The 35th running of the Tommy Ryan memorial 5 mile brought a great buzz of excitement to
Carrigaline last Sunday Morning. In total we had 350 participants signed up to run with 301 running on the day. The weather played it's part this year and made for some great running conditions, there were even some mentions of it being too hot, which is an excellent complaint for a February morning.
Start line photo by Siobhan Russell Photography
The race claxon sounded at 11am sharp, as promised by race director Ruairi Egan, who happily added another tick on his checklist. The racers swiftly headed off down the hill, under the finish line for the first time and turned left out of the Waterpark gates to take on the undulating course that the Carrigaline 5 mile brings.
Photos by Joe Anne Murphy Photos
Early reports from the stewards out on the course were that John Meade of St Finbarr’s AC had taken the lead, and he did not relinquish this position, leading the race home in a very strong time of 26:49. He even had time to wave to his nieces & nephews who proudly cheered him on to the finish line. Two men made up the chasing group but on re-entering the Waterpark Estate Adam Doyle of Eagle AC had made second place his own (27:24) and third man home was another St. Finbarr’s man Sean Twohig in 27:33. With the top 5 men in prize winning positions fourth home was Nathan Ryan O’ Hehir St. Finbarr’s AC 27:56 and the fifth man to cross the finish line was Eoin O Connell 28:07 Duhallow AC.
John Meade St. Finbarr's AC 1st Man Hannah Steed Leevale AC First Lady
Photos by Joe Anne Murphy Photos
The top ladies told a similar story with a commanding performance from Hannah Steeds of Leevale AC. Hannah also held the position of first lady throughout the race and put in a PB performance over this challenging course to finish in a very impressive time of 28:47, with over a 2 minute lead on the chasing ladies. The unstoppable Breda Gaffney of Mallow AC gave it her all to finish in second position and in a time of 31:11, while Lisa Crowley of Watergrasshill AC was our third lady in 33:15. Tamzin MulDowney was the fourth lady to cross the finish line in 33:26 and fifth home was Annelise Hutch of East Cork AC in a time of 34:12.
Watergrass Hill AC Ladies Team Winners St Finbarr's AC Mens Team Winners
Photos by Joe Anne Murphy Photo
Team Prize honours for the men on the day went to St. Finbarr’s AC, and for the third year in a row Watergrass Hill AC will have their name engraved on the winning ladies team trophy.
All Category Prize winners are listed below and well done to all who took part.
We would like to thank all the Eagle AC members, families & friends who volunteered and gave up a Sunday morning for the event. Special mention as always to our brilliant area leaders, Elaine
Guinane, Grellan McGrath, Danny Luxton and to Denis Looney, Pat Murphy, Dan Dransfield, Mike McGrath, Andrew MacDonald, Lily Bevan Luxton, Ed Fitz and Martin O’Leary for taking on some important jobs for us also. There were so many photos and social media posts from the day, with thanks there to Joe Murphy, Mick Dooley, Graham Meikle & Maressa Mills of Eagle AC. There were also photographs from Running in Cork, ‘The Snapper’ & his daughter, Siobhan Russell and many others, thank you all. We would also like to thank the Red Cross ambulance crew who ensured everyone crossed the line safely on the day.
Conor & Caoimhe Foroige Carrigaline Meals on Wheels
The charity donations are an important part of this race for Eagle AC, and we are delighted to
support the amazing work that both Carrigaline Meals on Wheels and the Foroige Heron project do. You will have seen Conor and Caoimhe from Foroige manning the finish line water station as a thank you for our contributions to their Heron project, and we are very grateful for their support on the day.
We would like to sincerely thank our kind sponsors, The Edge Sports, and Coughlan DeKeyser Architects without whom the event would be impossible to run. The course records weren’t beaten on Sunday, but Coughlan DeKeysers Architects have once again kindly instead added the bonuses to our charity donations which is fantastic of them.
Our Charity donations this year are looking to be to in excess of €1,000, with the final numbers still being calculated.
Ciaran Daly running for Coughlan DeKeyser Architects Damian Kenneally The Edge Sports
We would like to thank all the participants of the 35th Annual Tommy Ryan Carrigaline 5
mile for your support and participation on the day. Whether this was your first race, or you are a
seasoned 5 miler each one of you went out there and gave it your best. The excitement and the
relief were palpable at the finish line where people hung around and happily chatted about their
experiences out on the course.
We were delight also to welcome John Cashman of C103 FM and enjoyed listening to his insightful interviews with our two winners, which can be found here:
Our Prize winners & Category Prize winners are listed below.
