Age is just another number for Vivian Foley as he bags Blackrock 5k at 52
Vivian Foley, winner of the 5km, receiving his prize from Tom Hegarty, Network Operations Manager, Gas Networks Ireland. Picture: John Walshe
IT'S not often that a 52-year-old crosses the line first in a road race, but given the remarkable form that Vivian Foley has shown this year, it came as no surprise when the Eagle clubman took the honours at the Gas Networks Ireland 5km at Blackrock.
Representing Owenabue Medical Centre in this Cork BHAA promotion, the Carrigaline GP got away after the first mile on the Marina and came home with seven seconds to spare over Aidan Noone of the Dept of Education. The third finisher was Kenneth Kelleher of Irish Distillers Pernod Richard in a time of 15:50.
“That’s my first BHAA win ever,” admitted Foley, who was second five nights before in the Tracton four-miler. “I’ve had a few podium places recently so training has gone well.
“I’ve a very good group to train with and I think I’m training smarter as I get a bit older, doing more strength and conditioning work along with cross-training.
"Also, I’ve only been running since my early thirties so relatively I’ve probably got fresher legs than some of the other lads.”
Back in April, Foley finished an outstanding second in the M50 category at the Boston Marathon, his 2:33:42 coming just two months after recording a similar time of 2:33:51 for the distance in Seville where he again took second in his category.
Martina Kiely also continued her consistent form, especially over the 5km distance, when winning the women’s race in 17:08. Kiely stayed with Hannah Steeds, the Clonmel athlete here running for Eli Lilly, for the first two miles before moving away for a 17-second victory. Siobhan Hoare, representing the Bon Secours, took third spot in 18:00.
The added attraction of a quality T-shirt swelled the numbers taking part to over 400 and the standard was also high as a quarter – 109 – finished the flat Marina course under 20 minutes.
The next Cork BHAA 5km will be the popular Novartis race which takes place on Wednesday at Ringaskiddy, starting at 8pm.
1 V Foley (Owenabue Medical Centre, M50) 15:33; 2 A Noone (Dept of Educ) 15:40; 3 K Kelleher (Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard, M40) 15:50; 4 B Twohig (Emrald Fencing, M40) 15:52; 5 J Murphy (RSA) 15:55; 6 T Forristal (temp-reg) 15:57.
(Grade A) 1 UCC 80; 2 Train with Trevor 90; 3 CPO 169. (Grade B) 1 Army 184; 2 Cork Co Co 294; 3 Fota Collection 382. (Grade C) 1 Dell Technologies 200; 2 Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard 239; 3 Musgrave 271.
1 M Kiely (Dept of Educ, F40) 17:08; 2 H Steeds (Eli Lilly) 17:25; 3 S Hoare (Bon Secours, M45) 18:00; 4 V Spiteri (Midleton Town Council, F35) 18:52; 5 M Moynihan (Complete Financial) 19:25: 6 L Hughes (HSE) 19:30.
(Grade A) 1 Eli Lilly 204; 2 HSE 254. (Grade B) 1 Musgrave 263; 2 HSE 346. (Grade C) 1 MTU 519; 2 UCC 543.
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