BY JOHN WALSHE
Although a race over the same course was held for a number of years over a decade ago, it lapsed around the Covid pandemic before the present event was re-introduced last year.
Organised by the thriving Doheny AC, the race received great support locally with Murray Brothers Tarmacadam being the main sponsors. Over 260 competed in the 10k race, with almost 330 taking part in the race and walk combined.
Catherine Murphy, third last year behind her Eagle clubmate Aoife Cooke and Hannah Steeds, took the female honours and although a minute slower than 2023, she just did enough to win.
Her time of 40:07 gave her a comfortable margin over Aoife Mahony, also Eagle, who finished in 40:56 with Heather Dunlea of Leevale taking third spot in 41:31.
‘I found it good, it’s my second year doing it so I kind of knew what to expect,’ said Murphy. ‘It was a tough route, a challenge. I’m starting training now for the Berlin Marathon at the end of September so I’ll be gearing up for that’.
Also targeting Berlin is third-placed Dunlea, a native of Boston who has been working in Cork with Pfizer for the past few years and is coached at Leevale by 1972 Olympian Donie Walsh. It was Donie’s son, Mark, who claimed the men’s title as he led from 3km onwards. He finished in 33:03 with Leevale colleague Donal Coakley second in 34:28.
Two West Cork runners, Garrett Lordan (Clonakilty RR) and Kevin Wilmot (Bandon), took third and fourth places in respective times of 35:30 and 35:46.
‘I was happy with that, it was a case of getting the job done more than anything,’ explained Walsh. ‘It was warm, I ran a lot of it on my own as after 3km I felt strong and kind of moved on from there.
‘Conditions were tough all right, but it was brilliantly organised. You couldn’t go wrong on the course and that’s good for a 10km. The hill at the end was very, very challenging but again it made it interesting so it was a good day’s work overall.’
