GER WYLEY/NIKE SUMMER SERIES LEADER BOARD.

The Ger Wyley /Nike summer series leader’s board makes for interesting viewing and it will be available for all to see at the Doocey’s Bar Ballymacarbry 5 mile race on Friday August 1st. There are some very close battles going on in both the Men’s and Ladies competitions, with much to be decided yet.
We have a great record entry this year in the series once again with over 150 athletes entered, with six races from the ten race programme to count in the series please also note the same rules apply for the 25 Euro Ger Wyley Sports/Nike voucher. This year for the first time all runners who complete the entire 10-race programme will receive a 75-euro voucher, a great prize available to all runners no matter what your standard. Best of luck to all for the final two races.
The main individual prizes will be awarded to the top ten ranked men of any age and the top five ranked women of any age. After that instead of traditional divisions, there will be prizes for the 20th ranked 30th, 40th, 50th etc in the male category and the 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th etc in the ladies category. The added 75-euro voucher has created much interest as well with a total of thirty athletes still in with a chance of collecting that great prize. A 25 Euro Nike voucher will be awarded as per previous years to anyone who runs six of the ten races also kindly sponsored by Ger Wyley Sports and Nike. Presently Sandis Bralitis looks likely to take the overall title for 2008.This victory could see Sandis win this series for the third year in a row a truly great achievement if he can pull it off, In 2007 he won all 10 races this feat he can’t achieve this time out as the second placed athlete Raivis Zakis has won two races in the series to date, Marine Climb and Butlerstown 10k,Sandis currently has four wins and two seconds giving him a total of 12 points with Raivis on 16 points, Sean Stilwell is third with 18 points and giving West Waterford a one two three four Declan Mc Grath is fourth with 23 points Youghal’s Noel Curtin is filling 5th place with 47 points. This really is how I see the top five in the table finishing after the final two races but Sean and Declan have to run the final two races to count in the series with only four races each ran to date. Waterford’s Larry Kennedy is in 6th place on 71 points, Valera Turkan Clonmel and team mate Vasiliy Neumerzhitskig are 7th and 8th with 73 and 85 points, Former winner of the series Peter Duggan St.Josephs is in 9th with 92 points and P.J Guinan West Waterford who is in the form of his life presently is filling the final top ten placing’s with 97 points. Looking at the other leaders in the series. Martin Hayes is currently in 15th place John Leahy 20th Garry McCormack 25th Conor Murray 30th Maurice Boland 40th Michael Wade 45th Ken O’Donnell 50th Frank Fahy 55th Billy Coleman 60th Albert McGrath 65th Micheál Callaghan 70 Paul Lanigan 75th Maurice Foley 80th and Tommy Lenihan 85th.That’s how they stand presently but many of these will change as athletes complete the required six races as some have not yet achieved the required total. Corinna Walsh seems to be well and truly on her way to taking her first Summer series title as she has five wins to date and is currently in the lead with nine points, following Corinna is former winner Jackie Carty Kilmore with ten points Jackie who has won this title on four previous occasions has two wins and four seconds Mary Burke Waterford AC is third with 23 points and Cait Caulfield St.Senans on 26 points is fourth, Diane Behan is filling that final top 5 placing’s with 29 points there’s still plenty to fight for here as just like the Men’s table, not all athletes in the top five placings have completed the required six races. Karen Ryan is filling 10th place Tracey Dwyer 15th Marie O’Gorman 20th Maura Seaward 25th Gemma Dewberry 30th Ann Moroney 35th and Claire Walsh 40th .It encouraging to see such a big entry of Ladies in the series this year and its best of luck to all for the final two races.

10 FROM 10 IN SERIES.

We have nine Ladies and twenty one Men still on track to pick up that 75 Euro Ger Wyley Sports/Nike voucher which will be awarded to all runners who complete the full ten races in the summer series race programme with just two races to go we wish all full monty participants the best of luck in achieving this goal The ladies who are still in contention are all West Waterford AC athletes. Eilish Ní hAodha, Anne Whelan, Brigid Coffey, Ann Moroney, Claire Walsh, Martina Walsh, Brigit Blackwell Ann Moroney and Joan Navin.
Men who can possibly complete ten races are. Tommy Lenihan, Ray Murray, Michael O’Shea, Tom Halley, Eamon Flavin, Vincent Tutty, Noel Drohan, Tom Leahy, Ray Burke, Tomas Coleman, Ken O’Donnell. Garrett Byrne, Tommy Falconer, Conor Murray, Patrick Riordan, Alan Lyons, Billy McGuire, Larry Lacey, P.J.Guinan, Peter Duggan, Larry Kennedy.

