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!

Well I gave the girls a pep talk before the 1st Meet & Train Race this morning in Raheny and this is the outcome. A pep talk before each race in future Girls
MEET & TRAIN SUMMER LEAGUE
2012
RACE No: 1 RAHENY 1st APRIL
SPORTSWORLD PLACES
***********************************
THE WINNER
1st > ERIN O CONNELL
3rd > NATALIA SOKOLOWSKA
4th > KATI INGAT
6th > MURIEL PATE
7th > SHEENA Mc DONNELL
8th > ORLA JORDAN
10th > LOUISE BRUTON
11th > NUALA O’ CONNOR
12th > TARA QUIRKE
14th > ANNA DELANEY
16th > ANN HIGGINS
18th EILEEN DALTON
27th > CLAIRE ROWLEY
29th > AMY FITZGERALD
31st > LYNNE MERRIMAN
32nd > CATHERINE GILMORE
45th > SINEAD Mc ENTEE
48th > ANTONETTE HAWKINS
54th > LAURENCE DELAIR
57th > JENNIFER CORR
60th > YVONNE MOORE CALLIS

The Meet and Train Summer League kicks off this Sunday 1st April in Raheny at 11am. We have 5 Teams competing. The best of luck to everyone. Dates for the next 2 races are
Wednesday 18th April and Wednesday 16th May

[dropcap2]E[/dropcap2]mily would like to talk to all the girls interested in racing for the club this year after training on Tuesday the 3rd of April. It is to see what track races, cross country races or road races people are interested in doing this year and to answer any questions on what training is best suited for these goals.

Myself and Phil made our annual trip outside the Pale for the 5 Mile Road Race organised by Fr. Murphy Athletic Club in aid of the local St. Vincent de Paul Society on Saturday 17th March. Local running celebrity Paul Duffy joined us along with Meath runner Peter Mooney to make up a Sportsworld team.

Despite being a little over an hour from Dublin the journey took longer than expected with tractors, ploughs and all varieties of combine harvesters beeping their horns and blocking the roads around Trim and Athboy for the St Patricks day celebrations. Despite the diversion we arrived in a deserted Kildalkey village with 45 minutes to spare. Only the local pub was open so we took refuge from the torrents of water and watched some of the parade on the TV.

All was going well, until about 12.30pm when a heavy shower moved in and refused to move out. The flat course had been bone-dry but the Baskinagh Highway ended up being the Baskinagh Canal with a lot of standing water and pot holes you risked loosing more than a shoe in.

The race kicked off at 14:00 meeting at Kildalkey Parish Hall. 127 lined up for the race, the first in the 2012 Meath series. A group of 10 or so runners were grouped closely for the first 3 miles and then things started to spread out a bit. The 3rd mile brought us off road into a local trail for 3/4 of a mile.

It wasn’t until the last mile that the rubber hit the road. Going into the race looking to keep the gap between myself and the lads down to 30-40 seconds I was delighted to be running well and hot on Phil’s heels with 800M to go. A good back and forth ensued and we were fast making ground on Paul. The last few bends weaved around a local housing estate. With 200M to go Phil pushed ahead and out-kicked me on the last turn. It was a great race non the less and given another 100M we could have had a three-way Sportsworld photo finish. Covered head to toe in more muck than your average cross country there was something satisfying about having made the effort to run. Just 3 seconds on the clock separated us in the end with Paul running 26:21, Phil 26:23 and myself 26:24. With3 solid runs and Peters help we comfortably picked up the mens team prize. With Phil and Paul both likely to run the national 10K they are both looking good for some great times.

Great race and as always I recommend everyone in the club give the Meath series a go over the summer. Yesterdays race mostly consisted of club runners but as always catered for all standards.

Thanks to Peter for racing on theteam and supplying the great photo. You can check out this and other great photos on his Flickr Set