MASSIVE RUN BY MICHEÁL POWER TO BECOME THE 2ND WATERFORD MAN EVER TO BREAK 4 MINUTE MILE.
West Waterford’s Micheál Power competing for his USA college Tulsa University last Friday at the Arkansas Invitational Indoor meeting in Fayetteville Arkansas, he wrote himself into the athletic history books by becoming only the second Waterford man to ever break the magic 4 minute barrier for the distance, recording a time of 3 minutes 58.76 seconds.Micheál was narrowly beaten in the race by Lexington Hilton Washington State University who clocked 3.58.70. Micheál who was home over the Christmas break was training diligently for this event as he felt he was coming into the shape needed to have a crack at this 4 minute barrier. This is a hugely positive progression for the Ballinamuck man becoming Waterford’s second ever sub 4 minute miler along with his club mate David McCarthy who ran 3.55.75 indoors in Boston in 2012 and followed this with a 3.57.85 outdoors in Cork in 2013. Big congratulations to Micheál and this achievement, and best of luck with his preparations now for an upcoming 3.00 meter indoor race in a few weeks.
34th ANNUAL KIELY MONUMENTAL COLLIGAN CUP
JAMES RYAN WINS COLLIGAN CUP .
It was a cold but dry day in the beautiful Colligan wood last Sunday morning for the 34th edition of the famed Kiely Monumental Colligan cup, the days athletics were got under way with the McGrath newsagents colligan shield of juveniles and we congratulate this year’s winner Eoin Tobin one of the youngest runners in the field, a full report on this great event can be seen in this week juvenile club notes. So after the juvenile race finished it was onto the adult’s event, this race of course in unique in that all participants have exactly the same chance of winning as the next runner. The countdown clock was started at 60 minutes by Victor Mullins and Tom Leahy club chairman our timing scrutinisers at the stroke of 12 noon. It was then up to the runners themselves to start when they wanted with the aim being to be the first person to finish when the clock hits 0. At the end of the 3 and a half laps covering a total distance of 5 miles the runners were well and truly grouped together with a huge group heading down the wood for the final time on the last lap. This year we saw a great turn out when we had 127 runners which was well up on previous years.As it always is the case when the field of runners got closer and closer to the finishing line it was anyone’s guess as to who would be deemed the winner for the 34th time, and after the clock struck 00 it was James Ryan who took the victory spoils. James won’t mind me saying this proves that this unique event can be won by a regular runner or someone like James who has only recently taken up a bit of running in fact James joined West Waterford AC only 24 hours earlier and not alone is he new to running but he was running this event for the very first time, James from Ballymacarbry where he played a bit of GAA with the Nire and Fourmilewater, he becomes the first from that area to claim victory at this unique event ,living in Ballinroad for some time now he really only started a bit of keep fit running during Covid time but proved last Sunday he knows a thing or two about pacing when he became the 34th person to lift the famed cup. Well done also to our other prize winners who were ever so close on the day, Michael Mullarkey was next just 1 second out very very close Michael,3rd place went to Padraig Healy only 1 second out also and Padraig finished 4th in last year’s race so going in the right direction, was so unlucky also he was just 11 seconds off his target time,another who could easily have snatched it on the day as he was only 6 seconds out was Mark Cliffe in 4th place,and 5th man home was Padraig Begley 7 seconds off winning the event.There also was those who came so close but were seconds too fast on the wrong side of the clock and the included David Donnelly 1 second to fast, the Moore’s David and Anne 2 and 3 seconds off the win and Colm O Connell just 4 seconds too fast.So it’s well done to all and very well done to James Ryan. Here’s to the 35th year next year PG.
FIRST FIVE :
Winner James Ryan
2nd Michael Mullarkey
3rd Padraig Healy
4th Mark Cliffe
5th Padraig Begley
GRAINNE DWYER CLAIMS COLLIGAN SHIELD.
