West Waterford Athletic Club West Waterford Athletic Club

Senior News,February 09 2025

MUNSTER SENIOR AND MASTERS INDOORS.

 

MEDALS GALORE FOR WEST WATERFORD ATHLETES.

 

The Munster indoor track championships were held last bank holiday Monday at the Nenagh arena Tipperary and the club had 4 athletes competing. In the Senior Ladies 3.000 meters walk Kate Veale took gold in a time of 13.52.3, also competing in the walks over the 3.000 distance was John Laste who clocked a time of 17.35.8 in the men’s over 60 for the clubs 2nd gold medal of the championships. Joe Gough was in record form when taking gold and breaking the Munster over 70 400 meters record clocking a time of 2.37.07 to lower the time set by Ken Higgs Eagle AC which was 2.54.Terri Gough Over 80 took 3 gold medals on the day starting off with the 60 meters sprint in a time of 17.21,the onto the  200 meters where she clocked a time of 1.06.56 and shot Terri rounded off the day with her 3rd gold medal in the shot with a best throw of 5.56.Pat Kennedy was the clubs 4th competitor and in the shot took silver in the over 65 category with his best effort of  9.62,Pat later in the day competed in the weight for distance where his best throw as 6.12 for the bronze medal. Well done to all 4 athletes.

 

123.IE NATIONAL MASTERS CROSS COUNTRY

3 IN A ROW FOR JOE GOUGH.

 

The 123.ie national Intermediate and Masters cross country championship were held in Westport Co Mayo last Sunday. West Waterford AC had one athlete competing here Joe Gough in the over 70 Masters event. Joe bidding for his 3rd title in a row at this national cross country championship didn’t disappoint taking gold from Eamonn Mc Evoy St Finbarrs AC silver and the bronze went to Martin Kerr Milford AC.Well done Joe.

 

 

 

CLUBS MOST SUCCESSFUL FORDES DAYBREAK WINTER LEAGUE CONCLUDES.

 

In the 30 year history of the country’s original and longest running winter league it has to be said it was our most successful to date with numbers the largest ever recorded for the league over the 10 weeks it was held. The league started off in October last with a record entry and the numbers participating continued in this vain right up until the final round 2 weeks ago. We had 10 rounds this year with one round missed due to inclement weather on round 9.When this league started off all those years ago with a handful of runners at the time from the old Waterford Crystal sport centre in Kilrush anyone could hardly believe then that 30 years later it would be still going over the winter months around the streets of our town.We feel what has been the secret to the success of the league is the that it’s open to all and brings together the elite as well as the fun runner and this is what has made it appealing for so many years, the league has never been won by the fastest runner in any of the 30 years of its existence.The prize-winners were presented with their prizes by league sponsor Kevin Forde of Fordes Daybreak at the presentation night in the Park Hotel recently where a great night was had by everyone who came. Our thanks to Kevin for his generous sponsorship of the league and for being available at the league presentation of prizes at the Park. The other element which makes the league so successful is our helpers and stewards without whom the league couldn’t be held at all. Tom Leahy our club chairman was our MC at the prize presentation and he on behalf of the club presented two club committee members with crystal mementos for their involvement on the original first night of the league 30 years ago and both are still doing their bit on the club committee James Veale and Gerry Cantwell. Our thanks to everyone for such a great turn out on the night in the Park, we hope everyone enjoyed the celebrations after 10 weeks of hard running. Once again well done to all the prize-winners and thank you all for your attendance at the presentation night and until next year keep up the hard work. To celebrate the participation in the league this year all runners who ran 7 nights of the league were rewarded with a nice long sleeved T Shirt. In this week’s notes we will have a look at the Long course league and the following week we will have the short course league report.

 

 

 

 

TONY FERNCOMBE IS OUR 30TH WINNER OF THE FORDES DAYBREAK WINTER LEAGUE.

