Meet and Train : Raheny

The Meet and Train Road Race Series kicked off in Raheny (Sunday, April 25th). Compared to the winter cross country races Sportsworld had a smaller representation of teams but this doesn't mean that the red and white was any less prominent. In the top ten alone our club had six finishers with Susan McDonnell winning the race in a time of 12.09, Lorna Quinn was second and Ciara Foster third. Also in top ten was Mairead O'Callaghan, Louise Nolan and Ann Higgins. Well done also to Catherine Higgins who being relatively new to the club showed a great form and finished in 14th place in this 2 mile race.
Next up is Lucan (Sun May 23rd 11am) which is a 3 mile road race and an important part of build-up to the upcoming Flora Mini Marathon.
Here is the list of teams for this series:
Team A
773 Mairead O'Callaghan
774 Susan McDonnell
775 Louise Nolan
776 Ciara Foster
777 Ann Higgins
778 Catherine Higgins
Team B
779 Tara Quirke
780 Natalia Sokolowska
781 Eileen Dalton
782 Ann Sweeney
783 Catherine Gilmore
784 Clare O'Reilly
Team C
785 Kim Masuda
786 Claire O'Brien
787 Maura Maughan
788 Cliona O'Riordan
789 Laurence Delair
790 Milena Delussu

Connemara Marathon

Sunday 11th April at 10.30am I found myself with Jack and Billy Tyrell standing at the start line of the 9th Connemara Marathon. Spectacular was how the view could be described as it temporarily took our minds off the 26.1 miles of road that lay ahead. However it was to get a whole lot better. The sun split the stones and the rugged landscape and the motionless Lake Inagh reflected the surrounding mountains back in their glorious detail.

Once again the hooped sportsworld vest had been taken from the national history museum for its first outing of 2010 through the hills and beauty of Connemara.

Never in all my years of running have I enjoyed a race as much. I was determined to soak up the atmosphere and scenery along the route. And so with Jack and Billy and Mary on the bike with all our supplies we set off on the road ahead.

One hour and 43 mins later we had covered half way through the village of Leenane with the Killary harbour on our left. After a further 2 miles of climbing we started to pick up the back markers on the half marathon race. Thus set the scene for the next 11 miles as we weaved our way in and out of these runners.

Through 20 miles in 2hrs and 39 mins and most of the talk and joking had stopped although we were still feeling quite comfortable on our schedule. At 22 miles we commenced our climb of the ‘hell of the west’ which we had heard so much about. Not much of a hill I suppose compared to the ‘Ballinascorney hill’ on the waterworks run, however after 22 miles in the legs it’s a different story. Eventually the ‘hell’ was conquered and we passed the memorial to Frank Haines at 24 miles . Frank died tragically at this point in the race in 2006 and a plaque and tree along with his commemorative medal is there for all to see.

The final 2 miles and 385 yards was a gentle downhill trot and brought me under the finish clock in a time of 3 hours 27 mins and a credible 32nd place. Billy and Jack, about a minute ahead placed 1st and 2nd respectively in the over 50 age category, congratulations to them. Whilst thanks also to Mary who played a stormer on the bike and catered for our every need along the way.

Hope this piece will encourage a bigger sportsworld entry for next years race. Everything about the event was superb and is certainly in our race diary for ’11 all going well.

Report by
Joe Byrne

National Road Relays 2010

Congratulations to the Sportsworld Masters Ladies Team who came second in this years running of the road relays in raheny. Helan White lead out the team on a one mile leg, passing onto Lucy Darcy on a two mile leg and the final leg being ran by Aideen Downes. The senior women and men also had teams on the day.