Race ProgrammeSt. Stephen’s Day 2016www.athenryac.comwww.facebook.com/athenryacwww.athenry10k.com

It is once again my pleasure as chairman of Athenry Athletic Club to welcome you tothe 15th running of the Fields of Athenry 10K road race. It is a huge tribute to oursmall army of volunteers, who turn up unfailingly year after year, that the race isalive and prospering – thank you all.

But the most important person is you, the participant. Without you, there would beno race and we are very grateful for you taking the time and effort to support us. Ifyou have been here before, you know what to expect and we hope it lives up to yourprevious experience. If it’s your first time then you are doubly welcome and we hopeto make it as good a race as possible for you.

We do try to build on the race experience every year and if you think there is anyarea that could be made better, we would very much appreciate you taking the timeto let us know.

Tony Killarney.

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Chairperson’s Words

Dear competitor,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to the 15th Fields of Athenry 10Kroad race.

We are delighted this year to have Hygeia as our title sponsor. Hygeia is a localGalway firm serving the agricultural sector and the gardeners of Ireland for over75 years.

Yet again this year we have a bumper entry, with every county represented, andrunners from overseas as well. As I look down the list of entries I see some oldfamiliar names: people who come back year after year to run this race. We aretruly grateful to each and every one of you for choosing The Fields, especially inthe immediate aftermath of Christmas.

This year's preparations for the race started in August and the activities haveincreased week by week to fever pitch in the last month. Over this time, the teamhave worked tirelessly, with no job too big or too small. No matter what I asked tobe done, the answer was always the same: will do, no complaints and I really amthankful to all for their efforts. It made my job easy.

I would like to thank all our sponsors (see booklet and website) for their kind andgenerous support, and ask you to support them whenever possible.

This year we are supporting Athenry Cancer Care. They are a great organisationwho support people with cancer through their illness.

Whatever your reason for running our race, whether it's your first 10K or your onehundredth, whether you're here to win or just out for a walk around the world-famous low-lying fields of Athenry, I hope you enjoy your race and look forward toseeing you again next year.

Until then, on behalf of all the team I wish you a very happy and prosperous 2017.

Jim Leahy.

Race Director’s Note

Photo Credits:John O'Connor @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/edenhill77Andrew Talbot @ https://www.facebook.com/edel.talbot

Layout: JO'C ~ Proof: PN ~ Editor: JAL ~ V12

The Galway 5K Series celebrated 10 yearsin existence with another excellent set ofraces this year. All existing records werebroken again, in the 11th iteration of theseries. It welcomed aboard a new co-ordinator, Gerry Carty (GCH). He came withbags of experience, being The Streets 8KMrace director on multiple occasions in thevery recent past. A title sponsor wassecured for the event for the first time inBRADLEY RENAULT. The HSE alsoprovided some much-appreciatedsponsorship to this great event.The well-worn on-line entry process didn'tstretch ActiveGlobal.com as much aspreviously on Friday, 11 March at 8PM.Seven hundred people entered via thismechanism. Cost of entry was unchangedat €30. If you hadn't registered by 8:20PM,you were out of luck. A limited number ofothers were able to enter off-line throughtheir affiliated club, to bring the numbersregistered in the series to over 940 – a 14-fold increase on the number of people whofinished the first ever 5KM leg back in May2006.There was substantial change in the seriesthis year with the sequencing of the legs,with GCH first up, reverting back toBallybrit on a crisp April evening. NiamhHennelly was race director. Number pick-upwas under the new stand. The course wasslightly altered on the other year it was heldhere, and but for a few spits of rain after8PM, the leg went off without any hitches.Red Tag Timing provided time services, asJohn Cunniffe & Co have every year since2010, when the event became too large tobe safely hand-timed.www.redtagtiming.com saw a lot of activityeach Tuesday evening of the series!Craughwell was next up and a recordnumber of finishers was recorded (724 andup two from the previous record 722 whofinished the week before in Ballybrit) on avery fast course [for me anyhow!], from

