John Buckley Sports 5km exceeds all expectations with over 1,200 finishers making the biggest-ever for a BHAA race.

It’s traditionally the biggest event on the Cork BHAA calendar but this year’s John Buckley Sports 5km exceed all expectations with over 1,200 finishers making the biggest-ever for a BHAA race.

Held on the usual Tuesday evening, the ideal conditions also saw a high standard with the first 26 finishers breaking 16 minutes and a total of 65 under 17 minutes.

An exciting race up front was only decided in the last 50 metres when Denis Hegarty edged past early leader Michael Harty to cross the line for a three second victory, his time of 14:36 a personal best for the distance.

“It was a great win, that’s the fastest I’ve ran for a long time,” stated the delighted Hegarty. 

“Michael took it out very hard, after around two miles he put in a bit of a dig which broke up it up and it was only in the last 50 metres I kicked hard and caught him.” 

For 44-year-old Harty it was another superb performance, adding to his recent victory over four miles at Killeagh. 

Finishing in third place was Gavin O’Rourke, his time of 14:44 giving him three second to spare over former winner Niall Shanahan.

The women’s race saw Holly Carroll from Blarney repeating her victory of last year, although her time of 16:13 was all of 25 seconds faster than she ran in 2024.

Like last year, this was a rare appearance on the road for the 21-year-old as her main emphasis is on the track. 

Earlier in the month she had ran 4:30.32 for 1500m at Clonmel, not far her best of 4:26.71.

“I’m delighted to win again and very happy,” said the Donie Walsh-coached athlete. 

“I’m concentrating on both 1500m and 3000m this season, I won a 3000m a few weeks ago so that kind of helped me towards the 5km distance.” Hannah Steeds was runner-up in 16:29 with Sinead O’Connor, second to Carroll last year, running 12 second faster on this occasion to take third spot in 16:46.

Results:

Men:

1 D Hegarty (Hegarty Engineering & Design) 14:36; 2 M Harty (Harty Tax Consulting, M40) 14:39; 3 G O’Rourke (Eli Lilly) 14:44; 4 N Shanahan (Dept of Educ, M40) 14:47; 5 P Moloney (Moloney, M45) 14:52; 6 J Sheehan (temp-reg) 14:53.

Team: (Grade A) 1 Dept of Education 25; 2 Dept of Education 80; 3 UCC 120. (Grade B) 1 Naval Service 235; 2 Stryker 356; 3 Janssen 375. (Grade C) 1 Cork Co Council 445; 2 Musgrave 461; 3 CUH 472.

Women:

H Carroll (Dept of Educ) 16:13; 2 H Steeds (Eli Lilly) 16:29; 3 S O’Connor (Dept of Educ, F35) 16:46; 4 S Rynne (Kepak, F35) 17:33; 5 S Hoare (Bon Secours, F45) 17:40; 6 E Moran (O) 17:47.

Team: (Grade A) 1 Dept of Education 83; 2 HSE 290. (Grade B) UCC 856; 2 Fit4Life 1035. (Grade C) UCC 1152; 2 Cork City Council 1175.