31st October 2010- Results and Fixtures

Buckley and O’Connor Retain Offaly Cross Country Titles

The Offaly Senior and Intermediate Cross Country Championships were held in Charleville Estate in Tullamore last Sunday. The races were run over a course that will be used for next months Juvenile and Novice All Ireland Championships which Tullamore Harriers are proud to be hosting. Despite recent heavy rain the course was in good condition and received good reports from the competitors.

The Senior Women’s race over 5000 metres saw defending champion Maire Triona O’Connor and Liz Cuskelly run together up to the halfway mark. O’Connor then made her move going up the hill where she opened up a gap on Cuskelly and extended her lead all the way to the finish to come home a convincing winner. Liz Cuskelly finished in second place with Martina Conlon taking third.

The senior men’s race run over 10000 metres took on a similar pattern to the womens race with last years top two, Paul Buckley and Catch Grennan dictating matters up front before the strong running of Ferbane’s Paul Buckley took him away from Grennan and claim victory by a margin of seventy three seconds. Catch Grennan took second place with John Donegan running a strong race to take third place.

In the Intermediate race which was run over a distance of 5000 metres Evelyn Herlihy won her first Offaly cross country title in fine style when she came home almost one hundred metres clear of second placed Rita Daly, with Bernie Daly taking third place.

Richie Galvin ran a very strong race in a competitive mens intermediate 10k to claim his first Offaly cross country title where he shook off the stern early challenge from Brendan Abbot to come home an easy winner from Abbot with Ger Lynam filling the bronze medal position.

Full Results :
Senior Men (10k) : 1 Paul Buckley (Ferbane) 35.46 ; 2 Catch Grennan 36.59 ;  3 John Donegan 37.40 ; 4 Mark Servis 39.03 ; 5 Martin Carroll 39.18 ; 6 Jody O’Reilly 40.04 ; 7 Pat Conlon 42.30 ; 8 Ronan Duffy 43.44 ; 9 Joe Wrafter 44.26. Team: 1 Tullamore Harriers 14.

Intermediate Men (10k) 1 Richie Galvin 39.15 ; 2 Brendan Abbott 40.24 ; 3 Ger Lynam 41.24 ; 4 Chris Donegan 43.33 ; 5 Ray Martin 43.49 ; 6 Fra Mollen 44.37 ; 7 Liam Byrne 45.11 ; 8 Brendan Kennedy 48.33 ; 9 Pat Kennedy 55.31.Team: 1 Tullamore Harriers 10.

Senior Women (5k) 1 Maire Triona O'Connor 20.44; 2 Liz Cuskelly 21.53; 3 Martina Conlon 26.41. Intermediate  Women (5k) 1 Evelyn Herlihy 24.03; 2 Rita Daly 24.28; 3 Bernie Daly 26.55; Team 1 Tullamore Harriers 10.

DUBLIN CITY MARATHON
Well done to all the Tullamore Harriers athletes who took part in the 31st Adidas Dublin City Marathon which incorporated the National Marathon championships. Conditions were near perfect for marathon running a factor which surely contributed to new course records in both womens and mens races.

Pauline Curley was 2nd Irish lady home in an excellent time of 2.43.57 beaten by Barbara Sanchez from Raheny. Cappincur man Barry Minnock, racing with Rathfarnham Club, stormed home in 16th place overall in a fantastic time of 2.22.01. Next Tullamore Harriers athlete was Eddie Garry in a time of 2.48.14. George Webb finished in 3.14.39 followed by Glen Finlay in a time of 3.25.09. New members of the club, Elma Ravenhill, Fiona Claffey and Annmarie Mcnamara finished in 3.50.42, 3.58.56 and 4.06.09 respectively. Ivan Cuddihy finished in 3.58.45. It is a credit to all the hours and miles of training everyone put in over the past few months.

Marathon Man Larry
Congratulations to Larry Rigney on his fantastic achievement on finishing his 100th marathon on Monday in Dublin City Marathon. This is an incredible achievement and for Larry , crossing the line after 3hrs,57mins will be a memorable moment. He competed in his first marathon in 1985 and this too was in Dublin City. Over the next few years Larry clocked up the miles and ran 74 Irish marathons, 24 USA marathons , and 2 Australian marathons! And he is not hanging up the running shoes yet..... his next marathon is in two weeks time in Six Mile Bridge!

Well done Larry, from all in Tullamore Harriers.

News Roundup
Jim Langan competed in the first leg of the Killarney 5k road series last Saturday week and finished in first place in the over 65 category in a time of 22.48. Jim was back in action two days later in the kingdom when he again won his category in the Scartalgen 5k road race over a hilly circuit in 23.35.

Fixtures :
November 7th, Leinster Intermediate cross country championships,Adamstown, Co.Wexford.
November 14th, Masters Home Countries International cross country,Santry
November 18th; Winter League Round 1 at 7pm
November 21st; Winter League Round 2, Charleville at 10am
November 27th; Fit2RUN4LIFE Half Marathon, Kinnity
December 2nd;Winter League Round 3 at 7pm
December 14th; Christmas Grand National, at 7pm
December 19th; National Novice cross county championships, Charleville Estate,Tullamore

Training: Tuesday and Thursday at 6.30pm. Sunday morning at 8.30am, except on race day. New members always welcome. With the dark evening now approaching