EVENT REPORT

This Ballintotis 4 mile broke its 2019 record of 1349 registered participants as it reached 1377 for a new record high. It had it's second highest attendance taking to the line with 1168 runners. This prestigious event also hosted the Cork 4 Mile Raod Race Championship with 547 Cork athletes participating.

This small East Cork village certainly knows how to host a race. John Cashman (race director), local club Ballintotis F4L, the local community and neighbouring clubs spent many months preparing for this years event. There was a huge welcome for all runners who were greeted with flags, banners and smiling faces from race organisers & volunteers. The small village was kept busy for the days leading up to the race with people coming and going registering & collection their numbers.

Hundreds of supporters and onlookers gathered outside the community hall and church to see the runners head off from the start line and make their way around the looped course. We all waited in suspense as they left the village to see who would return as the eventual winner. We had some well known athletes well capable of taking the title and becoming Cork champion.

In the men's race we had Sean Doyle of Cork City A.C., Paul Hartnett of East Cork A.C., Niall Shanahan of An Bru A.C., Tim O'Donoghue of East Cork, previous multiple winner James McCarthy, Ryan McCarthy of Riverstick Kinsale and many more. All of these athletes have won championships and National titles over recent years. 

Back at the finish line we had a great feed of information coming from John Cashman who was in the lead car. Paul Hartnett had taken the lead with Sean Doyle closely on his shoulder. We now had an exciting race to look forward to. As the race progressed, Sean Doyle seemed to gain in confidence and decided to make his move at 2.5miles. By the time Sean took the last corner 400m from the finish spectators at the finish line knew that Sean would be the eventual winner as he raced for home. Sean came into sight and was welcomed by a large crowd as he made his way across the finish line in a  time of 19:16. Paul Hartnett finished 2nd in a time of 19:26 with junior athlete Ryan McCarthy taking 3rd in 19:39. It was a very competitive and high quality field with great depth. The top 10 men all finished within a minute of each other giving us some great finish line action. At this stage the finish line was electric as runners started to cross thick and fast.

As the clock approached 22 minutes, our women's pre race favorite Hannah Steeds of Leevale A.C.became visible to the onlooking crowd. She had a comfortable win clocking a time of 22:22. 2nd and 3rd place were also Leevale AC athletes. Nadine Forde finsihed in a time of 23:37 and Michelle Kenny with a time of 23:38. Leevale were now looking good to be crowned as Cork women's champions with only one more needed to score.

Full Cork championship results will be available over the coming days while all declared teams are vetted.

The open race team results were calculated excluding the top 6 overall winners from both the male and female categories. Full race results, age cats, Cork age categories, stats and videos can be found below. All results are currently provisional until further notice.