The Toddy Moore Memorial 5Mile & 10 Mile Kilmore. / Kilmore Winter league. / Ironman Wales.
The Toddy Moore Memorial 5Mile & 10 Mile Kilmore.
The Toddy Moore Memorial race in Kilmore was revamped this year. The clever organisers incorporated 2 race distances into 1 event running at the same time, a fine feat of organisation. A 10 mile race to attract anyone training for a marathon started at 10am. As that race was out on the course at 10.20am the 5 mile race started.
Well done to Kilmore AC for thinking outside the box and offering up the two distances.
On the weather front only light rain at times which was welcomed by runners on a warm morning.
Helen Wallace had a great run finishing 5th lady home in the 10 mile race.
Club 5 mile results :
Micheal Kinsella 39:14
Gareth Llloyd 40;10
Sinead Morris 44:09
Ollie Stack 45:03
Sarah Bermingham 46:58
Club 10 mile results :
Eamonn Foley 1:18:10
Jesse Kielthy 1:19:36
Helen Wallace 1:27:00
Fran Power 1:30:35
Kilmore Winter league
Great to see 2 of our Juveniles competing in the Kilmore Winter league last night. Although the weather was not what you would expect for Winter League our 2 athletes performed well in their races.
Well done to Rory Henderson & Fiachra Mehigan.
Iron Man
Tenby in Wales is a well know holiday Village known very well amongst Irish holidaymakers. However Sunday the 3rd of September was a very different trip for Tony Harpur. He ran a marathon while he was there. Not only that but he went for a 180k bike ride before his run. Not only that but he went for 3.8k swim in the sea before his cycle which all added up to completing the Iron-man event in Wales.
A superb achievement to complete such a physically challenging event.
He swam the 3.8k route in 1 hrs 54 min, then the 180k bike ride in 6 hrs 8 min then on to a 42 km run in 3 hrs 58 mins with an overall official time of 12:27:28.
To put it into context he entered the water at 7.15am and completed his run around 7.45pm that night, endurance at its finest.
Massive congratulations from all in the club Tony and enjoy the recovery.
Oylegate Half Marathon. / Dublin City Triathlon.
Olyegate Half Marathon
Oylegate Half Marathon was a popular choice for people with an eye on the Dublin Marathon in October. Today the race took place over a 2 lap 10k loop around the village of Oylegate and doubled up as the County Half Marathon Race. Nice to see members taking on different distances and challenges in recent weeks from the Co champs to triathlons. Well done to Billy Reck and the rest of the team on organising such a great event.
Member results :
Dermot Foley 1:41:11
Brian Smyth 1:43:17
Eamonn Foley 1:49:35
Jesse Kielthy 2:06:06
Photos Pop Up Races
Dublin City Triathlon
Dublin City Triathlon was the event of choice as Tadhg Henderson, John Dier & Sharron Dier all travelled to Phoenix Park in Dublin. There was a few entry options with John & Sharron taking the shorter distance option and Tadhg going all in tackling the longer race distance.
A tough swim in the Liffey followed by a cycle on the roads of Phoenix Park finishing with a run again on the roads of Phoenix Park.
Congratulations to the 3 of you.
Tri the Hook. & Gavin Glynn Triathlon. / Frank Duffy 10 Mile. / Menapian's Weight For Distance.
Tri the Hook. & Gavin Glynn Triathlon.
We had some members taking on events in recent weeks outside of the familiar athletics events.
At Tri the Hook (which became a duathlon due to the weather) Tony Harpur won his age cat. Also competing were Tadhg Henderson and Donal Grant.
Donal Grant was also busy competing in Kilkenny Tri Clubs Triathlon a few weeks back.
John & Sharron Dier recently competed at the Gavin Glynn Foundation Triathlon in Greystones.
Great performances all around showing versatility when performing, congratulations everyone.
Some photos by sportsphotoireland
Frank Duffy 10 Mile.
Well done to Paul O'Meara and Fran Power who today travelled to the Phoenix Park in Dublin for the Frank Duffy 10 mile. An event used as part of many athletes preparation for the Dublin City Marathon the 2 guys were no different as they continue their training towards the Bank Holiday weekend in October. 2 excellent times posted today showing that the prep work is coming along nicely with Paul finishing in 1:25:36 & Fran finishing in 1:28:46
Keep up the good work gents.
