Athletics Notes - Limerick victories in the Border Half Marathon

CONDITIONS were chilly but dry and sunny for the fourth staging of this popular Border Half-Marathon which took place in Corbally and Clonlara.

There was a great battle between the top 3 men until the 10 mile mark when Corbally native Colm Turner attempted to pull away. However he was caught just before the 12 mile mark by fellow Limerick man and 2021 Kerry Way 200K Ultra winner John McKeogh. McKeogh finished strongly to win in 1:11:53 from Turner on 1:11:58.

Justin De Paltis who was in that leading trio completed the podium in 1:12:36. Paul Fitzgerald of Limerick AC who has had an excellent year over the longer distances was 4th and 1st M40 in 1:15:57. County Novice XC Silver Medallist Cian Aherne was 5th in 1:19:31 with Clubmate Niall Harris 6th in 1:19:52.

Aisling Fitzgerald of West Limerick was a comfortable winner of the Women’s race in 1:25:29.

Ruth McCarthy was second and 1st F40 in 1:30:22 with Pamela Kirby completing the honours in 1:34:18. Maeve Flannery from nearby Derg AC was 4th in 1:34:42. 5th Maeve Kavanagh 1:36:09 ,6th Aisling Quinlan 1:37:15 .Also Alexander Kelly (Country Club) 1:32:48, Liam McMahon (Bilboa) 1:39:45, Donie Dwane (Kilmallock) 1:29:13

Well done to Edel and all at Run Clare, plus volunteers for organising such a welcome and well run event.

Cross Country

The U11 to U19 and Novice Cross Country Championships were hosted by St Catherine's AC in Conna, near Fermoy Co. Cork.

Competitive fields of 130+ came from provincial qualifier championships to race for Club, County, Province medals and Individual honours. In short juvenile races, 10 secs can make a difference of 10-15 places, such is the level of competition at national level.

Limerick AC U11 boys qualified from the Munster Championships in Patrickswell and raced again in one of the largest events. Thanks to strong performances from Killian Conan (13th) Rian Kiely Keogan (26th), Jack Ryan (87th) and Myles Anderson (97th) the city club were 6th placed team.

At U13 Dooneen’s Ellen Goggin has shown tremendous promise  all season and fulfilled some of that on Sunday as she finished 5th overall in 9:22 having moved up from 7th in the last 250m of the 2,500m course. Wearing the blue singlet of Munster rather than the red of her Club she secured an individual podium place and was also a scoring member of the victorious Munster team. U17 Boys 5000m Aaron Lynch  (West Limerick) was 54th from 129 finishers.

Novice Women 4000m:  Dooneen ACs Grace Culhane, currently a student in Trinity College Dublin, flew the flag for Limerick and ran well to finish 53rd of 105 women. Novice Men 6000m West Limerick man Killian Lynch (34th) and Limerick ACs Derek Kiely (67th) were competitive for Limerick in the largest field of the day at 196 total.

Round-up

Niall O’Callaghan was 1st M40 in a time of 15:31 at the Donore Harriers, ‘Jingle Bells’ 5K.

Sinead McDermott was 11th overall in a pb time of 1:26:58 at the Waterford Half Marathon

Joe Chawke  was elected new Dooneen AC Chairman

The Munster Masters, Intermediate, Juvenile Relays and Juvenile ‘B’ Cross Country Championships take place this Sunday in Clarecastle.