Drogheda ace Kelly at double
INDIVIDUAL gold for Stephen Kelly and team victories for the men and ladies were the highlights for the Drogheda & District contingent as the club sent a strong team to Sunday’s Intermediate Cross-Country Championships in Bush.
This year’s course, which was run over a variety of terrains, was not for the faint-hearted, but Michelle Hughes - fresh from her second-place finish in the Novice race two weeks earlier - got stuck in right from the gun.
The tactic of biding her time in second place seemed to be working as Hughes and Inga Keler from North East Runners opened a gap on the rest of the field and coming into the home straight the race could have gone either way.
It was only in the last 20 metres that Keler found an extra yard of ground to win by a mere one second over the 4km course.
Backed up by some strong running from Orla O’Connor in third place, the team title looked to be heading Drogheda & District’s way, and so it proved. Sinead Weldon, who has improved so much this year, had a great run to finish fifth and Jane Glynn came home in 10th, with Barbara O’Donnell also running well.
Next up was the Intermediate Men’s event where Stephen Kelly - the winner of the Novice title - was out to do the double.
Once the gun went Kelly lost no time in making his way into the leading group, and with the pocket rocket Shane Larkin forcing the pace a group of about six athletes opened up a gap on the rest of the field.
Seasoned athlete Pat O’Grady and Stephen Duggan were right in the mix and over the next five laps this group started to stretch out, with Kelly opening up a substantial lead that he never relinquished.
Behind Kelly, a titanic battle was taking place between Larkin and O’Grady for the bronze medal prize. Coming out with a narrow gap into the last field, O’Grady chose his moment well and surged ahead to cross the line some six seconds ahead of Larkin.
Thanks to Duggan’s terrific run, this quartet won the Men’sns team race, while further down the field there were from some Kieran good McGrath, performances erforath, Robbie Maher, John Reillyly and Colm Reilly. Those fourr combined well to taks the e team bronze medals and also running well were John Hough, Hugh Callan and John Cooper. In the races uneven Abigail age TegartJuvenile ugart (7th), Moya McCabe (8th)) and Kate O’Reilly (10th) raceded well together to win the team prize in the Under-15 Girls 3,500m.
In the Boys Under-17 5,000m Cormac Canning finished in second place in a speedy 18:00, and with Robert Caffrey in third place and James Nolan fourth the team gold was Drogheda & District’s.
The last event of the day, the Under-19 Boys 5,000m, saw Sam O’Neill produce a strong run to finish in second place in a fast 17:54, with Leo McLean running 22:36 for the distance.
Meanwhile, last Wednesday morning the postman delivered the letter Nuala O’Reilly had been waiting for. Following her terrific run in the cross-country trials, she has been selected on an Irish team to take part in an international cross-country event in Glasgow.
Saturday’s Oldbridge Parkrun proved to be a good day at the office for Brian Pentony. Pentony, who is relatively new to club racing, sped round the challenging course in a lively 19:14 which earned him seventh place overall. Declan McMahon was Drogheda & District’s next man home in 19th place in 22:21 and also running well were Joe Rooney (22:44) and Jos Haak (29:46).
First home for the ladies was Catriona Tuite who finished in 53rd place in 28:31.
And there was good news too for Ciara O’Reilly who did a double of sorts over the last week. Not only did O’Reilly win a prize in the club’s weekly lotto draw, she also won some dollars while racing abroad. She had a comfortable win in the 5K4K run in Lebanon, Tennessee, in a good time of 20:13.
Looking ahead, some 64 Drogheda & District athletes are taking part in next Sunday’s Dublin City Marathon. •Everyone in D&D AC would like to congratulate two of their members, Aimee Corcoran and Ziad Chammas, who married each other last Friday.