A total of 91 runners took part in the third race of three in the Riocht AC 5k Autumn series on Friday 17th September 2021 in Castleisland, Kerry.
From An Ríocht AC...📣 Coillte 5k Grand Finale Results & Race Report
There was an International feel to the final 5k of the series with Chilean runner Laura Acuna Vidal cruising home in 17minutes 53 seconds to applause from her travelling support. She was followed home by Mallow’s Lorraine Bolster and the ever consistent Sharon Woods.
In the men’s race, it was great to see a travelling contingent of top runners from Cork, Limerick and Tipperary, we hope it was worth the trip, and it was Nenagh man Gary Scully who ran the second fast time of the series in 16:07 followed home by Kieran McKeown and An Riocht’s Tim O’Connor.
There were plenty of great performances throughout the field including Dermot Dineen who had a blistering finish down the track running 17:37 and knocking over a minute of his previous time, and masters athlete Richard Piotrowski who defies his age running a staggering 21:50. A special mention to the running family the MacDomhnaill’s – Aislinn was first women in the first race, and Mike, Aogán and Carmel have all won in their age categories – maybe we’ll see them on Ireland’s Fittest Family!
The overall standings are calculated from each runners best 2 runs, and it was a clean sweep for An Riocht athletes in the men’s competition – well done to Oisin, Tim and Donal. The women’s overall was a close affair with An Riocht’s Niamh O’Sullivan just getting the better of Mallow’s Sharon Woods followed by Mariosa O Callaghan.
Well done to all our Masters category winners showing us all that age is just a number! - Denise Quilter, Doreen Moore, Siobhan Falvey, Siobhan Kearney, Caroline Murphy, Joan Hough, Aogán Mac Domhnaill, Dermot Dineen, Diarmuid O Malley, Robert Purcell, Pat Dunworth, Kevin Griffin and Mike Mac Domhnaill.
It's great to see our junior athletes taking on the 5k distance, well done to our overall winners - David Keane, Cian Spillane, Dawid Balas, Ella Murphy, Saoirse Tomkins, Chloe Barrett, Tiernan Lynch, Kieran Keane, Jay Reynolds, Hazel Murphy, Robyn Cahill and Freya Dale.
And finally, a big hand to the winner of the Wheelchair Category, Ger Daly, and to Ross Gallagher in the Visually Impaired category, you are inspirations to the rest of us!
Thanks to everyone who participated and we’ll be back next year! We will post out prizes over the next few weeks, and remember that a beautiful finishers medal featuring our two-tone athletics track is available to anyone who ran or stewarded in ANY of the races throughout the series – just drop in An Riocht and inquire at the desk or email anriochtathleticsclub@gmail.com
Thanks to our main sponsors Coillte who champion the outdoors, the great signs from Educate.ie, water from Supervalu, milk from Lee Strand and bars from Nature Valley and All Real Nutrition.
And finally thanks to the Red Cross, An Garda Siochana, our Photographers Barbara and Mariusz Podraza and all our volunteers from An Riocht A.C. who gave up their time to make this a big success.
Photo Gallery click here ... https://barbarapodraza.pixieset.com/riochtpart3/
