by Richard Hawkins
What an incredible weekend for Carraig Na Bhfear AC in Tullamore for Day 1 and 2 of the National Track & Field Championships. After a season of steady improvements and pb’s, ultimately this was the weekend to peak and so it proved to be with some fantastic performances all-round. Early morning on day one and Hannah Coffey had already been crowned National Champion in the girls U15 Pole Vault clearing 2.55m, congratulations to Hannah! Daniel Hogan finished in the dreaded 4th position in the boys U15 long jump with a best jump of 5.59m but used this disappointment on day 2 with an outstanding performance in the triple jump. Lying in 3rd place ahead of his final jump, Daniel produced a huge jump of 11.55m to move up to the silver medal position, only bettered on the day by a Championship record jump of 12.66m by a Kilmore AC athlete!
The girls U17 3k walk was a cagey affair early on with a tight pack breaking and re-forming. Robyn Maher showed all the experience gained over the last number of years to time her push for the line to perfection, coming under pressure in the closing stages but having done enough completing the race in 16.21.91 to win the bronze medal! Well done to Anna Mullins who finished in 6th place in16.37.09. Aoife Martin clocked 15.33.04 in the U18 race to finish in 2nd place and add yet another National medal to her impressive collection. Aoife battled a niggle in her knee in the closing stages but was not going to be denied her podium position! Caoimhe Gray-Walsh has been having a great season and produced another strong performance to finish 9th overall in the girls U18 800m in 2.29.58. Well done to the athletes and coaches on a very successful weekend.
Locally, another great night was had at the East Cork track championships held on the pristine grass tracks in Carraig Na BhFear. All races were hotly contested for bragging rights! Abigail Geary and Faye O’Riordan finished 1st and 2nd respectively in the Junior women 100m.It was a clean sweep for Carraig Na BhFear in the Senior Women’s 100m. Emma Akinkoulie, Katie Walsh and Isobel O’Meara finishing in that order in a close race. Eileen O’Riordan was 2nd Masters woman O35 with Sean O’ Gorman finishing 2nd in the O35 men’s 100m. There was very little to separate the first three in the Junior women’s 300m with Faye O’Riordan, Abigail Geary and Laura Moore taking the medals. Katie Walsh (44.8), Emma Akinkoulie (45.5) and Isobel O’Meara (46.1) were neck-in-neck again as the first three in the Senior Women’s 300m. Joseph Daly (43.7) won silver in the Senior men’s 300m behind East Corks’ Frank O’Brien. Eileen O’Riordan (55.6) won silver again O35 Masters women’s 300m, Andy Hogan (47.7) and Sean O’Gorman (49.1) won silver and bronze respectively in the Masters Men O35 300m. Richard Hawkins (55.4) won bronze in the Masters men O50 300m.
Faye O’Riordan and Brian Hawkins finished 1st in their respective Junior 800m competitions. Joseph Daly and Rian O’Luasa finished 2nd and 3rd Senior men 800m. Tadhg Crowley was 2nd Masters O35 800m and Richard Hawkins was 1st Masters 050 men. The final distance races were the mixed ages men’s and women’s 3k races. Faye O’Riordan was first woman and first Junior home (11.5) with Laura Moore (12.1) 3rd woman across the line as 2nd Junior. In the men’s race, Rian O’Luasa (11.1) was 2nd Senior man, Brian Hawkins (10.3) was 1st Junior man with Tadhg Crowley (10.28) 3rd Masters O35. As usual, the night was finished off with the 4 x 300m mixed relay with prize money on the line, too many taking part to mention but it was a fitting and fun way to round off a very enjoyable evening, thanks to all for their hard work in preparing the tracks, officiating, MC’ing and catering!
Other news: One of the busiest weeks in the Cork Road racing calendar left runners with a dilemma as to which ones to target! The BHAA J & J Medtech 4-mile race was held in Ringaskiddy on Wednesday 25th. Timmy Hawkins found himself in the thick of another good race at the front finishing 5th overall in 21.15. Richard Hawkins (25.36) finished 2nd in category with Rachel O’Callaghan finishing in 31.08. On to Friday night and a clash of two popular races, Tadhg Crowley opted for the Willie Neenan Memorial 5-mile road race and had a great result finishing 5th overall and 1st in category in a time of 28.50. Farther West, we had four members travel to Courtmacsherry for the annual 10k road race. Peter Hawkins (35.21) and Brian Hawkins (35.40) finished well up the field of 400 runners in 15th and 16th places respectively. Richard Hawkins (41.40) was 1st in age category with Helen Roche running a good time of 49.46.
Look Ahead: Best of luck to Aoife Martin competing in the National Junior Racewalk next weekend and our athletes competing in the National League preliminary round representing East Cork.