A long-term vision has finally become a reality for the impressive Cork athletics club.

Irish Examiner Cork City marathon

Leevale Athletic Club will officially open its new high-performance facility later this summer, and club chairman Donal Murnane is understandably proud of their new training centre.

Frank Murphy was a two-time Olympian and European Championship silver medalist.

There was never any doubt that Thomas Barr would win the athlete of the year award at the Irish Life Health National Athletics Awards yesterday.

Tomorrow marks the culmination of the American collegiate cross-country season, when the 79th NCAA championships take place at Terre Haute, hosted by Indiana State University.

“Don’t let me get any notions,” said Lizzie Lee to her husband Paul on the drive back to Cork the day after the European Cross Country Championships.

Kilmeen Drama Group has been blazing a trail in Irish amateur theatre since the 1940s, writes Colette Sheridan

A documentary following a triathlete from Cork running a country road barefoot has been nominated for Outdoor/Adventure Film of the Year by Outsider Magazine.

Athletics guru Brother John Dooley has been attending All-Ireland Schools Track and Field Championships for more than 40 years, and the magical appeal of the showpiece is still as strong as ever.

"What are we without our stories?" asks Dinny, the father of two young men in Enda Walsh’s bizarre homicidal drama, The Walworth Farce.

The opening event at the new home of Cork cross-country at Riverstick was marked with an absorbing men’s senior race which saw East Cork regain the title from holders Leevale for their 10th win in 12 years.

Kilmeen Drama Group were worthy winners of the RTE All-Ireland Drama Festival in 2011.

CHRIS MINTERN (Coláiste Chríost Rí) warmed up for next weekend’s attempt to win the national triathlon title in Fingal by winning the intermediate 3,000m title at the opening session of the South Munster Schools track and field championships at the CIT track in Bishopstown yesterday.

MOLDOVAN Sergiu Ciobanu yesterday produced a personal best of 49 minutes 37 seconds to win the Ballycotton 10 mile road race in East Cork.

HIS sensational victory in last Saturday’s South Regional Cross-Country Championships in Hoover, Alabama will send Corkman Ciarán Ó Lionáird into Monday’s NCAAs among the medal favourites.

MARK KENNEALLY had the honour of leading the Irish challenge home when he finished eighth in the senior men’s race at the SPAR European Cross-Country Championships at Santry Demesne, as the other more established members of the team flopped.

ANDREW LEDWITH turned in the finest performance of his career to date when he finished third in the NCAA championships at Indiana State University yesterday.

ROY FAHY would dearly love to win Monday’s Champion Sports Cork City Marathon after going so close in last year’s June Bank Holiday showpiece.

WORLD indoor 60m hurdles champion Derval O’Rourke will be among the stars present when her club Leevale AC celebrates its 40th anniversary on Sunday week.

IT APPEARS as if The AAI are likely to agree to Martin McCarthy’s who asked expressed the desire request to be entered in both the short and long course races at the world cross-country championships in Lausanne at the end of the month.