ROAD RELAY WINS FOR DUBLIN CLUBS
Defending champions Clonliffe Harriers were comfortable winners of the senior men’s race at the National Road Relays hosted by Raheny Shamrock AC on the traditional All Saints Road circuit in Dublin on Sunday(April 23) and dominated by Dublin clubs. Making up the team for the 2x1x3x2 mile race were Stephen Cashin, Eoin Pierce, Efrem Gidey and Jayme Rossiter for a total time of 37 mins 12 secs. Clonliffe had six teams entered. Donore Harriers - Kane Collins, Jack Byrne, John Travers and Josh O’Sullivan-Hourihan - finished over a minute behind for second place in 38:21. Early leaders St Abban’s held on for third ahead of Raheny. Leevale AC regained the women’s title they last won in 2016, finishing in 20:50. Second in 21:04 was the Rathfarnham WSAF AC trio of Louise Gaffney, Carla Sweeney and Zoie Richie, while third in 21:15 was Raheny Shamrock, with Lucy Barrett, Niamh Kearney and Iseult O’Donnell making up the team. Defending champions UCD AC finished fourth in 21:28. Format was 1x2x1 mile - as it was for all the races except men’s senior.
A strong third leg from Siobhan Eviston after strong efforts from Zoe Quinn and Kate Purcell gave Raheny Shamrock AC victory over Finn Valley AC in the W35 category, with just seven seconds in it. The teams clocked times of 21:40 and 21:47. Third were last year’s winners Sportsworld AC, while fourth was Dundrum South Dublin AC. Brothers Pearse were the winners of the M35 title after a good scrap with last year’s winner, East Cork AC, and Donore Harriers. Making up the team, which finished in 19:10 were Ian O’Reilly, Colm Turner and Eddie O’Connor. East Cork finished in 19:23 and Donore in 19:29. Clonliffe was fourth.
At over 50 level, Rathfarnham WSAF AC came out on top, with a total time of 21:11 from the team of Sean McCreery, Shane O’Neill and Pearse Coyle. Second in 21:25 were David Dunwoody, Declan Power and Philip O’Doherty for Clonliffe Harriers, while a close third in 21:29 were Donore Harriers, with Donal Iremonger, Des Tremble, and Niall Lynch making up the team. MSB AC finished fourth, Raheny Shamrock fifth and Sportsworld sixth. Raheny continued their dominance of the W50 category with a clear victory for Trish Fitzgerald, Annette Kealy and Adrienne Atkins in 24:13. Lucan Harriers were second and Drogheda and District AC third. In all, Dublin clubs took five of the six national title on offer.
DUBS INVADE LONDON!
Over a thousand Irish runners had signed up for Sunday’s London Marathon, where Conal McCambridge of North Belfast Harriers led them home in a personal best time of 2:24:27. Best of the Dublin club runners was Karl Nolan of Clonliffe Harriers 2:29.26, with good efforts also from John Eves of Dundrum South Dublin AC 2:30.50 and James Cottle of Crusaders AC who was fourth M65 in 3:09.25.
Six days earlier, a smaller group of Irish runners had headed to the Boston where former Irish marathon champion Mick Clohisey of Raheny Shamrock AC finished in 2:29 48. Mick’s uncle John, now in the M70 age group, finished in 3:53.47.
DCU WINNING STREAK CONTINUES
Performance of the day at the Irish Universities Track and Field Championships, held over two days, (April 21-22) at the new DSD track on Tibradden Lane was a new championships record in the steeplechase for DCU’s Sean McGinley. McGinley’s time of 8 mins 56.90 secs not only broke a 37-year old record but was a European U23 qualifying time. There were also record for DCU’s Nicola Tuthill in the hammer (65.74m) and Michael Walsh in the shot (14.86). In the men’s 200m, newly minted Irish record holder Mark Smyth was the winner in 20.95 secs. Other notable winners for DCU included Jack Forde in the pentathlon, Jack Raftery 400m, Avril Deegan women’s 3000m, Aoibheann McMahon javelin, and Brendan O’Donnell hammer,
For UCD, Roisin O’Reilly won the women’s steeplechase and picked up further points when third in the walk. Other UCD winners included Peter Kilgannon 800m, Cara Murphy 400m hurdles, Molly Hourihan 200m, Susie Nestor 800m and the women’s 4x100 team. Busiest man of the day for UCD was Christof Steiner who won the men’s shot, and was third in both discus and weight for distance and sixth in the hammer.
TU Dublin had a promising men’s team with the sprinters finishing second behind DCU in the 4 x 100m and third in the 4 x400m. Winning the men’s discus was Eoin Sheridan of RCSI. For Trinity College, Padraig Maher finished second in the weight for distance.
Overall, DCU continued its domination of student athletics, having won indoors and road relay titles already this season. UL and UCD finished second and third. TU Dublin’s men finished sixth and the Trinity women were also sixth. Despite the intermittent downpours, the DSD track, hosting its first major championships, won widespread approval. Next big event at the venue is the DSD Open Meet on Sunday June 18, for which entry is now open. Pictures from Day 2 of the meet are saved below and more are on Lindie Naughton's Flickr site at https://www.flickr.com/
HILLS
In Co Wicklow, Killian Mooney of DSD AC won the second Leinster League round at the Scalp on Wednesday (April 19).
Coming up: Saturday April 29 Dublin Graded Meet Rd 1, UCD, 12 noon. Paced miles (12 noon), 800m (2.30pm), 100m (3.30pm), 3000m (4.15pm); Dublin Championships hammer (1.30pm) and shot (3.30pm). Pole vault at DSD track, Tibradden. Entry April 24-27. www.dublinathletics.com
Tuesday May 2 East Leinster Schools T-F Day 1, UCD. www.athleticsireland.ie
Wednesday May 3 Ballymun Running Festival, Trinity Comprehensive; all day. Darkness into Light 5am, Breakfast Run 7am, Primary Schools 9am, Trinity Comp 5km, 12 noon Marathon 6pm, 5km Peace Run 7pm, 10km, half marathon 7pm. Music, food. Entry free; reg www.getitdoneballymun.com
Thursday May 4 East Leinster Schools T-F Day 2, UCD. www.athleticsireland.ie
