made for an interesting run but thankfully all went well. Carraig na bhFear AC had 3 members taking advantage with Richard Hawkins finishing 13th overall in 20:02, closely followed by MJ Walsh in 18th place with a PB time of 20:31 and Jennifer Goggin Walsh was 4th Female in 46th place running 22:24.

Looking Forward: The Dublin City Marathon is the major event in the athletics calendar for the Bank Holiday weekend and we will have an experienced crew of marathon runners participating. Best of luck to all, we’ll be keeping a close eye on the tracker app! Our Juvenile athletes will continue their preparations for the next cross-country event which will be the Juvenile ‘B’s hosted by St. Catherines in Conna on 5th November where we hope to field strong teams in the U11 to U15 categories.

Report by Richard Hawkins

24/10/23

Day 2 of the County Cross Country Championships took place on Sunday 8th October in Ratharoon East, Bandon with Bandon AC hosting the Juvenile Uneven Ages and Novice Men’s and Women’s Races. Mercifully, an Eircode was provided as this hidden gem of a course was located in an idyllic rural setting, a rolling, hilly course with good underfoot conditions nestled in a valley surrounded by Woodland. The parking and club staging areas were set outside the course which meant that the spectators had uninterrupted views of the 1-Kilometre loop. We were once again blessed with good weather, ideal conditions for racing.

The Under 9’s got proceedings underway with the most difficult of the starting points, the 750m course began with a long climb with the steepest gradient at the top, just before a sharp left-hand turn, the course also finishing on an uphill. Carraig na bhFear AC were not featured in the girls results but well done to Caoimhe Hughes and Ivy Forde who ran together to finish well up the field in 30th and 31st places respectively. Our U9 boys’ team of Aidan Walsh, Noah Foley, Liam Walsh, Fionn Casey and Ciaran Sheehan worked well together from the start to finish in 9th place overall in a large field of competitors.

A number of our U11 girls were running up in age so an 8th place from 13 teams was a very creditable result. Good running again this week from Isabelle Walsh, Lucie Beth McCarthy, Una Cotter, Eabha McNamara, Sarah Nyhan and Rosie O’Reilly, The U11 boys’ team had a 9th place team finish, again in a big field of almost 100 runners. Cathal Walsh was in the medals again, typically pacing well to hold off a challenge to finish in 4th place and win an individual bronze medal. Oscar   O’ Riordan and Noah Donohoe were next before a great exhibition of teamwork with John Forde, Dara Quinlan, Sebastian Sadowski, Zen Barry and Eoin Cashman packing together between 78th and 84th positions. Well done to our U11’s!

Our U13 girls team finished an impressive 4th out of 9 teams, the standard of teams in this age group is extremely high so full credit to the girls on mixing it up with the best in the County! The team was Lily O’Keeffe, Amelia O’Donovan, Mary-Kate Dawson, Allie Philips, Aoibhe Dunlea, Eimear O’Sullivan and Rebecca McCarthy. Allie lost one of her shoes in the early stages, followed by the second shoe later on but surrender was never on the cards, great effort! Our next involvement was in the U15 girls’ race, Robyn Maher was flying solo but getting a good race under the belt with a fine 26th place overall ahead of her next race in the Munsters. In the Boy’s U15 race, MJ Walsh continued his excellent form, (MJ was competing in the National Underage Triathlon Series over the last few weeks) with a strong 23rd place finish.

Moving on to the U17 girls’ race, a silver team medal was just rewards for our team of Faye O’Riordan, Theresa Dorgan, Laura Moore and Caoimhe Gray-Walsh. The level of effort required from the girls can’t be overstated, the 4500m course surpassing the distance undertaken by the Novice Women! The girls really put in the work for the team and reaped the rewards. Peter Hawkins flew the flag for Carraig na bhFear AC in the Under 17 Boys race. A typical start from the rear of the field, Peter systematically plotted his way to a 14th placing overall! The final Juvenile race of the day was a combined Boys and Girls U19 race over 5k. Timmy Hawkins was running his final County race as a Juvenile and finished in style as County Champion. The first 4 laps were a cagey affair with nothing to separate Timmy from Cork City AC’s Jack Laczac and Skibereen’s Ferdia Dennis McAleavy but two injections of pace from Timmy on the last lap opened gaps and he held to finish with his fastest lap of the race. Congratulations to Timmy and all our Juvenile athletes today who did the club proud!

Carraig na bhFear AC were well represented in both the Men’s and Women’s Novice races, some fresh faces in the line-ups as well bodes well for future years. Our Women’s team had an excellent 5th place finish from 9 teams. Sarah Morrison made her club debut with an impressive 13th place overall, ably supported by Siobhan Walsh (26th), Katie Walsh (27th), Orla Gorman (45th) and Megan Murphy (50th). Great running by the team! The Novice Men’s race over 6k was certainly challenging with placings constantly changing depending on how the course was negotiated. Joseph Daly led the team home in 26th place overall in an impressive 24:31. Using his experience well, Willie Walsh worked his way up to 40th place followed by Sean Gorman (60th), Aaron O’Leary (67th ) and Thomas Hughes finishing next in 76th place for a 5th Team placing in Counties! Well done to all our Novice Men and Women, it was great to see the singlets out in force!

Other News: Quest Killarney Adventure Race provided our hard-core contingent the opportunity to test themselves over all manner of hostile terrain on Saturday 7th. Congratulations to Liam Ahern who took 1st place O40 in the 78K Pro race, Cliona Hurley also completing the multi-discipline course by Kayaking, Cycling and Trail-running. Colm Crowley, Tony Dunne and Dave Mullins opted for the Maximum 85K Expert distance, Col finished in 9th place overall and was just off the podium places with a 4th place category finish in 5hrs 18mins! Tony and Dave opted for a more leisurely day out working together to finish in 6hrs 45mins. Impressive efforts from our five diehards! A special mention to Anne-Marie and Alan Davis, Christy and Eileen Murphy who represented the club by stewarding at the Inaugural ‘Very Pink Run’ in aid of Breast Cancer Ireland which took place in MTU, Cork on Sunday 8th. It’s a very worthwhile cause and they are always willing to step up and give their time to support, it’s very much appreciated.

Look Ahead: After 4 consecutive weeks of competition, a brief respite from racing provides a welcome opportunity for our athletes and coaches to recharge before the Munster Juvenile       Even-Age Championships commence on 22nd October in Clonreddan, Coolaclare (near Kilrush), Co. Clare.

Report by Richard Hawkins

10/10/23

The County Cross Country Championship series kicked off in the familiar setting of Carrigadrohid, hosted by West Muskerry in beautiful sunshine on Sunday Oct 1st. Held on a new course on the Western side of the field, good underfoot conditions were offset by a challenging undulating course which was a mixture of 1k and 1.5k laps and a long uphill finish that saw many athletes hanging on for dear life on jelly legs. Chip-timing made a welcome return this year ensuring the race program flowed well from the start.

Following on from a good East-Cork series, we waited to see how our younger athletes would fare against the best at county level and the coaches were hugely impressed with the performances on the day from all athletes. We currently have the best crop of younger age athletes that we have seen for many a year and it is great to see them in the mix in all races. Our U10 girls were the largest squad in the race with no fewer than 13 girls taking to the start line, an 8th place finish out of 12 teams a fantastic effort. The scorers on the day were Isabelle Walsh (21), Caoimhe Browne (31), Kate Lynch (36) and Emily Balena (57), closely followed in quick succession by Ivy Forde, Amy Moran, Hannah Casey, Siofra Nott, Emma Forde, Emma Mackey, Ruth O’Sullivan, Eva Donohoe and Emily O’Mahony. Well done girls! Our boys U10 were next up with a 12th place team finish. Good running from Sebastian Sadowski, Zen Barry, Adam Walsh, Aidan Walsh, Dara Quinlan, Ted Pierse, Fionn Casey and Liam Walsh.

U12 girls: Amelia O’Donovan reached the lofty heights of 12th place in this race, well supported on the day by Roisin Murphy, Laoighse Nott and Grace O’Meara. Nice teamwork from the girls. Our U12 boys had a good outing finishing in 5th place overall. Cathal Walsh ran a super, well-paced race, coming through to take 3rd place overall, just holding off a late challenge from West Muskerry on the line. Cathal was well supported by Finn Dunne (15), Jack Hourigan (40), Oscar O’Riordan (45), Noah Donohoe (55) and Eoin Cashman (58). Great potential in these U12 squads.

The first team podium placing came from our hard-working U14 girls’ team! Allie Phillips was first Carraig na bhFear athlete home in 18th place, pushed all the way by Mary-Kate Dawson in 19th with Sarah Murphy (31) and Rebecca McCarthy (41) doing a great job on the anchor leg ensuring the team took home Bronze County Medals! Our U14 boys’ team were closely packed together giving the lads a 6th place team finish. Good running again by Kevin Barry (24), Sam Browne (29), Harry Browne (40), Jamie Hourigan (42) and Daniel Murray (43).

The value of a good squad was never more evident than in the U16 girls’ race. A roller-coaster of a day where we had 6 girls ready for action on the morning but only 4 ultimately crossed the finish line! Even then, Faye O’Riordan had to push through having stopped with an injury to finish in a superb 5th place. Theresa Dorgan finished in 8th place and Caoimhe Gray-Walsh was 16th on her official club debut. Jessica Akinkoulie who is better known for her track skills did not expect to have the responsibility of anchor athlete on her shoulders but dug deep to find her inner cross-country runner with a powerful last lap to finish in 25th place and ensure the girls won team silver, just 3 points behind West Muskerry and ahead of an experienced Belgooly team led by National Champion Freya Bateman. Credit also to the other team members on the day Robyn Maher and Anna Mullins, exciting times ahead for this resilient squad!

The big finale to the under-age program was the boys U18 and Junior combined race. The standard was exceptionally high as always with the leading athletes setting a blistering pace from the start. Aidan Maher led the way with an excellent 5th place finish in 17:24 for the 5k distance, team scoring was completed with David Maher (11th), Timmy Hawkins (12th) and Brian Hawkins (16th) to win the John Hegarty Memorial County Junior Cup for a 3rd consecutive year ahead of Togher AC in 2nd place. The team was completed by Peter Hawkins, Michael Mullins, Cathal Whooley and Luke Mullins. Congratulations to the lads on a unique achievement in the Clubs history! Further success was to come as Aidan Maher won individual bronze finishing 3rd in the boys U18 race with Brian, Peter, Michael, Cathal and Luke combining to win team silver. The most satisfying aspect is to be able to field a squad of 8 in a junior competition and this is the aspiration for the current younger athletes. Most of these lads weren’t winning medals at the younger ages but having good training groups backed by experienced coaches ensures they will have the opportunity to compete for as long as they choose to.

And there was more. Joseph Daly was part of an East Cork division contingent who filled the podium places in the Men’s U23 race over 9k which was combined with Senior race. Congratulations to Joseph on a well-earned Bronze individual medal in an impressive finishing time of 37:39 on this challenging course.

Schools Cross Country: On Friday last the East Cork Athletics Division primary schools cross country championships were held in the Fr. O’Neills GAA club in Aghavine, Ballymacoda. Races were held across 8 age groups with increasing distances from junior infants up to 6 class students. Individual medals were awarded for the first 15 finishers in each age for both girls & boys with some age group races split into two heats due to the large number of participants. Great performances by our club members representing a number of schools in our catchment area with a good number of podium finishes and lots of individual medals. At the time of publishing this report the results had yet to be released but can be found on the East Cork Athletics website once published. Thanks to Willie Walsh for the report and supporting the athletes on the day. Just to note also that the East Cork club and school athletics events are run by a small handful of volunteers so detailed placings are not available for all races, so while we are able to identify medal winning teams and individuals it is not because we don’t value the contribution of all athletes equally that we do not publish the names and placings of all runners, we simply don’t have them. As a club we focus on the process of providing the best structure we can for young athletes, medals are a bonus but not the primary objective!

Other News: The next generation of athletes looks promising with young Jack Crowley pacing Dad Tadhg to a 32:31 finish in the Douglas Credit Union 5k Charity race in Tramore Valley Park!

Look Ahead: Day 2 of the County Cross Country Championships takes place in Ratharoon East, Bandon at 12 noon, this week it’s the turn of the uneven age Juveniles (U19-U19), Novice Men and Women. Looking forward to another good turnout from the Club!

Report by Richard Hawkins

Photo by Michelle Whooley

3/10/23

The East Cork Even-Age, Junior, Senior and Masters Championships took place on Sunday 24th September in Ballinahina, Whites Cross, hosted by Carraig na bhFear AC with thanks to the Buckley Family for the use of the venue. What should be a fast course seems to inevitably be counterbalanced by adverse weather in recent years and this year was no different with driving wind and rain. Thankfully, the younger athletes were spared the worst of the weather and race numbers were good with some fantastic racing, Carraig na bhFear AC competed very well in all ages and huge thanks to the parents who braved the elements and endured the de-mudding process afterwards!

Our young athletes had clearly benefitted from the previous weeks racing as we were prominent in the scoring both individually and in the team competition. The first race of the day was the Girls U10’s 1km, Isabelle Walsh winning individual bronze and leading the team to the gold medal, just edging out Midleton AC by 2 points.  Moving up to 1500m for the U12 girls, another podium position for Amelia O’Donovan taking individual bronze having bravely taken the lead and setting a good pace from the gun. Well done to the girls who won team bronze putting further points on the board. A gold team medal followed for our U16 girls’ team of Faye O’Riordan, Teresa Dorgan, Robyn Maher and Anna Mullins. Faye was  running at her age this week and looked in great form to claim the gold amedal. Coimhe Gray-Walsh also looked sharp finishing in 3rd place but was still running as an individual, the girls will look forward to Caoimhe being officially part of the team next Sunday. Double individual bronze for Laura Moore in the girls U18 and Junior women’s races, well done Laura!

The U10’s got the boys competition off to a solid start with a bronze team medal. Cathal Walsh won a bronze individual medal in the U12 boys 1500m race. The U14 boys claimed a fine team gold over the 2km distance, just edging out St. Catherines by a single point. Our boys U18 squad won the final Juvenile race of the day, also claiming the Junior title. Brian Hawkins, Bobby O’Riordan and Peter Hawkins filled the the podium positions with Michael Mullins and Cathal Whooley in close pursuit. Great running by these lads!

We had two participants in the women’s 4k race, unfortunately not getting a team out on the day but huge credit to Siobhan Walsh and Orla Gorman, running well and ensuring Carraig na bhFear AC were represented. Siobhan claimed individual silver in the O35 category.

With the Junior men’s title in safe hands, Aidan Maher and Timmy Hawkins took the opportunity to make their Senior Cross-Country debuts, an opportunity to gain race experience rubbing shoulders with National- Standard athletes. They were certainly comfortable at this level finishing in 3rd and 4th places respectively behind East Corks’ Tony Forristal in 2nd place and National Novice Champion Paul Hartnett in 1st place. Joseph Daly put in another great shift this week to take 9th place and with Sean Gorman finishing in 20th position, Carraig na bhFear AC won team Silver ahead of Ballymore Cobh and St. Catherines AC. Sean Gorman also led the Masters O45 team to team gold with Dave Mullins and Richard Hawkins completing the scoring. Congratulations to both teams who had to battle the elements as well as stiff competition on the day!

In Conclusion: A very successful two days of East Cork Championships which saw many of our young athletes competing in cross-country for the first time and our older age groups gaining valuable race sharpness as we move on to Counties. Our boys teams finished level on points with St.Catherines AC in the team standings so having one hand on the Jerry Russell cup a good result for the club.

Other News: Helen Roche added to her impressive list of Marathons, ticking another of the Abbot Major series off while completing the Berlin Marathon in a time of 3:51:40. Consistent as ever, Helen paced metronomically to complete another sub-4 hour race. Well done to Helen! It will be a memorable occasion for Helen with Eliud Kipchoge winning a record 5th men’s title and Tigist Assefa smashing the womens marathon record running sub 2:12.

Look Forward: Competition ramps up a notch next weekend for the County Even-Age, Junior, Under-23 and Senior Cross-Country Championships in Carrigadrohid, Macroom. Fairer weather is promised and we look forward to seeing a good turnout from our club members, a key race will be the men’s Junior competition where we will have a strong squad attempting to win the title for a 3rd consecutive year. Best of luck to all competing!

Report by Richard Hawkins

Photo by Michelle Whooley

26/9/23

The East Cork Cross Country Championships kicked off on Saturday 16th September in Monagown, Conna. A welcome respite from incessant rain allowed for our traditional gentle introduction to the Cross-Country season, there were many young athletes dipping their toe in this event for the first time so we were thankful it was an enjoyable experience for all. St. Catherines AC were excellent host as always on a new course which was a superb venue. The course had everything to prepare for the season ahead, sharp turns on the flat, a long uphill followed by an equally long downhill to test skills on the descent and even some mud and water thrown in to the mix! It was also an excellent course for spectating, the ditch between fields providing a panoramic view of the whole course. Well done to St. Catherines!

The girls’ races were highly competitive affairs with great performances from our athletes but we had to wait until the Girls U13 race before getting points on the board with a 2nd Place team finish. An individual silver medal was to follow for Faye O’Riordan in the girls U17 race over 3k. This was a mixed U15 and u17 race over 3k and although we could not field a full team in each race, there was evidence of a strong squad emerging. Robyn Maher and Anna Mullins showing great versatility and endurance following their racewalking season will team up with Faye and Caoimhe Gray-Walsh U16. Caoimhe joins us from St, Nicholas AC who have helped develop her in to a fine athlete and will be a welcome addition to our squad. Laura Moore ran well also in the U17 race, she will also be a key member of the U17 team.

