The track and field season kicked off in Tallaght stadium with the first graded meeting of the summer and we had some good performances from our young athletes.

In the 100m we had Sean Lawlor who won his race in 11.65, David Campbell 4th in his race in 11.42 and Lynda Ngankam 3rd in her race in 12.83. In the 800m we had Ryan Kiernan 4th in 2.17 and Jona Kalemi who ran 2.57, in the 3000m we had Eric Keogh who ran a very decent 8.42, Oisin Fitzgibbon was 5th in his race in 9.41 followed by Stephen Gavin in 8th place in 9.52. On the field we had Grace Sheridan 4th in the javelin, Yvonne McCluskey in the shot and discus and Lynda Ngankam who won the triple jump. Well done all.

On the same night the IMRA Scalp race saw Sarah Ni Ruairc have another strong run on the mountains.

The Bank Holiday weekend saw many races and many Donore runners competing all over the country, first off was the Le Cheile 5k in Leixlip where we had a core group of our strong senior runners who packed well in a great team effort to easily win the team race. Lee Van Haeften was first Donore man in with a great run for 3rd place in 16 minutes dead followed by David Heffernan who is returning to great form in 16.13, Darren Hand in 16.15 and Fergal Whitty in 16.16. John Dunne was next in 16.29 with stalwart master John Downes close behind in 16.37 earning him the first master prize. Robert Scanlon followed him in to get under the 17 minute barrier in 16.56. We also had Niall O’Reilly in 19.32, Sinead Graham in 21.16 and veteran Terry Mee who ran 23.03.

Limerick Half Marathon: Very well done to Sinead Jennings who had a powerful run to finish first woman in 79.19, not bad running for a rower in her debut over this distance! Watch this space for more great runs from this amazing athlete in the coming year.

In the Boyne 10k we had 4 girls who made the journey to Drogheda for this popular race. On a tough course in blustery humid conditions Sinead Lambe was the first Donore woman home breaking the 40 minute barrier for the first time with 39.58 earning her 5th female spot. She was followed in by Florence Curley 6th woman in 40.57, Caren Crowley in 47.12 and Eilish Joyce in 55.48, the girls also won second team so well done girls!

Another four Donore girls travelled on Bank holiday Monday to Gowran Kilkenny for the Leinster Novice Road championships and won a brilliant bronze medal just missing out on silver by 2 points. Sharon Moore was first in followed by Medbh Peavoy, Marianne Dunleavy and Rhona Duane. Another brilliant championship result so well done girls!

Other Donore performances over the weekend were:

Arc 10k Phoenix Park: Kevin English won the race in 35.13. This is Kevin’s third win in this race.

Bluewall Waterford to Tramore Run of 7.5 miles: Breda Mahoney was 5th woman in 51.07.

Glengarrif Bay Run Half Marathon: Mary Kingston ran 1.53.

Dublin Bay Run 10k: Tony Dunne ran 47.29 and Eva Campion ran 47.31.

Tallaght 5k: Nicola Dowdall who ran 22mins.

A number of Donore runners made the journey to the world’s biggest marathon – the London Marathon 2013. A sunny day made for a tough enough course but first home was Graham Hopkins who ran a super 2.47.46; Graham has had some great runs over the distance of late and this was a great culmination to his season knocking two minutes off his best. Next in was Fred Kiernan who smashed his PB by nearly 5 minutes finishing in 2.50.18, a terrific run. Anne Curley ran her seventh sub-3 hour marathon finishing in 2.55.29, perhaps not as fast as she hoped – a too fast first half may cost her a PB today but she will be back for marathon number 8! Shane McAuley ran a superb (PB?) 2.58.41. Derek O’Neill was battling illness and was a doubt for even starting but finished in 3.15.17 so well done to him for toughing it out. Alma Hanevy ran great, having a PB in 3.33.18 and was over the moon. The consistent John Gleeson ran 3.34.59, another solid performance. Medbh Peavoy was next in 3.42.29, slower than she hoped and outside her PB but this teak tough ultra distance runner will live to fight another day. Well done to all.

