| Tom and Carolyn claim Winter league crowns. |
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ALLROUNDER SPORTS WINTER LEAGUE. TOM SCANLON AND CAROLYN BYRNE ARE CROWNED WINTER LEAGUE CHAMPIONS FOR 2008 After fifteen weeks of running, pacing, predicting, wind, rain and battling the elements our very popular winter league finally came to a conclusion and what a conclusion it was!! It’s fair to say that this year’s league was one of our most successful and popular in the history of the leagues and in the end we finally had our winter league champions and the champs for 2008 were Tom Scanlon in the six mile and Carolyn Byrne in the three mile. Two very deserving winners indeed as both showed much enthusiasm and determination for the duration of the league and over the last few weeks in particular showed true spirit and heart to ensure their placing at the top. They were duly crowned over-all winners at our much-awaited prize-giving night in Tig An Ceol last Friday night. The mystery tour itself was an outstanding success with a large crowd in attendance. The first meeting point was Downey’s Bar and from their two busloads headed for the direction of Ring to Tig An Ceol. The food and music were great and the craic was mighty. Tony Ryan got proceedings underway by thanking all those involved in the running of the league over the fifteen weeks. He thanked all the participants, the local papers for their coverage of the winter league and of local athletics in general, the stewards and our league sponsor Pearse Moloney. Our thanks to the staff at Tig An Ceol for providing the food and making sure the night was a huge success. A special word of thanks must go to Finbarr Kelly who was the sole individual responsible for organising the mystery tour. Finbarr organises this trip every year and with each passing year he does it better and better. In fact, he’s already talking about next year’s mystery tour!! TITANIC EFFORT ENSURES TOM’S TRIUMPH. A top-drawer performance from Tom on the final night placed him well and truly at the top and he eventually finished up with a grand total of 448 points, a 37-point lead over Liam Kavanagh. As part of Tom’s victory speech he expressed his delight at winning and all at West Waterford were delighted for the popular winner. Going up to accept the cup, Tom was carried shoulder high by his club mates and his name now appears on the winter league shield along with all the previous winners. CAROLINE COMBINES WILL AND DETERMINATION TO CONQUER WINTER LEAGUE There was never really any danger of Carolyn being toppled from the top spot as she had acquired such a huge lead and had plenty of points to spare going in to the final night. Carolyn maintained this significant lead as a result of her determination and capacity to give it her best shot every night of the league. She was a very deserving winner to say the least and was a true champion. Carolyn was relatively new to the running scene when she began the winter league and within a few short weeks had established herself as a serious contender for the top spot and last Friday’s prize-giving was the culmination of all her efforts. We hope that we will see more of Carolyn now that she certainly knows a thing or two about running and has moved away from the beginners group in to the regulars group. Carolyn has shown that if you make up your mind to do something that it really can be done. She has shown massive improvements in her running times and was a most worthy winner and her name on the winter league shield will be a constant reminder of her winter league triumph in 2008. Carolyn finished with a final score of 410 points, a 53-point lead over Cyril Flavin. Congratulations to Cyril Flavin who moved in to second place as a result of his super efforts over the last few weeks. There will be some celebrations in the Flavin household all week as a result of Cyril coming second overall in the 3-mile and Eamon winning his division in the 6-mile. Cyril ended up with a 17-point lead over Geoff Bullen who also had been in contention for the top spot with a while. Geoff finished with 480 points ahead of Sean Moore who was fourth overall. When you consider the amount of people running during the league and also that it’s a commitment of 15 weeks, to come in the top 5 is a major achievement. Pat O’ Connell is another that joined the ranks of the top five overall and had an overall score of 517. It was close enough between the top five and I’m sure that they are all delighted with their placings. Like the 6 mile, it happened that some of the top 5 came from a division other than the first division. Anita Lyons was the eventual winner of division 4. She has been showing steady improvement since the league started and the training for the ten-mile certainly showed in her running times for the league. Brigid Blackwell, Niamh Budds and Lisa Fleming were the winners of divisions 5,6 and 7 and like Anita found the training for the ten-mile of immense benefit. Yevgeniy Chizhikov who began running the local leagues in the Friary last summer was the winner of division 8 and Geraldine Barry of division 9. Mark Cliffe and Caroline Flynn really had a battle on their hands as it was so close but in the end there was 8 points separating them with Mark claiming the honours. Caroline will be delighted with the fact that on the final night she was the person to improve their time the most and earned minimum points for that. Josie Harty had every right to feel confident of a win on the last night as she too had a big lead and so was a very deserving winner of division 11. Avril Doocey had the experience of the ten-mile training to draw on and was the winner of division 12. Seamus Casey and Anne Ledingham were very close in points but in the end Seamus won by 7 points in division 13. Gillian McNamara won division 14 and Maire Flynn won division 15.
