Fast times for Duleek crew in Navan 6k
A ROAD race, parkrun, community games and the Streets of Dublin all combined to ensure a week of manic activity for Duleek & District AC.
The annual Simon Cumbers & Paddy Hyland 6k in Navan was where the action began, with a total of 11 club athletes linking up on the start line.
This particular race is well known for the velocity of its course and the value of its offering and the light drizzle did not detract from a crowd of almost 900 athletes.
Ziad Chammas continues to improve with every race and clocked an impressive 26:43, while Tara Dillon - fresh off the back off strong performances in the Boyne and DkIT 10k races - made the adjustment to the shorter distance without any great difficiulty and clocked another impressive time.
Barbara McLoughlin and Eileen Cormack notched another PB in a very impressive debut season for the club and they were followed closely home by Nuala O’Connor and Marion Hayden.
With the adult action for the weekend done and dusted the club was well represented at the Duleek Community Games.
With a combination of sprint and longer distance races as well as the ball throw event, it was a great evening, with the club taking a clean sweep in a number of events. As a result a number of club athletes go forward to represent Duleek in the Meath Community Games.
On the night there were great performances from Sophie Foran, Aoife Rohan, Jack O’Connor, Jack Maxwell, Myles Killeen and Ruby Hartford.
With a mere 48-hour turnaoround a number of the same athletes were present again on the track in Navan for the Meath Relay Championships.
Few track and field events generate the same colour and excitement as the relays.
In what is predominantly an individual sport, the relay events offer athletes the unique opportunity to participate as part of a team. Duleek had girls teams competing in the Under 9 and Under 11 4 x 100m events. The under 9 team of Sophie Foran, Nessa Rohan, Saoirse Power and Abbie Seery won their heat, but with overall results based on times the girls’ 1min 17sec was just outside the medals as they took an excellent 4th place overall.
Heats were also required in the Under 11s and the Duleek team of Nicole Hoey, Megan O’Connor, Ruby Hartford and Saoirse Dixon took 2nd place in their heat.
Nicole Hoey showed incredible dedication to the cause by turning up with her arm heavily strapped to ensure that the remainder of the team could compete. And compete they did as all of the girls ran their hearts out and Megan brought the team home with a storming finish, finishing narrowly outside the placings.
On a track in a different location Greg Dixon ran a very strong 5,000m event at the Drogheda & District graded meeting. In ideal conditions, a fast field went to post and Greg ran strongly throughout to eclipse the 19-minute mark to achieve a new season’s best for the distance.
In Blackwater Park, Navan, and over the same distance, Peter Hearty led from gun to tape to emerge victorious in the Navan Parkrun.
After some well-deserved recuperation time after the Rotterdam Marathon, Peter made a stirring return to shorter distance racing with a strong performance.
The 5k distance was very much in vogue over the past days and the dynamic Sandra Cassin and Anne Hamilton took part in the Streets of Dublin 5k. Both athletes, who represent the club consistently and clock a very high volume of races, put in further strong performances.