High-profile D&D meeting makes grade
THE weather gods were looking after Drogheda & District AC last Thursday as round two of the club’s Summer Graded Meetings was bathed in glorious sunshine.
This series of track and field events continues to grow in popularity and with the latest electronic timing and photo-finish equipment being used, its profile is also rising steadily.
There were some fine performances on the night and one of the most exciting events was the close-run Mile ‘A’ race which saw eight athletes finish within 10 seconds of each other in a thrilling finale.
Stand-out runs came from young Robert Caffery (3rd in 4:56.16), Brian Martin (5th in 4:57) and Tadgh Donnelly and Robbie Maher who both ran 4:59 when finishing sixth and seventh respectively.
Perhaps the run of the night in the mile, however, belonged to Stephen Floyd who ran a fabulous new PB of 5:24, a 12 second improvement on his previous best.
Jim Nolan and Ciara O’Reilly had a home straight battle that won’t be forgotten in a hurry, with Nolan just edging out her clubmate by 0.2 seconds when finishing 10th in 5:48.95. Also running well were Helen Dillon (7:03) and Eimear Knowles (6:33).
In the longer 5,000m event, the run of the night belonged to Yasmin Canning who quickly settled into her pre-race plan and stuck to it like glue.
Canning crossed the line tired but happy, having just taken a whopping 14 seconds off her previous best time when running a fabulous 19:31.
In the 200m, Lee McGuiness stormed round the bend to win his race in a fast 23.16sec, with Andrew Kelly second in 24.61 and Karl Carton fourth in 26.65. Young Senan Gough ran a fine 32.38 to win his 200m race.
Sunday’s Streets of Dublin 5k road race also tempted some Drogheda & District members to take part.
Conditions on the day were good, but the twisting nature of these city races tends to slow times somewhat and more than 1,200 runners took part in this year’s event.
‘Pocket Rocket’ Shane Larkin was the club’s first finisher in 10th place overall in a fine 17.22 and not far behind was John Reilly who finished 14th in 18.18, followed by John Hough who was 25th in 18.48. Brian Guilfoyle had a solid run judging by his time of 21.24.
Barbara Byrne led the way home for the D&D ladies when finishing 170th in 24.04, with Louise Irvin Aylward 207th in 24.58. Club Captain Jane Glynn finished in 233rd place in 25.33.
Elsewhere, Nuala Reilly put in a fine run to win her category at last week’s BHAA ESB 5k on Sandymount Strand. Run entirely on the beach, this race is not for the faint-hearted and Reilly finished 78th overall in 22.53. Her training partner Gerry Mullins was 75th in 22.34 and Paul Barrell finished 96th in 23.51.
Cormac Canning finished a fine sixth in the Intermediate Boys 1500m at the Leinster Schools Championships in Santry.
Canning performed well given that he has another year to go running in this age group, and his time of 4:28 shows he’s in decent form.
Saturday’s Oldbridge Parkrun proved to be a happy hunting ground for four D&D members as they recorded new PB times for the challenging 5k course.
With conditions perfect for fast running, Stephen Kelly pushed hard right from the gun and was rewarded with a new PB time of 16:31 - second overall.
Brian Martin, who’s coming into great shape, also raced well to earn third place in a fast 17:11.
There was a great battle between Stephen Geraghty and Gerry Mullins and it was only in the closing stages that Geraghty opened a gap and crossed the line in 21:16, to Mullins’ 21:55.
Among the D&D ladies, Yvonne McMahon ran a new PB of 22.37 when finishing 27th, as did Margo Brady who ran 28:11 and finished 69th. Also running were young Senan Gough (24:21) and Donal Branigan who ran 34:23.