 Martin McCarthy rounded off the Millennium in winning style when he won the St. Stephen’s Day Belgooly Four Mile road race today. Martin won in a time of 19:26, with 10 seconds to spare over UCC’s Fiachra Lombard, after a compelling contest on the hill midway through the race. It was the third mile that decided the race as Lombard went to the front on the climb and they dropped the international race walker, Robert Heffernan of Togher. They covered that third mile in 4:33 and, at the end of it, McCarthy had a 20 metre lead, with Heffernan trailing some 200 metres behind. McCarthy, looking tanned and strong after a two week training stint in the Canary Islands, covered the final mile on his own in 4:35. He leaves for the US on January 10 when he will join fellow Corkmen Mark Carroll and Ken Nason at their training camp in Florida. The women’s title went to Valerie Lynch (Carrignavar) who reversed last year’s placings with her clubmate and now her Coach in the US, Michelle Murphy Scott, with Brid Ní Chonnail of UCC third ahead of top vet Joan Hough (St. Finbarr’s). (Photo by Des Barry) |