 

 

Winning the league once is a great achievement for most, but winning it 3 times is another days work, well this year’s winner on the long course Tony Ferncombe achieved. Tony is a former winner on the short course league which he won in 2012 after taking up a bit of running to keep his fitness up, four years later he was upped the anti-taking on the long course which he duly won in 2016. Tony for a number of years served on our club committee after doing his duty with us Tony became a valued coach at Dungarvan Unites football club where he still gives of his time with the underage teams in the club. This year he decided to come back and set his sights on running the league again after a number of years out of the sport and yes he came back with a bang taking his 3rd winter league title in style and the only person over the 30 years to achieve this.   Martina Beechinor took 2nd place this year, Martina is a regular club with our club and looked like she was going to possibly take the overall title as the league drew to a conclusion but just came up short on this occasion after a valiant effort finishing with 1884 points only 100 points behind the winner Tony.In 3rd place was Stephen Shasby on 1820,Stephen really got into the banter and fun of the league this year and he rounded off our presentation night as our DJ keeping us dancing the night away. Worth noting our 4th placed athlete in the overall league Melanie Kelly with 1780 who just a few weeks ago was our Colligan cup outright winner so well done to her in the league this year also.There were some great battles throughout the 13 divisions with only a point of so between some top placings, in division 2 only a point separated Geaorge Tutty and Patrick Lannen and in division 13 two athletes finished on the same points 1172 with  Rob Shaw-Hamilton getting the nod on count back over Nicky Power.A total of 40 runners did all 10 nights on long course . So all in all it was another great league and the full list of our top 10 as well as our other divisional winners are listed below.

 

 

FORDES DAYBREAK WINTER LEAGUE 2024-25                                     

LONG ROUTE Prize Winners                                       

Division 1            

 

1st          Tony Ferncombe              1984      

2nd        Martina Beechinor          1884      

3rd         Stephen Shasby               1820      

4th         Melanie Kelly                     1780      

5th         Tom Hogan                         1774      

6th         Patrick Power                    1735      

7th         Daniel Crotty                      1714      

8th         Liam Fitzgerald                  1706      

9th         Nicola Fennell                    1689      

10th       Brian Hennessy                 1654      

 

Division 2                            

1st          George Tutty                     1670      

2nd        Patrick  Lannen                 1669      

3rd         Bernard Lehane                                1647      

 

Div 3                     

 

1st          Fiona O Brien     1644      

2nd        Joanne Lannon 1574      

3rd         Mark Flynn         1573      

 

Div 4     

 

               

1st          Tom Mansfield  1595      

2nd        John Flynn          1527      

3rd         Joe Grant            1509      

 

Div 5     

               

1st          Bevin Bowdren 1502      

2nd        Kieran Power     1463      

3rd         Mark Cliffe          1443      

 

Div 6     

 

1st          Danielle Crowley              1491      

2nd        Kevin Pollard      1468      

3rd         Eileen Campbell                1440      

 

Div 7     

               

1st          Onra Power        1413      

2nd        Eugene Ryan      1372      

3rd         Michael Dunford              1318      

 

Div 8     

               

1st          Tony  Walsh        1341      

2nd        Claire Meehan  1329      

3rd         Gavin Whelan    1262      

 

Div 9

                               

1st          Conor Mc Grath                1363      

2nd        Jessie Mulcahy  1345      

3rd         Lauren Walsh Kett           1313      

 

Div 10   

 

1st          Caitriona Shanley             1311      

2nd        Kerrie Uí Mhurchadha   1217      

3rd         Bernard Walsh  1171      

 

 

Div 11   

               

1st          Rebecca Hogan 1061      

2nd        Mark Shalloe      1018      

3rd         Lorraine Dixon   995        

 

Div 12                                   

 

1st          Alison Prendergast          1255      

2nd        Cian O’Byrne      1093      

3rd         Geraldine Lacey                1089      

 

Div 13                                   

 

1st          Rob Shaw-Hamilton        1172      

2nd        Nicky Power       1172      

3rd         Dermot Gough  1014      

 

 

 40 COMPLETE ALL 10 WINTER LEAGUE LONG COURSE NIGHTS.

 

It is a great achievement to get yourself out not for a few league nights over the winter but for them all, this year we had a huge record number of 40 runners on the long course completed all 10 nights of the league, a special well done to all of you. The four winners of the prize’s raffled among those 40 who completed each and every night was won by Yevgeniy Chizhikov,Kevin Mulcahy,Michael Cummins and Eamonn Curran.

 

NATALIE AND EVAN FASTEST WOMEN AND MAN ON THE LONG COURSE LEAGUE.

 

In this league we give a prize to the fastest man and women on both routes who participate for the mandatory 7 nights and appear on the league tables. On this occasion on the long course the very fast Evan Fitzgerald   took the title of fastest man on the long route with a superb time of 25.50.Evan’s best time recorded was top drawer, having broken the course record on 3 occasions during the league, it’s hard to believe that anyone would ever break 26 minutes on this course, but Evan achieved this on the 8th round of the league an unbelievable 25.50,will we ever see that time bettered , I think not. Turning to the ladies long course, our fastest lady was Natalie Sheehan  with a time of 35.00 minutes  a great run by Natalie who was most consistent throughout the whole league.

