BY MARTIN WALSH
A blanket of 10 seconds covered the top four finishers in the annual Courtmacsherry 10km Road Race on Friday June 28th, with Nathan O’Leary of Leevale Athletic Club taking the win on a time of 32 minutes and 39 seconds.
The event attracted some 350 starters and was a cagey affair until the final kilometre when O’Leary slipped a few metres away from the chasing trio of North Cork AC pair Michael Mahon (second) and Michael Herlihy (third) with Leevale AC’s Donal Coakley, a cousin of former Olympic rower Richard Coakley, taking fourth. Courtmacsherry’s Eoin O’Donovan was the top local, finishing 36th in general classification.
O’Leary was delighted afterwards. ‘It’s my first win here, it’s well organised and the volunteers were excellent,’ he told The Southern Star. I haven’t done much (running) in a while - Cork City 10km about a month ago and I was fifth in that. Conditions were tough enough this evening, it was a bit windy, I will definitely be back next year.’
Meanwhile, Cork born Jennifer Martin, running with Tafelta AC in Derry where she is based, was an impressive winner of the female category - 40 seconds in front of Leevale’s Lorna Wolfe with Rhona Dempsey (St Finbarr’s AC) some three minutes further behind in third. Martin, who was the first female in the recent Killarney half-marathon is a regular visitor to Courtmacsherry but this was her first time competing in the race. ‘This is a lovely part of the world, the course is nice and flat and I’m happy with my time.’
Barryroe’s Debra O’Leary, a sister of star camogie player Jennifer, was 12th in the women’s category in a time of 45 minutes.
Results: 1. (228) Nathan O'Leary (Leevale AC) 32m. 39s; 2. (269) Michael McMahon (North Cork AC) 32m. 45s; 3. (410) Michael Herlihy (North Cork AC) 32m. 47s; 4. (372) Donal Coakley (Leevale AC) 32m. 49s; 5. (344) Vivian Foley (Eagle AC) 33m. 01s; 6. (75) Adhamh O'Leary (St. Finbarr’s AC) 33m. 22s; 7. (294) Andrew Sheehan (33m. 30s); 8. (80) Sean Twohig (St. Finbarr’s AC) 33m. 37s; 9. (405) Michael Morgan (St. Finbarr’s AC) 33m. 56s; 10. ( 387) Kevin Wilmot (Bandon AC) 34m. 19s.
Top local: 36th. (253) Eoin O’Donovan 37m. 57s.
Top 6 Females: 1. (240) Jennifer Martin (Tafelta AC Derry) 37m. 21s; 2. (396) Lorna Wolfe (Leevale AC) 38m. 01s; 3. (373) Rhona Dempsey (St. Finbarr’s AC) 41m. 06s; 4. (321) Ania Ordynska (Unattached) 41m. 23s; 5. (371) Hazel Hurley (42m. 38s); 6. (393) Roisin Hurley (St. Finbarr’s AC) 42m. 45s.
Top local: 12th. (422) Debra O’Leary 45m. 00s.