Our boys’ teams fared slightly better on the day in fielding teams. Our U9 and U11 teams winning bronze were followed by team silver for our U15’s and finally gold for our boys U19 team. Individual medals for Brian and Peter Hawkins (1stand 2nd U17) and Aidan Maher (1st), Timmy Hawkins (2nd) and Bobby O’Riordan (3rd) in the boys U19 race. Well done to all!

The Novice women’s race over 4k followed and again there were very encouraging signs for our womens’ team. Sarah Morrison had an excellent 2nd place overall while running as an individual, Sarah is a welcome addition to our womens squad, joining from St. Nicholas and will be able to wear the Carraig na bhFear singlet from 1st October. Siobhan Walsh finished in 8th place overall with Nessa Wheeler never too far away from Siobhan in 9thplace. Nessa returns to competitive action following completion of her college studies and is another welcome addition to the squad.

In the men’s Novice 6k race Joseph Daly reaped the rewards of a good pre-season with a 5th place overall in 23:34 as he prepares for the County Senior race in 2 weeks’ time. Sean O’Gorman made his cross-country debut with a good time of 26:28 and a top 10 finish, well done!

Other News: Congratulations to Bobby O’Riordan who won the Junior prize for the IMRA ‘Whiskey in the Jar’ series completing 4 of the 5 races in the mountains of the Cork and Kerry border. Bobby followed up his podium placing in the East Corks on Saturday by completing the 11.65km race to the ‘Top of Coom’. With Dad Dave also completing the quad-busting 422ms of elevation through boggy ground, their prizes were well deserved!

Look Ahead: Carraig na bhFear host day 2 of the East Cork Cross-Country Championships next Sunday 24th September in Ballinahina. The destinies of the Jerry Russell cup for best boys juvenile club and the Maureen O’Connell trophy for best girls juvenile club for the 2023 season still hangs in the balance so we hope to see as many of our athletes as possible lining out on the day!

Report by Richard Hawkins

Photos by Michelle Whooley

19/9/23

The very popular Cork City 10-miler took place from the Marina on Sunday 20th August. A late change to the course meant a return to the more traditional, flatter course. Carraig na bhFear had 6 competitors among the 937 finishers in humid conditions. Great running all round with Conor Kelly (1:04:33) and Darragh O’Keefe (1:04:35) finishing close together in 87th and 88th places respectively in excellent times. Diarmuid Kiely (1:11:52), Rian O’Luasa (1:20:44) completing his first 10-miler, Christy Murphy (1:26:31) and Caroline O’Donovan (1:38:41) all finishing well up the field. Well done to all! St.Finbarrs put on a great race with an experienced team of pacers in place.

Stryker 4-Mile: Congratulations to Siobhan Walsh (Abbvie) on her 3rd place category finish in the BHAA race held in Carrigtohill on Wednesday last in a time of 28:29!

Community Games: MJ and Isabelle Walsh made the trip to Ennis for the Munster regional qualifiers for the community Games finals. The standard was very high in all competitions and the guys acquitted themselves very well. Isabelle was drawn in lane 8 in the 200m which is a difficult lane to judge the pace of the other competitors, a good run from Isabelle but unfortunately did not progress from the heat. MJ had an excellent run and was in the leading group until a burn-up in the closing stages, no times available but MJ would have been close to a pb. MJ did qualify for the finals as part of a 4x 100m relay team, well done!

Parkrun: Good running from Philip Coffey with his fastest time of the year in the Glen-River parkrun finishing in 24:17.

Bandon Open sports: Our participation streak in the many open sports across the County continued yesterday with the Hughes family our able representatives. These events are ideal for gaining race experience in a relaxed setting. Outstanding performance again with Caoimhe 1st in U9 60m and 3rd in 600m. Sean Hughes was narrowly pipped into 4th place in the boys U11 60m and was 5th in 600m.

Ironman 70.3 Youghal Thankfully our participants Liam Aherne, Dave Mullins and Cliona Hurley came through the race unscathed, this event normally a very difficult challenge but the aftermath of Storm Betty making it even more so. Unfortunately, as we are now all aware the event was overshadowed by the tragic deaths of two male competitors in the swim section, our deepest sympathies to their families and also thinking of the first responders and safety crew for their brave efforts.

Look ahead: Training is back in full swing as we prepare for Day 1 of the East Cork Cross-Country Championships on Saturday September 16th, time to get back at it!

Report by Richard Hawkins

22/8/23

Sunday last saw the final Athletics Ireland national outdoor senior track and field championship event of the season held in Tullamore Co. Offaly. Carraig na bhFear AC had eleven women and five men on the East Cork Athletics Division teams in the County team’s division. The East Cork Athletics Division board have been invested in developing a team for both men and women to compete nationally and provide a pathway for junior athletes in the division to transition into senior competition for nearly a decade. This work bore fruit on Sunday when the women’s team not only clinched a medal but dramatically won the division by a mere three points over a fancied Co. Tipperary team, who convincingly won the preliminary qualifying round last June.

In the competition the team must compete over 21 athletic events across track & field.

Key to the team’s success were the 9 points accrued by winning an individual event.

The girls won five events, three by Carraig Na BhFear Athletes. Orla Coffey proved to be the MVP of the team by winning both the 400m hurdles & Pole Vault. A PB run in the hurdles race, a great return for her last competition of a long season. Added to those eighteen points she also ran the anchor leg of the 4 X 400 relay where the team came second in the final event of the day securing the gold medals. Sonya Walsh was another Carraig athlete who took the maximum points in her 28lb Weight for Distance event with the unlikeliest of close finishes. Her longest throw was equal with the second placed athlete and so countback comes into play and amazingly the two had the same second longest throws. To the third best throw and Sonya took the win by the minimum 1 cm over her adversary. The tightest and unlikeliest of occurrences but so important in the overall win, so tight was the competition.

Further points were secured for 2nd place finishes by Katie Walsh (800m) & Blessing Alamu (Discus), both girls also doubled up by Katie racing a leg of the 4 X 400 and Blessing taking 3rd place in the shot putt. Other athletes putting in big performances were Abbie Akinkoulie who took 3rd place finishes in both the 100m hurdles and Triple jump. Not only contributing vital points but achieving PB’s in both events on her biggest stage. The Akinkoulie family contributed further with siblings Emma 100-meter sprint (5th) and Rebecca High Jump (5th). Both Sisters came together in the 4 X 100 relay running the first two legs to take a very valuable 3rd place finish. The other two girls that made up the 4 X 100 were Lily O’Riordan & Lucy Lynch. Running the bend and final leg respectively, their smooth changeover and Lucy’s strong finish were crucial. As with most of this talented group they doubled up with their own specialist events. Lucy ran her favourite 400 meters and also the first leg of the 4 X 400 relay taking 3rd place in the 400 and building a healthy lead in the first leg of the relay.

Lily threw javelin for 3rd place with a season’s best effort when her team most needed it.

Our 10th and 11th medallists were specialists in their fields and Caoimhe Geoghegan (long jump) and Odhrna Hurley (Race Walk) added valuable points to the team’s success.

Odhrna took another crucial 3rd place finish in an event that we are lucky to have this particular skill set in. Caoimhe was 5th in a competitive long jump in what was the final competition for Caoimhe and most of the other athletes in a long year that began back in January with the indoor competitions.

So, eleven senior gold medallists have been added to our ever increasing list of club senior medallists that have taken a huge jump forward this year, giving much needed validation of over a decade of work committed by our coaches & committee members to ensure our young adults stay in the sport they put so much into their young lives. Our five male participants had the heartbreak of yet another 4th place finish with the team in their competition for the second time.

Bittersweet for the lads who were obviously excited for their training partners and friends on the girls team but gutted to be so close but off the podium yet again. The Walsh family continued to contribute with their youngest Darragh taking 4th in the 110 hurdles and Willie finishing 3rd in both the Hammer and race walk. Rian O’Luasa finished 5th in the High Jump competition. David Maher closed his track season with a very strong 2nd place finish in the 3km steeplechase.

One of the most impressive results and contributions of the day was from sprint hurdler Ruaidhri Boyle. His first ever race over the senior height of 3ft in the 400m hurdles he took the win and an invaluable 9 points. Ruaidhri also ran the first legs of both relays to contribute to a 4th place in the 4 X 100m and 3rd in the 4 X 400m. The lads hopefully will take solace in the fact that the team took more wins than previously (two) and covered all events bar the pole vault. Watching the success of their female counterparts will give them a template of what they need to do to make the next step.

National Masters Track and field: A prelude to Sonya Walsh’s epic battle in the Weight-for-distance event on Sunday took place in the National Masters competition the previous day. Sonya was pipped into the bronze medal position by the same margin of 1cm by the Louth athlete she would go head-to-head with again the following day, reversing the order on the Sunday against an athlete who was so evenly matched. Congratulations Sonya, two national medals in one weekend is a super achievement!

Summer Races: Good to see Jennifer Goggin-Walsh back racing, Jennifer recently competed in the Banna Beach 5k while on holidays in Kerry. Jennifer clocking 21:13 to finish as second female, well done!

Park Run: Conor Kelly was first across the line in the Glen-River Parkrun in 20:02, always a good workout on this hilly course. At the Tramore parkrun there was an interesting visitor in Dame Kelly Holmes, the 800m and 1500m double gold medal winner at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Representing ‘Military in Motion, Kelly clocked an impressive 20:59 to finish in good company between fellow Olympian Aoife Cooke and Carmel Parnell!

Some of our younger members were flying the club flag again last weekend, this time in Liscarroll. Great performances from Isabelle Walsh coming 3rd in the U10 300mts, Caoimhe Hughes winning gold in the U9 60m with brother Sean finishing 4th in the long jump. The future of the East Cork division looks secure in the hands of Isabelle and Caoimhe who emulated the National league team by joining forces with two Cobh athletes to win the 4 x 100m mixed relay!

Report by Richard Hawkins and Willie Walsh

15/8/23

Last weekend was the first Championship-free weekend in some time but was an excellent chance for our members to show the diversity of their athletic skillset in various parts of the country! The annual Festival of Throws took place in Templemore over Saturday and Sunday 5th and 6th August, a unique opportunity for these field-eventers to take centre-stage for their specialist events. Sonya Walsh was first in action, honing her skills in the weight-for-distance discipline for which she was a key member of our national league team this year. Sonya threw a best effort of 6.03m to finish in 2nd place in the Over 50 category, congratulations to Sonya. Josh Judd continues to rack up the medals, this time a silver in discus and a 4th place in the hammer, just outside the podium places. Well done to both athletes!

Summer races: Conna 5K hosted by St. Catherines AC, we had 4 athletes in this hilly 5k. David Maher was 9th overall and second Junior in a time of 17:09, a bonus for Carraig Na BhFear AC was that we were able to field a strong mixed club team with Joseph Daly (18:55) and Jennifer Goggin-Walsh (21:51) the other scoring members. Denise Maher also going well with a finishing time of 31:52. We were also represnted in the childrens 1 mile race with Allie Phillips finishing well up the field, great stuff Allie!

The Kinsale 5-mile race was held on Friday 4th August as part of the Regatta festival with a massive field of over 500 runners. Conor Kelly finished in 40th position overall, dipping under 30 minutes for the first time with a fast time of 29:52, well done Conor!

IMRA: The Curabinny woods 6k trail race was held on Wednesday 2nd August. Rachael O’Callaghan finished 3rd in her category with a good time of 34:41. Brian, Timmy, Peter and Richard Hawkins missed the start of the race following a change in start time but nevertheless enjoyed the run out from the back of the field! Sunday was an entirely different proposition as the lads took in trials for the British and Irish Mountain Championships en-route to Dublin. The race started from the banks of the Upper Lake in Glendalough, a straight up and down course with a 10% average gradient, it was a perfect course to favour the more experienced and technical mountain runners. A leg-sapping ascent followed by a steep descent with the winning athletes sprinting fearlessly down the slippery paths. Brian and Peter Hawkins ran in the 4.7k U17 race finishing in 11th and 12th place respectively. Brians’ time of 24:50 inside the required 25-minute qualifying standard and Peter close behind in 26:22. A good effort from the lads, the 250m elevation a stern test of endurance. Timmy Hawkins had an additional 2k to contend with in the U20 race, a couple of athletes not managing to complete the 360m elevation in the ascent. A good climb from Timmy just behind the leading pack but he lost time on the tricky descent to finish in 9th place in 34:59. A well-deserved rest in progress for the lads after a fantastic experience in the most picturesque of settings.

Tralee Triathlon Festival: Carraig Na BhFear AC had 3 athletes who made the trip to a windy Fenit to put their running skills to good use. Great running from MJ Walsh finishing 5th in his category in the National Youth Series. Isabelle Walsh also competing very well on the day in a well-organized event. Richard Hawkins completed the 5k run leg on the Fenit greenway in 22:16.

Look Ahead: The National League Finals take place next weekend where we will have a number of athletes competing for the East Cork División. Best of luck to all!

Report by Richard Hawkins

The pinnacle of the Irish domestic athletics calendar is the Senior National Track and Field Championships which took place last weekend in Santry, Dublin and was screened live by RTE. It was an historic occasion for Carraig Na BhFear AC as we hoped our recent first senior team medal in the mixed 4 x 400m relay would be followed by strong performances from Orla Coffey and Ciaran Nugent, both competing in the 400m sprint hurdles. Orla faced a difficult qualifying heat on Saturday but the faster of the 2 heats benefitted Orla who took advantage of the fast pace to take one of the non-automatic qualifying spots. In Sundays final Orla improved her seeding by finishing in 7th place overall in a time of 1:04:73 from lane 2. This was an incredible performance for Orla who has only transitioned from Pole Vault to the track in recent years and the 400m hurdles is a very technical and gruelling event, so much credit is due to Orla for placing 7th in the country.

Ciaran Nugent was immediately in action in the men’s event which was a straight final. Ciaran was possibly a dark horse, finishing 5th in last year’s final and a season interrupted by injury meant he was not being tipped for a medal by the commentators in advance of the gun. Ciaran had an electric start in lane 7 and was quickly on the shoulder of the athlete in lane 8. He was prominent in the first 200m alongside the eventual winner, Olympian and now 11 times champion Thomas Barr and the highly rated Thomas Pitkin who would finish in 2nd place. The danger however with a good start is the toll on the legs in the second half of the race which can lead to technical errors on the barriers, but Ciaran looked equally strong and was faultless in his barrier work as he thundered across the line in 54:00, winning National Senior bronze with clear daylight to 4th place. Massive congratulations to Ciaran from the club and particularly the coaches who know how much work Ciaran has put in to get to this point. A great moment for Ciaran also who received a big hug from training partner Thomas Barr! Ciaran is a great inspiration to our younger members, many who have the potential to follow in his footsteps.

Other News: The Hawkins family took a trip to East Cork to support a well-run Churchtown-South 4-mile race, a resurrection of the race which was a 5-mile route as part of the Ballycotton series. A beautiful night but rolling boreens and a strong breeze gave a nice challenge. Timmy (22:41), Brian (24:38) and Peter Hawkins (26:45) finished as 1st, 2nd and 4th Juniors. Dad Richard finished as 2nd M55 in a time of 26:14.

The track season continues for some of our younger members who competed in the Grange-Fermoy open sports. Well done to all who competed; Allie Phillips 1st 600m girls with Mary-Kate Dawson 3rd, just ahead of Aoibhe Dunlea and Lily O’Keeffe. Aoibhe had another good performance in the U13 shot winning silver with Mary-Kate finishing 2nd in Javelin. Double success for Isabelle Walsh who won silver in 60m and 500m. Laoighse Nott was 2nd in U12 600m and was 1st in 60m. Siofra Nott was 3rd in race 2 U10 60m and also finished well up the field in the 500m. Cathal Walsh was 2nd in U11 600m.

Report by Richard Hawkins

Days 2 and 3 of the National Juvenile Track and Field Championships took place in Tullamore last weekend with Carraig Na BhFear AC again competing well with the best athletes on the Island of Ireland! Our Racewalkers were first up on Day 2 with Anna Mullins and Robyn Maher in the Girls Under 15 2Km Race. Both had great seasons so far, Anna had an All-Ireland Bronze indoor medal and a Schools All-Ireland Bronze as well as County and Munster Medals. Robyn finished 4th in the All-Ireland Schools and second in the All-Ireland Indoors only to be DQ’d after she had finished so she was determined not to let that define her season. Both girls came into this race very confident even though on paper they would do well to finish in the top 5, but they knew they had worked really hard in training. The race started in typical fashion – fast. They went through 200m in 52 secs, after 300m a gap had formed, Anna and Robyn were in 4th and 5th position about 10m behind 2nd and 3rd. They went through 400m in 1:54, the plan was 2:10 average. In the second and third lap they were cruising, and walking really well, with splits of 2:10 for the second lap and 2:13 for the Third. It was in this lap that they realised they were 100m clear behind them and the gap in front of them wasn’t growing and the girls in 2nd and 3rd were picking up warnings from the judges. As the girls in 2nd and3rd looked to be struggling, the pair from Carraig Na BhFear were looking better. Their next split was 2:11 when they hit the bell. With 200m to go Robyn had opened a gap of 2 to 3 metres on Anna. Anna could not close the gap and Robyn could not stretch her lead and both kept perfect technique. Their final spilt was 2:10. Robyn finished4th in 10:40 and Anna in 10:41. But there was more, in trying to keep Robyn and Anna at bay, the athlete in second picked up a 30 sec penalty (3 Red Cards) so Robyn finished 3rd and Anna 4th. This capped off a brilliant Season for both Anna and Robyn. Last Season Robyn was 4th and Anna was 8th.