Menapian's Weight For Distance.
Last Tuesday evening, Menapians Athletics Club organised a very well attended weight for distance throwing evening for women at its sports ground at Park, Wexford. The event, held in glorious sunshine, was one of many held across the country to celebrate Her Outdoors week. This is a Sport Ireland initiative which aims to encourage more girls and women to enjoy the benefits of being active outdoors.
Weight for distance is a long established throwing event which once ranked alongside the better known throwing events such as hammer, discus, shot and javelin. The centre-piece of weight for distance is a spherical shaped weight, with different weights for different categories, attached by means of a short chain to a triangular handle. The athlete, from a standing position, throws the weight as far along the ground as possible. There is also a weight for height event which involves throwing the weight over an overhead bar.
In his welcome address to the women, coach Michael McKeon gave a little background to the sport. He said that the throwing events we see at Olympics and in competition come mostly from weapons used in battle and, he pointed out, used by women as well as men. Both weight for distance and weight for height, traditional in Ireland and Scotland and, through emigration, in parts of the United States, has very different origins to those events deriving from weapons. Traditionally, a weight was used to measure crop yield at harvest time. Once the harvest was saved, farm workers were in festive mode and the ensuing celebrations included traditional games such as tossing the sheaf, hammer throw and weight for distance. This was the genesis of harvest-time festival games and, while these have largely died off, many of the activities can still be seen at parish field days.
With the history lesson completed, there was a demonstration of throwing technique by athlete and acclaimed singer/songwriter Rachel Grace. Coach Catherine O’Connor led everyone through some warm up exercises before the athletes lined up for some practise throws.
The group included experienced athletes alongside some who had never thrown anything heavier than caution to the wind! All Ireland Masters medallist and rowing enthusiast Deirdre Bowers Kavanagh was there. So was her Enniscorthy AC clubmate Lisa Breen. Former Mayor, Councillor Maura Bell, not known for flinging her weight around, had no trouble flinging the heavy ball a huge distance. Former Irish international discus thrower Ailish O’Brien of DMP AC, delighted to see so many women attending a throwing event, was happy to view proceeding from the sidelines.
Then it was competition time, each athlete getting three measured throws. The ladies kept a close eye on the measuring tape-wielding Padraig Kelly as he pinned where each effort landed with Mick McKeon calling the distance at the board, Siobhan Doyle keeping the tape straight and Margaret Malone carefully logging each throw.
Niamh Duggan, a total newcomer to the event, generated a collective a murmur of appreciation as she threw the 20lb weight out past the 5 metres mark on her first throw. The experienced Deirdre Bowers Kavanagh opened with 5.78 metres. Lisa Breen was measured at 5 metres flat.
With the first round completed, the noise level increased appreciably, as competitive instincts kicked in. Top layers were shed, feet planted at the board, muscles flexed. Nearly everyone threw further with their second effort, particularly Orla Redmond who joined the big throwers with a massive 5.10 metres. Into round three and there was no holding back, not least for Therese Byrne and Sinead Ryan who joined the 5 metres+ club. Deirdre BK, to whoops of delight and thunderous applause, sent the weight a whopping 6.45 metres. Needless to say, no one came within an ass’s roar of this making Deirdre the overall winner. Niamh Duggan was adjudged best new comer and Mary Cronin took the title of most consistent athlete of the competition.
A number of women, appetites whetted, stayed on to try out the more established throwing events including discus, shot and javelin. The rest headed off into the setting sun, flexed shoulders thrown back, heads held high. They were no doubt wondering how standing out in a field of an evening tossing a 20lb weight about could be such fun. Celts to the core!
National Masters Track & Field / The Gaelforce Bray 10k / United Striders 5k / The Leo Carthy 6k.
National Masters Track & Field.
The National Masters Track & Field took place in Tullamore at the weekend and we had a number of athletes competing.
