Carlingford Juvenile & Senior 5km Races 2019

To help mark the 50^th Anniversary of the formation of the club, every effort was made to ensure that this year’s Carlingford 5K was the best one yet. With over a 530 entries, anticipation for what was going to be a fantastic event was building in the village from early in the afternoon. The weather played its part, and the participating athletes were greeted with warm sunshine and a gentle sea breeze.

Long-time supporter of the club, Tommy Neary was on hand to start the race on the stroke of 8pm. The leaders set off at a blistering pace, with the increased prize fund for breaking the course record on the mind of a few (thanks to Bakers Takeaway for generously sponsoring the course record). The athletes continued on the usual route, out the Greenore Road, before turning back to face the impressive backdrop of Slieve Foy in the distance.

The atmosphere in the village was building, and when the first athlete came into sight of the finish line everyone knew at that point that the course record would be broken. The massively impressive Yared Derese (Carrick Aces) crossed the line in 14mins 23secs, breaking the old course record by 3 seconds. He was followed home by Paddy Hamilton (Slieve Gullion Runners) in 15.03, with Conan McCaughey from North Belfast Harriers completing the podium places with a time of 15.09.

The quality of the field over the years has firmly established the Carlingford 5K as one of the premier road races in the North East, with an impressive 12 athletes finishing under 16minutes, 45 athletes under 17minutes, and a huge 170 athletes under 20minutes.

The ladies race was equally impressive. Laura Graham (Mourne Runners, winner of the Belfast Marathon and one of Ireland’s top female distance runners) dropped down in distance for this event, and managed to finish as first female athlete in a time of 17.01. She was quickly followed by Jessica Craig (North Down AC) in 17.04, with Niamh Devlin from Dundrum South Dublin finishing 3^rd in 17.56.

The team prizes were also hotly contested, with North Belfast managing to retain the Michael Fearon Cup for the 5^th consecutive year, with Dromore AC in 2^nd place. On the female side Armagh AC won the Kevin Marron Cup, holding a strong challenge from North East Runners.

From a Glenmore AC point of view, 27 members of the club completed the race. Shane Lynch was presented with the Francis O’Reilly Shield for 1^st Glenmore AC Male (16.33). Sarah Dooney was presented with the Ciaran Gormley Trophy as 1^st Glenmore AC Female (22.52).

For a full list of results in each age category (U17/U19/O40/O45/O50/O55/O60/O65/70), please click on the following link; https://www.myrunresults.com/events/carlingford_5k/3320/results

The juvenile athletes took to the road earlier in the night competing in various distances. Trophies were awarded to top 3 in each categories and medals to top 10 finishers with plenty of smiling faces on the night!

U9 Girls 500m: 1^st Grace McEvoy (Blackrock AC), 2^nd Maeve Walsh (Glenmore AC), 3^rd Leah Townsend (Dunleer AC).

U9 Boys 500m: 1^st Nathan Robinson (Ace), Jack Newell (Kilkeel AC), Ethan Connolly (Armagh AC)

U11 Girls 750m: 1^st Chloe Cooney (Ace), Sadie Murphy (St. Gerards), Cliodhna Reilly (Dunleer AC)

U11 Boys 750m: 1^st Conor Brennan (Dunleer AC), Cormac Greene (Dunleer AC), Declan McEntee (Dunleer AC)

U13 Girls 1000m: 1^st Sholah Lawrence (Ace), Eimear Cooney (Ace), Dearbhla Allen (St Peters)

U13 Boys 1000m: 1^st Shea O’Donnell (Ace), Harry O’Reilly (St.Peters), 3^rd Matthew McArdle

U15 Girls 1200m: 1^St Ciara Nugent (Armagh), 2^nd Niamh Brady (St Peters), 3^rd Ava Brady (Glenmore AC)

U15 Boys 1200m: Cian Gorham (St Peters), James Dunne (Glenmore AC), Danny Nugent (Ace)

Well done to all our juvenile athletes who competed on the night in their respective ages;

U9 Eimear Murray & Ethan Nichols. U11 Gillian Tuohy, Holly McCann, Sarah Duffy & Sophie Cumiskey. U13 Leah Dunne, Aine O’Reilly, Saoirse Byrne, Elliot Nichols, Craig Tuohy, Christopher Conlon, Peadar Walsh, Daniel Connolly & Seamus Small. U15 Ava Ashby & Sarah Mallon.

Glenmore AC would like to extend a very special thanks to everyone who helped make this event the success it was;

– The committee of Glenmore AC

– All our club sponsors throughout the year on our 50^th Anniversary, but special thanks to Bakers Takeaway for sponsoring the course record prize money

– A special thank you to Tommy Neary, our official starter and to John and Mary Mc Geown who helped out enormously on the night

– The Red Cross and An Gardai for their invaluable service

– Donal McDonald who provided a motor cycle escort to all of our Juvenile and senior races

– To Carlingford Tidy Towns for providing eco-friendly usable cups, and to Carlingford Community Hall committee, thank you for the support

– To all the members of the club and wider community who helped run the event on the night, including those who helped with the stewarding of the event, registration, finish line, catering. All these people made a valuable contribution to the event

– Sincere thanks to all residents and businesses in Carlingford for bearing with us and for any traffic disruptions. We thank all the locals and supporters who came out to cheer, clap and encourage all the runners along the route and to cross the finish line.

– Finally, a big thank you to all the clubs and runners who participated, we salute you and thank you all.

Pic 1: Rose White Glenmore AC Chairperson congratulating Yared Derese  on breaking the course record.
Pic 2: Yared Derese with 2 Glenmore AC juvenile athletes
Pic 3:  Yared Derese winner of 5km road race from Carrick Aces