December '25 Round-Up

Winter League 2025

Last night we concluded our Winter League ’25, after 6 weeks of hi-viz lit evenings around the Tides/ Aura loop. We had 29 athletes take part over the course of the 6 weeks, and we hope everyone that came along enjoyed themselves . Thanks to our volunteers too, especially Joanne & Rob, for making it all possible

The winners of the winter league were Ciaran Mitchell (Male) and Shannon Sotok (Female), who both attended all six evenings. Ciaran improved every week, bringing his time down from 13:08 on Week 1 to 12:00 on Week 6. Shannon had a 40 second improvement from her initial starting time of 13:40.

Our fastest male and female were David Herlihy 11:04 and Deirdre Ansbro 12:20 – big buladh bos to them . And, our most improved goes to Nuala Cooper Murphy, who over the course of her four weeks of involvement improved every week to the tune of 41 seconds.

Honourable mentions go to Emma Martin, who missed out on most improved by a solitary second and Tom O’ Neill who gave his all each of the 4 nights he was able to make it.

Well done to everyone that took part. We have a Run In the Dark T-Shirt, Armband, Phone holder and Snood for everyone that took part, and we will give out prizes in the coming weeks

We will come up with a new plan for Tuesday evenings going forward towards Christmas and into the new year

All Ireland Uneven Age Championships - Abbottstown 2025

Sport is the great builder of dreams. It provides us with great highs, a rollercoaster of emotions, from excitement and exhilaration to fear and anxiety. And that's just as a spectator and coach. Leaving Youghal on Sunday December 7th all of these emotions had already been dancing around this mind, well before the 06:15 time of departure.

Abbotstown is the pinnacle of Cross-Country racing on the Island of Ireland, a tough course made tougher for the 1500 young athletes by the persistent heavy rain of late. A nice covering of grass soon turned into a river of mud with not a shade of green to be seen. Youghal Athletic Club had 8 athletes competing, representing Club, County and Province - collectively taking an amazing 17 All Ireland Medals back to Tower Park.

Brian Kelleher’s dream was to run at the All Ireland's. U11 is the youngest age grouping so Brian who is still U10, qualified on the Cork team, to run up an age. A super performance seen Brian mid pack throughout, with a great run.

The U13 boys had high expectations after a very successful Munster campaign. Brilliant performances all round, taking no fewer than 14 all Ireland medals between them. “A Champion is someone who gets up when they can't” - a very apt comment from Jack Dempsey many years ago.

Diarmuid Murphy in 4th place entering the last 10 metres, collapsed to the ground, legs gone to jelly with the exertion, only to somehow stumble his way over the finishing line in 19th place a matter of seconds later, in what can only be described as a heroic effort.

Olan Rochford finished 6th, with James Kelleher 9th, seeing them win individual medals. Both, in addition to Diarmuid, part of the winning Cork team and silver medal winning Munster team.

A tightly packed trio of Brogan McCarthy, Shay Walsh and Ernie Sharkey separated by just 8 places brought the team home to a fantastic silver medal. The second-best team on the island.

The amazing Aine Collins in her comeback year from debilitating injury was her usual brilliant self. Not only is Aine a talented runner but she somehow brings an aura of calm yet steely determination to the club tent. Aine had another solid run in a tough race, gaining great experience along the way.

One of Ireland's fast rising talents, Ruby Devereaux was in the leading pack throughout the Boys U17 race, despite being a year younger than his fellow competitors. Ruby had a brilliant 5th place finish, adding the green and white stripes to another podium photo. Ruby also led Cork and Munster to bronze medals.

Curtain down on Cross Country season for these athletes. A well-earned rest waits for all.

Huge thanks to coaches, athletes, well-wishers, but most importantly the families involved. Without the buy-in from parents none of this is possible.

14th December 2025

Well done to our sun-seekers, who travelled to Malaga over the weekend to take part in the Generali Marathon and Half Marathon 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️

Kieran Bennett, fresh off his trip to NYC 5 weeks ago, was back out again over the full distance, completing the course in 3:42:16 👏

The half was popular with Youghal AC runners and the results were as follows:

Cassie O' Brien 1:42:19

Emma Martin 1:58:12

Richella Bennett 1:59:45

Aidan Buckley 2:09:02

Honourable mentions too for Ali Buckley and Jo O' Sullivan who also completed the half 👏

We hope you had a great weekend representing the club and the town of Youghal in Malaga 😎

Well done to the 37 strong runners who turned up this morning for our annual 10km at 10am on St Stephen’s Day

A lovely social run where we were joined by runners from local clubs as well as visitors from afar home for the holidays.. A great social morning working off the excess from Christmas dinner

28th December 2025

Marie O Rourke and Eddie and Celia O Regan took the short trip to the Toghar AC 5km road race this morning. On a fine morning for running each of them smashed the course in fabulous times of 24:38 (Marie), 25:17 (Eddie) and 29:34(Celia). Well done to all.

31st December 2025

Grange Fermoy New Years Eve 10km in Glanworth this morning. Well done to our members who travelled this morning and ran in idyllic conditions on a tough course with rolling hills. A great morning had by all. Results as follows:

Ted Kelly. 40:56

Ian Murphy. 44:16

Thomas Cliffe. 44:21

Brian Landers. 45:42

Anthony Sheehan. 46:34

Brian O Connell. 46:42

Maurice O Mahony. 48:29

Eddie O Regan 49:53

Des O Halloran. 51:28

Joanne O Halloran. 52:39

Celia O Regan 59:10

Jackie Casey. 1:03:09

David Pigott. 1:06:03

Well done to also to members of our local South Coast Tri club some of who are pictured above.

Shout out to Ted, Tuck, Mossie and Jackie who achieved PB’s on the tough course this morning and to Des and Joanne on their comeback trail after some time on the sidelines.

We would also like to wish our members and friends a very Happy New Year and best wishes for 2026.