Siobhán Doyle had a brilliant run for
3rd in the 100m W60 in18.07 and unfortunately was just pipped for 3rd place in the last few metres of the W60 200m finishing in 4th place
Liam Carroll ran well for 6th in M50 100mtr race.
Mary Gaynor took an excellent 2nd in the W55 800m in 3:14.86
Catherine O'Connor ran an excellent race claiming 3rd W55 1500m in 6:52.72
Martin Kelly had another excellent run in the M65 1500m finishing 2nd in 5:29.06
The weather held off for the morning events but wasn't pleasant in the afternoon for the later events so some of our athletes were lucky with the elements.
Congratulations to all our athletes another great set of results
The Gaelforce Bray 10k.
The Gaelforce Bray 10k was held today on a new route away from the cliff walk used in previous years. Our own Ilze Bedrite took on the challenging run today finishing strong with a 1:13 finish time. Good stuff Ilze.
United Striders 5k.
United Striders hit on a novel race route with the opening of the New Ross Greenway. A 5km run from one end to the other was on offer setting up a super fast course which caught the attention of runners of all abilities meaning that the race had to be capped. A good complaint to have when organising a race.
Our own crew who had registered in time were Helen Wallace (22:29) Oliver Stack (26:09) Gráinne Hayes (28:54) & Sam Donegan (30:38) all ran superbly times with I believe 3 PB times in there. Great to see training paying off.
RoisÃn O'Reilly was in smashing form running in the distinctive yellow of UCD coming in 2nd lady in 16:42 , congratulations RoisÃn.
Well done everyone and tganks to United Striders for hosting such a great event.
The Leo Carthy 6k.
The Leo Carthy 6k was held on a 2 loop route around Our Lady's Island village on Sunday. A very well organised event won by well known local athlete Niall Sheil. Our own members were present namely : John Dier, Gareth Lloyd, Sharron Dier & Bridie McGuire.
In his native Tipperary Enda O'Sullivan was running 10k in the Run with Dunne event.
Onto Monday and the local Church of Ireland community held a 5k up at Wexford Racecourse. Much better conditions than the Saturday parkrun had. Tony Harpur had a superb run to finish 2nd place, Dermot Foley wasn't far behind in 5th.
Tony Harpur 18:35
Dermot Foley 20:30
John Dier 24:35
Gareth Lloyd 25:42
Sarah Bermingham 28:18
Siobhan Doyle 35:40
Bridie McGuire 42:20
Photos from
Pink Rock 10k / Streets of Athboy 5k.
Streets of Athboy 5k.
Our ever young Masters athlete Martin Kelly was on the road again and made his way to Athboy. Fr Murphy AC hosted their very popular 5k around the streets of Athboy and Martin was 2nd in the M65 category finishing in 20:19.
Great running again from Martin, congratulations.
Pink Rock 10k
Hosted by St Joseph's AC the Pink Rock 10k is a well organised race with a fairly flat course alongside the river Barrow. It has a great appeal as Wexford, Waterford & Kilkenny athletes all take part due to its location. Our 9 athletes were full of praise afterwards. Brian, Helen, Michael, Sarah, Ilze, Mary, Fran & Paul ran the 10k route while Gareth ran the 5k.
Today our ladies were the 3rd ladies team, an excellent result well done.
10k Club results :
Brian Smyth 40:44
Michael Kinsella 48:08
Helen Wallace 49:31
Mary Gaynor 50:06
Ilze Bedrite 54:13
Sarah Bermingham 57:02
Paul O'Meara 57:03
Fran Power 57:03
5k result:
Gareth Llloyd 25:26
The National Juvenile Championships Days 2 & 3. / Oylegate Utd F.C.10k. / Slaney Olympic Summer League 5k.
The National Juvenile Championships Days 2 & 3
The National Juvenile Championships Days 2 & 3 saw the Athletic Brothers Lucas & Elijah Page Redmond competing on both days in Tullamore. These two athletes are very dedicated putting in the training required for their events.
On Saturday Lucas was 5th in his 100m heat in 12.24 and was also busy in the triple jump, jumping really consistently with a best on the day of 10.63m which improves his PB from 10.35m a massive improvement.
Elijah coincidently ran the same time of 12.24 in his 100m heat finishing 5th.
