2024

The Munster Track and Field U12-U13 Championships took place last weekend, An Riocht in Castleisland were hosting. Travis DeSouza competed in the long jump and 80 meters in his first ever Munster championship. Travis had a best jump of 4:17m to improve his pb by 1cm placing 5th in a competition that his older brother Theo has the impressive championship record of 5:06 from 2018. Travis followed this with a 4th place finishing a competitive heat of the 80 meters but didn’t advance to the final. Cathal Walsh ran in the first of three U12 600m heats one of three where he was outside the automatic qualifying places and was just outside the time for a fastest qualifier spot. Well done to both athletes on good performances.

Other News: Colm Crowley had an impressive 16th place overall in the Dingle adventure race with a finishing time of 4:03:27, a run up Mount Brandon just one of the challenges on the day! Also a catch-up to the Lough Cutra Castle series in Galway where Liam Ahern had a super run of 33:02 for 8K as the fastest finisher on the run leg of the triathlon.

Look ahead: Best of luck to all our athletes competing in the Munster U14 to U19 Track and Field Championships in Waterford next weekend

Report by Richard Hawkins

14/6/24

The Cork city 10K, Half-Marathon and Marathon took place in glorious sunshine on Sunday 2nd June, challenging conditions with the heat but the atmosphere was electric and Carraig Na BhFear AC were out in force in the sold-out events. The second running of our team competition was eagerly anticipated with 6 teams of 4 competing, with some members completing their first 10k race. Hotly debated before and after, team ‘Smilers’ lived up to their name as they collected their prizes. Congratulations to Brian Hawkins (36:46), Peter Hawkins (38:32), Siobhan Walsh (44:10) and Orla Gorman (49:21). The deciding factor again this year was current form and dark horses coming to the fore on race day! Having a race target to focus training is ideal as well as the social aspect which is now firmly established! Thanks to Coach Rhona for organizing. Fantastic performances all-round, well done to Conor Kelly (38:49), Diarmuid Kiely (39:36), Willie Walsh (39:38), John Ahern (39:42), Colm Crowley (42:27), Sean Gorman (42:46). Dave Mullins (43:15), Cian Ryan (45:00), Paul Ryan (45:45), Rhona Lynch (45:51), Eileen O’Riordan (48:16), Luke Mullins (48:24). Michael Mullins, Rachel O’Callaghan (51:29), Christy Murphy (52:33 & 3rd place in Category!), Anita Casey ((54:51), Isobel O’Meara (54:57), Rachael McCarthy (58:28), Aidan Cooney (1:13) and Marion Cooney (1:20). Looking forward to next year already!

The temperatures for the half-marathon had risen significantly by the 10:15 start and fast times were hard to achieve, However, we had fine performances from Darragh O’Keeffe (1:28:08), Michael Mulcahy (1:31:44), Richard Hawkins (Pacer, 1:44:35), Helen Roche (1:51:08) and Fiona Holmes (2:09:21). Last but certainly not least were our two marathon finishers. Huge credit to Robert Boyle who was hampered by injuries for a large part of the race but battled through to finish in a creditable 4:37:54. Caroline O’Donovan notched up yet another marathon in 5:06:03, congratulations to both athletes on a day where finishing was far from a formality!

The All-Ireland Schools Track & Field finals took place in Tullamore on Friday and Saturday and it was treat for the watching fans of athletics as every competition was at a high level and there was superb talent on display. On a beautiful Friday evening the Race Walks were the first event on the Track, Robyn Maher representing Loreto College, Fermoy was in the first Race - Junior Girls. The race began at a ferocious pace, Robyn got into her stride quickly but realised that she needed to leave the leading girls go otherwise she would suffer on the third lap or worse get a DQ. Robyn went through 400m in 1:45 which was still very fast. At this stage Robyn was isolated but kept her head and didn’t lose any ground on the girls ahead of her and was always pulling away from the girls behind her. On the Third lap Robyn looked relaxed and still gaining on others. Robyn had a great race and finished 5th in 5:58, once again breaking the 6-minute barrier. Next up was Aoife Martin representing Colaiste an Chroi Naofa Carraig Na BhFear – in the intermediate Girl race. This race was stacked with race walkers of the highest quality. The first lap was very slow, all positioning themselves and waiting for a move. Then just coming into the second lap Karen Mulvaney-Kelly made a move and was 10 metres clear in a short distance, then Savanagh O’Callaghan, Aoife Martin and Robin Murphy covered the break and with 200m the 3 girls were now clear. Savanagh made a break on the third lap on the back straight, but Aoife covered it with Robin 5m behind. The pace was now picking up all the time, on the 4th lap Robin was back in contact. Coming into the final lap the 3 girls were lapping others. Savanagh made another break after overtaking one of these girls, Aoife covered it but left a gap on the inside and Robin saw the gap and went, suddenly Savanagh and Robin were clear of Aoife by 5m. They both led at times and in the final 80m Robin was 5m clear and had the gold. Aoife’s final lap was her fastest of the race, finishing 3rd and getting a PB of 9:40. This was a fabulous race of the highest standard, any one of the 3 girls could have won. Well done to both Aoife and Robyn, both walked and raced very well.

Also in action on Friday evening was Aidan Maher (St,Colmans Fermoy) in the Senior Boys 2k steeplechase .Again, a race of the highest standard, an early break from Noah Harris on his way to a fast race time of 5:52 quickly split the field and with many of the other athletes doubling up in the Championships their conviction to racing hard was tested. Aidan ultimately finished in 6:53 for 7th place but energy saved was put to good use on Saturday when he was in the mix in a high-quality 1500m running a massive pb of 4:10:71 for 8th position. Ruaidhri Boyle (Coliaste An Piarsaigh) won silver in the Senior Boys 400m Hurdles, well in the mix for the title, a few clipped hurdles were costly but good pacing enabled Ruaidhri to have enough in the tank to come from 3rd place through to 2nd in the closing stages in a time of 55:86. Congratulations to Ruaidhri who later competed in the 400m Flat finishing 5th in a fast time of 51:16, great running for his second race of the day. The final events of the Championships were the relays. Lucy Lynch (St.Aloysius, Carrigtohill) moved up to Senior grade to run the anchor leg of the 4 x 300m relays, Lucy ran a powerful leg to help the team to 4th place and their fastest time of the Championships 3:05:33. Unfortunately not in the medals but an excellent result to be 4th in Ireland.

Faye O’ Riordan was part of a 4-girl U20 Irish team running in the European trail running event in Annecy France, her race was a 7k classic Up/Down race. A big thanks to IMRA for organizing and managing the teams, there were Male/Female U20 5k Uphill, Senior 7.6k Uphill, Ultra 58K and 16k Up/Down Classic. Fayes’ race had very strong competition from the big mountain running countries of France, Italy and Spain with the first 3k climb with 350 meters of elevation on a surprising muddy trail for France at this time of year. A change in the course the night before from the organizers due to heavy rain in the preceding days removed a lot of the technical downhill to the disappointment of Faye as it is a key strength for her. They routed the course on to safer fire roads, this suited the fast roadrunners with a few small climbs for the remainder of the 4k which brought them into the flat last kilometre that was well supported with flags and cheering spectators along the banks of the Lac d'Annecy and into the finish with the big screen and cheering crowds. Faye and the other 3 girls ran their hearts out and did the country proud, they are a very young team with Faye and one other girl still only 15, credit to the IMRA for developing young talent, they will be back to take on the big boys again in the coming years.

Timmy Hawkins was unable to compete in the Cork City 10K this year due to his impending leaving cert exams but kept his hand in with a 16:59 5K in the Tramore Valley Parkrun on Saturday as first finisher.

Look ahead: The Munster U9 to U13 Track and Field championships take place next weekend in Castelisland, Co. Kerry. Best of luck to our younger athletes who will be competing.

Report by Richard Hawkins

Photos by Michelle Whooley

4/6/24

The Munster Senior, Junior, Masters and Juvenile Combined Events were held in Templemore last weekend. Despite a few downpours, conditions were generally good and Corkonians were happy just to be competing on a track again! Despite a few late injuries Carraig Na BhFear AC had athletes competing across all the age groups and there were some excellent results and experience gained. On Saturday Amelia O’Donovan finished a creditable 9th overall in the girls U13 Heptathlon, the highlights being a 3rd place in the 600m and a heat win in the 60m hurdles. Hannah Coffey had a good series of events in the U14 girls heptathlon capped by a 3rd place finish in the 800m. Hannah showed her range of skills by adding gold in the U14 girls Pole Vault on Sunday with a clearance of 1.95m. Travis De Souza competed in the boys U13 Heptathlon with outstanding performances in the long jump (4:16) and a heat win in the 60m hurdles. Well done to our young athletes!

We had three Junior athletes in action, all featuring prominently in the medals. Ruaidhri Boyle looked in good form ahead of the National Schools Championships next weekend winning the U20 400m Hurdles in 56:48. Caoimhe Gray-Walsh ran a fine pb time of 1:04:76 to finish 2nd in the U20 Womens 400m and followed this up winning U20 gold in the 800m with a time of 2:36:78 in a combined race with Senior and masters athletes. Brian Hawkins took on the U20 1500m in a race that was combined with Senior athletes, undaunted Brian ran a big pb of 4:46:47 to win the bronze medal. After a short break, Brian followed this up with a run of 17:59:79 to win silver in the U20 5000m race, Finally, our Masters representatives lined up in competitive heats with Richard Hawkins finishing 4th in the M55 category in the 1500m in a time of 5:37:59 and Willie Walsh bringing home gold in the M45 3K in a time of 10:46:24. It was double gold for Walsh’s as Sonya Walsh won her category in the Weight-For-Distance competition with ha best throw of 6.09m. Congratulations to our athletes and thanks to coaches Ger Foley and Willie Walsh for their support over the weekend.

