Ballymore Cobh staged their annual 5k road race tonight, taking in a two lap circuit on the approach road to the town. The Novartis race on the previous Wednesday probably had an effect on numbers competing, but it had little effect on Cathal O’Connell of St. Finbarrs who again lined up on the start line. For the first mile or so a group of six had it all to themselves as they raced away from the rest of the field. Then O’Connell upped the pace and quickly opened a gap, but was followed closely by Eric Meade of East Cork. They stayed together for the next mile, but then O’Connell got away, going on to win in a time of 15:38, with Meade second in 16:23 and Ted O’Flynn of Leevale running on very strongly to take third in 16:26. Timmy Murphy of Togher was fourth in a time of 16:31, having had to stop twice to tie his shoe laces. His clubmate Fergal Tubridy is once again on the comeback trail and was strong enough to place fifth in 16:50. Next came Denis McCarthy of East Cork (17:25), Willie Hayes of St. Finbarrs (17:27) first over 40, Tom Cody of Midleton (17:31) first over 45, and Alan Foolkes (right) of Leevale (18:15) who was first junior. Brid Murphy has had a torrid time over the past couple of years with injuries, but kept up a strong battle against them the whole time. And her perseverance was rewarded with a fine win in the womens race in a time of 20:27. Monica Twohig of Eagle was second (21:22), Eileen Buckley of St. Finbarrs third (22:23), and Mary Murphy of St. Finbarrs fourth (25:05).