Ballymore Cobh AC News

Ballymore Cobh AC’s upward curve continues unabated with the latest Athletics Ireland Membership Registration figures making for very positive reading with our Junior Section now ranked as the sixth biggest in the county of Cork.

Meanwhile, our Adult Section continues to flourish and steps on to the podium as the third biggest countywide. Combined, we have just recently passed through the 300 mark for club wide membership and this also puts us in a healthy position amongst the national standings.

On a day less than ideal for Track and Field, the club recently had three representatives at the Cork AAI Juvenile T&F Championships. Karl Doyle (U19) and Marc Jones (U15) both ran in the 100m while Ryan McCormick competed in the 60m (U9). A small representation but a reward of two bronze medals kept our name in the frame.

The U19 100m was a straight final in which Karl finished third to secure his bronze and Ballymore Cobh’s first medal in a county juvenile T&F championships in many years.

Like buses, the second was not far behind. Marc ran impressively in his heat to finish third and make it to the final where he and another athlete were neck and neck with the Ballymore Cobh athlete just being pipped on the line for second place but securing the bronze medal in a time of approximately 12.85sec’s.

Ryan added another track outing to the experience he gained at the same venue recently when finishing in fourth place in his heat. Plenty more to come from this quarter, no doubt.

At senior level, Orla O’ Rourke (3.19.49) celebrated her remarkable achievement of a tenth marathon by setting a new personal best in the Boston. This was serious running from the Ballymore Cobh athlete in The City on The Hill.

Closer to home, Stephen Pender (3.40.35) also completed the marathon distance in a personal record time during the recent Great Limerick Run and will seek further improvement in the upcoming Cork City Marathon. Ken Hickey (1.38.40) completed his second half marathon in as many weeks with a solid run in the Charter City which improved on his previous effort in Wexford by four minutes.

Elsewhere, Barry Breen (42:53) ran strongly to finish 11th in the overall field of the recent Passage West 10k while Trevor Cummins (29.29) and Owen Ryan (35.38) recorded personal bests at Midleton AC’s 5 mile event in which Margaret O’Connell (49.01) and Bernadette Navin (52.32) continued their emergence onto the road race scene with sound efforts. The two ladies had previously taken part in a 5km in Clonpriest where Theresa O’Brien (31.44) and Cathy Coleman (31.51) both secured personal records.