Todays race report come courtesy of Enda Mcmorrow

There was a fine race at the Phoenix Park on Saturday when over 300 runners partook in the second ever Donor Harrers 5k race.  The race also had a unique twist to it as well in so far as there was a bonus prize for the leader of the mens and ladies race at 3K as well as at the finish. As it turned out the same people won both races – which was good news for Sportsworld’s own Catriona Jennings who had a great race to win the ladies title in a time of 17:06.

The course was very fast for the first 3k but then we hit the hills and to make it worse a very strong wind against us
which knocked back any hopes for most of us of getting a quick time.

Still there was some fine performances and as well as Catriona there was a masters victory for Lucy Darcy.
Also Aoife Brady finished a very creditable 5th in the ladies and with Jean Wilson 10th, the ladies team finished 2nd.

The best finisher of the men was Kevin Curran in an impressive 17:48.

All in all a very enjoyable race with exceptional goodie bags and great range of refreshments at the end.

Enfield was the location for the defense Bob Heffernan 5k road race on Tuesday evening. It’s part of the Meath race series.  On a fast flat course both the mens and ladies team took 1st place last year.

This time out our ladies team ran really well, coming up tops and went home with the trophy again. Sadly the mens race was a good degree more competitive than the same race last year and we didn’t factor in the team prizes.

Well done Aoife for winning the race  and Lucy who  won in her age category.  Full results are shown below.

Another Meet and Train race and and another great performance for the Sportsworld teams! The second race of the summer series took place in Tallaght Tymon Park on Sunday 8th of May. Although the morning seemed nice and warm the weather didn’t really spoil us.We got some rain during the warm-up and the whole race we all had to face up blustery wind which was particulary tough towards the end of the race.

Nevertheless, Sportsworld athletes did very well. For the second time we dominated the top ten. Rachel Mannion came home first, just ahead of Ruth Kelly in second place. Ciara Foster was third and Catriona Higgins forth. Additionally in the top ten were Natalia Sokolowska (6th), Orla Jordan (7th) and Orlagh Fleming (8th).

Thanks to all who came along to support us. It is always appreciated. After two races Sportsworld A team is first overall and our team B is second. Team C is in the fith position which gives us a good chance of winning thegold, silver and bronze divisions.

The third and last race (4 mile) will take place on Sun 22nd of May in Raheny at 11am. Due to many date changes many athletes cannot participate in that last race so please whoever can make extra effort to make our teams score at their best.

Lots of good picures on www.lindie.zenfolio.com or in the club gallery
Full results as usual on www.womensmeetandtrain.blogspot.com

Sportsworld’s dominance in meet and train was shown again Sunday when Rachael Mannion just out sprinted Ruth Kelly to win the second race in this year’s Meet & Train Summer League held in Tymon Park Tallaght. The two ladies were given the same time – that’s how close it was.

On the day strong winds made fast running difficult. The three-mile route around the park’s many paths proved quite demanding. Of the first 8 runners home Sportsworld had an incredible 7 runners,well done all who took part. A full race report with all  places and names to follow. Thanks to womensmeetandtrain for the image.

First 8:
1 Rachael Mannion SW A 19.29
2 Ruth Kelly SW A 18.29
3 Ciara Foster SW A 19.43
4 Caitriona Higgins SW A 20.13
5 Sharon Tighes Tallaght 20.19
6 Natalia Sokolowska SW B 20.27
7 Orla Jordan SW A 20.47
8 Orlagh Fleming SW A 20.56

Track training began in earnest for the majority at Tallaght stadium but the Dublin graded series has been in full swing for two weeks now.

Last Wednesday the night began with the Dublin 10000 metres championships at a windswept Irishtown Stadium. With Richard Corcoran, Eddie McGinley, Brian Maher,Tomás Fitzpatrick and Sean Hehir in action the scene was set for a battle over 25 laps. The race did not disappoint. Going through 5K in 14:58 the pace for the first half was fast and only got faster as the second half unfolded. As the bell was passed in 28.47.14 it was Richie Corocran who proved he had the best kick with an impressive 62.04s final lap.

The club only had two runners taking part on the night. Paul Duffy and myself ran the 1500M B standard. After both running hard on Monday in Gowran it was tough to inject any speed in the important 3rd lap. We went around neck and neck for over three and a half lap finishing in 5th and 6th place in 4:19 and 4:20. Lots of work to be done considering the A standard was won in 3:53 and B in 4:09 but it’s early days.

The Summer Meet and Train league kicked off on Sunday 17th of April with a 2 mile race in Irishtown hosted by Crusaders.

On a sunny morning five Sportsworld teams came along to give the best ever performance of our club in M&T league. We had eight Sportsworld athletes in the top ten. Also all top five ladies wore the familiar red and white singlets. Ruth Kelly was 1st, Ciara Forster 2nd, Rachel Mannion 3rd, Catriona Higgins 4th and Natalia Sokolowska 5th.Orla Jordan (8th), Ann Higgins (9th) and Katherine Reynolds (10th) were also in top ten. We are still awaiting full results.

The course which lead along the seaside was truly scenic but the middle mile was quite muddy and surprisingly hilly for the road race. But beautiful weather definitely made up for inconveniences.

