Onsoles Pamela

25 seconds to spare over D&D’s Stephen Kelly (17:38).

Kelly and David Walsh (17:45), two of the Drogheda club’s finest runners, had a great tussle, with Kelly only opening up a slight gap going out on the last lap. Not far behind, Stephen Duggan finished seventh in 18:49, followed by John Hough in 19:10, ensuring that the team medals were secure.

Kevin Clancy, a new member, was ninth in 19:12 and also putting in quality runs were Brian Pentony, John Reilly and Paddy Murphy.

Drogheda & District had a clean sweep of prize-winners in the Men’s 45 category, with the first three places going to John Reilly, Robbie Maher and Brian Pentony.

Kevin Clancy won first place in the Men’s 50 race, Jackser Reilly was second in the M55 and other category prize-winners were Conor Cooney, Giancarlo Orlandi and Frank Brady.

D&D also won first and second team prizes in the M35 and M50 races.

Elsewhere, the annual Jingle Bells 5k road race, promoted by Donore Harriers, took place last Saturday morning and was run over a lightning-fast course.

Getting a decent start and establishing a good tempo early on can be so important in these shorter races and Pat O’Grady, still coming back to full fitness after being out injured, ran hard and fast right from the gun.

The tactic paid off as he achieved an eye-opening time of 16:41 for first place in the Men’s Over-55 category, and a good winter of uninterrupted training will see O’Grady challenge for a place on Irish Masters teams.

Also having a really good run was David Shiel, not long recovered from his Dublin Marathon run, who clocked 18:45.

Hugh Callan ran a new PB of 19:02 to finish four seconds ahead of Thomas Farrelly, while Club Captain Rob Power broke 20 minutes for the first time with a 19:54 run.

First across the line for the Drogheda & District ladies was Sinead Weldon in 22:23. She has really improved this year and shows great promise.

Next in were Linda Cruise and Gillian Farrelly, who both ran 23:08, and also doing well were Helen Dillon (23:56) and Sinead Shaw (24:13).

Further afield, taking part in the Clonakilty Half-Marathon were Nuala Reilly, Julie Halton and Martina O’Connor Dyas. Reilly, still recovering from her Dublin Marathon run, put in a good effort to win her category in a solid 1:43:29, while Halton and Dyas decided to share the workload and crossed the line together in 2:11:15.

In the full marathon which took place on the same day, Gerard Fay ran 5:33:17 for the very testing course.

Last Saturday’s Oldbridge Parkrun tempted five D&D members to run this quite challenging 5k race.

First home for D&D was Richard Cheevers who finished 34th overall in 25:44, while the club’s first female finisher was Kasia Reynolds in 48th place in 30:06. Audrey O’Brien, Paula Floyd and Jos Haak also represented the club in this event.