Next up was Aoife Martin in the the Girls Under-16 2Km Racewalk. Like Anna and Robyn, Aoife has had a fabulous Season. She competed in the Isle of Man in her first 5K in February, won Bronze in the All-Ireland Indoor and Silver in the All-Ireland Schools (Outdoors). Aoife’s Age group is very competitive, and this group of girls have gone over a minute faster than the girls in the previous race. Aoife had never won a medal in the All-ireland outdoors finishing 5th at U14 and U15, there are 4 or 5 girls that are exceptional, and Aoife is one of them. She trained exceptionally hard this year and was very focused and determined to get on the Podium.

As the previous Race, it started at a really fast pace and at 400m there were 6 girls in the leading pack, going through in 1:52. Going down the back straight the pack lost 2. Aoife was still in the leading pack, looking relaxed and deciding to stay back in 4th position. Aoife went through 800m with a split of 1:59, at this point one of the girls made a break and opened a gap of 5m. Aoife wasn’t taking any chances and moved into 3rd. Going down the back straight on the third lap another one of the girls was beginning to struggle, with that she lost contact with Aoife and another Walker, Aoife and the other walker pushed on and this 2m gap grew and grew. The Girl in 2nd and Aoife (in 3rd) went through 1200m in a split of 2:02. Now they were motoring, both girls kept driving on. Aoife looked comfortable and just sat on her shoulder for the next 400m, their split for 1600m was 2:03. Then they got the bell. Right on the bell Aoife made her move, she passed the girl in 2nd and opened a 5m gap. Suddenly Aoife was walking even better and effortlessly. She went down the back straight with the gap growing every 10m. This was Aoife’s day and nobody was going to take her first outdoor National Club Silver Medal from her. She did her final split in 1:53 in a thrilling race and her finishing time was 9:48. Aoife finally landed her silver medal. Congrats to all 3 Racewalkers on a fantastic season.

Lucy Lynch was competing in the 400m U17 girls sprint, having had a very successful season to date Lucy would have had high hopes of a medal. However, with a qualifying heat closely followed by a final race management was crucial on the day. Lucy ran a comfortable heat finishing 2nd in 59.39, clearly conserving energy at the end. In a very competitive final, Lucy ran a measured race in lane 4 to finish strongly in a new pb of 57.77, dipping under 58 secs for the first time to claim National Silver! In the U18 Boys 400m sprint, Ruaidhri Boyle faced a similar dilemma with a heat closely followed by the final. Ruaidhri was drawn in the faster of the 2 heats and needed to push all the way to ensure qualification for the final. Running in lane 4 in the final, Ruaidhri started well but felt the effort of the heat in his legs in the second half of the race, a good pb time of 51.40s just outside the bronze medal position. A great effort by Ruaidhri. Caoimhe Geoghegan capped off a fine Juvenile career on the track in the U19 girls 100m. A good start out of the blocks for Caoimhe but a 6th place in the heat in a time of 13.72 not enough on the day to qualify for the final. As in the Munster’s, the weather started to deteriorate for the 3000m races but did not detract from two fine performances. In the Boys U17 3K, Brian Hawkins slashed his pb by 18 secs to finish in an excellent time of 10:05 to finish 12th overall. A great result for Brian who is getting stronger and more experienced with every race. Timmy Hawkins, also in his last track race as a juvenile finished in 8th position in the U19 3k race, Timmy lowering his pb by 5secs to 9:22 with a fine run, working with a group and gaining places on the final lap. Our sole competitor in field events on Saturday was Josh Judd who finished in 7th place in the U16 boys hammer throw with a best throw of 34.37M.

On to the Sunday and Josh Judd was in action again, this time rewarded with a bronze medal for his best throw of 37.38m in the boys U16 discus (1kg). Congratulations to Josh who had an impressive set of throws. Our final competitor of the weekend was Ruaidhri Boyle in action again, this time in his favoured 400m Hurdles event. Again, Ruaidhri found himself in the much faster heat opening heat, all four automatic qualifiers running under 59 secs. In the final, a few clipped hurdles inevitably affected Ruaidhris’ rhythm and was not to be on this occasion with a 5th place finish in 58.92. Ruaidhri will be back, no doubt much stronger after a challenging weekend of racing.

Other races:

East Cork Senior Track 5K: Carraig Na BhFear AC were represented in the Mardyke on Sunday morning by Willie Walsh, Rian O’Luasa, Joseph Daly and David Maher. Congratulations to David finishing 2nd Overall to win and yet another senior medal (full results pending).

The BHAA Gas networks 5k took place on the marina on Wednesday 17th. A welcome respite from the wet weather meant a bumper turnout of 719 finishers, many tempted by the offer of a free half-zip top for the first 500 to register! Carraig Na BhFear Ac were well represented with Conor Kelly improving his 5k pb to an impressive 17:28 to finish in 55th place overall! Peter, Timmy, Brian and Richard Hawkins took the opportunity to have a relaxed run finishing in 23:52, 23:54, 24:01 and 24:03 respectively.

Report by Richard Hawkins and Martin Hurley

Photo by Jo Martin

In recent seasons we have watched some of our junior members progress through U23 to Senior level which has been hugely satisfying as a vindication of the clubs’ ambition to provide a pathway for Juniors to Senior level, however last weekend saw a progression to the next level with some outstanding performances and a medals bonus which exceeded all expectations. The AAI games took place on the new track in Morton stadium, Dublin on Saturday and Sunday. On Day 1, Carraig na bhFear AC sent a young team to compete in the Senior Mixed 4 x 400m relay, a format that is gaining increasing popularity in recent years. This race also doubled as the National Championships as many participants would be competing in either the 400m individual or 4 x 400m men’s or women’s relay at the National Championships in two weeks’ time. The race was targeted by the coaches as a development opportunity, but this talented squad weren’t overawed by the occasion and produced an outstanding performance to win the silver medal in a time of 3.43.95 to hold off a strong Crusaders team, DSD ‘B’ and a Mayo A.C. team. A gamble by the coaches to go with an unorthodox Male, Male, Female, Female format instead of the traditional Male runner on the last leg paid off handsomely. Ruaidhri Boyle opened a nice gap on the first leg before handing over to Bobby O’Riordan who paced excellently to finish strongly and give the team the inside lane on the handovers which saves time and potentially problematic crossing of lanes. Bobby handed over to Lucy Lynch who typically delivered a big performance before handing over to Orla Coffey on the last leg. Orla, who was the most experienced athlete was always going to come under pressure from Crusaders but showed a cool head to pace well and hold on to the silver medal position. There were jubilant scenes at the finish line as they realised what they had achieved. Congratulations on a well-deserved National Silver which will be an inspiration to their training partners and hopefully will be just the starting point as we have a lot of strength in depth in the club at this distance.

Further evidence of our strength at 400m was in evidence on Day 2 with Ciaran Nugent competing in the Men’s Senior 400m hurdles. Ciaran has pushed on in training to consolidate some fine performances last season but a gold medal in 55.68 on Sunday was another major milestone for Ciaran who will go into the National Senior competition full of confidence. Congratulations Ciaran!

Other News: Parkruns: Great to see some members keeping their fitness ticking over nicely for the summer! At the Glenriver Parkrun Hannah Coffey was 3rd female home in 25:16 followed by Dad Philip in 25:20. Allie Philips and Eileen O’Riordan changed things up with a visit Ballincollig running 25:00 and 25:03 respectively.

Report by Richard Hawkins

Day 1 of the National Juvenile U14 to U19 Track and Field Championships took place in Tullamore on Saturday 8th July. Blustery and humid conditions were a challenge for the athletes but thankfully pleasant for the spectators! There was a sensational start to the day when Abbie Akinkoulie ran a big PB of 16.91s in the U19 Girls 100mH (0.838m) to claim a fantastic bronze medal. Congratulations Abbie! Rebecca Akinkoulie finished in 4thplace in the U17 girls 100mH (0.762m) in a time of 16.61s but unfortunately did not progress to the final. There were more hurdles to negotiate in the afternoon session for our Steeplechasers. Aidan Maher claimed Bronze in a quality field, finishing in a time of 10.29.93, congratulations Aidan! Timmy Hawkins was in another quality field in the U19 boys race with almost 13 secs taken off the Championship record! A fast opening kilometre taking its toll in the humid conditions with Timmy having to settle for the dreaded fourth position on this occasion.

Carraig Na BhFear AC had two athletes competing in field events. Caoimhe Geoghegan qualified for the final of the U19 girls long-jump, a best jump of 4.80m placing Caoimhe in 7th place overall in a a very competitive event. In the U18 boys Javelin throw (700g), Timmy Colbert had a very consistent set of throws but his best throw of 46.79m was edged into 4thposition overall.

Also, in Tullamore on Sunday 9th we had athletes competing in the National relays and Juvenile ‘B’ competitions. MJ Walsh ran in Heat 2 of the U14 Boys 800M. MJ’s time of 2:41 not enough to qualify for the final but more experience in the bank for MJ who is making great progress at middle distance. Our U16 girls 4 x 100m relay team of Rebecca Akinkuolie, Lucy Lynch, Siofra Boyle and Abigail Geary finished in 6th place in Heat 2 in 54:58. When eight teams compete in a relay competition the changeovers can be chaotic, this race was no different and again valuable experience gained for this team who have a lot of potential. Finally, our boys 4 x 400m team of Ruaidhri Boyle, Cathal Whooley, Luke and Michael Mullins ran a fast time of 3:47.28s to finish in 4thposition, less than 4 seconds behind a strong Dooneen AC team.

Well done to all our athletes who competed over the weekend and thanks to the parents and coaches who supported. We look forward to days 2 and 3 in Tullamore in two weeks’ time.

Summer races: Great running by Rachael O’Callaghan who was 2ndin category in the Robbie Steele Memorial Corkbeg 4 mile race on Thursday 6thJuly in a time of 31m 11s. PRO Tadhg Crowley had a rare outing on the trails but was quite at home in the woods and streams of Kilworth where he finished in 5th place overall in the IMRA race over the 6.77k route, finishing in 29m 27s. Tadhg still had enough energy to pace son Jack to an impressive 35m 31s at the Tramore Valley Parkrun on Saturday. Christy Murphy was also in attendance in TVP running 24m 52s, just one second outside his course PB, consistent as ever!

Report by Richard Hawkins

Photo by Michelle Whooley

The National Track & Field Championship finals kicked off last weekend with the Junior (U20) and U23 competitions in Tullamore on Sunday 2nd July and Carraig na bhFear AC had two athletes competing. Challenging weather conditions did not detract from some fantastic events as many athletes had their final chance to make standards for European Championships and there were several Championship Best performances on the day. There was certainly a silver lining in the clouds of Tullamore for our athletes who both achieved 2nd place on the podium. Blessing Alamu had a big PB throw of 39.59m in the U23 women’s discus, finishing second to Ciara Sheehy of Emerald AC who is an experienced athlete at Senior level. Congratulations to Blessing and to Orla Coffey taking the silver medal in the U23 Women’s 400m Hurdles in a time of 1:05.55. A huge achievement for these girls and a high bar set for the rest of our athletes to aspire to in the coming weeks.

Summer Evening Races: Plenty of choice this week and some fine running by our members on the roads. The BHAA Depuy Synthes 4-mile race took place in Ringaskiddy on Wednesday 28th June, the new park in Haulbowline once again featuring in a changed route which takes out some of the local hills! Rachel O’Callaghan running well following her recovery from the Cork city marathon finishing in 31.33s to finish in 123rd place overall. On Thursday 29th Carraig Na BhFear AC was well represented in the Cloyne 5k. Cathal Walsh was first home in an excellent time of 20.53 to finish well up the Junior ranks. Congratulations to Eileen O’Riordan on her 3rd place in category in 21:30 followed by Siobhan Walsh (21:42) and Orla O’Gorman (24:30). Paula O’Riordan and Denise Maher opted for the more challenging Willie Neenan memorial 5 Mile Road Race in wet and windy conditions on the hilly Millstreet course on Friday 30th. Fine running with excellent times of 42.26 and 49:34 for paula and Denise respectively . Well done to everyone on some great times!

Report by Richard Hawkins

Hannah Coffey set a Munster Pole Vault record in Templemore on June 18th. The 11 year old Carraig na bhFear AC athlete jumped 1.81m to set a championship best at the Munster Athletics Track and Field Championships.

On Sunday 18 June, Hannah Coffey set a new U13 Munster Pole Vault record by jumping a huge 1.81m. Hannah is the third member of the Coffey family to now hold a Munster Juvenile Pole Vault record alongside sisters Emma and Orla. The 11 year old athlete enters the record books alongside her sisters and star Irish athletes like Sarah Lavin, Jane Buckley, Nicola Tuthill and Jessie Barr. In warm weather conditions perfect for vaulting, the young Cork Educate Together National School (Grattan Street) student bettered the previous record by 1cm.

It is no surprise that Hannah is a natural jumper with older sisters Emma and Orla shining in the Pole Vault event over the past number of years. Both sisters have had success at National level winning Junior and Senior titles indoor and outdoor. Emma holds Munster Pole Vault records at under 16 and under 17 ages and Orla holds the under 18 record.

Clearly thrilled after her Gold medal winning performance, Hannah revealed, “The competition was great fun and I’m delighted that I have a Munster Record now like my sisters!”

A talented all-rounder Hannah will now focus her attention on training and racing with her friends at the Carraig na bhFear club and you will even find her running through the grass and mud when the cross country season begins in August.

One of the youngest athletes to ever hold a Munster Track and Field record, the sky is the limit for Hannah Coffey.

What a weekend for Carraig na bhFear AC at the U14-U19 Track and Field Championships in Templemore. Big numbers of spectators and athletes ensured a high level of competition for medals and qualifying places for the National Championships in July. Saturday was certainly a day of two halves with beautiful sunshine in the morning giving way to thunder, lightning and torrential downpours in the afternoon. Our athletes once again showed their versatility with participation across the range of track and field competitions. The Field events kicked off proceedings with Josh Judd looking to kick-start his season. Josh finished 2nd in the U16 boy’s discus with a best throw of 32:51m and also won bronze in the U16 boys 4kg hammer with a throw of 35.46m. Well done, Josh! Timmy Colbert had a very consistent series of throws with a best effort of 45.87m in the 700gm Javelin to win silver in the Boys U18 competition. On to Jumps, a best of 5.46m for Ruaidhri Boyle to take 2nd place in the U18 boys Long Jump. In the U19 girls triple jump, Abbie Akinkuolie won bronze with a best jump of 9.14m. Caoimhe Geoghegan finished 4th in the girls U19 long jump with a best of 4.74m, however the disappointment of missing out on a medal was replaced with elation later in the day when Caoimhe fared best in a photo finish in the 100m final to win a super bronze medal in a time of 13.53s, congratulations Caoimhe!

On to the track events, our race-walkers consistent as ever. Anna Mullins took her first race win with a time of 11:20.64 in the girls U15 2k race, Robyn Maher winning silver in a time of 11:52.76. Aoife Martin won another provincial title with a time of 10:21:75 in the Girls U16 2k race. Rebecca Akinkoulie had a strong showing in the Girls U17 100m hurdles to finish in 5th place. Lucy Lynch is showing great consistency with a fast time of 58.41s to finish 1st in the U17 girls 400m. In the Boys U18 400m Ruaidhri Boyle also took gold in a tight finish with a fast time of 52.45s. In middle distance, Aidan Maher added yet another gold to the increasing haul of medals in a hard-fought U18 boys 800m, well done to Aidan! In the afternoon session Laura Moore finished 5th in the girls U17 3000m in a time of 13:06.18, huge credit to Laura who suffered from the dreaded side-stitch for most of the race but still gave it everything with a powerful finish. As the heavens opened, Brian Hawkins made light of the windy conditions to run 10:24:26 in the boys U18 3000m, finishing in 6th place overall and shaving a massive 18 seconds off his time in the Counties. No let-up in the weather for the boys U19 3k race, Timmy Hawkins running a solid 9:32:19 to win silver. Carraig Na BhFear AC also had two teams competing in the 4 x 100m relays. The U17 girls had a fast time of 53.78 and were unlucky to be squeezed into 4th place by less than a second. Lots of potential in this team of Siofra Boyle, Lucy Lynch, Rebecca Akinkuolie and Abigail Geary on the anchor leg. The Boys U18 team of Michael and Luke Mullins, Cathal Whooley and Ruaidhri Boyle finished 2nd to Doneen AC, the boys thoroughly enjoying the wet conditions!