Back on home soil. Gavin Keogh is back from injury and ran 35.12 to finish 2nd place in the Wexford Pettits 10k.

Cindy Kelly did 19.58 in the Malahide Parkrun continuing her recent comeback to racing so well done to her.

Results from the KCLUB 10k to follow – updated shortly.

Don’t forget the fundraising cake sale in the clubhouse on Tuesday night 23rd April!

Another very busy weekend of races saw the National Intravarsities (IUAA) Track and Field championships in Mardyke, Cork and the Great Spar Run in the Phoenix Park which incorporated the National10k championships.

John Travers, representing Athlone IT had a great win in the 10,000m, he ran 30.36 beating the next runner Paul Robinson by well over a minute. Emily Geoghegan representing UCD won a brilliant silver medal in the 4 x 100 relays which was won by DCU. Eric Keogh ran 15.25.44 in the 5k and placed 7th and Eamon Fahey representing TCD won a bronze medal in the 4 x 400 relay. New member of the club, Jaco Oosthuysen, won the Javelin competing for DIT with a throw of 53.84m a very successful day for our young athletes.

In the Great Spar Run we had Fergal Whitty who had a powerful race and was first Donore athlete home in 33?? mins followed by Darren Hand 34.32, John Dunne 34.36, Lee Van Haeften 34.48, Niall Lynch 35:38, Dave Heffernan 36.20, George Brady 36.32, Sinead Jennings 37.50, Sinead Lambe 40.40, Samantha Conroy 41.38, Joe Murphy 41.37, Dave Wogan 41.41 Florence Curley 41.54, Ian Redican 42.45, Gerard Morris 42.59, Sharon Moore 43.13, Ryan Van Haeften 43.18, Simon Doyle 44.10, Sinead Graham 44.35, Michelle Rowley 46.42, Terry Mee 47.13, Caren Crowley 47.56, Eva Campion 48.12, Elaine Verdon 49.13, Tommy Dunne 50.02, Jennifer O’Keefe 51.13, Deirdre Healy 53.08,Martin Casserly 54.40, Anthony Jenkins 55.12, Stephen Robinson 55.54, Dana Mackey 56.16, Louise Geraghty 56.40, Donal Brennan 56.51, Michael Brophy 58.01, Aine Grogan 58.05, Una Glazier Farmer 59.34, Majella Burns 1.00.29, Amandine Devine 1.02.28, Adrienne Seery 1.02.2, Lavinia Kirwan 1.03.53. Well done to all in very tough windy conditions. We may have some wins in the AAI categories (team and masters) but no official results as yet. Congratulations also to all our junior runners who competed in the juvenile races.

In the Malahide 5k Park run Jono Daly was 2nd showing he is recovering well from his recent marathon in Rome.

Well done also to all our juveniles who competed in the first round of the Dublin juvenile league. There were lots of very good performances, wins, placings and PBs. Thank you to coaches and parents for their work on the day and getting the competitors to the event. Points are on offer for each event and it was a good start to Track and Field season.

A packed weekend of fixtures with the great news that Donore has a set of new national champions. Our U14 boys 4×200 team of Kolade Abidon, Max Carey, Louis mcdonagh, James McDonagh and Jack Rafferty stormed to gold at the National juvenile relays in Athlone. The U18 team of Sean Lawlor, Rolus Olusa, Adam Halpin, Connor? and Aidan won bronze. Great runs too from our U15 boys and U14 girls teams. Congrats all round.