WEST WATERFORD’S GREEN MILE LEAGUE

Last Thursday night we had the first night of our Green Mile League in the Friary College. As the name suggests all participants have to run a mile on the grass track. This is open to anybody, regular runners and beginners alike. Last week, all competitors were put in to different groups depending on their ability. There were some that never ran before and gave it a shot and did very well indeed. Four laps of the track equates to one mile. This league is ideal for those that have never run before. You are most welcome to walk, run or jog the laps of the track. You will find as each week goes by that you will automatically get that little bit faster each week. For those that have taken up running lately, this mile league will really help you to run the Tuesday night league at a much faster pace. The idea behind the mile league is that if you run a shorter distance faster than race pace, over time your running pace will get faster. If you have heard any runner talking about speed work then this is what they are talking about. For the first night of the league, twenty runners took part which was a great turn out but with only two more races left in the Ger Wyley/Nike Summer Series we’re sure that plenty more will come along to help them reach their target for five miles before the series concludes. The runners were divided into four groups, beginner, under 8 minutes, under 7 minutes and under 6 minutes. It was great to see some beginners on the night and as we have said before we all have to start somewhere and the green mile league is the perfect opportunity. Aine lynch led them home in a time of 8.41. This was a good week for Aine as the previous Tuesday she was second at the TQS League. Sandra Ellard ran a blinder to break nine minutes. Claire Cotter wasn’t too far behind and no doubt her new goal will be to break nine minutes before the league ends. Mary McDonald did very well to finish just under 11 minutes and Siobhain Hayes was just on the other side of 11 minutes. Well done girls and we hope to see you all next week for round two.
In the second group were the sub 8-minute mile runners. Sub eight means that you’re aiming to run the mile in under eight minutes. For most of us, we won’t do it on the first night; after all it wouldn’t really be called a goal if you achieve it on the first attempt. In this group there was Onra Power who completed the mile in 8.02 and Deb Tudbury who had a great run to finish in a time of 8.20. The sub seven group had 8 taking part with Dermot Sullivan the first to cross the line. Dermot completed the mile in 6.15 so in no time soon he’ll be promoted to the sub 6-minute mile group. Another one up for promotion will be Michael John o’ Mahony who finished in 6.29. Ann Dunford and Johnny Murphy finished together with Micheal Callaghan hot on their heels. Just over 7 minutes was JJ Henley, Karen Ryan and Brigid Coffey. In the sub six minute mile the man from the Kingdom Johnny O’ Connor was in total control and led from start to finish. He completed the mile in 5.43 with Yevgeniy Chizhikov having two seconds to spare in his bid to run under 6 minutes. Only one second separated Norma Wall and Joe Gough and last but certainly not least was Raivis Zakis who finished in 6.59.
We would love to see many more of you come along and take part. If you have been training regularly and are looking for something different then the green mile league is for you. If you want to increase your pace then the friary is where you should be. If you have never ran before we will provide plenty of encouragement and support and we know what it’s like to be a beginner, we were all in that boat before. You have nothing to lose by coming along and taking part. Please note that due to the Ballycotton 5 mile road race, the Green Mile League will take place on Friday night of this week, July 25th at 7.30 p.m. The entry fee is €2 and water is provided at the finish for all participants. See you out there on Friday night.

The following are the times recorded in the various groups for round one:

Beginner:
Aine Lynch  8.41
Sandra Ellard   8.52
Clare Cotter   9.20
Mary McDonald 10.52
Siobhain Hayes 11.02

Sub 8 minute mile
Onra Power 8.02
Deb Tudbury 8.20

Sub 7 minute mile
Dermot Sullivan   6.15
Michael John O’ Mahony 6.29
Ann Dunford    6.53
Johnny Murphy   6.53
Micheal Callaghan   6.59
JJ Henley    7.14
Karen Ryan    7.15
Brigid Coffey    7.20

Sub 6 minute mile
Johnny O’ Connor   5.43
Yevgeniy Chizhokov   5.58
Norma Wall    6.10
Joe Gough    6.11
Raivis Zakis    6.59

ONRA POWER COMERAGH CRYSTAL ATHLETE OF THE MONTH FOR JUNE.

