By John Walshe
Sean Hehir
Sean Hehir concluded his racing preparations for the World Championships marathon in London in 10 days time with a solid victory at the Churchtown South ‘5’, the third race in the Ballycotton Summer Series.
Looking for a good quality race, the Rathfarnham athlete was an unexpected entry for the two-lap course on narrow country roads, generally regarded as the fastest of the four races that make up the Series.
Leading from the gun, Hehir recorded a time of 24:38 which gave him 23 to spare over James McCarthy (East Cork) who moved into second place overall in the Series ahead of his clubmate Tim O’Donoghue who could only finish fifth. Alan O’Shea, in third, is still the overall leader.
Hehir joins an illustrious list of former winners of this race which started off back in 1980 with just 49 runners (531 finished last night).
The winner of that inaugural event was Liam O’Brien in 24:05, defeating the former Irish mile record holder John Hartnett by one second. O’Brien would go on to win the race on another 12 occasions and establish the still-standing course record of 23:40 in 1983.
Coincidentally, first junior last night was Frank O’Brien, Liam’s son, in 27:42.
Mike Porter of the West Valley TC won the 1981 race in 24:23 (Richie Crowley second in 24:38 and Marcus O’Sullivan third in 24:43), Ray Treacy was victorious in 1984 (23:47) and other notable winners include Paul Freary from Bolton in 1996 (24:05) and Ryan Creech (Leevale) two years ago in 24:27.
The women’s record stands to Louise Cavanagh at 27:45 from 2000; Aoife Cooke ran 28:35 last year. This year’s winner was Sinead Kevany from Midleton in 31:23, now the clear overall leader in the Summer Series which concludes with the 41st Ballycotton ‘5’ on August 24.
SIOFRA CLEIRIGH BUTTNER of DSD will join Hehir and ten others on the Irish team for the World Championships in London next month. Cleirigh-Buttner will run in the 800m having accepted an invitation from the IAAF to compete under their quota system. She has a personal best for the 800m of 2:01.98 with a season’s best of 2:02.11. At the recent European U3 Championships, she finished 7th in the 800m.
Results
1 S Hehir (Rathfarnham-WSAF) 24:38; 2 J McCarthy (East Cork) 25:01; 3 A O’Shea (Bantry) 25:09; 4 M Harty (East Cork) 25:12; 5 T O’Donoghue (East Cork) 25:24; 6 A Sheehan (Leevale) 26:02; 7 D Murphy (West Waterford) 26:18; 8 C Mintern (Leevale) 26:40; 9 K O’Leary (East Cork) 26:43; 10 J Cunningham (St Finbarrs, M45) 26:46.
M40: 1 D Coffey (Leevale) 27:30; 2 K McKeown (Watergrasshill) 27:51; 3 B Crowley (Watergrasshill) 28:00.
M45: 1 J Cunningham (St Finbarrs) 26:46; 2 V Foley (Eagle) 27:17; 3 I O’Leary (Leevale) 28:24.
M50: 1 N Curtin (Youghal) 29:56; 2 T Fox (Eagle) 30:26; 3 D Kelleher (Leevale) 31:15.
M55: 1 E O’Sullivan (Midleton) 33:47; 2 N O’Connor (Eagle) 36:54; 3 G Bulman (Youghal) 37:11.
M60: 1 W Hayes (St Finbarrs) 34:35; 2 W O’Riordan (St Brendans) 35:08; 3 B Anglin (unatt) 35:43.
M65: 1 D O’Connell (Midleton) 40:40; 2 J Walshe (East Cork) 41:06; 3 P Gyves (Mallow) 41:51.
M70; 1 J Murray (Rising Sun) 43:09; 2 D Burke (unatt) 44:39; 3 I Kohler (Midleton) 46:25.
M75: 1 J O’Leary (Leevale) 44:29; 2 P Gaffney (Mallow) 47:22.
MJ: 1 F O’Brien (Midleton) 27:42.
Team: 1 East Cork ‘A’ 11; 2 Leevale 25; 3 East Cork ‘B’ 46.
Women: 1 S Kevany (Midleton, F40) 31:23; 2 H Leonard (Leevale, F45) 32:25; 3 J Bruton (Leevale) 32:38; 4 E Hanley (Grange-Fermoy, F40) 33:15; 5 D Ansbro (Youghal, F35) 33:22; 6 H Gilroy (Midleton, F50) 33:29.
F35: 2 A Carroll (Mallow) 34:30; 3 M Ryan (Eagle) 35:09.
F40: 3 B Keating (Watergrasshill) 35:27.
F45: 2 M McGrath (Midleton) 37:38; 3 D O’Callaghan (Eagle) 38:25.
F50: 2 M O’Keeffe (Midleton) 36:57; 3 M Gillman (Midleton) 37:49.
F55: 1 C McGregor (Midleton) 42:09; 2 M Mulcahy (St Finbarrs) 42:10; 3 E Murphy (Carraig na bhFear) 43:57.
F60: 1 A O’Sullivan (Ballincollig) 52:44.
F70: 1 C Dunne (unatt) 55:16.
FJ: 1 B O’Carroll (unatt) 38:09; 2 C Hayes (St Catherines) 39:20.
Team: 1 Midleton 22; Watergrasshill 39; 3 St Finbarrs 53.
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