Onto Sunday and day 3 saw both brothers competing over 200m.
Lucas ran 25.04 for 6th place in his heat.
Elijah ran 25.23 for 3rd in his Heat which qualified him for the final. He then ran 25.51 in the final which gave him a 7th place in the Nationals.
Huge well done to both Lucas & Elijah. A big thanks to their coaches and to their parents for having them competition ready and also getting them to Tullamore to compete.
Oylegate Utd F.C.10k.
Oylegate Utd F.C. held a 10k race this morning starting and finishing at the community centre. Well done to our 5 runners who it seems got the best of the weekends weather for the run. There was an untimed 5k also which Gareth Lloyd & Sharron Dier took part in.
10k times
Brian Smyth 42:01
Dermot Foley 44:08
Eamonn Foley 47:13
John Dier 51:48
Fran Power 53:37
Slaney Olympic Summer League 5k.
Slaney Olympic hosted another event in their very popular Summer League Race series on Friday evening.
Monageer was the destination and this time the distance was 5k. Well done to Michael Kinsella, Fran Power, John & Sharron Dier, Helen Sinnott, Paula Gondard, Catherine O'Connor & RoisÃn O'Reilly who all took part after their exploits on the track during the week.
Mr Oil County Track and Field championships.
At Enniscorthy there was great excitement at the track in Enniscorthy on Wednesday as the showers cleared, promising a dry evening for the events of the Mr Oil County Track and Field championships.
John Dier kicked off the action in his new shoes winning the over 50s 400m. Rob Casey was 3rd overall and 1st O35.
Next the ladies' 1500m Menapians vests made up over half the athletes, with Catherine O'Connor, Ilze Bedrite, Helen Wallace, Paula Gondard, Ciara Dolan, Mary Gaynor and Helen Sinnott all stepping up. Roisin O'Reilly now running for UCD blazed home in an impressive 4:46.30. Martin and Rob both took on the mens 1500m coming 7th(2nd O50) and 8th.
The 100m sprints were next on the cards, which gave athletes a chance to remember how to use the starting blocks. In the Senior Ladies Rosin, Helen W and Ciara competed coming 4th, 5th and 7th
In the masters over 35s Ilze took Gold.
In the over 50s Catherine, Siobhan, Samantha, and Sharon all took part coming in 2nd,3rd,5th and 7th.
In the masters mens over 35s Rob had a tight race winning gold by a whisker. For the over 50s Liam and John took to the blocks claiming 1st and 3rd O50.
Some of the ladies had a go at the triple Jump with Catherine and Ilze getting gold in their category and Helen Wallace taking Bronze.
The night was rounded off with the 4x100m relays. The ladies had 2 teams:
Ciara, Helen W, Mary, and Ilze Siobhán, Paula, Sam and Sharron Coming in 3rd and 4th respectively.
The men managed to convince Tadhg to put down the triple jump tape measure and put on some shoes to form a team. Liam, John, Tadhg, and Rob who clinched silver with another super sprint finish.
All in, the team took home 13 medals, 5 of which were gold. Special thanks to Tadhg and Padraig who helped run the evening.
All photos courtesy of Aoife Lyng Photos
Full Results: Masters Men 400m -Rob Casey 3rd(1stO35) 1:03, John Dier 5th overall 1st in O50s -1.24.08
Womens 1500m -1st Roisin O'Reilly (UCD) -4.46.30 -4th Helen Wallace -6.00.33 -6th Ciara Dolan -6.09.91 -7th Ilze Bedrite -6.24.59 (1st in O35) -8th Catherine O'Connor -6.35.33 (2nd O50) -9th Paula Gondard -6.36.71 (3rd O50) -10th Mary Gaynor -6.46.85 (4th O50) -12th Helen Sinnott -7.34.21 (6th O50)
Mens 1500m -7th Martin Kelly -5.31.16 (2nd O50) -8th Rob Casey -5.32.21 (5th O35) Senior Womens 100m -
4th Roisin O'Reilly (UCD) -15.83 Guest -5th Helen Wallace -15.88 -7th Ciara Dolan -16.73 Masters Women O35 100m -1st Ilze Bedrite -17.36 Masters Women O50 100m -2nd Catherine O'Connor -17.96 -3rd Siobhán Doyle -18.43 -5th Samantha Donegan -22.31 -6th Sharon Dier -22.84
Masters Men 100m O35 -1st Rob Casey -14.66 Masters Men 100m O 50 -1st Liam Carroll -14.87 -3rd John Dier -16.88
Senior Womens Relay -3rd (Ciara, Helen W, Mary, Ilze) -1.08.23 -4th (Siobhán, Paula, Sam and Sharron) -1.24.46 Senior Womens Triple Jump -3rd Helen Wallace -6.29m Master Women O35 Triple Jump -1st Ilsa Bedrite -5.89m Master Women O50 Triple Jump -1st Catherine O'Connor -5.75m
Another busy night of athletics was held on Wednesday evening as the Co Board hosted night 2 of the Mr Oil County Track & Field Championships. An opportunity for athletes to try events they normally would not consider mixed with some super competitive races as all club athletes mixed and encouraged each other.