Onra Power is our most recent recipient of the Comeragh Crystal sponsored Athlete of the month for June.Onra after a very busy month has accumulated a total of 10 points for the period. Onra is lying in 12th place in our overall league table for the athlete of the year award for 2008.At the helm as she has been for some months now is Brigid Coffey who has a total of 64 points as the competition passes the half way point, Hot on her heels is twice winner of the award Raivis Zakis who is just 5 points behind. These two presently seem to be the main contenders for this year title as the third placed athlete Ann Dunford is 20 points behind Raivis and 25 points behind Brigid at this stage. Sean Stilwell is next on 37 points and Paul; Brunnock is next with 36 points. Congratulations once again to Onra on winning the award for June.

January February March April May June 0verall
Coffey, Brigid 9 6 4 12 21 12 64
Zakis, Raivis 6 5 9 8 16 15 59
Dunford, Ann 9 4 6 6 10 4 39
Stilwell, Sean 7 4 5 6 8 7 37
Brunnock, Paul 7 5 4 6 6 8 36
Gough, Joe 8 6 7 4 6 3 34
Uì Chuirrìn, Josie 5 5 4 5 6 9 34
Dunford, Pat 7 4 4 4 9 5 33
Walsh Corinna 5 5 6 5 4 8 33
Kavanagh, Liam 7 5 3 6 4 6 31
Power, Onra 6 4 3 3 5 10 31
Dwyer, Anthony 6 5 3 5 5 6 30
Whelan, Anne 4 5 5 4 5 7 30
Lyons Alan 5 5 2 5 5 7 29
Wall, Triona 5 4 6 6 3 4 28
Navin Joan 5 5 2 4 5 7 28
Cantwell, Gerry 7 5 6 4 2 3 27
Wall, Norma 6 4 5 6 3 3 27
Behan, Diane 7 5 4 1 6 4 27
Colman Tomas 3 5 2 5 4 8 27

SILVER FOR JAMIE COSTIN AT WOODIES NATIONAL SENIOR TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS.

West Waterford had three athletes in action at last weekends Woodies National Track and Field championships which were held in Santry.Jamie Costin took an excellent silver in the 10k walk with Robby Heffernan winning gold in a new national record time of 38.27.57.Jamie was accredited with a time of 40.13.87 and the bronze was won by David Kidd St.Laurence O’Toole’s in 44.17.72.Jamie can be more than pleased with this performance, especially his time of 40 minute’s for the distance and all looks in readiness now for three weeks time when he will toe the line in the Beijing Olympics in the much longer 50k event. This time was Jamie’s fastest 10.000 meter time in over 4 years in 2006 at the championships he recorded time of 41.23 and last year 40.48. Presenting the walk medals was Dungarvan’s Jim Sheehan who was being honoured for the second year in succession as a guest at the championships. Jim had won the 10.000 meters event 30 years ago this year and Athletics Ireland marked the occasion by having Jim as their guest on the day. Raivis Zakis was also at the championships. On Saturday he too part in the 3.000 meters steeplechase but was a non finisher pulling up after a couple of laps, On to Sunday for the 5.000 meters which was his main aim for the weekend. After a very slow first half of the race Raivis was at the head of affairs and brought the field through 3.000 meters, from here to the finish the pace really got quick, Raivis finished a creditable 8th from the field of 27 and recorded a new personal best time of 15.01 for the distance, Mark Christie won in 14.41 from Aidan Bailey 14.47 with Brian Maher taking bronze 14.48.Brothers Thomas and Liam Houlihan were in action in the Pole Vault with a mixed bag of fortunes for the Ballinamuck Men, Thomas flew in from Bedford where he was competing in the Schools International the previous day, where he finished 6th.Disapointed with this result in England the 17 year old took a creditable 5th in the Senior event in Santry with a new personal best vault of 4.05.Liam on the other had cleared 4.25 for 4th place in the competition but later was to find out that he was being disqualified for speaking to someone who was outside of the track area, despite the fact the Liam himself was finished his vaulting and the fact that he didn’t leave the arena at any stage, Officialdom raises its head once again, when maybe the official might be better employed trying to encourage the competitors in an event such as the Pole Vault which is struggling in this country with falling numbers competing. Well done to the West Waterford athletes who competed over the weekend.

