Written by John Quigley (from Eagle Athletic Website) This was the first time in about 10 years that the event has been held in Cork. Eagle had no ladies competing, which was unfortunate, given that the event was held in our homebase. We did have five men competing; Tony Kelleher, Dave Muldowney and Pat Power in the M35 Category and Pat Murphy and John Quigley in the M50 bracket, and they brought home a haul of 10 medals; four Gold, four silver and two Bronze. First Eagles off for the day were competing in the M35, M40 & M45 1500m. The initial lap saw Tony Kelleher lead the race followed closely by Dave Muldowney and Pat Power, with the rest of the pack just off the pace. This continued for the second lap, however the pack had closed up. After 1200m, Youghal’s Noel Curtin, running in the M40 category, had overtaken Tony and Dave. However Pat Power, who was running his first track race ever and lacked the competition experience, fell back into the pack and was squeezed out onto the outside of Lane 1.
The race began in earnest at the bell and Noel Curtin was home first, to win the M40 race in 4:30.31, followed by Tony Kelleher in 4:32.56 and Dave Muldowney, 4:34.51. Pat Power finished in 4th place in the M35, 7th overall, in 4:50.13, which was a fine performance, given that Pat has only recently started competitive running and also that he is only starting out on the track racing learning curve.
The 1500m for M50+ followed immediately and our competitors here were Pat Murphy and John Quigley. The evergreen Joe Murphy would normally be expected to be in the fray here also, but recent injury kept him out of the championships. Pat Murphy went off with the lead group, while John Quigley, who is facing an enforced lay-up in the coming weeks, held back and ran the race as a tempo run. Pat battled for the outright lead with West Waterford’s Joe Gough. The Deise man’s superior speed over the shorter distances told and he won the race, and the M55 category, in 4:58:67, with Pat Murphy second, but winning the M50 category in 5:00.94. Third overall and 2nd M55 was St. Finbarr’s Dan Kennedy, 5:22.82 with clubmate Michael Dunne, winning the M60 category, in fourth place, 5:42.96, while John Quigley took silver in the M50, in 5:59.91.
Eagle interest was next on the 3000m, with only Pat Murphy and John Quigley representing Eagle. All the masters categories ran together here, along with the juniors and U-23’s, so the field was very strung out from early on. Unfortunately no times were available for either Pat or John, but Pat was first in the M50 category, with John, again using the event as a tempo run, finishing in 12:56, with Pat having a lap to spare over him. Nevertheless it was an Eagle 1-2 in the M50 category.
Next Eagle man out was John Quigley, competing in the M50 javelin this time. Recent events and circumstances hampered John’s preparations, nevertheless he finished in silver position, with a throw of 21.54, well behind winner Patsy O’Connor (Tralee Harriers) who threw 39.95, even though Patsy hasn’t been throwing well (by his own standards), due to injury.
Eagle’s final interest of the day was the 800m, which again was split, with the M35, 40 and 45 categories all running together. Dave Muldowney made the running here, with Tony Kelleher settling in behind, followed by Dave Drohan, Waterford. These three ran away from the pack and while the pace was hot from the start, the race for the line began in earnest with 200m to go, when Tony Kelleher kicked and took gold in a fine time of 2:09.63. The two Daves battled for the lead with each heading the other but with 100 to go, it looked like the Waterford man would beat the Eagle man comfortably, however Dave Muldowney dug deep to overtake his opponent with just 10 to 15 metres left. The Waterford man wasn’t finished yet and found enough reserves to give one final kick, taking silver in 2:11.43, just 0.45sec ahead of Dave in 2:11.88.
John Quigley, competing in his fourth event of the day was Eagle’s final competitor of the day, in the M50+ 800m. The race was won easily, in 2:17.58, by West Waterford’s Joe Gough, competing at his more natural distance, to take gold in the M55 category. Second home, winning the M50 cat, was St. Finbarr’s Michael Murphy, 2:20.00, with Colin Lyons, West Waterford, 3rd, and second M50, in 2:37.33. John Quigley, 3:05.55, took bronze in the M50, in 9th place overall.
Eagle Performances:
M35 800m
1st Tony Kelleher; 2:09.63
3rd Dave Muldowney; 2:11.88
M50 800m
3rd John Quigley; 3:05.55
M35 1500m
1st Tony Kelleher; 4:32.56
2nd Dave Muldowney; 4:34.51
4th Pat Power; 4:50.13
M50 1500m
1st Pat Murphy; 5:00.94
2nd John Quigley; 5:59.91
M50 3000m
1st Pat Murphy; Official time not recorded
2nd John Quigley; Official time not recorded
M50 Javelin
2nd John Quigley; 21.54m
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