results duathlon 1 & 2 ! Seeing as we had a strong Garda presence at the weekend (Off duty: Race director, marshal, draft buster. On duty: 3 cars and 5 gardai) Our race briefing will be in a suitable style……….read on for details Garda report of an incident on Sunday the 10th at Punchestown race course………..
Garda: Tell me what happened in your own words.
Witness: Well at around 10:30 a crowd started to form in front of the grandstand, they gathered in small groups and talked in hushed tones, at this point all was under control. For the next 2 hours their numbers increased until there was close to 200 all in, about 100 of these were dressed in very suggestive tight fitting clothing and at this point people were getting agitated and I was becoming concerned.
Garda: What happened next?
Witness: Well the crowd all moved together towards the fence near the race course, at this point the excitement was palatable, I didn’t think it would stay controlled much longer and sure enough there was some shouting and all of a sudden they ran off……….They seemed to be chasing Sean “Fingers” Mc Fadden, I think he had upset someone….
Garda: Stick to the facts please, carry on….
Witness: Well I headed over to get a cup of tea and a sandwich, I reckoned it might be a while before any more happened, maybe that would even be it, but no after about 10 mins Sean showed up, running hard and being chased by the rest of the group including Dave “Dangerous”Tunney and Keith “Shifty Eye’s” Heary, I think you should keep an eye on both of these too, ring leaders for sure…
Garda: Stick to the facts please
Witness: The women were after him too and Elena “Big Guns” Maslova and Eimear “Dont mess with me” O Brien led the women in their chase followed by a tall girl called Deboragh “Menacing” Meeghan.
Garda: What happened next?
Witness: Ok so, this is where things went crazy! The next thing they all started undressing and throwing their clothes and shoes away, nudity and littering! There was a lot of witness and I saw mothers covering childrens eyes at this point, clear lawbreaking! This craziness infected almost the whole mob. Immediately they jumped in their vehicles and did their best to break more laws out on the road, speeding, passing, swearing, all very volatile stuff. Anyway things went quiet for a while and I headed over to get a cup of tea and a sandwich while waiting to see what would happen next.
Garda: Carry on
Witness: Well the next thing Sean arrived back still being chased hard by the mob led by Tunney, one after another they dismounted in a very unsteady manner, maybe they were piloting their vehicles under the influence? I wouldn’t be surprised, they all wobbled a bit as they started to run after Sean, they were sweaty and angry looking at this point, I think if they had of caught Sean he would have been in serious trouble, lucky for him though he stayed away and made it back to the grandstand in 57mins 43 seconds, Tunney arrived a minute later but all the fight had gone out of him and he went of to get some food, Keith Heary was next he also had calmed down and seemed very hungry too. Elena had left Eimear behind on the road and she proceeded to pull away on the second run, she was quite happy when she got back and seemed to have forgotten about Sean, Eimear and Debs too had calmed down considerably by the time they arrived back. One by one the rest of the mob arrived and either went in search of food or collapsed to the ground trying to recover.
Garda: Was that all that happened?
Witness: Pretty much, the crowd dispersed over the next hour or so but I heard some of them mention that they would be back again on the 9th of March, if I was you I would make sure you have your men out again that day just in case.
Garda: Thanks for your help, you may go now.