Murphy loses lead in final 400m as Byrne finishes ninth in Hannut

CRAIG MURPHY (Togher) finished third in the junior race in Hannut yesterday when he led with 400m to go, only to be out-sprinted by Jeroen D’Houdt from Belgium, who won by just seven seconds.

Linda Byrne finished ninth in the senior women’s race, while John Coghlan finished 11th in the men’s short course (3km) race.

Roisin McGettigan finished third in the women’s mile at the Boston Indoor Games in 4:33.95 while James Nolan was third in the men’s mile in 4:01.06.

Meanwhile, former Leevale athlete Bryan Keane, a member of the Irish junior team that won silver medals in the 1999 European Cross-Country Championships, made a dramatic return to the sport to win the FMC four-mile race at Little Island.

Keane, now aged 27, had spent the past number of years carving out a name for himself in cycling, including a stint in Belgium and participation in the 2006 FBD Rás.

Resuming his running career last summer, this was his first road race in years and he took the title in style, sprinting past Sean McGrath in the closing stages for a one-second win and recording a time of 20:40.

McGrath and young Ryan Creech — runaway winner of the South Munster Schools Intermediate race last Friday — seemed to have the race sewn up until Keane made his move. Creech, who had also finished second in the Munster Junior Indoor 1500m a week ago, had to settle for third on this occasion in 20:47.

Aoife Cooke of Youghal, out of action due to injury for the past year, also returned in impressive style to win a competitive women’s race in a time of 24:09. A massive turnout of over 400 runners made the event one of the biggest ever in the history of the Cork BHAA.