At the annual awards ceremony in The River Lee, Leevale AC athlete Lizzie Lee was awarded the Cork City Sports athlete of the year 2015. Lizzie was delighted to receive the award and now looks forward to representing Ireland in the World Half Marathon Championship in Cardiff next weekend and in the Marathon at the Rio Olympics in August.
The Cork City Sports awards are generously sponsored by The River Lee, 96 & C103FM, The Evening Echo and LeisureWorld.
The recipient of the Annual Award is chosen from among the twelve winners of the 2015 Monthly Awards; San Healy (Leevale AC), Lizzie Lee (Leevale AC), Darragh McElhinney (Colaiste Pobail Bheanntrai), Leevale Women’s Road Relay team, Louise Shanahan (Bruce College and Leevale AC), Michelle Finn (Leevale AC), Robert Heffernan (Togher AC), Brother Colm O’Connell, Noelle Lenihan (North Cork AC), Michael Harty (East Cork AC) and Aoife Cooke (Youghal AC).
The following are a list some of Lizzie’s athletics achievements in 2015
February: Lizzie travelled to Spain to take part in the Barcelona International half marathon where she finished a creditable second to Kenyan athlete Florance Kiplagat. In this race Kiplagat set a new women’s world record for the distance.
April: Lizzie competed in the SPAR Great Ireland Run which also incorporated the national 10K championships. Lizzie put in a blistering performance to finish second to Fionnuala Britton in the national 10k championships in a time of 34:18.
Lizzie led Leevale’s women to victory at the AI GloHealth Road relay championships.
June: Lizzie smashed the Dunshaughlin 10K Record taking victory and almost a minute off her own course record finishing in 33 mins 13 secs; her previous best was 34 mins 8 secs, set in 2013. This was the second fastest 10K by an Irishwoman in 2015.
August: At AI National Half Marathon Championships in Dublin, Lizzie won the women’s race and in 73:27, which was was over a minute faster than when she won the event two years previous, and was 4 minutes ahead of the second-placed athlete.
September: Lizzie ran the Olympic standard with a 2:32:51 in the Berlin Marathon. She smashed the Olympic standard (2:42:00) and her personal best (2:38:09). This is a fantastic achievement for Lizzie places her 5th in the Irish all-time marathon standings.
November: Leevale’s senior women’s team were crowned championships for the first time in the club’s history at AAI National Cross Country Championships in Santry. The team was led home in impressive fashion by Lizzie Lee who finished 2nd overall.
December: Lizzie captained the Irish women’s team to a bronze medal at the European Cross Country Championships which were held in Hyeres, France. Lizzie ran a storming race to finish in 13th place over all, she was second Irish athlete to Fionnuala McCormack who finished in 4th place.