While a lot of preparation and effort goes in to the organisation of an event as big as the winter league, it’s really the stewards that are the backbone of our winter league. Without the loyalty and commitment of our valuable stewards we certainly would not be in a position to hold the league. As with all sporting events, safety is of the utmost importance and we are indebted to the stewards for ensuring the safety of all the runners. It’s a huge commitment to be out in all types of weather for 15 weeks in the winter and yet we have a huge crew of reliable and dependable volunteers who commit themselves to this task every year for which we are very grateful. They give of their time so generously and we really and truly appreciate this. Thanks to each and every one of the stewards in the three-mile and the six-mile. The Waterford Hospice society was the benefactors from the 5th Annual Bausch and Lomb sponsored Kilmacthomas 5 mile road race, which was held last Sunday. Race director Michael Dee had the call on the new morning starting time of 11 AM which to be honest many were dubious about, However it was indeed a good decision as the field grew for 160 finishers last year to a new record attendance of 192 finishers plus 50 walkers this year, Always listen to a wise man they say.
The Ladies race was a real battle between club mates Diane Behan and Corinna Walsh both athletes were capable of wining here last Sunday and they gave us a ding dong battle all the way around the 5 mile circuit but on this occasion Diane who finished 3rd last year in this race, just held off Corinna to take the victory in a time of 30.47 This adds nicely to her win in Dunhill the previous Sunday also, with Corinna just 9 seconds behind in 30.56 two fine performance’s by both girls with only seconds separating them at the line. In third place and for my money one of the performance’s of the day came from Norma Wall who finished third in a time of 31.57.Norma clipped 40 seconds off her best ever 5 mile time of 32.37 which also comes from this course in Kilmac.Brea Cook had the flag flying for our city cousins when taking the over 35 section in good time of 32.36.Anne Whelan West Waterford took her second over 40 win in a row in a fine time of 34.44, (two minutes faster than her winning time of last year.) Eibhlis Ni hAodha won the over 45 category in 32.36 and Waterford’s Ann Fitzgerald the over 50 in 32.27,All very fast category times all-round.
The Kilmacthomas 5 was once again very generously sponsored by Bausch and Lomb and the designated charity was The Waterford Hospice Society, It was the third race in the Michael Roche Carpets spring series and West Waterford wish to thank and complement the whole organisational team in Kilmacthomas on a job very well done with the entries once again on the increase, Thanks to the Community centre, All those who did a very important job on motor bike duty, The Gardai, Nicky Butler and all in the Civil defence, The many Stewards, Those who looked after the water at the finish, West Waterford race officials, and Kirwans Bar ( not forgetting the sandwiches makers, they were massive as usual ) where the presentation of prizes took place. Finally to Michael and Nicola Dee for their usual behind the scene’s contribution a big thank’s to you both. 26TH ANNUAL EASON DUNGARVAN 10K THIS SUNDAY. CASH BONUS TO BREAK RECORD.
RACE TROPHIES ON OFFER. The Seamus Power memorial shield will be presented to the overall race winner; the current holder from last year is Sandis Bralitis. A trophy will also be awarded to the first local Lady finisher on Sunday also donated by the Power family in memory of there uncle Mikey Roche, The current holder of this trophy is Sinead Crotty, The friends of West Waterford Dunabbey perpetual trophy will be awarded to the first local master to finish, this trophy was awarded to Michael Dunford last year. The following are the race categories for Sundays race.
