Photos: http://www.athenryac.com/image-galleries/club-5k-championship-2007-newcastle
A great turnout for the 4th annual Athenry AC 5KM Club
Championships out in Newcastle (the other one!) village, Athenry
early last Saturday morning! [The previous three championships
were held on the track in Dangan but since this is still out of
commission, we moved into the country and the scene of this
year's Athenry AC leg of the Galway 5KM series.]
It was Brian O'Connor's turn to organise the event, ably assisted
by such club luminaries as Seb Locteau, local resident Iain Shaw
and Peadar Nugent.
Twenty six athletes lined up, ranging in age from the mid-teens
to the recently work retired, Martin Keane. The latter can now
concentrate completely on improving his "masters" times! Aside:
the club wishes Martin a long and successful retirement and that
he gets lots of use out of his recently-obtained Garmin Foreunner
205.
The weather smiled on the event as well, with mid-Autumn sunshine
but it was a little bit more breezy than would have been
considered optimal running conditions. Those 26 also included a
handful of guests and also road race novices, all of whom were
most welcome.
As to the race itself, the field very quickly split in almost two
even halves - the "runners" and the "joggers." I got stuck in the
middle and had to quickly make up my mind whether to run or jog
around, keeping in mind that I had to go long the day after. I
decided to try to chase down the "runners", something I was
almost totally unsuccessful at doing on this occasion.
Other than the 3KM marker being about 80 metres too far up the
Monivea Road, the course itself was very strongly marshalled,
well marked and was completed without further incident.
Mick Rice skated home in an outstanding 17:13, breaking his PB
for the distance by a handful of seconds. The chap is running
excellently again after a long injury lay-off earlier in the
year. He is looking in very strong shape for a good time at the
DCM again - his 9th in a row since 1999. He was closely followed
home by GCH stalwarts, Danny Carr and Martin McEvilly. It was
familiar ground for Danny as he was born very close to where the
race starts and won the prize for First Guest. Philip Magnier
was first Athenry AC veteran home, in a little under 20:30,
winning the Masters Championship. Philip is also running very
well at the moment and is hoping to go very well in Dublin too.
The real action turned out to be much further down the field and
the scramble to be crowned Club Champion for 2007. After much
deliberation, it was calculated that Martin Keane had broken his
handicap by 2:53, running home in a little over 25:00 for the
distance, closely followed by Pauline Murray and Brid Moran, both
new members of the club. Martin was all smiles receiving the
perpetual cup, keep-always plaque and bottle of sparkling wine.
Pauline and Brid both also received plaques to commemorate their
own success.
Well done to all...
Runner Club Predicted Actual Diff Awards
Mick Rice Athenry 17:27 17:13 -0:14 Fastest Runner
Danny Carr GCH 17:34 17:39 0:05 1st Guest
Martin McEvilly GCH 18:15 18:06 -0:09
Peter Delmer Athenry 18:30 18:16 -0:14
John O' Connor Athenry 18:39 18:30 -0:09
Darragh McShane Athenry 18:23 18:32 0:09
Michael Rooney Athenry 18:30 18:50 0:20
David Huane Mayo 18:45 18:56 0:11
Ann Carter Athenry 19:31 19:12 -0:19
Mark Breen Athenry 19:01 19:19 0:18
Frank Burke Athenry 20:08 20:11 0:03
Oliver Deely None 20:30 20:14 -0:16
James Corbett Athenry 20:20 20:19 -0:01
James Lundon Athenry 20:00 20:20 0:20
Philip Magnier Athenry 20:28 20:36 0:08 Masters Champion
BrÃd Moran Athenry 26:00 24:41 -1:19 3rd
BrÃd McGaugh Athenry 26:00 24:53 -1:07
Pauline Murray Athenry 26:30 24:54 -1:36 2nd
Grainne Breen Athenry 25:01 25:03 0:02
Martin Keane Athenry 28:00 25:07 -2:53 Club Champion
Aoife Wilson None 29:56 25:09 -4:47
Cathal McLaughlin None 29:00 26:27 -2:33
Fiona McCann Athenry 29:30 28:12 -1:18
Fiona Joyce None 35:00 39:51 4:51
Clara Burke None 34:00 39:51 5:51