Cork Graded Series 1

Pictured are Tom O'Brien, Emma Brent and Pat Breen who competed at the first of the 2011 Cork Graded Series. All three competed in the 200m, Emma and Tom in the Long jump and the three managed to rustle up a cork guest to join them in the 4 x 400m relay and came 3rd.


The event was very professionally run by the Cork Atletics Board and accurate times were assured due to electronic timing on the night.

The next in the series is on Friday, June 10th with 100m, 800m, High Jump, Discus and 4 x 200m relay. All members are encouraged to take in the graded series as they are a great way of gaining experience of competing but done in a very friendly atmosphere. There are no prizes and having missed the first in the series does not mean you are excluded from joining in at any point.

Week 2 of county Championship even better

On another windy day at the RSC Waterford AC were very well represented and many county champions were crowned.

Louise and Emma Brent were our lady champions again this week: Emma in the Long Jump and Louise in the Javelin, Discus and Hammer.


Brendan Leahy added the 200m title to his 100m and 400m from last week and with a severe headwind to sprint against in the homestraight still managed to knock out a credible 23.9sec for the 200m. Tom O'Brien was 2nd to Brendan in 25.4 and added the high jump title (in going very close to a pb at 1:73) to his long jump title last week.

Brian Swaby was very happy with a 9:34 time for a win in the 3000m mens race and was followed home by David Cunningham, both athletes having run great times at the Tom Jordan memorial race in Portlaw on Friday night. Tom being a former member of Waterford AC.


A top class race was witnessed in the mens 800m where Andrew Connick of WIT AC acted as pacer for Niall Tuohy to bring him through in sub 52sec at 400m and as a result everybody in the race was chasing throughout giving club members Frank Quinlan a great time of 2min 9.2sec for 2nd with Pat Breen 3rd in 2min 9.8sec and Dermot McCarthy winning the Masters Category in 2min 20sec.



Video above is the 200m mens final with Brendan Leahy winning and Tom O'Brien 2nd and winning the masters category.

Cork Graded Series
Over the next couple of months Cork County Board will be holding a graded series of track and field over six dates and the first is on Monday 23rd may at 7pm at the CIT track in Cork. Events on the night are 200m, 3000m, Long Jump, Shot and 4X400m Relay. All events are for men and ladies and for those who have not done graded series before these events are arrannged as Grades A,B,C and D so athletes are grouped against athletes who are of similar ability so a good competition is to be expected. Information in terms of entries and travel arangements to tom@waterfordac.com. It is hoped that WAC will have members at each event as we did last year.
Full details of the series coming up can be found by clicking HERE

Sisters (and Brothers) are doing it for the club!

At the Waterford County T&F championships at the RSC on Sunday sisters Emma and Louise Brent both won titles: the ladies 100m for Emma and the shot and triple jump for Louise. Also in the senior mens race Brendan Leahy retained his county 100m and 400m titles and in the masters sprint his brother Kieran also won. Tom O'Brien won the senior men's Long jump with a new PB over 6m and made full advantage of the gentle breeze on his back!



Pat Breen was 3rd in senior 100m, Darren Ryan was 2nd in the masters 100m, Paschal Halley took 2nd in the Long jump and 3rd in the Masters 100m and and Brian Swaby ran an excellent 4th in the 1500m in a very competitive race.


Next week on Sunday with an 11am start we have senior events of

Senior Women- Hurdles, 200m, 800m, 3000m, Walk, 4x100m, LJ, Jav, Discus, Hammer
Senior Men- Hurdles, 200m, 800m, 3000m, Walk, 4x100m, HJ, Shot, Hammer, TJ
Masters Women and Men- 200m, 800m

42nd Waterford to Tramore race

CLICK ON RESULTS IMAGE TO MAKE BIGGER
The 42nd running of the Waterford to Tramore Road Race was held on a lovely evening with a 'Fresh' wind in the face along the full 7.5 mile of the flat course! Many great performances were recorded and Waterford AC were to the fore in the prize winners with Frank Quinlan and Jim Baldwin winning male prizes and the Ladies coming up trumps with prizes for Brea Cooke (back in top form finishing 4th individually), Sarah Lee, Bernadette Power, Catriona Gough and Liz Nolan. Great to see so many WAC singlets in the 351 finishers and so many of our great neighbours West Waterford AC competing as part of the Ger Wyley series. Well done to their Ladies in winning the team prize and much thanks are due to our hospitality crew of Elaine, Betty and Co who served up a winning combination of refreshments for the masses after!

Waterford AC and county PRO Fintan Walsh gave a little history of the race which in its 42nd year is one of the longest running road races in the country. It has included such previous WAC winners as John Treacy, Gerry Deegan and this years Sponsor Derek Tebay who won the race 3 times in his hay day and with Mrs Flannagan on hand to present the Cup in memeory of her husband Paddy, who died 43 years ago, all agreed it was an occasion to appreciate what a great event this really is and to remember such a star athlete. Mrs Flannagan remembered great years of athletics and stated what a great achievement it is for all the 351 athletes to be in a position to run such a distance and still be smiling....well kinda.

Fintan made great praise of all the people who continue to make these events so successful and we need to remember all our WAC members who helped out in the preparation of the event with registrations (our front of house people), stewarding the course (and we had many) our finish helpers with water (including many of our happy Juvenile members), number recyclers, results compilers and our refreshments server uppers! If you are one of these...thanks...if you are not but would like to be...jump on board: let us know and we will assign you a job! Hats off to Michael and Pauline on another great job with their stewarding team and take a well earned break...next road race is not till August for the Woodstown 5!




Hot off the press too: Due to our continued success in running great road races Athletics Ireland have asked WAC to host the National Half Marathon 2011 in September and we have agreed. It will be held on Saturday, Septemeber 3rd, and we as a club, as well as running another efficient event, will be looking to participate in a significant way and win many prizes. This is a major event in the athletics calender and we are looking to ensure big participation but also to have our best athletes in peak shape for this event. This event is only 4 months away so for our distance runners major training starts here! As a start Tuesday and Thursday at 5:45 at the RSC and circuits at 7pm at cillbarra are club sessions you should consider building into your routine. As well as a senior event there are many category prizes so all distance runner members are asked to consider this as a big end of summer event. For anyone planning on doing the Dublin Marathon 2011 this would be a good half to do in preparation.

WAC-ked Munster Masters April 30th

As somebody said (a few times today) "There's no I in this team"!!! No need to mention names in the many medal winning performances at the Munster Masters Track & Field championships in Cork today as suffice to say everyone of the 32 Waterford AC members contributed to a fantastic display of sprinting, distance running, throwing and jumping! While some are regulars, some are new to this game and some were returning to serious competition after many years. Either way a great day, helped by glorious sunshine, was had by all and with a medal haul of 79 it must stand as one of the best days outing for the club in many years.




The National Championships in Tullamore are just 16 weeks away so after an easy week this week full training will start with a target of a large turnout and plenty more medals, so enjoy the easy week.









All those members not competing in the longest running road race in the county (Waterford to Tramore) on Saturday next (May 7th) please Pauline, Michael or Tom on 0863787051 if you are available for helping with Registrations on the night, stewarding along the course or helping to serve the refreshments in Tramore after the race. If everyone stewards a race during the year we don't have to keep going back to the same well...which gets fairly close to dry from time to time! The help is most appreciated.