North Cork AC promoted a very successful Half Marathon last Sunday with over 700 athletes competing on a day where conditions were ideal, on a route that took the athletes from Charleville to Kilmallock and back.
It was great to see club members running so well in this Classic event. Cormac Healy ran very well when finishing 102nd in 1 hour 24 mins 40 secs. It is great to see Cormac running so well after a lengthy lay off due to injury and he should be very pleased with this performance. Then we had Eelco Beckers running a brilliant race when finishing 138th in 1 hour 27 mins 33 secs and setting a new PB for this Classic distance and a major improvement on his Boston Scientific run of 1 hour 28 mins 53 secs, which was his old PB. This performance will give him great confidence as he heads to Dublin next month for the National Marathon. Vincent McHugh is another athlete who is running very well at the present and he too should be delighted with his performance in Charleville as he posted a new PB for the distance. Vincent ran very well when finishing 235th in 1 hour 33 mins 37 secs and a major improvement on his Boston Scientific half marathon time of 1 hour 37 mins 16 secs. We also had Anne Marie Halpin running a brilliant race when also posting new figures for this Classic distance, Anne Marie was 237th in 1 hour 33 mins 40 secs and a major improvement on her Cork Half marathon time of 1 hour 34 mins 21 secs. She too should get great confidence from this performance as she heads for the Dublin City Marathon next month. Sean O Dea also had a very good performance in the Charleville half marathon when setting a new PB by finishing 269th in 1 hour 35 mins 10 secs and a massive improvement on his Clonakilty Half Marathon time of 1 hour 40 mins 31 secs. Brendan Coffey is another athlete running very well at the moment and he too will be delighted with this performance, also a PB, when finishing 361st in 1 hour 41 mins 11 secs. Helen O Ceallaigh ran a brilliant race when finishing 564th in 1 hour 54 mins 56 secs. This was a massive PB for Helen and a major improvement on her Boston Scientific Half Marathon run last month of 1 hour 58 mins 55 secs and she is another athlete that can head to Dublin with great confidence. Noel Gillman done a brilliant task of pacing the 2 hour pace last Sunday in Charleville.