Senior men: Liam O Brien (East Cork) 29.50 1987 Ladies: Liz Bullen (Dungarvan A.C.) 35.32 1991 Men 0/40: Noel Grace (Clonmel) 30.50 1988 Men 0/45: Myles Mc Hugh (Clonmel) 32.12 1988 Men 0/50: Derry O Driscoll (St.Finbars) 32.55 1988 Ladies 0/35: Mary Sheehan (East Cork) 37.15 1993 Junior men: William Harty (KCK) 31.57 2001 DUNGARVAN RACE WINNERS 1983- 2007 1983 (1/2 Marathan) 2003 (10K) COMERAGH CRYSTAL WEST WATERFORD ATHLETE OF THE YEAR AWARDS. The presentation to our newly sponsored Comeragh Crystal athlete of the year will take place on Sunday after the presentation of the Eason Dungarvan 10k prizes. Raivis Zakis was the clear winner here but also to be presented on the day is our Masters Female and Male awards which are picked by our 3-person sub committee. The winner’s of these prizes only known to the three judges will be announced on Sunday. MUNSTER ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS The Munster Road Racing Championship will be held in Ennis on Sunday March 16. There will be a number of male and female teams heading up to represent the club. Gerry Cantwell is in the process of putting the teams together and has asked me to remind you all of the race and to give your name to Gerry if you intend to run. The closing date for entries is quite soon so please give your name to Gerry as soon as you can. The distance for the race is 2 miles for the women and 4 miles for the men.
Just two weeks after setting a new Irish over 55-800 meters indoors record in Lee Valley sports arena London, West Waterford’s Joe Gough was in scintillating form last Sunday at the same venue when smashing his two week old Irish record once again. Joe was in London participating in the British Masters indoors championships last weekend and in the over 55 -800 meters he was to takes his 7th podium position at a British national masters championships and on this occasion gold was his lot, Joe time of 2.10.54 a new Irish age record was well inside his previous best set two weeks previous of 2.11.13.Into the bargain Joe beat both the English and Scottish champions in the final on Sunday afternoon with Scotland’s Derek Leitch finished second and the English champion Keith Shore finished third. This was yet another great day for the Dungarvan native adding to the huge array of titles to his credit over a long athletics career. RUNNING QUOTE. If you want to become the best runner you can be, start now. Don't spend the rest of your life wondering if you can do it. Eunice Power. 145 WEST WATERFORD ATHLETES COMPLETE DUNPHY VIVAS HEALTH DUNGARVAN 10. Now that the dust has settled on one of the most successful events ever organised by the club. The Dunphy Vivas Health Dungarvan 10 mile road race, it was interesting to note that a record-breaking tally of 145 registered West Waterford athletes completed the 10 mile run. This is probable the most athletes from one single club ever anywhere in the country to complete a 10 mile race, there are many races around which wouldn’t even have 145 runners in a race never mind have 145 runners from one club. All are to congratulated on yet another first for West Waterford AC.keep up the good work. Waddle on friends. EMERALD FINANCIAL CLUB ANNUAL. With just a short time to go now to the launch of our club annual our little photo last week got a few scratching the auld head, Not too many got the date of the photo right in our little teaser in last weeks notes, For those who didn’t know the photo was taken in Colligan wood at the clubs hill run, the year was 1987 and the presentation was the Dwyer family shield presentation to the winning team. Now for this week’s teaser see attached photo. We also include a little athletics archival article, which will appear along with much much more in the upcoming Annual.
The Waterford senior 3 in a row All-Ireland cross country winning team of December 1977 got the reception of a lifetime in Dunhill last week when along with county B.L.E. board officials they were guests of honour at a victory social in the parish hall. March 25th 1978- Waterford Athlete is Champion of the World JOHN TREACY, the 20 year old accountancy student from Villierstown, near Cappoquin, stamped his name indelibly as one of the greatest Irish sportsman of all time when he squelched his way through seven and three quarter miles of Glasgow mud to win the World Cross Country Championships at Bellehouston park on Saturday last. April 1978 – Jim Sheehan Walks to Victory in Dungarvan Anyone living in Abbeyside or Dungarvan will by now be familiar with seeing Jim Sheehan doing his training stints in the area. This purpose of it all may be lost on many people but those in walking circles fully appreciate the great efforts Jim puts into improving his performances.
It was a great weekend for a number of athletes from Dungarvan A.C. at a number of venues. On Saturday at the Munster junior track and field championships held at plassey, Limerick, Liam Lannen had a notable treble in the shot, discus and javelin and he shattered the existing record in the shot to show his great potential in field events.
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