Sportsworld Club Championship 2016

Report By Declan Brady

Photos by Conor Kenny, Joe Byrne, Valerie Power & Eoin O’Brien

For full photo album of Womens 1500m: Click here
For full photo album of Mens 1500m: Click here
For full photo album of Mixed 4×400 relay: Click here

Full results and times on the clubhouse notice board!

Dragging yourself out of well deserved weekend slumber for 9am track starts on a Saturday can be “challenging” at times, though it’s always worth it in the end.  But last Saturday provided added incentive and I was really looking forward to the Championships, my first since joining Sportsworld just over three months ago.

Race reporter Declan leading out a gang in the 1500m on Saturday!

The atmosphere was great on arrival at the Tallaght track and you could sense the excitement and expectation in the air with Emily and Myles working on organizing everyone and reminding us to do our stretches and warm-ups.  The morning was a little over-cast and cool but no wind or rain thankfully so the omens were good from the off.

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The Womens 1500m kicked off and the pace seemed leisurely enough for the first lap and a half almost like it was a morning jog, but things can be deceptive and before long  the expected front-runners started to pick it up and the field started to get strung out in a long line as the pace quickened.

The Brouder sisters were turning the screw over the last lap and a half and it was  a tight battle in the final 200m with Helen just prevailing over Noreen, and Ruth coming in a strong third.

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The Mens 1500m started very quick with the front-runners taking off like rockets it seemed to me and it felt a bit like an elongated sprint over that first lap or so.  I took off probably a bit too fast myself over that first 600 and so decided to take it back a bit over the next lap or so.

The real race was taking place a little ahead of me as Karol, Gareth, Conor, Wesley, Derek and a few others fought it out for position and the final garlands.   I could feel the pitter-patter of quick steps on my shoulder for a good lap and a half and I knew it had to be Jim though I did’nt dare look round.  And so it was,  and where Jim goes Noel is never too far away.

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Coming into the final lap I thought maybe my early pace was going to cost me as Jim, Justin and Noel moved past quickly and motored on.  But in the last 250 the double dose of Al-Bran and Red Bull that morning seemed to kick in and I found a burst of speed to overtake them again, and go on to discover later to my delight that I’d been first in the O50’s.

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In the real race up ahead Gareth prevailed as winner followed closely by Karol and Conor.   But overall  a great race and some brilliant individual performances across all the categories – congrats to all.

The relays were great fun and I had a flashback to Community Games relays that I’d ran in the “very distant” past, except there was’nt a baton in sight – to drop.   It was exciting to see the placings change for the various teams over the different legs and the support from the side-lines was a great motivator.

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The teams were obviously well picked and seemed fairly evenly balanced with some great individual and team battles.   I had the honour of captioning the winning team L as we managed to do the business.  Helen gave us a great opening leg handing over in 3^rd place to me.

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I had a good leg and made up some ground  and handed over to Naoise who felt the earlier 1500 a bit in her legs but held on well and Dermot ran a stormer of a final leg to break the tape first chased all the way by Noreen on team M.

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All in all a great morning for me on a personal level and a thoroughly enjoyable one for all I think.  The prize-giving upstairs was great afterwards and the food laid on was fantastic : what a spread.  Many thanks and a big hand to all who helped organize such a successful Event.

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Overall winners – full results and times on the clubhouse noticeboard