Bonjour mes amis,

On Sunday 27th Sept. some of Sportsworld’s senior international runners are taking part in the Paris- Versailles run – La Grande Classique. They will join 25,000 other runners in a 16km run from La Tour Eillel to Les Jardins du Chateau de Versailles. They will be serenaded along the banks of the Seine by over a dozen bands. Full details here: ParisVersailles

We wish them all ‘Bon Chance’

Trevor Lloyd

Report by Gareth Murran 

Although bad weather always looks worse through a window you’d be forgiven for thinking that Saturday morning on the track in Tallaght was going to be a washout. As it happens the weather was fantastic and the most anticipated club race of the year attracted record numbers of a Saturday morning. It has been a great summer for the club up on the track in Tallaght and in the graded race series. This morning everyone got a chance to show off the speed they’d built up over the summer period. Almost 60 runners in club singlets was a great sight to be seen.

All credit must go to Myles and Emily who spent allot of time coaching over the summer and who canvassed hard to get the great turn out this morrning. The numbers on a Saturday morning have been increasing through the summer with many new comers like Catherine, Justin and Margaret taking part in many of the graded races. This race was originally going to take part in August but it was postponed to attract the highest numbers possible.

The 1500m has been called “the best event in Track and Field” (by me). Mostly because it’s an exciting combination of speed, endurance and smarts (and I am also a little bit biased). First up was the women’s race with national medal holder Aoife Brady taking the lead from the start. Aoife got off that line and established a good position early! Aoife showed she still had that killer race instinct pacing the race perfectly. Imagine that you are in Mario Kart and you have mushrooms that give you a temporary burst of speed- but you only have a few to use. Save some for your last 100m when you REALLY need it. Making a whole bunch of quick, short, aggressive moves will come back to bite you (probably literally in the butt when you get booty lock). Aoife showed how you need to push hard in a 1500M. It’s just 3.75 laps so 5K pace won’t cut it. Ruth Kelly was a good 2nd place with Stephanie Bergin in 3rd.

The men’s 1500M race was second on the card. Gareth Murran took the early lead with Karol Cronin. With Emily telling the lads that the pace was too slow at the 800M mark, Gareth increased the pace down the back straight. With 1 lap to go there was a 50 metre gap which increased a small bit over the final 400M. At this stage the finish is so close that you can taste it! But it’s key not to react too quickly, otherwise you might run out of gas in that last 150m. Maybe you know what this feels like? Hitting a cement wall. If the pace has been slow, you might be able to get away with starting to press the pace around 400m, but generally winding up around 300m-200m is safe. Learn what works for you. Use the final turn to slingshot out around other competitors and wait for the final 50-60 meters to kick it into an 100% all out sprint (using your golden Mario mushroom). Gareth came in 1st with Karol in 2nd place. Martin Kenan was a strong 3rd.

The final race was the big one. The mixed 4x400M . Most team captains had their most experienced runners on either the 1st or last leg. As the runners came around for the first handover Wesley and Kevin had put their teams into a great position. The eventual race winners were in a strong position. The 2 girls Sandra Kelly and Aoife Brady kept the team at the front with fast 400m times. It was up to Anthony Ryan to anchor the team with a strong last lap performance, bringing the team home in style, even with time to shut it dow down over the line Usain bolt style.

It was fantastic to see so many people out on a sunny September morning and all kids there (Lisa, Justin’s, Joe’s, Ciara’a) added to the atmosphere
There was fantastic support from everyone. Special thanks to Myles and the full team helping handling the numbers and timings. Ann, Anna, Sean, Paul, Brenda, Breda and anyone missed out.

Full results and age rank places to follow . Thanks

Full results:

Womens 1500m
1 Aoife Brady 5:18
2 Ruth Kelly 5:39
3 Stephanie Bergin 5:46
4 Catherine Mulleady 5:52
5 Margaret Crowley 5:56
6 Natalia O’Grady 6:03
7 Sandra Gowran 6:12
8 Naoise Waldron 6:15
9 Anna Corrigan 6:16
10 Aileen Melody 6:17
11 Sandra Kelly 6:24
12 Eileen Rowland 6:27
13 Maria Finnegan 6:36
14 Carmel Dolan 6:37
15 Audrey O’Driscoll 6:56
16 Phil Daly 7:23

Mens 1500m
1 Gareth Murran 4:23
2 Karol Cronin 4:32
3 Martin Keenan 4:45
4 Justin McKeever 4:46
5 Sedanan Magee 4:47
6 Karl Chatterton 4:47
7 Michael Cunningham 4:48
8 David Saunders 4:51
9 Kevin Curran 4:54
10 Dereck Saville 4:56
11 John Linnane 4:59
12 Wesley Harrison 5:00
13 Packie Enright 5:01
14 James Brady 5:02
15 Diarmuid O’Sullivan 5:02
16 Ronan Masterson 5:04
17 Emmet Worrell 5:05
18 Joe Byrne 5:08
19 Anthony Gillan 5:08
20 Noel Tobin 5:08
21 Conor Keating 5:11
22 Jim Browne 5:13
23 Cormack Garvey 5:14
24 Tim Telford 5:19
25 Jose Chapa 5:25
26 Aidan Curran 5:31
27 Eoin O’Brien 5:33
28 Nigel Elliott 5:36
29 Chris Quaid 5:38
30 Denis McCaul 5:42
31 Stephen Willoughby 5:43
32 Paul Cassidy 5:50
33 Dereck Long 5:51
34 Phillip Kerr 5:54
35 Conor Kenny 6:00

4x400m Relay Event
1 Kevin Curran – Sandra Kelly – Aoife Brady – Anthony Gillan – 4:38
2 Sedanan Magee – Ronan Masterson – Tim Telford – Naoise Waldron – 4:40
3 Justin Mc Keever – Sandra Gowran – Wesley Harrison – Jim Browne 4:41
4 Gareth Murran – Carmel Dolan – Shona Keane – Nigel Elliott – 4:41
5 Ruth Kelly – Conor Keating – Emmet Worrell – Stephen Willoughby – 4:42
6 Michael Cunningham – Maria Finnegan – Eoin O’Brien – Chris Quaid – 4:46
7 James Brady – Aidan Curran – Martin Keenan – Dereck Long – 4:48
8 Karl Chatterton – Natalia O’Grady – Conor Kenny – John Linnane – 4:48
9 Dereck Saville – Anna Corrigan – Paul Cassidy – Jose Chapa – 4:49
10 Karol Cronin – Phil Daly – Margaret Crowley – Cormack Garvey – 4:51
11 Denis Mc Caul – Stephanie Bergin – Eileen Rowland – Diarmuid O’Sullivan – 5:01
12 Packie Enright – Catherine Mulleady – Noel Tobin – Aileen Melody – 5:08
13 David Saunders – Audrey O’Driscoll – Joe Byrne – Philip Kerr 5:07