Records tumble in Ardee
A HECTIC fortnight for the Ardee & District club concluded on Saturday with their third annual Seamie Weldon 5k race - following on from their traditional Open Sports Day the weekend before.
With 451 athletes of all abilities registered to take part a great buzz was building around the grounds of St Mary’s GAA Club, helped by glorious autumn sunshine.
Last year’s winner Freddy Sittuk smashed his own course record when winning the race in 15:18 and was followed home by Lithuanian athlete Valdas Dopolskas in 15:23 and North East Runners’ Brian McCluskey in 16:29.
The first lady to cross the finish line - and also break the course record - was Niamh Devlin of Clones AC in 18:20, followed by Dunleer’s Karen Costello in 18:58 and Erin McHugh (Drogheda & District) in 19:11. Danny O’Brien (Dunleer) was the first junior home in 18:33, ahead of Oisin Hughes (Blackrock) in 18.56 and Fran Whelan in 21:13.
Ardee & District’s Abbie Sheridan took the Junior Ladies title, running 23 minutes flat, followed by clubmate Tara McGuinness in 23:28 and Eimear McCoy in 23:47.
The Seamie Weldon Memorial Cup was presented by Seamie’s wife Helen to Dunleer AC for the efforts of Pat Fitzpatrick, Paul Butler, Danny O’Brien and Raymond Hughes. Ruth Kelly, granddaughter to the late Jimmy Bradley, was on hand to present the Jimmy Bradley Memorial Cup to the winning Dunleer ladies team of Karen Costello, Nicola Welsh, Nicola Courtney and Sandra Doheny.
With the Louth county masters 5k incorporated into the race, Ardee & District’s Leo Farrell get his hands on a county gold medal by winning his category and Brian Duff silver in his age group. Helen Weldon was also a medal winner, receiving a bronze for her efforts.
Ardee & District AC would like to thank all those who helped make the race a success and ensure the smooth running of the event, with a special mention to race sponsors PJ Callan and Ardee St Mary’s GAA Club.
The weekend before the curtain came down on this year’s local track & field season with Ardee & District’s annual Open Sports Day.
The day started with Holly Murray winning the Under-8 60m and 200m, before joining teammates Jessica McCarron, Rachel Duff and Kelsey to come third in the U-9 relay. Matthew McCormack competing well also in the younger age group and Fintan Kelly took silver in the U-9 200m.
In the U-10 events Ardee’s Ashen Mothiram took silver in the turbo javelin, ahead of clubmate Dylan McCarron in third.
Caoimhe Carolan claimed the bronze medal in the U-10 turbo javelin and moved up to U-11 for the relay where she went one better with her teammates Amy Murray, Paulina Kelly and Sarah Duff to take silver. Huberta Sokdova ran with St Gerards to take top spot on the podium.
Amy Murray also won a trio of bronze medals in the U-11 100m, 600m and long jump, and among the boys Jack Dowdall took gold in his sprint and silver in the U-11 relay with teammates Jayden Clarke, Tadhg and Callum Caffrey.
Kya Mothiram won silver and Paulina Kelly bronze in the U-12 turbo javelin and Joe Murphy, Jack McCarron and Rob Kelly competed well in their U-12 events also.
Hallie Sands and Orlaith Carolan came second and third in the U-13 100m, with Samantha McCarron taking the final place on the podium in the 800m and Ruth Gillespie joining the girls to win gold in the U-13 relay.
At U-14 level, Isabelle Delaney won the shot put and Rebecca McCarron came third in the 800m, while Emma Gillespie came first in the Under-15 800m, third in her sprint. This trio were joined by Aoibheann Carolan for the U-15 relay and they duly won gold.
Eireann Hoey came third in the U-14 shot putt and was joined by Ava McNally, Emma Duff and Mya Chanda to finish second in the U-15 relay. Niamh Whyte took silver and Abbie Sheridan bronze in the U-16 100m, with Abbie going one better in the 800m when taking silver. Tara McGuinness won bronze in the U-19 100m, with sister Niamh taking silver in the 800m. Niamh was joined by Conor McMahon, Aoibheann Carolan and Eireann Hoey to win silver in the Under-19 relay.
The final event of the day was Ardee & District’s one-mile Fit4Life race which saw Sarah Níc Lochlaínn and Peter Carolan finish second in their categories.