Munster Medals Galore for Carraig na bhFear AC!

The Munster Senior, Junior, Masters and Juvenile Combined Events were held in Templemore last weekend. Despite a few downpours, conditions were generally good and Corkonians were happy just to be competing on a track again! Despite a few late injuries Carraig Na BhFear AC had athletes competing across all the age groups and there were some excellent results and experience gained. On Saturday Amelia O’Donovan finished a creditable 9th overall in the girls U13 Heptathlon, the highlights being a 3 rd place in the 600m and a heat win in the 60m hurdles. Hannah Coffey had a good series of events in the U14 girls heptathlon capped by a 3 rd place finish in the 800m. Hannah showed her range of skills by adding gold in the U14 girls Pole Vault on Sunday with a clearance of 1.95m. Travis De Souza competed in the boys U13 Heptathlon with outstanding performances in the long jump (4:16) and a heat win in the 60m hurdles. Well done to our young athletes!

We had three Junior athletes in action, all featuring prominently in the medals. Ruaidhri Boyle looked in good form ahead of the National Schools Championships next weekend winning the U20 400m Hurdles in 56:48. Caoimhe Gray-Walsh ran a fine pb time of 1:04:76 to finish 2 nd in the U20 Womens 400m and followed this up winning U20 gold in the 800m with a time of 2:36:78 in a combined race with Senior and masters athletes. Brian Hawkins took on the U20 1500m in a race that was combined with Senior athletes, undaunted Brian ran a big pb of 4:46:47 to win the bronze medal. After a short break, Brian followed this up with a run of 17:59:79 to win silver in the U20 5000m race, Finally, our Masters representatives lined up in competitive heats with Richard Hawkins finishing 4 th in the M55 category in the 1500m in a time of 5:37:59 and Willie Walsh bringing home gold in the M45 3K in a time of 10:46:24. It was double gold for Walsh’s as Sonya Walsh won her category in the Weight-For-Distance competition with ha best throw of 6.09m. Congratulations to our athletes and thanks to coaches Ger Foley and willie Walsh for their support over the weekend.

On Tuesday 21st , a record 1014 runners completed the BHAA John Buckley 5k on a new course in the Marina, traditionally a fast race and a great opportunity for pb’s. Timmy Hawkins was first home in 27th place (16:09) with Tadhg Crowley in 42 nd place with a big pb of 16:39. Great times also for Brian Hawkins (17:14), Conor Kelly (17:48), Darragh O’Keefe (17:54), Diarmuid Kiely (18:28), Michael Mulcahy (18:36), Richard Hawkins (20:06), Orla Coffey (22:01), Emma Johnson (23:04) and Aine Johnson (29:43). Apologies if I have missed anybody, great to see such a good turnout from our members.

Conor Kelly was in action again on Friday finishing 20th in the Walls of Fethard 5k race in 19:03, well done Conor!

Look Ahead: Good luck to our athletes competing for their schools in the All-Ireland Schools Championships on Friday and Saturday in Tullamore, stay tuned to our Social Media channels for previews! Faye O’Riordan travels to Annecy in France on Wednesday where she will represent the Irish U20 Mountain Running team in the Classic Race next Sunday, well-deserved for Faye and it will be a memorable trip. Locally, there is great excitement building towards the Cork City Marathon where our members will be out in force both stewarding and competing in the Marathon, Half-Marathon and 10k races with the highlight being the awarding of the bragging rights in our 10k team competition with 6 teams of 4 competing. No doubt debate and analysis will go on long into the afternoon!

Featured Image: Members of Carraig na bhFear AC at the John Buckley 5k in the Marina