D&D athletes shine in race spectacular

RACE director Adrian Gogarty and his organising committee did a superb job in making this year’s Midsummer 5k Road Race a great success as more than 650 runners took to the streets of Drogheda for one of the best events on the Irish athletics calendar.

From host club Drogheda & District’s point of view, the Couch 2 5k crew and their coaches did particularly well to finish off six weeks of hard training on a high.

The Men’s race was won by visiting runner Valdas Dopolskas from Balbriggan AC in 15:45 and young Tadgh Donnelly was Drogheda & District’s first finisher in seventh place in a fast 17:26, two seconds ahead of clubmate Pat O’Grady.

Colm Reilly ran well to place 15th in 18:06, with Colin Leonard next in 18th place in 18:30. Niall McGill ran a solid 19:18 when finishing 34th and Martin Russell was 45th in 20:07.

The ladies race was won by Nicola Bull from Star of the Sea in 18:38 and Nuala Reilly led home the D&D ladies when finishing 89th in 22:12, with Yvonne McMahon 94th in 22:28. Barbara Byrne ran 22:39 for 99th place and Helen Dillon was 143rd in 23:59.

Category prize winners were Nuala Reilly, Pat O’Grady, Christy Duffy and Mary McDonnell.

Taking part in the Irish Milers Club Meeting in Belfast were five of D&D’s finest track runners.

These paced races are designed to help Irish athletes achieve qualifying times for major championships and to raise the standards within the sport.

Kieran McGrath produced the goods when it mattered by running a superb 1:59.10 when finishing fifth in the 800m B race, Sam O’Neill recorded a new PB of 2:03.42 in his 800m C race and Robert Caffery ran 2:07.11 in the D race.

Pamela Howard finished fourth against good opposition in her 800m race when crossing the line in 2:27.29.

Running in the 400m race was Hugh Callan who ran 54:34 when finishing third.

All roads led to Dunshaughlin for last Saturday’s superbly organised 10k Road Race, which always attracts a high quality field of up to a thousand runners.

This year was no exception, although conditions on the night were slightly windy and a bit too humid for the runners’ liking.

‘Pocket Rocket’ Shane Larkin ran well and was D&D’s first finisher in 61st place in 36:07.

Next in was Ruaidhri Nolan in 36:33 for 73rd and Colm Reilly - running his second race in two days - was 112th in 37:26.

Bryan Harvey was well pleased as he got the pace right and ran a new PB time of 40:23.

Yasmin Canning picked up a category prize when running a fine time of 41:33, and Michelle Hughes won a great battle with Jacker Reilly in 44:20, to her clubmate’s 44:24. Prolific racer Nuala Reilly ran 44:44 and duly won her category.

Last Wednesday’s graded meeting in Tallaght Stadium saw young James Nolan edge even closer to the magical two-minute mark for the 800m.

Nolan gave it his all as he surged towards the finishing line when finishing third in 2:00.19.

Also running the 800m distance were David Quinn who ran 2:12.65 and Orla O’Connor who finished eighth in her race in 2:23.65.

Brian Pentony placed third in the 800m C1 race, with Robbie Maher fourth and Ian O’Reilly sixth.

Hugh Callan showed he’s in good form when running 24.82sec in the 200m B1 race.

Elsewhere, Gerard Fay completed his 300th marathon at last weekend’s Waterford Viking event and has completed more events of that distance than all the other club members combined!

Fays time of 4:38:44 was slowed by the very hilly course and the high humidity on race day and fellow clubmate Gerry Mullins ran 3:53:45 and David Gough covered the course in 3:56:39.

Last Saturday’s Oldbridge Parkrun tempted six D&D members and Michael Walker was the club’s first finisher in 22nd place in a new PB time of 23:19, with Jos Haak 61st in 29:01.

Debra Walters led the club’s ladies home in 60th place and Noreen Burke was 81st in 32:20, with Rose Dalton and Dominic Carthy also competing.

Meanwhile, Drogheda & District AC have congratulated their promising member Lee McGuinness on winning the 200m in a new championship best time of 22.85sec at the recent Leinster Juvenile Track Championships in Tullamore.

McGuinness is coming back to form following an injury, is blessed with raw sprinting speed and will go even faster as he perfects his running style.