Sportsworld Hellfire Club Relay

Report by Naoise Waldron

Thanks to Nick, Emily and Sandra for the photos.

24 Sportsworld members took part in a club relay up at the Hellfire Club on Saturday to round off the cross country season. As we gathered in the car park below, it was reminiscent of being back in PE class in school as Emily sorted us in to teams of 4.

The teams were fairly evenly matched, with Ruth being the captain of my team along with team mates Eimear and Brian. We all jogged up to the starting point. For those who have never been up to the Hellfire Club, it’s a decent uphill climb. The weather was glorious and there was finally a feeling of Spring being in the air!

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The course was a bit over a mile with a series of ups and downs. We jogged the lap as a group to get our bearings and then we were off. As the first runners took off the rest of us, with Emily’s guidance, decided who would be running the subsequent legs.

Karol was first home and passed over the (imaginary) baton to Breda. For my team Ruth had a really strong run and handed over to Eimear. I was to run the 3rd leg so I waited with anticipation for Eimear to come in to view, along with Aileen, Anna Carrigan, Catherine, Noel and Sandra against whom I would be running.

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Anna was first off on the 3rd leg and I didn’t see her again until the finish. She had a spectacular run. Anna was followed by Aileen who had a good head start on Sandra, myself and Noel, who all began running within a few seconds of each other. Soon enough I was trying my best to hold on to Sandra.

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With a few hundred metres to go, the finish line came in to sight and with shouts of encouragement from team captain Ruth I pushed up the final drag, however not before Catherine came speeding by me. I handed over to Brian, thankful that my lap was over.

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It was a tense few minutes while we waited for the leader of the final leg to come in to sight. Michael was first home, followed by José in 2nd and Anna Delaney in 3rd. Brian followed closely in 4th, putting in a great performance for our team. If Eoin had been running it would have been the final showdown for himself and Brian in this cross country season, however instead he set his sights on Dave and went charging past him to take 4th place.

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After a few obligatory team photos and confirmation of the winners, Stephanie, Michael, Noel and Val, we jogged up to the Hellfire club to take in the view of the city. It was spectacular. A quick run down to the car park, dodging a few dogs and walkers in the process, and off we went to Timbertrove for tea, scones and medal presentations in the sunshine.

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Special mention was given to Eimear and Caroline for their fantastic performances, while standout run of the day went to Anna Carrigan who was in top form. All of the cross country training has certainly paid off!

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Thanks to Emily for organising the relay. It was really enjoyable and I’ll look forward to the next one. Also thanks to Nick for coming along to support and take photos.

Results as follows:
Gold
Michael, Stephanie, Val and Noel
Silver
Karol, Breda, Anna Carrigan and José
Bronze
Kevin, Eileen, Aileen and Anna Delaney