Huge congratulations to our ladies shield winner last Sunday Gráinne Dwyer who won the Kiely Monumental Colligan shield for ladies when she was just 2 seconds off her predicted time, finishing 4th overall in the event. Gráinne comes from a very long running tradition in the Dwyer family but strangely enough she becomes the very first Dwyer female to lift the ladies shield when you consider that her dad Ray in 2001 her uncle’s Michael and Anthony and first cousin Dermot have all won the Colligan cup itself in the past, but Grainne becomes the first family member to lift the shield, so very well done to her, and she went very close to taking the cup on the day as she was only 2 seconds off achieving this. Michelle Dwyer her mother of course is a very busy Juvenile committee member so connections all over in the club for Gráinne.Our 2nd lady home was in fact a former ladies winner Josie Ui Chuirrin who was only 12 seconds off the overall win, Josie of course did win this shield in 2006.Angelina Chizhikova was 29 seconds off the win as she finished 3th overall, Orna Keane was next 30 seconds of her predicted time when she finished and 5th lady home on the right side of the clock was Tara Ní Reachagan just 33 seconds off her target time.It must have been a better day for running than most thought as the stats show us that a whopping 93 runners were too fast of their predicated time and on the wrong side of the clock as we say and only 34 were on the right side of the clock. Well done to all our ladies winners and those who came along to take part also.
Ladies Shield winners.
1st Grainne Dwyer
2nd Josie Uí Chuirrin
3rd Angelina Chizhikova
4th Orna Keane
5th Tara Ní Reachagan
THE VICTOR MULLINS CUP GOES TO JAMIE HYNDS.
Victor Mullins was the creator of this style of time handicap race as it was he who came up with the handicap timing system which has been used now for the past 34 years in this event. Each year Victor presents the Victor Mullins Cup and a prize to the first person on the right side of the clock that has never ran the Colligan Cup before. This year’s winner was Jamie Hynds who joined us for the race in Colligan last Sunday so very well done to Thomas. Our thanks go to Victor for his help and sponsorship of this element of the race and for his ongoing involvement with this race each year.
MANY THANKS.
Our thanks to all who helped in any way to make last Sunday’s 34th Annual Kiely Monumental Colligan cup Firstly a huge thank you to our loyal sponsors of 34 years David and Margaret Kiely of Kiely Monumental works. Many thanks to David who once again was available to present the winners with the famed Colligan cup and shield on the day. Our thanks also to Victor Mullins for all his practical help on the day and he also was on hand to present his cup the Victor Mullins trophy winner to this year’s winner. To the numerous people who looked after the entries and results especially Ann, Kelly, Ray, Declan, Tom and thanks to Victor for looking after the timing, Thanks to Ann Dunford for looking after the prizes for the race and her work with securing the use of Colligan wood for the event. Thanks to John, Declan, Jamie, Victor ,Ann, Kelly on finish line and all for who helped with the stewarding on the course. Thanks to Gerry Cantwell for looking after results. Thanks to Jamie John and Conor for all his help also. Many thanks to Coillte for the use of Colligan, without their help we couldn’t have staged the event at all. Here’s to next year and the 35th year of the event in 2024.
FORDES DAYBREAK WINTER LEAGUE LONG COURSE.
JERRY POWER WINS GUESS YOUR TIME RUN.
We did so well for so long weather wise at the winter league but it all came tumbling down latterly last Wednesday night for round 8 of the league with a most horrible night of heavy rain and high winds despite all this we had a brilliant turnout of 155 runners for the guess your time handicap night as is traditionally held the league night before the Colligan cup Sunday.The night as bad as it was belonged to Jerry Power who was the runner who predicted his league time the nearest as when the clock struck zero he was the next runner over the line, congratulations to Jerry .There were many runners either side of the clock who could have won it just the same with those too fast included Karen Darcy only 04 seconds out, Vincent Tutty just 02 seconds and Fergal Connolly 01 second off winning. Runners on the right side of the clock but just missing out included Steven Curran only 05 seconds, Cathal Gleeson the slimmest of margins 02 seconds and how about Linda Foley 01 second , how close can you get without actually winning. A huge thanks to all the runners who braved the elements last week and of coursed our stewards and finish line personnel, take a bow one and all. The overall leaders took quite a change at the top of the table last week also with the guess your time run and the following are the top contenders for overall victory with 3 weeks remaining. The divisional placing’s are unbelievably tight also with nothing between many of the top contenders in nearly all the 12 divisions, way too early to be talking about possible winners. This week we have a mass start.
