Fintan Walsh's weekly blog

All Ireland Cross Country in Co Meath

On Sunday next November 25 th the Woodies DIY AAI All Ireland Inter
Counties and Juvenile u 12,14,16,18 Cross Country Championships go
ahead at Tattersalls, Ratoath, Co Meath and they get under way at
11.30 am with the girls u 12 race  There will be a sizeable entry from
Waterford in the juvenile events and David McCarthy West Waterford
will be fancied in the Senior Race as well as Laura Behan KCK in the u
23 Section, full details on exact location of venue etc on Athletic
Ireland website and also full timetable, the last event the Seniors
Men's is at 2.25 pm .After the event the Irish teams to compete in the
European Cross Country Championships on December 9 th in Budapest will
be chosen.Best of luck to all Waterford athletes competing.

Other Cross Country Fixtures coming up

Munster Juvenile "B" and Masters Cross Country Championships,
Newmarket on Fergus, Co. Clare at 12 noon on Sunday 2nd December 2012.
All Ireland Novice and Juvenile u 11,13,15,17,19, Cross Country,
Adamstown, Co. Wexford. Sunday December 9 th. The European Cross
Country Championships will be in Budapest the same day The Schools
International Combined events are in Glasgow on Saturday December 1
st.

Relay Gold for Laura

DCU won the All Ireland Inter Varsity Road relay Championships in
Maynooth on Saturday last and on the winning team was Laura Behan KCK.

Quinn down the field

Competing in the American Collegiate National Cross Country
Championships in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday last Shane Quinn
Ferrybank AC running for Providence College was well down the field in
the 10 Km event finishing in 69 th place in 30 minutes 30 seconds, the
race was won by Kennedy Kithuka Texas Tech in 28.31.The best placed
Irish athlete in the race was David Rooney McNeese University who was
7 th overall in 29.21 he runs with Raheny Shamrocks in Ireland

Waterford AC Half Marathon.

On Saturday week December 1 st the Annual Waterford AC Half Marathon
takes place starting at 11 am outside Kelliher Electrical on Tramore
Road, Waterford and finishing at entrance door to Kingfisher . Entries
at 1500 closed last week so no entries being taken now or on the day.
Full details on Waterford AC website.

Munster Cross Country extra results.

A few extra results from the Munster Juvenile and Intermediate Cross
Country Championships in Carriganore on Sunday week last on a very
busy day that somehow didn't reach me last week were as
follows:Waterford ladies were third in the Intermediate Inter County
team event the squad being Laura Behan KCK, Mary Doolin, Kate Nolan,
Maire Lawler and Clare Grant all from Waterford.AC, Nicole Rowe
Ferrybank AC was 5 th  in the under 19 race, West Waterford's Miceal
Power's 7 th in the under 15 event. These results only came to my
attention during last week so happy to include them this week to keep
the records correct. 911 athletes from 60 Munster clubs competed in 14
races at the fixture in WIT from with lots of Waterford athletes
included from 5 clubs and no one individual can follow or see where
all athletes finish for all clubs in county when otherwise busily
engaged on the day. Information from clubs on any day is vital on
where there athletes finish as at times official result sheets may not
be available on a particular day.

Paddy Byrne winter League

Again there was a big entry for Race 2 in the Winter League in the
City last Thursday approx 450  and it continues every Thursday at the
RSC at 7 pm, registration from 6.15 pm.

Baldy Man Run.

This year's event in Tramore is on Sunday December 30 th at 12 noon.
Entries from 10 am at Majestic Hotel,entry fee 12 Euro or 30 Euro for
three. Proceeds to Special Olympics. Contact Michael Flynn.

Award for Heffernan

Rob Heffernan (Togher AC) was named as the Athlete of the Year at the
National Athletics Awards in association with Woodie’s DIY and
Tipperary Crystal which took on Saturday last 17th of November in the
Clyde Court Hotel in Dublin 4 .2012 was the year when Rob Heffernan
quite literally had the Walk of his life. His fourth place finish in
the 50 k Walk at the London Olympic Games was the stand out
performance by an Irish athlete at major championships this season. In
the process Heffernan destroyed his own national record with a time of
3:37.54. Not Surprisingly he also awarded the Race Walker of the Year
Award for 2012.The year was a remarkable year in international
competition for our up and coming athletes and this quality is
reflected in the winner of that category. Mark English ( Letterkenny
AC ) who had a remarkable 2012, a year in which he lowered the
national junior 800 m record to a blazing 1:45.77 and finished a
brilliant fifth in a highly competitive World Junior Championship
final. English was the worthy recipient of  Junior Athlete of the
Year. Among those nominated in the category was Ben Kiely Ferrybank AC

Irish Records

Over the course of 2012 Irish records have been broken on thirty three
different occasions.These record improvements came in a wide range of
track and field events, but perhaps the most significant record was
the one achieved by Robert Heffernan (Togher AC) who knocked over
seven minutes off his previous best when finishing a very impressive
fourth in the 50k walk at the London Olympics. Mairead Murphy
Ferrybank is listed among them in the Heptathlon.