123.IE NATIONAL SENIOR INDOORS .
GOLD FOR KATE VEALE
BRONZE FOR LUCY HOLMES.
At the 123.ie national senior indoor championships last weekend at Abbottstown arena Dublin the club had a small but medal winning team competing. With 5 athletes enter Lucy Holmes in the 1.500 meters and three walkers Kate Veale and sister’s Doireann and Eabha Hickey and Dermot Cummins in the 3.000 meters. Kate Veale made it 7 from 7 on the bounce in the 3.000 meters walk when took her 7th national indoors senior title and her time of 12.27.82 was a 13 second PB indoors and now moves her to 2nd in the all-time Irish list behind Gillian O Sullivan with Olive Loughnane now 3rd after being overtaken by Kate , that time also ranks her 4th in the world indoor fastest times of 2024. We wish Kate the very best this weekend as she travels to Spain for the national Spanish championship in Zaragoza on Sunday. The club also had two of our younger walkers in action in the race when Doireann Hickey walked very well to take 9th from the 19 starters a great place in this senior event and her younger sister Eabha fell foul to the race walk judges and was DQ late in the race, this was a great experience for the two young Hickey sisters racing at senior level for the coming years ahead as they progress in the sport. Lucy Holmes had her heats of the 1.500 meters on Saturday morning and she cruised through to the finals which were on Sunday when finishing 3rd in heat 1 of 2 with a time of 4.34.67 to easily qualify for Sunday’s final. In Sundays final Lucy ran superbly well as she mixed it with the top 1.500 meter senior women for the first time at indoors, last year Lucy ran the 800 meters where she finished 5th in that final. For her indoor season this year Lucy moved up to the 1.500 meters and this move was a telling one as she had a nice drive home to Dungarvan Sunday evening with her very first senior medal in the glove compartment of the car when she took a brilliant bronze behind Carla Sweeney Rathfarnham W.S.A.F.AC 4.21.61 and silver going to Ellie Hartnett UCD AC 4.21.40 and Lucy with her Bronze in 4.25.13. a PB effort,Lucy was fourth in the final with 400 to go but never panicked as she drew back the athlete in front over the closing laps to take a deserving senior medal to add to the gold over cross country when she became the novice champion before Christmas. Also on Sunday one of our England based members Dermot Cummins ran the 3.000 meters which was run as a time trial due to the large number of entries. Dermot was mixing it with the leaders and setting the early pace up front midway through in what was described as a bumpy race, Dermot I’m afraid was on the wrong end of a mid-race bit of entanglement and he was badly spiked and was unable to continue, Dermot was brought off the track as his injury needed stitching a sorry sight to see happen any athlete. We hope he will recover well and we hope to see him back in action really soon as his a very talented athlete who has much to give. Very well done to all our five athletes on their performances and wearing the club vest with pride on the national stage despite the odds stacked against us with no training facility for what is one of the largest clubs in the country but we celebrate today on our athletes remarkable achievements as that’s for another conversation.
FORDES DAYBREAK WINTER LEAGUE.
GRAÍNNE MOORE IS WINNER OF THE SHORT ROUTE IN THE FORDES DAYBREAK WINTER LEAGUE.
This week we take a look back at the short course of our winter league which ended 2 weeks back. Just like the long course which we covered last week the 10 weeks on the short course was keenly competed for in all divisions.After a great battle for top honours on the Short Route in the Forde’s Daybreak Winter League our winner was the youngest ever winner of this league Graínne Moore who finished on 895 points after a great 10 weeks of hard running. Graínne who has come up right through the clubs juvenile ranks is a young lady who has stuck rigidly to her sport training away week in and week out and she not alone won the winter league short course this year but she has excelled also on the cross country trail with much success. Graínne is now also part of the clubs Dermot Ryan Female training group and this has brought her to a new higher level of training and competition. But is fair to say she didn’t have it easy in winning the short course league this year as in 2nd place was Michelle Durand hot on her heels only 10 points behind on 885 points, very little in it when you consider it was over 10 weeks of league running and Michelle gave it her all throughout this time also. Third and in contention right up to the end was Gerry Cummins who finished on 849 points, always a regular winter league campaigner Gerry battle hard all winter to hold a podium position. 4th was James Meagher on 817 points,our 5th overall on the short course was Michael Coakley with a tally of 812 points, Congratulations to all who participated on the short course this year at the winter league we hope you keep up your fitness’s now over the next couple of months, why not join us for the upcoming Mason Financial Colligan league held over 5 weeks and starting on Wednesday April 3rd. See ye on the bridge in Colligan.
