3RD ANNUAL BALLINAMEELA 5K.
At last were back to a little normality when last Sunday we held our first road race in quite a long time when the 3rd annual Ballinameela 5k road race took place with a field of 98 finishing the fast flat course. It was great to be back was the resounding buzz word around the Ballinameela GAA and community field, been off for so long from competition many haven’t seen or spoke to their running friends for many months, our hope now is that we can get back to full flow road running going forward. Our thanks to all who came along to support the race and of course to our club committee who put so much great work in behind the scenes to make sure the race went off without any problems. Locally the event coordinator Mark Cliffe put in great work also for which we thank him sincerely and to the GAA club and Community hall committee in Ballinameela many thanks not leaving out the stewards on the morning who did a great job in making sure all the runners were safe on the course, Thanks to our road crew Conor, Jamie and John for all their help also.
MATTEO MARY TAKES 3RD ANNUAL EVENT.
The overall race winner on his first visit to Ballinameela was an upcoming young Waterford AC start Matteo Mary who gave a sterling performance to take the win in a time of 15.26, West Waterford’s Pat Hennessey did match stride for stride with Matteo for 3kms of the 5kms distance but one the Waterford man got a slight gap on the Lismore native he never relented from the strong pace set.3rd was also a Waterford AC athlete Noel Murphy with a time of 15.51 with the 4th finisher Ben Keane Waterford AC recording 16.26 just 6 seconds ahead of the fast finishing John O’Rourke Ferrybank AC 5th.
WATERFORD’S RUTH HEERY SECURES LADIES WIN.
Making it a double on the day for the Waterford AC club Ruth Heery was a clear winner of the ladies race when she recorded a very fast 17.23 really excellent running by Ruth. 2nd home and running one of her very first road races was young Lucy Holmes West Waterford AC with another very good time of 18.55 dipping well under the 19 minute mark here. 3rd place was another West Waterford AC lady starting to make her mark in the club Kelly Fitzgerald who is part of our training group on Tuesday evenings with coach Irene Clarke and it’s great to see Kelly making massive strides in the sport , Kate Veale better known in race walking circles ran also and finished 4th in a time of 19.11 good running for someone who walks well done to Kate and 5th finisher was Grainne Brennan Ind 19.32.Well done to all who ran and our hope now is that we will be meeting much more frequently going forward.
Men.
1st Matteo Mary Waterford AC 15.26
2nd Pat Hennessey West Waterford AC 15.45
3rd Noel Murphy Waterford AC 15.51
4th Ben Keane Waterford AC 16.28
5th John O’Rourke Ferrybank AC 16.34
Ladies
1st Ruth Heery Waterford AC 17.32
2nd Lucy Holmes West Waterford AC 18.55
3rd Kelly Fitzgerald West Waterford AC 19.05
4th Kate Veale West Waterford AC 19.11
5th Grainne Brennan IND 19.32
THE GOUGH’S RECORD MASTERS DOUBLES.
The Gough’s Terri and Joe were both in action today at the Irish Health National Masters track and field championships held at Morton stadium Santry and a very successful day for both athletes.
Joe completed a super double when he was well clear of the field over 800 meters recordering a fast 2.18.30 (a world lead time) to take his first of 2 gold’s at the championships as later in the day he again showed a clean pair of heels to the other’s in the over 65 category when taking gold also over 400 meters with a time of 1.02.49.
Terri continued her masters winning sequence when she had double gold performances winning the 100 meters over 75 in a time of 55.90 and on the field she competed in the shot where she threw a distance of 5.78 for gold also rounding off a very successful championships for both.
SYMPATHY.
West Waterford athletic club extend sincere sympathy to the families of Mary Wyley O Connell St Dungarvan and Vera Moran who passed to their eternal reward recently. May they rest in peace.