the school to the old bridge. Keith and crewdid the needful, as they always do. The lesssaid about Elvis the better.Loughrea attracted a smaller crowd, partlybecause the weather in the hour before8PM had broken! The course was slightlychanged, with the start further back closerto the town centre, with the finish halfwayup the traditional fast finishing straight. TheMartin Smyth-inspired logistics worked outfine as it kept the crowd off the intersectionat the local Gaelscoil.Tuam was roughly over the same coursebut without the hard 90 degree left turn inthe housing estate close to the finish line.This caused some confusion last year assome kept going instead of taking the leftturn. The new highway caused somechanges in the course but none of themunduly affected the runners, at 500M andagain at 2.5KM. There were serious trafficissues getting into the town and manyrunners − upwards of 100 − missed therace as a result. One must leave lots of timeto make Tuam on 5KM evening.Claregalway was exactly the same as otheryears, with the start at the turn insideCorporate Park and the finish at itsentrance. No traffic jams that evening.There were substantial road works at theCommunity Centre, for the new school, andit made the road there a bit rougher thanusual, but not unduly so. Nothing haschanged on Rock Road though.The first shall be last, and it was the casewith Athenry. The race HQ was the RaheenWoods Hotel, both before and after the leg.The start of the race was away over on theTuam Road near the water tower, whichwas a decent warm-up on a lovely late Mayevening. The finish was at the AthenryPrimary Care Centre, much closer to thehotel than the start. It was a warm evening,which suited some but not others!The 2016 technical top was black in colourand 708 were eligible to receive one by theAthenry leg. Yoda put it, in only the wayhe/she/it could, "Do or do not. There is nottry." John O'Connor (Flickr: 77edenhill)cannot be forgotten: he was at all six legsagain this year and recorded everyoneequally for posterity.Regina Casey won four of the six legs, withGrainne Ní Uallacháin (Claregalway) andDeirdre Brophy (Ballybrit) sharing one legwin each. Gary Higgins (Tuam &Claregalway) won two legs, while MattBidwell (Athenry), Owen Byrne (Loughrea)

and John Greaney (Craughwell) and PhilipNiland (Ballybrit) all won one leg!The excess of €14,330 from the series wasgiven to the Galway AAI county board forthe continued advancement of both adultand juvenile athletics in the county. This isthe 8th year that an excess has beengenerated and on all occasions it has beengiven to the local county board, for whichthey are deeply grateful. Martin Smyth, 5KSeries treasurer, presented the cheque tothe county board at its Annual GeneralMeeting in November.The two 5K series stalwarts remainstanding after the 2016 series: GaryDoherty (Athenry AC) and Tony O'Callaghan(Craughwell AC). Each has successfullycompleted all 63 legs without fail (2006: 4;2007: 5; 2008-2016: 6 each). There are anumber of other people who have each runat least 60 legs each: Adrian Fitzmaurice,Jim Maher, James Lundon and Tony Nevin.Mick Rice and Alan Burke were bothpresented with specially-commissionedsterling silver medals by Galway AAICounty Board for their 10 years working onthe series. The presentation was made inAthenry by Brian Bruton in his capacity aschairperson after the last leg.

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2016 Galway 5K Series Report(www.5km.ie)James Lundon

Race No. Director DateBallybrit (GCH) 732 Niamh Hennelly 26 AprilCraughwell 734 Keith Devane 3 MayLoughrea 662 Martin Smyth 10 MayTuam 586 The Monaghans 17 MayClaregalway 637 Andrew Talbot 24 MayAthenry 658 Valerie Glavin 31 May

Races Run per Person No.Six 240Five 261Four 207Three 91

Club No.Athenry AC 120GCH 85Craughwell AC 57Tuam AC 53Loughrea AC 43HPE Galway 26Maree AC 25Corofin AC 23Castlegar AC 19South Galway AC 17CRH 13Corrib AC 11East Galway AC 11Caltra AC 1

Gender No.Male 509Female 482

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The idea of an annual awards night came up at a CountyBoard meeting three years ago. It was put forward as away of recognising athletes who had excelled in theirparticular grade or category over the previous year. It wasalso mooted as a way of recognising lifetimeachievement, as well as outstanding contribution toathletics in the county, and further afield.