Conditions were far more favourable on Sunday for day 2, quite breezy but nicely warm. Just three Carraig Na BhFear AC competing on the day but three fine performances. MJ Walsh ran a nice pb of 5:10.55 to finish 7th in the U14 boys 1500m provincial final. Timmy Hawkins followed up his 3k run on Saturday competing in the Boys U19 1500m. In a close battle throughout, it seemed inevitable that tired legs would catch up on Timmy when the Midleton 800m specialist Dinny McLean kicked for home with 300m to go but Timmy found an extra gear with 120m remaining to surge past and open up a gap to win gold with a time of 4:22.99. Finally, the icing on the cake for the weekend was a Championship best performance of 1.81m in the girls U13 pole Vault for Hannah Coffey who won gold. It should be no surprise as pole-vault is very much the family business, Orla follows sisters Emma and Orla in holding Munster Juvenile pole-vault records! Great news and motivation for our U13 to U15 group who continue to make excellent progress. To recap, top-class performances all round for the weekend.

Other News: Donoughmore 7-Mile Road race. It was the 40th running of this road-race on Thursday 15th. An unusual distance and the challenging hilly course made even more difficult by warm and humid conditions. David Maher continued his recent excellent form with a 13th place finish in a time of 41:13, up there with many well-known names on the Cork running circuit. Richard Hawkins finished in the top 50 with a time of 48.55. Christy Murphy finished 4th in his category with a very good time of 1:00:23. Denise Maher was next home in a time of 1:14:20. Well done to Donoughmore AC for a great race that attracted a very competitive field of runners. Not many races where you get a chip-timed race, a T-shirt, lovely commemorative mug and an all you can eat buffet for twenty euros! Park Run: At the Glen River parkrun, Allie Phillips (24:30) and Eileen O’Riordan (24:33) putting in the work that is reaping rewards in race times this year.

Other News: A big shout-out to our crew of volunteer stewards at the Grant Thornton 5k which is an important source of income for the club to invest in equipment (Willies wish-list!).

Report by Richard Hawkins

A welcome quiet week in terms of Championship competition presented Carraig Na BhFear AC with the opportunity to support the local GAA club in their annual 5k road race, the first running of the race since before the pandemic. Many of the GAA players are club members and familiar to us all as training partners so we were proud to see so many of our members participating and we were only too happy to help promote the race in the running community. With fifty-one members partaking, too many to name individually but there were many highlights on a beautiful evening for racing. In particular, the number of families taking part, the range of ages and the general atmosphere as great fun was had by all while getting some valuable aerobic benefit from the run. The U13 to U15 group were particularly prominent but showed no mercy to coach Willie Walsh as they put him to the sword in a sprint finish! Undoubtedly the main highlight however was the overall race victory taken by David Maher from the Junior group, the race came down to a sprint finish with Cullen Lynch of Togher AC but powerful finishing is  David’s forte and he showed clean pair of heels to take the victory by one second in a time of 17:09. Congratulations to David and well done to everyone who ran on the night!

Other News: At the Glen River Park-Run on Saturday 10th June, good running by Luke Ahern (28:02) and John Ahern (28:02), keeping the momentum going and getting some valuable training in.

There was a super performance by Colm Crowley in the Dingle Adventure Race on Sunday. Colm tackled the Long Course (73k) and finished in 10th place overall and 2nd Vet from a field of 199 finishers in a time of 4:02:09. A great result for Colm.

Report by Richard Hawkins

Last Friday night our three young Race Walkers Anna Mullins, Aoife Martin and Robyn Maher were competing in Tullamore in the All-Ireland Schools Championships. All three were competing in the same race – The Junior Girls, the distance was 1200m. Although Anna and Robyn are actually Minors, there is no Race Walking at this age, so they had to move up an age, which they had no problem in doing.  Anna Mullins represents - St Angela’s Cork, Aoife Represents Colaiste an Chroi Naofa and Robyn Maher - Loreto Fermoy. They qualified from the Munster Schools in May finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd, PB’s for all – Aoife 5:45, Robyn 6:25 and Anna 6:27. All three were very positive going into the race, Aoife was hoping to finally be on the podium and win her first outdoor National Medal. Robyn and Anna weren’t there just to make up the numbers but to compete, get PBs and valuable experience for next season as they are minors this year.

The race started at a blistering pace, Aoife’s plan was to stay with the leaders for the first lap and then see what developed but the pace of the first lap blew that plan away.  After the first lap Aoife was in third position and her split was 5:44, she had planned somewhere around 5:55.  However, even though Aoife is young, she is also experienced, smart and didn’t panic. Instead, she kept her form and pace and tracked the front two for the next lap, at the bell Aoife was 8 secs behind the leaders and in third on her own, still tracking them on the final lap and gaining 2 secs on them. Crossing the line in Third place with a big PB of 5:38. Then the smile of satisfaction came.

Meanwhile, behind Aoife there was a major battle happening.  Both Robyn and Anna were fighting it out for 4th and 5th. Not caring about other older and experienced Walkers, this was their race to show how good they both really are in a National Standard race. Robyn was 4th after the first lap but Anna was in 5th and only meters behind.  With about 500m to go Anna made a move and passed Robyn, at the bell they were in 4th and 5th position. Would they be able to hang on and get their PBs and 4th and 5th? In the final lap Anna pulled away from Robyn by 10m or so but Robyn kept up the pressure and both pulled away from the chasing girls. Anna finished 4th with a Massive PB of 6:10 and equally Robyn finished 5th with another massive PB of 6:15. An absoluetly brilliant race by all three girls. But there was more – The Race Walker that thought she won the race was Disqualified, so Aoife was promoted to second and Anna to Third and Robyn to Fourth place.  So, as well as getting three massive PBs, our three girls came Second, Third and Fourth.  Well done to all three for a fabulous Race

Also, on Friday night Aidan Maher (St.Colmans, Fermoy) competed in an epic 1500m steeplechase final. On the opening three laps there was a large pack in contention as the race progressed at a brisk pace. Aidan’s experience in the event over the last two years stood to him as he was able to gain time on his rivals with superior hurdling technique, even clearing the water-jump fully without standing on the barriers which takes great balance and technique. As in the Munster qualifiers, there was very little between Aidan and the Nenagh CBS athlete in the final straight, but Aidan found another gear, even finding time to savour the moment before crossing the line to take the Gold medal in a pb time of 4:30:63. Congratulations to Aidan on winning the schools title.

On to the Saturday and a very hot day for the athletes to contend with but there was no letting up on the intensity of competition as many championship records fell. Ruaidhri Boyle (Colaiste an Phiarsaigh) was drawn in lane six for the 400m long hurdles event. An extremely fast opening 300m from the athletes in lanes three and four seemed to be enough to push Ruaidhri in to third place but a blistering burst of pace in the last 60m saw Ruaidhri come through to take the silver medal in a big pb of 56.99, a substantial gain on his Munster pb of 58.16s. Congratulations to Ruaidhri. Finally, Lucy Lynch (St. Aloysius, Carrigtohill) was competing in the Inter girls 300m race. Lucy executed the race extremely well, getting a good start and finishing quickly to force her way in to fourth place in a time of 41.00s, just .11s outside her pb. Although outside the medals, Lucy has another year in this grade and has already surpassed all expectations with continuous improvements this year, another half a second improvement required to win bronze a bridge too far on this occasion, but Lucy will go in to the Tailteann games and Nationals full of experience and confidence. In Summary, a brilliant performance from all our athletes representing their schools, shining brightly amongst the top stars in athletics in the country.

Munster Senior Track and Field Championships: Congratulations to Orla Coffey who won the Senior Womens 400m Hurdles gold medal in a time 1:05:03 on a scorching Templemore track!

Cork City Marathon, half Marathon and 10K: After many months of training, banter, and anticipation the big day finally arrived. Record entries and a beautiful (if a little hot!) morning saw everyone in great spirits. The big focus for Carraig Na BhFear AC was the inaugural 10k race, starting and finishing in St.Patrick Street. The club had put together 6 teams of 6, using a seeded draw it was impossible to pick a winner and it was all to play for on the day. An impressive performance on the day by our club members and the tension was at fever pitch before the great reveal of results at 3pm. The ultimate winners were the Eagles, a well-balanced team on paper but with top seed David Maher delivering with a performance of 36:30 to finish as second Carraig Na BhFear athlete home, good performances by John Aherne, Helen Roche, Elaine Akinkoulie and Cian Ryan bolstered the team score. However, in addition, current form is a huge asset and Brian Hawkins has been making big strides since the teams were formed and a performance of 38:11 (3rd U18) belied his seeding and helped seal the deal for the impressive Eagles. Second place went to the Wolves (Rhona Lynch, Niamh Colman, Colm Crowley, Orla Barry, Fionn O’Shea and Luke Mullins). Lions were third (Seanna Boyle, Noelle Halpin, Peter Hawkins, Bobby O’Riordan, Siobhan Walsh and Timmy Hawkins (who was also 13th overall from 3,754 finishers!). Fourth place went to the Falcons (Joseph Daly, Sean O’Keefe, Michelle Whooley, Dave Mullins, Paul Noonan and Paula O’Riordan). The Tigers (Aidan Maher, John Maher, Michael Mullins, Yvonne O’Leary, Eileen O’Riordan and Cathal Whooley) were fifth and in sixth place were the Cheetahs (Robert Boyle, Anita Casey, Tadhg Crowley, Rebecca Kelleher, Denise Maher and Dave O’Riordan). Well done to all and a shout-out to Victor Baraza, running well in 43:22.

Plenty more action followed in both the full and half marathons. Huge credit is due to everyone who finished, the heat taking its toll on many athletes with the medical tents overflowing. In the Marathon Darragh O’Keeffe was first home in a super time of 3:14:44, a 35-minute PB. Grace Crowley ran an impressive 3:47:23 in her debut marathon with Mary Fitzgerald finishing with an identical time for and a 5th place in her age category. Brilliant running! Alan Davis had been struggling with injury but still ran an impressive 4:09:08. Finally, Rachael O’Callaghan achieved her goal of completing another marathon before an impending big birthday! Huge credit is due to Rachael who put herself in the spotlight on the Runners Diary Podcast as she documented her journey which was a help to many other runners in their marathon preparations.

An equal number of athletes completed the half-marathon distance, the later start of 10:15am ensuring they had their share of the hot weather. Well done to Michael Mulcahy (1:29:03), Richard Hawkins (Pacer, 1:44:48), Liam Colbert (1:59:12), Christy Murphy (2:03:34) and Liza Davis (2:16:08).

Finally, we cannot forget our large team of Stewards led by Ger Foley who are a permanent fixture controlling proceedings in the Blackpool area. Races do not happen without volunteers and a 7:30am start is a big ask but the club members again responded in force. A bonus this year was the support they were able to give our 10k athletes as well as those doing the full marathon which was greatly appreciated!

Report by Richard Hawkins

The Munster U12 to U16 multi-events, Junior, U23, Senior and Masters competition took place in Templemore on Saturday 27th in glorious conditions which made for a very enjoyable days viewing. Six of our middle age training group took on the challenge of a multi events competition for the first time. Five of our strong squad of under-13 girls entered their competition with the intention of gaining experience and exposure to competition on the beginning of their athletics adventures. Stand-out performances were Hannah Coffey in the shot-put, Allie Philips in the 60m hurdles and Emma Johnson had enough energy for a really strong 600 meters in their last event of the day. Aoibhe Dunlea and Mary Kate Dawson made up the quintet who had a great day in the sunshine and learned how exhausting multi events competition are. Our one other multi eventer was Jess Akinkoulie in the under-15 competition. Jess is an accomplished hurdler but had never participated in a multi competition previously. Furthermore, she had never high jumped in any competition either. You would not think it as she won every one of her five events to take a wonderfully commanding Munster gold medal. Hopefully, a sign of a new star on the rise for our younger athletes to follow. A wonderful experience for our young developing athletes to be around our junior and young adult members and watch them preforming in the hope that our young will emulate them in the future.

There were also outstanding performances among our Junior to U23 athletes competing on the day. Lucy Lynch and Ruaidhri Boyle look to be peaking at the right time with the National schools finals next week, both athletes winning their Junior 400m race in personal best times of 58.41 and 51.70 respectively. More medals followed in the womens 400m U23 race, Orla Coffey winning silver in a tight battle, running 1:01.00 and followed closely by Isobel O’Meara winning bronze in 1:04:31. Orla followed this performance with a bronze medal in the senior womens 200m in a time of 27.57. Caoimhe Geoghegan qualified for the final of the Junior 100m womens sprints, finishing 6th in a fast time of 13.67. Emma Akinkoulie won silver in the U23 womens 100m with an excellent time of 13:23. In field events, Caoimhe Geoghegan stepped up to Senior level for the long jump, finishing in 6th place with a best jump of 4.71m. Blessing Alamu had a convincing win in the Senior womens discus with a throw of 34.28m. Our U23 women (Isobel, Orla, Emma and Blessing) came together for the 100m relay running 58.00 to take the gold medal.

The 1500m middle-distance races also took place with an exciting, combined Junior and U23 mens race. A steady three opening laps were followed by a double pick-up in pace for a blistering last lap. Aidan Maher took the win in 4:15:91 with Timmy Hawkins wining bronze in a pb time of 4:19:26. Joseph Daly took U23 gold with a time of 4:35:54. Well done to the lads on a great race in warm conditions. In the Masters 1500m race, Richard Hawkins won the silver medal in the M55 category with a time of 5:21:99.

Meanwhile, in Castleisland Day 4 of the Cork County Championships was taking place with the running of the field events and U9 to U11 track. Really good performances all round, the highlights were Hannah Coffey 2nd in U13 Javelin, Isabelle Walsh 3rd in Girls U10 500m and Cathal Walsh 2nd in Boys U11 600m. Well done also to Sarah Nyhan, Una Cotter, John Forde, Laoighse Nott. Ivy Forde, Liam Walsh, Aidan Walsh, Emma Walsh and Emma Forde, all putting in great efforts on the day. Congratulations also to Timmy Colbert, gaining momentum nicely in his season throwing 51.34m to take the gold medal in boys U18 Javelin.

Finally, in Track and Field competition, Ciaran Nugent was among the large contingent of Irelands current crop of promising stars who travelled to Oordegen in Belgium for top-class competition. Fantastic to see Ciaran moving to the next level, one of five Irish competitors in the 400m hurdles, including Olympian Thomas Barr. Ciaran had a solid season opener running 55.98 and will undoubtedly build on this in the coming months. Well done to Ciaran!

In Summary, a very satisfying week of Track and Field for Carraig Na BhFear AC, being represented at home and abroad at all levels from U9 through to Junior, U23, Senior and Masters across the full spectrum of track, jumps and throwing disciplines. An extremely healthy state for the club, all credit to coaches, helpers and parents for their support.

Other news: BHAA John Buckley 5k: One of the most popular road races on the calendar, always attracting the top local runners to the Marina Course. Outstanding running on the night from the following athletes who were well up the field of 897 finishers (updated chip times): Conor Kelly (17:49), Michael Mulcahy (17:53), Brian Hawkins (17:55), Richard Hawkins (19:06), Peter Hawkins (19:29) and Rachael O’Callaghan (22:41). Super running!

Junior parkrun: Allie Phillips somehow had the energy after an exhausting day in Templemore to finish 2nd in the 2k Junior parkrun in Ballincollig Regional Park on Sunday morning with a fast time of 8:05!

And for something completely different…Our lovers of more diverse and strenuous activities had plenty of choice to entertain themselves over the weekend. Dave and Bobby O’Riordan continued their progress through the IMRA ‘Whisky in the jar’ mountain running series, this time completing the 8.64km course in ‘The Paps’ Killarney which has an elevation of 708M! Dave Mullins and Cliona Lynch completed the challenging 139km Ring of Beara cycle and Liam Aherne finished 2nd in the CUH short sprint triathlon race in Farran Woods. Awesome stuff!

Report by Richard Hawkins

Munster Schools Track and field finals: The An-Riocht track in Castleisland was the venue for a rare trip to the Kingdom for a Championship finals. A beautiful day for spectating and competing with high class competition and quite a few championship best performances. The Racewalk competition produced some excellent performances from the Carraig na bhFear AC contingent with our three competitors again filling the podium positions for the 1200m race. Aoife Martin (Colaiste an Chroi Naofa) was 1st in a time of 5:45.44, Robyn Maher (Loreto Fermoy) was 2nd in 6:25.72 and Anna Mullins (St. Angelas, Cork), 3rd in 6:27.38. The girls will be looking forward to a tough race in the National finals which will take place in Tullamore on Friday evening June 2nd.

We had three boys competing at Intermediate level; Ruaidhri Boyle (Colaiste an Phiarsaigh) had a convincing win in the 400m Hurdles with a time of 58.16 secs to progress to Nationals. Aidan Maher (St. Colmans, Fermoy) had a massive pb of 4:30.76 in the 1500m steeplechase and was pushed all the way by a Nenagh CBS athlete. Just rewards for Aidan who has been putting in a lot of training in this discipline. In field events, Josh Judd  (St. Colmans CC Midleton) had a best throw of 28.79m which was good enough for 4th place but unfortunately was outside of the qualification standings. Josh had a 5th place finish in the boys 5kg hammer competition with a throw of 24.50m.

Lucy Lynch (St. Aloysius, Carrigtwohill) has had it all to do in the Intermediate Girls 300m competition, in her first year at this grade and competing with many proven winners. Lucy continued to defy the odds taking silver and the second lane placing in the National Finals with a time of 40.89, over three seconds clear of 3rd place. Lucy also competed with St. Aloysius in the Intermediate girls 4 x 100m relay who finished outside the qualifying places. Best of luck to Lucy who will back herself for another big performance in the finals!

In the Senior boys 200m steeplechase, Timmy Hawkins (Bruce College) ran a good time of 6:35.43 but such is the level of competition in the event currently, it was only good enough for 4th place. Timmy will look to build on his early-season races in the upcoming club competitions.

