Another beautiful April evening for the Clara Mountain Race (15th April 2012) saw 46 competitors run from the Presbtry on the Clara Rd to the top of Clara and back again. The winner Tim O’Donoghue from East Cork ran away with it with an unbelievable time of 29 minutes and 31 seconds, taking 65 seconds off the best time for the Clara Run in the last ten years (though conditions underfoot were perfect). Only just ahead at the top from David Power (18 secs) and Ed Murphy (24 secs), he powered down the mountain to win by 1:19. Similarly in the womens, only 14 seconds separated Ida Donovan from Elaine O’Donoghue at the top, but Ida attacked the downhill to win by a convincing margin of 2 minutes.
Best from Millstreet was Donal Coffey in 7th, while Brian Murphy, Donal Cashman, Mary Finn and Shane Browne also made it up and down the mountain.
The race was followed by tea’s and cakes in the GAA Hall with prizes given out afterwards. At the request of race organiser Donie Shine, a minutes silence was observed for Willie Neenan who passed away a few weeks ago. He had been the heartbeat of athletics in Millstreet for many years and was always running up Clara and the mountains further back.
More photos from the race are available on imra.ie
Above is a video of the runners at the top of Clara – taken by LTV2 Millstreet (starts at 1hr 03 23s in the video)
The Corkman had an article on the race.
Times below are from the Irish Mountain Running website (imra.ie)
| Name | Number | Cat | Time | Club | County | |
| 1 | Tim O’Donoghue | 2537 | M | 29:31:00 | East Cork | Cork |
| 2 | Ed Murphy | 2568 | M | 30:50:00 | Gneevegui… | Cork |
| 3 | Mike Cunningham | 2509 | M40 | 31:05:00 | Bilboa AC | Limerick |
| 4 | David Power | 211 | M | 31:16:00 | Waterford | |
| 5 | Tom Blackburn | 2501 | M40 | 31:53:00 | Bilboa AC | Limerick |
| 6 | Ross Alexander | 2546 | M | 31:54:00 | Coolquill | Tipperary |
| 7 | Donal Coffey | 2540 | M | 32:36:00 | Leevale | Cork |
| 8 | John Barrett | 2550 | M40 | 33:10:00 | Desmond C… | Cork |
| 9 | Sean Harte | 2555 | M | 34:33:00 | Cork orie… | Waterford |
| 10 | Ger Griffin | 2505 | M50 | 34:45:00 | Bilboa AC | Limerick |
| 11 | Brian Flannelly | 2502 | M | 35:03:00 | Cork Orie… | Tipperary |
| 12 | Brian Murphy | 2539 | M | 35:07:00 | Cork | |
| 13 | John O’Shea | 2556 | M50 | 35:51:00 | Limerick | |
| 14 | Robert McEvoy | 2552 | M | 36:39:00 | Cork orie… | Cork |
| 15 | David McBride | 2563 | M40 | 37:40:00 | Kerry | |
| 16 | Pat Breen | 2559 | M | 37:50:00 | Waterford… | Limerick |
| 17 | Pat Murphy | 2566 | M50 | 38:13:00 | Eagle | |
| 18 | John Shanahan | 2569 | MJ | 38:25:00 | Bilboa AC | |
| 19 | Sean Manning | 2506 | M40 | 38:38:00 | Limerick | |
| 20 | Shane O’Leary | 2553 | MJ | 38:44:00 | Cork | |
| 21 | Tadhg Vaughan | 2545 | M40 | 39:38:00 | Coolquill | Tipperary |
| 22 | Donal Cashman | 2542 | M40 | 39:39:00 | Cork | |
| 23 | Kevin Wilkinson | 2514 | M | 39:49:00 | ||
| 24 | Simon Long | 2544 | M | 39:50:00 | ||
| 25 | Gearoid Ryan | 2551 | M | 40:09:00 | Cork orie… | |
| 26 | Kieran Lynch73 | 2531 | M | 40:47:00 | ||
| 27 | Daniel Casey | 2547 | M | 41:06:00 | Kerry | |
| 28 | John Daly | 2507 | M40 | 42:08:00 | Limerick | |
| 29 | Ida Donovan | 2548 | F40 | 42:30:00 | Dublin | |
| 30 | John J Healy | 2538 | M40 | 44:03:00 | kenmare AC | Kerry |
| 31 | Elaine O’Donoghue | 2554 | F | 44:30:00 | riverslic… | |
| 32 | Stephen Murphy(Cork) | 2562 | M50 | 45:04:00 | Rising Su… | Cork |
| 33 | John Lombard | 2543 | M | 45:54:00 | Cork | |
| 34 | Tim O’Callaghan | 2523 | M40 | 47:10:00 | ||
| 35 | Noreen Harvey | 2549 | F40 | 47:25:00 | Mallow AC | Cork |
| 36 | Patricia Blackburn | 2535 | F40 | 47:38:00 | Bilboa AC | Limerick |
| 37 | Patrick Cleary | 2541 | M60 | 47:48:00 | Kerry O | Kerry |
| 38 | James Melody | 2564 | M | 48:09:00 | Clare | |
| 39 | Brian Byrne | 2536 | M60 | 49:32:00 | Riocht | Kerry |
| 40 | Mary Finn | 2567 | F50 | 49:45:00 | Millstreet | Cork |
| 41 | Sharon Lucey | 2558 | F | 50:27:00 | Cork | |
| 42 | Ted Feehan | 2561 | M70 | 52:20:00 | Cork | |
| 42 | Denis Allen | 2557 | M40 | 52:20:00 | Newmarket | Cork |
| 44 | Barthalomew Kearney | 2565 | M50 | 57:25:00 | Leevale | Cork |
| 45 | Shane Browne | 2560 | M | 59:18:00 | Duhallow | Cork |
| 46 | Julie Byrne | 2570 | F50 | 69:00:00 | Kerry |
good pics of clara mountain race well done to michael for taking them
How long was the distance of the race? (How many miles or kilometers?)
Eileen, It’s a short 7.05 km run, but with a climb of about 330m from the low point to the high point on the course.