Nominations would come from the clubs themselves. Thewinners would be selected by a committee whothemselves make up Galway's many athletic clubs, basedon the quality of the citations received but also the peoplethemselves.

The County Board would sponsor the event given thatthis organisation was now in receipt of substantial fundsarising out of the 5KM Road Race Series, which has beena resounding success since it started 10 years ago. Manythanks go to Mick Rice for the original idea of the 5KMSeries and we all wish him a happy retirement from hisseries co-ordination role and wish the new co-ordinator,Gerry Carty, all the best.

These monies have allowed the County Board initiateimprovements in many different areas and to strengthenthe impact that the Board and its constituent clubs haveon both juvenile and adult athletics and road runninglocally, so much so that we are now seen as a leadinglight in many different athletics initiatives nationally.

The first year of the awards was 2013 and they were aresounding success with all winners attending to receivetheir specially-commissioned crystal awards by CelticCrystal of Moycullen. The event also received muchpositive coverage in the local media. Last year was ahuge success too, both award nights being in Tuam's ArdRí Hotel. This year we've moved onto Loughrea, with theMeadow Court being the venue for the third iterations ofthese awards.

We hope that all the nominees and winners, with theirfamilies and friends, have an enjoyable evening andappreciate the effort that has gone into organising theevent, with special thanks to Andrea Sellars (localorganiser & Loughrea AC), Brian Bruton (County Boardchairperson & GCH), Iain Shaw (County Board secretary& Athenry AC) and James Lundon (County Boardtreasurer & Athenry AC).

Special thanks to the AAI's Chair of the Finance and RiskCommittee, Peter Hanlon, for being the guest of honourthis evening. He has been a good friend of Galway inmany ways over the years and is very welcome heretonight. We also extend our very best wishes to RogerRushe (2014 Hall of Fame recipient) and wish him aspeedy recovery from his recent illness. Kudos to MaryPorter for her comparing of the awards over its threeyears’ duration. Final, thanks to our official photographer

this evening, John O'Connor (Flickr: 77edenhill), a veryfine runner in his time too.

Female 12-15 years old − Emma Moore (GCH)

Male 12-15 years old − Brandon Lee (Athenry AC)

Female 16-19 years old − Sinead Treacy (Craughwell AC)

Male 16-19 years old − Conor Duggan (Craughwell AC)

Female Senior − Jane-Ann Meehan (Athenry AC)

Male Senior − Sean Breathnach (GCH)

Female Master − Mary Barrett (Loughrea AC)

Male Master − Martin Kearney (GCH)

Team − Craughwell AC National League Indoor (AislingKeady, Caitriona Farrell, Ciara Greene, Michelle Duggan,Rachel Finnegan, Sarah Finnegan, Sineád Gaffney, SineádTreacy and Tara McNally)

Outstanding Contribution − Dermot McNamara (Athenry AC)

Hall of Fame − Joe Scanlan (GCH)

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2015 Galway Athletic Awards

2015 Winners

1979 National 10,000m

Dermot McNamara − Outstanding ContributionDermot McNamara has dedicatedalmost half of his life to the coachingof juvenile athletics in Athenry. Ashead coach of Athenry AC he has hada hand in pretty much all the club’ssuccesses in juvenile athletics sincethe establishment of the club’s currentincarnation in 1989. Prior to thisDermot was instrumental in thesuccesses of Athenry athletes in thecommunity games. The roll call ofsuccessful athletes that Dermot hashad a hand in developing over theyears is impressive: Paul McNamara,Margaret Page, Nicola Nally, ClaireMorrissey, Paul Hession, Elaine Kelly,Claire McNamara, Marie Tuohy, BredaO’Donnell, Martina Finnerty, MartinaCoffey, Jarlath Fahy, Sharon Fahy,Martina McCarthy, and ConorMcNamara. Add to this his more

recent successes: Evan Quirke,Brandon Lee, Sarah Gilhooley,Shannen Lee, Sinead Tuohy, CalumHealy and a bunch of younger athletescurrently coming through the ranksunder his tutelage. These athleteshave had successes at all levels, at allcorners of the globe and in a widerange of athletic disciplines, but askany of them who has made probablythe biggest influence on their athleticcareers and without fail they will say'Dermot'.