On Tuesday 21st, a record 1014 runners completed the BHAA John Buckley 5k on a new course in the Marina, traditionally a fast race and a great opportunity for pb’s. Timmy Hawkins was first home in 27th place (16:09) with Tadhg Crowley in 42nd place with a big pb of 16:39. Great times also for Brian Hawkins (17:14), Joseph Daly (17:29), Conor Kelly (17:48), Darragh O’Keefe (17:54), Diarmuid Kiely (18:28), Michael Mulcahy (18:36), Richard Hawkins (20:06), Orla Coffey (22:01), Emma Johnson (23:04), Aine Johnson (29:43) and Aidan Cooney (31:11).Apologies if I have missed anybody, great to see such a good turnout from our members.

Conor Kelly was in action again on Friday finishing 20th in the Walls of Fethard 5k race in 19:03, well done Conor!

Look Ahead: Good luck to our athletes competing for their schools in the All-Ireland Schools Championships on Friday and Saturday in Tullamore, stay tuned to our Social Media channels for previews! Faye O’Riordan travels to Annecy in France on Wednesday where she will represent the Irish U20 Mountain Running team in the Classic Race next Sunday, well-deserved for Faye and it will be a memorable trip. Locally, there is great excitement building towards the Cork City Marathon where our members will be out in force both stewarding and competing in the Marathon, Half-Marathon and 10k races with the highlight being the awarding of the bragging rights in our 10k team competition with 6 teams of 4 competing. No doubt debate and analysis will go on long into the afternoon!

Report by Richard Hawkins

28/5/24

A very successful day at the county relay and limited field event championships last Sunday was had by our small band of travelling athletes. Travel they did, as due to the continued lack of a single track capable of holding a competition in the County of Cork, Castleisland in North Kerry was the location for this year’s championships. Under-10 Ivy Forde was our youngest competitor on the day and she had a very creditable 4th place in turbo javelin and placed in the upper half of the results sheet in her long-jump. Ivys’ brother John also threw Turbo and was competitive with a top half finish in his under-12 category also. There was a good contingent of long jumpers in action and paid dividends with Aoibhe Dunlea taking a bronze medal in under-14 girls’ competition. Others who long-jumped were under-12 John Forde, under 13s Amelia O’Donovan, Laoighse Nott and Travis DeSouza who finished 4th in his first ever long-jump competition. Under-14 girls competing were Emma Johnson, Mary Kate Dawson, Hannah Coffey & Lily O’Keeffe. Two of our under 14s took on the high jump also with Hannah Coffey just outside the medals in 4th position and Mary Kate Dawson in 5th.

The big success of the day was our four relay teams that travelled with all 4 coming away with medals and the qualification for National Finals that comes with a podium finish at counties.              Our under-14 girls team won their heat and had another great performance in the final to take a silver medal. Mary Kate Dawson, Aoibhe Dunlea, Emma Johnson and Lily O’Keeffe lined out in both heat and final. Our under-15 girls Lucy Davis & Liala Olotu were joined by Lily O’Keeffe & Aoibhe Dunlea from the 14’s to take bronze in their straight final competition. The two 15’s Lucy & Liala then stepped up with under-16s’ Jess Akinkoulie & Jennifer Murphy to win another bronze medal in that competition.  Thank you to all the parents who travelled to Castleisland to get our young people there and back safely with the bonus of some great medals and memories. Our Under-19 Boys team of Michael Mullins, Aidan Maher, Ruaidhri Boyle and Bobby O’Riordan won gold in the final race of the day, a fitting end to the days competition as this team had claimed our most recent county relay victory before this promising group of girls took up the mantle.

Ciaran Nugent got his 400m hurdles season underway with a 5th place in the May Senior Open in Morton Stadium, Dublin with a solid opener in 55:44 in what was an exceptionally high-standard race. An exciting season ahead in this event with the impressive Dewhirst brothers joining the Senior ranks, Fintan Dewhirst running 51:19 to move to 5th on the Irish Senior all-time and achieving the U20 A-standard. No doubt the competition will drive Ciaran on as he builds towards the National Senior Championships.

The Munster schools Track & Field Championships took place in Templemore on Saturday 18th, a number of our athletes representing their schools were hopeful of a place in the National Finals in Tullamore in two weeks’ time. In early competition our Junior Racewalkers Robyn Maher (Loreto, Fermoy) and Anna Mullins (St.Angelas) faced stiff competition but finished in 3rd and 4th places respectively with good performances. In the Inter girls race over 2km, Aoife Martin (Colaiste an Chroi Naofa) had a comfortable win in 9:51:56 and will head to the finals full of confidence. Our two Senior athletes had an impressive day winning two medals apiece. Ruaidhri Boyle (Colaiste an Phiarsaigh) won gold in the 400m hurdles and silver in the 400m flat in fast times of 58:21and 51:38 respectively. Aidan Maher claimed silver in the 2000m Steeplechase and bronze in the 1500m in times of 6:31 and 4:17 respectively. Caoimhe Gray-Walsh (Loreto, Fermoy) held off a challenge to finish 4th in the girls Inter 800m in a time of 2:32:32, not an automatic qualifying position but giving herself a chance of a finals slot as the first 3 girls had doubled up in both 800m and 1500m. Lucy Lynch 4th in the Inter Girls 300m in a tight final, the distance short of Lucy’s favored 400m but a great effort nonetheless and Lucy also led her St. Aloysius, Carrigtwohill team to victory in the 4 x 300m relay. Congratulations to everyone competing on super performances!

The Fota 5k and Juvenile 1-mile race hosted by Eagle AC is always popular with our members, fortunately the promised thundery downpour preceded the races and the weather was ideal for both races. Our three athletes in the 1-mile race negotiated the hectic start well to pace the race nicely and running very impressive times. Well done to Allie Phillips (17th, 6:10), Cathal Walsh (21st, 6:14) and Emma Johnson (29th, 6:25). In the 5k race Brian Hawkins was 2nd Junior in 17:54 with Peter Hawkins 3rd Junior, breaking the 19-minute barrier for the first time with a pb of 18:58. Darragh O’Keefe was a well-placed 22nd overall in 18:25 with Richard Hawkins finishing next in 20:50 and great to see Aidan Cooney back racing and finishing in 33:37. Siobhan Walsh and Orla Gorman worked together to finish on 23:58, well up the field of runners. Well done to all competing.

Congratulations to Conor Kelly who was the winner of the Poulmucka 5k in Tipperary with a time of 18:31. Conor also coming back from injury but showing great progression in recent weeks, well deserved!

Look Ahead: Carraig Na BhFear AC have a strong entry for the Munster Junior, Senior, Masters and Juvenile combined events Track and Field competitions next weekend in Templemore. Best of luck to all competing.

Report by Richard Hawkins

Photos by Tony Johnson

21/5/24

  The Cork County U9 to U14 Track & Field Championships took place in the unfamiliar setting of Banteer on an Astroturf surface. Credit to the Cork County Board for improvisation to ensure the competition took place, a first outing for many of the Carraig Na BhFear underage contingent.

Our youngest group coached by Paul and Yvonne all put in great performances on the day. Doubling up in the boys 60m and 600m we had Ben O’Leary, Liam and Aidan Walsh. Zen Barry, Ted Pierse and Dara Quinlan showed good pace in the Boys U11 60m. Ruth O’Sullivan and Emma Forde also competing well in the girls U11 60m. Well done to all competing.

Our U12 to U14’s coached by Willie and Eileen competed very well also, valuable experience gained at a very competitive level. Ewan Twohig had an impressive debut in the club singlet, 3rd place in the U12 60m heat but bowed out at the semi-final stage. Eabha McNamara also took on the 60m sprint with a solid performance. Cahal Walsh competing in the 600m was impeded by a faller in front of him, he battled on bravely but unfortunately had too much ground to make up but will be back as determined as ever. Laoighse Nott doubled up in the U13 girls 60m and 600m with good performances in both races. It was a competition debut also for Antonia Twohig and Rebecca McCarty in the U14 girls 80m where they both impressed in their heats, Rebecca a little unfortunate being placed in a heat that featured some of the fastest runners in the competition. Hannah Coffey had a typically strong finish in the U14 800m but had to settle for 5th place as the leaders held on in the last 200m. Our sole medal of the day was awarded to Allie Phillips in the U14 800m, Allie showed good tactical awareness to track the leader and cover the changes in pace to win a well-deserved silver medal. Congratulations to Allie. In Summary, a good day’s competition with all our young athletes stepping up to the challenge of competition at the next level.

There was much success for our older age-group athletes who were representing their schools in the South Munster Schools Track & Field Championships in Castleisland on Wednesday 8th May as they sought qualification for the Munster schools’ finals. Ruaidhri Boyle (Colaiste an Phiarsaigh) had an impressive double gold in the Senior Boys 400m flat and hurdles competitions. Aidan Maher (St.Colmans Fermoy)also doubled up in the Senior Boys 1500m and 1500m steeplechase winning bronze in both races.

Lucy Lynch (St.Aloysius, Carrigtohill) was pushed all the way in the Intermediate girls 300m but held on well to take the gold medal, Lucy also ran the anchor leg in the winning 4 x 300m relay team in another close race. Caoimhe-Gray Walsh (Loreto, Fermoy) won silver in the intermediate girls 800m in a time of 2:30.63. Laura Moore (Loreto Fermoy) placed 4th in the Intermediate girls 3k with both Caoimhe and Laura combining in the relay competition. Also in girls Intermediate competition, Aoife Martin (Colaiste an Chroi Naofa) continued her winning streak with victory in the Racewalk in a time of 5:35.60. Jennifer Murphy was 4th in her heat of the girls intermediate 100m hurdles and was part of the first ever Colaiste an Phiarsaigh Junior relay team with Rachel Cuthbert (competed in the 100m), Lucy Davis (4th in Junior 75m hurdles heat) and Cliodhna McCarthy (competed in Junior 100m). Aoileann Boyle (Colaiste an Phiarsaigh) won a bronze medal in the minor girls long Jump with a best of 4.02m and also progressed to the final of the 100m finishing in 5th place. Robyn Maher (Loreto Fermoy) and Anna Mullins (St.Angelas) were 1st and 2nd respectively in the Junior girls’ racewalk. Congratulations to all our athletes who performed brilliantly on the day.

