The John McCarthy Motors five mile road race took place in Fermoy tonight in cool weather conditions. The race looked like being a closely fought affair as four runners quickly established a lead in the first half mile. From that pack, Ted O’Flynn was the first to drop off, losing contact by the one mile mark, leaving Billy O’Rourke to set the pace, and Toddy Finn and local James Murphy on his shoulder. Finn found the going tough in the second mile, much of which was uphill, and fell back a little. On the third mile he had recovered sufficiently to catch up, and then followed O’Rourke as he upped the pace, leaving Murphy on his own in third. Finn held his own until the last mile when O’Rourke finally broke away to win in a time of 25:49, with Finn (26:08) in second and Murphy (26:29) in third. They were followed by Ted O’Flynn (27:26), Dermot O’Callaghan (27:34), Julian Alubaidy (27:41), and Pat Malone (28:31). Mary Sheehan won the womens race in a time of 30:52, well clear of Mary Sweeney (31:52), with Mary Murphy third, Mary Finn fourth and Eileen Kenny fifth. Little separated Cathal O’Connell of St. Finbarrs and Roy Fahy of Leevale for the first four miles of the Kinsale Regatta five mile road race on Friday. But then O’Connell upped the pace and got away from Fahy to win in a time of 24:40, one of the fastest times in Cork so far this year. Fahy was second (24:52), followed by Tony O’Halloran of DSD (25:41), James McGee, Leevale (25:43), Ian O’Sullivan, East Cork (26:01), Eoin O’Connell (26:06), and Ted O’Flynn, Leevale (26:11). Mary Sweeney won the womens race (30:56) from Elaine O’Donoghue, Riverstick (31:57), and Mary Finn, Millstreet (32:09).