ALL YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT IRISH OLYMPIANS

Faster, Higher Stronger – A History of Ireland’s Olympians is the essential guide for anybody who plans to watch the Beijing Olympics. Researched and written by two of Ireland’s leading sports journalists, Lindie Naughton and Johnny Watterson its a must for all sports enthusiasts, Lindie a great friend of West Waterford AC carries a piece on the Happenings at the club in her column every Thursday evening in the Evening Herald, Their book illustrates vividly how Ireland, for such a small population, has a substantial history of Olympic achievement, going right back to 1896 when tennis player, John Pius Boland, won Ireland’s first Olympic gold medal.
Since then, many Irish heroes have stepped onto the winner’s podium in several sports, from athletics to boxing. Want to know the name of the Irish sprinter who competed for Britain at the "Hitler Games" of 1936? Or how Fred Tiedt missed out on boxing gold in Melbourne 1956? Or that Jerry Milner was the oldest Irishman ever to compete at an Olympic Games when he won the free rifle (1,000 yards) in 1908 in London? Need reminding of Sonia O’Sullivan’s great silver in Sydney in 2000?
All these facts and yarns plus many more can be found in this fascinating account of Ireland’s history at the Olympics, which is fully illustrated throughout and with a foreword by Sonia O’Sullivan. No Irish achievement has been forgotten – from archer Beatrice Hill-Lowe, who in 1908 became the first Irish woman to compete at an Olympics, to Clifton Wrottesley, the man who almost took a Winter Olympics medal in the skeleton for Ireland in 2002.
Faster, Higher Stronger is based on over 100 years of facts and figures, anecdotes and interviews, and the highs and lows of sports men and women throughout Ireland, north and south. There are also chapters dealing with many of Ireland’s best-known (and sometimes controversial) Olympians, including Wayne McCullough, Michael Carruth, Michele Smith, Sonia O’Sullivan and Cian O’Connor.
No one has been forgotten and for the first time, every Irish Olympian since 1896 is listed in a scrupulously researched reference section. And with a full list of Irish teams from 1924 until 2004, it is the indispensable guide for all sports fans looking forward to Beijing. The book is published by Ashfield Press. Fully illustrated throughout and with a foreword by Sonia O’Sullivan, it is on sale now for €22.50 in all good bookshops.

SOME MORE FACTS FROM FASTER, HIGHER, STRONGER…

Sonia O’Sullivan has competed at four Olympic Games in distances from 1500m to 10,000m – her silver for 5000m came at the Sydney Games of 2000.

Robert Hilliard, who boxed for Ireland at the Paris Olympics of 1928, is mentioned in the Christy Moore song, Viva La Quince Brigada. Hilliard, an ex-Church of Ireland minister, was killed as a republican volunteer in the Spanish Civil War.

A man with a unique Olympic record is Terry McHugh, with six Olympic Games appearances. McHugh threw the javelin at the four summer Games from 1988 to 2000 and competed in the bobsleigh at the winter Games of 1992 and 1998.

Eddie Heron is the only Irish diver ever to be selected for an Olympic Games. Sadly the team was withdrawn before it could compete at the London Games of 1948.

TV commentator Jerry Kiernan finished sixth in the marathon at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angles – ahead of him, John Treacy won the silver medal.

Irish-born hammer throwers won all but one of the gold medals at the Olympic Games from 1900 to 1932. John Flanagan won in 1900, 1904 and 1908; Matt McGrath one in 1912; Pat Ryan in 1920 and Pat O’Callaghan in 1928 and 1932.

Owen Nolan, born Belfast 1972, and Geraldine Heaney, born Lurgan 1967, have both won ice hockey gold medals at the Winter Olympics playing for Canada.

Eamon Coghlan fourth at two Olympic games and 5000m-world champion in 1983 remains the only man over 40 to have broken four minutes for the mile.

Caroline O’Shea an 800m specialist from Dublin was the first Irish female athlete to make a track final at the Olympic games. Women’s marathon only made its Olympic debut in 1984 when Regina Joyce and Carey May were the pioneering Irish representatives.

Football teams competed for Ireland at the Olympic games of 1924 and 1948.

Barry McDonald is the only Irish gymnast to have qualified for an Olympic games, which he did in 1996.

Tenor Ronan Tynan won a gold medal for the discus at the 1984 Paralympic Games

Boxer Francie Barrett who carried the flag for Ireland at the 1996 Olympic Games, was the first member of the travelling community to be selected for an Irish Olympic team.

JOE GOUGH COMPETES AT EUROPEAN MASTERS IN SLOVENIA.

Best wishes to club man Joe Gough who is competing At the European Masters Track and Field championships in Slovenia on the weekend of August 29-31st .Joe will compete in his favourite 800 meters event, he is currently in great form as is evident after his winning the recent British masters over 55 in Birmingham when he recorded a time of 2.12 he followed this up with a 2.14 in a graded meet in Santry Dublin.
On a down note the word on our other super Master Brendan Moran isn’t good as on ongoing Achilles injury sees him sidelined for the remainder of the Track season. We wish Brendan a speedy recovery to competition, And Joe all the very best at the Europeans.