In Summary, exceptionally good performances all around and congratulation to the six athletes who will progress to the National Schools finals on the 2nd/3rd of June in Tullamore.

Cork County Championships Day 3: The Relays, turbo-javelin, and long jump competitions took place in the UCC Mardyke on Sunday 21st. Our U13 & U14 girls’ teams were competing for the first time and did really well. The U13 team of Mary-Kate Dawson, Aoibhe Dunlea, Allie Phillips and Emma Johnson were 3rd in their heat and were in a photo finish for 5th place in the final. The U14 Girls team (Sarah Murphy, Aoileann Boyle, Lucy Davis and Laila Oluto) placed fourth, just outside the podium positions. The U17 girls’ team of Rebecca Akinkoulie, Lucy Lynch, Siofra Boyle and Abigail Geary won silver with our U18 boys’ team (Ruaidhri Boyle, Cathal Whooley, Bobby O’Riordan and Luke Mullins) winning gold in the 4 x 400m.  Well done to our younger athletes who competed well in the turbo javelin and long-jump competitions: Liam Walsh, Aidan Walsh, Ivy Forde, John Forde, Sarah Nyhan, Emma Forde and Una Cotter.

Eagle AC Fota 5k Cheetah run: Always one of the most popular races on the calendar, this year’s sold-out event in the unique setting of Fota wildlife park was a typically well-organized and enjoyable race. Not a targeted club event, nevertheless we had seventeen athletes competing among the 723 finishers and the finishing times were superb across the board.

The Children’s 1- mile race preceded the adult race. Well done to Allie Phillips who was 24th overall and 2nd F11 in a time of 6:29s. Allie was closely followed by Anna Mullins in 6:30s and Isabelle Walsh in 7:55s.

Plenty of category rivalry on show in the 5k race. David Maher set a high standard in the Junior race, winning in an impressive 17:07 which was also 12th overall. Brian Hawkins was next in the Junior category with a massive pb of 18:49, pushed all the way by Cathal Whooley (18:59). Luke Mullins (19:48), Cian Ryan (20:07) and Rian O’Luasa (22:33). Darragh O’Keefe was the first Carraig Na BhFear non-juvenile finisher in a fast 19:02. Richard Hawkins was 2nd M55 with a time of 19:48, Dave Mullins close behind and 3rd M50 in 20:03. Dave O’Riordan claimed 3rd place in the M55 category running 21:02, just 1 second ahead of Rhona Lynch. Rhona unfortunately falling foul of Dave’s trademark stealth attack on the line! John Maher had a great run in 23:12 to finish 9th of 35 in category, Denise Maher getting under the 30-minute mark in 29:24.

St.Finbarrs AC track night 2023: This event was held in conjunction with Cork Track Club and Sanctuary runners on Friday 19th May. Conor Kelly ran both the 800m and 1500m with times of 2:25 and 4:58 respectively. Well done to Conor, great running!

Report by Richard Hawkins

South Munster Schools Day 2: Week two of the South Munster Schools started with field events taking place in Midleton for the javelin competition and Kilworth for the throws. Timmy Colbert (Colaiste an Chroi Naofa) had an excellent season-opener in the Senior boys Javelin competition winning gold with a fine effort of 42.58m and progresses to the Munster finals next week in good form. In the Inter boys competition Josh Judd (St.Colmans CC Midleton) had a comfortable win in the discus with a best throw of 28.92m. Josh followed this up with a silver medal in the Boys Hammer with a throw of 26.38m.

On to day 2 in the Mardyke UCC track and another medal in field events, Caoimhe Geoghegan (St, Marys, Midleton) building on last week’s performance in Counties with an excellent jump of 5:04m to take the Silver medal in the Senior girls long jump. Rian O’Luasa (Bishopstown CS) won silver in the Senior boys high jump with a best jump of 1.65m. There were outstanding performances by our Racewalkers in the Junior girls 1200 Race Walk competition. Aoife Martin (Colaiste an Chraoi Naofa) won gold with a Championship Best performance of 6.12.40! Not too far behind Aoife was Robyn Maher (Loreto Fermoy) in 2nd place with a time of 6:19.4 and Anna Mullins (St.Angelas, Cork) winning the bronze medal in 6:34.40. Outstanding results from Martin Hurleys group! In the Inter girls’ competition, Lucy Lynch (St. Aloysius Carrigtwohill) was competing in the 300m, a strong finish and a pb of 41.1s earned Lucy a silver medal and one of the two qualifying slots for the laned events in the Munster finals. Lucy was in action again in the 4 x 300m Senior girls relay with her team running a fast 3:08 to take gold. Ruaidhri Boyle (Colaiste an Phiarsaigh) was first home in the Inter Boys 400m hurdles in a time of 61.90s and qualified comfortably for the Munster finals. In the Inter boys Steeplechase Aidan Maher (St.Colmans Fermoy) had a good pb time of 4:43.4 to win the gold medal. Finally, in the Senior Boys Steeplechase, an unusually large and competitive field meant the three Munster qualification places were at a premium. Timmy Hawkins (Bruce College) came through safely in 3rd place with a season-opening race of 6:38m, David Maher (Colaiste an Phiarsaigh) had a creditable 5th place finish, just outside the qualifying places. Well done to the lads, a super effort in warm conditions! Best of luck to all our athletes heading to Castleisland on Saturday 20th for the Munster finals.

County Track and Field Championships Day 2: Carraig Na BhFear AC had another great turnout of athletes for Counties Day 2 in the UCC track. A damp start gave way to improved conditions and there were good performances and pb’s to keep us entertained.

U16 to 19: The 3k races got proceedings underway at 10am. Laura Moore ran a steady race early on in the U17 girls’ race having competed in the 1500m schools the previous day before an impressive injection of pace in the final laps won silver for Laura. In the Boys mixed ages race Brian Hawkins also showed a fine finishing kick to take 3rd place in the race with Bobby O’Riordan winning the silver medal U18. The middle-distance races concluded after lunch, Peter Hawkins claiming silver in the boys U17 800m followed by a bronze medal from Cathal Whooley in the boys U18, Luke Mullins running a good pb in this race also. Eoin Quirke won the gold medal in the U19 boys 800m following an epic battle in this mixed-ages race. At the sprint distances Abbie Akinkoulie won gold in U19 sprint hurdles, Abbie also winning silver U19 girls 200m behind Caoimhe Geoghegan in the gold medal position. Lucy Lynch and Leah Dunne both won silver in the U17 and U18 girls 200m respectively. Further impressive performances in the field events followed with a fine jump of 5.94 for Ruaidhri Boyle in the U18 boys long jump, Abbie Akinkoulie completed a hat-trick of medals with a junp of 8.99m in the triple jump and Bobby O’Riordan won gold in the U18 shot put with a throw of 8.04m.

U13-U15: Another positive outing for this group who competed so well at County level. Well done to Jessica Akinkoulie who won silver in the U15 sprint hurdles. Our racewalkers were in action again, doing brilliantly on a second consecutive day of racing. Robyn Maher and Anna Mullins were first and second respectively in the girls U15 2k distance with Aoife Martin finishing first in the U16 2k race. A big shout-out and well done to the following athletes: Allie Phillips,, Emma Johnson, Aoibhe Dunlea, Mary-Kate Dawson, Hannah Coffey, Aoileann Boyle, Laila Olutu and Lucy Davis.

Summer Races: The BHAA Pfizer 6-mile race in Ringaskiddy made a welcome return to the BHAA calendar following its absence due to the pandemic. Starting in Raffeen, the new course took in the Haulbowline Island Park before the traditional uphill finish in Ringaskiddy village. Good running from Darragh O’Keefe (39:35) and Rachel O’Callaghan (48:47) finishing well up the field of 357 finishers, both athletes using the distance to prepare for the upcoming Cork City Marathon and looking in great form! The Youghal AC 5k race took place on Thursday 11th, 272 finishers taking on this flat, fast course. Eileen O’Riordan dipped under the 22-minute mark running 21:57 to finish 2nd in her category. Orla O’Gorman finished in 23:27, another excellent time, well done to both athletes, consistent training paying off! Conor Kelly made to trip to Tipp for the Tipperary Water 10k on Saturday night, a great result for Conor finishing 14th overall in a fast time of 38:29, congratulations.

Surf, Turf and Tar Rosscarbery: This multi-terrain race in West Cork always seems to be blessed with good weather and Saturday morning was no exception with a great turnout of runners once again. Brian Hawkins ran a steady paced 45:38 as prep for Counties the following morning, his time still good enough to finish as 2nd junior and 18th overall from 491 finishers. In the half-marathon Richard Hawkins finished 29th overall in 1:47:08 and retain the M50 title from last year! In the Run Killarney half-marathon, Carraig Na BhFear AC was also represented, well done to Aidan Cooney finishing in 2:04:59, well done!

Look Ahead: In Championship competition, the Munster Schools finals will take place in Castleisland on Saturday 20th with the Club relay competitions the focus for Day 3 of the County championships in the Mardyke on Saturday 21st. The club will be well represented next Thursday 18th in Fota wildlife park for the annual 5k and Children’s 1-mile races which is always a great event.

Report by Richard Hawkins

Photos by Michelle Whooley

Cork County Track and Field championships Day 1: The UCC Mardyke track was the unfamiliar setting for day 1 of the Cork County Juvenile Championships. As the competition will be spread over a few venues and dates, athlete numbers were modest and there was a nice, relaxed atmosphere with spectators able to get close to the action. Cooler conditions from Saturdays Schools competition but thankfully the rain held off.

U16-19 Boys and Girls: 1500m was the first event on the track, Carraig Na BhFear AC were well represented in the boys mixed age U17-19 race. A key element of a mixed age race is for athletes to know who their competition is in the field and to pace accordingly, the boys all well experienced did this to perfection. Brian and Peter Hawkins came from the rear of the pack to claim silver and Bronze respectively in big pb’s in the U17 race. Aidan Maher and Bobby Riordan were 1st and 3rd in the U18 race and Eoin Quirke won gold in the U19 category, great running lads! Two medals for Caoimhe Geoghegan finishing 2nd in the Girls U19 100m and gold in the Long Jump, congratulations! Double gold for Ruadhri Boyle in the Boys U18 300m hurdles followed by the 400m, Cathal Whooley coming through to win an excellent bronze medal in the 400m race. The U18 and U17 Girls 400m was again a mixed ages race which made for excellent competition. Leah Dunne won silver in the U18 race with Lucy Lynch winning Gold U17, Lucy taking advantage of the added competition, right in the mix at the head of the race. In field events, Faye O’Riordan threw 8.11m in the shot put to claim bronze.

U13 to U15 Boys and Girls: Congratulations to Sarah Murphy winning bronze in the U14 girls 75m hurdles. Fine performances from all our athletes on the day: Hannah Coffey, Allie Philips, Emma Johnson, Aoibhe Dunlea, Mary Kate Dawson, Sarah Murphy, Lucy Davis, Laila Oluto, MJ Walsh and Jess Akinkoulie. The coaches are very excited about this group and great to see strong numbers for day 2. The parents of the Junior athletes remember all too well how the vast majority of the current junior and older athletes did not feature in medals at the younger ages. Although inevitably at Championships medals become a focus, in reality it is the process of working consistently with the other squad members to make incremental improvements that makes athletics so rewarding. Enjoying training and competition under expert coaches is extremely beneficial to young kids so keep up the excellent work, the medals do follow and are well worth waiting for!

South Munster Schools Track and Field Championships: Day 1 of the Schools championships took place in UCC in beautiful sunny condition with both medals and qualifying places in the Munster Championship finals on offer. The UCC track is rarely used for competition so great credit is due to Liam O’Brien & Co. for a lot of unseen work over the past week to ensure everything was in place for a full program of events over two weekends. Saturday’s program was run off in a tight window due to availability of the track and was executed with military precision. Carraig Na Bhfear AC had several athletes competing and all performed with distinction for their schools. Lucy Lynch (St.Aloysius Carrigtwohill) moved up in distance to the 800m in the Inter girls competition, showing her versatility to take the bronze medal in 2:26:44. Laura Moore (Loreto Fermoy) was well prepared for the Inter girls 3000m having competed well in both days of the East Cork Championships, coming through a packed field to take 3rd place in 11:39:44. In the Senior girls 100m Caoimhe Geogheghan took an excellent bronze medal in 14.25, a nice birthday present for Caoimhe! Finally, in the Senior Boys 3000m David Maher ran a big pb to finish in 4th place in a very competitive field.

Summer Road races: Two of the most popular summer races took place this week and the club were well represented in both. On Thursday 4th, the Midleton AC  5-mile race had 300 finishers despite damp conditions, a testament to a well-organized race by our Divisional neighbours. Conor Kelly ran a fast time of 30:49 to finish 37th overall with Sinead O’Leary also running well in a time of 46:03. Bweeng AC had a similar turnout of 291 finishers on Sunday 7th for their 5k race on a fast course. Exceptionally good running from Rachel O’Callaghan in 23:18 to finish 129th overall and Aidan Cooney in 23:44 for 138th position. Both athletes showing great progression in recent weeks with these times, great work!

Look Ahead: Day 2 of the South Munster Schools T & F takes place at the UCC track on Saturday 13th May followed by Day 2 of the County U12-U19 T & F on Sunday 14th at the same venue, lots of Carraig Na BhFear AC athletes in competition once again, the very best of luck to all!

Report by Richard Hawkins

Photos by Michelle Whooley

Over sixty members of Carraig na bhFear AC took to the skies over the Easter weekend to converge on Nerja on the Southern Coast of Spain for our long-awaited warm-weather training camp. The inaugural trip was to Malta in 2019 but Covid interrupted the laying of any further plans until this year. The trip surpassed all expectations, the weather playing its part with constant sunshine and temperatures in the mid-twenties. The recently resurfaced track in Nerja contained all the necessary infrastructure to support a technical track and field camp. The mornings were spent with the coaches’ putting athletes through their paces in warm-up drills, followed by a detailed training program. The track was buzzing with diverse groups from Latvia, Sweden, The Netherlands, and neighbouring countries and gave coaches and athletes an insight in to other approaches to training.

The all-important social element was also present with walking, trail-running, cycling, Kayaking and beach volleyball added in for the die-hards who wanted to maximize the opportunity to be active as well as an opportunity to relax in the various pools in the locality. Our juveniles, juniors and adults all mixing was fantastic to see. A sincere thanks to everyone who planned and supported the event which will live long in the memory and set the path for the next event which will surely continue to grow.

Races: The 25k Great Railway run is becoming a ‘must-do’ race for anyone preparing for the Cork City Marathon, an excellent opportunity to take the grind out of the long-runs. We had two athletes taking part, Darragh O’Keeffe came home in 56th place out of a field of 396 finishers in a great time of 1:53:02. Rachael O’Callaghan, fresh from her training update on the ‘Runners Diary Podcast’ put in another excellent shift with a finishing time of 2:24:14. Well done to both athletes!

BHAA: Michael Mulcahy continued his great form with a 50th place finish in the PwC 5k in 18:20, excellent running from Michael in very windy conditions.

Two athletes who look primed and ready for the upcoming track season are Isabelle Walsh and Caoimhe Hughes. They made the ‘Trip to Tipp’ for the Moyne AC open sports day and were rewarded with gold for Isabelle in the U10 300m and Caoimhe picking up the silver medal in the U9 60m, congratulations to both!

IMRA: Dave and Bobby O’Riordan swapped the blue skies of Spain for mud and fog in Gougane Barra for the 9.70km second race in the ‘Whiskey in the Jar’ series. A tough race with many athletes losing their way to different extents. The O’Riordans are well at home in the mountains however, results are still pending but Dave managed to keep the distance to 11.22km in a great time of 1hr 30mins, no doubt pushed all the way by Bobby!

Parkrun: PRO Tadhg Crowley got some valuable hills in at the Glen River parkrun in preparation for the upcoming East Cork Roads Championship. Tadhg covered the course in an impressive 18:34 mins, not easy given that he was on his own almost 3 minutes ahead of the next finisher.

Look Ahead: The summer evening races are starting to ramp up this week with several athletes heading to Ballintotis but the big focus for our club will be the East Cork Juvenile Track and field Championships in UCC on Sunday morning the 23rd April commencing at 10:30. We hope to have as many Juvenile athletes as possible competing in what is always a relaxed and excellent event.

Report by Richard Hawkins

Photo by Michelle Whooley

On Saturday 1st April the National Indoor Championships Day 2 took place in the TUS Athlone Arena. Carraig Na BhFear AC had five qualifying athletes competing on the day. It was an incredible day of competition with the travelling parents, coaches and many club members at home watching the live-streamed events being treated to the full range of highs and lows that are an integral part of competition at the highest level.

Lucy Lynch had qualified from the Munster Championships in the 400m as the fourth fastest qualifier, however Lucy has proved in the past that she is a Championship performer, and no doubt would be backing herself for a medal. She had it all to do having not previously broken the one-minute mark for the event, the benchmark for medal success. In lane 5 for heat 2, Lucy led from the gun and powered to a victory in a big PB of 59.62, going under the iconic 60 second mark. It is always a fine balance between ensuring qualification and leaving something in the tank for the final and the big question was whether Lucy could reproduce the performance with less than 3 hours recovery after such a fine effort. Lucy was again drawn in lane 5 for the final, a more measured start this time with the steep turns in the outer lanes seeming to sap energy from the legs. The key moment in the race came at the stagger where Lucy powered into 3rd place and crucially the all-important inside lane, with enough space in front and behind to run smoothly. From here it was all about mental strength and the will to keep the legs turning over quickly, Lucy digging incredibly deep to produce yet another pb of 59.57 and win a magnificent bronze National medal. Well-deserved for Lucy who has worked so hard in recent months.