We had another good response as people made there way to Enniscorthy.
The first track event was the 200m. Helen Wallace was 5th in Senior. Ilze Bedrite claimed gold in 035. Mary Gaynor took bronze in the O50 with Helen Sinnott 4th & Sharron Dier 5th.
In the mens O35 Donal Grant claimed Silver with Dermot Foley in 5th.
Liam Carroll took silver in O50 with John Dier 4th.
Onto the ladies Senior 3000m and Roisin O'Reilly (guesting for UCD) took first place, Helen Wallace 5th, Paula Gondard 7th, Catherine O'Connor 8th & Sam Donegan 12th place. In the O50 Paula took silver and Catherine took bronze..
The Senior men's 5000m was straight after and Donal Grant was 18th man home, he was 9th O35.
The ladies 800m Senior saw another wave of club vests as Roisin O'Reilly was 2nd, Ilze Bedrite 7th, Mary Gaynor 8th, Catherine O'Connor 9th, Paula Gondard 11th, Helen Sinnott 12th & Sharron Dier 13th. Ilze took silver in O35, Mary claimed gold on O50, Catherine took silver, Paula 4th, Helen Sinnott 5th and Sharron 6th.
In the mens 800m O35 Dermot Foley was 5th and Michael Kinsella was 4th in the O50.
The walks then took centre stage as everyone was encouraged to try the event, Sharron stepped it out finishing 5th in the senior 2000m but claimed Gold in O50.
The energy sapping steeechase was next up and Helen Wallace smiled her way around to a gold in the 3000m ladies and Dermot Foley finished 4th in mens 3000m however as there were 2 guests ahead of him he was silver medal winner.
In the ladies throwing events
Roisin was 4th in Senior javelin.
Tracey Nolan won silver O35 javelin, was 7th in the senior shot putt and 4th in O35.
Sam Donegan finished 4th in O50 shot putt.
In the mens throwing events
Dermot Foley was 9th in Senior shot putt 7th O35 and 4th in O35 javelin.
Darren O'Grady was 11th in Senior shot putt and 9th O35.
John Dier came 4th in the O50 javelin and also 4th in O50 shot putt.
Liam Carroll took bronze in O50 shot putt and silver in the O50 javelin.
The finale of the track was the 4x400m relay races. Our mens team and two ladies teams ran really well with slick baton changes.
Michael Kinsella, Dermot Foley, John Dier & Donal Grant ran to a bronze medal finish.
Catherine O'Connor, Mary Gaynor, Paula Gondard & Ilze claimed Silver medals with Helen Sinnott, Samantha Donegan Sharron Dier & Helen Wallace ran to a bronze medal finish.
A very successful evening as the club claimed such a collection of medals. Well donevto all who competed and
congratulations
to all our medal winners. Also thanks to all who helped on the night including Padraig Kelly & Mick McKeon and the County Board.
See Aoife Lyng Photos and Wezford Athletics for some superb acton Aoife Lyng Photos
Kilcock 5k. / National Junior Championships. / Mick Murphy Memorial 5k. / National Juveniles Tullamore.
National Juveniles Tullamore.
The National Juveniles took place over the weekend in Tullamore.
