ROAD RACES
The big race of the weekend was the Dunboyne 10km on Sunday (March 26), where Mitchell Byrne of Rathfarnham WSAF AC added another win to his growing collection. As he had done in Tallaght ten days earlier, Byrne led from the start of the race and had over a minute to spare when crossing the line in 30 mins 3 secs. In a Dublin double, Aoife O’Leary of Sportsworld AC was first woman in 36:31. Her clubmate Noreen Brouder was second in 37 minutes exactly. First junior was Nathan Harper of Skerries AC in 34:08. In a well-supported - and comptititive - team competition, Crusaders AC, led by Aoife Quigley 5th and Kathryn Gibbons 6th, finished third behind host club Dunboyne AC. Rathfarnham WSAF AC, with Byrne, Paul Stephenson, Paul Fleming and Gael Hernandez making up the scoring four, proved best of the men, followed by Drogheda and District AC with Donore Harriers, led by Ian Fitzgerald in 14th place, finishing third. In the master categories, Dublin winners were Liz Arkins of Lucan Harriers W65, Josie Power of Fingallians AC W70 and Trevor Sweeney of Sportsworld AC M50. Photos at https://www.flickr.com/
In Co Tyrone, at the Omagh Half Marathon, Sergiu Ciobanu of Clonliffe Harriers, an Omagh ‘regular’, finished second in 67:55 while Tudor Moldovan of Clonliffe Harriers fourth in 68:01. Close to 3,000 finished the race.
At the Banagher 5km in Co Offaly, Ray Hynes of Donore Harriers finished third and first M40 in 15:07. Among the also rans was Irish international athlete Darragh McElhinney, better known for his track exploits, who clocked a time of 16:11. McElhinney’s UCD clubmate Danielle Donegan, a native of Tullamore, was first woman in 16:48.
GOLDEN OPENING TO WORLD MASTERS INDOORS
A large Irish team has travelled to the World Masters Indoors in Torun, Poland, where middle distance track competition began on Sunday with the 3000m races. Ireland’s first gold medal of the competition came in the W80 race, where Anne Woodlock of Donore Harriers was the winner in 19:42.28. Annette Kealy of Raheny Shamrock AC finished second in In a quality W55 race with a time of 10:39.75; winner was Lisa Michelle Rohl of the USA in 10:27.11. Both those times would have won the W45 and W50 titles. Competition continues all week. Details https://wmaci2023.com
STATESIDE
Sean Kay of Clonliffe Harriers, who was part of the Irish U20 silver medal winning team at the 2021 Euro Cross-Country in Dublin, ran a 10,000 PB of 30.22.94 at the Raleigh Relays held in North Carolina on Thursday and Friday (March 23/24).In the 5000m, Abdel Laadjel of Donore Harriers ran a time of 13:53.80, while Lauren Tinkler of Dublin City Harriers clocked 36:10.64 in the women’s 10,000m.
Also in the USA, new Clonliffe recruit Davey Davitt, a high school athlete, opened his outdoor season in New York with a time of 54.66 for the 400m hurdles on a wet and windy day.
CROSS-COUNTRY
At the SIAB Schools Cross-Country Championships, held in Sefton Park, Liverpool, on Saturday, the inter girls’ team, with two finishers in the top five, took silver. The boys’ inter team, which included Matei Ursachi and Tom Breslin of Clonliffe Harriers, finished third; as did the junior boys’ team.
COMING UP:
The Battle of Clontarf 10-mile in St Anne’s Park on Easter Monday, April 10 (10am), organised by Raheny Shamrock AC will incorporate the Leinster Championships. Entry fee is €28 (including all charges) at www.myrunresults.com
UCD’s new track at Belfield is the venue for the opening Dublin Graded Track and Field meet of the season on Saturday April 29, with seven meets in all and volunteers needed to help the meetings run smoothly. See elsewhere on this site for details.
* Provisional fixtures list at https://lindienaughton.
