Despite a record breaking effort by Brian Kelly for DCU on the last leg, UCD held on to win the men’s race at the Irish University Road Relays at Maynooth by just 0.3 of a second.
 |
| UCD’s Joe Sweeney |
Big rivals DCU had entered a team including five scholarship athletes. UCD had just one in Mark English, who brought the team home on the final one mile leg, but also had athletes of the quality of Alan McCormack and Joe Sweeney to call on.
The race was always going to be tight and for DCU, Joe Warne on the first mile and Chris Robinson on the second two mile leg both smashed the previous records for the course giving DCU a 25 second lead.
Joe Sweeney for UCD made a big effort to chase down John Coghlan of DCU on the three-mile leg and cut the deficit to 17 seconds.
Oon the fourth leg of two miles, Chris Johnson of UCD not only caught DCU’s Darren McBrearty but gave Mark English an eleven-second lead going out on the final lap. Run of the day came from Brian Kelly who closed down that lead to just 0.3 of a second, but couldn’t quite get back English. His time of 4 mins 14 secs broke the record for the mile lap set earlier by Warne. (Big thanks to Joe Warne for passing on the info for this report; the earlier report was based on a very bare result and a lot of guesswork).
Last year, the students from Belfield had ended a four-year winning streak by DCU. In the past ten years, DCU has won six titles and UCD the remaining four. Queen’s in 2002 was the last college outside the big two to take victory.
In the women’s race, DCU was going for a ninth consecutive win and nailed it despite the best efforts of UCC. Trinity, with a fine leg by Iseult O’Donnell, were marginally ahead after the first mile. Laura Behan then took over for DCU and her time of 10 mins 53 secs gave DCU a narrow lead. A superb 10 mins 30 sec split for Sinead O’Connor on the second two-mile leg saw UCC taking over briefly in front, with DCU’s Mary Mulhare just behind her. It was left to Mary Anne O’Sullivan to bring DCU home with a fine time of 5 mins 8 sec time – the fastest of the day – for the final mile. UCC finished ten seconds behind in second place, with Trinity third.
*Just three weeks after his victory in the Irish Marathon Championships, Paul Pollock won the Podium 4 Sport Seeley Cup 10km Road Race, incorporating the Northern Ireland Championships in Belfast.
Pollock, Paddy Hamilton and Owen Carleton, all Annadale Striders, led the 800-plus entry from the start, with Scott Rankin of Foyle Valley just behind the lead group. In the women’s race Newcastle’s Kerry Harty, Julie Turley of Dromore and Gladys Ganiel O’Neill from North Belfast Harriers were the top three at 3km. When Turley was forced to pull out with a severe stitch, Foyle Valley’s Angela Speight in third place.
Pollock duly won the race in 30 mins 40 secs, with Hamilton just nine seconds behind and Rankin a heroic third. Anndale took the Seely Cup as top team. Harty not only came home first woman, but clocked a personal best time of 34 mins 23 secs. O’Neill was less than half a minute behind for second and with Claire Connor third, North Belfast Harriers took the team prize.
*Davey Byrne and Maura Kearns were the first man and woman home at the second Parkrun Malahide 5km; a fantastic 216 finished.
Saturday November 17
NCAA C-C Championships, Div 1, Louisville, Kentucky
Men’s 10km: 1 Kennedy Kithuka (Texas Tech) 28.31.3; 2 Stephen Sambu (Arizona) 28:38.6; 3 Lawi Lalang (Arizona) 28:51.8. Irish: 7 David Rooney (Raheny Shamrock/McNeese State) 29.21.3; 28 Breandan O’Neill (DSD/Florida State) 29:52.7; 67 Tommy Casey (Sligo AC/Oklahoma State); 70 Shane Quinn (Ferrybank/Providence); 163 Jake Byrne (Millingar Hrs/Iona); 203 Dave Flynn (Clonliffe/Arkansas). Women’s 6km: 1 Betsy Saina (Iowa State) 19:27.9; 2 Anney D’Agostino (Dartmouth) 19:28.6; 3 Jordan Hasay (Oregon) 19:28.6. Irish: 10 Sarah Collins (Finn V/Providence) 19:50.7.
Irish Universities Road Relays, NUI Maynooth. Full result www.iuaa.org.
