On The Road From Cork To Cobh - Fifty Years Ago - Article by John Walshe

ON THE ROAD FROM CORK TO COBH - FIFTY YEARS AGO

Article by John Walshe

p o riordan presentation

There is no doubting the number and variety of road races now available. Taking a look at the month just gone, on the Cork Athletics website at least 10 events ranging from 5km to 25km were scheduled for city and county alone. It was so different ‘back in the day’ when one event stood out above all others during that month of April – the 15-mile race from Cork to Cobh

Back in 2016, Blarney runner/librarian/ historian Richard Forrest published a delightful 136-page book covering the history of this famous event beginning with what he called ‘the modern race’ in 1962. This was organised by the Ballymore Athletics and Cycling club under the auspices of the NACA and when BLE (forerunner to Athletics Ireland) came into being in 1967 the race acted most years either as the national or Munster 15-mile championship

cork to cobh results 1973

Such was the case 50 years ago when, on April 15th, 1973, the allure of national championship status attracted an entry of over 100 from all parts of the country. Clubs represented included Raheny, Inchicore, Civil Servce, Clonliffe and University College Galway. There was a strong Cork entry which included a number taking on the 15-mile journey for the first time

The race started at 3pm under the Railway Bridge at Water Street. Dressing facilities and number collection were provided at the Arcadia Ballroom on Lower Glanmire Road. The initial part of the route took the runners along the dual carriageway as far as Dunkettle. Long before the N25 came into being, they then continued down the old road almost into Carrigtwohill before turning right for the familiar second half all the way to Cobh. Interestingly, the first mile mark to be seen was a ‘10’ at Glounthaune (telling you how far you had to go) with a similar ‘5’ near Fota followed by a count-down of miles 4, 3, 2 and 1

Pat O’Riordan of Leevale had won the race in 1968 and 1972, the latter in a time of 75:45. But in what was described by Tim O’Brien in the Cork Examiner as ‘a spell binding performance’ he improved on that by a whopping one minute and 46 seconds to win in an Irish record of 73:59

Employed in Wexford in the dairy industry at the time, the 26-year-old O’Riordan was a man for all seasons. He enjoyed national success with Leevale and Cork at cross-country and was Irish steeplechase champion in 1971, boasting a best time of 8:54.4 over the barriers. Three years ago he was honoured by Cork Athletics as a member of the 1968 All-Ireland team who won the inter-counties title at Mallow Racecourse for the fifth time in six years

The class of his performance that April day can be seen from those left in his wake. Des McGann had represented Ireland in the Olympic Marathon the year before and yet was over a minute in arrears. Joe Scanlon (GCH) in third and Finbarr Long (UCC) in fourth would go on to win national titles at 5000m and steeplechase respectively while Fr Paddy Coyle (fifth) was a former national marathon and cross-country champion

Richard Crowley, St Finbarr’s, winner of the Cork-Cobh in 1971, could only manage sixth on this occasion. Donie Walsh (also an Olympic marathoner in 1972), the national cross-country champion a couple of months before, must have had an off-day as he was well down in 12th place

Two young runners who would go on to greater things were 17-year-old Gerry Deegan (three national cross-country and four inter-county senior titles) in 37th place and four places further back, Liam O’Brien, a year older, was already laying down the endurance foundation that would take him to the semi-final of the Olympic 3000m steeplechase 11 years later

Two places from the end was Mark O’Shea, 42, from Dromcollogher who had discarded his shoes at Kilacloyne Bridge and proceeded to run the remaining distance in his thick woollen grey socks. Mark had also run the year before and, according to the Cork Examiner, ‘he richly deserved that special applause of spectators when he crossed the line’. The fact that a 41-year-old running 15 miles was a newsworthy item shows how far we’ve come – nowadays a similar race could just as easily be won by someone in that same age bracket

Sadly, a number of those numbered among the 65 finishers that day have now gone to their eternal reward. A few others are involved in the sport in various roles and indeed one or two are still toeing the line in races, although it could be said their 10-mile times now are approaching what they achieved for 15 miles back then

Of course there is one glaring omission from this look-back – there is no mention of female participants. For the simple reason that back then no women ran such a distance

