The 1st day of the Munster Performance Squads takes place this Saturday November 30th at Cork IT Track. Registration is from 9.45am-10.00am sharp in the red brick building next to the track stand and is for all athletes that have been selected on the squads.
More info available here
Munster Juvenile ‘B’ & Masters Cross Country is taking place in Beaufort, Co. Kerry at 11.30am on Sunday so best of luck to any athletes in action there.
Official Opening of ‘The Clare O’ Leary Walkway’, Bandon, Co. Cork
In honour of the achievements of Bandon-born mountaineer and adventurer Clare O’ Leary, the official opening of ‘The Clare O’ Leary Walkway’ will take place on Saturday November 30th at 2pm.
The official opening will be conducted by Cllr. Noel O’ Connor, Mayor of County Cork and Dr. Clare O’ Leary will be in attendance on the day.
The Clare O’ Leary Walkway follows the path of the old Cork – Bandon Railway parallel to the N71 for a distance of approximately 3km and is accessed via the public car park approx 2.8km past Innishannon on the left-hand side of the N71 heading towards Bandon.
Bandon Town Council initially proposed that the popular railway walk between Bandon & Innishannon be officially named ‘The Clare O’ Leary Walkway’ in honour of the outstanding achievements of Bandon woman, Clare O’ Leary. This proposal was then taken to the Bandon Area Committee where it gained the support of Cork County Council.
Clare O’ Leary is one of the world’s leading female adventurers and high-altitude climbers. Her accomplishments include:
– being the first Irish woman to climb Mount Everest (2004),
– scaling the Seven Summits (The highest mountain on each continent)
– Climbing Ama Dablam’ in the Himalayas
– Skiing across the Greenland Iceland cap.
– Skiing to the South Pole
In February of 2013 Clare O’ Leary and fellow adventurer Mike O’ Shea successfully travelled the length (778km) of the frozen Lake Baikal; the planet’s oldest and deepest lake; in Eastern Siberia. Clare O’ Leary is also a patron of the Cork University Hospital Charity and works as a Gastroenterology Consultant.
All-Ireland Athletics Ireland Indoor Combined Event Championships
On Saturday 11 January 2014 the All-Ireland indoor Combined Event championships will take place in the International Athletics Arena at Athlone Institute of Technology. Entry is open for all age groups U14 and up, and the format is a pentathlon consisting of: 60m hurdles, long jump, shot putt, high jump and 800m. Note that no qualification is required, but you will need to consult with your coach about taking part. It is recommended that all juvenile athletes start their athletics careers with the Combined Events, it’s great fun to do and helps you improve in all other sports too. Who wants to miss such an opportunity to compete in this superb indoor facility in Athlone?
But ….. you need to train for it!
The Great Railway run was held on the 10th of November in somewhat wet conditions. The 25k race started in the Marina in Cork City and finished in
Carrigaline. There was 87 runners in the race which was won in a new course record of 1hr 30. 25 by Kevin Wilmot of Bandon AC. He had over 6minutes to spare over Eagle ACs Eric Browne.
The 10k Race went from Monkstown to Carrigaline This race attracted 154 runners. David Craig of Bandon AC finished 2nd in a time of 37.08
All-Ireland Schools’ Combined Events Championships at Athlone IT
Ella Nicholson was the only Bandon AC athlete who qualified for the All Ireland School’s Combined Events last Saturday. This year the venue was changed from outdoors to indoors and a long journey was required to the new, second to none, facility in Athlone Institute of technology. Ella had earlier qualified in the Junior section in Nenagh and was very keen to participate for the first time in the championships, from which the first four would go on to the International Schools’ Championships in Glasgow.
The standard this year was extremely high with the first five athletes scoring more than 3085 points, compared to the winner last year scoring 3006 points. It made for very exciting competition with many surprises. Ella started off with a very good 60m hurdles in a new personal best (PB) of 10.06 sec, which is also a new Bandon AC Indoors Club Record in the Girls U16. She already has the Club Record in the long jump with 5.27m, but with only 3 jumps allowed it proved quite challenging to reach that level. The shot put followed and was a little disappointing, possibly because of the larger size indoor shot used. The high jump turned out as expected, with the knowledge that an improved runup could yield a lot of extra points. With 1.40m Ella now shares the high jump Club Record with Emma Young. The 800 m set off at a cracking pace and leveled out with Ella moving up the field in the third lap and finishing almost 4 seconds faster than her old PB and ….. again a new Club Record (2:40:20). To top it all off, when the scores were added, a new Pentathlon Club Record resulted. All in all a great day out, with a well organised and well run event.
