by Richard Hawkins
Carraig na bhFear AC completed an impressive double win in the East Cork Roads Championship on the familiar hilly course in Ballynoe, hosted by St. Catherines AC. The women’s race over 3k was won for the first time by the club since 2018, a strong squad of juniors (Faye O’Riordan 4th, Laura Moore 7th and Orlaith Merritt 14th) were backed up by the experienced Siiobhan Walsh who crucially passed one Midleton AC athlete in the closing stages to claim the team prize from Midleton by the slimmest of margins. Congratulations to the women’s team!
Congratulations also to our Men’s team who claimed their 4th Consecutive team title. The well-balanced squad of David Maher, Tadhg Crowley, Brian Hawkins, Peter Hawkins and Conor Kelly were tightly packed in the scoring positions from 7th to 11th places to secure a comfortable victory. A great result for the club in chilly conditions for the supporters!
The County Juvenile Track and Field Championships Day 1 was held in MTU on Sunday 27th April, our athletes continuing to build on their early season momentum. Caoimhe Gray-Walsh ran a PB time of 1.05.58 to claim the girls U18 400m title and followed up with a 3rd place finish in a tight U18 girls 800m race with a time of 2.31.83. Faye O’Riordan won silver in the girls U18 3000m with a time of 11.30.61. The girls U15 800m was run on times, Emma Johnson finished 3rd in heat 1 (2.43.91) and Allie Philips (2.44.52) was 8th in heat 3. Cathal Walsh (1.59.01) finished 7th in heat 1 of the boys U13 600m. Laura Hosford (2.17.18) and Cliona Collins (2.12.72) both had 7th place finishes in their respective girls U12 600m heats. Abigail Geary progressed to the final of the girls U18 100m finishing 5th overall in 14.3s. Dylan McCarthy won gold in the Boys U18 110m hurdles with a time of 21.01. Roisin Murphy placed 6th in the Girls U14 hurdles in a time of 17.6s.
Our racewalkers continue to impress in a mixed ages 3k race, Aoife Martin (15.36.37) won the U18 girls race with Robyn Maher (16.39.76) and Anna Mullins (17.02.34) winning silver and bronze respectively in the girls U17 race. More success followed in the field events, Aoibhe Dunlea (4.22m) won silver in the girls U15 long jump, Travis De Souza (4.3m) silver in the U14 boys long Jump and Daniel Hogan (10.14) had a convincing win in the boys U15 Triple Jump.
Well done to all the athletes and coaches on a very successful start to the County Championships series.
Cork athletics have put together a nice schedule of Graded Leagues for Track and Field over the coming months, some of which will incorporate County Championships. Night 1 was Friday 25th and we had impressive numbers out looking for the opportunity to get some track races under their belts. In the 200m Abigail Geary (U18) clocked 29.27 to finish 3rd in Race 1. Emma Akinkoulie finished 2nd in Race 2 running 28.25 followed by Caoimhe Geoghegan in 30.59. Eoin Quirke made a return to track racing with an impressive 2.06.03 in a competitive 800m Race 3. Orla Coffey and Katie Walsh went head-to-head in the 800m Race 4 running 2.22.35 and 2.25.21 respectively. The track racing was concluded with a 4 x 400m, the Carraig Na BhFear team finished 1st women’s team in 4.13.00.
Two of the Abbot Major Marathons took place in the last week and Carraig Na BhFear were represented in both. Richard Hawkins enjoyed untypically perfect Spring weather for the Boston Marathon completing the course in 3:40:47. Helen Roche picked up her fifth Abbot Majors star in London with a typically well-paced 3:54:55, congratulations to Helen who is on the verge of joining the exclusive club of being a finisher in the six Abbot Major marathons.
Look ahead: Day 1 of the South Munster Schools Track & Field takes place in MTU on Thursday 1st May in MTU, closely followed by Day 2 of the County Juvenile Championships on Sunday 4th, best of luck to all competing.