Saturday saw Josh Nolan & Elijah Page Redmond both competing in a competitive U15 javelin. A very windy day for throwing but both managed to throw pb distances despite the wind and Elijah finished 4th with Josh next in 5th place.
Fantastic achievement reaching the Nationals and performing so well.
Sunday the attention turned to the B Nationals and Alex Lonergan was competing in U15 100m and long jump. He performed exceptionally well in both events but was unlucky not to get amongst the medals.
Another fantastic achievement from a fine young athlete.
All 3 young men put in great performances and everyone in the club is proud of their performances. Thanks to our coaches and parents for travelling up and hopefully Tracey warms up again soon !
Mick Murphy Memorial 5k, Ferns
A lovely warm evening in Ferns on Friday with a slight breeze as SBR AC hosted their Mick Murphy 5k. A very large crowd took to the start line with with just over 200 entrants for this popular event. The course is well known to regulars and club members alike and at 7.30pm the whistle went and the road was awash with club vests and casual tops galore.
There was a very competitive field with 74 finishers under 20 minutes. The top 4 were in under 16 minutes showing the calibre of athletes present.
Our club was represented by RoisÃn O'Reilly, Tony Harpur, Dermot Foley, John Dier, Catherine O'Connor, Darren O'Grady & Sharron Dier.
Roisin had a super run finishing on the podium for 2nd lady home and Tony broke his 5k pb so happy faces all round. Well done to SBR on a fine event.
Club results
Roisin O'Reilly 17:04
Tony Harpur 18:18
Dermot Foley 20:36
John Dier 24:14
Catherine O'Connor 24:46
Darren O'Grady 26:05
Sharron Dier 31:23
National Junior Championships
Tullamore was the venue as Sarah Louise Carr hit the road on Sunday morning. An achievement competing at these events Sarah Louise was throwing the 20lbs in the Weight for Distance and on the day threw 6.07m setting herself a PB in the process. A competitive event saw her efforts resulting in 8th place overall.
Fantastic result as she has only just returned to full training after completing her Leaving Cert exams.
Well done Sarah Louise.
Kilcock 5k
Our wise man Martin Kelly was in action on Friday night as he ran the Kilcock 5k in 20:22
Great running Martin.
Mr Oil County B Championships. / Ballymurn 5 mile. / Viking Half Marathon & Quarter Marathon. / The Metalman Triathlon
Mr Oil County B Championships.
A lovely summers evening greeted all athletes at the Mr Oil County B Championships at Enniscorthy Sports Hub. The Club was well represented by athletes at Under 10 and Under 12. First event of the night saw Leon Spudic competing in the U12 Long Jump claiming a medal. Benny Lonergan U 10 took part in the 80 metres sprint followed by the Long Jump and Javelin. Conor Donovan competed in the U 10 Javelin. Another U 10 athlete Katie Walsh took part in her first County Championships making it to Sprint final. Katie also competed in Long Jump and Javelin. Estelle Longeran competing at U 12 took part in Long Jump,Sprint, Middle Distance, Javelin and Relay events. Amy Conde competed in U 12 Long Jump, Sprints. Middle Distance, Javelin and Relay events. Abbie Donovan competed in U12 Long Jump,Sprints and took a medal in Mixed Relay event. Sophie Fortune competed in U 12 Long Jump and took a medal in her Sprint final and added another medal in the Mixed Relay event. Ciara Walsh was also competing in her first County Championships and made it to Sprint final at U 12. Ciara also competed in Long Jump, Javelin, Middle Distance and Mixed Relay events.
An enjoyable night was had by all and special thanks to Parents, Coaches and Club officials who also attended on the night.
Ballymurn 5 mile.
The 2nd installment of the Slaney League took place in Ballymurn on Friday evening. A testing 5 mile route on a warm evening as 4 of our ladies travelled up to run.
Paula Gondard 40:32 , Helen Sinnott 46:41, Louise Henderson 49:34 & Sam Donegan 52:59 all ran well and we're all smiles afterwards for the photographer.
Well done ladies.
Viking Half Marathon & Quarter Marathon.
