Twenty five grinning runners turned out for the inaugural Craughwell Handicap Chase on a slightly misty Easter Saturday Morning.  Luckily for everyone, the drizzle eased off and stopped by race time and in the end it was a fine morning for a run – no wind and perfect temperatures.  

Due to some administrative teething trouble and an errant runner or two, there was a little confusion with some of the times/places. The results in blue below are ones that we are not 100% sure about, but think we are roughly right – please let us know if we got your position wrong and we will adjust the places accordingly.  It worked out fine, but some helpful suggestions from Athenry’s Alan Burke have been taken on board and will make timings for the next race smoother!

Despite the fact that he had a football match that evening, Liam Nolan put in a storming run to take first place in a time of 44:23.  Just behind him were new club members Noel Gorman in 56:08 and Noel Craughwell in 50:39.  Well done all.
 
First lady home was Kathleen Waters in an excellent 58:14.  This was four minute faster than the Craughwell Time trial of a few months ago which was ran on a slightly shorter version of the same course.  Well done Kathleen, great running.  Kathleen was followed home by Anne Kelly who smashed her pb with an excellent time of 51:25.  Helen Coleman was third female in a time of 55:34.
 
Michael Tobin planned the course route, and he must have built in a few short cuts as he blazed home as fastest runner in a fantastic time of 36:49.  At this stage Michael will already be firm favourite for the fastest runner prize.  Darragh O’Brien was the only other runner under 40 minutes as he showed that he is coming back to form with a time of 38:36.
 
Thanks to every one who turned up – it was great fun and it was especially nice to see such good support from our friends and neighbors at Athenry AC who had a really strong turn out on the day.
 
As expected for the first race, the handicaps were slightly off in many cases as people always tend to underestimate their ability in events like this.  For the next race all the handicaps will be readjusted so the finish should be a lot tighter!
 
Full results are below.