Carraig na bhFear had three girls competing in the Race-Walking events. Anna Mullins and Robyn Maher in the 1000m Girls Under 15 and Aoife Martin in the 1500m Girls Under 16 categories.  Anna and Robyn competed in an extremely competitive field of 14 Race Walkers. Both girls were in a great position after 2 laps, then the pace picked up and Robyn decided to lead the chasing pack, closely followed by several other girls including Anna. Going into the fourth lap there were four in the chasing pack, this soon turned to three; Robyn, Anna, and another. Anna quickly realised the other Walker was making an attack with 300m to go. Anna reacted and overtook Robyn, Robyn then reacting quickly, overtaking Anna with the two now working as one and with 150m to go were clear and now chasing second place. Robyn led the attack chasing down second place in a sprint finish.  However, after overtaking her with metres to go and finishing in second place was approached by the Head referee and was disqualified for losing contact with the ground in the home straight. Poor Robyn was devastated – to be so close and come away without a medal. She showed great courage and class throughout the race and will come back stronger in the outdoor season and will learn from this experience. She is too good and too experienced for this to affect her. It happens to the Best in the World. Back to the aftermath of the race, suddenly Anna who was seventh fastest coming into the race was promoted to the bronze medal position.  This was truly, a well- earned and deserved medal for Anna as she walked a fantastic race achieving a PB of 4:59, her previous PB was 5:26.  Both Anna and Robyn are National Standard Race Walkers and a force to be reckoned with.

Next up was Aoife Martin in the Girls U16 1500m. This is the race that everyone was looking forward to as any one of 7 or 8 girls could make the podium and all had achieved very fast times. There were 12 Walkers in this race, and it started at a good pace, but all Walkers were very cagey in the opening stages. Then, after 2 laps Aoife took the lead and broke up the pack, after four laps there were three out in the lead pack with Aoife being one of them but in turn, they were also being targeted by a chasing pack.  There was yet another injection of pace and Aoife had to decide to go and possibly blow up or stay with the fast pace. She decided to let the two go and chase in case one of them suffered in the latter stages. Suddenly, with a lap to go (200m), Aoife herself was being chased down, she didn’t panic or lose concentration, just kept her form. With 100m remaining, a walker was on her shoulder, but Aoife used all her experience and kept her pace, pushing just enough to hold her off. However, with 50m to go and coming into the home straight, the other Walker made a final challenge, almost pulling level but Aoife had enough in the tank and pulled out her final injection, pulling away and taking bronze in one of the races of the day. The standard in this age group is phenomenal. Just to put it into context, the first four in this race were faster than the Girls U17, U18 and U19 races. Well done to Aoife on a brilliant tactical race at such a fast pace. There is a great crop of Racewalkers for the future in Girls U15 and U16, Carraig Na BhFear A.C. have three in this group and came away with two All-Ireland medals.  Big Congratulations to all three Girls. **Congratulations also to coach Martin Hurley and many thanks for such an insightful race report.

In the afternoon session Caoimhe Geoghegan was one of 13 girls competing in the U19 Long Jump. Not a good build-up to the competition for Caoimhe who had been suffering with illness. Full credit to Caoimhe who battled on with a 9th place finish and best jump of 4.60M. With several competitions and a solid training block in the bank from the indoor season, Caoimhe can look ahead to the outdoor season with plenty of confidence.

Cobh 10-Mile: This popular, hilly race took place on Sunday 2nd April in beautiful sunshine. Darragh O’Keeffe had a fine time of 1:11:28 to finish 106th out of a large Feld of 755 finishers. Great running Darragh!

Look ahead: Our long-awaited and eagerly anticipated club trip to Nerja, Spain is finally upon us. The forecast is looking good for our week-long training camp as upwards of 60 club members take to the skies over the Easter weekend, wishing everyone safe travels and a great week. The East Cork Juvenile Track and Field Championships will take place on the following weekend in the UCC track on 23rd April where we hope to see a full turnout from our juvenile members.

Report by Richard Hawkins and Martin Hurley.

Photos by Jo Martin

On Sunday last the Mardyke was the location for a new type of event for our club. Always willing to try something new to develop athletics participation we jumped at the chance when newly formed Cork City AC challenged us to a club v’s club match. Having decided the format of the event it quickly grew legs and started to develop into what was a wonderful day out for all involved.

Medals and a trophy were acquired to add a little spice to the otherwise extremely friendly atmosphere. The concept behind the day was to offer young athletes the opportunity to compete in a friendly, relaxed, and inclusive environment. This was definitely achieved and more.

The overall destination of the Noreen Murphy trophy was decided by all athletes’ performances over all events meaning everyone counted for the team score. Sprints, long jump, turbo javelin, shot putt for all ages , shuttle relays for our younger kids and a 4 X 200 for those a little older closed the competitions with the final relays  completed with all supporters encouraged onto the infield to create a tunnel of excitement on the finishing straight. The weather played its part also with bright sunshine letting everyone comfortable in short sleeve’s getting a healthy dose of vitamin D.

Cork City AC took the trophy and bragging rights on this occasion, and everyone was delighted to have Noreen our President to present it to the winners on the day.

Mallow 10 Mile: One of the big annual 10-milers took place on Sunday 26th with a massive 1024 finishers. Excellent weather conditions and a reasonably fast course resulting in some very good times, the winner Ryan Creech from Leevale dipping under the 50-minute mark. Club PRO Tadhg Crowley finished in 35th place overall with a PB time of 59:01, Tadhg put in a great effort over the last 3kms to try and get under the 59mins and couldn’t have done any more, nevertheless a brilliant performance to be at the business end of the race. Michael Mulcahy followed up an impressive performance in the Dungarvan 10 -mile with another great time of 64:09, Michael showing great consistency in his races this year. Christy Murphy also following Dungarvan with a 5th in category placing with a time of 1:23:45. Well done to Aidan Cooney, finishing well in 1:32:53.

Park Run: Carraig Na Bhfear AC had 2 runners among the 189 finishers in Tramore Valley. Richard Hawkins was 10th over the line in 20:27. Darragh O’Keefe completed his first parkrun in a time of 22:28 and no doubt will be back for more!

Look Ahead: The National Indoor Juvenile Championships Day 2 will take place in TUS Athlone on Saturday April 1st, Caoimhe Geoghegan will compete in the U-19 long Jump finals and Lucy Lynch will be part of a highly competitive field for the U17 girls 400M. Our racewalkers will take to the start line full of confidence following excellent performances in the provincial finals, Robyn Maher and Anna Mullins competing in the girls U-15 1000m and Aoife Martin will race in the girls U-16 1500m. Good luck girls! The Sonia O’Sullivan 10-miler will take place in Cobh next weekend, best of luck to all taking on what will be a challenging but enjoyable course.

Report by Richard Hawkins

Photos by Michelle Whooley

The Annual Cork County Senior, Novice and Masters 4-Mile Road Championships took place in Castlelyons on Sunday March 20th, excellently hosted by St. Nicholas AC. With a large entry, there was a sense of anticipation and a return to as high a standard a road race as we have seen for a number of years. Ultimately, two hundred and thirty-two athletes from nineteen clubs finished the combined men’s and women’s race with no fewer than thirteen men’s teams and eleven women’s teams scoring in the senior competition. Great championship racing with athletes well familiar with their category rivals and giving their all in search of individual and team medals which were hard won on the day. Carraig Na BhFear AC have a focus on the East Cork Road Race as an upcoming target so had just one representative on the day with Richard Hawkins competing in the M55 Masters category. Just twelve seconds separating 2nd to 4th positions but Richard managed to secure the silver medal with a pb run of 25:14.

IMRA: The ‘Whiskey in the jar’ series of races kicked off in Millstreet on Sunday with the annual Claragh mountain run, The 7k race with an elevation gain of 362m, a stern but rewarding test. Willie Walsh kick-started his seasons racing the hard way, no holding back in finishing first M45 and 7th overall in an excellent time of 37:20. Just four minutes behind was Bobby O’Riordan in 41:51 finishing as first Junior and 21st overall with dad, David O’Riordan on familiar home territory finishing in 28th place in a time of 44:22. Great running also by Rachael O’Callaghan who is loving her first season in the mountains and trails, finishing in a time of 1:02:27. Well done all!

Spring Marathons: Caroline O’Donovan battled through a knee injury and a blazing sun (no sympathy here whatsoever!) to finish the Barcelona Marathon in 4hrs 55mins and notch up another marathon medal under the 5-hour mark. When in Rome… Aisling Byrne, also battling a hip injury from the 30km mark to finish in an excellent time of 3hrs 50mins. Congratulations to both athletes on a heroic effort.

Look Ahead: UCC will be the venue next Sunday 26th for our eagerly awaited track meet versus Cork City AC for our youngest age group, many taking to the track for the first time. It will be Epic! Best of luck to our members who will compete in the Mallow 10-mile race, also on Sunday.

Report by Richard Hawkins

Photos by Joe Anne  photos 

Last Sunday it was the turn of our Race Walkers to compete in the Munster Indoors in Nenagh. Carraig Na BhFear AC had 3 Walkers competing. First up were Robyn Maher and Anna Mullins to compete in the under-15 1000m. After the first 100m, Robyn was in cruise control and leading the pack, closely followed by Anna in second.  On each lap both Robyn and Anna pulled away from the field.  Robyn took the Munster U15 Title in a time of 5:11.47 with Anna taking Silver in a time of 5:26.82.  Next up for Carraig Na BhFear was Aoife Martin in the Under-16 1500m. Aoife was very confident going into the race and after one lap you could see why, keeping pace with athletes a lot older than herself and cruised to victory in a time of 5:42.15 to claim the under- 16 Munster title.  All three Race Walkers showed excellent technique coupled with speed.  All three girls go to Athlone in three weeks’ time to the All-Ireland indoors. Congratulations and well done.  They have put in a lot of hard work over the Winter and now are reaping the rewards.

Also, taking place in Nenagh was the U9-U11Munster Indoor Championships. Carraig Na Bhfear had two excellent competitors among the many athletes taking part. Isabelle Walsh ran in the Under-10 60m heat 5, finishing 5th in a time of 11.11s. Siofra Nott had to wait until the final 12th heat to notch up a time of 11.38s to finish in 4th place. In the Uder-10 long jump, there was another huge field of 78 competitors. Isabelle Walsh had a best jump of 3.05m to finish in a creditable 17th place with Siofra Nott jumping a best of 2.20m. Well done to both girls representing the club so well!

National Schools Cross-Country Championships: We had three athletes competing on the SETU campus in Carriganore, Waterford. Wet and windy conditions in the early races was followed by quite calm and mild weather for the later races, however all races were quite challenging with slippery conditions underfoot, particularly on the longer lap with many athletes forced to walking pace. In the minor girls race Robyn Maher (Loreto Fermoy) finished in 75th place overall with her school team finishing 4th of 9 teams. Aidan Maher (St. Colemans, Fermoy) had his best cross-country finish, swapping his 7th place in Munster for an 11th place in the National final. Pacing well, Aidan was in 25th place overall after lap one but worked his way through the field well for a top 12 finish! Timmy Hawkins (Bruce College) competed in the eagerly anticipated Senior Boys race which featured several international athletes. The 4-lap course however took its toll with a number of Pre-race favourites unable to finish  the course. Timmy battled through bravely, finishing in 44th place on the day but will be back next year with valuable experience in the bank! Well done to all three athletes who gave it everything on a particularly challenging course.

IMRA: The Nagles Half-Marathon took place on Saturday morning the 11th. A big turnout, with 114 brave souls finishing what was a difficult and technical course, plenty of mud and inclement weather making the 673m elevation extremely difficult. A first trail half-marathon for Liam Colbert who finished in a time of 2hrs:56, 79th place overall and 4th place in category. Not far behind, Rachael O’Callaghan also debuted at the distance and put in a fine run to finish 89th overall in a time of 3hrs 1min. Well done to both athletes who have been bitten by the trail running bug!

Quest Kenmare: The first of the adventure races this year, again the weather making life difficult for competitors who had to load on the layers of protective. Colm Crowley had an excellent race, finishing the course which consisted of 59km of cycling and 3 mountain runs totalling 18.5km in a time of 3hrs 54mins. That was good enough for 19th place of 304 finishers and 2nd of 81 in his age group. Congratulations to Colm on an excellent start to the season.

Look ahead: A relatively. quiet week ahead on the competition front but we will have athletes competing in the County Roads championships and the IMRA Claragh mountain race. Training is in full swing for our under-13 group who will go head-to-head with the newly formed Cork City AC in a track meet on the  UCC track on 26th March.

Report by Richard Hawkins and Martin Hurley

Photos by Jo Martin 

Five teams travelled to Nenagh last Saturday to compete in the Munster indoor Juvenile relay competition. Our squad was all female, split between athletes with quite a lot of experience and complete newbies to this environment. A wonderful opportunity for our younger learners to get advice and watch our older athletes perform. Indoor relays are ran over 200 meter laps by a team of four in tight tracks with busy changeover zones where athletics turns into a contact sport.

Even-age teams were first up in the morning program and with uneven ages in the afternoon meant a busy day for the organisers who did an outstanding job controlling the masses.

First into the fray were our under-14 team of Aoileann Boyle, Sarah Murphy , Lucy Davis & Mary Kate Dawson. Four heats of four teams with the places in the final going to the four fastest times overall. Third in heat three for the girls with a photo finish decision separating them from second, a competitive showing for their first ever competition.

Our under-18 girls were next up and these girls have a nice bit of experience under their belts in the last couple years and a medal for third place for Lucy Lynch , Rebecca Akinkoulie, Leah Dunne & Sinead Roche was well earned from a good standard race which was a straight final with only four teams entered.

Onto the afternoon, with some medals in the bag and smiles on the faces, our youngest team were next up when Lily O’Keeffe, Aoibhe Dunlea, Allie Philips & Emma Johnson took on the biggest entry of the day with twenty teams in the under-13 competition. Another group stepping into this level competition for the first time they were competitive in their heat four of five but didn’t make the final in what was one of the most competitive fields of the day with Belgooly AC girls setting a new championship record. Our under-17’s had two novice under-16s in Siofra Boyle & Abigail Geary in the line-up, bolstered by under-18 medallists Lucy Lynch & Rebecca Akinkoulie. A tough ask in a very high standard race, the girls didn’t make the final from the two heats. Our last team of the day was the oldies of the under-19 race. An exciting last race as Caoimhe Geoghegan in the lead leg stumbled while moving at full tilt on the back straight, regained her footing and still ran a 28sec leg to hand over to Leah Dunne. Abbie Akinkoulie & Sarah Kate O’Meara took it home for a terrific silver medal from the straight final.

Great finish to our day and great credit to all our youngsters and parents who stayed around throughout to cheer on their older club mates. Earlier in the morning we had two of our relay athletes entered in two field event competitions that were running parallel to the relay competitions. Rebecca Akinkoulie had an early start of 10.00 hrs in the under-17 high jump and finished in the dreaded 4th place. Her sister Abbie avoided that fate when she took the final step on the podium with bronze in the under-19 triple jump competition. A second Munster medal for Abbie in an event she’s just attempting this year for the first time.

Overall, another successful day’s competition for our crew. Priceless experience gained,

the bonus of some silverware to add to an enjoyable club day out.

Irish Universities Athletic Association Cross-Country: This race took place in Limerick on Saturday 4th with incredible depth in both the male and female races. Katie Walsh was a scoring member of the MTU team who finished in 7th place overall. The race went off at a blistering pace, Katie who is very experienced having competed up to National Novice level in cross-country had to use all her experience to run a fast but measured race, taking almost a minute off her pb to finish in 21:10 for the 5k course! Well done to Katie who is having an excellent year in competition.

BHAA MTU: A big turnout in the BHAA series again with 379 finishers in what was the first race where they relied solely on their new chip timing system. Carraig Na Bhfear AC had three members competing and all put in sterling efforts. Michael Mulcahy was 34th overall in a fast 18:13. Siobhan Walsh running 20:34 took the category win in O/40F, just rewards for Siobhan who has been putting in the work in the club training sessions! Rachael O’Callaghan is improving her fitness week by week and ran a great time of 23:44 to finish in the top half of the field. Well done to all three athletes

Tokyo Marathon: The Carraig Na Bhfear AC singlet was on display as far away as Japan this week! Helen Roche quietly going about her business and clocking up yet another marathon, the Tokyo marathon being her second Major having completed Boston last year. An excellent time of 3:51:38 even more impressive as Helen was recently injured and unable to train but no better woman to get it done on the day! Huge congratulations to Helen.

Look Ahead: Best of luck to Anna Mullins, Robyn Maher, Aidan Maher and Timmy Hawkins who will represent their schools in the All-ireland Schools Cross-Country finals in Carriganore, Waterford next Saturday 11th March. Training continues as usual in YCC on Sunday morning as we prepare for the outdoor track season.

