Drogheda teams relay impressive on national stage
DROGHEDA & District AC had plenty of reason to celebrate as two of their teams scooped bronze at the National Road Relays in Raheny on Sunday.
Hosted by Raheny Shamrocks AC, this top-class event attracts the cream of Irish athletics and is held over a natural lap which is just over one mile long.
Running in the first race of the day were the D&D Women’s Over50 team of Karen Delaney, Nuala Reilly and Deirdre McFerran who knew they were in with a shout of a medal but were going to have to work hard for it.
The decision on who would run each leg was to prove vital, and as it happened, running in the lead leg was Karen Delaney who’s relatively new to the sport.
Delaney quickly settled into the pace and continued to push hard as the legs began to tire on the tough, uphill finish, handing over the baton in fourth place to the waiting Nuala Reilly.
What Reilly doesn’t know about athletics isn’t worth knowing and she used her vast experience to steadily claw back the thirdplaced runner over the first of her two-lap leg.
Going out on the last lap, Reilly was now up to third place, and keeping her head where others would have panicked, she kept the pressure on to hold off her chasing rivals who were closing the gap.
Handing over to final-leg runner Deirdre McFerran who had a 10-metre lead, things were looking good but by no means safe, and McFerran held her nerve and kept a bit in reserve for the anticipated attack on the back end of the course. Rounding the final bend, McFerran injected a serious increase in pace which took her clear and broke the will of her rivals to secure National bronze medals.
Inspired by that success, the club’s Men’s Over-50 squad were next on the start line for a race which was to prove a real thriller.
Lead runner Robbie Maher, who’s been there and done it all before, had one job to do and he did it well.
In these relays, it’s all about keeping your teammate in the race and giving him a chance to run for the next man and coming into the home straight Maher was right up there with his rivals and handed over to Pat O’Grady in third place.
O’Grady, who has tremendous experience as an athlete, wasn’t feeling the best during the warmup, but cometh the hour cometh the man and he dug deep over the next 11 minutes to overcome his problems and pass the baton to final-leg runner Danny Skeffington in third place.
Skeffington is one handy runner, especially over the mile distance where he can hurt his opponents, and this race was no exception.R unning with his usual fluid but workmanlike style, he quickly got up to race speed and set about bring the bronze medal home.
Coming round the final bend, Skeffington gave it all he had right to the line to complete the double for Drogheda & District.
The D&D team of Fintan Maher, Shane Larkin and Ruaidhri Nolan were really up against it in the Men’s Over-35 race and the speed of the top runners in this age category really has to be seen to be believed. Nevertheless, lead-leg runner Maher had a sparkling run to keep D&D in the race as he ran his leg in well under five minutes.
Larkin gave it his all every step of the two-lap leg and handed over to Nolan knowing that he’d left nothing in the tank.
Nolan, who’s maturing well as a runner, hung in there and battled well with his opponents and this trio finished 10th overall against the best that Irish athletics has to offer.
Last Saturday’s Oldbridge Parkrun was held on a beautiful sunny morning and conditions were good for some fast running.
Brian Martin certainly found things to his liking as he sped round this challenging 5K course in a very impressive 16:59 on his way to winning the race in a new PB time.
D&D’s next finisher in 35th place was Suzanne English who also ran a new PB time of 23:43, with Seamus Roe not far behind in 42nd spot in 25:09. Sinead McGuinness had a good run to finish 54th in 26:33 and Linda Bowe was 66th in 27:45.
Also running were Michele McCullough who was 72nd in 28:43, Ruth Dunne 82nd in 30:38 and Noreen Burke 84th in 30:53.
Elsewhere, the final round of the Raheny Shamrocks Winter League took place last Wednesday and in the Mile even marathon man Gerard Fay ran 6:48 which earned him enough points to finish second overall in Division 3 of the league.