Courtney McGuire wins women’s race in the MSD 4 Mile

The Club promoted a very successful MSD 4-mile road race on St Stephen’s Day where conditions were dry and cold, especially the cold breeze on the return journey into town from Ferryhouse. Still, it was great to see so many Club members running so well in what was a very competitive race. William Maunsell went with the early pace in the leading group of three athletes and they were still together at halfway. On the return trip back to Clonmel the pace increased, and William ran very well when finishing 3rd in 19 mins 14 secs. Then we had a great tussle for the women’s award and here local heroine, Courtney McGuire underlined her great form when winning a great race in 22 mins 2 secs with American athlete Layla Roebke of Real Training finishing 2nd in 22 mins 4 secs, brilliant performances all round. Then we had Joey Feery also running well when finishing 18th in 22 mins 27 secs. Despite the challenges of the festive season, it seems that many of our members minded themselves at the table as we saw some very good performances. Performances like Muireann Duffy finishing 5th Senior woman in a very good time of 22 mins 48 secs, Cormac Healy 25th 23:21, Tadgh Quinn winning the Junior men’s award in 23:22, Conor Fleming 1st over 55 in 23:24, Ross McCarthy 31st in 23:35, Eddy O Donoghue 34th 23:54, Laura Cooney winning the Junior women’s award in 24:23, Kealey Tideswell 1st over 35 in 24:33, Anthony Power 51st in 25:32, Suzanne Shine 60th in 26:15, Peter Kiely 65th in 26:37, Pat Coffey 67th in 26:40, John Walsh 70th in 26:47, Niall O Ceallaigh 74th in 26:54, Sean O Dea 75th in 27 mins, Donal Ryan 76th in 27 mins, Aisling English 85th in 27:51, Trevor Whelan 87th in 27:53, Pat Walsh 88th in 27:55, Liam Casey 89th in 28:06, Bernard Feery 91st in 28:14, Ian Patterson 102nd in 28:59, Paul Weymouth 107th in 29:18, John Griffin 112th in 29:27, Charles Kerins 120th in 29:49, Ali O Connor 122nd in 29:54, Neil Proven 123rd in 29:56, Kenny Brett 137th in 30:45, Vincent McHugh 141st in 30:52, Kate Wall 156th in 31:27, Eamonn English 159th in 31:41, Alan O Shea 162nd in 31:51, Andrew Shaw 163rd in 31:56, Niall Murphy 165th in 31:58, Steve McGrath 170th in 32:25, Stephanie Byrne 177th in 33:13, Carmel Delaney 178th in 33:14, Patrick O Gorman 182nd in 33:26, Ned O Brien 187th in 33:54, Noel Howley 194th in 34:43, John Laste 207th in 35:18, Barbara Doran 220th in 35:46, Nicole O Gorman 236th in 37:33, Niall Brannigan 241st in 37:47, Maurice Boland 243rd in 37:53, Eamon Lacey 246th in 38:11, Brian Tyrell 250th in 38:51, Myles McHugh 251st in 38:53, Donna Nagle 252nd in 38:53, Annabelle Normile 258th in 39:26 and Aoife McGrath 263rd in 40:40.

At the Presentation of the Awards in the race headquarters, Colaiste Cheitinn, our Club Chairman, Frank Lynch thanked everyone who helped in any way to make this event such a wonderful success. In particular he thanked MSD for their very generous sponsorship of this event, the Gardai and the Civil Defence for their great assistance and support, Colaiste Cheitinn as our Race headquarters, the Showgrounds and the Sporting press for allowing the Club to use their facilities for the event. He also thanked our many stewards and helpers for their help and assistance. Sean Owens of MSD presented the Awards.