Michael Harty shows he was back to his very best with a new course of 19:18 at the Killeagh four-mile road race

IN his first race since the national cross-country back in November, East Cork athlete Michael Harty showed he was back to his very best with a new course of 19:18 at the Killeagh four-mile road race, organised by the Killeagh Community Healthy Clubs Project.

This improved on the previous best of 19:34 set by Colm Sheahan of Leevale at the inaugural race in 2016 and Harty’s complete dominance around the four-mile circuit can be seen by his margin of one minute and 20 seconds over his clubmate James McCarthy, a former winner of the event.

John Meade, St Finbarr’s, twice-winner of the race, took third spot in 20:49 with Tony Forristal from the Midleton club continuing his recent improvement when finishing fourth in 21:14.

After getting the winter season off to a brilliant start with victory, at the age of 42, at the Cork senior cross-county decider, Harty then became the first Irishman over 40 to break 30 minutes for 10km at the Leeds Abbey Dash, his 29:42 knocking 23 seconds off of the previous Irish record.

After helping East Cork to an unexpected second place at the national cross-country in Donegal, Harty suffered an injury which ruled him out of the team’s bonus trip to the European Cubs on February 5. 

His Killeagh time of 19:18 was the same as he ran last April at Ballintotis and if he maintains his current form the course there of 19:15 – which he ran five years ago – is well within his grasp.

Michelle Kenny of Leevale continued her recent fine run of successes (which included two IMRA Trail Run victories) with another impressive winning performance. 

Her time of 23:19 put her well clear of Clare native Sharon Rynne who recorded 23:52 with Rachel Murphy (Plant Based AC) taking third in 25:19.

Killeagh results: 

Men: 

1 M Harty (East Cork) 19:18; 2 J McCarthy (East Cork) 20:38; 3 J Meade (St Finbarrs) 20:49; 4 A Forristal (Midleton) 21:14; 5 D Giltinan (East Cork, M40) 21:33; 6 C McNamee (Youghal, MJ) 21:41..

M40: 2 D Buckley (Grange-Fermoy) 22:08; 3 J Grufferty (Leevale) 22:34.

M45: 1 K McKeown (Grange-Fermoy) 21:44; 2 L Fulcher (Plant Based) 21:57; 3 O Smiddy (East Cork) 24:48.

M50: 1 E O’Keeffe (Carrick-on-Suir) 23:25; 2 P Costigan (St Catherines) 24:29; 3 E Meade (East Cork) 25:22.

M55: 1 C Fleming (Clonmel) 23:48; 2 P O’Connor (Eagle) 25:31; 3 J Cashman (Midleton) 25:49.

M60: 1 M Walsh (Midleton) 26:54; 2 R Isley (unatt) 27:58; 3 E O’Regan (Youghal) 28:30.

M65: 1 W Hayes (St Finbarrs) 29:27; 2 D Kennedy (St Finbarrs) 30:11; 3 M Shanahan ((unatt) 30:22.

MJ: 2 J Buckley (Youghal) 26:09; 3 L O’Shea (Youghal) 27:39.

Women:

1 M Kenny (Leevale) 23:19; 2 S Rynne (Kilmurry-Ibrick NC) 23:52; 3 R Murphy (Plant Based) 25:19; 4 F McCarthy (Leevale, F45) 26:02; 5 E Giltinan (East Cork, F35) 26:34; 6 C Geary (Midleton, F45) 26:42.

F35: 2 L Foley (West Waterford) 27:56; 3 S Ni Fhaolain (West Waterford) 30:19.

F40: 1 J O’Sullivan (Youghal) 27:32; 2 R Kinsella (West Waterford) 29:45; 3 S Dineen (Youghal) 30:03.

F45: 3 G Conroy (Watergrasshill) 27:00.

F50: 1 A Crowley (East Cork) 26:57; 2 C Murphy (Youghal) 30:06; 3 D Broderick (Ballintotis F4L) 30:31.

F55: 1 B Sheedy (Midleton) 28:53; 2 O Power (West Waterford) 34:34; 3 C O’Regan (Youghal) 35:25 F60: 1 M Sweeney (St Finbarrs) 27:57; 2 M Cotter (Tracton) 32:41; 3 L Feeney (St Catherines) 35:42.

FJ: 1 A Barry (Youghal) 34:11; 2 O Heffernan (unatt) 38:02; 3 L Sheehan (unatt) 38:11.