Report by Richard Hawkins and Willie Walsh

Photos by Garry Geoghegan

On Friday the 24th of February there was a welcome retun to the SETU (formerly WIT) Carriganore Campus for the Munster Schools Cross-Country finals, excellent facilities with a traditional cross-country course to match and a chance for the qualifying athletes to get valuable experience as the course will also host the National finals on 11th March. Firm underfoot conditions led to fast starts but a stiff headwind and long hills with varying gradients soon split the fields, testing endurance to the full. Carraig Na Bhfear AC athletes were to the fore again in the first race of the day with their school teams In the the Minor girl’s race. Robyn Maher’s Loreto Convent improved on their performance in the South Munsters to win team gold and will  have high hopes for the National Finals. Anna Mullins (St.Angelas) was part of their bronze medal winning team and will also go to Naionals with confidence.

In the Intermediate Girls race, unfortunately Aine Sheridan was unable to finish the race but had been running well in the early stages. Laura Moore (Loreto Fermoy) finished in 45th position, gaining valuable experience as Laura is in the Intermediate age group again next  year. Aidan Maher (St.Colmans Fermoy) was in the leading group in the early laps before a group of four made a break. Aidan finished in 7th place overall in a time of 18:20 and qualifies for the National finals. Brian and Peter Hawkins were scoring members of the Rochestown College team that finished as 5th of 10 teams. Finishing in 43rd and 59th places respectively, the boys were very happy with their race. The final race of the day was the 6k Senior Boys race. A stacked field meant places at National were going to be at a premium. Timmy Hawkins (Bruce College) finished in 14th place in a time of 21:39, very happy to be inside the Top 15 qualifiers. David Maher (Colaist an Phiarsaigh) had an excellent race and Sprint finish to finish in 21st place overall in a time of 22.29, a performance which would normally have  qualified David comfortably, but such is the strength in depth in Munster currently that many good athletes lost out on the day. Well done to all the Carraig Na Bhfear athletes who represented their schools with distinction.

Report by Richard Hawkins

Another ‘Post-Covid’ first in the Midleton Park hotel with the welcome resumption of the East Cork Divisional awards night on Friday 17th February. A chance to socialize and recognize athletes in the division who have had success at National level in s Track and field and cross-country season in the preceding twelve months. With over one hundred athletes across all clubs in the division receiving a certificate it was apparent that athletics in East Cork is thriving. Also on offer were trophies for the most successful juvenile clubs and Carraig Na Bhfear Ac were proud to retain the Gerry Russel trophy for best boys’ club for the East Cork Cross-Country season. A big thank you to Chairman John Hennessy and the Board for organizing a great night.

Carraig Na BhFear AC had twenty atheletes recognized on the night, well done to the following on their significant achievement. Cathal Walsh – Boys under 11 Cathal had a super cross country season winning county and Munster medals and capped off the year with his first ever national medal as part of a bronze medal winning under 11 Cork team. Cathal was running up an age and is looking forward to more success at under 11 in 2023. Aoife Martin – Girls under 15 Aoife displayed her race-walking expertise early in 2022, taking the Munster indoor title in Nenagh before winning a bronze medal at the national indoors in Athlone in March. Josh Judd – Boys under 15 Josh had a consistent year of training and competing in both discus and hammer in 2022, culminating in a silver medal in the discus event at nationals with a pb effort of 32.16m. Theresa Dorgan – Girls under 15 After a consistent cross country season of training and competing, Theresa was part of the gold medal winning Cork team at the National B cross country championships in Kilkenny last weekend. Laura Moore – Girls under 17 Laura had a great cross-country season winning individual medals at the County and Munster championships. After missing the National championships through illness, Laura returned to win her first National medal with the Cork team at the B championships. Brian Hawkins – Boys under 17 A valuable member of his club’s cross country squad, Brian had a super day at the National B cross country championships, winning two gold medals with his club and county teams.Michael Mullins – Boys under 17 Michael has been part of his club’s cross-country squad for a number of years, and his consistency was rewarded last Sunday in Kilkenny at the National B championships when he was part of his club and county teams, both winning gold medals. Cathal Whooley – Boys under 17 Cathal was part of a successful boys under 17 club relay team and ran the lead off leg when his 4 x 400m team were crowned national champions in Tullamore. Timmy Colbert – Boys under 17 Timmy, a talented all rounder who competes in cross country, throws javelin and was also a member of the club’s 4 x 400m gold medal winning boys under 17 team. Bobby O’Riordan – Boys under 17 Another member of his club’s 4 x 400m team that won gold at nationals, Bobby also is a valuable member of the clubs under 17 and 18 cross country squads. Ruaidhri Boyle – Boys under 17 A double national medal winner in 2022, Ruaidhri won a great bronze medal in boys under 17 300m hurdles after qualifying from his semi-final as a fastest loser. He followed this up by being part of the club’s 4 x 400m gold medal winning relay team.      Aine Sheridan – Girls under 18 After winning individual cross-country medals at both county and provincial levels, Aine won a bronze medal as part of the Cork team at the national under 18 championships in Donegal in November. Aidan Maher – Boys under 18 Aidan had a brilliant cross-country season in 2022, being to the fore in all his Cork County and Munster races and came away from the nationals in Donegal with a silver medal as part of the Cork team. Eoin Quirke – Boys under 18 Eoin was first finisher for his team when the club retained the county junior cross-country title in October and followed this up with Munster individual and team medals and a national under 18 silver medal with the Cork team.

George Alamu – Boys under 18 A talented all-rounder, George concentrated on high jump on high jump in 2022 and was rewarded with a national bronze medal in Tullamore in July. Lily O’Riordan – Girls under 19 In her final year of juvenile competition, Lily had a pb throw of 33.98m in the javelin to claim a superb bronze medal at the national track and field championships in Tullamore. Rebecca Kelleher – Girls under 19 A consistent performer at cross country, Rebecca won individual medals at county and Munster championships and finished off a fine season by being part of the gold medal winning Cork team at the nationals hosted by St. Catherines. Timmy Hawkins – Boys under 19 Timmy is a dedicated trainer and competes in a number of endurance events on the track. A great individual medal at the Munster under 19 cross country championships was followed by a hard-earned national silver medal as part of the Cork team. Orla Coffey – Under 23 Women A former national junior and senior pole vault champion, Orla turned her attention to the track in 2022 and won a bronze medal for the 400m hurdles at the national under-23 championships. Ciaran Nugent – Under 23 Men In a breakthrough year for Ciaran, he placed 5th at the national senior championships in the 400m hurdles final at Santry Stadium and then going on to be crowned the national under 23 champion in the same event in Tullamore.

National Senior Indoor Championships: A great weekends competition in the National Indoor Arena with the likes of rising stars Darragh Mcilhenny and Israel Olatunde settingChampionship and National records respectively. Our own Ciaran Nugent was competing in the 400m as part of his preparation for his favoured 400m hurdles event in the outdoor season. In the qualifying heats Ciaran had an excellent race, leading from the gun and finishing first in 50.62s. Ciaran ran in the first semi-final, in what was the faster of the two semi’s Ciaran trailed the leaders at the stagger and couldn’t quite make up the deficit in the run to the line with a time of 51.49s. A great effort from Ciaran, the last to take to the stage at the East Cork awards night but the loudest applause of the night a mark of the high esteem he is held in by his fellow club members and a great role model for our Junior members. We look forward to seeing Ciarans progress this year.

Tommy Moore Memorial Eagle AC 5-Mile: This popular race took place in Carrialine on the morning of Sunday 19th with 326 finishers on an unseasonably mild morning. Flying the flag for the club was Aidan Cooney who had a fine run of 41:44 over the hilly course.

Parkrun: At the Glen-River parkrun on Saurday Morning, Aidan and David Maher putting in solid tempo runs of 19:19 and 19:20 respectively to cross the line in second and third positions as they gear up for the Munster Schools cross-country finals next Friday. Anthony Cafferkey had a fine run of 22:38 and daughter Ellie was second female home in 23:46. In Tramore Valley, Jennifer Goggin-Walsh continued her progression back to race fitness with a good pb of 20:17. Jennifer was one of the first three female runners who finished closely together.

Look Ahead: Provincial competition takes centre-stage next weekend with the Munster Schools cross-country competition in WIT on Friday and the U12-19 Munster Indoor track and field in Nenagh over Saturday and Sunday. Best of luck to all our athletes competing!

Report by Richard Hawkins

Photo by Michelle Whooley 

The Munster U12-19 Indoor Championships took place over the weekend of25th/26th February in Nenagh with provincial medals and qualifying places for National finals on offer. Caoimhe Geoghegan put in good shift for Carraig Na Bhfear AC over the two days with some strong performances. In the 60m Caoimhe was just outside the medal positions in 5th place with a time of 8:34. In the 200m, Caoimhe placed 2nd in heat 3 in a time of 29.24 but was again just outside qualification for the final. However, the well-deserved medal came in the long jump with Caoimhe winning bronze with a best jump of 5.02m in roundtwo, congratulations Caoimhe! The boys U18 400m was decided on times, in heat 1 Ruaidhri Boyle came from behind with a great finish to win his heat in 53.60. Heat 2 was won in 52.44 so Ruaidhri took the silver medal overall but will look forward to having the chance to go head-to-head with his rivals in the coming months. Our final competitor of the weekend was Lucy Lynch competing in the girls U17 400m. Again, this competition was based on times with three heats and a high standard of competition. Lucy ran a fine pb of 1:02:30 to finish in 4th place overall, outside of the medal positions but Lucy is still relatively new to this event and is gaining experience and improving with each race.

Carraig Na Bhfear AC had a fantastic result as far away as the Isle of Man this week! Aoife Martin travelled with coach Martin Hurley and training partners to compete in the Manx Harriers Open Meet. Aoife competed in the 5km Senior mixed race. Although competing as an U15 Aoife finished in 5th place overall in a fantastic time of 28.06. Congratulations to Aoife who looks in great form for the coming track season!

On Friday the 24th of February there was a welcome return to the SETU (formerly WIT) Carriganore Campus for the Munster Schools Cross-Country finals, excellent facilities with a traditional cross-country course to match and a chance for the qualifying athletes to get valuable experience as the course will also host the National finals on 11th March. Firm underfoot conditions led to fast starts but a stiff headwind and long hills with varying gradients soon split the fields, testing endurance to the full. Carraig Na Bhfear AC athletes were to the fore again in the first race of the day with their school teams In the  Minor girl’s race. Robyn Maher’s Loreto Convent improved on their performance in the South Munster’s to win team gold and will  have high hopes for the National Finals. Anna Mullins (St.Angelas) was part of their bronze medal winning team and will also go to Naionals with confidence.

In the Intermediate Girls race, unfortunately Aine Sheridan was unable to finish the race but had been running well in the early stages. Laura Moore (Loreto Fermoy) finished in 45th position, gaining valuable experience as Laura is in the Intermediate age group again next  year. Aidan Maher (St.Colmans Fermoy) was in the leading group in the early laps before a group of four made a break. Aidan finished in 7th place overall in a time of 18:20 and qualifies for the National finals. Brian and Peter Hawkins were scoring members of the Rochestown College team that finished as 5th of 10 teams. Finishing in 43rd and 59th places respectively, the boys were very happy with their race. The final race of the day was the 6k Senior Boys race. A stacked field meant places at National were going to be at a premium. Timmy Hawkins (Bruce College) finished in 14th place in a time of 21:39, very happy to be inside the Top 15 qualifiers. David Maher (Colaiste an Phiarsaigh) had an excellent race and Sprint finish to finish in 21st place overall in a time of 22.29, a performance which would normally have  qualified David comfortably, but such is the strength in depth in Munster currently that many good athletes lost out on the day. Well done to all the Carraig Na Bhfear athletes who represented their schools with distinction.

Other News: IMRA : Rachael O’Callaghan has been a regular on the trail running circuit since the start of the year, using these races as part of her Cork marathon preparation. A cunning strategy as trail running is ideal for building both strength and fitness. In Rahan Woods, Mallow, Rachael covered the 9.20km course in 56.53 to finish 89th of 132 finishers and was 2nd in category.

Kinsale 10 mile: There were almost 800 finishers in this sold-out race which is becoming a firm favorite on the fixtures calendar. Seanna Connolly tackled the hilly course and finished her longest distance race to date with a good time of 1:33:09. The other big race on the calendar was the Adare 10k and we were also well-represented by Caroline O’Donovan who finished in 57:10. Well done to our ladies on some great running!

Look Ahead: Munster indoor championships continue next weekend with the team relay competitions, training continues as normal on the UCC track on Sunday.

Report by Richard Hawkins

Photo by Jo Martin

Our senior women made club history on Saturday when they were our clubs first ever team to compete and make it to the final of the national indoor senior league.

A new format of the league this year adding some extra events made it a big challenge for our club to cover all events in the two qualifying rounds to make the top eight teams to qualify for the final day.

A fifth place finish in the rounds to secure a final berth was an accomplishment in itself for our very young group.

Off to the final we traveled last Saturday morning to Dublins National indoor arena for a fantastic day’s athletics in the company of some of the countries biggest clubs with intentions of being competitive and maybe a little hope of challenging for one of the three elusive medals.

The scoring system goes from 9 points for a win ,7 for second and all the way down to one for 8th place. First up in the 60 sprint was Emma Akinkoulie who secured our first point in what was a very competitive field. Aine Sheridan at 16 years of age gained another two points and a lifelong memory in the ultra competitive 1500 which had a recent Olympic competitor stringing out the field. We knew we were in with the big leagues now. Blessing Alamu steadied the ship with a fourth place in the Shot Putt. Our 4 X 400 team of Emma Akinkoulie, Lucy Lynch, Isobel O’Meara and Katie Walsh also settled the nerves with a brilliant 4th place running a 6 second improvement from their time from the qualifying round. This was a big PB for this foursome and close to the club record time.

Odhrna Hurley continued the upward trajectory with a fourth place finish in the 1500 meter walk and when Caoimhe Geoghegan came away from a very competitive long jump competition with a big smile on her face after claiming fifth place and two PBs from her four jumps we had snuck up to a high point of 4th place overall.

Next into action was our team MVP Orla Coffey when she took fourth in the 60 meter hurdles she quickly scuttled across the track to take another 7 points for second place in the Pole Vault competition.

This was the halfway point and we were well in the mix and more than holding our own.

As the competitions came in quick succession all coaches were busy keeping the girls supported throughout. Sonya Walsh our brilliant Bodypump instructor took to a new event the 28lb weight for distance for the first time and secured 6th place with an ever- increasing set of throws.

Lucy Lynch had a big PB performance in the 200 meters knocking another half second off her previous best for 5th place & a valuable four points from a 15yr old athlete in her first year of eligibility to race senior events. A career in the future over the long sprints is a definite for Lucy.

Another 15yr old in her first ever senior competition was Rebecca Akinkoulie in the High Jump. Falling foul to the four foul total rule in team competition Rebecca bowed out in sixth place after fouling her first attempt at 1:50 meters having used up three fouls at previous heights just as she seemed to be getting into her stride. A great experience for such a young talent and hopefully more to come from her.

Excluding her mum Sonya (WFD), the elder stateswoman of the team at the age of 23 is Katie Walsh. Never shy in leadership roles Katie took on the 800 this season moving up from her previous favourite the 400 to bolster the middle-distance area of the team. What an indoors she’s had with PBs in ever race ran culminating with another 3 second improvement for an impressive 3rd place behind Dundrum South Dublin superstar Olympian and previous national record holder Georgina Hartigan.

Another middle-distance race followed with our newest club member Grace Crowley participating not only in her first ever senior race but her first indoor track race. Obviously a PB for Grace and a terrific 6th place finish in a very well-judged race.

Abbie Akinkoulie was starting her triple jump competition as Grace started her race as we moved into the closing stages of the day.

Abbie “volunteered” to give the triple a go to enable us to cover all the disciplines as we traditionally didn’t have a history of producing triple jumpers. Abbie in only her third competition jumped close to her PB in what will be an exciting new event for her.

Orla Coffey laced up her spikes for a third time in the day taking on the 400 meters. Racing in a fastest first heat of two Orla set a new PB to take 3rd in her heat and a brilliant 5th overall. Knocking nearly a second off her PB she finished the day with a terrific 16 individual points to the team total.

The last event of the day saw Emma Akinkoulie line out in the lead leg of the 4 X 200-meter races for her third race of the day also. Making up the team were Lily O’Riordan, Leah Dunne & Caoimhe Geoghegan who ran to the 6th fastest time of the day.

With all the events completed we were in seventh place out of eight teams. We covered all events which in itself was a great achievement, and we were 13 points off the bronze medal position. A little bit of disappointment but we’ll take that as it shows that the girls have ambitions to achieve more than just taking part.

A huge sense of pride and a taste for glory was ignited in a group that were by far the youngest team in the competition.

Overall it was a hugely successful and positive experience for the club, something well worth celebrating and attempting again.

What we have learned is the need for a large squad to be competitive with the big clubs and to that end we will be looking to develop more athletes to this level for the future.

Report by Richard Hawkins, Rhona Lynch, Ger Foley and Willie Walsh.

Photo by Garry Geoghegan.

