Aware 10km Photo’s

Leinster Intermediate CC 2008

Leinster Intermediate – 9th November 2008

November 9th saw the annual meeting of the Leinster Intermediate CC Races, which was held in a mud bath at Heywood College Abbeyleix Co. Laois. We knew that it was going to be a tough day from the start, when the parking man stop us at the gate saying ‘I think lads ya may park here, the auld field up above is gone soft’, and can I have 5 Euro each as well!.

Well the parking man wasn’t lying, the course didn’t have a blade of grass which makes the performance of our Ladies team remarkable. The Girls team brought home the first gold of the cross country season. Well done to Aoife & Crona Brady, Stephney Bergan & Lisa Dowling. Aoife season is going from strength to strength & she took 1st place to boot. Even at that the twins weren’t finished clearing the place out of medals. They also picked up Gold for Meath in the county competition.

The lads were up next and they had the pleasure of 5 laps in the cold icy blustery conditions. But what else would you be doing on your Sundays, I even heard one of the lads saying the harder the better. But I’m soft & I taught that its was a day beside the fire. Despite the Conditions Ronan Merrick & Ed McEntee battled on to claim 11th & 16th overall. Next in Micky Cunningham marched in 24th spot. Paul Mitchell, James Shanahan. Will & Paul Duffy also had a go & the team as a whole just missed out on a bronze medal. However lads our day will come again.

Race report by Paul Duffy.

Dublin Senior CC 2008

Photo’s and results from the Dublin Senior CC 2008 in st anne’s park, raheny. The full online results are here.

Dublin Marathon 2008

Congratulations to all those who did the Marathon on Monday, but especially well done to the 20 Sportsworld volunteers who had the tougher job of being marshals on Fortfield Road and Templeogue Road for the marathon. It was an early start on a Bank holiday for the volunteers with a job that involved standing for four freezing hours on a very cold day cheering on the Sportsworld runners and their competitors. The volunteers had to look out for the safety of runners with Sean Wall, Mary Finn and Trevor Lloyd having to deal with two injured runners, ambulances had to be called in both cases but the Sportsworld volunteers responded calmly and quickly. A very difficult job was done at Our Ladys school where buses had to be merged with the runners safely which Lucy Darcy, Stephen Willoughby, Gary Cregan and Sean O Byrne did brilliantly. All the volunteers had to deal with motorists, angry motorists, bad driving motorist (Orlagh Fleming) as well keeping spectators where they should be and at all times for the 4 hours ensuring the runners got a big boost as they headed in to the last 10miles. All the major Dublin running clubs supplied volunteers for the marathon but thanks to the below members Sportsworld was one of the biggest volunteer groups.

Orlagh Fleming, Rachel Morgan, Carol Lynch, Paddy Lynch, Sean O Byrne, Lucy Darcy, Stephen Willoughby, Gary Cregan, Elen, Michael Cunningham, Sean Wall, Mary Finn, Paul Duffy, Aoife Brady, Crona Brady, Judith Llyod, Trevor Lloyd, Paul O’Connell, Phil Kilgannon and Will Greensmyth. And a special Thanks to Michael Cunningham who organised the Sportsworld Marshals

SPORTSWORLD
MARATHON TIMES
ED MC ENTEE 2.37 / JAKUB SPLAWSKI 3.12 / ERIC Lithander 3.17 / EOIN O BRIEN 3.19 /
/ ????/ EDEL MADIGAN 3.22 / ORLA JORDAN 3.23 / CATHERINE O NEILL 3.34 /
COLM MOONEY 3.46 / ANN JORDAN 3.47 / SIBEAL WALDRON 3.47 /
KAREN O CONNOR 3.53 / DAVE TRIMBLE 3.54 / KILLIAN MC MORROW 3.59 /
ENDA MC MORROW 4.00 / AILEEN MELODY 4.02 / CLARE DOYLE 4.02 /
SIOBHAN BRADFORD 4.07 / SEAN SWEENEY 4.16 / CLAIRE HARRINGTON 4.17
JULIE DOWLING 4/17 / RHONDA ANDREUCITTI 4.22 / FIONA O TOOLE 4.33 /
RAY CARPENTER 4.36 / LOUISE FLOOD 5.18 / NICOLA O BRIEN 5.20

Leinster Novice & Master CC 2008

Leinster Novice & Master race – 26th October 2008

The 26th October saw the annual meeting of the Leinster Novice & Master races in Avondale, Rathdrum Co. Wicklow & gave the chance for the up & coming sportsworld stars a chance to shine. The race was held in the scene grounds of Avondale house in weather of all seasons & there were some fantastic performances put in by all of sportsworld runners especially Crona Brady & Ronan Merrick.