Other news: Tadhg Crowley ran a fast time of 16:57 in the sold-out Bweeng 5k finishing in 21st place overall. In the BHAA Pfizer 6-mile, just 3 seconds separated Darragh O’Keefe (38:08) and Conor Kelly (38:11) in 37th and 38th places respectively, great running!

Look Forward: Best of luck to our athletes representing their schools in the Munster Schools Finals in Templemore on Saturday 18th and to Ciaran Nugent who will compete in the 400m Hurdles at the National Senior May Open in Morton Stadium on the 19th.

Report by Richard Hawkins

Photo by Jo Martin

14/5/24

In a busy week of competition that saw Carraig Na BhFear AC athletes out in force, some of our young rising stars caught the eye with some stunning performances.

On Sunday 5th May, Aoife Martin competed in the Kilkenny Race Walking Grand Prix racing in the Under-18 5K race. Aoife was quickly into her rhythm in the first kilometre and was in the leading pack, looking very comfortable even though the leaders had gone out too quickly, passing

the km mark in 4:54. The race settled down in the second km and the lead pack was now down to two (Aoife Martin from Carraig Na BhFear and Robin Óg Murphy from Louth). Although the race had settled, they had increased the pace, leaving the rest behind, including athletes U20s and older!

Going into the third km the race was really heating up as was the weather, neither girl would concede an inch while maintaining the pace. Their split going through the third km was just over 15mins, which had them on schedule for the U18 European qualifying time of 25:30. Just into the fourth km Aoife made a decisive move, injecting a slight increase in pace, making a break to power through this km.  Coming into the fifth and final km she had a gap of 30 to 40 metres, but her split was 4 to 5 seconds outside the Qualifying Standard. She gave everything in the final stretch but the tight bends, heat and the fast first km made it very difficult to achieve the qualifying time but she came into the final 200m with the whole crowd roaring her on.

Aoife’s official time was 25:47, just 17 seconds outside the U18 European qualifying time of 25:30.  After today’s race Aoife is very confident that she will get this qualifying time.  This was her third 5K since December, the first was on 17th December in Raheny where she clocked a PB of 26:41, on 16th March in Dudince, Slovakia she got a PB of 26:20 and on 5th May she got another massive PB of 25:47. Congratulations Aoife on a Super performance. Sincere thanks to Perri Williams, St. Joseph’s AC and Kilkenny County Board for organising this great event.

It was a big week for Faye O’Riordan also on the trails. On Wednesday Faye finished as first Female in Garryduff Woods with Dad Dave taking another category win. Well done also to Helen Roche who won her category. However, for Faye this was a warm-up for the main event as she competed in the Irish trials on the Wicklow Way for the U18 World Mountain Running Championships which take place in Spain in June. Faye ran a well-paced race, steady on the uphill sections before using her downhill running skills to come through as second female qualifier in a super time of 28:54 for the 5.7km course. Huge congratulations to Faye on another great performance.

On Wednesday 1st May we had a massive turnout of 57 members supporting Carraig Na BhFear GAA in their annual 5km race. There were some fine individual performances but too many to name individually given the excellent turnout. Special mention to Allie Philips, at just 12 years of age Allie made the podium as 3rd female overall with a super time of 21:49, congratulations to Allie who has put in some great work over the winter months!

In the Midleton 5-mile race over an undulating hilly course Brian Hawkins put in another super performance, his time of 29:35 good enough for 25th place overall and 1st Junior male in a very competitive field of 347 runners. Congratulations to Brian. Peter Hawkins is also making good progress with a time of 33:11 with Richard Hawkins completing the course in 33:52.

Further afield, we had 2 athletes competing in the Regeneron Great Limerick run 6-mile event. Good running and excellent finishing times from Siobhan Walsh (44:44) and Orla Coffey (50:49).

Look Ahead: Best of Luck to all our athletes competing in the south Munster Schools Track and Field on Wednesday 8th in Castleisland, Co. Kerry. The Championships kicked off last Thursday in Kilworth with Joshua Judd (St.Colmans CC Midleton) winning the silver medal in the Intermediate Boys Hammer with a best throw of 33.90m. The County Championships for U9 to U14 age groups will be held in Banteer on Sunday 12th May.

Report by Richard Hawkins and Martin Hurley.

Photo by Joe Anne  photos

7/5/24

The annual East Cork Road Championships in Ballynoe is one of the key dates in the Calendar for Carraig Na BhFear AC, undoubtedly one of the more difficult courses in Cork with the management of the infamous hill often a deciding factor in the placings. On Thursday 25th our club had a typically strong showing with a good sprinkling of athletes in both squads making their championship debut. As is tradition, the women’s race over 3K was the opening race and what a competitive competition with just 4 points separating the first four teams. Carraig Na BhFear were led home by Faye O’Riordan in 4th place overall with Siobhan Walsh in 12th place, followed by Cliona Lynch, Laura Moore and Orla Coffey packing well together and Orlaith Merritt in close pursuit. Unfortunately, they were the team who had to settle for the dreaded 4th place with 31 points, despite such a strong performance from the team but such was the tightness of the margins on the night. 

Our men’s team were bidding for a 3rd victory in a row but knew they would have it all to do to retain the title, there is a prestigious roll of honor in the individual standings so competition is always intense but in a relaxed atmosphere. The race plan was tried and tested; Timmy Hawkins battled it out at the head of the field with Willie Walsh using his wealth of experience in the race to pace the pack through the opening laps setting up the final push in the closing stages. Timmy did the business pushing through to take 4th place with Tadgh Crowley (10th), Joseph Daly (11th) and Brian Hawkins (12th ) completing the scoring. Darragh O’Keeffe (14th) and Willie Walsh (15th) were influential in taking points from the chasing teams and a score of 37 points was enough for victory over host club St. Catherines in 2nd and East Cork in 3rd. Completing the impressive total of 10 athletes in our men’s squad were Peter Hawkins, Richard Hawkins, Dave Mullins and Dave O’Riordan. Congratulations to everyone involved, the team effort is testament to the hard work put in during the winter period, despite leading busy lives the group has supported each other in getting the miles done on a weekly basis.

The Surf, Turf n’ Tar race took place slightly earlier this year but was again blessed with gorgeous weather. The race is a challenging mixture of road, trail and sand in the picturesque setting of Rosscarbery. Faye O’Riordan was an impressive 14th overall from 623 finishers over the 10k distance, finishing as 2nd female and 1st Junior in a time of 44:23. Dave O’Riordan was 1st M55 in 49:52, congratulations to Faye and Dave!

Look Ahead: Our members will be out in force this week in support of the Carraig Na BhFear GAA 5k which takes place in the village on Wednesday 1st May. Training as usual for the upcoming South Munster schools and County Track and Field competitions.

Report by Richard Hawkins

30/4/24

The Ballintotis 4-mile race signifies the official start of Summertime for many in the Cork running community. Guaranteed sunshine and large crowds socializing long after the race finish. Superbly executed, it has all the hallmarks of a big city race, complete with starting pens, bunting and music, scaled perfectly to the picturesque village in East Cork. This year’s race also incorporated the county Senior, Novice and Masters Championships and it was seamless, the 1166 finishers all playing their part in the excitement of the double race, with many well-known athletes competing in Ballintotis for the first time and many who had not competed in the County Championships previously making their debut in the event.

Carraig Na Bhfear AC were out in force with a record 22 athletes competing. Our Women’s team stole the show with Faye O’Riordan leading the way with an excellent time of 25:20 to finish as 6th female overall and win the Junior prize in the Ballintotis race. Our Novice ladies were an impressive 4th place in the county novice race and 9th from 21 teams in the Senior race. Great running by Siobhan Walsh, Cliona Lynch, Orlaith Merritt, Orla O’Gorman, Seanna Boyle, Megan Murphy, Anita Casey, Paula O’Riordan, Sinead O’Brien, Aisling O’Brien and Caroline O’Donovan.

Some impressive individual performances also from our men’s team, in a highly competitive Counties they finished as 7th Novice Team and 8th of 20 Senior teams. Timmy Hawkins was first home in a fast 21:50 and was 3rd male Junior. Timmy was supported well in the team scoring with Joseph Daly, Brian Hawkins, Willie Walsh and Diarmuid Kiely reaping the benefits of consistent training with impressive times. Well done also to Peter Hawkins, Nicky Pike, Richard Hawkins (3rd Masters M55), Dave Mullins, Liam Colbert and Dan Daly.

Glorious sunshine in Youghal marked the start of the summer surely with a wonderfully enjoyable day’s competition at the East Cork Athletics Division juvenile track and field day 2. Youghal AC were the hosts in their grass track grounds in Tower Park overlooking the town. Another small traveling band of Carraig Na BhFear AC athletes made the journey to the eastern edge of the division with long jump, javelin, shot putt, high jump , sprints and distance races all on the program.

