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| Women’s race |
Kilkenny’s Eoin Everard ran a perfectly judged race to win the men’s 6km race at the Woodie’s DIY National Novice Cross-Country Championships in the Curragh. .
Racing on spongy ground softened further after a day’s racing, track specialist Everard kept a watching brief when a brekaway group, including Kevin Seaward of St Malachy’s forced the pace in the opening laps.
Also in the group were Tommy Carroll of North Sligo, Bohermeen’s Darragh Rennicks, Dublin novice champion Jayme Rossiter of Clonliffe and Sam Meely of Crusaders.
With the soft conditions taking their toll, Seaward and Everard were left on their own. Only when the finish was in sight did Everard use his track speed to break free of Seaward and lead home the stunning entry of 252 runners.
Third was Rennicks, with Carroll fourth and Meely fifth. With two athletes in the top seven, St Malachy’s were comfortable winners of the team title ahead of City of Derry and Clonliffe.
In the women’s 3km race, KCK’s Laura Behan was always to the fore with Catherine Devitt of Rathfarnham WSAF, Martina Kiely from St Finbarr’s and Liffey Valley’s Leona O’Reilly unable to close the gap. Dublin clubs dominated the team placings with Donore, led by Dervila Holmes in ninth place, packing well to hold off the challenge of Sportsworld and Rathfarnham WSAF.
Also taking place were ten juvenile uneven championship races, with the pick of them the U-19 boys’ 7km and the U-17 girls 4.5km.
Ryan Holt of Willowfield emerged after the initial skirmishes in the U-19 boy’s 7km, with Togher’s Ian Hartnett doing his best to keep with him. In the end, the Belfast athlete broke away for a solid victory, with Hartnett, in second place, leading Togher to team gold ahead of Raheny SHamrock.
Over 90 lined out for the girls’ U-17 race, where Yasmin Wilson of Lagan Valley beat Sarah Hawkshaw of Metro St Brigid’s. Sorcha Humphries in third place was helping DSD to the team title.
Raheny won both individual and team gold in the U-19 girls 5km, won by Alice Fennell ahead of from Imogen Cotter from Ennis and DSD’s Meghan Ryan. With Iseult O’Donnell and Chloe Doran also in the top 10, Raheny beat Beechmount Harriers and DSD for team gold.
Overall, on the biggest day of the year for club athletes, a superb total of 1,530 athletes ran the 12 races on offer. Club athletics is clearly in rude good health!
Munster was the place to be for distance runners last weekend, with 1,546 turning out for the Clonakilty Marathon, Half Marathon and 10km and a further 1,155 running the Waterford Half Marathon about two hours eastwards.
In Waterford, when Clonliffe’s Gary O’Hanlon in 67 minutes 41 seconds, along with Brian Murphy of Carrick-on-Suir and North Cork’s Michael Herlihy were all faster than Sergiu Ciobanu of Clonliffe who clocked the winning time of 69 mins 32 secs in Clonakilty. First woman in Waterford was Gladys Ganiel of North Belfast in 77 mins 22 secs. In Clonakility, Leevale’s Lizzie Lee first in 82.32 was followed by a who’s who of Munster masters, led by Carmel Crowley from St Finbarr’s.
Many of the charity races packing the calendar at the moment offer the bare minimum – you turn up, you run, you glug back a drink or two, and then you go home. Not so the Aware 5-mile in the Phoenix Park, where all 1,533 finishers were well looked after. Race winner was Gowran’s Tommy Evans with British and Irish masters’ cross-country champion Peter Matthews of DSD a close second. Deirdre Byrne of Sli Cualann was the first woman ahead of Raheny veteran Annette Kealy.
Andrea Flanagan, who only joined the Donore Harriers Meet and Train group a month or so ago, won the second Winter League race hosted by Fingallians AC in Swords today.
Dunboyne’s Deirdre Fitzsimons had made the early pace, closely followed by Breda Brown of Sportsworld. Not far off the pace was Eileen Thoma (Thoma) of Dunboyne, making a return to Meet and Train racing.
The early leaders soon started to feel the pace and, in the end, Andrea stormed through for a decisive win in 13 minutes 4 seconds – a big improvement on her seventh place in the season’s opener. Next round is in Lucan on January 8.
Want to discover the secret of Usain Bolt’s lightning speed? Bolt’s conditioning coach Micky Ruben holds a day-long coaching course in Carlow on Saturday January 21 (9.30am-4.30pm) and a limited number of places are still available. Topics will include warming up and cooling down, weights and plyometric training for speed, mobility work and core strength routines. Fee for the course is €50 to include a light lunch. Book your place at 087 2138788, or see www.carlowathletics.ie.
Early bird entry for the 21st John Treacy Dungarvan 10 miler on January 29 (1.0) in Dungarvan closed yesterday (Fri), with close to 700 already signed up. Late entries at €20 will be taken until the January 16 closing date. Details http://www.dungarvan10mile.org.
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