On a calm, sunny Sunday afternoon the roads near Raheny Village in north Dublin were filled with expectation and excitement. The 43^rd edition of the National Road Relays, Ireland’s premier team road racing event, brought together most of the country’s leading distance running clubs.

In the senior men’s race 26 teams toed the line – including defending champions Sligo AC, host club Raheny Shamrocks and last year’s runners-up Ennis Track. Donore Harriers, with European Indoors 1500 metres finalist John Travers running the key 3-miles stage, was among the favourites.

Lee Van Haeften (9.34) opened for Donore and in his typical gutsy fashion he ran near the front on the 2-mile leg before tapping on to Daragh Fitzgibbon in second place. Ferrybank AC were leading by 7 seconds, with their lead runner Niall Touhy recording the fastest two-mile leg of the day in a very fine 9.27.

Fitzgibbon (4.31), called into the team a few days earlier when Irish international Mark Dooley was forced to withdraw due to illness, ran an absolute stormer! The middle-distance specialist certainly eyed the prize and brought the team into a lead of 3 seconds – with Ennis Track in second and Clonliffe Harriers in third. Fitzgibbon was second fastest for the mile leg just one second shy of Raheny’s Cillian Kirwan.

With an in-form John Travers (14.07) taking Stage 3 it must have felt like a fait-accompli for the opposition! And so it proved! The Donore man ran the fastest stage and opened up a sizeable gap on his nearest pursuer. He handed over to Eric Keogh with a lead of 37 seconds. Raheny Shamrocks were lying 2^nd with Ennis Track in 3^rd one minute off the lead.

Keogh (9.40) was impressive over the final two laps (2 miles) extending the lead as Kevin Mulcaire of Ennis Track, the country’s leading junior distance athlete, recorded the fastest stage (9.29) and brought his team into the silver medal position. Raheny Shamrocks had to be content with 3^rd place with defending champions Sligo AC back in fifth. Donore’s final time of 37.52 was narrowly outside the course record. Ennis Track had a final time of 38.41, with Raheny on 39.05.

This was Donore’s 8^th senior win in the competition and the first since 1992.

The Donore ladies brought home a national relay medal for the first time in many years. The masters team got off to a fine start with Rhona Duane’s 6.06 for the first mile. Kim Hickey did the damage in the crucial second leg over 2 miles where she pushed the team up into 3rd place with an impressive time of 11.52. Breda Mahony held this gap in the last leg with an excellent 5.58 mile which secured the W35 bronze medal by a margin of 14 seconds. There were 13 teams on the day so a great achievement and testament to the current strength in masters competition.
Next up were two Donore teams in the senior women’s relay. In a very competitive first mile Ide Nic Dhomhnaill was 9th over the line in 5.40 and handed over to Barbara Cleary making a welcome comeback to racing. Barbara made up lots of ground in the 2 mile leg which featured two members of the European XC team and pushed the team into 5th with an excellent 11.16 time. Aislinn Nic Dhomhnaill fought hard in the last mile and on the final corner she had 3 runners on her shoulder – she held off all but one in a battling finish in 5.37 bringing the team to 6th overall out of 17 teams. Maura Kearns ran the fastest mile of the Donore ladies on the day when she kicked off for the second team and finished in 5.30, Michelle Childs ran a very gutsy 2 mile leg to finish in 12.13. Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill had a good finish in the last mile in 5.44 bringing the team home to 13th place.
In the masters men’s race Donore could not match the team silver medals won last year. Putting out an entirely new team it was a tall order for athletes more at home on mountain terrain or in the marathon. George Brady (5.00), preparing for next month’s Belfast marathon, ran the opening mile leg and placed 13^th. Niall Lynch (10.29) was 9^th fastest on the 2 miles stage and tapped on in 9^thposition. Andy Kinane (5.05) was 7^th fastest on the final mile leg and gained to 8^th place. Newbridge AC, 3^rd last year, won in a time of 19.27 with Donore 8^th in 20.34.

Meanwhile in Budapest Nicola Dowdall ran 99 minutes in the half marathon, practically replicating her PB in Bohermeen a few weeks ago.

In the 5km Naas Parkrun on Saturday 17 years old Michael Gibbs knocked almost half-a-minute of his previous best time when placing 6^th.

Results in brief:

National Road Relay at Raheny: Senior Men = 1^st in 37.52 – 2M Lee Van Haeften (9.34); 1M Daragh Fitzgibbon (4.31); 3M – John Travers (14.07); 2M Eric Keogh (9.40); 2^nd Ennis Track (38.41); 3^rd Raheny Shamrocks (39.05)

Senior Women: = 1^st Leevale AC (20.39); 6^th Donore Harriers ‘A’ 22.33 – 1M Ide Nic Domhnaill (5.40); 2M Barbara Cleary (11.16); 1M Aislinn Nic Domhnaill (5.37); 13^th Donore Harriers ‘B’ 23.27 – 1M Maura Kearns (5.30); 2M Michelle Childs (12.13); 1M Sorcha Nic Domhnaill (5.44)

Masters Men: = 1^st Newbridge AC 19.27; 8^th Donore Harriers 20.34 – 1M George Brady (5.00); 2M Niall Lynch (10.29); 1M Andy Kinane (5.05)

Masters Women: = 1^st Raheny Shamrocks 23.29; 2^nd Letterkenny AC 23.41; 3^rd Donore Harriers 23.54 – 1M Kim Hickey (6.04); 2M Rhona Duane (11.54); 1M Breda Mahony (5.58)

Budapest Half-Marathon: Nicola Dowdall (1.39.00)

Juvenile Result:

Naas 5km Parkrun: 6^th Michael Gibbs u/18s (19.39 PB)