Our youngest training group the under 11’s and younger had a nice bunch travelling and took home some silverware with top performers on the day Zen Barry and Darragh Quinlan taking 1st & 3rd respectively in under 11 turbo javelin. Added to a great relay medal from Clonmel this group are starting to show promise for the future. Our middle group, under 12 to under 15 had another bumper day with Amelia O’Donovan continuing her great championships with two more silver medals in the under 13 track races over 300 & 800 meters. Our under 14 girls took a clean sweep of the podium in the high jump with Mary Kate Dawson taking the top step for the win. There was a nice brace of medals also for Lucy Davis showing a good range of skills winning gold in the U16 girls Javelin and a bronze in the U15 girls 200m.

For the boys in the group Cathal Walsh took a hard-fought bronze medal in the 300 and John Forde his first individual East Cork medal with bronze in the turbo Javelin. Both lads compete in a competitive under 12 age category. From our older junior training squad Caoimhe Grey Walsh took another two medals in shot putt and 200-meter sprint to cap off a fine championship haul of 5 medals over the two days in the under 17 to 19 age category. So, a great success over the two days of East Cork competition where we got to see our younger juveniles try as many events as possible and our developing athletes hone their craft and see what they might specialise in for the years ahead.

From here we look forward to a limited county championships with the lack of a track in the county seeing us traveling to Kerry of all places. The summer will hold many opportunities for competition in numerous open sports competitions throughout the county and Munster for our kids to get the exposure they need to develop.

With the ongoing issues in Cork with track availability, the Tipperary County Championships kindly facilitated guest athletes and Carraig Na BhFear had six athletes in Templemore on Sunday who took full advantage. There was a clean sweep in the Mens Junior 400m with Ruaidhri Boyle (51:38), Bobby O’Riordan (54:90) and Michael Mullins (1:00:60) the first 3 across the line. They were later joined by Aidan Maher to win the 4 x 400m Junior mens race in an impressive 3:50.6. Ruaidhri was 1st in the 200m Junior men in 22:85. Aidan Maher ran his season-opener in the 2k Junior men’s steeplechase in 6:35 to take 1st place.

In the womens’ events Lucy Lynch and Katie Walsh were also showing good form. Lucy was 1st Junior woman in the 400m in 59:90 and was 2nd in the Junior 200m in 27:44. Katie was 1st Senior woman in the 400m in 59:98 and 2nd in the Senior 800m in 2:15:7. Well done to the athletes and coaches on a very worthwhile trip to Templemore.

London Marathon: Congratulations to Fiona Holmes who completed the London Marathon in 4:22:36 on a warm and very windy day. A fantastic achievement by Fiona.

Great Railway Run 25K: Richard Hawkins was one of the 438 finishers in this annual charity race from the Monahan Road to Carrigaline which took place in beautiful sunshine on Sunday morning. Richard completed the course in 1:58:24.

Look Ahead: The East Cork Roads Championship over 5 miles will take place in Ballynoe on Thursday 25th April. Carraig NaBhFear will hope to maintain the high standard of performances in recent years in what should be a great night of races.

Report by Richard Hawkins and Willie Walsh

Photos by Michelle Whooley 

23/4/24

Despite last weekend heralding the start of the outdoor Track and Field Championships, the headlines belong to young Faye O’Riordan. Faye was having a fantastic season already with several top 3 finishes in the IMRA Munster Coillte Spring/summer mountain running league, but the annual Irish trials are a step up in class with the best runners from the 32 counties taking part. This would be Faye’s first Irish Trials race. The courses for Irish trials are quite technical and challenging and the 7.62 km course on Seefin mountain in Limerick had a sizeable 357m of elevation. The prize on offer was an Irish vest in the upcoming European Off Road Running Championships in Annecy, France on the first weekend in June. Faye had a superb run finishing in 4th place in the Junior Women’s Race in 40:08, a fantastic achievement as Faye is still U18. The first 3 finishers were also the podium finishers in the Uphill race in Seefin on Friday night giving the selectors a wealth of options and indeed Faye was confirmed as selected for the European competition. Huge congratulations to Faye from everyone in Carraig na bhFear AC, so well deserved! Dad Dave also put in a fine performance on the 15km Senior race finishing as first M55 in 1:44:10.

Our first Championship Track and Field outing of the season took place last Sunday, day one of the East Cork Athletics Division track and field championships. Chairperson Wille Walsh reported on the club’s trip to Clonmel ACs newly built Mondo facility for its first official hosting of a championship event. “Having to explain to an interested local while walking up to the facility that clubs travelled there because there was no track in Cork, the local retorted that “you’re taking the p€&@ out of me”. “In the whole county?? “ he squeaked in amazement. “Sure we’ve one in every town “he laughed. Embarrassed and frustrated I trudged on in and paid my €5 for a great day’s competition. We had a small but competitive bunch travel the hour up the M8 to compete in distance and sprint races with shot put and long jump available in the field events. Relay races closed off an enjoyable if somewhat cold day due to a stiff westerly wind blowing up the home straight.

A good spread of medals from our middle and junior groups with our younger under 11 group having great fun finding their feet and learning about competition and making friendships. The standout performance on the day was Amelia O’Donovan who won all the individual events available to her with gold in 80 sprint, 600 middle distance, long jump and shot put under 13. She also took silver racing up in age with our under- 14 girls’ squad when they fielded two teams taking silver & bronze in the under 14 relay race. A well worthwhile experience for all involved and hopefully it’ll whet the appetite for some more members to travel to Youghal this Sunday for round 2 where there will be lots of great opportunities for more medals on Youghal ACs grass tracks in Tower Park.”

BHAA: The first of the BHAA evening races took place on Tuesday 10th April with the running of the PWC 5k on the Monahan Road with a massive turnout of 831 finishers! Congratulations to Aidan Maher with a PB time of 16:10 to finish in 7th place overall in a tight finish. Darragh O’Keefe (Janssen)paced a steady19:32 to finish 113th overall and Siobhan Walsh (Abbvie) ran a fast 21:11 to finish 205th overall.

Look Ahead: A massive turnout is expected in Ballintotis on Thursday  18th, always a popular race in its own right with up to 1000 finishers, this year it will also incorporate the County Senior, Novice and Masters Championships over the 4-mile course. The Championships were traditionally held as a standalone race in Castlelyons so this is a new departure for the Cork County Board and hopefully will be a success for all involved. Day 2 of the East Cork Track and Field Championships will be held in Youghal on Sunday 21s. , This will be a relaxed environment ideal for younger athletes taking their first steps  in to competition. Best of luck to everyone competing in Ballintotis and Youghal.

Report by Richard Hawkins and Willie Walsh

16/4/24

On last Saturday 6th April in Athlone at the 123.ie Athletics Ireland National Juvenile Indoor Championships star race walker Aoife Martin won Gold in the U17 1500m Walk. In a highly competitive race, Aoife showed her class by powering away from her competitors and crossed the line 15 seconds ahead of the 2nd placed athlete. Wonderful scenes at the finish with Aoife embracing family and teammates. All the hard work paying off. Congratulations Aoife and coach Martin Hurley

In the U16 1500m Walk, Robyn Maher and Anna Mullins put in excellent performances to finish 6th and 7th place respectively. Comfortably amongst the top ten athletes in the country.

Ruaidhri Boyle flew into action in the morning session in the U19 400m, his 2nd place finish in the heat 2 qualified him for the afternoon final. In a really gutsy display, Ruaidhri blasted through the first lap to give himself every chance. Unfortunately, lactate kicked in with metres to go and Ruaidhri was caught. A fast time of 50.97s and a 5th place finish in the end gave plenty of positives to take away.

Our sole competitor at Nationals on Sunday was Caoimhe Gray Walsh who ran in the U17 800m heats. In a very competitive event unfortunately a good finishing time of 2:35:83 was not enough for a place in the final for Caoimhe. However, Caoimhe gained hugely valuable racing experience and for an athlete who’s making great strides there will be plenty more National Championships appearances. 

Also taking place over the weekend were the Inter-Varsity Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the Mary Peters track in Belfast.  Conditions were difficult with strong winds, but it didn’t detract from some great performances. Orla Coffey representing UCC won an impressive silver medal in the 400m hurdles. Orla ran a conservative semi-final to finish in 3rd place to qualify for the final. Conserving energy clearly paid off as she ran one of her fastest times ever to finish in a time of 64:49 despite the challenging conditions. Orla also won gold as part of the 4 x 400m mixed relay team who ran an impressive 3:44:48 to finish best of 10 competing teams. Congratulations Orla!

Locally, the big race of the weekend was the Sonia O’Sullivan Cobh 10-miler. The race which had 828 finishers was sold out weeks in advance for the first time. Tadhg Crowley had a brilliant 19th place finish in a time of 1:00:12. Tadhg was targeting sub-60 minutes and paced exceptionally but was just outside his target by 12 seconds, nevertheless an excellent achievement on the hilly course given the added difficulty of running into a headwind for the last 2 miles. Good running also by Darragh O’Keeffe who finished in 61st place overall in a time of 1:07:13. Congratulations to Helen Roche on her 5th place category finish in a well-paced 1:24:25. Well done to all three runners who run superbly on a tough course.

Other News: Colm Crowley was one of the brave competitors taking on the Quest Adventure race in Glendalough on Saturday 6th. Undeterred by high winds, Colm completed the challenging course with 1900m of elevation in 3hrs 54mins (results pending).  As day 1 of the East Cork Track & Field Championships in Clonmel next weekend comes in to focus, some of our younger athletes put in good performances at the Ballincollig Junior Parkrun on Sunday. Great running by Allie Phillips, Mary-Kate Dawson, Emma Johnson & Lily O’Keeffe.

Report by Richard Hawkins

Photo by Jo Martin

11/4/24

Last weekend Aoife Martin competed in the Gold Level World Athletics Racewalking Tour meeting in Dudince, Slovakia. Aoife contested the U18 5Km race in what was a highly competitive field of athletes.

