MARATHON No. 71 FOR PHILLIP

While most of us were sleeping or at least huddling up beside a cosy fire on a bitterly cold Saturday morning, East Down’s Phillip Vint was warming up for the latest leg of his century attempt, the 71^st to be exact, at the marathon distance. Not for him the attraction of a flat and easy course on some idyllic tropical isle, but rather the ups and downs of the latest in East of Ireland Marathon Series, namely the Howth marathon, which began around 9.30am on Saturday, with some 3000 feet of climbing thrown in and had a strong cold headwind on the return legs, all 3 of them in fact. But it proved of little hindrance to the tough as nails veteran, as he kept going strongly to the end, crossing the line in 3.50.04, in overall 6^th place. Well done to you Phillip, only 29 more to go!!

Meantime, his wife Helen was making her way around the Half Marathon distance which she duly completed in 2.17.05, not a PB by any means, but coincidentally in 6^th place too, and which given the terrain and the weather conditions is a commendable effort nonetheless.

SHARON TAKES TOP SPOT IN BORN2RUN KILBRONEY FOREST 5K

On Saturday morning, Sharon Madine took full of advantage of the Juniors resting up for the All Ireland’s the next day. In the absence of her daughter Lauren and EDAC Junior Anna Gardiner who have been dominating the series, she bagged herself a win. Nicely done Sharon! It was not an easy ride though as the route entailed climb after climb in Kilbroney Forest. Thankfully the last 2.5K were mostly down hill and she came home clear to take first spot in a speedy 23.28 almost 2 minutes ahead of 2nd placed female.  This started a trio of podium places for the Club over the weekend.

PODIUM FOR CATHERINE AT DROGHEDA & DISTRICT CHRISTMAS 5K

This race, on Sunday morning, was well attended and of a high standard as evidenced by the winning time of 15.28 set by Gary Campbell of Dunleer AC.  With 842 starters, it was interesting to note that 492 of them were female. The first female home, Ciara Hickey, clocked 17.32 with Catherina McKiernan 2^nd Female in 17.56, still showing signs of her big race pedigree. Her claim to fame is that she is the Irish Marathon Women’s record holder an astonishing 21 years after having run 2.22.23 in Amsterdam.  Catherine O’Connor continuing her run of good form placed 3rd female only 4 seconds behind this athlete of note (18.00 exactly!)  Donal Smith with a late entry came 101^st Male finisher in a time of 23.38.

ALL IRELAND UNEVEN AGE GROUPS CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Only the very hardy “do” Cross Country in December and that refers to the parents who drive to far flung places despite other festive commitments and to coaches and supporters who brave the cold to stand on the sidelines as well as the young runners who fit in training around all the fun things that are going on at this time of the year. This is even before mentioning the icy mud and biting wind which can make competing a real challenge so irrespective of performance the bunch of Juniors who travelled to Cow Field (Yes that’s right it’s an actual place!) in Dunboyne, Meath on Sunday deserve huge praise. The day started out very chilly with the ground too firm in places, but thankfully there was a gradual thaw. The grass was long and there were stretches of mud which made running hard work. Despite the sun melting the ice on the ground, the temperature didn’t seem to rise much and spectators and runners alike were keen to keep moving.

U11 BOYS – EDAC had three boys, Alexander Robinson, Rory Morris & Jarlath Kearney in this race, qualifying as part of the Down team. It was first time at an All Ireland event for both Jarlath and Rory while Alex ran in the All Ireland Evens three weeks previously. With the biggest field of the day (a massive 198 runners) there was little room for manoeuvre so well done for negotiating the masses. Alex was 145th, Rory 161st and Jarlath 193rd. All took the 1500m event in their stride and did the club proud.

U15 GIRLS – Anna Gardiner & Lauren Madine both lined up in this age group having finished in the top 12 at the qualifiers. Lauren finished strongly in the 3500m race to clinch 6^th position and Anna came 9^th putting both in the top 10 in Ireland in a field of 181 runners which is more than impressive. As a result of their efforts Ulster were placed as the top province and the County Down Team was third.

U15 BOYS – EDAC had only one runner, Oliver Robinson in this race. At the start he did feel a bit out of his comfort zone having just turned 13 less than a week ago but he settled quickly and enjoyed the race climbing up the places with enough energy in reserve for a sprint finish and placed 103rd out of 131.

U17 BOYS – Mackenzie Murray and Declan Hampton were in as part of the County Down team but were also great representatives of the Club as they battled their way. Mackenzie held his own to come 81st out of 110. Declan would say that Cross Country is not his first love but he did well to complete the gruelling 5000m distance. Good work boys.

CROSSGAR SANTA RUN NO FUN FOR CLARE

The Crossgar Santa Run took place on Sunday afternoon and although it had the look of a great day to be out, there were some slippery patches that were tricky to navigate. Clare Carson took a nasty tumble which ended her race and Nuala Taylor who stopped to tend to her was also a DNF as a result. Best wishes to Clare for a speedy recovery and thanks to the Good Samaritans who took care of her.

PODIUM NUMBER 3!

The first EDAC runner home was junior Finn Gibney in 12^th position. His regular parkruns have obviously set him up well. Hallie Jennings came 2^nd female  securing the 3^rd  EDAC podium of the weekend! She also won a raffle prize so it was a good weekend for her all round. The whole Taylor family also deserve a mention because of the superb effort they put into their attire. Matthew Taylor was 29^th and dad John came in one place behind son number 2 William, 40^th and 39^th respectively. Kevin Kelly also took part with his son Domhnall who has recently completed the Couch to 5K in Downpatrick. Hopefully the first of many for Domhnall?

PREDICTED 5K TIME TRIAL ON THURSDAY NIGHT

 

There was a good turnout on Thursday night for the Annual In-Club predicted Time Trial, well it was good but could have been a lot better, given the current membership, but a big thank you and well done to everyone who took part or marshalled or helped in the Club Rooms before and afterwards. This was very much a fun event in which members predict the time they anticipate it will take them to run the 5K distance and then are set off without a watch or other timepiece to try to match their prediction. It therefore gives even the slowest runner in the Club a chance to compete with the fastest on equal terms. And it is amazing how close most of them came to their predictions. In fact with only 2 exceptions everyone ran faster than predicted, so what does that say about confidence in their own ability? However,

the top 5 were separated by a mere 10 seconds and they were:-  Niamh Kellett, one who was slightly under in her prediction by a mere 11 seconds, Gordy Graham 10 seconds over, Deirdre Weatherall 7 seconds over, Paul Lloyd 5 seconds over and the first prize went to Gavin Hynds who was a mere 1 second quicker than he predicted. This is exactly the same difference than was recorded last year by Liam Keenan. So  can next year’s winner hit the time exactly? I don’t know what the answer to that question is but all being well I intend to give it a go myself.

CHEQUE GOES TO MARY PETERS’ TRUST

The Club held a memorable evening in September past when Lady Mary Peters came to talk about her running career as well as to highlight the work of the Mary Peters’ Trust which supports young athletes who aspire to reach their potential. On that night there was a collection and over the last few months there has been a loose change bucket at the Clubrooms. On Thursday Fionnuala McGrady (a director in the Trust) came to accept a cheque for £500 on behalf of the charity. She chatted with some of the members and expressed thanks on behalf of Lady Mary.

 

Joe Quinn, Alison Carroll and Marguerite Robinson (Juniors)

16 December 2019