Men (1-2-3-2-1): 1 UCD A 41.:09; 2 DCU A 41:10; 3 Trinity A 43:15; 4 Waterford ITA 43.51; 5 UCD B 44.11; 6 DCU B 44.19. Also: Dublin IT 44.10.
Fastest times: Mile – Brian Kelly (DCU) 4:14 (rec): 2 Joe Warne (DCU) 4:15; 3 Dan King (UCD) 4.22. 2-Mile: 1 Paul Robinson (DCU) 8:57 (rec); 2 Chris Johnston (UCD) 9:15; 3 Alan McCormakc (UCD) 9:22. 3-Mile: 1 Joe Sweeny (UCD) 13.46; 2 John Coghlan (DCU) 14: 01; 3 John Travers (Athlone IT) 14.20.
Women (1-2-2-1): 1 DCU A 32:32; 2 UCC A 32.42; 3 TCD A 34.26; 4 DCU B 34.57; 5 UL A 35.16; 6 UCD A 35.57.
Fastest times: Mile – 1 Mary Anne O’Sullivan (DCU) 5:08; Iseult O’Donell (TCD) 5.13; 3 Ciara Wilson (DCU) 5.14. 2-Mile: 1 Sinead O’Connor (UCC) 10:30; 2 Laura Behan (DCU) 10:53; 3 Laura Crowe (UCC) 11:13.
Seeley Cup, Athletics NI 10km Championships, Ormeau Park, Belfast(801 finishers; www,championchipireland.com).
Men: 1 Paul Pollock (Annadale) 30.40; 2 Paddy Hamilton (Annadale) 30.49; 3 Scott Rankin (Foyle Valley) 31.28; 4 Owen Carleton (Annadale) 31.43; 5 Alan O’Hara (NBH, M35) 32.10; 6 Eamon White (NBH, M40) 32.12. M35: 2 Richard Turkington (Armagh) 33.09; 3 Conor Curran (NBH) 33.22. M40: 2 Steve McGrory (Annadale) 33.14; 3 Paul Blaney (NBH) 33.43. M45: 1 Paul Rowan (Willowfield) 33.19; 2 Francis Marsh (N Down) 33.35; 3 Neil Carty (NBH) 33.49. M50: 1 Tommy Hughes (NBH) 33.38; 2 Dermot Kerr (Armagh) 34.26; 3 Craig Hutchinson (Larne) 34.54. M55: 1 Jim Breen (Springwell) 39.11; 2 Greg McClure (NBH) 40.05; 3 Eric Montgomery (Lagavn V) 40.50. M60: Irwin Spiers (Sperrin Hrs) 40.27.Teams – 1 Annadale Striders, 2 North Belfast Harriers.
Women: 1 Kerry Harty (Newcastle) 34.23; 2 Gladys Ganiel O’Neill (NBH, W35) 34.58; 3 Claire Connor (NBH) 37.50; 4 Angela Speight 38.08; 5 Jessica Craig (N Down) 38.20; 6 Danielle Fegan (Armagh) 38.41. W35: 2 Julie Balmer (N Down) 39.24; 3 Ali Robinson 41.22. W40: Gillian Burns (Dromore) 40.03. W45: 1 Geraldine Branagh (Dromore) 39.30; 2 Debbie Matchett (N Down) 41.06; 3 Karen Dolan (Enniskillen) 42.30. W50: 1 Ann Paul (City of Derry) 39.40; 2 Ruth Magill (Lagan V) 41.33. Team – North Belfast Harriers.
Men: 1 Davey Byrne (Tallaght, M40)16.30; 2 Eoin Brady (Raheny Shamrock, M40) 16.38; 3 Michael Kiely 17.04; 4 Ciaran McCarthy M35 17.10; 5 John Courell 17.31; 6 Michael McSwiggan (Portmarnock AC, M35) 17.51 (PB).
Women: 1 Maura Kearns 19.26; 2 Rachael Bek (Portmarnock AC, W40) 19.45 (PB); 3 Christina Mackenzie (Portmarnock AC, W35) 21.49; 4 Ailsing bolger 23.11; 5 Patricia Balfe (Portmarnock AC, W35) 23.11; 6 Liz O’Doherty W35 24.08.
No comments yet.