The Walker Cup took place on Thursday, the 9th of October on yet another windy night in the Morton Stadium. The race was started by Frasier Walker on behalf of the Walker family, setting off the twenty one starters for their 16 and a bit laps.
Aidan Bailey led from the off as he loped off on his own covering the first mile in a sprightly 5:07. A hundred yards or so back followed a titanic battle between David Brennan and William Stafford. William tucked in behind David from the start, these positions remained unchanged and despite a valiant effort by David over the final 800 to shake off the attentions of William there he remained until the home straight when he sprinted past David for second place.
Aidan Bailey continued his relentless pace to win in a comfortable 20:57, William Stafford was second in 22:05 with David Brennan third in 22:14.
Further down the field, Paddy Tuite, despite suffering a heavy head cold, ran a very gutsy race to come home in fourth place in 24:15. Once again yellow jersey wearer Richard Connolly had another superb race coming home in 24:42. There was a good mid-field battle among Alan Smeaton, Eddie Bishop, Pat Healy, Pat Bonass and Michael McFadden with Pat Healy ultimately prevailing.
The Walker Cup is a sealed handicap Club race and produced the a popular winner in Pat Bonass in a handicap time of 19:51, just beating Michael McFadden by, believe it or not, one second, indeed the first six in the handicap were covered by a margin of only twenty seconds.
Later in the Club bar, Frasier Walker presented the Walker Cup to Pat Bonass together with first prize. Prizes were also presented to Michael McFadden as second Clonliffe man in the handicap and Jimmy Bennett as third Clonliffe man with the prize for the fastest man of the night going to Aidan Bailey.
The Walker Cup is also part of the Grand Prix Series and was Round 12 of the current competition. The 20 points were claimed by Raheny Shamrock’s Alan Smeaton with Pat Bonass second (19pts.) and Michael McFadden third (18pts. – doubled to 36 by playing his Joker).
The fastest time bonus went to William Stafford (5pts.) with David Brennan second (3pts.) and Paddy Tuite third (1pt.).
The leaderboard has now changed considerably with David Brennan having played his joker and now taking over the leaders yellow jersey on 151.5 points with Richard Connolly on 135 points, Michael McFadden on 126 and Shay Byrne on 124.
Our thanks to the organisers/officials who helped out on the day and to The Walker Family for sponsoring the event. The penultimate round, the Cross-Country O’Connor Cup, which this year is very kindly sponsored by our guest and friend Séan Pender, will take place on Saturday, 1st of November at 3.00 p.m. (please note change of date).
4 mile Championship Walker Cup October 2003
ALL Runners results |
| PLACE |
NUMBER |
NAME |
Actual Time |
| 1 |
* |
Aidan Bailey |
0:20:27 |
| 2 |
242 |
William Stafford |
0:22:05 |
| 3 |
221 |
Dave Brennan |
0:22:11 |
| 4 |
219 |
Paddy Tuite |
0:24:14 |
| 5 |
214 |
Colm Doran |
0:24:19 |
| 6 |
213 |
Richard Connolly |
0:24:42 |
| 7 |
204 |
Declan Murray |
0:24:49 |
| 8 |
215 |
Pat Devitt |
0:26:02 |
| 9 |
208 |
Séamus Greenan |
0:26:06 |
| 10 |
230 |
Pat Healy |
0:26:26 |
| 11 |
251 |
Ed Bishop |
0:26:28 |
| 12 |
229 |
Alan Smeaton |
0:26:32 |
| 13 |
220 |
Pat Bonass |
0:26:35 |
| 14 |
218 |
Michael McFadden |
0:26:36 |
| 15 |
249 |
Shay Byrne |
0:26:58 |
| 16 |
216 |
Frank Devitt |
0:27:15 |
| 17 |
* |
Chris Troy |
0:27:26 |
| 18 |
261 |
Chris Sheals |
0:27:38 |
| 19 |
234 |
John Langan |
0:27:04 |
| 20 |
206 |
Jim Bennett |
0:27:58 |
| 21 |
248 |
Tony Westby |
0:28:50 |
| ‘*’ – Non Grand-Prix runners |
