Cork Novice 4 mile road championships - 3rd individual medal

I was really looking forward to the race after only deciding to do it 1 week before but the prep for it didn't go to plan as i had a really bad night sleep the night before. I took a caffeine and had very little expectations on the day.

Novice Mens and Masters were in the same race and I didn't really know who i was racing against to be honest. Paul Moloney and James Mccarthy are serious runners and would run low 20 minutes for a 4 miles. James Hayes wasn't down for the novice so i didn't think i was racing him. I recognised the Sean O'Connell from Togher who came 2nd in Cork Novice Cross Country and 20th in the National Novice so i said i would have a crack off him.

The race went off as expected James H, James Mc and Paul were in the lead group. I decided to go with them and felt grand a bit groggy but the legs were ok. There was another guy from st finbarrs i didn't recognise aswell in the group but no togher vest. The first mile i was told was 4:55 at around 1200m i decided this wasn't my race and left the 4 of them go and waited for someone from behind me to catch up.

Sean caught me around 1 mile, i went through in 5:05. I decided to sit in behind and race him. I honestly thought he would put the foot down and destroy me because 4 miles is a bit long for me.

Next two miles went by... we were neck and neck. I felt relaxed and just waiting for a move but none came. I was just wanted to see the goal posts of the GAA pitch and the last turn for the finish straight which must be 600m to 800m long. I think Sean started to up the pace in the last mile because it was 5:15 on the clock but i was feeling good and ready to kick at any time.

I went with about 250 to 300m to go and finished about 2 seconds ahead. It was a great race and suprising result. I was absolutely delighted with it. Sean is a quality runner and congratulated me afterwards. The course was a bit long on my watch i clocked 21:29 for 4 miles and results said 21:41 but who cares it was still a 4 mile pb and 30 seconds quicker than the last time i ran it. James Hayes won and the guy in St Finbarrs vest was Darragh Mulcahy who actually came 3rd in the 6km BHAA race in february in 19:23. He was 1 min and 7 seconds quicker than me. So relatively i have improved by nearly 30 seconds in 2 months.

Only poor thing on the day was the team result where we came 4th. The lads had a good race but we were not strong enough on the day.

Novice Results 1st James Hayes 20:51 2nd Darragh Mulcahy 21:02 3rd Andrew Hobbs 21:41 4th Sean O'Connell 21:43