Rebecca McEvoy held off young rivals to make it two wins from two in Cloyne Commons 4k Challenge

THE second race in this winter’s Cloyne Commons 4k Challenge saw a new name in pole position as John Spelman followed on from his East Cork club-mate Michael Furlong’s victory the previous month when taking the honours.

In the women’s section, Rebecca McEvoy from St Finbarr’s made it two wins in succession when coming home ahead of two outstanding juveniles from the Midleton club.

Spelman, a 2nd-year Biological and Chemical Science student at UCC, continued on the good form he had been displaying during the cross-country season when covering the 4km course in 12:57, 22 seconds faster than Furlong recorded in November.

After winning the East Cork novice title back in September, Spelman has been a crucial member of his club team. 

He had his best performance at the Munster senior at Two-Mile-Borris where he was the second scorer on the winning East Cork squad as well as figuring on the Cork team who finished second behind Tipperary.

After Midleton’s Dinny McLean had set the early pace, the race soon developed into a battle between Spelman, Peter Hanrahan and Keith Kelly, who was second in the first race.

Hanrahan, from the Togher club, moved away from the Youghal man to take second in 13:07 with Kelly having to settle for third, although his time of 13:12 was a 10-second improvement on his previous outing over the Cloyne course.

McEvoy was just eight seconds slower than the month before, her time of 15:09 giving her a comfortable margin ahead of Midleton juveniles Katie Hennessy and Abigal Duggan who finished in respective times of 16:26 and 16:27.

While the younger age groups were to the fore in both sections, there were also some fine performances in the masters’ categories. None more so than Aghada-man Frank Cashman, now in the M75 category, who recorded 18:34 which was over a minute faster than he ran just four weeks before.

There was another large turnout of 243 finishers and the series, comprising five races over the 4km distance from November to March, continues with the third event which is scheduled for Sunday, January 21, again starting at 9.30am.

RESULTS

Men 1 J Spelman (East Cork) 12:57; 2 P Hanrahan (Togher) 13:07; 3 K Kelly (Youghal, M45) 13:12; 4 A Hobbs (Leevale) 13:15; 5 D McLean (Midleton, MJ) 13:26; 6 M Mahony (Midleton, MJ) 13:39.

Women 1 R McEvoy (St Finbarrs) 15:09; 2 K Hennessy (Midleton, FJ) 16:26; 3 A Duggan (Midleton, FJ) 16:27; 4 E Leahy (Midleton) 16:30; 5 S Cronin (Midleton, FJ) 16:31; 6 A Crowley (East Cork, F50) 16:34.