Beara AC Summer League proves a winner with races in stunning locations
Deirdre O'Sullivan of Beara AC who won three races in the Summer League receives her prize from Darragh Carey of Adrigole GAA Club.
THE inaugural Beara AC Summer League proved a big success with competitors enjoying four races spanning five weeks at stunning locations across the peninsula.
Bere Island on July 15 kicked started a busy few weeks with races then following in Eyries, Adrigole and Glengarriff as distances varied between 5k and10k. Interestingly they attracted a core of local runners but also a strong sprinkling of outside participants.
Day one provided a choice of two races in Bere Island. The 5k was won by Cian Dunning of St Catherine's AC in East Cork in a time of 18:24 with Darragh Coppinger second and another St Catherine's athlete Chris O'Connell continuing his comeback from injury with a fine run in third. Local athlete Deirdre O'Sullivan took the ladies honours as she finished fifth overall in 20:50.
The top three places in the 10k were filled by impressive winner Eoin Keegan (36:24) who had exactly three minutes to spare over David O'Connor and Adam Moss third home in 41:14. Top prize in the ladies section went to Angie Meffan.
A mid-week journey to Eyeries was next in the Coastguard Station 8k trail race. Donal Fallon of Mount Hillary AC won the men's race in 39:31, over a minute ahead of Dean Murphy from the promoting Bears AC club. Story of the day was in the ladies race where another Beara competitor Kristen O'Sullivan produced a top-drawer performance to come home second overall.
Adrigole GAA Club was very much to the fore on the August Bank Holiday Weekend. A focal point of the programme was the third race in the series which covered a distance of five miles and took in the famous Massmount Hill route.
Seamus McSweeney, synonymous with success in the over-50 category across the county, made the trip west from Castlelyons to grab the headlines. The St Nicholas club man had eight seconds to spare on the half-hour clock when crossing. Mick Silke was next home. Deirdre O'Sullivan followed up her opening day win as she again claimed the ladies honours in 36:54.
The final stopping point was Glengarriff where the last challenge took the format of the popular Saturday morning Park Run. Close on 100 participants were on the start line to take on the course through the woods with excellent running witnessed as Bobby Tangey from Kenmare AC posted the fastest time of 19:36. Deirdre O'Sullivan made it three wins in the league as she stopped the watch at 22:19 almost two minutes ahead of the second female.
The last August Park Run brought the curtain down on a memorable few weeks of summer action in Beara. No doubt it's set to be a regular fixture on the calendar in the years ahead.
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