Destination Letterkenny
Just under four years ago, Mick Rice, James Lundon, Dermot McNamara and I met in my kitchen to re-start the senior branch of Athenry Athletic Club. In the interim it has been a joy to watch the club grow, to share in the successes, to play a part in the rejuvenation of adult athletics in Galway and to deliver a good road race to the running community once a year in December. Yesterday all of those efforts at rebuilding the club culminated in a little piece of Athenry AC history.
A team of six Athenry runners were joined by Andy Talbot of Clare River Harriers and travelled to Letterkenny on Saturday afternoon for the National Half Marathon Championships. Saturday was quiet – the long drive trading excuses and complaints, a nice meal in Letterkenny, the second half of Ireland v Germany and off to the B&B for an early night watching The Frames and PJ Harvey do their thing at the Electric Picnic.
Sunday woke to a nice fresh morning. There was a hint of rain in the air but the day was warm with no significant breeze. Paul had managed to get a course map from the race organisers the night before and we were impressed at how the two-lap circuit managed to look relatively flat, nestled in the Swilly River valley, among the abundant Donegal hills. Most settled for porridge, but one or two iron stomachs were well able to accommodate the Full-Irish about four hours before the 11:15am start.
With time on our hands we decided to drive the course before registering. This proved to be very helpful as what looked to be a flat course on paper turned out to be pretty hilly. In the first mile the route headed towards Letterkenny town, quickly turning to cross the river before heading south with the water on our right. The first four miles or so were hilly – nothing major – but a continuous series of undulations that sap energy and tire the legs. Just before five miles two sharp right turns take the runners across the river and heading back towards the town. This section of the run was smooth and a lot easier. A two-lap circuit meant that the hills would be encountered again between miles 7 and 10 before a relatively fast race to the line. The finish was in St. Eunan’s GAA Club grounds.
Nervous warm-ups, more excuse swapping and injury comparisons and the Athenry AC Team towed the line in a field of about 200 runners. We hoped that Paul McNamara was in the mix for a top five finish, despite the fact that his end-of-season break from training meant that he wasn’t 100% fit. Both Gary Doherty and Alan Burke were fit and held the promise of running good times – helped no end by a bit of friendly rivalry. Brian O’Connor had been improving race by race, and was our wild-card on the day – Brian has great foot speed but is relatively new to running and has certainly not seen the end of his improvement cycle. With Brian it was difficult to know exactly what he could do, but we felt sure he’d be the second team scorer on the day. Mick Rice and yours truly were then competing for the honour of third (and final) scorer on the team. Although Mick is much faster than me at the moment – running 76:47 to win the Louisburgh-to-Westport Half Marathon three weeks earlier – a bit of a mystery virus that hit him about ten days earlier balanced things up somewhat. On the line I was confident and focused, while it’s fair to say that Mick was a bit downbeat and worried about what was to come. Mick’s entry in the race was a last minute thing as he had actually planned to run a 12 hour race in England on the same day – a plan that was scuppered by the aforementioned viral infection.
At this point I am not going to go into a blow-by-blow account of my race, as the overall team effort was what counted on the day. Speed on the road was very much dictated by the underfoot conditions and the stiffening breeze that hindered the hilly side of the route; so that everybody’s times were slower heading south and fast finishes were the order of the day.
The best way to describe the effort that was expended was to describe the post race warm-down. Usually this is a light-hearted jog with all tension gone and everybody relieved to be finished. In Letterkenny Mick was physically unable to do a warm-down, Paul and Brian were visibly hobbling, and Gary, Alan and I were able to complete no more than three circuits of a damp football training pitch. As Alan put it: “I left it all out there!”
Supported by his parents and fiancée, Clodagh, Paul Mc had run a fantastic race to finish third in a time of 67:48. From the AAI website … “Joe McAllister, St Malachy’s Belfast won an absorbing national half marathon today in Letterkenny defeating Cian McLoughlin, Clonliffe in a time of 66 minutes 4 secs with McLoughlin just 5 secs behind in 2nd place. It was one of the best national half marathons for a number of years as both athletes posted good times in the blustery conditions … Paul McNamara , Athenry ran a fine race to finish 3rd in 67:48”. Paul was delighted to get into the medals, having finished fourth too many times recently, but felt that the race was really tough on limited training.
Brian ran a new personal best time of 77:01 to finish in a very creditable 22nd position. This was another big step forward from a man who is improving all the time. He felt that running alongside the experienced Paddy Murray of Mayo AC was a real help to him, but that didn’t stop him from kicking hard to beat Paddy over the line by just 1 second.
Mick and I ran together for much of the first four miles before I began to open a gap on him. I felt my race went really well and managed to pass athletes all the way from the first mile through to the end – a real confidence booster. Mick was an ever present danger however, and when I slowed during miles 9 and 10 he quickly closed the gap. We both finished strongly over the relatively flat last three miles claiming race positions all the way. Mick finished in 36th position in 79:09 while I was a little ahead in 32nd position with a new personal best of 78:50. It says a lot for the man that I had to run a personal best in order to get ahead of him – and he carrying the added weight of a viral infection.
Andy Talbot arrived home in 84:48 to claim a silver medal in the V55 category for Clare River Harriers and boost the Galway medal count. He was followed in by Alan in 85:39 another personal best! Alan has raced himself into fitness this year and is currently leading the charge for Athenry AC Sportsperson of the Year – an accolade for the person accruing most points for races finished in 2006. A few seconds later Gary showed that he is very much back in form by recording the club’s fourth personal best of the day in a time of 86:16. It is not surprising that Gary is currently in second place – and closing – in the charge for Sportsperson of the Year. The rivalry between these two will continue for some time yet.
And so it came to pass: two medals and four personal bests to accompany us on the drive back home. But there was one more surprise to come. As we washed down salad sandwiches with polystyrene cups of tea, the medal award ceremony took place. We watched on with pride as Paul received his medal from Michael Heerey, the President of the Athletic Association and again as Andy made the trip to pick up his All-Ireland silver. As things were about to wrap up for the day the men’s team prizes were announced … in reverse order … and starting with third … Athenry AC. We could not believe it. I’m pretty sure that we celebrated more than any of the other victors on the day as it was a real bolt-from-the-blue. With a slight tear in my eye, I joined Paul and Brian to take bronze medals awarded to the top three finishers. (We have since approached the AI and were assured that all six team members will receive a medal). The smile has still not left my face.
It was clear to all around that this meant a lot to us. Paul, in his typical selfless manner, was far more pleased with the team achievement than with his own individual accomplishment. Mick must have been slightly disappointed by being pipped to a scoring position, but if he was he never showed it for an instant.
As we headed for Galway, Michael O’Muireahertaigh’s commentary on the All-Ireland Hurling Final was barely heard. We carried with us a haul of eight medals and four personal bests. If you think this report is long winded, you’re lucky you didn’t have to sit through the blow-by-blow accounts of each footfall along Letterkenny’s thoroughfares.
We have come a long way from the first meeting of four in my kitchen a short few year’s ago where we started to Brew up this Storm. Now what’s next?