It was Aoife’s first ever experience competing in a Gold Level event, and she revelled in the challenge.  Aoife got a PB of 26:20, a 22 second improvement on the Raheny Bronze Level event in December. Aoife raced really well and finished in 4th place overall behind a Romanian girl and two Czech Republic Walkers.

Aoife started well and met her 400m split target and from there got into her rhythm. At the1km mark she had lost contact with the first three girls but didn’t panic and stuck to her plan. Unfortunately, she was isolated for the next 4km but still managed to keep up a solid, consistent pace for the most part and never stopped fighting, keeping up her concentration levels for the entire race.

Aoife can take enormous satisfaction from this finishing position as there were fifteen U18s on the start line and she didn’t receive any red cards.  Robin Og Murphy from Longford A.C was another Irish Racewalker competing in the same race finishing in a very credible 10th position, again all this was new to Robin Og and she will take away an awful lot from it.

Aoife still has a lot to improve on, this was picked up on during the race by other coaches and she can now address these in the coming weeks and months.  It is still very early in the season, but Aoife is going in the right direction to have a successful and enjoyable season. Aoife’s main aim for the weekend was experience, not just race experience but all that goes with Race Walking a 5K, especially abroad. Travelling, eating, sleeping, hydration, meeting new people and race preparation, plus she is very young competing at U18 level.

There were eleven athletes competing from ireland in this meet, all different ages and all different goals. Aoife was the youngest travelling and integrated with the group straight away, benefitting a lot from the experience of the others. Hopefully, this is the first of many trips away.  Congratulations Aoife on an excellent 5K and PB, it is a big learning curve! Thanks to Martin Hurley for the race report and for supporting Aoife in such a big event.

IMRA: Another talented Carraig Na BhFear AC Junior girl was in action on Mt .Claragh in Millstreet on Saturday 16th. Faye O’Riordan coped really well with extremely slippery conditions on the descent of the 7km race to finish 13th overall and 3rd Female to maintain her run of consistent performances this year. The race was also notable as another junior, 15-year-old Finn Yore from West Muskerry finished 1st overall showing the current level of talented juniors competing. Fine running also from Dave O’Riordan who finished 3rd in his category in a time of 49:33. Next race up is Torc mountain in Killarney next Sunday 24th March.

Parkrun; In a wet Tramore Valley Park, Peter Hawkins had a parkrun PB finishing 24th overall in 20:49. Richard Hawkins finished in 30th place in a time of 21:03, a bumper crowd of 304 finishers in TVP following the cancellation of a flooded Ballincollig Parkrun.

Look Forward: Best of luck to our members who will take on the Mallow 10-mile race next weekend, conditions look favourable at this stage for the race!

Report by Martin Hurley and Richard Hawkins

Photo by Jo Martin

The schools’ cross-country finals were held in the unfamiliar setting of Tymon park, Tallaght last Saturday 9th March. On one of the biggest days in the domestic athletics calendar, almost one thousand athletes representing their schools lined out in the 60th edition of the championships, following in the footsteps of Irelands biggest athletics stars. Carraig na bhFear AC had four athletes competing on the day, the course itself was very fast in complete contrast to the conditions in Tramore Valley Park for the qualifying races in Munster. The standard of racing was extremely high as expected given the calibrate of athletes who had qualified. In the Junior girls’ race, Robyn Maher was 3rd scorer for Loreto Fermoy who finished a creditable 7th place from 12 teams competing. Faye O’Riordan placed 42nd overall and was 2nd scorer for St. Angelas who placed 5th in the team competition. Caoimhe Gray-Walsh was also 2nd scorer for the 8th placed Loreto Fermoy team, Caoimhe placed 62nd overall. Finally, the Senior boys race over 6km was run at a blistering pace from the start, Aidan Maher ran an excellent time of 20:49 to place 32nd individually overall. The team competition was extremely close with just 10 points separating 1st and 3rd places. Aidan was 2nd scorer for St. Colemans who won the bronze medal, congratulations to Aidan on winning his 2nd schools team medal. Very well done to all four athletes who competed so well in their three races in the competition.

Also taking place on Saturday was the Inter-Varsity cross-country championships in Queens University Belfast. An excellent run from Rian O’ Luasa over the 8k distance to finish well up the field in 34m 20 representing UCD.

The Indoor track and field season continued in Nenagh on Sunday with our race-walkers finally getting their season underway. Laoighse Nott is the newest member of Martin Hurleys’ race-walking squad and made an impressive debut in the U13 1k walk winning the gold medal in a time of 6:22:36 in what looks like another very competitive age group. Congratulations Laoighse! The U16 1.5km walk was a tight affair with 8 athletes taking to the start line and there was very little to separate the first 4 athletes across the line. Robyn Maher had enough in the tank following her cross-country race the preceding day to finish 2nd overall in a time of 7.55.71. Anna Mullins was just .09 secs outside the bronze medal position in 7:57:31. A great opening competition for the girls that will set them up nicely for a busy year of competition ahead. Aoife Martin had a more comfortable opening race in the U17 girls 1.5 walk taking the gold medal in 7:11:28. However, Aoife won’t be complacent as she knows there is a stiff test ahead in the Nationals but as always, she will be well prepared to execute her race.

Other News: Lots of versatility shown by our members this weekend. Massive congratulations to Darragh O’Keefe who smashed the 3 hour barrier at the Barcelona marathon running 2hr:58. The course features wide, crowded streets so it isn’t unusual to run well over the standard marathon distance, but despite running a bonus half-kilometer extra Darragh still had enough time in hand to comfortably meet his target! Colm Crowley took on the challenging 78k route at Quest Kenmare finishing in an excellent 28th position overall in a time of 4hrs 20s.

Road runners were spoilt for choice this weekend with the Killeagh 4-mile, Courceys AC 5-mile and Banteer 5-mile road races taking place. Diarmuid Kiely ran a fast time of 32:17 to finish 16th overall in the Courceys AC 5-mile. A large field of 342 runners took part in the Mt.Hilary AC 5-mile road race in Banteer. Great running from Tadhg Crowley to finish in 18th position overall in 29:05. Finally, a shout-out to Eileen O’Riordan who completed the assistant coach course over the weekend in the Mardyke arena.

Parkrun: Brian Hawkins got in some nice training with a solid 19:30 to finish 5th overall in Tramore Valley Park. Richard Hawkins notched up his 50th Parkrun in a time of 21:31.

Report by Richard Hawkins

Photo by Jo Martin

The Munster Schools Cross-Country finals were held in Tramore Valley Park last Thursday 27th February, a return visit to the venue for the Carraig na bhFear AC athletes who had qualified from South Munster. The course was equally muddy and an increase in distance for Senior Boys to 6k made for a challenging afternoon. Carraig na bhFear AC had six athletes competing for their schools, all with a realistic chance of qualifying for the All-Ireland Schools finals in Tymon Park, Tallaght on 9th March but no guarantees as the standard of competition on the day was quite high. Robyn Maher was the 4th finisher for Loreto Fermoy who placed 2nd of 11 teams and will progress to the finals, well done Robyn! Faye O’Riordan was the first girl home for St. Angelas who won the silver team medal in the Intermediate girls race, Faye also placing 12th individually with a great run. Loreto Fermoy placed 3rd to take the team bronze with Caoimhe Gray-Walsh and Laura Moore 2nd and 4th respectively for the team who had the race winner in their ranks. Good luck to the four girls who will be in the mix for team placings with their schools in the finals.

Aidan Maher and Timmy Hawkins took their places in the Senior boys 6k race. Aidan paced the race well with a strong finish in 7th place, just 3 seconds behind St. Colmans Fermoy team-mate William Verling in 5th position. With all four St. Colmans scorers in the top ten finishers, they will have high hopes of a podium place in Tallaght. Timmy Hawkins finished in 13th place overall representing Bruce College and is safely through to Saturdays’ final. Aidan and Timmy are very experienced in this competition and will look forward to what will be a great occasion.

Other News; Ciaran Nugent had a season-opener over 400m indoors at Day 8 of the Track and Field Live series lining up against 800m specialist John Fitzsimon who is twice National 800m champion and a former U20 European bronze medallist. Ciaran had an excellent 2nd place, just .01s behind Fitzsimons, brilliant to see Ciaran rubbing shoulders with one of Irelands best!

Siobhan Walsh was representing Abbvie in the BHAA MTU 5k on Sunday morning, fine running from Sobhan to finish in a time of 20:47!

The first IMRA race in the ‘fog in the bog’ series, Mushera Boggeragh took place on Sunday 3rd March. No fog in evidence but plenty of bog, hail, snow, rain and sunshine during the 10.3km race with 458m elevation. No bother to the O’Riordans with Faye continuing her excellent form to claim the short course win. Dave finished 4th in category in 89 mins, brilliant running!

Parkrun: Richard Hawkins was among a large field of 328 runners at the Ballincollig parkrun on Saturday finishing in 21:14.

Look ahead: Good luck to the six athletes heading to the All-ireland schools cross-country next weekend. Also, best of luck to Darragh O’Keeffe who will take on the Barcelona marathon next Sunday, moderate temperatures and clear skies currently forecast so perfect conditions for the race, enjoy!

Report by Richard Hawkins

The U12-19 Munster Indoor Track & Field Championships took place over last weekend in a packed Nenagh venue. It was an ideal opportunity for some of our more experienced athletes to get race at their favoured events or test themselves at different distances as they build towards the season ahead.  Some of our younger athletes also made their first foray in to racing at provincial level which is a considerable step up from divisional and county level.

