Trio break course record in exciting Duleek race

THE fifth annual running of the Indaver Duleek 10k road race attracted more than 300 entries and resulted in an exciting and record-breaking finish.

A fast and furious pace was set, so much so that the course record was broken not once, but three times by the first three males across the line. Victory, in a time of 31:12, went to Freddy Sittuk of Raheny AC who narrowly pipped Colin Maher of Ballyfin AC, with previous winner Gary O’Hanlon in third place and 2016 champion Brian McCluskey a strong fourth.

The ladies race was won by local athlete Nicola Bull (Star of the Sea AC), with Bohermeen athletes Andrea McGuinnes and Olivia Martin taking second and third places respectively.

There were lots of category prizes among the various age groups and the Over-50 winners were Dolores Kelly of Balbriggan AC and Patrick O’Grady from Drogheda & District AC. The ever-popular Nuala Reilly took the female Over-60 category with a smashing performance and John Cullen won the male prize in that age group.

A solitary point was all that separated the Drogheda & District AC ladies team of Yasmin Canning, Michelle Hughes and Nuala Reilly from Bohermeen AC. Indee, it turned out to be a very productive day for the red vests of D&D, with Patrick O’Grady, Stephen Kelly and Brian Martin taking the male team prize from Brothers Pearse in second place.

In addition to hosting events, Duleek & District AC have been active on the roads in recent weeks.

In the Clogherhead Seaside 10k Greg Dixon came home in just over 40 minutes in very testing conditions, and Anne Hamilton and Sandra Cassin can be pleased with their efforts as they both clocked in on the 59-minute mark.

Some 42 Duleek & District members basked in the sunshine as the annual Rock and Roll half-marathon rolled into town for the Dublin instalment of the event.

As with any of the city centre races the crowds and intermittent bands along the course contributed to a great atmosphere and there were some notable performances from the Duleek contingent, many of whom were taking on the distance for the first time.

Chief amongst these were Dawn Heeney, Olivia Woods, Amanda Duff, Tara Devine and Orla Crosby, with Olive Wall providing some excellent pacing. Ziad Chammas put in a very intensive couple of months training and ran an excellent time of 1hr 47min,

while Fran Power clocked an impressive 1:35 and proved he is adept over the longer distances.

Karen Creed picked up where she left off in the Indaver 10k with another impressive performance, Darragh Scully continues to go from strength to strength and Celena Tierney also ran a great race.

Endurance running and distance events present athletes with a dilemma - whether to obey the mind and body or overrule it.

Club member Ray Cassin undertook the 100-mile challenge in Connemara, having gone through months of intensive training, and a dawn start in Clifden was followed by the athletes making their way towards Letterfrack.

With some hydration and food intake at Inagh valley, Ray made his way towards the 28-mile mark in exactly six hours. From there onwards the discomfort began and continued. Ray bravely fought through it until mile 75 where it simply was not possible to continue.

However, despite having to call it a day earlier than planned the challenge raised a significant amount of much-needed funds for two local charities – Meals on Wheels and Duleek Active Retirement.