from Donore Harriers website There was some excellent performances and results from some of our younger athletes on the track last week which saw medals at both the West and North Leinster School’s Championships. April 28th saw the first day of the West Leinster’s at Santry where John Travers was in action in the Senior Boys 1,500 meters. John just finished outside the medals in a time of 4.04. Two days later he had a chance to put things right when he ran in the 5,000m alongside fellow clubman Lee Van Haeften. A good run was in store for both of them netting silver and bronze medals with John finishing in 15.16 and Lee 15.52. Max Van Haeften had a great run in his 3,000 meters final to win gold in 9.39. Some of the Donore girls were also running with Niamh 2nd, Caoimhe 3rd and Sarah 4th in their respective 1500m races. Dean Glennon also ran very well in the 800m final. In the North Leinsters Grace Sheridan had a great day taking silver in the High Jump.
Meet and Train
14 Donore runners competed in the first race (2 mile) of the Meet & Train summer road race league in Raheny. Some made their Donore debut in a field of 130 runners on a cold April night on the 2 lap course. Unfortunately, Grainne Kearns was an early casualty but her sister Maura was first home for the club in 9th place; Karen Behan 16th and Cathy Shortt 26th. There was some great team running from Katherine O’Mahony, Jennifer O’Keeffe, Edel O’Dea, Joan Murphy, Mary Murphy and Joan McTernan who all came in from 31st to 40th followed further by Emer Fogarty, Caren Crowley, Catherine Murphy, Sue Lynch and Eilis Hennessy. Well done all.
RTE BHAA 5 Mile
A perfect morning was enjoyed last Saturday in Donnybrook for the annual RTE 5 mile race. Run over 4 laps and finishing on the set of Fair City’s Carrickstown this event is attracting more and more runners each year. There was a great turnout by Donore with 19 in total taking part. Here is how they faired: Danny Crean 27.24, Gavin Keogh 27.50, Feargal Swaine 28.05, Aidan Mcgrath 28.17, Fred Kiernan 28.46, Donal Iremonger 30.00, Joe Rankin 30.23, Colin Moore 30.33, Padraig McGreal 31.10, Gareth Cooke 31.14, John Gleeson 32.59 , Julia Hackett 34.01, Niamh Murphy 34.36, Karen McLoughlin 36.19, Tommy Halton 36.52, Mary Kelly 39.21, Ann Woodlock 40.50, Betty Kehoe 43.23 and Ana Mai Fitzsimons 49.38.
Belfast Marathon
George Brady ran a good race to break his PB with a 2.57 in difficult conditions. An impromptu run by John Gleeson fresh after his Saturday morning 5 mile race saw him post a decent time of 3.30. One can only imagine what times he might post if he upped his weekly mileage from 8 miles! Eight miles Andy Downes!
2nd Dublin Track Graded Meet
This 2nd meet on the Dublin graded track calendar also provided athletes with the 1st development races over 1,500m last night in a drizzly and windy Irishtown Stadium. Andrew Downes tried his hand once again in the 200m and finished 2nd in Grade D in 27.44. The 1,500m races started off with 2 women’s races the 2nd race a development race featuring Adrienne Jordan. Adrienne was disappointed with her run finishing well below her best in 3rd in 4.53.78. In the men’s 1,500m Mark Dooley ran in the development race to finish down the field but in a decent time of 4.07.73. Mark ran a great race but the early pace and the wind on the finishing straight made the run-in tough when he was passed by a number of good athletes over the final yards. Colin Moore and Tom Hickey ran in the Grade C 1,500m. It wasn’t a good night for either with Tom a DNS and Colin posting 4.55.81. Philip Cavanagh and Simon Meyler ran in the B race with Philip running a great race in 4.18.00 considering his lack of fitness and Simon posting 4.32.99. Well done to all.
