Cork City Sports - Athlete of the Month Award December 2014 - Ben
Thistlewood
L-R, Donal Murnane, Chairman,
Leevale AC, Terry O'Rourke, Cork City Sports, Ben Thistlewood, Leevale
AC, Claire Myler, River Lee Hotel, and Finbarr O'Brien Cork City Sports
and Leevale AC
Photos from Function - on Cork AAI Flickr account
Ben Thistlewood, Leevale AC, is the Cork City Sports Athlete of the
Month for December. Ben receives the award for his win in the Athletics
Ireland National Novice Cross-Country Championships, held in Santry
Demesne, Dublin last month. In addition to winning the event, Ben
led both his club, Leevale AC, and Cork to the respective club and
county team title. Describing his tactics for the event, Ben said that
he had received great advice from his Leevale coach, Donie Walsh, who
advised him to bide his time and go when he felt it was right, so he
held back until the final lap, when he upped the pressure on his
remaining opponents, making his final, and decisive, burst for home
with 400m to go. During the interview, Ben outlined some
elements of his training regime...but asked that they remain
"undisclosed".
A 27 year old medical student from Summerland, British Colombia,
Canada, Ben is also PRO for UCC Athletics Club. Ben placed 5th in both
the 2012 and 2013 events, and, for the past two years, he had been
aiming to win the National Novice Championship. Now that he has
achieved this target, he has set his sights on the 5000m and 10000m in
the World University Games, in Gwangju, South Korea (Jul 3rd-14th
2015). The qualification standards are 14:06.00 and 29:45.00,
respectively. Ben's PBs are 14:43.47 (Eugene, Oregon, 2011) and
31:01 (Vancouver Canada, 2012)
A medical student in UCC, Ben has an athletic scholarship and has
approx. 18 months remaining for his studies here. His first Irish
win was in the Eagle AC Cheetah Run in 2013.
