1972 BLE National Track and Field Championships in Banteer
John Walshe recalls the 1972 BLE National T&F Championships in Banteer
This article by John Walshe appeared in The Echo on Wednesday August 14th 2019
A month after the Cork City Sports of 1972, there was another treat for local fans, when the BLE National Track & Field championships took place at Banteer. That year was also a significant one, as the Olympic Games were scheduled for Munich in September.
An eight-minute video that recently surfaced on YouTube, narrated by the late Brendan O’Reilly for RTE, brought back many fond memories of that weekend of top-class fare.
The opening session on the Saturday evening of July 22 was noted for two things – the thunderstorm that waterlogged the grass track on a cinder surface half an hour before the meeting commenced, and an enthralling 10,000m, which featured three athletes who had already booked their tickets to Munich, in three different events.
Four weeks previously, in his first attempt at the distance, Donie Walsh of Leevale had qualified in the marathon, when winning the BLE title in 2:15:21. A week before Banteer, the AAA championships had taken place at Crystal Palace. There, the British hero of the day, Dave Bedford, had won the 5000m, on the Friday night, in a European record of 13:17.2, followed 19 hours later with victory over 10,000m in 27:52.8.
Overshadowed by such amazing exploits in both events, were Irish records of 13:43.0 by John Hartnett (Grange), and 28:48.0 by Neil Cusack (Limerick). Seven days later, both athletes, along with Walsh, lined up for what would be an epic encounter over 25 laps.
All three were on American scholarships (Hartnett and Walsh at Villanova, Cusack at East Tennessee), and what is remarkable nowadays, along with a heavy racing programme, was their young age – Hartnett had just turned 22, Cusack was only 20 while Walsh was the eldest at 24.
Cusack would go on to win the Boston Marathon two years later, and had already run 2:16:18 for the distance the previous December, a world age-19 best. It was he who dictated the pace at Banteer, over the opening laps, and the race soon developed into the expected battle between the three main protagonists.
With around six laps remaining, Cusack and Walsh poured on the pressure, in an effort to blunt Hartnett’s known finishing speed. However, with just over a mile to go, the Grange athlete struck for home with two remarkable laps of 62 and 66 seconds, effectively ending the contest. He crossed the line in 29:02.4, with Walsh trailing home in 29:15.2 while Cusack had to settle for third in 29:23.0
Some of the other highlights of that weekend included doubles by three other Munich-bound athletes. Fanahan McSweeney, another Grange man, won the 200m in 21.5 sec and 400m in 47.8 sec. Ovens all-rounder Margaret Murphy won the 110m hurdles for the third year in succession in a time of 15.9 sec, also adding the long jump, with a leap of 5.51m, plus a third in the 100m. Clonliffe Harrier Claire Walsh was victorious over the 200m (24.5 sec) and 400m (55.4 sec)
Len Braham (Ballymore-Cobh) took gold in the discus with a throw of 46.74m, and finished second to Tadgh Twomey, from Bandon, in both the 56 lbs for distance, and over the bar. Pat Moore of Leevale, who is still competing today, won the first of his six national titles in his speciality javelin event, with a best of 55.90m, while Liam Gleeson (Nenagh) set a new Irish record of 4.22m, in the pole vault.
Midleton-born Mike Keogh, 21, a student at Manhattan University who had already achieved the 5000m standard, won that event in 14:23.4 but was defeated in an exciting 1500m contest where victory went to Brother John Dooley (DCH) in 3:51.5.
The women’s 1500m saw Mary Tracey from the Guinness club home first in 4:20.5 while Joan Fleming of St Finbarr’s gave the home crowd some cheer when finishing an easy winner of the 800m in 2:11.8.
Frank Walley, now President of the Cork City Sports, gained his first national title when winning the 100m in 11.0 sec,and also finished second in the 200m behind Fanahan McSweeney. Vinny Becker of Crusaders, second in the 100m, withdrew from the longer sprint when controversially claiming there was a hole in the lane he had been given.
This was denied by Banteer Sports Committee Secretary, Jerry Sheehan, who explained that when the track was being rolled a small quantity of diesel spilled from the machine causing the grass to burn and turning it into a different colour from the immediate surrounding area.
Maybe there’s something to be said for the all-weather tracks after all.
