Conditions were almost perfect for this years Ballycotton 10 mile road race. The temperature was about 8 deg C, a gentle breeze with blue skies and sunshine. At times though, it felt an awful lot warmer. Once the athletes turned the corner at about 5.7 miles the wind was to their backs, but the heat seemed to soar and it felt ran like mid July than March. In the mens race, Sergiu Ciobanu, Clonliffe Harriers, finished 1st in a time of 49.03, to make it 5 years in a row. Maria McCambridge, DSD, won the ladies race in a new course record of 54.20.
Gary Condon smashed his Pb in running 54.27 to finish in an excellent 22nd place O/A and 2nd O/40. Neil Wiktorski a fine 54.21 to finish 24th O/A. Will Foot, making his debut at this distance ran a very impressive 63.28. Suzanne Foot also recorded a new Pb of 66.38. Gordon McWilliams ran a solid 68.16 closely followed by Bobby Mitchell in 68.37. Georgina Devlin, 75.21; Siobhan Butler, 78.03; Cathy Mitchell, 79.42; Andrea Murphy, 80.31, and Emer Hynes 84.46, all recorded new PBs. Leanne Geraghty, 80.00, Dave Carragher, 85.51. Diana Doll, 87.20, Sandra Brady, 86.40, Stephen Mulligan, 86.56 and Ana Molina 1.47.34, were all well pleased with their times. Despite suffering from heavy cold/flu Charlotte Stevens and Elaine Nuzun both ran 85.11 and 1.50.25. Well done to all our athletes, you did our club proud.
Tadhg Twoomey, well known to most in our club ran 93.37 and was 2nd O/75.
Full results can be found at http://www.precisiontiming.net/result.aspx?v=2382
The next few weeks will see our athletes taking part in a number of races in all parts of the country. On Saturday Joe Cawley will be heading west to Kinvara in Co. Galway to defend the half marathon title he won there last year. On Sunday we will have over 20 of our athletes taking part in the Ballycotton 10. A large group of supporters will also be there. Our own Gerry Curtis ran 48.07 to win this race back in 1993.
There will be a Fit4life 3k in Shanganagh on 2nd April, if not running please come along and help out. On Monday 6th April the Leinster 10ml C/ship will take place in Raheny. A number of athletes have already committed to run, we would like to see as many of our athletes as possible take part in this very prestigious event.
Next up is the National 10k C/ships, on 11th April, which are held in conjunction with The Great Ireland Run. Also on the 11th April is the K Club 10k, a great place for Pbs.
On Wednesday 23rd April the Wicklow 5k Road C/ships, always very popular with our athletes. Again we would encourage all our athletes to take part in this excellent event.
On Monday 4th May the Leinster Novice and Masters Road C/ships will take place. Distances are 3k for Ladies and 6k for men. This is an event where our athletes have performed brilliantly over the past few years, so lets hope this year will be no different.
On 17th May the Terenure 5mile takes place, again a great race and always very well supported by our athletes. Last year our ladies, Helen, Noelle, Charlotte with Jackie Patrick were part of the Sli Cualann Ladies team who won the Masters team event. Lets try and retain this title this year.
Finally, a race that is always very popular with our athletes is the Dunboyne 5mile. An evening race held over a very fast course, ideal for those chasing a Pb. It is on Tuesday 26th May at 7.30pm.
