by Richard Hawkins
Carraig Na BhFear AC athletes were active far and wide this week with lots of good results to report. The U20 to U23 Indoor athletics Championships were held in Athlone. Robyn Maher and Anna Mullins competed in the U20 women’s race over 3k, still very young for the age group, they acquitted themselves extremely well. Robyn finished 8th overall from 19 starters with an excellent time of 16:35.96, Anna Mullins finished in 13th place overall with a time of 17:17.01. Well done to the girls who continue to make good progress ahead of the outdoor season. On the preceding day, Sonya Walsh earned the title of National Champion by winning gold in the Womens weight for distance event. Sonya kept the best for last throwing the 20lb weight 6.46m on her final throw for a big PB! Congratulations to Sonya on a great achievement!
In Galway racecourse, we had five athletes representing their schools in the National Cross-Country Championships. an elevated level of competition but all athletes ran very well. Good underfoot conditions and plenty of hay bales! In the minor girls race, Hannah Coffey (58th) and Allie Phillips (74th) helped St. Angelas College to a 9th place team finish. Emma Johnson (Scoil Mhuire) finished in a creditable 56th place from 91 competitors. The three girls have had a very successful schools’ campaign with plenty of medals along the way and the experience will stand to them in this year’s club season. Faye O’Riordan (St. Angelas) is running with great consistency recently and had an excellent time in finishing 44th in the Senior girls race. Aidan Maher (St. Colmans Fermoy) finished 24th overall in the Senior boy’s race, a depth of talent on show in this race, well done to Aidan on a fine performance.
Other News: The East Cork athletics division came together to host a very well organized 10-mile race on the Midleton in support of CEASC, the proposed development of a running track in East Cork. The Carraig Na BhFear flag was on show at the start line with the flags of the other clubs in the division. We had four athletes flying the flag (figuratively!) as well. On a beautiful morning it was a challenging race facing into a headwind for the first 5 miles for the field of 540 runners. Tadhg Crowley (28th) was agonizingly close to breaking the hour mark with a time of 1:00:01. Brian Hawkins (31st) had a great effort finishing in 1:00:54, Nicky Pike paced nicely in 1:09:53 to break the 70-minute barrier. Richard Hawkins (1:12:06) and Conor Kelly (1:14:58) were nursing niggles but were happy to make it through relatively unscathed! Given the warm temperatures in Midleton we didn’t have to envy Darragh O’Keeffe competing in the Lisbon half-marathon clocking 1:31:47! Congratulations to Diarmuid Kiely who was 11th overall and 2nd in Category in the BHAA ESB cross-country race in Beaumont Park. At the Glenriver parkrun, good to see Daragh and Don Sheehan running 24:51 and 24:53 respectively. In Kenmare, Liza Davis, Rebecca Kelleher and Dad Billy braved the weather on Saturday to finish a tough race in the Quest series, well done!
Look Ahead: A welcome break from Championship competition before the National Juvenile Championships begin on 29th March, training will be in full swing in preparation.