County 4-mile Road Championships

The County 4-mile Road Championships took place this year on Sunday, 19th March, under cold but relatively dry conditions. Once again St Nicholas stepped into the breach to host the event and a very fine job they made of it, with plenty of stewards and helpers on the day to cope with the crowds of athletes from clubs all over the county. There were senior and master categories on offer, and Grange Fermoy AC had a large contingent of 27 competitors, a fabulous number for a championship event.

We did well but unfortunately as only nine ladies represented the club, we missed out on master team medals, but we’ll be back in bigger numbers next year as we have plenty of fine ladies coming through in our couch to 5k training program. And what a fine thing to aim for – a championship medal! We would like to thank the County Board and St Nicholas AC for hosting a very successful event. The results from our runners were quite outstanding, and some even broke their personal best times, a great achievement.

Kieran McKeown was 17th overall in 21.35. 2nd M45, 21st and 14th novice was David Buckley in 21.41, 23rd and 16th novice Liam O’Connor 21.46 and 2nd M50, 21st/14th novice David Buckley, 36th/27th novice Mike Lyons 22.44, 44th/34th novice John Murphy 23.02 3rd M50 , 48th/36th novice Gary Clerkin 23.17 4th M50, 59th/44th novice Mike Walsh 23.44, 61st/45th novice Richie O’Brien 23.52, 62nd/46th novice Brian O’Connor 23.59, 66th/49th novice John Gray 24.22, 78th/59th James Sweeney 24.42, 80th/61st Gavin Quaine 24.47, 90th/10th woman/7th novice Noëmie Leduc 25.19, 91st/67th novice Alann Jézéquel 25.22, 121st/23rd woman Rachael Walsh 26.38, 129th/80th novice Ciaran O’Gorman 26.59, 134th/83rd novice Darren Flynn 27.11, 135th/29th woman/22nd novice Clotilde Fitzgibbon, 27.13. 1st F55, 136th/30th woman/23rd novice Eileen Finn 27.17, 169th/43rd woman/34th novice Marina Seymour, 29.13, 200th/59th woman/49th novice AnnMarie Sweeney, 32.01, 201st/102nd novice Théophane Tavernier 32.08, 204th/ 103rd novice Maurice Tobin 32.41 4th M70, 214th/67th woman/54th novice Ellen Hayes 35.44, 219th/71st woman/56th novice Angela O’Mahony , 37.20, 232nd/80th woman/59th novice Maggie Dunne 59.18 1st F75.

In the team results our men won O50 gold (Liam, John and Gary), men O35 won bronze (Kieran, David, Mike Lyons, Richie), Men Senior team: 5th, Men Novice team: 4th, Women Senior team: 4th, Women Novice team: 4th , Women O45 team: 5th. So big congratulations to everyone. St Nicholas AC always put on a big welcome to competitors in their beautiful village, and it is a pleasure to meet club runners from all over the county at events such as this. Well done all!

TRAINING RUNS MEETING

Training goes on all through the week, with Tuesday at Coláiste track, Wednesday at 7pm speed sessions at Coláiste track, Thursday at 7pm also at Coláiste track. Sunday at 9am the training run commences at Texaco garage. On Monday and Friday our couch to 5k meetings is at Coláiste track also. Details are available from Clotilde Fitzgibbon on 086-3162145.