Tipperary...Results of the Clonmel 4 km road race - Wed 29th Jan 2014

A total of 174 runners completed this 4k race in Clonmel, Co.Tipperary.

1    Stewart Moloney    13:16
2    Fintan Rice    13:59
3    John Shanahan    14:03
12    Claire Annan    15:06
35    Grainne O Callaghan    16:33
37    Mary Molloy    16:40

Results can be seen HERE

Report from Clonmel AC...Stewart Moloney clocks 2nd fastest time over 4k Course
The 4th Race of the Clonmel AC New Years Series took place tonight in good running conditions, no rain during the race. Once again there was a brilliant entry of 175 athletes. Last year’s corresponding race attracted 84 athletes. I have no doubt that the Joe Grinsell 100k Challenge is a Challenge that many of the athletes are attempting to achieve and that is brilliant. Looking down through the names of who have competed in the races it is great to see so many new names taking part in this Challenge and the great thing about this Challenge is that it covers the whole year and an athlete can achieve this Challenge at their own pace and if they pick the right races they don’t have to do a 10K, so this Challenge is achievable by all levels of fitness. With 5 races completed and 21kms covered we have 23 athletes who have done all 5 races, 75 more athletes who have done 4 races with 70 more athletes who have competed in 4 Races, this is absolutely fantastic.

Back to tonight’s race and once again the Club would like to thank the Brothers of Charity for the use of their car park, the Civil Defence for doing First Aid and to the many stewards who ensured the whole event was another success. Tonight’s format was Match your target Time which was the Athletes best time in this series and the Computer randomly added up to 10 secs or deducted up to 10 seconds off this time and athletes had to Match that target Time which wasn’t revealed to them. We had three athletes who Matched their Target time and they were Maurice Boland,  Paudie O Connor and Mark Corcoran while Michael J Ryan, Mark Foley, Kate O'Neill, Declan Gavigan, Siobhain Roche, Anne Ryan were 1 second off their target Time. Then we had Fintan Rice and Angela Walsh who were only 2 secs off their Target Time while Pat Ryan, Hannah Gilligan, John Shanahan, Edmund Roche and Mari Murphy Condon who were only 3 secs off their Target Time, well done to all the Prize winners and they can collect their Prizes when Registering at next week’s

The race was very competitive tonight with Stewart Moloney running a brilliant race when winning in 13 mins 16 secs, fantastic running. In the New Year 4k Series this is the 2nd fastest time. In 2005 Pat O Sullivan ran 13 mins 13 secs and i am sure that if Stewart had company over the final 400m he would have set a new record. Fintan Rice was 2nd in 13 mins 59 secs with John Shanahan 3rd in 14 misn 3 secs. In the Ladies race the top 3 were Clare Annan 1st in 15 mins 6 secs, 2nd Grainne O Callaghan 16 mins 33 secs and 3rd Mary Molloy 16 mins 40 secs.

Clonmel Park Hotel Sponsored prizes
Once again we are very grateful to Aine Roche , manageress of the Clonmel park Hotel for sponsoring some of tonight’s Prizes and the Lucky winners of a one day pass to all the Leisure Centre facilities are Fintan Rice, Paudie O Connor, Mark Corcoran, Declan Gavigan, Mark Foley, Mari Murphy Condon, Anne Ryan and Kate O Neill.

The South Tipperary Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic awards...These awards, generously sponsored by the South Tipperary Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic, 19 O Connell Street Clonmel, are for the most Improved Female and Male athlete of the 4k Series. To qualify for these awards athletes must have competed in either of the first 2 races of this Series. After 4 races the top 6 Female athletes who have improved the most are Bridget Heeney has improved by 3 mins 52 secs, Rebecca Cassin by 3 mins 10 secs, Melissa McCarthy by 3 mins 8 secs, Siobhain Dempsey by 2 mins 51 secs, Claire Lyness by 2 mins 43 secs and Jenny Hogan by 2 mins 32 secs, The top 6 Male athletes who have shown he greater improvement we have Sean Lyness leading at the moment as he has improved by 4 mins 45 secs, Michael Phelan by 3 mins 24 secs, Peter Vos by 3 mins 4 secs, Sean Looby by 2 mins 58 secs ,Jason O Dea by 2 mins 44 secs, and Brendan White by 2 mins 25
secs.

With two races to go this table will probably change again. Indeed looking down through the results over the past three races we have 158 athletes who have improved on their first outing, fantastic and well done to all concerned, keep up the training.

Race 5 Format...The 5th race format is Predict your Finishing Time competition. This is where the athlete swill Predict their Finishing Time when registering and then run the race without a Watch or I phone. Once again we would ask everyone to come early and register as we will once again start at 7pm. We would also ask Club members to park in the adjacent car parks and jog down to register.