RUNNING QUOTE.

If you train hard, you’ll not only be hard, you’ll be hard to beat.

TQS FIT4LIFE RUNNING LEAGUE WEEK 3.

WHEN YOUR GOOD YOUR GOOD.

I don’t ever recall anyone winning back to back guess your time handicap races in a West Waterford organised event, never mind for someone to do it twice in a seven day period, Well it happened at last weeks TQS Fit4life running league in St.Augustines College when Norma Wall once again got her timing to perfection, after her winning run the previous week she turned on the pace calculator again last week and did the business once again, one things for sure she will have been the most watched runner in last nights league when I wonder did she possibly go three in a row, Norma is capable of it you know a shroud pace setter who seems to have it down to a fine art. By the time you read these notes we will know the outcome of that one. We had a total of 65 runners for the third round of the very popular TQS league last week in the grounds of the Friary College. It was great to see such a huge turn out and we hope to see even more turn up over the next few weeks. This league has always been very popular due to the fact that it’s not the fastest person that wins but the person that runs closest to the time they predict. In fact, if one were to take a look at the times you will see that one of the club’s most successful runners and a permanent feature on the winner’s podium Raivis Zakis was way off the mark last week and newcomer Aine Lynch was in second place. The winner really can be anybody and if you were to come along some night it could easily be you. Each runner has a choice of running one, two, three or four laps of the Friary and at whatever pace you choose. You are most welcome to walk, jog or run and we can guarantee that as each week goes by it will get easier and easier. The league continues every Tuesday night in the Friary and the entry fee each night is €2 per person and water is provided at the finish. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t run any night so far as our club motto is that it’s never too late. See you all on Tuesday night. Registration begins at 6.45 p.m. and the league itself begins at 7 p.m.
Out of the 65 runners that participated last week, 37 were faster than they predicted and 28 were on the right side of the clock. This was certainly more evenly balanced than round two where the majority were too fast. The conditions were very good for running with little or no wind but what made the task difficult for round three was the big gap that was between each of the groups. Normally, there is a gap between each of the groups but come the last lap it gradually narrows until the majority of the runners are all side-by-side on the home stretch. However this was not the case last week with a considerable stretch between some of the runners making it all the harder to judge and lady luck certainly had a part to play on the night. Norma Wall was fortunate ” or is it a planned thing” to cross the line just as the clock reached 0.00 and Aine Lynch was second, a mere second slower than predicted. Declan Hayes was two seconds slower with Liam Sandford and Yevgeniy Chizhikov just three seconds slower. Tomas Coleman certainly wishes he had slowed down as had he done so by one second he would have been the winner on the night. Tomas is doing very well in the league at the moment and is currently in fourth position on the league tables along with Catriona O’ Brien and Paddy Power. Liam Kavanagh was also misfortunate on the night. Last weeks notes had him tipped as the winner for round three and he was so close, just two seconds too fast along with Josie Uí Chuirrín. Never mind Liam, there’s plenty of weeks left and no doubt it will be your turn one of these days. Corinna Walsh who was second for round two found herself three seconds too fast for round three and Johnny Murphy was just four seconds too fast. They say you’d want to be years at it and some of us are years at it and it’s still difficult to get right, cross-country co-ordinator and organiser of the league Tony Ryan who has won many a medal in his day was 24 seconds too fast along with Tom Moroney. Welcome back to Brendan Donnelly who is making a comeback and is much fitter than he thought, running almost two minutes faster than predicted. We are edging close to the half way stage of the league and the division tables are beginning to take shape. However, the system being what it is means that you could be at the top of the tables one week and at the bottom the following week but it’s this that makes it all the more interesting. In our previous leagues, it was your best six out of nine nights that comprised your overall score. In this league, you get points for each night you run and it’s the person with the most points that wins. The first person to cross the line gets 30 points, the next person 29 points and so on. Likewise, the person to cross the line just before the clock reached 0.00 receives 30 points as well, the person who finished just ahead of them gets 29 points and so on down to one point. There may be weeks where you don’t get a point as there are only thirty points awarded on each side of the clock. If 40 people cross the line after the clock reaches 0.00, the first 30 will be awarded points and the other 10 receive no score. However, the following week you could receive points and others will receive no points. Don’t worry too much about the divisions tables, let us take care of that! While you’re out training during the week, work on your pacing and you’d never know, you could very well be the next winner of the TQS League.

Jamie Costin takes silver at national 10.000 meters walk

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