Last Wednesday evening the 5th Dublin graded track meet incorporating the Dublin championships took place in a packed Santry stadium.  The men`s 1500m Championship was the event of the night,  with a blisteringly  fast race won by MSB`s John Coghlan in 3:44 ahead of a stacked field. This was the fastest 1500 metres run in Ireland this year and quite a few athletes getting PB’s.

Phil and myself (Gareth)  went out to take part in the 3K.  With the flood lights coming on and the seldom seen summer sun going down the race eventually got started around 9PM.

It’s been a goal of mine for a few  years to break 9 minutes  for 3K and  after a decent block of training it felt  like it would  be tough but manageable, especially with a great runner like Phil  setting the pace.  Phil being the only guy in the club I’ve never managed to beat over any distance. 3K is 7.5 laps at 72 second pace for 9 minutes.

The  race had around 20 athletes and quickly split into a few  groups with myself and Phil  right where we needed to be. Going through 800M in 2:21 we were a little ahead of the 72 second pace needed for a sub 9:00 minute performance. At 1 mile we were running 4:51.  At that stage we knew we were behind the pace but with a bunch of runners so close together you can end up running into the back of each other  and nobody wants to take it on, the race can slow down. Unfortunately this continued for a couple of lap around the middle of the race. In hindsight it would have been better to push on for a lap but  that easier said than done.

I arrived with lap to go in 7:49 and by that stage had fallen around 2 seconds behind Phil. Thinking to myself   that I could  make the time  up on the back straight and  then kick for home with 200 to go I had a game plan.

Unfortunately things don’t often go to plan in a race and  just into the last lap I tripped after getting a stray foot from behind.  Loosing another 2-3 seconds in the process it took me  50 or so metres to get my composure  back and my stride was broken.  A good kick from 200M out  was somewhat satisfying. Phil  finished strong in 9:04 whilst I was 4 seconds back in 9:08. We finished a respectable 9th and 12th  in a strong field. Not that far away and another crack of the whip later in the summer should see the PB in the bag.

Phil remain the man with a target on his back. 🙂  Bring on Dunshaughlin

Raheny Mid-Summer 5k (incorporating the Dublin Novice Road Championships), Sunday 17 June.

A record field of 300 runners took to the paths and trails of Dublin’s second largest park, St. Annes, Raheny, last Sunday for…short in-take of breath…the Raheny Mid-Summer 5k (incorporating the Dublin Novice Road Championships). Pre-race favourite, John Eves (DSD), lead the field home in 16:14, seconds ahead of unattached Colm O’Connell and Davy Byrne (Tallaght AC). Sportsworld’s Gavin Finlay came 6th overall in 16:40; Damian Kelly placed 14th in 17:00, Kevin Curran 26th in 18:12, Nigel Burke 33rd in a masterful 18:34 and newcomer Alan Dignam finished a respectable 55th in 19:23. In typical mid-summer style, flooding in the park required a slight alteration to the already circuitous 5k route, causing no doubt a few disgruntled Garmins and non-existent PBs!
After initial concern that we would be unable to field a team, in the end Sportsworld (Nigel, Damian, Kevin, Gavin) won silver in the Dublin Novice team event, behind a strong Tallaght AC team. In the Dublin Novice individual, Gavin won the men’s title, beating the Tallaght duo of David Fitzpatrick and Niall Coppinger into silver and bronze. Íde Nic Dhomhnaill (Donore Harriers) won the women’s title with her twin sister Sorcha second and Sharon Tighe (Tallaght AC) third.

Unfortunately no Sportsworld ladies were represented in the women’s field which saw Maria Dolan (RWSAF) take first place just ahead of Fionnuala Doherty (Clonliffe Harriers).

Well done to everyone who took part in the Mini Marathon this afternoon. Great runs allround with full results to follow.

Meanwhile over the weekend  Nuala O’Connor ran a fantastic 1:40 in the Cork half marathon. Full resulst from Cork to follow.

In Tullamore yesterday  four of the lads were in action in the Leinster Track championships. In terrible conditions Phil finished 4th in the 5K in 15,54, with Paul and Gareth finising not far befind in 9th and 10th spot. Michael Cunningham ran well to finish in 4:26 in the 1500M.

Tuesday May 22nd was a good night for the club as both the men’s and women’s took home the 1st place team trophies at the Enfield 5K. A  popular race in the Meath race series the Enfield 5K has been well attended by Sportsworld club members for some years now. This year was no exception.

