Sunday saw the running of the seventh  Mc Mahon’s Supervalu 5K Race in Castleblayney, the morning which was perfect for running insured that over  750 runners turned up for the start of the race. The race which is now one of the best races in the North East was packed with a quality field with thirty five clubs being represented on the day as well as a host of other sporting groups.

The Under 14 race started proceedings at 1pm which saw these young athletes cover a 2 K distance. This race attracted over 200 children who sprinted from the start line at the Glencarn Hotel out the Monaghan Road before turning at Castlecool to come back into town.  The winner of this race was Odhran Hamilton from Armagh AC , with local lads Jake Mc Donnell and Luke Sanderson just piping Hazel Hughes to a place on the podium .

When it got down to the serious stuff of the Adult Race, there was no hanging about with a  fast time always going to be required and Darragh Greene from Dunleer A.C, showed his intentions early on as he led a group of six out the Monaghan Road making a break for home at the 3K stage of the race. Darragh extended his lead over the last 2k to open up a gap of 45 seconds from  Irish International Athlete Thomas Cotter  who was also representing Dunleer A.C. to finish in a winning time of  15:21 just outside the course record of 15:19 recorded in 2013 by Patrick Hamilton, Shane Tonner from the Glenmore Club in Louth was third for the second time over the last few years . First female home was Dona Mone from Monaghan Town Runners in a time of 18:41; Stephanie Byrne was second in 19:07 with Blayney Rockets own Nicola Flanagan finishing third in a time of 19:18.

After the race all participants and supporters attended a packed Glencarn Hotel were the staff supplied free Tea, Coffee and sandwiches to all. The audience was entertained as Stephen Dignam held a question and ans

wers session with Irish Paralympic cyclist Eve Mc Crystal covering a wide range of topics from winning unprecedented Gold and Silver medal place as guide for partially sighted cyclist, Georgie  Dunleavey at the Rio Paralympics to the winning of the World Championships in South Africa in 2017 and how she manages this intensive  training schedule with her work and her biggest commitment of been a mother of two children.

Eve was suitably impressed by the efforts off all “As most of the people know I am a Garda who is stationed locally and on the day of the race I am normally on traffic duty, so today I got to see the Castleblayney 5K up close for the first time . I have been amazed at what I have seen today, the community spirit generated by the Castleblayney Faughs at such an event is a great example of what clubs can do within their communities, the under 14 races is a great idea, the fact that there was  an increase of over one hundred children from last year shows the appetite for such events and also encourages  our young people into sport at an early age”.

When asked about the whole event a clearly delighted Operation TransFaughsmation leader Tom Miller replied “This year was an unbelievable year for everyone involved, you can see the improvements that people have made in their fitness and also in their general lifestyle, the main aim for the guys at the start of the Operation TransFaughsmation programme was to be able to run/walk  Castleblayney 5K ,  we have seen everyone achieved that goal today , we are proud of the every one of them”.

Next year race date will Sunday the 25th of November 2018, I recommend that you put the date in your Diary; it really is a great occasion. Well done to all.

More Photos can be seen at https://flic.kr/s/aHsm9K7WJu