Now into his 72nd year Dermot canstill be found coaching at least fivedays a week, and he does it with thepassion he did 30 years ago. Dermotstill maintains a very hands-onapproach to preparing his coachingsessions, whether it be marking a

course on a rainy windswept pitch inRaheen for his cross country athletes,or dragging out the high jump matson a Thursday evening in the schoolgym or the thankless task of diggingthe long jump pit.

However, Dermot is more than just acoach to his own club, but is a totalservant to athletics in general. He willoften be found at most events, localor national, carrying out some role,whether it be officiating, recordingresults or handing out medals. He hasserved on the boards of County andRegional Athletics and also thecommunity games. Dermot's passionfor the sport runs deep and he has anencyclopaedic knowledge of athletespast and present.

Fit4Life, A Journey of Self DiscoveryFrances Leahy

Running is a journey of self discovery,it is a sport you can do anywhere atany time, but you might need someadvice and encouragement to helpyou on your way and to help achieveyour goals. That is where a Fit4Lifeprogramme comes in! It is aprogramme that operates within theexisting athletic clubs in villages,towns, cities across Ireland; and it isopen to people of all ages, fitnesslevels and abilities.

The Fit4Life programme strongly

supports the idea of the recreationalrunner where people can enjoy thebenefits of running in a social, safe,and organised environment and alsoreceive tips and advice on training etc.

Athenry Athletic Club has its ownFit4Life programme. We meet onSaturday mornings at 9AM, andWednesday evening at 7PM. We havededicated teams of Fit4Life leaders totake people through their paces, from0 to 5k and beyond. We haveprogrammes to suit all types of

distances up to and includingmarathon distance (42.2k).

To finish with a quote from anAmerican running guru (GeorgeSheehan) who wrote, "A place for selfdiscovery – play elevated to anintimate encounter with the self, andas such occupying unchallenged highground in our journey through life. Werace to learn our innermost self. In therace we get down to the bedrock, wefind courage and strength we neverknew we possessed."

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Conor, Dermot, Aileen and Paul

2016 AAC @ DCM Anne Lyng

David O’Sullivan 3:27:46

Jim Leahy 3:10:28

Ray Treacy 3:38:31

David Noone 3:26:26

Kieran Staunton 3:04:11

Patrick Forde 3:30:28

Michael Duane 3:10:49

Frank Burke 3:16:02

Colin Duane 3:24:20

Sean Flaherty 3:42:41

Brendan Galvin 3:06:13

Angela McManamon 3:26:19

Janet Clancy 3:41:14

Aoife Callan 3:43:58

Mark Mitchell 3:51:20

Catherine Burke 3:50:08

Marguerite Wilkinson 4:00:48

Orla Stevens 3:45:56

Martin O’Hara 3:47:49

Maeve Noone 3:47:49

Basil King 3:44:19

Mairead Blake 3:47:50

Ray O’Connor 4:20:01

Assumpta King 4:32:35

Martin Hynes 4:29:02

John Killion 4:23:29

Kevin Devane 4:27:01Martin Keane 4:25:28Anne Marie Walsh 4:18:01Peter Lowney 5:04:26Bernie Rogers 5:41:16Maureen Ryan 5:31:49Michael Glynn 5:28:07Peadar Nugent 5:28:06Máire Treasa Beatty 5:28:06Liam Mycroft 4:53:37Majella Cummins 4:47:49Kenneth O’Hara 3:48:01Sinead Martin 3:44:56Kieran Guiry 3:48:01

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Dublin City Marathon traditionally on the October BankHoliday Monday was changed this year to a Sunday,resulting in a 25% increase in entries. In its 37th year,approximately 19,500 athletes, including 5,700international participants, gathered at FitzwilliamSquare to take on the 26.2 mile loop around DublinCity.