It would be another five years before three brave and pioneering Cork runners - Marion Lyons, Elaine Kelly and Dervla Mellerick – lined up under the same Railway Bridge at Water Street and embarked on a maiden voyage to the seaside town of Cobh, thereby changing the face of Irish running forever

Pos	Forename	Surname	Cat	Club	Time
1	P.	O'Riordan	M	Leevale	01:13:59
2	D.	McGann	M	Civil Service	01:15:06
3	J.	Scanlon	M	Galway C.H.	01:15:27
4	F.	Long	M	U.C.C.	01:16:11
5	F.	Coyle	M	Lourdes	01:16:20
6	R.	Crowley	M	St. Finbarrs	01:16:45
7	E.	Spillane	M	Donore Harriers.	01:16:51
8	B.	O'Shea	M	Donore Hrs.	01:17:09
9	F.	Browne	M	Lourdes	01:18:20
10	W.	Dunne	M	Donore	01:19:05
11	D.	Hodgins	M	Leevale	01:19:16
12	D.	Walsh	M	Leevale	01:19:24
13	J.	Sweeney	M	Donore	01:19:26
14	B.	Geraghty	M	Galway C.H.	01:19:56
15	T.	O'Leary	M	U.C.C.	01:20:14
16	R.	Duffy	M	Lourdes	01:20:34
17	B.	Woods	M	Lourdes	01:22:02
18	D.	O'Callaghan	M	Leevale	01:22:08
19	E.	McDonagh	M	Civil Service	01:22:28
20	J.	Staunton	M	U.C.G.	01:22:40
21	F.	O'Leary	M	St. Finbarrs	01:23:06
22	V.	Campbell	M	Civil	01:23:33
23	J.	Power	M	Raheny	01:23:35
24	J.	Murphy	M	Leevale	01:24:03
25	C.	Holohan	M	Leevale	01:24:03
26	J.	Morlarty	M	Civil Service	01:24:59
27	B.	O'Grady	M	Donore	01:25:06
28	P.	Ryan.	M	St. Finbarrs	01:25:16
29	C.	McGrath	M	Crusaders	01:25:33
30	J.	O'Connor	M	I.C.G.	01:26:47
31	P.	Byrne	M	Waterford	01:26:50
32	T.	Hayes	M	Inchicore	01:27:11
33	M.	Cullen	M	Inchicore	01:28:08
34	P.	Mulholland	M	Midleton	01:28:32
35	W.	Keohane	M	Leevale	01:29:48
36	D	Burke	M	St. Finbarrs	01:29:50
37	G.	Deegan	M	De La Salle	01:30:29
38	N.	McDermott	M	U.C.G.	01:30:44
39	F.	Fitton	M	Olympic	01:31:22
40	C.	Treacey	M	Donore	01:31:29
41	L.	O'Brien	M	Midleton	01:34:45
42	J	Laffan	M	Reenavanna	01:35:24
43	J.	Kealy	M	K.C.H.	01:35:30
44	P.	Byrne	M	Civil Service	01:36:02
45	M.	Long	M	Leevale	01:36:50
46	T.	Greene	M	Ballymore-Cobh	01:36:51
47	E.	Ryan	M	Civil Service	01:37:33
48	S.	Kearns	M	Crusaders	01:37:34
49	C.	Donnelly	M	Crusaders	01:39:25
50	B.	Carmody	M	St. Johns	01:39:58
51	C.	Brennan	M	Reenavanna	01:39:59
52	J.	Burke	M	Reenavanna	01:40:25
53	R.	Hayes	M	St. Finbarrs	01:41:20
54	J.J	O'Flynn	M	U.C.C.	01:41:20
55	J.	McHugh	M	Lourdes	01:43:30
56	J.	Walshe	M	Midleton	01:44:25
57	T.	O'Donovan	M	Skibbereen	01:45:37
58	B.	O'Neill	M	U.C.C.	01:46:32
59	J.	McSweeney	M	Olympic	01:46:32
60	F.	O'Donovan	M	Leevale	01:47:44
61	T.	Murray	M	Togher	01:51:45
62	Paul	Carmody	M	St. Johns	01:53:38
63	M.	O'Shea	M	Dromcollogher	01:57:22
64	J.	O'Shea	M	Farranfore	02:00:15
65	D	Lehane	M	Togher