Titanic effort from Carraig AC athletes in Belfast
A busy weekend of action for Carraig na bhFear AC athletes who were literally spread the length and breadth of the country.
The Schools All-Ireland competition brought the cross-country season to a close and certainly lived up to the anticipated high level of competition. Mallusk playing fields in Belfast was the venue on a dry but cold day with good conditions for cross-country. The course began with a long flat, fast section before gradually moving up through tiers of playing fields before athletes tackled a steep, muddy ascent to the top level, a dash across the top before hurtling back down a treacherous slope to the main course loops and finish straight in a lower tier.
JUNIOR GIRLS
Laura Moore (Loreto Fermoy) had an excellent run in 44th position, this experience at the highest level will be of great benefit to Laura and her club in future competitions. There were scenes of great jubilation when the bronze medal for St. Aloysius, Carrigtwohill was announced as the race was still concluding. Lucy Lynch doing a great job for the team in 58th place, ecstatic on hearing the result and certainly helping to ease the pain after a massive effort. Following a 3rd place finish in Munster it was a sterling effort from the whole team who were packed tightly together in the points to finish first Munster team behind school teams from Lisburn and Belfast.
INTERMEDIATE BOYS
A fantastic race for the spectators, just 2 seconds separating the first 3 athletes across the line in a blanket finish with the familiar face of Cork’s Sean Lawton pipped into second place on the dip. Aidan Maher had an impressive 37th place finish and saw his St Colmans Fermoy team-mates also produce their best performances of the competition to secure the bronze team medal by 8 points from Wesley College. A great year for Aidan who will be at intermediate level again next year.
SENIOR BOYS
Another great race over 6.5km saw the pre-race favourite Dean Casey from St Flannans outsprinted by US college bound Scott Fagan in what was an unrelenting pace from start to finish. Timmy Hawkins (Rochestown College) was dogged in his determination and was rewarded with a 37th place finish, very impressive running from Timmy who has 2 more years at senior level.
A mention also for Áine Sheridan who qualified and would have relished the competition, however team commitments meant that the versatile Áine lined out for Cobh Ramblers against Galway United in Dangan in the U17 Women’s League of Ireland.
In summary, a memorable experience for the Carraig Na bhFear AC athletes and their parents and again a weekend which more than exceeded our hopes and aspirations for the athletes.
U23 Men’s National Indoors Finals.
On Sunday the 13th, the Men’s U23 Indoor National Championships were held in the TUS International Arena in Athlone. We had 2 athletes competing, both producing excellent performances in high standard fields. In the 1,500m Daire O’Sullivan pushed the pace from the gun, a fast finish saw Daire in contention for a medal right to the end, finishing in fourth place in a fast 4:06.38, less than 2 seconds behind Leevale’s Ben Smith in the bronze medal position. In the 400m final, our long hurdles specialist Ciaran Nugent produced a very creditable PB of 51.33 and was only squeezed in to fourth place by .3 of a second. A huge well done to both young men who represented the club with distinction.
QUEST KENMARE
Colm Crowley finished an impressive 21st of 245 finishers in the 78km Quest Adventure Expert race with a time of 3hrs 54mins. With two 8km hill runs thrown in to the mix a real test of endurance with challenging weather conditions adding to the misery, well done to Colm on a great race.
PARK RUN
A weekend away is rarely a weekend off for runners and with Belfast’s iconic Victoria Park in our vicinity it was too good an opportunity to pass up. Consisting of three loops of a lake, the wide grippy paths are ideal for runners and park users to happily co-exist. A mix of serious athletes (first home in 14:38!), Park Run regulars (one man doing his 500th) and chatting joggers made for a great atmosphere and a warm welcome. Carraig had 4 runners with David Maher (10th in 17:26), Richard Hawkins (21:17), Rebecca Kelleher (21:58) and Denise Maher (26:52) getting in some solid training. With a vocal support crew for motivation, it was an ideal distraction before heading to Mallusk.
LOOK AHEAD
A relatively quiet week ahead in terms of competition with middle distance runners and walkers heading for Athlone. Stay in touch with our social media pages for club news.