Why is the race so popular? there is always a great summer atmosphere, a nice post race spread and a PB friendly 5K course. The course itself has a  few modest hills but with only two major turns in the entire race you are almost guaranteed to have a good run. Despite a chaotic start that slowed everyone down the race was very enjoyable. Full results below.

3 Pal Duffy Sportsworld M MS 256 15:35
8 Phil Kilgannon Sportsworld M MS 252 15:54
13 Gareth Murran Sportsworld M MS 103 16:00
22 Gavin Finlay Sportsworld M MS 50 16:34
38 Michael Cunningham Sportsworld M MS 34 16:55
40 Damian Kelly Sportsworld M MS 70 17:00
60 Anthony Ryan Sportsworld M MS 152 17:44
64 Conor Butler Sportsworld M MS 17 17:53
65 Nigel Burke Sportsworld M M45 221 17:57
69 Conor Tully Sportsworld M MS 273 18:01
75 Jean Wilson Sportsworld F FS 303 18:06
102 Aoife Brady Sportsworld F FS 243 18:49
107 Lucy Darcy Sportsworld F F40 128 18:57
119 Catriona Higgins Sportsworld F FS 255 19:14
127 Olivier Privat Sportsworld M M40 111 19:20

* Thanks to Trim AC for the photo…

Sportsworld had at least 5 competitors in a field of 243 on a nice, calm evening.
Paul O’C. led for a long way but had to settle for second in the end.Ray edged out the writer and Conor edged out Stephen. There was tea and coffee and brack and brack and brack and…..brack afterwards
and Paul and the other 1,2,3’s got a commemorative medal, for olympic year.

Times : Paul O’Connell 16:14,Ray Carpenter 21:16, Killian McMorrow 21:16,Conor Kenny 22:32,Stephen Willoughby 22:36.

A  busy week of racing kicked off a bank holiday Monday with a trip down to Gowran on May 7th. Less than an hour from Dublin, Gowran is internationally known for its picturesque racecourse, Gowran Park. A nice course with a few climbs around the 1.5K lap.  We had a strong team going down with Paul , Michael , Gavin, Damien, Kevin and Gareth. The ladies were represented with  Amy, Anna, Catriona and Susan. Unfortunately this year we didn’t have a masters team in either the mens of women’s race.

Paul finished 5th in the mens race but was unfortunately was later disqualified as he had finished 2nd last year. This moved the team down from 2nd to 3rd. Susan finished 2nd overall leading the ladies team to 3rd spot also.

Thanks to Gavin for the photos.

The  full results 

2 1778 Susan McDonnell Sportsworld Novice Women Dublin 11.25
6 1780 Catriona Higgins Sportsworld Novice Women Dublin 11.47
22 1779 Anna Delaney Sportsworld Novice Women Dublin 13.21
31 1781 Amy Fitzgerald Sportsworld Novice Women Dublin N.T

9 1769 Gareth Morran Sportsworld Novice  Men Dublin 20.29 (Dublin Gold)
16 1772 Micahel Cunningham Sportsworld Novice  Men Dublin 20.51
18 1776 Gavin Finley Sportsworld Novice  Men Dublin 20.58
27 1773 Damien Kelly Sportsworld Novice Men Dublin 22.13
28 1775 Gavin Curran Sportsworld Novice Men Dublin 22.19

There was a large turn out of club members at yesterdays 5 mile road race which is held under BHAA rules on a four lap course around the grounds of RTE in Donnybrook. Phil lead the club home in 6th place overall with Mairead coming 3rd in the senior ladies category. It was great to see the Brady twins back in action with Claire and Maria having good runs. Breda Brown and Aileen also raced and we saw the return to racing after a layoff of 18 months from Ellen. Phillip Kerr retained his Std 11 and only three places separated the McMurrow brothers and Conor Kenny had a standard improving run. Trevor and Judith Lloyd also ran and were on standby at the prize presentation to take entries to the club race next sunday. Sideline coaching was provided my Emily and Susan McD. I won’t even comment on my own run.

http://bhaa.ie/members/app/event/index/tag/rte2012

Good luck to the guys travelling to gowran tomorrow for the Leinster road races.

Calling all female club members:
Ladies. Do you have un-used or un-wanted hand bags in the top of your wardrobe? If so we want them!!
As part of our fundraising effort for Special Olympics we are holding a bring & buy handbag sale in the hall after our race.

So please root out those unwanted bags and bring them along to registration on Sunday 13th.

Tell your friends and bring some extra cash to the race . Here’s your chance to get that special bag at bargain prices!