First race of interest to sportsworld was the novice Women of Crona Brady, Stephanie, Ciara Foster, Susan McDonnell & Claire O’ Reilly. The girls ran particularly well & were unlucky to miss out on the medals by 3 points. Susan, Ciara & Stephanie were together through out most of the 3K course & worked great as a team to finish 14th, 26th & 28th overall. However Crona stole the show to claim 5th place & based on this performance it will not be long till she will be running along side her sister in future races to come.

Next up the Novice Men were given there chance to shine. The race was 3 laps of a 2km course incorporating in what can only be described as a very steep hill that seem to go on forever. This hill will give me nightmare of years to come & most who saw it were left speechless by its length & steepness. However Ronan Merrick marked his come back to form with an outstanding 11th place. Ronan went to the front of the race early on & held his place with the leaders for one lap before dropping back a few places. Michael Cunningham also ran well & marched on to claim 21st spot overall. Michael is also coming back from injury & was delighted with his placing. Other notable performances were Paul Mitchell & James Shanahan who finished 44th & 45th respectively. Sportsworld claimed 6th overall in the team competition.

The masters women was the last race of interest to sportsworld. The girls ran really well & claimed 2nd spot with 22 points overall. Rachel Morgan ran a steady race to claim 5th place not to far behind Pauline Curley who won the race for Tullamore Harriers. Helen White & Kathleen O’ Callaghan completed the team & finished 7th & 10th overall. Well done to all who ran 🙂

Race report by Paul Duffy.

Gerry Farnan Cross Country 2008

In the Gerry Farnan cross country race at a windswept Phoenix Park, Sportsworld competitors embraced the very difficult conditions to turn out some heroic performances. As the race serves as a trial for the annual veterans (IMAA) Celtic 4 Nations cross country international (to be held in Wales this year), seniors and juniors really just compete for personal pride. For many veterans it serves as the target race of the cross country season with athletes traveling from all corners of the island.

In 30 mph winds (though a dry course with nice autumn sun), the girls were first to face the music. Won easily by Wicklow’s Olympian the class Fionnuala Britton, Aoife Brady & Eimear Martin were a brilliant 12th & 20th respectively. Both athletes have improved massively this year, with the former’s strong work ethic of 70 mile weeks combined with a full time job giving her immense strength. Both ought to be very proud
However Carol Lynch and Helen White were the biggest success story for the girls as Carols 3rd place in W60 and Helens 4th place in W40 means that they are on the trip to Wales. Well done Carol and Helen.

The men’s race was equally tough but Mullingar’s Mark Christie made easy work of it winning the 5 mile cross country in 25.12. However the day belongs to Ed McEntee who battled all the way to secure a place on the M40 Ireland team. To the best of the author’s knowledge it’s the 1st time a man from our club has earned a green vest in any event. What makes the performance so much better is that like Jakub Splawski, he runs the Dublin Marathon next week. This would have been on the back of Ed’s mind throughout the race. Indeed there were other quality veterans watching the event that didn’t race it because of the marathon next week. Well done again Ed, you’ve done your club proud.
Other senior males that also ran were Packie Enright, Paul Duffy, Jakub Splawski & James Shanahan. All put in decent displays and the event will stand to them for the upcoming Dublin Senior and National Novice cross country races before Christmas.

Race report by
Packie Macionnrachtaigh
Place

Name

Club

Time

Category
1

Mark Christie

Mullingar Harriers

25.12

Senior
1 (18)

Mick Traynor

Raheny Shamrocks

26:57

O/40
2 (39)

Tommy McElwain

SBR

28.15

O/40
3 (55)

Ed McEntee

Sportsworld