David meets his match in Euro decider
DROGHEDA & District AC’s David Walsh ran out of steam after qualifying for the 1500m final at the European Masters Track Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, on Sunday.
Despite not feeling the best in Saturday’s heats, Walsh’s time of 4:19.66 was just good enough to get him into the final which was loaded with some of the best Masters athletes in Europe.
However, with only a day to recover before Sunday’s final, Walsh was really up against it and he couldn’t keep with the leaders when the big move was made, eventually finishing 15th in 4:19.31. However, he will have better days as he gains experience of running at this level.
Closer to home, some of the D&D club’s finest track runners were in action over the weekend in the National League meeting at the Mary Peters track in Belfast.
Running on the Louth team seemed to inspire the members as there were some sparkling performances, notably from Mary Leech who produced the goods when it mattered by finishing second in her 1500m race in 4:45, a massive PB run by four seconds.
Running in the same race as guests were Orla O’Connor and Pamela Howard. O’Connor, who’s running really well at the moment, ran a fast 4:53 over a distance that she wouldn’t normally race, while Howard ran a solid 5:04 and will go quicker over the summer.
Sam O’Neill and Cormac Canning, two of D&D’s finest juvenile athletes, were running as guests in the Men’s 1500m and both ran well despite the windy conditions. O’Neill clocked 4:16.7 and Canning had a big PB of 4:18.
In the 100m sprint, Andrew Kelly was fourth in his race in 11.85sec and Lee McGuinness ran well to finish fourth in his 200m event in 22.93sec. McGuinness and Kelly were also part of the Louth relay team which finished fourth in the 4x100m event.
Blathnaid Donnelly, competing as a guest in her 200m race, ran 29.5sec and later in the day helped the Louth team to second place in the 4x100m relay.
In the one-lap event, the 400m, Hugh Callan ran a fine 54.4sec to finish fourth and later helped the relay team to second spot in the 4x400m.
A large group of D&D athletes made the short trip to Clogherhead last Sunday for the traditional 10k road race and the challenging course really puts it up to the runners in the last 2k and is not for the faint-hearted.
Nevertheless, Stephen Kelly made light work of the hills and stormed round in a fast 34:18 which earned him a first-place finish. Runner-up was Brian Martin who crossed the line in 35:00 and the pocket rocket Shane Larkin was fifth in 37:07.
Ruaidhri Nolan produced a good run to finish sixth in 37:26, with Artur Kuwik not far behind in eighth place in 38:32.
Category prize winners for D&D’s men were Ruaidhri Nolan and Artur Kuwik - both third in category - and Giancarlo Orlandi who came second in his section when finishing 38th in 44:00.
Bernadette Matthews was the club’s first lady across the line in 64th place in 47:14, with Carmel Keenan next in 86th place in 50:01, so close to the 50-minute mark. Deirdre McFerran picked up a third-in-category prize when finishing in 57:23.
Colm Reilly showed that his marathon preparations are going well when he finished 16th in last Saturday’s Blayney Rockets 10mile road race held in Monaghan. Despite being run over a hilly course, Reilly recorded a fine 63:08 for the classic distance.
In mid-week Brian Guilfoyle finished 22nd at the Dublin Airport Central 5k after running a solid 21:39 and Gerard Fay was 47th in 24:00, while at the Menapians 5k in Wexford, Liam Farrell placed 35th in 22:19 and Jim Nolan continued his run of good form when clocking 21:12 for the Dublin Fire Brigade 5k in Marino.
Last Saturday’s Oldbridge Parkrun tempted seven members and the club’s first finisher was Martin Russell who placed sixth overall in a solid 20:50. Martin Woods was next in 32nd place in 24:53 picking up a new PB, and Donal Branigan - who runs this 5k event every week - was 89th in 34:34.
Mary Toner was D&D’s first lady home in 53rd place in 27:50 with Lorraine McGuirk 60th in 28:51 and Rose Dalton 90th in 34:38.