KELLY TURNS ON THE STYLE
THE streets of Duleek were turned into a sea of red when more than fifty Drogheda & District members turned up for their annual 5K road race.
Conditions were perfect for fast running, with little or no wind, which pleased the almost 300 runners who were taking part in this year’s event.
Once the gun went, the field soon split as there was some serious running being done at the head of the field, led by D&D’s Stephen Kelly and Simon Ryan who runs for Raheny AC.
These two pushed hard and fast all the way round the course in a desperate bid to open a gap, but with just a few hundred metres to go there was nothing between them as they ran shoulder to shoulder towards the line.
Kelly, strengthened by his marathon training, sensed that this might be his day and began to turn the screw on Ryan and in the last 200m opened a two-second gap that he held all the way to the finishing line.
Kelly’s winning time of 15:48 shows a glimpse of what he’s capable of given the right conditions and has laid down a marker for his rivals for the coming season.
Shane Larkin finished fourth overall in 16:59 and showed many of his younger rivals a clean pair of heels, Stephen Duggan was sixth in 17:55 and those three combined well to take home the winning men’s team prize.
David Campbell made a welcome return to racing when finishing 15th in a very solid time of 19:26 and also running well were David O’Neill - 27th in 20:26 - and Roger Tegart who clocked 20:30.
Among the D&D ladies, new member Rachel McCormack ran a well-judged race to finish 24th overall and third in the ladies race in a fast 20:00 and the sky’s the limit for her. Next in 56th place was Nuala Reilly in 22:26, followed by Leva Ofmane who was 62nd. These three combined well to finish third in the ladies team competition.
Also running well were Elva Maree, Ellen O’Connor, Paola Flynn and Fiona Brannigan.
Elsewhere, the Leinster Junior, Senior and Masters Indoor Track Championships took place last Saturday in Abottstown.
In the shortest event of the day, Lee McGuinness powered out of the blocks in his 60m race and just 7.22 seconds later the bronze medal was his with a new PB time.
Later in the day McGuinness was unlucky not to medal again when finishing fourth in the Junior Men’s 200m final.
In the Senior 200m final, Andrew Kelly had a fabulous run to take almost a second off his PB time when running 7.33 to finish sixth against some very good opposition.
Orla O’Connor took home two medals from her 400/800 double. In the 400m, O’Connor ran a solid 60:98 when winning her category and a short while later she hung in when it mattered to get another silver in a hotly-contested 800m race.
Kieran McGrath decided to run in the Senior category and was fourth in his 800m in a fast 2:00:46 and later ran an impressive 55:48 when again finishing fourth in the 400m. Running in the same 800m was Mark O’Shea who finished sixth in 2:01:91.
Mary Leech put in a fine run to win her W40 1500m in a very creditable 4:52:89.
In the longest event of the day, the 3000m, Paul Smith was fifth in his category in 9:48:45, while Fintan Maher continued his return to racing when running 4:31:88 to get a bronze medal in his 1500m race.
Robbie Maher has come good of late and he didn’t disappoint his fans when winning the 800/1500 double. Maher’s time of 2:14:30 was good enough for gold in the 800m and later in the day he had a comfortable win in the 1500m in a solid 4:31.
In the Masters category, which is hugely competitive, there were some terrific performances.
In the sprint events, Karl Carton took silver in the 60m and bronze in the 200 and 400m.
Frank Cruise was second in his 60m in 8.54 and David Thornton also got silver with his run of 28.50 in the 200m. Mary Flanagan had a great run to win her 200m in 42.83.
In the 400m there was silver for Hugh Callan (54.43) and bronze for Gerry O’Connor (61.09), while Yasmin Canning took silver in her 400m and 800m categories and Conor Cooney did a treble of sorts when taking silver medals in the 800, 1500 and 3,000m.
Padraig McCabe ran well to finish third in his 200m and also got a bronze in his 60m in 8.30.
Just outside the medals were Hugh O’Reilly - fourth in his 400m in 59.91 - and Paul Stuart who finished fifth in 58.79.
A dry and bright morning greeted the large number of D&D athletes who took part in last Saturday’s Fitzer 5K road race in Dundalk.
Run over a fast, flat course which is accurately measured, this year’s race attracted some quality runners and Brian Martin ran hard and fast right from the gun as he raced round in a fast 17:01, finishing fourth overall.
Colm Reilly was eighth in 18:03, showing things are going in the right direction for him, but perhaps the run of the day belonged to Francis Murray who got the pace right as he powered across the line in 15th place in an eye-opening 18:49.
Martin Russell delivered the big run when it counted, taking a massive 31 seconds off his PB time when finishing 18th in 18:58.
Among the D&D ladies, Karen Collier ran a useful 23:33 when finishing 86th overall, with Yvonne Russell not far behind when running a new PB time of 23:52.
Others who ran included Sarah McDonald, Jacqueline Gill, Mary Reilly and Valerie Campbell.
Just three D&D members took part in last Saturday’s Oldbridge Parkrun, with Leva Ofmane 19th in 23:37 over the 5k cross-country course, Seamus Roe 31st in 25:20 and Ruth Dunne 51st in 30:33.
The official launch of this year’s Drogheda 10K, which is on Sunday May 6th, took place last Saturday and if early entries are anything to go by then this year’s event will be a sellout.