Linda Foley 1244
Jack Ahearne 1208
Richie Fitzgerald 1193
Tara Ni Reachtagain 1178
Emmet Gaffney 1165
Geraldine Lacey 1130
Tom Hogan 1120
Triona Shalloe 1118
Sinead Ni Fhaolain 1112
Mark Cliffe 1106
Division 2 Phil Dee 1062 Robert Flynn 1054 Freida Mc Grath 1048
Division 3 Michael Ryan 968 Ceire Barry 964 Michael Dunford 960
Division 4 Gearoid Coffey 893 Michael Callaghan 887 John Buckley 887
Division 5 Gerealdine Barry (K) 827 Micheal Power 822 Eileen Heffernan 821
Division 6 James Coade 761 Gabrielle Power 756 Gary Hurney 755
Division 7 Ronan Lavan 704 John Coffey 702 Catherine Bourke 696
Division 8 Stephen Ahearne 647 Katie Cullinan 646 Geraldine Sinnott 645
Division 9 Corey Kennedy 581 Joanne O Neill 577 Sharon Flynn 571
Division 10 Richie Walsh 530 Annette Russell 528 Margaret Conway 525
Division 11 Caroline Russell 482 Shauna Flavin 481 Marie Seward 467
Division 12 Carol Walsh 418 Norma Wall 417 Hannah Houlihan 416
RITCHIE HARTY WINS SHORT COURSE HANDICAP RUN.
It was a night you wouldn’t put a milk bottle out in for round 8 of the league with very heavy rain and high winds in the mix for our annual guess your time handicap run, despite this we had a great turnout of 72 souls on the 2.4 mile run. This was our 2nd night back of 2023. There are now only 3 more nights left before the conclusion of this year’s league. This section of the league specifically has first timers and beginners in mind and is a manageable distance for most as it covers 2.4 miles in total. The winner last week was the runner who predicted the nearest to his finishing time and that honour fell to Ritchie Harty who cross the line when the clock struck zero and was deemed the winner for 2023.Well done Ritchie some pacing on such a bad night. Those who were just outside their predicted time were Tomás Horgan 09 seconds too fast Kealan Hayes was only 08 seconds to fast and Sheilanne O Donoghue only 03 seconds out. And the runners who were on the right side of the clock but just missed out on the win included Olivia Reilly just 01 seconds out Michelle O Mahoney 3 seconds and Niall Walsh only 05 seconds. Our thanks to runners and stewards who braved the elements last week.Many of the divisional top spots are so very close with 3 rounds remaining but remember so much can change in a night or two it’s all to play for yet. This week we have a mass start.
The top 10 is as follows.
Phil Coffey 748
Kelly Shalloe 731
Tomás Horgan 705
Owen Power 689
Paul Mc Grath 688
Stephanie Curran 667
Raymond Darcy 665
Jerome Maher 656
Cliodhna Foley 653
Gerry Cummins 634
Divison 2 Grainne Moore 604 Emma Dunne 580 Rachel Keating 576
Divison 3 Ann O’Donovan 522 Evelyn Beresford 520 Angelina Chizhikova 516
Divison 4 Tammy Hurney 473 Darcey Toft 466 Claire Fennell 458
Divison 5 Laura Greene 425 Ciara Costello 425 David Mullins 424
Divison 6 Nikki Hynes 398 Eoin O Brien 395 Michelle Mc Carthy 394
Divison 7 Rosie Moran 357 Jack Behan 348 Anthony Fennell 347
Division 8 Jack Nolan 289 Jackie Ryan 288 Phillippa Keating 287
Division 9 Tomas Murphy 219 Richie Fitzpatrick 214 Tricia Cullinane 205
SYMPATHY.
West Waterford athletic club extend sincere sympathy to the family and friends of Jim Hayes Garryanne,Conna,Co. Cork and John Nugent Kilnafrehan, Dungarvan,who passed to their eternal reward recently, may they rest in peace.