The top 10 were:
1 Grainne Moore 895
2 Michele Durand 885
3 Gerry Cummins 849
4 James Meagher 817
5 Michael Coakley 812
6 Valerie Flynn 770
7 Gillian Collins 750
8 Colm Barry 726
9 Úna Lannon 707
10 Michael Cummins 695
Division 2
1 Eileen Campbell 770
2 Dearbhla Flynn 752
3 Carmel O Donovan 718
Division 3
1 Joanie McGrath 681
2 Micheal Moynihan 674
3 Michaela Moran 669
Division 4
1 Joanie McGrath 681
2 Micheal Moynihan 674
3 Michaela Moran 669
Division 5
1 Julie Regan 654
2 Edel Curry 584
3 Sheilanne O Donoghue 572
Division 6
1 Ita Byrne 607
2 Katrina Murphy 488
3 Linda O Neill 469
Division 7
1 Emma Cleary O Brien 586
2 Claire O Leary 582
3 7Louise Mason 556
Division 8
1 Nikki Hynes 526
2 Niamh O Mahony 508
3 Pauline Drohan 489
Division 9.
1 Catriona Foley 514
2 Claire Cosgrave 409
3 Jennifer Kirwan 346
Division 10.
1 Sinead Hehir 424
2 Claire Fennell 368
3 Michelle Mullaney 301
SHORT COURSE FASTEST TIMES RECORDED.
The Fastest Male on the short course this year was Colm Barry with a time of 13.59, Colm also won this prize last year with a time of 14.04 and our Fastest Female Grainne Moore in a time of 14.48, she like Colm also was the fastest Lady last year when she ran a time of 15.11.There were 17 runners that completed all 10 nights of the league which is a great achievement. We had a raffle of prizes for all who completed the 11 night’s and the winners here were Carol Tobin Kealan Hayes Lyons and Nuala Hogan.
FEW SHORT COURSE LEAGUE STATS.
A great total of 201 runners were signed up to the short course this year which was way up on the 155 runners who signed up last year. We also had 102 runners complete at least 7 nights on the short route.
THANKS TO ALL WHO HELPED WITH THE LEAGUE.
The successful 29th annual Forde’s Daybreak winter league came to an end recently and once again from the outset it has to be said it was one of our most successful in recent years. As all of us involved know it’s a big commitment each and every Wednesday evening covering a total of 11 weeks in all kinds of weather, to be out helping the club in this way for the enjoyment of others, but of course without these people there would be no league as the 30 or so helpers and stewards take up their position at the same time each Wednesday evening making sure that us runners are safe while running the league. A special thanks again must go to Gerry Cantwell who coordinated all the stewards for the duration of the league, Gerry did this most important job diligently each week making sure if someone was unable to come that there was another person organised to fill this slot, well done Gerry on a great job. We must also of course sincerely thank our sponsor Kevin and Forde of Forde’s Daybreak on the Youghal Road, a better sponsor there isn’t, many thanks Kevin. To another most important crew, those on registrations a big thanks for all your help. Breda Cantwell, Shirley Flynn, Ann Dunford , Declan O’Callaghan, Sharon Duggan, Ray Burke, Jim Fleming, Tom Leahy, who for many hours were on computer duty working out times and handicaps and league tables, starting times etc. Thanks to our chairman Tom Leahy for his work this year with the league also and Gerry Cantwell who looked after the league points tables. Our thanks go to Ann Dunford for her on-going work with posting results on the club web site each week. To Jamie Mills and John Mc Grath who looked after the cones each night and as always did a fine job and to the lads at the Sports Centre who were there every night and provided much needed help and support. For now pencil in the Wednesday November 13th for round 1 of the 30th year of the league, It promises to be a special year as we intend to celebrate 30 years of winter league running in Dungarvan in style. see you then.
NEXT LEAGUE IS THE POPULAR MARK MASON FINANCIAL SERVICES COLLIGAN LEAGUE.
The club’s next big local event is the 5 week Mark Mason’s Financial Services Colligan running league for beginners and regular runners and all are welcome once they are over 16 years of age. We would especially encourage newcomers to come along and join in this league in Colligan wood. For the complete beginner there is the option of doing two laps of the wood, beginning at the wooden bridge and finishing at the wooden bridge. This is 4.4 km in distance or 2.7 miles so it might suit all those that ran the short route over the winter league plus this route is more or less completely on the flat. Another option is to take part in the 3 lap which is 6.5 kms or just over 4 miles; this is 3 laps of the same flat circuit of the wood mentioned above. The final option is the 5 mile hill route which is one lap of the wood for starters and then up the first hill and down the hill and then across the road for the second hill and finishing in by the wood at the bridge. Entry will be online in due course. The league will start on Wednesday April 3rd and continue for five Wednesday evenings April 3rd,10th,17th, 24th and May 1st.Mass start each evening at 6.30 pm.
