Local clubs out in force at Leinster indoors
DROGHEDA & District AC’s Orla O’Connor had a day to remember when competing against Irish Olympian Ciara Mageean during last weekend’s Leinster Senior and Masters Indoor Track Championships in Abbotstown.
The last three months’ training at Drogheda & District have been all about peaking for such events and O’Connor had a great day at the office as she finished third in her Senior Ladies 800m in 2:17 in a race won by Mageehan who raced in Rio.
A short time later, O’Connor produced another great run to win silver in her 400m race in a speedy time of 1:00.79.
Mary Leech and Kieran McGrath both chose to run out of their age groups and took part in the Senior races as they sharpen up for next week’s National Championships.
Leech ran a very fine time of 4:50 when finishing sixth in her 1500m race, despite being boxed in at the start, while McGrath, who’s having a great start to the season, ran a terrific race to finish sixth in his 800m in a new indoor PB of 2:00.82.
In the longest event of the day, the Ladies 3,000m, Yasmin Canning and Ciara O’Reilly had a terrific battle as they both fought it out for the bronze medal over 15 laps of the 200m track.
It really was nip and tuck all the way, with Canning only opening a small two-second gap on the last lap which she held to the finish, crossing the line in 11:20, a new indoor PB by six seconds. O’Reilly also ran a new PB for the distance.
Frank Cruise did a treble of sorts when winning his Over-55 200m race against pretty good opposition, having earlier finished second in his 60m and 400m events.
Roisin Coade was second in her 200m in a fast 29 seconds and later in the day she won another silver medal in her 400m event in 1:05.9.
Fellow sprinter Karl Carton ran well to get up for second place in his 60m and Andrew Kelly scorched round the track to run a lively 24.2sec for his 200m event and missed out on making the final by a tenth of a second.
Others who ran well included Hugh Callan, who ran a fast 55.25sec for his Senior Men’s 400m, and sprint coach Gerry O’Connor who clocked a solid 60 seconds dead when finishing fourth in his race.
Elsewhere, at the Athletics Leinster, Juvenile Indoor Track and Field Championships in Abbotstown, Sam O’Neill picked up another championship medal when finishing second in the U-19 1500m in 4:23.52 against good-class opposition. Tadhg Donnelly also had a great run to finish fifth in his 1500m race in a fast 4:30.34 and Abigail Tegart and Moya McCabe were 11th and 14th respectively in the Under-16 Girls 1500m.
The Drogheda & District juveniles competed in four of the sprint relays, some running in their first competitive race for the club.
Meanwhile, at the Duleek & District 5k, a torrential burst of rain just before the start failed to dampen the spirits of Drogheda & District’s latest Couch 2 5k crew who were taking part in their first 5k race.
Lead coach Colin Cuffe has done a great job in preparing this group of in excess of 40 runners and despite the swirling wind all the club’s participants got round the course in no real distress.
At the sharp end of the field, a great battle was taking place between Shane Larkin and Brian Martin. However, coming into the home straight, Larkin unleashed his trademark sprint finish to open up a slight gap and come home three seconds clear of Martin in a fine 17:28, good enough for sixth overall. With Martin seventh in 17:30 and Colm Reilly 19th in 18:38 the men finished third in the team category.
Colin Leonard had a fine run to finish 26th in 19:12.
Category prize-winners included Nuala Reilly - third overall in the Ladies race - and Conor Cooney who won his Men’s Over-60 category. Martin Russell was second in his category iand Mike Staunton third.
Meanwhile, at the Fitzer’s Rehab 5k in Dundalk, Stephen Floyd had the run of the day when achieving his first sub-19 minute time for the distance. Also inside 19 minutes were Colm Reilly, John Reilly and Colin Leonard, all of whom finished inside the top 20. •A small but brand new and important chapter in DDAC’s history took place last Saturday morning, with the club’s first-ever Little Athletes training session taking place in Congress Avenue School.