BALLYMORE COBH AC: Ballycotton 10 Road Race

A whopping posse of 26 Ballymore Cobh A.C. athletes ran the 39th Ballycotton 10 on a wet, cold but buzzing east Cork Sunday afternoon.

The tiny village outpost was teeming with athletes from far and wide — 2,520 of them in total that completed the distance.

Amongst the throng, for years a Ballycotton 10 lover, now a bona fide Ballycotton 10 runner, young Bernadette Navin ran well into personal best (PB) territory with a terrific run. Being natives of the village, Ber and her two lovely sisters, Annette and Margaret Fitzgerald, very generously opened up their family home to any and all competing athletes from both Ballymore Cobh and also Midelton A.C., of whom Annette is a member. Chocolate biscuit cakes, numerous assorted goodies and much needed hot beverages were the order of the day as honest-to-goodness Ballycotton hospitality was proffered in abundance.
Many thanks from all at the club to this wonderful triumvirate of sisters.

Choosing to run a conservative race, Heike Von Heyne’s reward for a negative split was a PB by a massive 3 minutes. Having recently incorporated heart rate training into her running schedule, it really does appear to be paying dividends for this young lady.
Heike has asked us to thank clubmate Ruth Phelan for assisting her in getting dressed post-race, as, due to the effects of the near-freezing temperatures, Heike was frozen solid with her blood supply only travelling to her vital organs, thus rendering her virtually incapacitated to perform even the simplest of tasks…(according to her version of events, that is).
Perhaps we can organize a home-help or meals on wheels for you, Heike, and you could have an oul ly-in of a Saturday morning or something!

Superb running also on the day from Trish Doherty. Skimming a full 60 seconds off last year’s finish time, Trish certainly earned her spurs in the less than ideal running conditions. Lovely hurling, Trish.

A special mention to Karen Doyle who supported and cajoled 2 close friends from Rushbrooke Rowing Club around the course, as they were running their very first race over this challenging distance. Fair play to you, Karen.

The girl who found it difficult to complete a single lap around the track just over a year ago is now consuming 10 mile races for breakfast! And a new PB for her at this distance too. Karen Geasley, step forward and take a bow.

“I looked out this morning and the sun was gone,
Turned on some music to start my day,
I lost myself in a familiar song,
I closed my eyes and I slipped away,

It’s more than a feelin’…”

Yes, we all know that Boston’s 1976 classic was written about our very own Ruth PHELAN, but the spellings were altered as she was “doing a steady line” at the time [Ed – No, you lot born post-1990, not the the powdered kind of line you’re thinking of].
With her theme song going through her head as she slalomed past numerous athletes over the last few miles, Ruth rightly felt a great sense of accomplishment completing her first ever 10 mile race. Tá tú go han-mhaith ar fad!

Oft seen pushing it out at our Wednesday evening Fartlek sessions, Angela Leahy reaped gain from the pain with a Ballycotton PB not shy of an outstanding 4 minutes. Now that’s some going.

Seen nursing a well-earned bottle of Corona and lime outside one of Ballycotton’s finest taverns as his fellow clubmates climbed the final mile into the village, Stephen Ryan was taken to task about his choice of beverage – “a fine example to be giving” and all that. “Sure amn’t I getting 1 out of this 5 a day lark from it”, he retorted, pointing to the sliver of lime.
You sure are, Steve, you sure are, boy. With a blistering 5 minutes shorn from his last outing on this course, we think it’s a classic 12 year old Scottish Malt he should’ve had in his hand.

Finishing in 25th position from a field of 1,022 female athletes, Orla O’Rourke has done it again, guys. That’d place Orla in the first percentile for us mathematics pedantics! Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet!

The Ryan has arisen and spoken to many. Making his debut in a Ballymore Cobh A.C. singlet, Brendan Ryan ran a super quick negative split to power home in some style. The second half of his race being run a full 2 minutes quicker than the first, that’s fabulous running when one considers that two fifths of that half were uphill. You’re very welcome to the club, Brendan.

With little serious training done this year, Trevor Cummins warmed up very nicely for his Great Island Ten target race next month with an unexpected PB of 10 sub 6:20 minute miles. Whoarrrr, that’s some going!

A fabulous effort by the above mentioned and of course the many other club athletes that made the journey for this tremendous and unique race. Even as our numbers continue to grow, it’s great to see the club spirit that has been there from day one remain as strong as ever.

The 2016 Ballycotton 10 results in full:

Trevor Cummins (1:01:19)
Brendan Ryan (1:07:53)
Orla O’Rourke (1:08:07)
Stephen Ryan (1:11:18)
Tony O’Sullivan (1:11:42)
Harry Gibbs (1:15:06)
Jennifer Montague (1:18:38)
Una French (1:19:49)
Alma Worrall (1:22:15)
Lynne Doherty (1:22:52)
Angela Leahy (1:23:23)
Claire Holland (1:27:20)
Catherine Britton (1:27:46)
Jan Verwey (1:27:50)
Leilia Pender (1:30:05)
Ber Rowe (1:31:38)
Aiden Hickey (1:32:21)
Ruth Phelan (1:32:51)
Anne Burke (1:33:35)
Maeve Macilwraith (1:35:20)
Margaret O’Connell (1:36:19)
Karen Geasley (1:36:53)
Trish Doherty (1:37:33)
Heike Von Heyne (1:38:49)
Bernadette Navin (1:41:54)
Karen Doyle (1:45:14)