The historic Waterford City was the destination for our members as they hit the road early for the Viking event. 2 distances were of interest: Half marathon & Quarter Marathon.
With a start time of 9am it was surprisingly very warm out on the course.
In the Quarter Marathon Louise Henderson 1:01:42 and Sinead Ryan 1:19:53 both had superb runs.
The Half Marathon distance was covered by Brian Smyth 1:37:52, Dermot Foley 1:43:10, Gavin Hayes 1:46:12, Eamonn Foley 1:48:27, Jesse Kielthy 1:51:48 & Enda O'Sullivan 2:15:05 all running great runs.
Well done to everyone. Brilliant to see so many running this event.
The Metalman Triathlon.
Our club member Tadhg Henderson recently put a huge effort into training for a Half Ironman, read his experience below.....
Who knew that Metal is harder than Iron?
4:10am on a Saturday, great! I'd woken up 5 minutes before the alarm and would be able to get out without disturbing the rest of the house. Nervous excitement rising I took a look out the window. The early predawn light meant I could see that it was not raining if a bit windy. The day was here. A year's training would culminate in the race of my season today: The Metalman Triathlon in Tramore. After a quick breakfast and coffee made in the travel mug, I got kitted out for the day's event. Tri suit on, car already packed the night before I jumped in and pointed the car for Waterford ready to take on a 1.9km swim, followed by a tough but scenic 90km bike and finishing with the infamous 21.1km run in the hills around Tramore. 10 minutes into the drive, the heavens opened with a torrential downpour. Now I don't have a religious bone in me but I found myself praying for no rain on the bike! Nothing would be worse than cycling up hills into driving rain! Anyway a few minutes later and all was dry again. Phew! Arriving at Tramore got the car parked and asked a marshal where registration was, to be told it didn't open until 6am. I'd arrived an hour earlier than I needed to! Anyway not to worry, it gave me time to set up my bike and kit for the two transitions. I decided then to walk towards registration and wait for it to open only to see people with goodie bags coming back already. Great! Or not… I overheard some people talking and it seemed the swim was off due to rough sea conditions! Disaster! I had worked so hard at my swimming and made so much progress, this was a real disappointment. Anyway the Coast Guard made the call and as soon as I saw the sea, it was clearly the right call, it would have been unsafe. So just bike and run then. The bike course followed the main road out of Tramore down to Dungarvan, then back along the undulating Copper Coast Geopark to Tramore. We had a stiff headwind on the ordinarily faster first half of the spin, with some very challenging climbs in the second half. All things considered I was very happy to complete the 90km in just over 3 hours, almost 30 kmh average pace. Delighted to get off the bike and stretch the legs, I took off out of transition like a hare but very quickly realised that this was no sprint! Clocking an elevation gain of 241 metres over the half marathon distance this was the hardest road race I've ever done! To put it in context, that's more elevation than the Dublin Marathon, a race not known for being flat. But worst of all was the heat. Could really have done with that rain shower now! I refused to walk at any point pushing and pushing in fear that if I did stop I'd never get going again! A long long slog and 2 hours 5 minutes later I finally could hear the finish line! At last I'd done it. Someone stuck a medal on me and shoved a banana in my hand. Total time 5 hours 13 minutes, which sounds great for me for a half iron distance race, but no swim remember! Still that swim has to be done. Roll on next year when hopefully I'll get the full event!
Mr Oil County Senior Relays. / Leinster Juveniles 2023. / Glynn 5k.
Glynn 5k
Father's Day didn't deter our road runners from making their way to Glynn today to run the very popular 5k fundraiser in the village. Lovely warm weather compared to the downpours they ran in on Friday night. A nice course with a few hills to contend with followed by refreshments afterwards in the local village hall. What else is needed ?
One of our athletes was so organised he had no time to change so ran it in cargo shorts. Not mentioning any names but he was 13th !
Results :
13th Tony Harpur 20:08
17th Brian Smyth 20:48
38th John Dier 24:52
47th Sarah Bermingham 27:35
66th Sharon Dier 32:26
84th Siobhan Doyle 37:26
89th Bridie McGuire 42:39
99th Gareth Lloyd 47:33
Leinster Juveniles 2023 Day 2
The Leinster Juvenile Championships Day 2 saw our gang return for more competition after a good night's rest. After Saturdays great results they were confident and full of enthusiasm for the events ahead. A much more pleasant day for the spectator to sit back and enjoy a day of athletics.