After the race we also received prizes for winter races when Sportsworld’s A Team was first and B Team was second in gold division. We were also second in bronze. Mairead O’Callaghan was the overall individual winner of the winter series. Well done!

Next two races are pencilled for 8th and 11th of May. Updates and pictures as usual are available on www.womensmeetandtrain.blogspot.com. Keep an eye on this website for race venue and date confirmations.

The Leinster Novice and Masters championships took place in windy conditions in Gowran county Kilkenny this morning with the first race going off at 12.00 noon at a pace for akin to the local race course. The masters and senior ladies ran together over two laps of the 1.5k course.

[map width=”590″ height=”250″ zoom=”14″ type=”ROADMAP” popuptext=”This is a popup” address=”Gowran, Kilkenny” /]

Sportsworld athletes put in strong performances with the senior ladies and masters teams taking gold. Mairead was first finisher in the senior ladies and  continued a great run of form taking 2nd place in the senior race.  Helen did equally well in the masters race. Everyone else taking part for the club gave 110% and had excellent individual races.

In the mens 6k race the team came home in second place being narrowly beaten for first by just two places in the end. Paul Duffy after putting in almost all of the early running was outpaced on the final hill and took 2nd place in the senior mens.

It was a great day out and highly recommended  as a good spend of a sunny  bank holiday Monday for everyone’s

Full results with names, finish times will be up on Athletics Leinster over the next few days.

Initial results (Ladies) from the road race in Gowran on 2nd May. Download here and the mens

Photos are up in the Gallery or on Picasa

A race report from our dearly departed Packie Enright.
Newmarket on Fergus – Packie ran a 10K road race recently in Co Clare. 1682 competitors attended the charity event in the glorious sunshine; including walkers and cyclists (there was a walk, run and cycle race all on the one day). Charities included TLC4CF, Clare Crusaders, and Mid Western Cancer Care Foundation. The event is in it’s second year and is in memory of a local man who died of a brain hemorrhage at only 31 years old. Former WBA Super Bantamweight champion Bernard Dunne (who is a relative of the family) was the official starter.

2nd Annual Pakie Ryan Memorial 10k Run, 5k Walk 30k and 50k Cycle Saturday 26 March 2011.
Place Time Name Team Category
Male senior
1 0:32:26 KENNY ROGERS, St Johns (Clare) M
2 0:33:07 MICHAEL SHANNON, Kilnaboy A. C. M
3 0:34:01 BRIAN MURPHY, Ennis Track Club M
14 0:39:07 PAKIE ENRIGHT, Sportsworld A. C. M

Female senior
11 0:38:28 VERONICA COLLERAN, Ennis Track Club F
25 0:40:09 TRACY GUILFOYLE, Kilnaboy A. C. F
29 0:40:50 IMOGEN COTTER, Ennis Track Club F

Full results at:

Click to access 10K_Results_2011.pdf

The national road relays 2011 took place on the now familiar Raheny mile last Sunday. With many of the clubs top runners recovering from injury or taking time out for study getting both the numbers and our strongest teams together was always going to be difficult. We did really well considering fitness, injuries etc and had some great performances from late entrants.

The race is run on a course around Raheny which is a little over a mile. Times are always slower than they would be on the track with the slightest incline being felt whilst running at the faster pace. The standard is very high with the top runners in the country taking part.

The club had no masters teams taking place part this year in either the mens or womens races. Two of our masters were running in the senior ladies. The team put in a fantastic performance coming home in 6th place. The men did well also coming home 16th out of 23 but not far behind allot of other teams.

Helen White – 00:05:37
Jean Wilson – 00:11:32
Lucy Darcy – 00:05:46

————————

Paul O’Connell – 10:08
Gareth Murran – 4:47
Paul Duffy – 15:46
Liam Mc Fadden – 11:25

Following on its previous club outings success, last saturday morning saw the remergence of the party bus – disco lights et al – as 9 members of the club made their way to the luxurious setting of the K Club, minus golf clubs, but with running gear in tow.

A very early start (at least for the author anyway) saw us wind our way down country roads to Straffan in the county of Kildare for the 2nd running of the BHAA K Club 10 K race. There were definitely some people on the bus that were more morning people than others as our driver Noel was asked to put on the lights and the music at 9 in the morning on the way down. The accompanying video showing what appeared to be pole dancing was a bit too much for some people and the idea was quickly abandoned (to the dissapointment of some – names withheld – what goes on tour stays on tour).

The race proved to be very fortutous for everyone on the bus I reckon as a number of PB’s were recorded and everyone seemed happy with their race. After some fine grub at the club, we made our way home a bit tired but content with our lot. Lets do it again – soon !

The times of the people on the bus were :

Stephen – 42 : 40
Conor – 43 : 58
Killian – 44 : 57
Enda – 45 : 14
Terri – 45 : 39
Paul C – 45 : 57
Ellen – 46 : 32
Trevor – 47 : 11
Melanie – 48 : 50

There were a number of other sportsworld people in the race amongst which were Paul O’C (33 : 00), Sandra (39 : 19), Nigel (40 : 08), Kathleen (40 : 32) and Dermot (48 :07) Apologies to anybody I missed.

Enda Mc Morrow