A day later in Raheny, it was great to see 5 Donore teams contest the National senior and Master road relays. Unfortunately there were no ladies teams on this occasion but they will regroup next week for the national 10k. The Donore A team of Eric Keogh, Lee Van Haeften, John Travers and Mark Dooley finished 5th in the senior with Our B team of Darragh Fitzgibbon, Rob Scanlon, Darren Hand and Ken Norgrove in 13th. 3 teams contested the Masters. John Dunne, fergal Whitty and Dave Heffernan were 7th, Donal Iremonger, Gerry McDonald and Tom Fagan were 14th and Des Gill, Dave Wogan and Ian Redican were 18th.

Over in the west, a contingent of Donore runners contested the gruelling Connemarathon races. Kudos in particular to Stephen Dawson who ran the 39 mile ultra event in a fantastic 5.23.86 and was 17th overall. In the marathon the constantly improving Angela Eustace did a super 4.08, Hilary O’Connor 4.26 and Michelle Dawson knocked 17 minutes off her time from last year to run 4.29. Fergal Swaine came an impressive 6th in the half in 86.19 and Deborah Duffy ran 2.30.

The first round of the Summer Meet and Train road league took place in Lucan over 3 miles and the Donore ladies aim to replicate the great team turnout of the winter league with many new members coming on board. First home was Cliodhna Carthy in 4th, Sharon Moore 5th, Karen Behan 6th and Rhona Duane 8th and well done Joan McTernan, Lee Chambers, Ann Woodlock, Laura Murray, Sue Lynch, Eilish Joyce, Lorraine, Suzanne, Jennifer O’Keeffe, Cristina Gonzalez, Aisling McDonagh.

Elsewhere, John Downes was the winner of the Doneraile 5k in 16.31; Brian O’Riordan flew the flag for Donore in the Paris marathon in a time of 2.58. At the BHAA 2 mile, Rhona Duane was 8th in 13.09 and Ann Woodlock was 1st W70. In the 4 mile Anne Curley ran 23.48, Donal Iremonger 23.58, Dave Wogan 24.39, Ian Redican 26.11 and Terry Mee 29.29 (3rd M65)

A fifth place finish by the Donore Harriers senior men’s team at the National Road Relay championship at Raheny last Sunday gives indication of more positive results in the future. A young Donore team was led out by Eric Keogh (splits of 4m.48 & 5m.09) who came back in 7th place after the first 2-mile leg. Lee Van Haeften (4m.46) ran a solid one-mile lap to maintain 7th position. Next on the road was John Travers, who gained to 5th after posting laps of (4m.46, 5m.09 and 5m.03). The final leg runner was Mark Dooley (5m.05 & 5m.02) who ran an even paced stage maintaining 5th position to the finish line. Sligo AC were the team winners with a total time of 38m.31s, ahead of Raheny Shamrocks 38m.34 and Clonliffe Harriers 38m.55. Donore Harriers came 5th in 39m.47.

The senior B team finished 14th with a total time of 43m.00. Daragh Fitzgibbon showed improved form covering the first leg in 10m.09 (laps of 5m.00 & 5m.09), before handing over to Sam Allen (5m.04) who maintained 10th spot after the 1-mile leg. Darren Hand showed true grit in his came-back race after a few weeks out through injury. Darren ran the mile lap in times of (5m.11, 5m.26 and 5m.26) to tap on to Tomas Griffin in 11th position. Tomas, however, found it tough going and fell back to 14th after laps of (5m.44 and 6m.00).

We had 3 teams in the Masters Race which was run over laps of 1-mile, 2 miles and then another 1- mile. The masters’ A team came an overall 7th with a cumulative time of 20m.27. John Dunne (4m.48), Fergal Whitty (5m.04 & 5m.43) and Dave Heffernan (4m.54) did the club proud in a very competitive field.

The masters’ B team came 18th with Donal Iremonger (5m.19), Gerard McDonald (5m.41 & 5m.45) and John Gleeson (6m.01) coming home in a total time of 22m.46. The C team came 25th and was represented by Des Gill (5m.46), Dave Wogan (5m.51 & 6m.00) and Ian Redican (5m.53) for a total time of 23m.30.

Gerry Naughton