The National Juvenile ‘B’, Intermediate and Masters Cross-Country Championships were held on Sunday 12th in Gowran, Co. Kilkenny, a welcome return to the venue for a second consecutive year for Nationals. The start and finish of the races were situated in an area which was formerly a golf course, ideal for fast racing and even more so given the recent dry conditions. Coupled with loops in a more traditional, hilly farm section it is the course that has everything with convenient vantage points for spectators. Carraig Na BhFear AC were well represented on the day with all athletes giving their all. A good start to the day with our U13 girls’ team of Ellie Cafferkey, Aoileann Boyle, Allie Phillips, Emma Johnson, Hannah Coffey, Ellie Long, Aoibhe Dunlea and Emma Kate Dawson finishing 7th out of 16 teams, very little to separate the majority of teams in a tight race. Ellie Cafferkey just 3 places off a place in a strong Cork team that took the gold medal, Ellie also losing a shoe during the race but drove on regardless! Well done to all these girls who have been putting the work in at training and the Glen River Parkrun in recent weeks. Our U13 boys team packed well together finishing as 10th club team, just 7 places separating the 1st and 4th place runners. Well done to MJ Walsh, Paul Colbert, Harry Browne, and Sam Browne. Plenty more to come from these lads.

Our first medal of the day came in the U15 girls race where we placed 8th overall.  Theresa Dorgan worked her way through the field to finish in 21st place overall and 5th Cork scorer on the gold medal-winning county team, lots of competition for places on the Cork team so a significant achievement to be a scorer on the day. Theresa was ably supported by Robyn Maher, Anna Mullins and Siofra Boyle on the Carraig Na Bhfear team. Cian Ryan was our sole representative in the boys U15 race. Cian ran well to place 21st overall and was second scorer for Cork but unfortunately Cork had to settle for 4th place in the inter-county competition. In the U17 girls’ race, Laura Moore finished in 15th place overall. Intense competition again in this race for places on the gold- medal winning Cork team, Laura battling through to take the 4th spot and a well-deserved county medal. The final juvenile race of the day was the U17 boys 3k race. A wealth of collective experience with many a race at National level in the locker for the lads who were relaxed and enjoyed the experience thoroughly. There were individual medals for Timmy Colbert (9th) and Cathal Whooley (12th) and with Brian Hawkins (18th) and Michael Mullins (21st) supporting well, there was great jubilation as the boys won the National Club title and also bagged a gold medal each as part of the Cork team who were also victorious.

Congratulations to everyone who ran in Kilkenny and represented the club so well. A big thank you to the parents who made the journey but particularly to the coaches who supported the athletes in Dublin on Saturday and Kilkenny on Sunday, incredible commitment over recent weeks to our athletes who will have such good memories of their experiences and successes.

BHAA: The Janssen 5k BHAA race took place in Little Island on Sunday, a change from the traditional 6k route following the success of the recent DuPont race which was on a new faster and safer route given the recent changes to the road layout in Little Island. Michael Mulcahy continued his recent rich vein of form to finish 2nd in the M45 category in a time of 18:23. Rachel O’Callaghan had a fine run of 23:44, Rachel will feature in this week’s Runners diary podcast as she targets the Cork City Marathon in June. Great credit to Rachel as I am sure her wealth of experience will benefit many runners looking for motivation and support.

Parkrun: In Tramore Valley Park, Richard Hawkins ran a pb time of 20:08 to finish 16th overall. Cathal Walsh ran an excellent time of 22:00 in the JM10 category with mum Siobhan getting in a nice tempo run to finish on the same time. Cathal looking in good form for the upcoming track season! At the Glen River Parkrun, Anthony Cafferkey ran a nice pb of 22:21 to finish 5th overall, great running!

Look Ahead: The East Cork awards night takes place in Midleton Park Hotel on Friday 17th February. Juvenile athletes in the East Cork division will be recognised for winning medals at National finals and we will have s number ofathletes who will deservedly be recognised for their achievements over the last year. Our Club AGM will take place in the Arches Bar in Carraig Na BhFear on Sunday the 19th February at 8pm, all members welcome.

Report by Richard Hawkins

Photo by Michelle Whooley

Round two of the National Indoor senior track & field league took place in Athlone ITs fabulous indoor facility last Sunday morning. Carraig Na BhFear AC had a women’s team participating in the League for the first year ever trying to defend a fantastic 5th place from round one hoping to secure one of the eight places in the final. First up on the day at 1100hrs after an early start and a 200km journey was Abbie Akinkoulie in the triple jump. In only her second ever competition in the discipline, having volunteered to cover the event for team points Abbie secured a valuable 7 points with a 10th place finish from the 16 teams.

Orla Coffey was next up in the quick-fire timetable of events as everything ran on schedule like clockwork. 60m hurdles this time for the uber versatile athlete who was an accomplished multi- eventer as a juvenile. 4th place overall for Orla and 13 team points in an amazing PB time of 9:41.

Aine Sheridan toed the line in a very competitive 1500 field for her first ever senior middle-distance race. Another versatile athlete Aine had a very credible 8th place and 9 team points.

The weight for distance stood out as a potential banana skin when looking at the list of events when the athletes at your disposal were predominantly endurance runners, but Rhona Lynch toed the line and hoisted the 26lb weight far enough into the sand pit for 5 team points.

Orla Coffey returned to the track for her 4th individual event over both days when she set up her blocks for the 400-meter sprint. In a fast heat where a European masters record was broken by Leevale AC Annette Quaid, Orla ran yet another PB performance for seventh fastest overall and 10 team points. Over both days Orla contributed a terrific 48 points in the four individual events she participated in showing what a great team leader she’s been.

In the 1500-meter walk Odhrna Hurley put aside her hurley for a weekend to take a magnificent 4th place finish in what was a very competitive field where every team fielded an athlete. This very technical discipline had its fair share of disqualifications as those not proficient fell foul to the judges red cards. Odhrna, always an excellent exponent of the art held her position to take a magnificent 13 team points. Another of our “older “girls in action was Katie Walsh in the high jump. At the ripe old age of 23 she is an accomplished multi-eventer with national junior & senior medals in her palmares. Katie put on her high jump spikes after a couple of years out of practice to pop over 1:55 and gather 12 points for her 5th place finish. Katie bounced from her high jump to lead off the 4 X 200 team of Emma Akinkoulie, Isobel O’Meara and Caoimhe Geoghegan to 9th place overall in what was a competitive field of relay teams with Leevale ACs team breaking the national senior record along with taking the junior record also as they were all under 20 years of age. Second in their heat, thanks to a storming last leg by Caoimhe, to Finn Valley AC who broke the Ulster record with their winning time.

After all the excitement and the busy morning schedule the announcement that we had finished in third place overall after the two days was unexpected and met with giddy excitement. Later there was some readjustment of the scoreboard and we were in a brilliant 5th overall, a position that if offered on the morning of day one we would have snapped up. Onto the final on the 11th of February with a spring in our step and looking forward to our day out in the knowledge that everything from here on is a bonus.

Park Run : Preparations for the upcoming all-Ireland ‘B’ Cross-Country were in full swing at the Glen River parkrun on Saturday morning. A damp morning but a very competitive field of runners on the day providing a good challenge on the hilly course. Timmy Colbert finished in 5th place overall for his second fastest time on the course, pushed all the way by Cathal Whooley in a pb time of 20:07. Ellie Cafferkey, building on her recent good form on the course ran another PB of 22:45 to finish 2nd female, pushed all the way again by dad Anthony in a pb of 22:47. Great running lads and we would hope to see more athletes out in the coming weeks utilizing this great resource which is ideal for race preparation.

BHAA: We had a strong contingent of runners among the 397 finishers in the DuPont 5k in Little Island. Despite recently celebrating their 40th anniversary, the Cork BHAA showed great innovation introducing their own chip timing system on a day that also saw a change to the traditional route. A new starting point below the Little Island Community Centre and the bulk of the route on the Eastgate circuit made for a super-fast course, ideal for pb’s. The new course does mean there is some lapping of tail runners but there was sufficient space on the route to ensure the race was seamless in its execution.

Michael Mulcahy was first home in 40th place in a  fast time of 18:14. Richard Hawkins ran a 54 second pb to dip under the 19-minute mark for the first time in 18:57, taking 3rd place in the M55 category. Darragh O’Keefe ran an excellent 19:03 despite being in recovery from a 25k Saturday long run, in preparation for the Rome Marathon. Jennifer Goggin-Walsh continued her recovery from injury, running well in 20:08 and taking a 3rd place category finish with son MJ running a cracking 22 mins flat, MJ also in great form preparing for the All-Ireland B’s. Siobhan Walsh (20:47), Eileen O’Riordan (23:31), Rachel O’Callaghan (24:29) and Siobhan Murphy (24:45) showing good form also for our Ladies team. Well done all!

Other News: Three of our club steeplechase specialists (Aidan Maher, David Maher, and Timmy Hawkins) availed of a rare opportunity to partake in a training session in this technical and grueling event at the UCC track on Sunday 22nd. Over three hours were spent being put through their paces by Regional Development Officer for Athletics Ireland Bashir Hussein. Bashir has vast experience in the discipline both as an athlete and coach to elite athletes and the session was hugely valuable as a learning experience for the experienced athletes and for some younger athletes in the East Cork division looking to try the event, which can be daunting for the first time. Many thanks to Bashir for his time and the individual advice given to each athlete.

Look Ahead: Preparations for the ladies National League final in the National Indoor Arena in Abbottstown on February 11th will be the focus in the coming weeks. A reminder to all our members that the Club AGM will take place in the Arches Bar on Sunday night 19th February. Also, Club registration is due for all members by the end of January, forms available from the clubhouse if required, thank you.

Report by Richard Hawkins

Sunday the 8th of January 2023 was a major milestone for Carraig Na Bhfear AC as we fielded a women’s team in the National Indoor League Senior Club competition for the first time. A long-held goal of the club was to provide a pathway for our Juveniles athletes through the Junior and U23 age groups to the Senior ranks, a notoriously difficult task as the demands of balancing study, work and social commitments results in a major fall-off in numbers competing in athletics. The National Leagues were targeted as an ideal platform that provided a high level of competition suitable for all athletes while still retaining the social benefits of a team competition. As a club we have supported the East Cork division in the outdoor summer leagues for some time and this year have progressed to entering our own multi-discipline team. There was a huge level of excitement in the National Indoor Arena in Abbotstown as Carraig Na Bhfear AC rubbed shoulders with fifteen of the top clubs in the country. The format is one athlete per club in each event with 16 points to the winner down to 1 point in order of placings. The top 8 clubs after round 2 on the 22nd of January will compete in the National finals in February.

There were some outstanding performances on the day with all athletes contributing to a team score that saw Carraig Na Bhfear finish in joint 5th position, well placed to secure a place in the finals. Orla Coffey showed versatility in the extreme by competing in 2 events simultaneously! As if a second place in the pole vault wasn’t enough, Orla took 7th place in the shot put, alternating her turn in each event to secure 25 team points! Great to see Emma Akinkoulie back in competition in the 60m after a lengthy spell on the sidelines with a serious knee injury, Emma had a good season opening race in a time of 8:47s . Katie Walsh ran the third fastest time of the day in the 800m in a time of 2:19:95 to secure 14 points. Lucy Lynch was competing in her first senior competition with an impressive 27:27s in the 200m. Caoimhe Geoghegan had a best jump of 4.79m to secure a valuable 9 team points. Finally, Isobel O’Meara led out the 4 x 400m relay team with Emma Akinkoulie, Lucy Lynch and a storming leg from Katie Walsh securing 4th place and another valuable 13 points. We didn’t manage to cover the 3km race on the day which shows there is still scope for improvement in this team. Best of luck to the team on day 2 in Athlone!

Other news: Some of our juvenile athletes got in some valuable race time to bridge the gap until the school’s cross-country starts in February. In Race 3 of the Ultra-competitive Cloyne 4k series, Aine Sheridan had a solid run finishing in 45th place from 242 runners in 16:38. Aidan and David Maher opted for the full cross- country experience running in the BHAA 5k in Beaumont Park. A tight muddy course was made even more difficult by a strong wind and driving rain on the start line with the hill becoming increasingly treacherous on each of the 3 laps. The lads put in good performances finishing in 4th and 8th positions respectively, good racing against seasoned senior runners while gaining valuable experience. Richard Hawkins was next in 38th position, first M55 across the line (age groups to be updated!). Aidan Cooney dipped his toe in to cross-country racing for the first time, as difficult an introduction as you’ll get but ran a fine time of 26:51 to finish 80th of 190 runners, well done Aidan, always good to add to our cross-country squad! Great to see Rachel O’Callaghan racing for the first time in a while, finishing just ahead of Siobhan Murphy, both under 32 mins and glad to get such a tough race under the belt for the New Year. Well done to all, great running!

Park Run: In the Glen River Parkrun on Saturday morning, Ellie Cafferkey took almost a minute off her previous weeks’ time to finish as first female overall in an excellent time of 24:13. Eoin Cafferkey improved his PB by a minute and a half on the previous week in the JM10 category, very impressive running from the Cafferkeys backed up by dad Anthony finishing just behind Eoin in 27:05. In Tramore Valley, Christy Murphy got his year off to a good start, bettering his time from last September to finish in 24:51, well done Christy, consistent as ever!

Look Ahead: Training is back in full swing this week with the National Leagues Day 2 the major focus for the club in the coming weeks. Our Annual AGM will take place in the Arches Bar, Carrignavar on Sunday the 19th of February. All members are welcome to attend, more detail to follow on social media.

Report by Richard Hawkins

10/1/23

There was an early start to the 2023 track season as the Munster Junior, U23 and Senior indoor championships were held in Nenagh on Tuesday 2nd January. Carraig Na bhFear AC had strength in depth in the travelling squad with no signs of Christmas over-indulgence with medals and pb’s a plenty as the club hit the ground running in the new season.

Our first race of the day was the Junior women’s 60m, Caoimhe Geoghegan getting proceedings underway with a 7th place finish in heat two in 8.60s. The first race of the afternoon session was the Junior women’s  400m and Lucy Lynch showed that she will be a force to be reckoned with this year in the U17 age group, taking the gold medal in an impressive time of 1:02:39. Going in the first heat of three Lucy had a storming first lap and showed strength and determination to maintain her pace over the second 200m lap to take the title. Well-deserved as Lucy has put in some excellent training over the winter months. We didn’t have to wait long for the next Munster title as Orla Coffey also took gold in the U23 women’s race with another well-paced race finishing in 1:03.79. We look forward to seeing the progress of these athletes in the coming months.

Isobel O’Meara showed her race experience to hold off a late challenge from a Moyne AC athlete to win bronze in the women’s U23 200m, well done Isobel! Katie Walsh was first across the line in a combined Junior, U23 and Senior women’s 800m (non-Championship) in a good season-opening time of 2:24:43. A gold medal followed as the U23 women’s 4 x 200m relay team of Isobel O’Meara, Orla Coffey, Kiah Olotu and Carol Halpin-Hurley finished under the 2-minute mark.

We also had good representation in field events with Caoimhe Geoghegan finishing 5th in a high standard Junior women’s long Jump event with a best of 4.82m. More to come from Caoimhe who was competing up in age and will be happy to have a good competition under her belt already. Abbie Akinkuolie competed for the first time in the very technical triple jump event, a bronze medal for Abbie in the Junior women’s competition with 9.58m the best of a solid series of Jumps. Lots of potential and plenty to build on for Abbie in the coming months.

The final event of the day was the 3000m Junior, U23 and Senior race with the Masters race also combined. In heat one it was double gold for Carraig Na Bhfear as Timmy Hawkins won the Junior men’s race in 9:34m, also gaining great experience in the overall race finishing 5th in a congested field of runners. Willie Walsh also picked up gold in the M45 category, consistent as ever running a fast 10.12.73. Well done to both athletes on a great race. Richard Hawkins competed in the second heat winning bronze in the M55 category.

In summary, a brilliant start to the season and great credit due to the coaches and athletes for their commitment to training over the Christmas period to be competition-ready so soon and this was reflected in excellent performances from all athletes on the day. Also credit due to the parents who supported on the day and to Gary Geoghegan for capturing the day with some great photos.

Christmas recap: Our club had good representation over the Christmas period in the popular Togher 5k on the 27th and Grange Fermoy 10k on the 31st. It was a wet and windy morning in Togher but some great running from Tadhg Crowley (17:21), Conor Kelly (18:27), Timmy Colbert (21:49), Aidan Cooney (23:54) and Liam Colbert (26:35). Tadhg and Conor led the way again in Fermoy in more ideal weather conditions which were appreciated by all as it is a challenging course with few flat sections. Eight club members turned out for this race which is becoming a firm favorite as a training target. Tadhg Crowley (36:36 and 80s PB)), Conor Kelly (39:23, PB!), Richard Hawkins (41:35, PB and 2nd in category), Rhona Lynch (52:21), Cliona Lynch (52:21 and 2nd in Category), Denise Maher (58:06, big PB!), Liza Davis (59:19) and Alan Davis (59:19) were the runners on the day which was also a good social outing with great support on the day and credit to Grange-Fermoy on providing welcome refreshments and a well-organized race.

Parkrun: The Glen River parkrun was well utilized over the festive period with our members out in force on Christmas Eve, New Years Eve and New Years Day to keep their fitness ticking over. Great running from Dave Mullins, Rian O’ Luasa. Aidan Maher (first home on New Years Eve), Cathal Whooley (4th home on the same day!), Cathal  Walsh, Siobhan Walsh, Eileen O’Riordan, Ellie Cafferky and Eoin Cafferkey.

Look Forward: Training on the track in UCC will resume on Sunday mornings from Jan 8th . The club have also entered a women’s team in the National Indoor track & Field league for the first time, also taking place next weekend. The best of luck to all competing!

Report by Richard Hawkins

Photo by Garry Geoghegan