Our younger athletes were first into action. Hannah Coffey follows sisters Emma and Orla competing in the Pole Vault, but she is certainly not in their shadow as she powered her way to a new Munster U14 record of 2.25m, congratulations Hannah on an amazing achievement! Emma Johnson and Allie Phillips were competing in heats 2 and 3 of the U14 girls 800m. Both girls ran very well, Emma finishing 5th in her heat in 2:48:76 and Allie finishing 4th in 2:46:09, invaluable experience to build on. Caoimhe Gray-Walsh ran in a very competitive U17 girls 800m straight final. Tactically, Caoimhe ran superbly, a steady first 3 laps was followed by a storming last lap earning her the bronze medal in a good time of 2:34.12, well done Caoimhe! The Junior Women’s 3km race was also held in conjunction with the underage championships on Saturday, congratulations to Laura Moore on winning gold in a pb time of 11:53.17!

Ruaidhri Boyle placed 2nd in the boys U19 400m in a time of 52:45, narrowly losing to Aodan Mac Consaidin who is a relative newcomer at the event but is obviously very talented. A rare defeat for Ruaidhri in Munster but good competition is always welcome as the driver for improvement. Lucy Lynch drew some valuable experience from the U18m 200m and 800m building both speed and endurance for her favoured event of 400m. Very well done to everyone competing in Nenagh at the weekend!

Other News: The Kinsale 10-miler took place on Sunday 25th in driving wind and rain. Undeterred by the inclement conditions, three Carraig na bhFear AC warriors took to the start line and produced great results. Tadhg Crowley finished in an impressive 21st  place overall and 5th in category in a huge field of 927 runners, Tadhg’s finishing time of  1:01:59 is excellent given the conditions. Christy Murphy placed a fantastic 2nd in Category in 1:25:05! Finally, Seanna Boyle couldn’t have paced any better to break the 1hr 30 mark, 1:29:59 as good as it gets to break the barrier! Well done to the 3 athletes on their performances.

Park Run: At the Glenriver Parkrun on Saturday morning, Liam Colbert finished in 10th place overall in a time of 24:50. Surprisingly, this was Liam’s debut in Parkrun but his recent good form will only improve with this invaluable addition to his training. Definitely not Parkrun Newbies, young Aidan and Liam Walsh received their parkrun ultramarathon wristbands at St. Marys Junior parkrun having hit a whopping 50 parkruns! Congratulations to the boys!

Look Ahead: It looks as if it will be another mud fest in Tramore Valley Park next Tuesday for the Munster Schools cross-country championships. Best of luck to Robyn, Faye, Caoimhe, Laura, Aidan and Timmy who will bid for places in the all-Ireland Schools finals in Tymon Park, Tallaght on 9th March.

Report by Richard Hawkins

The Carraig na bhFear U13 girls team made the long journey to Dundalk for the National Juvenile ‘B’ Championships on Sunday 11th February. It was probably fair to say with a sizeable entry of 10 club teams and 123 athletes on the start line, the girls would have been considered dark horses for a medal but an absolutely outstanding team performance on the day exceeded all expectations as they secured a bronze team medal with every athlete playing their part. Emma Johnson put a year in which she was frustrated with injury firmly behind her as she led the team home, securing an individual bronze medal in 12th place overall and also led the Cork team to a silver team medal. Brilliant performances from Allie Philips, Hannah Coffey, Lily O’Keeffe, Amelia O’Donovan, Mary-Kate Dawson, Rebecca McCarthy and Aoibhe Dunlea. Congratulations from the Club on their National success and thanks to the parents and travelling coach Eileen O’Riordan who backed the girls by making the trip which will surely be the foundation for more success in the future, they are a dedicated bunch and can go far!

The South Munster schools cross-country was held on a very muddy Tramore Valley Course on Friday 9th February. Following a break in cross-country since the Club Nationals in December, it can be a shock to the system to go straight into a competitive school’s competition but credit to the coaches for having the Carraig na bhFear AC athletes race-ready and figuring prominently in the results. Aoileann Boyle was first in action in the minor girls’ race having a good run to finish in 32nd place overall. In the Junior Girls 2k, Robyn Maher was 29th overall and was a scoring member of the gold medal-winning Loretta Fermoy team. As usual, Robyn and Anna Mullins weren’t far apart with Anna finishing in 31st place for St. Angela’s. Faye O’Riordan has been flying on the trails and it showed as she won individual bronze in 5th place overall in the Intermediate girls race and also led St. Angelas to team gold. Caoimhe Gray-Walsh and Laura Moore placed 12th and 14th respectively scoring for the silver medallists Loreto Fermoy. All 3 girls were already qualified as individuals finishing in the top 15 and will do battle again in the Munster Championships in Tramore Valley Park on 27th February. Orlaith Merrit (Colaiste an Chraobhin) was 25th in the Senior girls race over 3k. In the Senior Boys 5k race, Aidan Maher came through to take the Bronze medal in 3rd place and also led a strong St.Colmans Fermoy team to 1st place. Timmy Hawkins (Bruce College) qualified for the Munster finals in 7th place with brother Brian Hawkins (St. Francis College Rochestown) just outside the qualifying places in 16th. A good run for Brian who has 2 more years at Senior level. Cian Ryan who is a 1st year Intermediate stepped up to senior level to help form a team for Glanmire CC and was 3rd scorer for the team who finished 6th overall. Congratulations to everyone who ran in tough conditions representing their schools.

There was a record entry for the Inter-Varsity indoor Championships in Abbotstown on Saturday 10th. We had 4 members of our Women’s National league team in action with some impressive results. Orla Coffey (UCC) and Lily O’Riordan (MTU) showed their range of track & field skills with 3rd and 6th places respectively in the multi-events. The highlight of Orla’s series en-route to the bronze medal was a win in the 800m in a time of 2:25. Emma Coffey secured silver in the Women’s Pole-Vault with a best height of 2.50m. Blessing Alamu (SETU) placed 7th in the shot-put with a best of 10.51m and 9th in Weight-For-Distance with a best throw of 6.47m.

Other News: Some fine performances in the Saturday park-runs on a blustery and wet morning. In TVP, Cathal and Siobhan Walsh worked well together to finish in 11th an 12th places running 21:20 and 21:21 respectively. Club PRO Tadhg Crowley opted for the challenging Glen River parkrun and was first over the line in 18:44, super running from Tadhg. There was considerably better weather for the BHAA Janssen 5k race in Little Island on Sunday morning with a bumper crowd of 360 runners. Brian Hawkins shaved almost a minute off his PB to finish 18th overall in 17:12, well done Brian! Michael Mulcahy ran a fast 18:26 to score for Dell who were 2nd team overall. Darragh O’Keeffe and Richard Hawkins, both running for Janssen ran 19:01 and 19:03 respectively as they prepare for upcoming Marathons.

Big congratulations to Lucy Lynch and Aidan Maher who were presented with bursaries by the Cork County Board as Aspiring Young Athletes in recognition of their success at National Championships in 2023.

Look Ahead: The Clubs AGM takes place on Sunday 18th February in the Arches Bar at 7pm, all adult members are welcome to attend.

Report by Richard Hawkins

Athlone was the venue for arguably the highlight of our club year and we’re only in February as our senior women took on 7 other club teams in the national league indoor final. The national leagues in athletics are ran as part of the indoor & outdoor track and field seasons. In the indoor competition two qualifying rounds are held in January to select the top 8 teams in the country to fight out a one-day competition in February to determine the destination of National medals for the top three teams. Last year Carraig na bhFear AC ladies made their first foray into the competition in more hope than expectation. Looking for appropriate competition for our young seniors and offering a pathway into senior events for our juniors. Reaching the final last year was a big accomplishment where we finished 7th of the 8 finalists. In the 2024 version we had again a bit of a mountain to climb to make the final when facing some clubs with resources and facilities we could only dream of. We made the last 8 again, qualifying as the 4th best team out of the two rounds was well above our realistic expectations.

On last Saturdays final day we again were asking our wonderful girls to step up their games to be competitive and make the little incremental improvements that are so important to be successful. Success to us was an improvement on last year’s 7th position and we had a great reaction from our girls, who after all the events results totted up were 5th. Great performances all around with top marks coming from our race walker Aoife Martin who took our best performance of the day with 2nd place in the 1500 meters walk. Top three positions for our two throwers also with Blessing Alamu and Sonya Walsh both throwing seasons bests in shot-putt and weight for distance respectively. Third place also for Emma Coffey who came out of retirement to have a rejuvenated couple of days at the Pole Vault mat. Hopefully it won’t be a once-off and we’ll get to enjoy her energy for years ahead!

Our 4 X 400 team of Orla Coffey, Katie Walsh, Isobel O’Meara & Lucy Lynch also ran the third fastest time of the day when they won their heat in a club indoor record time. A 3km PB also for our youngest member Faye O’Riordan when the 15yr old stepped out against some seasoned international athletes in her race to take 6th place and three valuable points that meant so much in the overall team performance. Our team also consisted of Emma Akinkuolie (60m & 200m), Lucy Lynch (400m), Katie Walsh (800m), Sarah Morrison (1500m), Orla Coffey (60m hurdles & high jump), Abbie Akinkuolie (Triple Jump), Caoimhe Geoghegan (long jump). Fifth best club in the country is a proud moment for our group of athletes, coaches and supporters. We’re proud of our athlete’s commitment, endeavour and infectious team spirit which is everything we could possibly ask for as representatives of our club & sport.

