Paul Hartnett, Ryan Creech and Niamh Allen honoured by the Cork City Sports
At the River Lee Hotel for the Cork City Sports Athlete of the Month for October, November, and December 2024. Seated are L to R., Naomi Caulfield, Sales Manager The River lee Hotel, Paul Hartnett East Cork AC., October Winner, Niamh Allen, Leevale AC December Winner, Paul Creech, Leevale AC November Winner. Back Row L to R., Grace Lynch, 96FM, Mark Walk, CCS, Trevor Welch 96FM, George Duggan, Cork Crystal, frank Walley President CCS, Liam O'Brien CCC, Donanie Walsh Leevale AC, Tony O'Connell CCS and Aine Sheehan 96FM.
The quarterly Cork City Sports Athletics Person of the Month Awards brought 2024 to a close with three recipients from two clubs honoured at the River Lee hotel.
Paul Hartnett became one of the youngest athletes to win the Cork County senior cross-country championship as he reversed the previous year’s result when defeating clubmate Michael Harty at Conna as both led East Cork to another team title.
The 22-year-old followed up that performance with a fifth place finish in the U23 grade at the Irish championship, thereby gaining selection on the Irish U23 team for the European championships in Turkey.
“The Cork senior is always a nice race to target in the cross-country season, I’ve come second the last two years so it was nice to get the win.
At the Europeans he helped the Irish team to a creditable fourth place. “It was my first time going to the European championships, definitely it was a great experience and something I really enjoyed.” A fourth-year finance student at UCC, Hartnett’s next major target will probably the international Armagh 5km road race on February 13 and he will also the various university championships to aim for.
Ryan Creech is no stranger to these awards and the Leevale athlete picked up the November one for finishing second of the Irish at the Dublin Marathon. This race doubled up as the national championship and Creech secured the silver medal with a fine time of 2:13:49.
Hiko Tonosa of DSD took the Irish title with a new national best of 2:09:42, but Creech – who finished ninth overall – was still happy with his performance. “Looking back at it, performance-wise I was really happy. I kind of hedged my bets that if Hiko went off fast I’d catch him at around 20 miles and then my race would start.
"I finished strong, and definitely there’s a lot more there. Dublin is special, I know second place is not what I wanted, Hiko broke the Irish record which was very impressive and I did not think he’d do it.”
Twelve months ago Creech ran his fastest marathon of 2:12:28 in Seville and he thinks that Tonosa’s time is well within his grasp. “There’s so much more improvement, I ran that 2:12 with a pretty bad leg so that day should have been a 2:10 day and that’s the goal and what the next two or three years is going to be about.”
Niamh Allen caused one of the biggest shocks of the year when finishing second to the experienced Ann-Marie McGlynn at the Irish cross-country championships at Fermanagh, thereby gaining automatic selection for the European championships.
In her first international appearance, the Leevale athlete followed that up with the race of her life in Turkey with a marvellous 11th place finish ahead of all the other Irish and Great British athletes.
And these two brilliant performances came just a a few months after the birth of her first baby, Lily, in August. “It’s been a busy year, I moved home from Australia back in April and came home pregnant so I wasn’t expecting to be racing quite as soon as I was.
Originally from the Blackrock Road, Allen started off competing with UCC before moving to Dublin where she ran with the Crusaders club for a number of years. A further move to Australia followed where she notched up two significant victories, the Sydney half-marathon in a time of 72:44 along with the iconic City to Surf 14km which finishes at Bondi Beach.
“For me, I always wanted it to be fun and I want to meet new people and race new races. But I suppose racing at European level one could consider that a peak but I think I have a lot more left in my legs. I’m 29 now, turning 30 in April, so long-term the marathon would be a good opportunity for me.”
Two days after receiving her award, Allen became one of the fastest-ever Irish women over 10 miles when setting a new course record of 52:51 at the John Treacy 10-mile in Dungarvan.
The Cork City Sports Athletics Person of the Month and Yearly Awards are sponsored by the River Lee, 96&C103FM, The Echo, Cork Crystal and Leisureworld.
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