Drogheda club take the team honours in 10k

YOU can’t beat the feeling when it comes to the Coca-Cola Boyne 10k.

The pre-race atmosphere in West Street was electric, the town’s main street was transformed into a sea of colour and there was no shortage of spectators to offer encouragement.

This year’s event saw in excess of 1,800 runners toe the line for the best-run 10k in Ireland, and although the cool conditions were conducive to fast times the stiff breeze didn’t help on the back end of the course.

Once the gun went, it was down to business for the serious runners and the next six miles were all about hard, sustained running and no quarter was given as the lead runners churned out the miles at a terrific pace.

This year’s winner of the Men’s race was Paddy Hamilton from Newry AC in 32.01, with Colin Maher from Ballyfin AC 30 seconds behind in second place.

First home for D&D was Brian Martin in seventh place overall in 35.49, with Ruaidhri Nolan in ninth in 36.56. And with Danny Skeffington and Johnny Kelly also running well, the County Team prize was on its way to Drogheda.

Drogheda-based Niamh Devlin, who runs for Dundrum South Dublin AC. won the ladies race in a fine 38.20 when finishing 17th overall.

Pamela Howard was the star performer for the D&D ladies and her strong running took her round the course in a fast 40.24 which meant she won the County title for the 10k distance.

Yasmin Canning produced a solid run and her time of 42.39 placed her 2nd in her category, Michelle Hughes was 3rd in her category in 43.58, and with Laura Roche coming home in 45.14, this quartet won the ladies County Team title.

Without a doubt, however, the real winners on the day were the runners who took up the challenge of running the Coca-Cola Boyne 10k merely to get fit.

Elsewhere, last Thursday evening saw the 126th running of Ireland’s oldest road race, hosted by Clonliffe Harriers, where D&D’s Mary Leech was right up there with the leading runners right from the gun.

It was only in the last half-mile that the top three opened up a gap that Leech couldn’t close, but her time of 11.36 still represents good running and there’s lots more to come from her during the summer track season.

Shane Larkin had a solid run in the Men’s race and finished 20th overall in a time of 11.02 which earned him a first-in-category prize.

Hugh Callan and David Quinn were also in action in Santry Stadium last Wednesday, but this time on the track. Callan, who’s coming into great form, ran a fine 2.08.37 for the 800m, which is a difficult race to judge, while Quinn ran 2.19.53 for his heat of the 800m.

There were also some good performances from the D&D athletes at last Tuesday’s Dundalk 10k Road Race.

This very popular event attracted over a thousand runners to take part on the night and conditions were good except for the swirling wind on the back end of the course.

First home for the D&D men was Ruaidhri Nolan who finished 14th in 36.43, with Shane Larkin just behind him in 17th place in 37.47.

The run of the night belonged to Stephen Floyd whose time of 39.44 is well deserved given all the hard work he puts into his running.

Roger Tegert ran a solid 42.45 and was followed by John Carlo Orlandi who ran 43.51, great running for a 66-year-old.

Among the D&D ladies, Yvonne McMahon and Eimear Knowles settled into a steady pace early on and were rewarded with a time of 47.03 for their efforts, with Sharon Finn and Siobhan Shortt also competing on the night.

Colm Reilly had a strong run at last Week’s Samsung Night Run 10k and ran a new best time of 38.14 - good going given the twisting nature of the course.

Stephen Duggan also raced well when finishing second in the recent Duleek 10k race, and congratulations go to Gerry Mullins on completing the Limerick Marathon in 3.39.35 last Sunday. In the Half Marathon event the same day, Knut Nielsen finished well to run 1.38.32, Brian Guilfoyle ran 1.42.21, David O’Neill 1.42.25 and Liam Farrell 1.48.11.

A new generation of Drogheda & District athletes took part in the Louth pre-championships. Under the guidance of club chairman Aonghus O’Connor, the club’s first batch of U-8 to U-12 year olds took part in sprints, long jumps and turbo javelin and all performed well while earning valuable experience in competition. In the older age groups, Blathnaid Donnelly took gold for the second year in a row in the U-18/19 100m, while Kate O’Reilly lowered her 800m time by 16 seconds when taking bronze in the U-15 800m, a result which was matched by Ciara Reilly in the U-16 event.

In the field events, Peter Aylward broke the four-metre barrier in his first competition, placing third in the U-15 Long Jump.