Larkin and McKiernan battle it out
ANNAGASSAN’S quiet rural roads were turned into a sea of red when a large number of Drogheda & District athletes ran the 10K road race in memory of Irish athletics legend and former European record holder Noel Carroll.
Conditions on the day favoured the runners as there was a decent tail wind on the back stretch of the course along the coast road.
Once the gun went, Shane Larkin quickly made his way to the head of the field and forced the pace with a fast opening mile of 5:30 on the downhill stretch towards the village. It soon became clear that this race was down to three main contenders - Larkin, Niall Fergus from North East Runners and former Olympian Catherina McKiernan - and they pushed hard coming up to the turn at the 5K mark to open up a decisive lead on the chasing pack.
The next 3K was all about hard, sustained running as Larkin and McKiernan opened up some daylight on Fergus, who eventually finished third overall.
With less than 2km to go, McKiernan began to turn the screw on Larkin and there were some serious questions being asked of his ability to take the pain.
Larkin, small in stature but huge in heart, dug in and applied himself in spades as the pair made their way towards the last kilometre marker, but this was to be McKiernan’s day and her fast finish saw her come home a clear and popular winner, with Larkin having to be content with the runner-up spot.
The head-to-head record between those two now stands at four wins each, but Larkin’s time of 36:16 - slightly slower the previous year’s race - still represents good running and he’ll be in the reckoning at the County Masters Cross-Country Championships in two weeks’ time.
D&D’s next finisher was Mags Nugent who ran well to finish 41st overall in a solid 42:47, followed by Niamh Matthews in 108th spot in 48:31. Anna Isgro ran well to finish 163rd in 51:36, while Edel Victory finished 184th in 52:31.
Elsewhere, taking to the fields adjoining Santry Stadium for the BHAA Irish Life 6K race were Conor Cooney, Jim Nolan and Colm Reilly, while Nuala Reilly ran in the Women’s race.
Although the ground was quite soft, most of the runners seemed to cope well with the conditions over this four-lap race and D&D’s men’s trio finished fourth in the team event, with Reilly picking up a win in the Over-35 category.
Nuala Reilly - as always - delivered a strong run to take first prize in her category.
The weekly Oldbridge Parkrun continues to attract many of our members who use the hilly 5K run to sharpen up for County Championship racing.
Stephen Kelly seems to have recovered well from his Dublin Marathon run and he sped round the course in a lively 16:34 to win last Saturday’s race.
Perhaps the run of the day belonged to Yasmin Canning who ran a sparkling new PB time of 20:01 when finishing eighth overall and she’ll surely break the 20-minute barrier soon.
Also running well was Brian Guilfoyle - 20th in 22:33 - Declan McMahon who was 29th in 24:57, Linda Bowe (46th in 28:10) and Laura Dowling (48th in 29:10).
And at the mid-week ALSAA Winter League, Christy Duffy ran 13:28 for the 3K race and Gerard Fay 13:50.