Hearty in the right place as he claims third

A STORMING performance by Duleek athlete Peter Hearty ensured the club was represented on the podium at the Longwood 5k on Sunday last.

The south meath village was awash with athletes warming up, cooling down, pacing, racing and spectating as the village hosted its annual 5k and 10k road races.

The permits for both races were granted by Trim AC and it is hard to think of a rural area in Meath more conducive to hosting these events than Longwood.

The worst of Storm Brian had subsided and conditions improved considerably throughout the morning as both races commenced almost simultaneously.

Duleek & District AC’s interest in proceedings was centred around the 5k as two of the club’s athletes, Hearty and David Doyle, were taking part.

The 5k started with a village loop before taking on a more rural twist out of the village and it was no surprise that St Coca’s AC athlete Kevin Kelly pulled clear from early on, with Andrew Nevin from Mullingar Harriers in hot pursuit.

As the race wore on Kelly’s class told as he hammered home his early advantage to take the title in an impressive 15:33. The race for the placings hotted up in the latter stages, with Hearty making inroads and almost catching Nevin.

However, Nevin held on for second place, with Hearty taking an excellent third in 17:50 and Doyle eventually finishing fifth.