The fifth running of the Cork City Marathon in its current form took place this morning, and, unlike previous years, conditions were almost ideal for the athletes with cool temperatures and only light breezes.
The race was won for the second year in succession by Clonliffe Harriers’ Sergiu Ciobanu in a course record 2:25:34. The first Leevale finisher was Alan Foolkes, who finished 2nd overall in 2:31:03. Alan is the youngest of three Foolkes brothers who regularly competed for Leevale as juveniles in the 80s and 90s and is home at the moment from McNeece State University, Louisiana, where he is on the coaching staff. Chris Harrington, who was attempting the distance for the first time, found the going tough over the second half of the race, but he finished well in a time of 2:39. The women’s race was won by Clonmel’s Angela McCann. The first Leevale lady home was Nollaig Hunter, who is on the comeback trail and finished just outside the 3-hour mark in 3:02.
This year saw the event include a half-marathon race, which started in Mahon and finished on Patrick Street with the marathon. The ladies’ race saw a great duel between Leevale’s Lizzie Lee and Claire McCarthy of St. Finbarr’s. In the end, Lizzie just edged it to take victory just inside the 80-mintute mark with 79:45. Brian Hegarty kept the Leevale flag flying in the men’s race with a strong 3rd in 75:25 minutes behind race winnner John Meade.
The Leevale relay teams were well up the field as per usual; the Leevale ladies had a great win in the all-female relay category with a time of 2:51. The Leevale team included Annette Quaid, Sinéad O’Connor, Ann Moore, and Carol Finn. The Leevale men were unfortunate to lose time due to a mid-race injury to Barry Donovan, but nonetheless came home strongly in 2:23:42 to continue their remarkable run of second place finishes in the event. The men’s team comprised John Shine, Donal Coffey, Barry Donovan, Thomas Maunsell, and Ryan Creech. The overall winners of the relay event were a combined team that finished in 2:19:57.
Cork City Marathon, Mon 6 June 2011, 9:00am
| 1 | Sergiu Ciobanu | Clonliffe Harriers | 2:25:34 |
| 2 | Alan Foolkes | Leevale | 2:31:03 |
| 3 | Colin Merritt | Carraig na bhFear | 2:31:59 |
| 4 | Wieslaw Sosnowski | Eagle | 2:32:47 |
| 5 | Lorcan Cronin | Clonliffe Harriers | 2:33:36 |
| 11 | Chris Harrington | Leevale | 2:39:14 |
| 13 | Jason Foolkes | Leevale | 2:42:19 |
| 1W | Angela McCann | Clonmel | 2:53:31 |
| 2W | Mary Scully | Mullingar Harriers | 2:57:15 |
| 3W | Anne Curley | Donore Harriers | 2:57:38 |
| 6W | Nollaig Hunter | Leevale | 3:02:53 |
| 133 | John Hallahan | Leevale | 3:16:48 |
| 178 | Tim Twomey | Leevale | 3:21:19 |
| 403 | Thomas O’Regan | Leevale | 3:41:03 |
Cork City Marathon Relay, Mon 6 June 2011, 9:00am
| 1 | River Gold Road Runners | 2:19:57 | |
| 2 | Leevale | 2:23:42 | |
| 3 | Mahers Sports Elite | 2:24:48 | |
| 1W | Leevale | 2:51:45 |
Cork City Half-Marathon, Mon 6 June 2011, 11:30am
| 1 | TJ McHugh | Mayo | 1:12:51 |
| 2 | John Meade | St. Finbarr’s | 1:14:10 |
| 3 | Brian Hegarty | Leevale | 1:15:25 |
| 1W | Lizzie Lee | Leevale | 1:19:45 |
| 2W | Claire McCarthy | Ballinhassig | 1:20:48 |
| 3W | Catherine Conway | Mayo | 1:23:56 |
Photos from Gearóid Ó Laoi.
For results updates see Cork City Marathon website.