Long an inspirational figure for Donore and the ladies in particular – Ann Woodlock turned 75 late last year and competed in this age group for Ireland on the world stage for the first time at last week’s World Master Indoors in Budapest.  Firstly she won silver in the 3000m in 16.03.58 and clocked a faster time than many of the W70 competitors.  A few days later was the 1500m and she won bronze in a time of 7.31 in a closely fought contest where the 3 medallists were only separated by little over 2 seconds.  Congratulations Ann, a great achievement.  Despite missing a block of training in the run up to the championship due to a car crash, racewalker Anne Gormley finished 11th W50 in the 3k walk and 9th in the 10k road walk.

The cold winds finally ceased and the rain stayed away on Sunday 30th March as the town of Dunboyne celebrated its fine athletics club as the 45th annual edition of their 4 mile road race proved as popular as ever. More than one thousand runners made their way to the start line and it was great to see the black and white singlets of Donore Harriers out in force.At the business end of the race Thomas Fitzpatrick of Tallaght AC gave a commanding performance to front run from gun to tape and win in a time of 18.55. With prizes for the first 6 men finishers the competition behind Fitzpatrick was fierce! But Lee Van Haeften (19.44) rose to the challenge and climbed from 6th to 4th in the latter half of the race. After his recent excellent performance in the National Inter-Clubs cross country race the Irish athletics community is taking note of Donore’s much improved athlete. Darragh Rennicks (19.36) of Bohermeen AC was 2nd and Paul Stephenson (19.42) of Rathfarnham 3rd.

Lee was well supported in the early stages of the race by Ray Hynes. Ray (19.55) ran a very consistent race maintaining 7th place throughout. With two in the top 10 Donore Harriers had a chance of winning the team trophy! Rathfarnham had 3 in the top 12, whilst Raheny packed 5 runners between positions 18 and 22. Host club Dunboyne were also showing their colours at the finish line. But strong running from Graham Hopkins (29th in 21.41) and Will Morris (32nd in 22.01) ensured the team prize for Donore. The final team score read: – 1. Donore Harriers 66; 2. Raheny Shamrocks 78; and 3. Dunboyne AC 78.

Graham placed second in the M40 age group, whilst the ever improving Des Tremble (37th in 22.07) was 3rd and Garvan Smith (43rd in 22.28) 4th in the same category. This was Garvan’s debut race for Donore Harriers and he is already proving to be a fine addition to a vibrant master’s squad.

Tony Barry (23.10) was next Donore man home in 59th place. Sixteen years-old Sam Gallagher, another debutante, also gave indication of a promising future in the sport when placing 66th overall in a time of 23.25.

The other Donore Harriers finishers included: – Bob Blake M40 (23.55) 73rd; Tom Fagan M45(24.49) 95th; Joe Murphy (25.23) 108th; Des Gill M45 (25.52) 109th; Ian Redican M40 (25.36); Bernard Byrne (26.04) 130th; and Thomas Halton M55 (31.20) 359th.

The ladies were also out in force in Dunboyne and ran well again to help Donore to the double also taking first team. In a strong field led home by Catherina McKienan (21.22) and DSD’s Sarah Mulligan (21.42), First lady home was Anne Curley in a solid 24.12 a little slower than she hoped but she is in marathon training and was 6th lady overall in a quality field. Karen Behan continued her recent blistering form with a fantastic 26.10 and and it was great to see Ashling Swaine score on the team with a time of 27.04.

Also running for the ladies, Sam Conroy (27.14), Lorraine O’Shea (27.28), Eva Campion (28.22), Michelle Dawson (30.49), Sarah Ni Ruairc (32.49) and Pauline Fagan (35.21)

In the One Mile Juvenile Race for athletes aged 15 and under (also at Dunboyne) Lucy McCann came an excellent second in the girl’s race in a time of 5.36. Ruairi Fitzgibbon 5.47 and 13 years-old Niamh Clarke 6.24 both ran well in the same race. Oliver Hopkins came 10th in the under 9’s race. Lauren Kennedy and Ava Clarke, aged 15, ran the 4 mile race and recorded times of 34.53 and 34.57. Well done to all!

We sent 5 relay teams to the last day of the the National Indoors. Well done to all of our relay teams who competed in Athlone over the weekend. The boys under 15 won their heat and went on to the final where they took home the silver medal, Jack Rafferty did brilliantly to step up an age group to compete with the under 15s.

The boys under 16 made it to the finals where they were unlucky to finish in 5th, Kalade who had run in the earlier race with the under 15′s stepped in as a sub to race again. The under 19s performed well and were very unlucky not to make their final.

Our girls teams of under 15 and 16 unfortunately did not progress to the finals both teams ran exceptionally well under difficult circumstances with Katie Coombes taking a hard fall and bravely picking herself up to get the baton around to her team mate. Well done to all the teams and again the supporters and subs who travelled and not forgetting the coaches.

On Wednesday evening 26th March Will Morris (17.53) and Graham Hopkins (18.04) came 2nd and 4th respectively in the North County Farmers Business Houses AA race. Fred Kiernan (19.33), returning after injury, came 24th and Ian Redican placed 49th.