Elijah Page Redmond was running U15 200m today and pushed hard from gun to tape and was duly rewarded with 1st place, gold medal.
Lucas Page Redmond was also running 200m today U17 and he also put in a huge performace being rewarded with a second place Silver medal.
Alex Lonergan was competing at U15 triple jump. A tough and technical event he outdid himself by setting a pb distance in a very competitive competition finishing in 7th place overall with a best jump of 8.32m
Congratulations to you all, a huge achievement.
The club are very proud of how our athletes performed over the two days and again many thanks to those parents giving up their time allowing athletes to compete. A word of thanks to the juvenile coaches who give their time freely every week to coach and also a mention to Padraig Kelly for officiating at the event.
Leinster Juveniles 2023 Day 1.
The Leinster Juvenile Championships were on in Tullamore on Saturday. A perfect day for competitors as the rain if the previous day cleared. However there were showers and thundery skies at times during the day.
Elijah Page Redmond, Lucas Page Redmond, Josh Nolan & Alex Lonergan were all in action.
Lucas took an excellent bronze in U17 100m. He went even better in the triple jump by taking home a gold medal.
Josh Nolan was in action in the u15 javelin throwing a new pb of 37.69m which earned him a bronze medal.
Elijah was 4th in the u15 javelin. He took an excellent silver in the 100m race.
The boys were then involved in the County team 4x100m relay with Alex Lonergan and Elijah running and Josh was sub as they ran a blistering lap claiming silver medals. The heavens opened during the race adding more difficulty to the changeovers but they ran superbly to finish in second.
Lucas was on the County u17 4x100m relay. A great performance saw them take silver medals.
Thanks to Tracey Nolan for looking after our athletes during the day and thanks also to the athletes parents for travelling up.
Mr Oil County Senior Relays.
The first staging of this event was held on the tar ambulance track around Wexford Racecourse on a very wet Friday evening. A fantastic team event encouraging participation of as many athletes as possible saw a great response despite the conditions. It was impressive to see all the club vests on display especially Taghmon AC who were competing for the first time at Senior.
Ladies as always were first on the line with Menapians AC fielding 3 teams of 3 who each had to run 1 x 1.5km lap. Superb running from all ladies in terrible conditions.
Teams :
Ilze Bedrite, Helen Wallace & Paula Gondard.
Catherine O'Connor, Sarah Bermingham & Helen Sinnott.
Louise Henderson, Siobhan Doyle & Sharron Dier.
Next to race were the men and we fielded 2 teams. Members 1 & 4 had 1x1.5km laps and members 2 & 3 had 2x1.5km laps to complete. Again superb running from each athlete saw and a brilliant bronze medal result for our men.
Teams :
Martin Kelly, Brian Smyth, Tony Harpur & Rob Casey. Bronze medal winners.
Micheal Kinsella, Alex Parris, Donal Grant & Tadhg Henderson.
The final race on the night was the much anticipated mixed relay with 2 ladies & 2 men on each team running 1 x 1.5km laps each in any order. 11 teams took to the start line and Menapians provided 4 of those teams. A great tactical event to watch as teams adopted different strategies saw brilliant running from everyone as the rain poured.
Teams :
John Dier, Sharron Dier, Louise Henderson & Tadhg Henderson.
Liam Carroll, Helen Sinnott, Catherine O'Connor & Donal Grant.
Ilze Bedrite, Helen Wallace, Brian Smyth & Tony Harpur.
Elaine McMahon, Sarah Bermingham, Alex Parris & Rob Casey.
Thank again to Wexford Racecourse for use of the grounds, County Board, our refreshments crew and all our supporters who braved the elements offering encouragement to all of our athletes.
A word of thanks to our club captain who arranged all our teams and also arranged the use of Wexford Racecourse.
Wishing Liam a speedy recovery, fingers crossed you will be running shortly.
Photos courtesy of sportsphoto ireland & Ollie Stack.