Top 5 Men:
1 John MEADE 00:26:49 906 M M40 St. Finbarr's A.C.
2 Adam DOYLE 00:27:24 847 M M35 Eagle A.C.
3 Sean TWOHIG 00:27:33 5087 M M35 St. Finbarr's A.C.
4 Nathan Ryan O' HEHIR 00:27:56 961 M MS St. Finbarr's A.C.
5 Eoin O' CONNELL 00:28:07 941 M MS Duhallow A.C.
Top 5 Ladies:
1 Hannah STEEDS 00:28:47 1000 F FS Leevale A.C.
2 Breda GAFFNEY 00:31:11 856 F F50 Mallow A.C.
3 Lisa CROWLEY 00:33:15 497 F F50 Watergrasshill A.C.
4 Tamzin MULDOWNEY 00:33:26 922 F FS
5 Annelise HUTCH 00:34:12 872 F FS East Cork A.C.
Female Category Prizes:
F35
1 Aileen O' MAHONY 00:35:12 967 F F35 Watergrasshill A.C.
2 Deirdre O' DRISCOLL 00:36:57 749 F F35
3 Claire STONE 00:38:15 5084 F F35 Togher A.C.
F45
1 Sinéad O' REGAN 00:34:34 783 F F40 Courcey A.C.
2 Helen SCANNELL 00:38:37 994 F F40 Grange/Fermoy A.C.
3 Anita CURTIN 00:40:07 837 F F40
F50
3 Josephine KELLEHER 00:37:03 874 F F50 Donoughmore A.C.
4 Anna O' NEILL 00:38:11 795 F F50 Doheny A.C.
5 Paula MULCAHY 00:39:44 921 F F50
F55
1 Mary BUCKLEY 00:36:26 806 F F55 Donoughmore A.C.
2 Colette RYAN 00:43:20 991 F F55 Togher A.C.
3 Margaret MURPHY 00:44:03 926 F F55 Togher A.C.
F60
1 Mary SWEENEY 00:36:41 5085 F F60 St. Finbarr's A.C.
2 Alison STEEDS 00:43:23 5083 F F60
3 Catherine LINEHAN 00:45:55 889 F F60 Watergrasshill A.C.
F65
1 Anne SHEEHY 00:49:05 996 F F65 St. Finbarr's A.C.
2 Norma HARRINGTON 00:50:45 770 F F65 Galtee Runners A.C.
Male Category Prizes:
M35
3 Maurice FEEHAN 00:28:09 785 M M35 Duhallow A.C.
4 Darren MCCANN 00:28:10 898 M M35
5 Peter HOWIE 00:29:16 871 M M35 Ballymore Cobh A.C.
M40
2 Eoin O' KEEFFE 00:28:12 775 M M40 St. Finbarr's A.C.
3 David BUCKLEY 00:28:23 807 M M40 Grange/Fermoy A.C.
4 Brian FOX 00:29:46 732 M M40
M45
1 Michael CLANCY 00:30:41 818 M M45 Mallow A.C.
2 Nicky PIKE 00:32:48 983 M M45
3 Darren CASEY 00:34:11 814 M M45 Bandon A.C.
M50
1 Wieslaw SOSNOWSKI 00:28:38 997 M M50
2 Gary CLERKIN 00:30:02 792 M M50 Grange/Fermoy A.C.
3 Martin O' REILLY 00:31:22 972 M M50 St. Finbarr's A.C.
M55
1 Ken DEVINE 00:31:05 846 M M55 St. Finbarr's A.C.
2 Kieran TWOMEY 00:32:08 5088 M M55
3 Pat O' CONNOR 00:33:06 945 M M55 Eagle A.C.
M60
1 Antonio CASTALDO 00:37:48 760 M M60 Eagle A.C.
2 Proinnsias O' KEEFFE 00:49:03 962 M M60 Eagle A.C.
3 Alan O' KEEFFE 00:49:25 965 M M60
M65
1 Seamus KELLEHER 00:38:31 875 M M65 Mallow A.C.
2 Norman ALLEN 00:43:58 585 M M65 CH Marine
3 Phillip O' DONOGHUE 00:46:23 948 M M65 Tracton A.C.
M70
1 Chris CARROLL 00:42:57 5098 M M70
2 John WALSH 00:47:55 43 M M70 Road Runners
3 Ger O' CONNELL 00:51:12 944 M M70
Full results with thank to MyRunresults.ie & Lucy who did a great job on the day can be found here:
We look forward to welcoming you all back to Carrigaline again next year, and thank you for your continued support .
Karen Bevan & Ruairi Egan
Eagle AC Race Directors
