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.
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