From Track Racing 2009 |
Wednesday 1st July had the Dublin Graded No.6 track meeting in Irishtown on a perfect summers evening. Poor Lorraine Manning of Raheny had a tough time as she faced Aoife Brady on stunning form in the 3000m race. Unfortunately there was not much competition for Aoife to help push the pace but she still managed by herself to do a brilliant time of 9.35 betting her PB. Lorraine then had to face an ever improving Crona in the mile, with Crona pushing Lorraine for the first couple of laps and finished up in an excellent 3rd in 5.12. Lucky for Lorraine Paul Duffy is the only triplet in the club.
We had new club member Conor Murphy who is really relishing the track season taking part in all the events (400m, 3000m and mile) and still managing a sprint finish in each one. Paul Duffy who after winning the C grade a couple of weeks ago could of taken the easy option of running grade C again but took the tough decision to move up a grade to B and did a great run in a tough field of 4.50 for the mile .
I managed to avoid track races up to now but Packie did a brilliant report on what is involved in the graded track races a few weeks ago so I had to give it a try. I went for grade C in the mile and just told myself its just a lap and a bit of the top lap in Bushy park we do for warm up but without the dogs, dog owners with 20meter nearly invisible leashes, walkers, tree roots and the distraction of the girls doing aerobics. Racing on the track is tough but no tougher then the Tuesday training session and there is something about the track when your body and brain tells you can’t keep the pace the group drags you along.
Having watched all the races yesterday there are a load of people in the club who are doing brilliant training sessions on Tuesdays and would out class a lot of the club runners in the Graded races. There are 2 more chances to do Graded track races this year(check Packie’s report in the Graded section) or we also have training sessions on Saturday mornings if people want to see what it’s like running on the track and what their times are like. Considering some of the marathons, half marathons, cross country races, meet and train races in the rain and mountain runs people have done track racing in the sunshine is a breeze.
Big thanks to Eoin, Dave and Myles who came out to Irishtown and gave great support during the races.
Conor Murphy 400m 57.36
Conor Murphy 3000m 11.16
Conor Murphy mile 5.38
Paul Duffy 1 mile 4.50
Aoife Brady 3000m 9.35
Crona Brady 1 mile 5.12
Michael Cunningham 1 mile 4.46
Report By
Michael Cunningham