Young Tadgh rewarded for fighting spirit

WITH just 10 minutes to go to the start of Sunday’s Erin’s Run 5K road race in Termonfeckin, conditions were blizzard-like to say the least.

A bitingly cold east wind had most of the 550 runners seeking shelter from the driving snow, but thankfully the sky cleared just in time and it was down to business for the runners.

Drogheda & District had in excess of 70 members taking part this year and there were plenty of red vests in the leading pack right from the gun being fired.

Young Tadgh Donnelly, who’s only 16, has given up a promising boxing career to concentrate on his running and certainly showed how much he’s improved when he stormed round the course in a fast 16:21, finishing second overall to Drogheda native Simon Ryan who runs for Raheny AC.

Donnelly is a real find for D&D and possesses immense physical strength and it’s all about learning his craft over the next few years.

Young Donnelly ran hard and fast right from the start and another year’s training will see him running the same course at least as fast as this year’s winner.

Just a few seconds behind Donnelly, the race of the day was taking place between Paul Smith and Shane Larkin as they battled it out for third place.

With less than a mile to go, both runners injected a serious increase in pace, but at the finish line Smith edged out Larkin by a second, running 16:43. Close behind in fourth spot was Brian Martin, and he was followed by Colm Reilly in 17:51.

Abigail Tegart, another one of the club’s Juvenile athletes who races Under-16, produced a terrific run to win the Junior Ladies race and also finish third overall in the Women’s race in 21:02 which was good running given the conditions.

The ever-present Nuala Reilly had a solid run to finish 46th overall in 22:38, with new member Yann Mahuet, who’s come all the way from France to run with D&D, 48th in 22:43.

Some of D&D’s finest track runners were in action at the NIA Live Indoor Series in Abbottstown last Thursday evening.

Many on these athletes intend to run in the European Masters Indoor Track Championships in March and were using these races to sharpen up their speed and to get the feel for indoor racing.

Robbie Maher, who recently turned 50 and entered a new age category, is a man on a mission these days. Sensing he could be in the mix for a European medal has given him a new lease of life and Maher gave a top-class display of running against some younger opponents when he finished a fine fourth in his 1500m in a fast 4:30:01.

Also running the 1500m was Mary Leech who’s never found wanting when the serious questions are asked in the closing stages of the metric mile. Leech ran a clever race, staying out of trouble, and let it rip over the last 200m to come home a worthy winner in a fine 5:07:10.

Four D&D athletes took part in the shorter 800m event, run over four laps, and once again young James Nolan went close to going sub two minutes when finishing third in 2:00:72. Nolan worked hard to close the gap on the leaders and with the proper mix of athletes in his race he’ll definitely break the two-minute mark soon.

Fintan Maher ran a decent 2:11:33 in his race and there’s lots more to come from him as the season progresses.

In the Women’s 800m Orla O’Connor led her race right up to the last few metres before being caught on the line and she had to settle for third place on this occasion. Still, her time of 2:18:39 is just reward for all her hard work in training over the winter.

Mags Nugent made a successful return to racing when winning her 800m race in 2:32:21.

In the 400m event, run over two laps, three D&D athletes finished within one second of each other when taking the first three places in their event. First across the line was Hugh O’Reilly in 59:89, with Paul Stuart runner-up in 60:39 and Gerry O’Connor third in 60:76.

Karl Carton could be pleased with his performance when finishing second in his 200m event in a useful 26:33, while Frank Cruise was third in his 200m race in 28:22.

In her 200m race Andrea McCabe raced well to finish fifth in 33:37, with her training partner Mary Flanagan sixth in her event in 42:72. Kelly Cruise was sixth in the Women’s 60m, in 10:02.

Just three D&D members took part in last Saturday’s Oldbridge Parkrun, which was run over a tricky course given the soft underfoot conditions. In 29th place was Seamus Roe in 27:09, Ruth Dunne was 43rd in 32:38 and Noreen Burke 47th in 34:43.