If that wasn’t enough Track & Field success for one weekend, we also had a sizeable contingent competing in the U20, U23, Senior and Masters Championships in Nenagh on the Bank Holiday Monday. We were complimented by several clubs on our level of support for the Championships but added context was that 5 of our women who competed (Orla Coffey, Katie Walsh, Isobel O’Meara, Sonya Walsh and Sarah Morrison) had competed on Saturday in the National League finals! However, despite the added workload it was a very beneficial day of competition as many athletes took the opportunity to opt for different events and all experience is beneficial. Orla Coffey got some valuable preparation for the multi-event competition in next weekend’s Inter-Varsity Championships with a trio of medals in the U23 competitions. Orla secured 3rd place in the shot with 8.62m, 3rd place in the long jump with a best of 4.68m and won gold in the 200m with a time of 27.92. Katie Walsh doubled up in the 200m (28:41) and 400m (1:02:84) to take Senior Bronze. Isobel O’Meara was the gold medallist in the U23 400m with a time of 1:07.04). Caoimhe Gray-Walsh is in her first year at Junior level and ran a well-paced race to take 5th place in 1:09:51. Sarah Morrison produced an excellent ‘kick’ in the final lap of the U23 women’s race to finish in a time of 2:22:63 and win the silver medal. Our final competitor in the women’s events was Sonya Walsh in the Masters Women Weight for Distance (20lb). One of the most hard-fought events of the day, Sonya had a fine series of throws with PB throw of 6.65m to win the silver medal.

Ruaidhri Boyle negotiated the steep bends on the newly resurfaced Nenagh track with apparent ease to win Gold in the combined Senior/Junior 400m competition in a fast time of 52.26. Ruaidhri followed this up with Silver in the Senior/Junior 200m competition, in a tight finish he was pipped on the line by Ronan Ryan from Nenagh Olympic AC who had earlier won the 60m sprint Senior title. The men’s 1500m was split in to 3 races and Carraig na bhFear AC were represented in all 3. Timmy Hawkins set the pace in the combined U20, U23 and Senior final, leading from gun to tape is a brave move but Timmy timed it nicely, as the pressure mounted from the pack at the bell Timmy had enough in reserve to kick for home to win the Junior and Senior titles in 4:25:13. Timmy followed this with a bronze medal in the Junior 800m race in a time of 2:11:19. Congratulations to Timmy! In the first of the Masters 1500m heats, Willie Walsh had a convincing win in the M45 race in 4:57:54. Another gold medal was to follow in Heat 3 where Richard Hawkins was 1st M55 in a time of 5:33.61. Richard also claimed silver in the 800m in 2:45:22. In summary, a thoroughly beneficial and enjoyable day of competition for our club.

Other News: The popular John Treacy 10-miler was held in Dungarvan on Sunday 4th. PB’s aplenty with some super performances from our members. Great running by Diarmuid Kiely (1:08:35), Liam Colbert (1:19:42), Cliona Hurley (1:25:26), John Maher (1:26.00) and Sinead O’Leary (1:27:04).

IMRA: The Irish Mountain Running Association which is an AI subsidiary has quite a substantial calendar of events throughout the year across various distances. Carraig na bhFear AC have had a fair few of their members dip their toes in the pool over the years with no shortage of success. To encourage our members, coach Dave O’Riordan has conducted introductory sessions on the trails to help our newbies to find their feet. A few of our young people went to their first race last Sunday in Bansha woods, Co Tipperary. Five of our juveniles Allie, Hannah, Rebecca, Dylan & Conor were joined by adults Rachel & coach Eileen in the 3.1 km short course race. The girls were 2nd, 3rd & 5th in their category which was a great start to their trail running careers. Dylan & Conor were 1st t & 3rd in their respective categories. In the long course race 8.5 km of undulating trails Faye O’Riordan backed up her performance in Athlone the day before with a fine category win to all but seal her league title. 

Coaches Dave & Willie were 4th & 5th in their categories along with Rachel O’Callaghan who was 2nd in her category giving her a strong footing in the winter league series in 2nd place with three races to go.

Parkrun: Caoimhe Webb-Browne notched up another good 5k in the Glen River parkrun with a time of 31:13. In Tramore Valley Richard Hawkins ran 19:37 to finish in 7th place overall.

Look Ahead: Best of luck to our athletes who will compete for their schools in the South Munster Schools Cross-Country in Tramore valley park on Friday 9th and to our athletes competing in the InterVarsity Indoor competition in Abbotstown on Saturday 10th February.

Report by Richard Hawkins and Willie Walsh

Photo by Jo Martin

No January blues in evidence as we saw out a very busy and successful start to 2024. The headline event in the Irish Athletics calendar last weekend was the AAI Indoor games in the National Indoor Arena in Abbotstown, Dublin on Saturday 27th. Unfortunately, Ciarán Nugent didn’t make it to the start line due to illness, we wish Ciarán a speedy recovery and hope to see him back in action soon. Timmy Hawkins made his Senior debut in the 3000m Heat 2 having watched Efrem Gidey run an impressive 8:05 to win the first heat with a blistering turn of pace in the last 400m. Timmy was pacing well to the 2Km mark before the pace took its toll, finishing the in 9:27. However, the Carraig na bhFear AC coaches encourage athletes to compete at this level as there is a wealth of learnings and experience to bring home. The beauty of athletics is that there is always another race around the corner and Timmy will be in action again in the Munster Junior competition next week in Nenagh.

The Seville 10k, Half-Marathon and Marathon race series are proving extremely popular with local athletes this year with weekend flights from Cork airport. Darragh O’Keeffe was competing in the Half-Marathon on Sunday 28th, looking for a progress marker as he prepares for the Barcelona Marathon on March 10th.  Darragh survived a nasty fall at 19km to get back into his rhythm and finish in a fantastic time of 1hr 22m, the free beer at the finish line apparently easing the pain considerably! Congratulations to Darragh, training for Barcelona well on track!

Other News: Clíona Hurley clocked up a big Parkrun pb in Tramore Valley on Saturday running 24:09 as she prepares for the upcoming John Treacy 10-miler. Good running also from Odhrna Hurley finishing in 28:32. David O’Riordan kicked off a series of introductory trail runs in the Nagles mountains on Sunday, great fun had by all and some fine potential on show by all accounts! There will be an opportunity to put the new skills to the test next Sunday as the IMRA will host a short and long course race in Bansha Woods, Tipperary and we expect to have numbers travelling.

Look Forward: The National Indoor League Final takes place in Athlone on Saturday 3rd. The bigger clubs will be bolstered by the return of athletes from warm weather training, but the coaches are confident in the ability our Ladies team to once again compete with the best. Continuous improvement is the key so bettering last years 7th place finish the main target. Best of luck to all competing! In Nenagh next Saturday, the newly installed track surface will be put to the test by several of our athletes. Carraig na bhFear AC will be represented in the ‘Track and Field Live’ series who are hosting a juvenile event. On Monday 5th we will have competitors in the Munster Junior and Masters track Championships. Good luck also to club members heading to Dungarvan for the John Treacy 10-miler.

Finally, a reminder of the upcoming AGM on Sunday 18th February at 7pm in the Arches Bar Carraig na bhFear, all adult members welcome.

Report by Richard Hawkins

The National U20 & U23 Indoor Championships took place in Athlone on Saturday 20th with a high standard of competition across all events. Carraig na bhFear AC fielded a young Junior squad, but all athletes rose to the challenge superbly delivering top class performances. Lucy Lynch was first in action with yet another pb of 58.67, not making the final with an 8th place overall from the 4 heats but an impressive result nevertheless as Lucy has 2 more years as a Junior. Orla Coffey was next in action in the U23 400m competition running a solid 1:00.94 to finish in 5th place in a straight final. Ruaidhri Boyle had it all to do to qualify for the final of the U20 400m with a stacked field across 6 heats. Ruaidhri paced his heat brilliantly to come through in 2nd place, taking a massive one and a half seconds off his pb to finish in 50.27. The 400m final was almost 5 hours later but certainly no signs of lethargy with a blistering pace set from the gun. Ruaidhri finished in 6th place overall, his time of 50.71 again well inside his previous pb and the season looks promising as Ruaidhri will build towards the Juvenile National Indoor Finals in April. Our final competitor in action was Aoife Martin in the U20 Women’s 3k walk. Still just 15 years of age Aoife is already very experienced in top-level competition and is a formidable competitor who always gets the best from herself. A sizeable field of 15 starters was soon fragmented by a fast start from a group led by the eventual winner Savanagh O’ Callaghan from Tuam AC, however Aoife dug deep to stay in touch and a 5th place finish in a PB time of 15:41:87 was an impressive result at this high level. Congratulations to Aoife and all the Carraig na bhFear athletes who performed so well on the day, hard work over the winter months with their coaches clearly paying dividends.

Other News: A welcome trend in the new year has been a marked increase in the number of members competing both in parkruns and local races, a beneficial and enjoyable addition to the clubs’ training schedule. In Saturdays’ Glen River parkrun Caoimhe Webb-Browne ran her 3rd consecutive PB in 28.51, great progress from Caoimhe. In Tramore Valley, Cliona Hurley was consistent as ever clocking 25:09! The BHAA IFF 5k race took place in Little Island on Sunday morning at the new start time of 10am, very blustery conditions meant training was cancelled but a quick adjustment brought a record number of members to the start line. Aidan Maher was in the mix again from the start and finished in an excellent 10th place in a PB of 16.12. Great running also by Joseph Daly (18:03), Willie Walsh (18:43 (5th in category), Michael Mulcahy (19:39), Jack Ahern (20:21), Katie Walsh (20:28 PB!), Siobhan Walsh (21:41), Cliona Lynch (23:42), Megan Murphy (25:34), Lauren Murphy (27:32), Sinead O’Brien (28:05), Aisling O’Brien (28:18) and Sonya Walsh (31:16), quite the crew!

David and Faye O’Riordan ran their 3rd IMRA race in as many weeks, making the trip to Glengarra Woods in Tipperary for the 7.3k race. Faye was first female home in a fast time of 34:31, Faye is making great progress in trail running being equally proficient at climbing and technical descents, congratulations to Faye! Dad David did his best to keep up and 37:15 also a very good time (category results pending).

