Drogheda duo master sprints in Tullamore
LOCAL firefighter Karl Carton blazed a trail on Sunday when he took home two bronze medals from the Leinster Senior and Masters Track Championships in Tullamore, Offaly.
Running in his first event of the day, the 200m, Carton ran a great bend to put himself in contention for a medal and held good form all the way to the line to get the bronze in 27:00.
A few hours later, Carton was quick out of the blocks in the 100m and on to his second medal of the day when running 13:06 against some good opposition.
Going one better than Carton was Frank Cruise who also competed in the 100m/200m sprint double and was second in his 200m in 28:79 and later in the day second in his 100m in 13:78. Also running in the 200m was David Thornton, who was seventh in his M50 category in 29:21.
In the Women’s 100m/200m, Barbara O’Donnell was seventh in her W40 200m in 33:09 and was unlucky not to get a medal when finishing fourth in her W40 100m in 16:03.
Andrea McCabe was eighth in her 200m race in 34:61 and followed it up with an eighth-place finish in her 100m race with 16:49.
In the Senior Men’s 200m An- drew Kelly was really up against it but finished ninth in a new PB time of 23:34 which was good running in very warm conditions. He then ran in the U-23 100m and was second in his heat and sixth overall in 11:66.
Mags Nugent is proof that if you have the patience and dedication that’s required to be a good athlete, then the results will come.
Having overcome injury problems, Nugent has really applied herself in training and she delivered a quality run in her W35 800m event to come home a clear winner in 2:32:55, picking up a provincial gold medal.
In the one lap event, the 400m, Frank Cruise picked up a third silver medal in his M55 category when running 1:15:15.
Gerry O’Connor went close when finishing third in his M50 400m in 1:01:78, with David Thornton sixth in 1:08:66.
Hugh O’Reilly denied his clubmate Karl Carton a hat-trick of medals when he ran right to the line to snatch the bronze medal in 1:00:40 in a photo finish.
Elsewhere, round three of D&D AC’s Summer Graded Series took place in glorious sunshine at Lourdes Stadium last Thursday evening.
Incorporated into the meeting were the Leinster Junior Men’s and Women’s Championships.
Lee McGuinness got the evening off to a good start when he ran a blistering 11.55 into a head wind to win his 100m race and complete a sprint double as he won the 200m the previous week.
In the Junior Men’s 3,000m Cormac Canning waited until the lead pack was whittled down to the main contenders and then made his move with just over a lap to go.
He ran an eye-opening 64 seconds for his last lap to come home a clear winner in 9:42, leaving his trailing opponents shaking their heads in disbelief.
In the Graded Series 800m, the A race was won by Hugh Callan who worked hard to make up ground and finished in a solid 2:14:79. Orla O’Connor ran a solid 2:22 when finishing sixth, with Shane Larkin eighth in 2:27.
Martin Russell also ran 2:27 when finishing third in the B race, with Roisin Coade 10th in 2:41.
The shortest event of the evening, the 100m, saw Andrew Kelly get off to a flying start as he raced his way to a fine victory in 11:87.
The event with the closest finish of the evening was the 3,000m A race, with only the width of a singlet between winner Anthony Connolly from Dunleer in 9:48:56 and runner-up Colm Kirke from Clones. Pat O’Grady was sixth in 10:23 and Johnny Breen seventh with 10:29.
The B 3,000m race saw Joey Ryan finish second in 12:19, while Mary McGreehan - running her second race in two days - held good form to finish sixth in 13:12. Yvonne Russell was seventh, Phillipa Donnelly 10th and Maureen Harbison 13th.
Amongst the club’s youths section, Abi Teggart ran a personal best 2:38 over 800m, while Kate O’Reilly ran a strong race to finish in 2:51 and Muirne O’Connor ran 3:09. In the 100m, Moya McCabe was quick out of the blocks to finish third in 15:20.
Siblings Daniel and Peter Aylward were on form with long jumps of 4:32 and 4:08 respectively, while Eoghan Curran cleared 1:15 in the high jump and had a best of 3:81 in the long jump.
Less than two seconds seperated Tadhg Donnelly from a bronze medal at last Saturday’s All-Ireland Schools Track Championships, held in Tullamore.
Donnelly was running in the Intermediate Boys 3,000m against the finest young athletes that Ireland has to offer and in a race that was won in 9:05 by Micheal McCaul, Donnelly was right up in the mix for a medal and just didn’t get there on the run-in to the finish.
However, his time of 9:13:18 shows just a glimpse of the huge potential that this fine young athlete has.
More than 50 club members took part in the Star of the Sea 5K road race, held in Stamullen last Tuesday evening.
There was no wind, but the unusually warm weather made things difficult over this undulating course and D&D’s first finisher in eighth place overall was Shane Larkin who scorched round the course in a new PB time of 16:52 for a third-in-category prize. Ru