D&D on right road as ladies claim bronze

SUNDAY’S National Road Relays held in Raheny attracted the best quality field seen for a long time in the Masters Women’s Over-35 event, with plenty of Drogheda & District interest.

Many of the teams had at least one, if not two international class runners on their teams, and with conditions calm and a little overcast it would have helped the athletes running the longer 2-mile leg.

Once the gun went D&D’s lead runner Yasmin Canning got stuck in with the leading pack and was quickly into her stride as this group forced the pace. Canning is a wise athlete who learns quickly and she needed every bit of experience she had for the task ahead.

Coming into view after rounding the tricky left-hand bend before the finishing straight, Canning found an extra ounce of energy to hand over to Mary Leech who’s in terrific form at the moment.

The two-mile leg really is a test of one’s resolve as the pressure felt by the girls in this race is enormous, but Leech personifies grace under pressure and when the difficult questions were being asked she wasn’t found wanting.

Running hard from the line, Leech cleverly wound up the pace, and going out on her second lap only the very best were ahead of her as they made their way onto the back stretch of the course.

Coming into the hand-over area in third place, Leech handed over to Pamela Howard and the race for the medals was on in earnest.

Howard is a classy athlete with huge potential within and she took off like a rocket, heading for the first bend.

Championship racing is as much about holding one’s nerve as it is about running hard and Howard made a real statement by running so aggressively and dictated the pace on the back end of the course.

With the travelling supporters anxiously chewing their nails as they strained their eyes on the last corner, a red vest appeared and Howard was heading home like an express train to collect a richly deserved National bronze medal for her teammates.

This really was a lesson in teamwork and such was the standard in this year’s race that D&D’s finishing time of 23.19 was 13 seconds faster than last year when they finished second.

Also running in the Women’s Over-35 race were the club’s second team of Sinead Weldon, Barbara Byrne and Yvonne McMahon. All three raced well but didn’t figure in the medal on this occasion.

In the Women’s Over-50 event Mary McDonnell, Angela Campbell and late substitute Edel Victory ran well and were just outside the placings.

The club’s Men’s Over-35 team saw Kieran McGrath produce an incredible run to record a 4.47 mile in the first leg. David Walsh and Brian Martin both ran well but again were out of the placings.

In the Men’s Over-50 race the run of the day belonged to Danny Skeffington who stormed round the one-mile leg in under five minutes.

Elsewhere at the Leinster 10mile Championship held in St. Anne’s Park, Raheny, on Easter Monday, the twisting nature of the course would have slowed finishing times by about 30 seconds overall.

Still, Drogheda & District’s Shane Larkin wanted one of the major medals and had prepared well for this event. Many’s a runner forgets their pre-race plan once the gun goes, but Larkin was too experienced to let that happen and he quickly settled into a group running the pace he was hoping to maintain.

Larkin’s economical running style was to stand to him as he churned out the miles relentlessly at sub 6-minute mile pace. When the serious questions were asked with about a mile to go, Larkin wasn’t found wanting and his last mile of 5.50 took him home in a clear third place to earn the bronze medal in the Over-40 category a time of 59.07.

Also running was marathon man Gerard Fay who ran a PB time of 1hr 19min.

The red vests of Drogheda and District were also out in force the same day Monday at the Mountpleasant 5k road race. This very popular event always attracts a good quality field and this year’s event was being run over a new course.

Conditions on the day were good and Stephen Kelly produced a great run to finish third overall in a fast 16.43. With young Sam O’Neill finishing fifth in 17.03 and second in his category, things were looking good for the team prize. It was all down to third man David Walsh to deliver the goods and his sixth-place finish in 17.13 ensured that the team prize was coming home to Drogheda.

Paddy Murphy, who’s hoping to go well in the Boyne 10k, ran a solid 19.26 to finish 24th and should run well over the longer distance.

David Birch covered the ground well to finish in 21.50.

Nuala Reilly, fresh from her win in Kildalkey the previous day, won her category with a useful 21.44 and also running in the ladies race were Mary Reilly and Margo Duffy.

Liam Farrell ran a time of 47.28 when finishing 81st at last weekend’s Rosslare 10k road race, while at the paced mile in ALSAA Gerard Fay ran 6.43 and Margo Brady 7.39.

Last Saturday’s Oldbridge Parkrun saw Sinead MCGuinness run a new PB time of 25.33 when