Ballymore Cobh AC News

A quintet of Ballymore Cobh athletes each yielded positive results from the Boston Scientific half-marathon staged by Clonmel AC.

Bernadette Ryan-Rowe (2.01.07) is progressively building her mileage base of late and this performance goes to show that here is a lady most certainly headed in the right direction.

Making further in-roads on his recent June debut over the distance, Jan Verwey (1.55.16) continued his meteoric rise since joining the club through our Fit4Life group only last year.

Tom O’Riordan (1.44.09) would be the first to admit he might not quiet yet be race fit over this journey but that did not prevent him setting a personal best here also. More to come before the year is out for this most committed of athletes.

Orla O’Rourke (1.29.46) seems to be on a continuous upward curve and there could be no limit to what this athlete can achieve before the season is out after yet another first in her age group prize here. A seven minute improvement on last years effort is testament to the sustained progress Orla has enjoyed over the last while.

Nine weeks out from an autumn marathon, Trevor Cummins (1.20.52) will be greatly encouraged by a strong showing which also registered him a personal best while shaving three minutes off his effort here last year.

Later that week two of our athletes lined up on the Marina for the BHAA Centra 5km. Bernadette Navin (28.59) continued her hot streak with a PB while Tony O’Sullivan (21.02) also ran quite strongly over this sharp course.

Elsewhere, a large number of novice and beginner runners, many who had recently completed the clubs Fit4Life program, took to Fota House and Gardens for the Rebel Run 5k organized by Cork Local Sport Partnership. As well as the large adult representation, a number of our juvenile athletes also took part with Maggie Sillett (21.27) once again catching the eye while finishing as third female overall.

Further afield, the German capital recently welcomed over 6,000 runners who took part in what is often seen as a rehearsal for the upcoming Berlin Marathon. Two distances were on offer in the form of a half marathon and a quarter marathon and although rain greeted participants beforehand, temperatures rose to 25°C as the runners made their way around the historic city.

Both events saw Ballymore Cobh AC represented with Stephen Ryan (01:56:53) running at a controlled pace over the longer distance as he prepares for a return to the same city next month when taking on the full 26.2miles when participants will through the iconic Brandenburg Gate on the way to the finish line.

Heike von Heyne was in familiar territory to accompany her sister Sabine around the quarter marathon course and both ladies enjoyed the experience immensely, it being the first time they had ran together.