This month's featured runner is Monica Twohig

2007 was marked by the celebration of our club's 25^th anniversary at the Cork county cricket club. Many members were rewarded and thanked during the event for their personal contribution to the success of the club.

We wanted our last featured runner of 2007 to be somebody special in regards to the club, this is why have chosen to write our article about Monica Twohig who is one of the pillars of EAC.

Monica has been a key member of EAC for several years, along with being club chairman before handing over to John Quigley. She saw and contributed into the continuing transformation of the club into one which prides itself in being opened to runners of all abilities and aspirations, and Cork friendliest running club.

Monica joined EAC 20 years ago. She was then a teenager enjoying going out and socialising with her friends. She thought she was smoking too much and took up running to quit this habit. Monica was working in "Ted Twomey's Camera's" in the Queens old Castle. Her boss Ted Twomey was a member of Eagle Track club as it was called at the time. He often engaged in conversation about running with other athletes coming to the shop such as Liam Doherty among others. Monica was influenced and decided to start running.

She took membership of Falvey's health studio and her first challenge was to run the Cork mini marathon (10 k). A group of girls used to train from Falvey's and part of their preparation was to run 3 x 2 miles loops. One loop used to exhaust Monica initially, but she persevered and finished her first mini marathon, happy with her achievement.

In 1988 the club included a small but select group of ladies such as Fidelma Kirwan; Anne Marie Healy, Anne Murphy and Noreen Linehan to mention but a few. The weekly track sessions were very important to the development of the runners performance and Monica grew to love those sessions.

She went on to race her first Ballycotton 10 in 1989 finishing in a time of just outside 90 minutes.

Next year, Monica will race her 16^th Ballycotton 10. Her best time to date is 70:03. Ballycotton air must be addictive because Monica managed to complete 13 of the Ballycotton 5 mile summer series in a row. This year it would have been her 14^th but unfortunately she picked up an injury.

Her favourite race distance is the ½ marathon which possibly influenced her choice of favourite event which is The Great North run held every year in Newcastle in the UK. We asked Monica what was so special about it and she answered "just go and do it, it is just magic". This year Monica travelled to the event with Joe Murphy and crossed the finish line in a time of 1:45.

In 2001 Monica decided to train for her first marathon and she chose Dublin. She was well prepared going to the start but a misjudgement on her water intake during the race left Monica in a terrible condition at 20 miles. She met there both her husband Flor and John Quigley who believed she would never finish the course. Monica refused to give up and completed the marathon in a very respectable time of 4:08. Like a lot of people who achieve their first marathon she swore she would never do that again.

Last year the marathon distance was reintroduced to the city of Cork and the appeal was too great for Monica not to take part in the event. Monica trained with a group of ladies from the Blarney Park Hotel and also with members of EAC training for the same event. The June bank holiday weekend came and Monica finished her second marathon in 4:00:38 under the beaming sun. This set up a new challenge for her, she now has to break the 4 hours barrier and she has already made up her mind she will be at the start line in Cork next year.

We put it to Monica, ‘what is your motivation for running' and as usual when you mention the running word it brings that endearing smile on her face. Monica just loves running. She said I am happiest when running. Monica finds the time to run 6 day a week along with her work and family commitments. Monica and Flor have two children Dean who is 11 and highly involved in the local soccer and hurling teams and Shanice now 15 years of age, an accomplished swimmer and one step away from being black belt in Karate. Flor plays indoor soccer and is part time participant in the road running scene, all this is done after he finishes polishing Monicas vast collection of medals and trophies held in a special display cabinet in the hall way of their home. Of course we can't forget to mention the family's six beautiful dogs.

Only a very select number of runners ever get to finish first in any race we enter, Monica has also achieved this distinction, Monica was first to cross the line in a very competitive County Novice road championships, held in Banteer in 2000.

Monica is also secretary of the wonderful association Cork BHAA.

We discovered that Monica had another dimension to her athletic base, she also finds time to participate in indoor triathlons which are a yearly event at the Blarney Park hotel, she won the event this year, which as it happens was to be the last triathlon held there due to the Hotel closing down, I guess Monica will remain the champion of Blarney Park. Whether or not, she'll always be a champion within the ranks of EAC, and in more ways than one.

Emma & Joe