Report by Frank Stam
Photos by Susab Nicholson
HSE 4 mile road race Sunday November the 3rd
The annual HSE 4 mile race took place on Sunday November the 3rd. Under the cork BHAA rules the flat course was the usual 2 lap route of the Marina.
245 athletes took part and 1st over the line was the 2013 Bandon half marathon winner John Meade in a time of 21:25 representing Joyce Wolfe Physiotherpy.
12 seconds behind in 2nd place was Kevin Wilmot of EMC in a time of 21.37.
David Craig finished in 14th place in 23:04 representing Cork Garda.
Feet First Mizuno 5K Winter Series 2013 Killarney, Co. Kerry
November the 9th
Mark o Sullivan was the only Bandon ac athlete to run in the Feet First 5k road race.
This was the 2nd race in the Mizuno 5K Winter Series which took place through the grounds of Killarney National Park on November the 9th
Mark put in a fine performance to win the race in a very fast time of 15.50.
Report by Kevin Wilmot
The Woodies National Even Age XC championships took place on November 17th 2013 in conjunction with the senior, junior and U23 inter County National Championships. A large crowd attended the event which was run over a fast and mainly flat course on the Santry Demense in Dublin under perfect weather conditions. It is worth noting that the competition to qualify for this national event is very hard to achieve and all athletes who competed today should be very proud to achieve such a high standard. Bandon Athletic club had 15 athletes who qualified across the various ages.
Clare Flynn representing the Cork team was of our first athlete to compete and she ran out of age in the Girls U12 race and had a very strong run. Fionn Harrington also running in the Cork colours ran in the Boys U12 race and finished strongly and was the 7th Cork runner over the line. This was the first national XC competition for Clare and Fionn and they will both have gained great experience for future championships to come.
The Girls U14 team of Laura Nicholson, Michele O’Donovan, Moira Barrett, Grainne Mulcahy and Niamh Calnan were up next and they all had excellent runs to take 2nd club team prize. This is the 2nd year in a row these girls and they have really shown great determination to retain this silver prize again this year. Laura Nicholson finished in 8th place winning herself an individual medal and scored on the Munster team who won gold. Laura, Moira and Niamh also scored on the Cork team helping the Country take the silver place. Naoise Ni Fhaitheartargh ran for the Cork team in the Boys U14 race and he ran very competitive race finishing as the 4th Cork runner home today but the County team just finished outside the medals.
The Girls U16 team of Fiona Everard, Aoibh Cassidy, Niamh Munday and Bethany Haigue and Alice Symington were our next team in action. They had a fast 4000m course to run and they all had impressive runs to finish in 6th club place. Fiona Everard won an individual medal by finishing in 8th place and also qualified to represent Ireland in the Celtic games in January. Fiona and Aoibh scored on the Cork team helping the County will the silver medal place. Fiona also scored on the Munster team who won Gold.
Louisa Keane competed out of age in the women’s Junior (U20) race and had a great run to finish the 2nd Cork runner over the line and the County were unlucky not to medal by finishing in 4th place. Mark O’Sullivan competed in the men’s U23 race which was run with the senior men’s race. It was a fast and furious race and he ran very well to finish as 16th U23 over the line.
This was a great championship and weekend outing for all our athletes and their families. Well done to all.
Report from Tom Laffan.
Congrats to Tom Laffan who was elected as Chairman at the AGM tonight. He takes over from Billy Good who stepped down.Teresa ODonovan was re-elected as secretary and also re- elected were treasurer Carmel Lucey, vice Chairman Patrick McSweeney, PRO Fiona Mangan, Head Coach Catherine Duggan, registration Ann Gayson.
Don’t forget the club A.G.M. tonight.
In the Lodge Bar at 8pm
All members over the age of 18 are entitled to attend and vote and the parents of any juvenile members are also entitled to attend.
Best of luck to Ella Nicholson who is competing in Schools National Combined Events in Athlone tomorrow.
Best of luck also to any club members in action at the Woodie’s DIY Inter County and Juvenile Even Age Cross County Championships in Santry this Sunday the 17th of November.
