A long overdue full report of the national road relays in Raheny. It was a poignant start to the competition on the traditional one mile loop around All Saints Road. Raheny Shamrock AC’s Pat Hooper paid tribute to Karen Behan who would have been competing in the master ladies division and led a minute’s round of applause in her memory. Her teammates and fellow club members were there in force to join in and compete in her memory. There were 3 ladies masters teams in action in the first event. Many wished to compete in Karen’s memory so for some it was their first experience of relay running.

Karla Doran finished really well up in the first mile clocking an excellent 5.52, handing over to Rhona McHugh for the 2 Mile leg 13.00 and Ariana Ball brought it home in the last mile 6.12 which brought the team to 7th. Audrey Gahan led off the 2nd team in 6.22 for the first mile, julia Hackett got the 2 mile in 14.23 and handed over to Barbara Murray who covered the last mile in 6.16 bringing them to 12th place. Relay debutante Michelle O’hagan back training with the club ran 6.46 for the mile handing over to Angela Eustace who despite carrying an injury ran 15.00 and then Michele Murphy making her relay debut in 7.54 bringing the team to 13th. A great combined team effort on an emotionally charged day.

The most exciting event of the day was the men’s masters race. The first team was under incredible pressure from the off. Emmet Ó Briain gave it everything to finish first in the mile in 4.49. This was crucial as from hereon in, Donore had to maintain this lead with other clubs literally breathing down their necks. Rossa Hurley did brilliantly to keep the lead over his 2 mile lap which he covered in 9.50. It was all then dependent on Tristan Druet’s last mile which culminated in an eyeballs out sprint finish in 4.53 and a Donore victory (our 2nd in 3 years!). Our 2nd team of Donal Iremonger 5.10, Gavin Keogh 10.52 and Alan Farrell 5.16 finished 13th. For the first time in many years there was an M50 team Des Gill 6.07, Tom Fagan 12.50 and frank McNally 6.28

In the ladies senior contest, we were missing some runners but also had some new faces this year. Niamh O’Neill had a great first mile in 5.36 and handed over to Sinead Lambe who covered the 2 mile in an excellent 11.41 and Amy Moriarty brought it home in 6.05 for the mile bringing the team to 9th. On the 2nd team, Roisin Harkin clocked 6.03 for the first mile, with fiona Hegarty who competed in a tough national 10k the week before taking on the 2 mile in 13.22 and finally Mairead Kirby bringing it home in the last mile in 6.28

Final event of the day was the senior men; with Donore silver last year and gold the year before, the pressure was on. This year’s field was also jam packed with many more internationals and Olympians. Darragh Fitzgibbon led off for the 2 mile and finished 9.55 , off the leading bunch. Ray hynes took up the mile in 4.38 and then over to John Travers for the 3 mile. The leading 3 had got ahead so it was always going to be hard for him to close that gap when they were going equally fast and in a battle. John finished the leg in 14.41 and then it was over to Eric Keogh to keep it up in the remaining 2 miles and he finished in 9.42 bringing the team to 4th. (top 3 was Raheny, DSD, KCH)

The second team of Michael Ryan 10.25, teenager Sekeriye Ahmed 4.48, ray Lonergan 16.03 and Paul Cummins 11.20 finished 19th