Highlights: John Travers gallant silver in the 5,000m; Caoimhe Mackey bronze in the U/23 400m Hurdles; and an excellent 5th place by Ide Nic Dhomhnaill in the women’s 5,000m are the club’s best performances – as the 148th national track and field championships takes place despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Report: Careful planning and an elongated athletics programme to take place over 2 weekends and 9 sessions ensures that the 148th national senior track and field championships continues its illustrious history. The championships also incorporated the national under 23s. 
The first half of the championships took place at the Morton Stadium in Santry on the weekend of 22nd & 23rd of August 2020, with a good representation of Donore Harriers athletes competing.
John Travers, who won 3 national senior 1,500m titles in the last 4 years, stepped up distance to contest the 5,000m. He started into the race as the favourite, with the strongest challenge expected to come from two young rising stars in Irish athletics – Darragh McElhinney of UCD AC and Efrem Gidey of Clonliffe Harriers. And so, it proved! Travers set out his stall from the gun by running consistent 64 second laps, with McElhinney and Gidey keeping close order. The 3 frontrunners kept a regimented order thru the first 10 laps, until finally Gidey lost ground and settled for bronze. The two leaders kept order, until the 200 metres to-go-mark when Travers moved wide and allowed McElhinney take the lead, obviously with the intention to outkick the former Bantry AC man in the charge for the line. However, it was the 19 years-old who sprinted best down the home strait holding off the challenge of the Donore Harriers man. McIlhinney ran 13.56.00, with Travers timed at 13.57.11 and Gidey 14.17.89.
Caoimhe Mackey (1.09.57) placed 6th in the final of the Women’s 400m Hurdles and in the process took the bronze medal in the incorporated Under 23 championship She qualified by placing 4th in Heat 2 in 1.07.20 a PB
Aoife Lynch qualified to the final of the Women’s 100m by placing 3rd in an extremely competitive Heat 3 with a time of 12.41. She raced well in the final over the first 70-80 metres, only to lose ground in the closing stages, crossing the line in 8th place in 12.25. Eva McPartlan (13.33) came 7th in Heat 1 of the 100m, and thus failed to progress to the final.
One of the best club performances of the weekend came from Ide Nic Dhomhnaill in the final of the Women’s 5,000m. Having given birth in March, her performance to place 5th in a time of 16.52.57 was outstanding. Both Ide and her sister Sorcha ran in the leading group throughout most of the race, with Ide finally finishing less than 5 seconds short of the bronze medal position. Sorcha placed 8th of 24 starters in 17.09.55.
Multi-eventer Lara O’Byrne placed 5th in the Women’s High Jump final with a 2nd attempt clearance of 1.60m, having earlier contested the Javelin – placing 10th with a best of 27.70m.
Master athlete Emmet O’Briain (4.14.00) came 9th in the first of 4 heats in the 1,500m achieving a PB
Zak Higgins was unfortunately DQed in the opening round of the 400m.   
The 2nd half of the championships will take place at Santry next weekend.
Results in brief:
NATIONAL TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS at MORTON STADIUM, SANTRY DAYS 1 & 2 of 4 (22&23.08.2020)
WOMEN’S 100m Final: 8th Aoife Lynch (12.25), qualified 3rd in Heat 3 in 12.41. Also, Eva McPartlan 7th in Heat 1 in 13.33
WOMEN’S 400m Hurdles Final: 6th (3rd in U/23 category) Caoimhe Mackey (1.09.57), qualified 4th from Heat 2 in 1.07.20 PB
WOMEN’S 5,000m Final: 5th Ide Nic Dhomhnaill (16.52.57), 8th Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill (17.09.55). 24 starters
WOMEN’S 800g JAVELIN Final: 10th Lara O’Byrne (27.70m)
WOMEN’S HIGH JUMP Final: 5th Lara O’Byrne (1.60m)
MEN’S 400m Heat 3 of 5: DQ Zak Higgins
MEN’S 1,500m Heat 1 of 4: 9th Emmet O’Briain (4.14.00) PB
MEN’S 5,000m Final: 2nd John Travers (13.57.11), qualified 1st from Heat 1 in 15.10.26