National Road Relays 2016

Race reports by Ruth Kelly & Karl Chatterton

Photos by Eoin O’Brien. For full gallery: Click here

Sportsworld results below.

Masters Women Report by Ruth Kelly

A lovely sunny April afternoon brought loads of Sportsworld faithful to Raheny for the national road relays on Sunday. Best, most exciting, greatest day out in the road race calender……if you are a spectator!!

Race reporter Ruth in relay action on Sunday

An ideal set up, the race is run over a one mile loop in Raheny with varying leg distances for each runner over the race. The change over area is at the start line, and there was a great buzz about the place with a large crowd of club runners and supporters all over the course but particularly on the home straight.

Masters ladies (our race) was up first and we had a 1-2-1 format with Catherine Bambrick taking the first leg of one lap, me up next with two, and Stephanie Bergin taking the home leg….yes Catherine and Stephanie are masters believe it or not!.

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After a couple of nice laps to warm up with the girls (when we all reassured each other it was normal to feel heavy legged before a race), and following protocol with some short strides, we were ready to go. Not sure if I felt sorry for or jealous of Catherine lining up with the other 17 teams for the first leg – only jealous because her pain would be over when mine was to begin!

On balance I was glad it wasn’t me. I reassured Catherine it was fine not to come in first on her leg…..ok, I told her not to. Loud gun, and off they went. Catherine looked good as they turned the corner and out of sight. I took my place in the change-over area, waiting. After about 5 mins there was great excitement as the first leg runners turned the corner up the home straight. Everybody was looking in anticipation waiting to see how it the race was shaping up…..and who do you think was powering up the road in first place, Catherine, flippin hell, I told her not to, and what did she do only hand over to me setting me off first on the second leg. The pressure!!

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Off I went, was still in the lead when I saw Myles shouting words of encouragement. Wasn’t long though before I was overtaken….twice….three times, 4th place coming up the home straight for the first time. The atmosphere was electric, well I assume it was going by my experience of watching subsequent races, to be honest I may have been suffering from delirium at that particular time due to oxygen deprivation and I was definitely in a state of terror at the thought of having to repeat the lap.

And to add to my woes I was passed again on the straight, in front of the whole crowd!! But head down had a lap to go so had to to dig in and get around. Managed to hold 5th and was delighted to hand over to a very energetic looking Steph.

Didn’t see much of Steph after she took off, I was sidelined trying to breath. But after a few minutes felt human again and headed down the road to see Steph in. Catherine was already there and we caught Steph with about half a km to go. She was tracking a girl from Raheny and when she turned the corner on the home straight put the boot down and powered home well ahead of her nemesis. A great run. 5th for the team, everybody still alive, and delighted to be finished.

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The rest of the day was great, 3 more races to watch with the who’s who of Irish athletics taking part including our own mens senior and masters teams. Cuppa, loads of friends around to catch up with, sportsworld teams to support and sun even shining, great afternoon all round.

Thanks to all the Sportsworld gang out shouting encouragement. Was great to see a few old faces out around the course and our youngest supporter little Madison all decked out in her red jacket.

Senior Mens Report By Karl Chatterton

Sunday saw four Sportsworld teams lining up to race in the annual National Road Relays event held in Raheny. There were four races on the day with the women’s masters, men’s masters, senior women and senior men all in action.

A pretty relaxed race reporter Karl before his leg!

The course was a one mile loop around Raheny, close to St Annes Park. Different members of each team ran different legs in the relay ranging from one mile to three miles.

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This was the first time I had competed in this event and was unsure what to expect. However, as I was racing in the last race of the day, I got a good idea of what was to come from watching the incredibly high standard of the Masters and Senior Women’s teams running first.

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The Senior Men’s race consisted of four legs, a 2-1-3-2 mile race! I had the last two mile leg with Gareth, Kevin, and Karol leading out the team. All three had great races and did their best to keep us as high up the field as they could. As Karol came in I set off on the first of my two laps around Raheny. By this stage the race was quite spread out so the aim was simply not get passed and try to close the gap on the lads in front.

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This didn’t start to well as I was passed pretty much straight away by two young lads from St Laurence O’Toole AC, and Waterford AC! For the rest of the first lap I did my best to keep them both in my sights, hoping they would tire in the second lap. By the time we were half way around the second lap I’d almost caught the two lads that had passed me earlier. With 800m to go it was time to dig in, pick up the pace and chase down the two youngsters! I passed them with about 400m to go and from there it was head down and hang on to the finish!

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We finished 17th overall against some very strong competition, with teams including former and future Irish Olympic hopefuls. Raheny came out winners in the Senior men’s race with Mick Clohisey running a course record for the three mile leg in just over 14 minutes! It was a great day and thanks to all the supporters who came out the cheer us on!

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Sportsworld Results

Senior Men – 17th Place – 42:03
• Gareth Murran (2 miles) – 10:18
• Kevin Curran (1 mile) – 5:13
• Karol Cronin (3 miles) – 15:34
• Karl Chatterton (2 miles) – 10:58

Masters Women – 5th Place – 23:54
• Catherine Bambrick (1 mile) – 5:36
• Ruth Kelly (2 miles) – 12:16
• Stephanie Bergin (1 mile) – 6:02

Masters Men Team 1 – 15th Place – 21:03
• Derrick Saville – (1 mile) – 04:53
• Phil Kilgannon (2 miles) – 10:43
• Damian Kelly (1 mile) – 5:27

Masters Men Team 2 -17th Place – 21:51
• Michael Cunningham (1 mile) – 5:09
• Justin McKeever (2 miles) – 11:24
• Wesley Harrison (1 mile) – 5:18