An array of Personal Bests at two North Kildare venues on Friday evening gave another indication of Donore Harriers resurgence as a force in Irish athletics. At the Irish Milers Club / La Cheile AC event to mark the official opening of the new track at Leixlip Eric Keogh (3.50.88) ran ‘a perfect race’ to knock 3 seconds of his previous best time to record a notable win in the 1500m ‘A’ race. In the process Eric truly announced that he is a member of the top table in domestic middle distance running. Darragh Rennicks (3.52.97) of Bohermeen AC came second with Jamie Rossiter (3.53.37) of Clonliffe Harriers in third. Donore’s 3000m steeplechase specialist Ray Hynes (3.56.38) finished in the middle of the field in 9^th position.

John Travers took up the early pace in the One Mile race before falling back to fifth position. However, a strong finish saw John (4.02.87) get back up to fourth place. The race was won by Sam McEntee (3.58.41) of Australia, with his compatriot Jordy Williams (3.59.40) second.

At the same meeting Emmet O’Briain M35 came 3^rd in the ‘D’ 800m in a time of 2.03.30 and Sean O’Broin M45 (12.21) placed 7^th in the ‘C’ 100m race.

Meanwhile at the St. Coca’s 5 km road race at Kilcock  ten of the 17 Donore Harriers athletes who made the start line gained Personal Bests. The race was won by Mark Christie (14.06) of Mullingar Harriers ahead of his club colleague Martin Fagan (14.18) with Alan McCormack (15.23) of DSD in third. Soon the charge down Connacht Street to the finish at the Fair Green was a tour-de-force of black and white singlets. Michael McMahon (15.53) led the Donore Harriers ‘posse’ in 7^th place narrowly holding off the challenges of Gavin Keogh (15.54) PB in 9^th, Oisin Fitzgibbon (15.55) PB in 10^th <1^st in Junior category>, Chris Muldoon (15.56) PB in 11th and John Dunne (15.59) in 12^th spot.

Ken Norgrove admitted to being over ambitious in the early stages of the course through the Courtown Wood area but he dug deep to place 21^st in a PB time of 16.38. Ken placed second in the M45 category. Also among the prize-winners were Garvan Smith (16.40) and Des Tremble (16.47) who both recorded PBs. They placed 23^rd and 24^th respectively and in the process placed 2^nd and 3^rd in the M40 category.

Next Donore Harrier over the finish line was Will Morris (16.50) 26^th with Darren Hand (16.52) showing a return to form just one place further back.

Sam Gallagher (16.59) put in a sprint finish to achieve a “mission accomplished” by breaking 17 minutes for the first time. Sam placed 32^nd overall and placed 2^nd in the Junior category behind his club colleague Oisin Fitzgibbon.

The remaining Donore Harriers athletes were: – 36^th Tony Barry (17.19) PB; 42^nd Andrew Ledwith (17.32); 45^th Bob Blake M40 (17.33) PB; 47^th Shane McAuley (17.43); 73^rd Bernard Byrne (18.24) PB; and 178^th Terry Mee (21.54) <3^rd in M60 age group>.

For the ladies, in the midweek BHAA Trail race, Alma Hanevy ran brilliantly to finish 3rd and Maura Kearns won the 1500m in the graded meet.

Aogan MacDomhnaill (8.42.99) ran a PB when finished 4^th in the 3000m ‘A’ race at an Open Graded Meeting at Cork on Friday evening. Indeed, Aogan took 7 seconds off his previous best and has now improved his time by almost half-a-minute for the season.

At the 2014 Aviva Tailteann Schools Interprovincial held in Morton Stadium, Santry (21.06.14) Sean Lawlor of Donore Harriers and representing the Kylemore College School was the standout performer in the boy’s sprint events as he stormed to victory in the 100m and 200m events. Sean, who is aged 16, recorded a time of 10.88 in the 100m and set a new Championship Best Performance in the 200m with a time of 21.67. Sean, who is coached by Gerry Ronan, has subsequently been selected to captain the Irish schools team for the upcoming Schools International at Cardiff versus England, Scotland and Wales. Well done Sean!

At the Malahide 5 kilometres Parkrun on the 21^st June Daragh Fitzgibbon ran out a clear winner recording a PB time of 15.39. Shane McAuley (18.01) placed 5^th in the same race.

Niall Allen recorded a win and a 3^rd place in the Discus (34.28m) and Shot Putt (11.18m) respectively at the Dublin Open Graded meet No. 5  at Tallaght. At the same event David Campbell (23.77) placed 2^nd in the 200m B race with Sean O’Broin M45 (24.97) 3^rd in the ‘C’ grade.

Niall Lynch M35 was involved in a tussle with Raheny Shamrocks duo Ian Conroy (40.08) and Des Kennedy (40.11) in the Irish Mountain Running Association race at Trooperstown Hill. Niall (40.10) used the downhill sections to make up ground on his competitors before finally settling for the runners-up spot. 153 runners completed the course.

Full results from the Irish Runner 5 Miles road race at the Phoenix Park on Saturday are to follow.