News
Over 330 athletes from 26 countries competed in the 68th BAM Cork City Sports International Meet
19th August 2019
Over 330 athletes from 26 countries met in Cork to compete in the 68th BAM Cork City Sports International Athletics Meet which took place in Cork IT Athletics Stadium on Wednesday evening.
The event has long been a home for some of the world’s best athletes to compete on Irish soil, and this year’s event was no different. South African long jumper Luvo Manyonga, who was silver medallist at the Rio Olympics and the reigning world champion, Commonwealth champion and Diamond League champion achieved a meet record of 8.20m. Also competing on the night was rising American sprint star Candace Hill, who won the women’s 100m with a time of 11.37.
A number of familiar faces from the Irish sporting world were in attendance, with Phil Healy and sister Joan Healy competing in the women’s 100m event, Niall Shanahan from Limerick’s An Bru club winning the open 3000m and Leevale racewalker Alex Wright coming second in the 3000m men’s walk behind British athlete Callum Wilkinson. Kildare’s Patrick Monahan won the men’s 800m T54 wheelchair event and Clodagh Walsh of Abbey Striders cleared 3.70m on the pole vault to win the women’s event. In the stands, Irish Olympic medallist Rob Heffernan could be seen cheering on the scores of athletes.
The success of the event this year was helped in no small way by BAM Ireland, who in addition to being the main sponsor of the event, sponsored two races – the 200m Women’s ‘A’ Race and the 200m Men’s ‘A’ Race.
Commenting on the success of the evening, BAM CEO Theo Cullinane said:
“Over all of these years, we have consistently been amazed by the level of talent the Cork City Sports Meet brings to the city and we are very proud to be this year’s main sponsor. I was particularly proud to see two BAM staff teams taking part in the interfirm relay races, with both our men’s and women’s teams taking home medals on the night. “I want to say, ‘Thank You’ from all of us here at BAM to the athletes and volunteers that make the event possible. It takes countless man hours to make this meet a reality year-on-year, and the event’s continuing success in its 68th year is a true testament to this work.”