 

MUNSTER ROAD  RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS.

We are delighted to announce that the club will Host the Munster road racing championships 2025 on Sunday March 2nd. We are going to have teams in both men’s and Ladies events which are both held over a 4 mile distance. There will be Novice- Senior -Masters all age categories individual top 3.

TEAM CATEGORIES.

LADIES

Novice women 4 to score club and 4 to score counties

Senior women 4 to score club 4 to score counties

Ladies is 4 to score club and 4 to score county teams over 35

Ladies is 3 to score club and 4 to score for county teams over 50

MEN

Senior team 4 to score for club 6 to score for county team

Novice men 4 to score for club and 6 to score for county teams

4 men to score on club teams over 35 and 6 to score on county teams

In over 50 men’s team category 4 to score club

And 4 to score county team

Entries will open shortly and the venue to be confirmed over the next few days.

 

 LEAGUE STATS.

 

We had a record 342 runners sign up for the long route.Over the 10 nights of the league we had an average of 349 finishers per night over the 10 nights up from an average of 307 finishers per night last year!

 

 

 

NEXT LEAGUE IS THE POPULAR MARK MASON FINANCIAL SERVICES COLLIGAN LEAGUE.

 

 

 

Spring is in the air when we start mentioning our next big club event the 5 week Mark Mason’s Financial Services Colligan running league for beginners and regular runners. Open to all once they are over 16 years of age. This league has something in it for all from the beginner to the seasoned athlete with many distances to choose from along with flat courses and hilly courses. Beginning at the wooden bridge and finishing at the wooden bridge. This is 4.4 km in distance or 2.7 miles so it might suit all those that ran the short route over the winter league plus this route is more or less completely on the flat. Another option is to take part in the 3 lap which is 6.5 kms or just over 4 miles; this is 3 laps of the same flat circuit of the wood mentioned above. The final option is the 5 mile hill route which is one lap of the wood for starters and then up the first hill and down the hill and then across the road for the second hill and finishing in by the wood at the bridge. Entry will be online in due course. The league will start on Wednesday April 2nd and continue for five more Wednesday evenings April 09th,16th, 23rd and 30th .Mass start each evening at 6.30 pm.

 

MUNSTER SENIOR AND MASTERS INDOORS.

 

MEDALS GALORE FOR WEST WATERFORD ATHLETES.

 

The Munster indoor track championships were held last bank holiday Monday at the Nenagh arena Tipperary and the club had 4 athletes competing. In the Senior Ladies 3.000 meters walk Kate Veale took gold in a time of 13.52.3, also competing in the walks over the 3.000 distance was John Laste who clocked a time of 17.35.8 in the men’s over 60 for the clubs 2nd gold medal of the championships. Joe Gough was in record form when taking gold and breaking the Munster over 70 400 meters record clocking a time of 2.37.07 to lower the time set by Ken Higgs Eagle AC which was 2.54.Terri Gough Over 80 took 3 gold medals on the day starting off with the 60 meters sprint in a time of 17.21,the onto the  200 meters where she clocked a time of 1.06.56 and shot Terri rounded off the day with her 3rd gold medal in the shot with a best throw of 5.56.Pat Kennedy was the clubs 4th competitor and in the shot took silver in the over 65 category with his best effort of  9.62,Pat later in the day competed in the weight for distance where his best throw as 6.12 for the bronze medal. Well done to all 4 athletes.

 

LUCY WINS VARSITIES GOLD FOR MTU WITH NEW RECORD .
 
At the Varsities indoor championships held today at the national stadium Abbotstown Dublin club member Lucy Holmes representing MTU Cork had a successful day over 1.500 meters taking gold in a time of 04:22.29 a new IUAA record over the distance with Emily O’ Shea SETU 04:34.75 taking silver and the bronze going to Eleanor Foot DCU in a time of 04:37.13,Lucy competes over the same distance next weekend in the 123.ie national Senior indoor championships at the same Dublin venue. Well done Lucy.

 

SYMPATHY.

 

West Waterford athletic club extends sincere sympathy to the family and friends of John Brunnock Rathgormack Co Waterford who passed to his eternal reward last week ,may he rest in peace

 

 

 

 

Upcoming Events