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4 mile Championship Walker Cup October 2003 – Round 12 Overall Handicap
Grand Prix Athletes only |
| PLACE |
NUMBER |
NAME |
H’CAP TIME |
Points |
Bonus |
Actual Time |
Actual Place |
| 1 |
229 |
Alan Smeaton |
19:48:00 |
20 |
|
26:32:00 |
12 |
| 2 |
220 |
Pat Bonass |
19:51:00 |
19 |
|
26:35:00 |
13 |
| 3 |
218 |
Michael McFadden |
19:52:00 |
18 |
x2(36) |
26:36:00 |
14 |
| 4 |
206 |
Jimmy Bennett |
19:58:00 |
17 |
|
27:58:00 |
20 |
| 5 |
230 |
Pat Healy |
20:12:00 |
15.5 |
|
26:26:00 |
10 |
| 5 |
242 |
William Stafford |
20:12:00 |
15.5 |
5 (20.5) |
22:05:00 |
2 |
| 7 |
249 |
Shay Byrne |
20:15:00 |
14 |
|
26:58:00 |
15 |
| 8 |
221 |
Dave Brennan |
20:18:00 |
13 |
3 x2(26) |
22:11:00 |
3 |
| 9 |
251 |
Ed Bishop |
20:28:00 |
12 |
|
26:28:00 |
11 |
| 10 |
216 |
Frank Devitt |
20:31:00 |
11 |
|
27:15:00 |
16 |
| 11 |
219 |
Paddy Tuite |
20:42:00 |
10 |
+1 (11) |
24:14:00 |
4 |
| 12 |
213 |
Richard Connolly |
20:46:00 |
9 |
|
24:42:00 |
6 |
| 13 |
248 |
Tony Westby |
20:50:00 |
8 |
|
28:50:00 |
21 |
| 14 |
215 |
Pat Devitt |
21:04:00 |
7 |
|
26:02:00 |
8 |
| 15 |
208 |
Séamus Greenan |
21:16:00 |
6 |
|
26:06:00 |
9 |
| 16 |
214 |
Colm Doran |
21:24:00 |
5 |
|
24:19:00 |
5 |
| 17 |
204 |
Declan Murray |
21:47:00 |
4 |
|
24:49:00 |
7 |
| 18 |
261 |
Christopher Sheals |
24:43:00 |
3 |
|
27:38:00 |
18 |
| 19 |
234 |
John Langan |
25:40:00 |
2 |
|
27:04:00 |
19 |
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| Grand-Prix Leader Board after Round 12 |
| PLACE |
NUMBER |
NAME |
POINTS |
JOKER Used |
| 1 |
221 |
Dave Brennan |
151.5 |
Y |
| 2 |
213 |
Richard Connolly |
135 |
Y |
| 3 |
218 |
Michael McFadden |
126 |
Y |
| 4 |
249 |
Shay Byrne |
124 |
Y |
| 5 |
219 |
Paddy Tuite |
109.5 |
Y |
| 6 |
229 |
Alan Smeaton |
107.5 |
Y |
| 7 |
244 |
Dylan Ahern |
103.5 |
Y |
| 8 |
208 |
Séamus Greenan |
96.5 |
Y |
| 9 |
204 |
Declan Murray |
95.5 |
Y |
| 10 |
251 |
Ed Bishop |
89 |
|
| 11 |
215 |
Pat Devitt |
88 |
|
| 12 |
239 |
Aidan Creaner |
86 |
Y |
| 13 |
209 |
Nathan Pearce |
85 |
Y |
| 14 |
214 |
Colm Doran |
81.5 |
Y |
| 15 |
230 |
Pat Healy |
79.5 |
Y |
| 16 |
247 |
Ken O’Gorman |
78 |
Y |
| 17 |
235 |
Jim Cleary |
77 |
Y |
| 18 |
206 |
Jimmy Bennett |
75 |
|
| 19 |
216 |
Frank Devitt |
74.5 |
|
| 20 |
233 |
Seán Pender |
66.5 |
|
| 21 |
222 |
Noel Guiden |
65.5 |
Y |
| 22 |
220 |
Pat Bonass |
62 |
|
| 23 |
248 |
Tony Westby |
54.5 |
Y |
| 24 |
225 |
Brian Rankin |
53.5 |
|
| 25 |
232 |
Tom Flood |
53 |
|
| 26 |
253 |
Ray McConville |
52.5 |
Y |
| 27 |
210 |
Eugene Coppinger |
51 |
Y |
| 28 |
217 |
Tom Griffin |
50 |
|
| 29 |
242 |
William Stafford |
47.5 |
|
| 30 |
261 |
Christopher Sheals |
47 |
|
| 31 |
241 |
John Kearns |
42.5 |
|
| 32 |
203 |
Maurice Ahern |
32 |
|
| 33 |
212 |
Tom Monks |
30.5 |
|
| 34 |
228 |
Declan Hetherington |
27 |
Y |
| 35 |
259 |
Martin Tully |
26 |
|
| 36 |
250 |
Séan McDonnell |
26 |
|
| 37 |
226 |
John McHugh |
24 |
Y |
| 38 |
252 |
Pat Byrne |
24 |
Y |
| 39 |
258 |
Colm Hickey |
22.5 |
|
| 40 |
237 |
Colm Coyne |
21 |
Y |
| 41 |
240 |
Mick Fennell |
20 |
Y |
| 42 |
236 |
Annette Field |
19 |
|
| 43 |
223 |
Mick Kearney |
17 |
|
| 44 |
256 |
Peter McDermott |
17 |
Y |
| 45 |
245 |
Aimee Ahern |
16.5 |
|
| 46 |
201 |
Ed Harrison |
15.5 |
Y |
| 47 |
207 |
Mags Greenan |
12.5 |
|
| 48 |
211 |
Gerry McCabe |
11 |
Y |
| 49 |
260 |
Stephen Byrne |
9 |
|
| 50 |
255 |
Larry Molloy |
6 |
Y |
| 51 |
202 |
Adam Ahern |
4 |
|
| 52 |
234 |
John Langan |
2 |
|
| 53 |
224 |
Terry Mee |
2 |
|
| 54 |
200 |
Colgan |
0 |
|
| 55 |
257 |
Colin McGhee |
0 |
|
| 56 |
243 |
Eugene McCarrick |
0 |
|
| 57 |
205 |
Steven Rowe |
0 |
|
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