Dunleer ladies to the fore in Seamie Weldon 5k race

DUNLEER AC’s strong men’s and ladies teams packed well to finish among the prizes in Saturday’s annual Seamie Weldon 5k race held in Ardee.

Overall victory in the ladies race went to Karen Costello in 18:39, with her Dunleer teammate Nicola Welsh second in 19:04, and those results helped their club finish second in the team competition, 10 points behind Drogheda & District.

For the men, Darragh Greene came home in a strong third place in 15:40, just a second behind Freddy Stukk (Raheny Shamrocks) but a long way back from the runaway winner Hiko Tondsa (Dundrum South Dublin) who clocked 15:07.

Completing the Dunleer team who won the men’s race were Pat Fitzpatrick (17:41), Padraig O’Mahoney (18:14) and 17-year-old Fran Whelan whose time of 18:20 won him the third junior prize as he finished 15th overall.

With those placings, Dunleer’s winning tally was 38 points, well ahead of runners-up Drogheda & District (51) and North East Runners (69).

Also representing Dunleer on the day were Richard Califf, Mark Carroll, Micheál Mulligan and Derek Russell.