Look Ahead: The AAI games will take place in Abbotstown next Saturday 27th. Best of luck to the Carraig na bhFear AC athletes who will compete, Ciaran Nugent will open his season in the 400m and Timmy Hawkins will make his Senior debut in the 3000m.

Report by Richard Hawkins

Photo by Jo Martin

Day two of the National League qualifying competition with our senior women in 4th place overall after round 1. Athlone TUS was the venue for the days’ competition with first series of events kicking off at 11.00hrs. Our first 3 athletes into action were Lily O’Riordan (60m), Katie Walsh (high jump) and Orla Coffey (shot put). Lily stepped into fill the 60-meter sprint in what is a bit of an Achilles heel for us. Without an out & out short sprint specialist Lily secured 12th place and 3 points to get the ball rolling. Katie and Orla who were accomplished multi eventers in their younger years pulled in good results with 6th place in the High Jump (9pts) & 4th place in the Shot Put (11 pts).

Next into the arena was one of our newest members Sarah Morrison who was racing her first ever indoor event in the 1500 meters. A fantastic performance by Sarah for 7th place where she dug deep in the middle laps and finished so strong in the final two laps to post a PB of 5:01. Lucy lynch, defying her tender years by getting into the blocks in the 400-meter races against some seasoned senior competitors secured a terrific 5th place overall. An indoor PB and a valuable 10 team points for Lucy’s second year of eligibility to race senior. The last field event of the day was our long jumper Caoimhe Geoghegan making her first appearance in competition of the year. Caoimhe got a good solid series of jumps in for 7th place and another valuable 8 points keeping the scoreboard ticking over.

Our last individual track athlete of the day was another youngster in under-17 Aoife Martin in the 1500-meter race walk. Never shy in putting herself forward Aoife took on the race from the gun leading a group of three away from the rest of the field. A brave move that set her up for our performance of the day where Aoife was a fantastic 2nd place overall to Dundrum South Dublin’s Ciara Wilson Bowen who has just returned from a two-week training camp in Portugal. An impressive first ever senior start for Aoife and just rewards for a winter of solid dedicated training. With that great return from Aoife, we were solidly in 4th place and had the luxury of running our 4 X 200 team in the Under-23 relay competition giving them a blow out before the national championships next weekend. A fantastic opportunity to blow off the cobwebs for Orla Coffey, Emma Akinkuolie, Isobel O’Meara and Lily O’Riordan who tagged on another 5 team points to keep us in 4th position over the two days qualifying.

We set the girls a target of staying in contention to secure one of the 8 places in the national final ahead of the days’ competition. Overall, the hope was to provide top-level competition to keep our athletes focused through the winter. We are more than excited about making the final. Another national final appearance and blooding more of our young squad exceeds all prior expectations. Top marks to athletes & coaches who again performed as a team much higher than the sum of their parts. The National League Finals in Athlone on the 3rd of February will now keep everyone focused and busy planning in the weeks ahead.

On Saturday in Athlone TUS also, the National Indoor Masters track and field championships took place and we had one athlete in attendance. Our club strength coach Sonya Walsh had stepped up to become our specialist weight for distance thrower when we qualified for the indoor league final this time last year. Despite being a complete novice to Throwing disciplines, Sonya took to the challenge with a gusto and with no shortage of application she’s had 12 months of competition where she’s racked up 3 National medals. She completed the set with a bronze medal last Saturday in what is becoming an extremely competitive event with 7 women in her category. She now has an indoor & outdoor Masters medal and a Senior medal with the victorious East Cork National League team in 2023 making her one of our top performers over the last 12 months. A great return from a lady who this time last year was in crutches following serious knee surgery, now enjoying a sporting renaissance in her 51st year.

Other News: The City parkruns made a welcome return this week having fallen foul of icy conditions last week. MJ Walsh was first JM 11-14 and 19th overall with a solid run of 22:05. Cliona Hurley ran a parkrun pb of 24:55, just missing out on first place in her category by one second, great running!

IMRA: Sunday saw the running of IMRA's second race of the year. Perfect weather conditions at Corrin Hill in North Cork, a cool, sunny morning and 180+ runners lined up over the short course (5km) and long course (9.2km) races. Carraig had 5 members in action. Siobhan and Cathal Walsh took on the short course and came away with two excellent performances. Cathal with a smashing run finishing 5th overall and 3rd in his M14 category. Siobhan finished 2nd female and 1st place in category (F40), topping off a couple of excellent weeks racing. The short course provides a brilliant introduction to trail running for younger athletes and beginners. With 25 runners taking on the short course on Sunday, an increase on numbers for previous events, it is a sign of the growing interest in trail and mountain running. Rachael O'Callaghan, David O'Riordan and Tadhg Crowley lined up for the long course race. Some changes to the route this year led to plenty of challenges for runners, but the consensus was it was a hugely enjoyable course. Very steep downhill and uphill sections saw the majority of competitors mix walking and crawling with running! Tadhg (11th) first of the Carraig crew to finish with David (51st) and Rachael (126th) both coming in 6th place in their respective categories. Well done everyone! Next up on the IMRA calendar is a trip to Glengarra Woods in Tipperary on Sunday 21st January.

Look Ahead: The National Junior and U23 Indoor Championships take place on Saturday 20th January in TUS Athlone, best of luck to our travelling contingent. Please note that our annual AGM will take place in the Arches Bar Carraig na bhFear on Sunday February 18th at 7pm, all adult members are welcome to attend.

Report by Willie Walsh

Photo by Jo Martin

Our senior women made the journey to the capital last Saturday to compete in the National Senior Indoor League for the second year in succession. Last year our first foray into this cauldron saw us exceed our expectations by qualifying for the final where we came 7th out of the 8 qualifiers.

This year, like last, we looked at the entry list and felt making the final was going to be a tough challenge up against some of the biggest clubs in the country. We had built on last year’s competition by having eleven girls on the East Cork Division team that won the outdoor inter county version of the National League. This experience has brought a belief and confidence to what is still a very young outfit.

With a couple of our stalwarts absent due to work & overseas commitments we called upon some of our younger members to step up to the challenge and they did admirably. It was an 11.00 am start in the National Indoor Arena for our first three athletes in competition, Lily O’Riordan (60 hurdles), Emma Coffey (pole vault) & Sonya Walsh (28lb Weight for Distance).

Seventh place out of 14 teams (8 points) for Lily in the hurdles after two re-runs due to timing issues was a solid start. Sonya & Emma backed that up with 10 points each for two 5th place finishes in their very specialist disciplines.  Katie Walsh then blasted around four laps of the 200-meter track to clinch 2nd place and a valuable 13 points in a very competitive 800-meter race. Following this result, we jumped into 2nd place overall behind another Cork team Leevale AC showing that the south of Ireland is definitely vibrant despite lacking the facilities available to much of the rest of the country.

Lucy Lynch (200 meters) and Abbie Akinkuolie (Triple Jump) were next into action at 12 noon. Both took 6th place finishes with a PB run for Lucy and an incrementally improving set of four jumps for Abbie meant each girl brought 9 points to the total.

Our two youngest members of this day’s team were in action in the final two events of the day. Sixteen-year-old Faye O’Riordan (3000 meters) and Caoimhe Gray-Walsh (4 X 400 relay) were not one bit out of place holding their own against some seasoned senior athletes. Faye came 8th in her first ever indoor 3 km in a race that was won by national 1500-meter outdoor champion Amy O’Donoghue of Dundrum South Dublin AC, adding 7 valuable points. The final event of the day was the 4 X 400 relay where Lucy lynch led the first leg handing over to Katie Walsh who in turn passed to Caoimhe Gray-Walsh and Isobel O’Meara closed out the race to take 6th place overall and another 9 points.

When all the totting up was done, we had secured 4th place overall on the day which was two places better than we did on day one last year. Delighted with the return from a fantastic group of women whose attitude and application meant they were not outside the top eight in any competition and that consistency paid off. Two of our long sprinters kicked off their season in Dublin also when they raced as guests in the afternoon programme in the men’s 400m races. Ruaidhri Boyle and Bobby O’Riordan who were part of our National Senior Mixed 4 X 400 silver medallists in last year outdoor competition. Ruaidhri had an incredible first 200m blasting into the lead in his race but that was going to give him a lactic payback in the last 50-meters. It hit his legs hard in the latter stages, but he held on for 4th place in 52 seconds. Bobby ran a different race with a more measured approach over the first 200m to record 54 seconds and 4th place also in his heat. Good first race markers laid down by the lads and there will be loads of competition to see who makes this year’s mixed relay team.

Other News: With all the Cork City parkruns cancelled on Saturday morning, the annual Cork BHAA ESB 5k Cross-Country was nicely timed on Sunday morning to provide an opportunity to test the lungs on a cold, frosty but sunny morning in Beaumont Park. Carraig na bhFear AC had three members in action and they used their recent cross-country experience to great effect. Diarmuid Kiely finished in 21st place overall in an excellent time of 21:13 for the hilly course, also placing 5th in a very competitive M45 category. Richard Hawkins finished 3rd in the M55 category in a time of 22:58. Congratulations to Siobhan Walsh, running the course for the first time, Siobhan had almost 2 minutes to spare over her nearest rival in winning the W40 category.

Look Ahead: Best of luck to our women’s team who travel to Athlone next Sunday for Round 2 of the National League, hoping to consolidate their position in the top 8 teams and secure their spot in the National League final on the first Saturday in February. Locally, the popular IMRA Corrin Hill trail race will take place in Fermoy on Sunday 14th. We had a good turnout of members for the first race of the year in Bweeng and although a number of the participants will be in Athlone next weekend the race may be of interest to other members.

Report by Willie Walsh and Richard Hawkins