The 2nd race of the Clonmel AC New Year 4k Series took place tonight in demanding conditions with the 62 athletes having to combat the strong winds and misty rain. Tonight’s race was own by Eddy O Donoghue in 16 mins 15 secs as he held off the late Challenges from Niall O Shea in 16 mins 16 secs and John Shanahan 3rd in 16 mins 18 secs, all three athletes along with Lar Martin led at halfway who was 4th in 16 mins 22 secs. The top three women finishers were Elaine Horgan in 17 mins 23 secs, Ali O Connor in 17 mins 31 secs and Elaine Morrissey in 17 mins 40 secs.
The race format tonight was Lucky Dip and the winners were John Shanahan 3rd in 16 mins 18 secs, Ali O Connor 16th in 17 mins 31 secs, Angela Walsh 28th in 19 mins 3 secs and Declan Nolan 48th in 23 mins 3 secs.
Despite the very bad windy conditions we have many athletes improving on last week’s times which were achieved in ideal conditions and brilliant to see. Athletes like Anne McGarry improving by 19 secs, Anthony Power by 28 secs, Barry Horgan by 6 secs, Brendan Wall by 3 secs, Caroline Myles by 2 mins 3 secs, Daniel Kennedy by 57 secs, Declan Nolan by 1 min 22 secs, Emma Ryan by 14 secs, Emmett Prendergast by 6 secs, Gillian Power by 4 mins 45 secs, James Byrne by 1 min 33 secs, John Shanahan by 14 secs, Keith Robinson by 48 secs, Lorna Duggan by 1 min 12 secs, Michelle Bergin by 2 mins 33 secs, Niamh Keating by 2 mins 9 secs, Oliver Lynch by 9 secs, Pamela Ryan by 9 secs, Patricia Moloney by 21 secs, Patrick Hackett by 44 secs, Richard Fitzgibbon by 3 secs, Sean Lyness by 52 secs, Tadgh Toomey by 2 mins 16 secs and Willie o Connell by 1 min 1 sec, great performances all round.
The Club would lie to thank the Brothers of Charity for the use of their carpark as the race Headquarters, the Red Cross for First Aid and to our stewards who braved the conditions to ensure that the whole event was a success, we always appreciate such help and as regards help we could do with a few more stewards for the last two races of this series, please contact Niall if you can help.