Congratulations to Jim Daly and Mick Rice, winners of the Athenry AC Club Handicap 10km Race.

Full results attached, thanks for the Handicapper and Timekeeper, James Lundon.

PHOTOS TO BE ADDED LATER

Thanks to everyone for coming along.

Glorious Sunshine produced heat that made it tough on many competitors, but the 'hurlers on the ditch', Andy Talbot, Gary Doherty and James Lundon and myself, would have happily swapped their various injuries and illnesses for a chance to run. Thanks for all the help lads.

It was a particulaly enjoyable run to watch. Everyone's behaviour on the start line is very interesting, especially when there is nowhere to hide as the clock ticks down.

Jim Daly nearly lost his way at the First turn in Athenry, but thankfully, The marshall on Duty, Yvonne Burke, kept him on line, above the sound of his Ipod. You'll get a hat on Stephens day Yvonne, I promise!

Gary Doherty kept people honest just outside the Arch, and stopped anyone taking the shortcut [Did ye even know it was there!], and then managed to take down half the KM markers before manning the last corner. Powerful work Gary.

Andy Talbot, having taken the photos on the start line, made his way to the 8.5km turn where he told me we had one Runner [ Gerard Hawkins ] miles in front. Anxious moments for the handicapper, as we wondered if our calculations were somehow wrong.

Gerard came into view 200m from the finish line and looked to be coasting, but Jim Daly, sans Ipod this time, bore down on him like a man possessed. The two had a 50m sprint, giving everything, before Jim edged it out. Well Done!

Mick Rice was the next man in, making it look all too easy.

There were more sprints to follow and Paul McNamara was made to fight for his position all the way to the line by Darragh McShane.

Paul's time of 31:51 would win many quality 10km races, and was a great run for man who gets fairly hard-done by the handicapper on a regular basis.

Great to see Darragh running well too, after a short illness.

After a brief warm down, I doled out the prizes, and vouchers for our winning guests ensured they would see the course again [albeit in slightly different conditions] on St Stephens Day this year.

Thanks to everyone who gave prizes, especially Martin Keane, who ensured I have plenty of bananas this week!

We eventually made our way into Keanes, where the meaning of life and the results, thanks to James Lundon's printout were discussed in detail.

Some of us later made an unsuccessful attempt to gain admittance to a nightclub, but thats another story.

More of us were up again at 9am, for our usual Saturday morning run.

You're welcome to join us at any time.

Any unaffilliated runners are welcome to come along and see the benefits of joining the club.

See you all again,

Alan

Document

Philip Magnier

17 years 8 months ago

Well done to the organizers and to Mick Rice, great race and time in the conditions.