Canning leads the Drogheda & District charge
Louth Juvenile C’ship results
THE future of the Drogheda & District club certainly looks bright, given the many fine performances by their younger members at last weekend’s Louth Juvenile Track and Field championships in Bush, Cooley.
One of the stand-out performances was Cormac Canning doing the 400/800m double, which is never an easy task, while Moya McCabe really put it together when it counted and won silver in the U16 Javelin and Shot Putt. And Blathnaid Donnelly continues to impress and took first place in the U19 100m.
Also taking part for the first time were our Little Athletics Group affectionately know as The Minis, who seemed to be having a great time.
Two of Drogheda and District’s finest masters athletes took part in last week’s Leinster Road Race Championships in Gowran, Kilkenny.
This 6k race, which is run over four laps of an undulating circuit, always attracts a quality field of Masters runners and with little or no wind, conditions on the day were near perfect for fast running.
Competing in the Men’s O-50 event was Kevin Clancy. Although relatively new to the club, Clancy has pedigree as a runner and he wasn’t afraid to mix it with the top guys from the start.
Running to a strong tempo was to pay off as Clancy was always in the top three and his time of 21.06 was good enough to earn him the bronze medal on this occasion.
Running in the same race, but in the O-40 category, was Shane Larkin who always seems to race well. Larkin likes to run strong right from the gun and although he didn’t finish in the medal places his 8th place finish in 21.37 represents good running against quality opposition.
Nearer to home, Colm Reilly put in a solid run at the MLSP Royal County 10k in Kells. Reilly covered the distance in 39.21 and will go well once he targets his races.
The first of the club’s Summer Track Meetings took place last Thursday evening at the Lourdes Stadium.
With three track events, the 100m/800m/3k and a long jump competition, there was a large number of competitors on the night.
There were some close finishes, with the 800m C race being won by Anna Fagan of Newry AC by a mere tenth of a second from Christopher Duffy junior.
The Drogheda & District sprinters were in action in the 100m and there was some good running from Andrew Kelly (11.9) and Karl Carton (12.8) in the A 100m race. Frank Cruise ran well to win the B race in 13.7, with Blathnaid Donnelly second in 13.8.
The next round will take place on Thursday 18th May with the 200m/Mile/5k and Shot Putt on the programme.
Popular club member Jim Nolan was the club’s sole runner in last Saturday’s RTE 5 mile road race.
Run over four laps, this year’s race attracted a field of 280 runners. Sadly, this was the last running of this race, due to RTE selling land at Montrose on this, the 40th Anniversary of RTE Athletic Club.
Nolan had a decent run and his time of 35.20 shows that he’s coming back to form.
The Irish Runner Paced Mile in the Phoenix Park last Sunday saw Shane Larkin deliver a fast finish to finish second in a time of 5.14. Larkin was close to winning this race but was pipped on the run in by just two seconds.
There were some fine performances at last Saturday’s Oldbridge Parkrun.
The recent dry weather has made this rather challenging 5k course considerably quicker than it would normally be.
Fran Egan raced round the fields to finish 5th overall in 19.40 and got a new PB time and the club’s next finisher in 14th place was Tony Corcoran in 22.14, just ahead of Peter Mullen who was 23rd in 22.32.
For the ladies, first home was Mary McDonnell who ran a new PB of 23.31 when finishing 35th overall. Laura Roche was 38th in 23.38 and Audrey Corcoran ran 37.45.
Also running were Donal Branigan, Dominic Carthy and Mike Staunton who had a new PB of 24.53. Friday - Moya McCabe u16 javelin 2nd and u16 shot put 2nd. Kate O’Reilly good effort in u15 javelin. Saturday - Blathnaid Donnelly u19 100m 1st. Lauren Hussey Smith u19 100m 3rd. Harry Caffrey u16 800m 2nd. Ben Egan u16 800m 3rd. Kate O’Reilly u15 800m 3rd. Tara Shortt u17 400m 3rd. Cormac Canning u17 400m 1st and u17 800m 1st. Robert Caffrey u18 400m 3rd and u18 800m 2nd. Peter Aylward u15 100m 3rd. Daniel Aylward u15 100m 5th. Also competing were Grace Neilson u16 100m, Chloe Doherty u15 100m and 800m, Sean Toner u16 800m. Sunday - Peter Aylward u15 200m 3rd and long jump 2nd. Daniel Aylward u15 200m 4th and long jump 3rd. Abigail Tegart u16 1500m 3rd. Harry Caffrey Ben Egan Peter Aylward and Daniel Aylward u16 4x100 relay 3rd. Ben Egan and Harry Caffrey both made the final of the u16 200m. Kate O’Reilly ran a new pb in u15 1500m.