This race is the fourth largest event of its kind inEurope and attracts elite athletes from around the

world. Forty athletes from Athenry AC completed thedistance. A handful of impressive PBs were recordedby David O'Sullivan, Kieran Staunton, Orla Stevens,Janet Clancy and Mairead Blake.

For some this was their first marathon; for others(Peadar Nugent) their 37th Dublin City Marathoncrossing the line in 5:28:02. Peadar's PB for this raceis 2:58:50, which he achieved in 1992.

The following took part in this year's race from Athenry AC:

No Direction Home Mick Rice

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Every runner knows that it couldhappen to them, but in their heart ofhearts believe that it probably won’t.We live like we’ll never die and runlike we’ll never pull a calf again.Whilst knowing that the metaphorical‘rug’ could be pulled from beneath usat any moment, prior experiencemakes it seem unlikely. The problemwith long-shots however is thatoccasionally, infuriatingly, just once ina blue moon(ly) they romp home first-past-the-post.

Bob Dylan asked us how it felt. Howdid it feel to be without a home; like acomplete unknown, a non-rollingstone! This year, without ever wantingto, I found out.

In the blink of an eye, I tumbled downthe stairs at home and broke my leftankle. Only twelve months later am Ibeginning to believe that there mightbe a way back to running. Afteralmost a year in the runningwilderness it appears that I might beable to find a way home. Time will tell.

What does it feel like when you’vebeen escorted from the ‘building’ andthe rest of the running world moveson? Whether we’ve been hobbled byinjury or unexpectedly excluded fromthe sport we love by some otherunforeseen circumstance, it’s

impossible to know how we’ll react tothe jolt until it arrives. I now have anidea, at least some idea.

Before another word is written I canassure you that I’m fully aware thatthe only thing more boring thanphotographs of other people’schildren is news of other runners’injuries. That being said, perhapsthere are some scraps of news fromthe dark side that might help if youever happen to find yourself on thewrong side of the tracks. Hopefullynot, but stuff happens.

It will come as a shock to manyrunners in such a situation and asheresy to others, but it’s possible toexercise without running. Grantedgym-work and cycling won’t floateveryone’s boat, but they beatchomping on family-sized bars oflurid self-pity every time. Eventually Ilearned to get off the couch and dosomething – anything. This was myfirst smart move.

Injured runners inhabit the land thattime has forgotten. Deal with it.Having measured my life in terms ofweekly volume, target races andtempo intervals I found myself driftingfrom one quack to another in hope ofredemption. Former comrades remainencased within the Matrix blissfully

unaware that, for the unfortunate,time has little meaning and ismeasured only in MRI scans. The pastis not only a different country, but adifferent time-zone as well.

I have learned that there are only somany times that running-friends caninquire after a comrade’s health orwell-being before it starts to get a bitweird. It takes time for the limpingformer runner to accept the truth,which is that their situation is ofmarginal interest to others. This isjust the way things are.

Accept any kindness that does comeyour way and, as life inevitably moveson, move with it. Having said all that,things change; not always for thebetter; but they do change. There areno guarantees, but some of even thedarkest injury scenarios will havehappy endings.

Kevin Burke Tyres, Athenry, Co. Galway.Athenry Telephone: 091 845 329 Galway Telephone: 091 769 636

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2016 RoadRaces inGalwayJames Lundon

Permitted events in Galway had another busy year with 56AAI permits being granted (70 in 2013, 64 in 2014, 60 in2015).

We are very much in a downturn after some very busyyears. Sixteen races of one type or another were notpermitted this year. There was a wide variety of reasons forthis, mostly because these races did not go ahead at all. Thebiggest casualty was probably the Turkey Trot in Carnmore,being symptomatic of the downturn in many ways.Tonabrucky, Castleblakeney and Beagh are other well knownraces not to run this year, all being in existence for upwardsof 6 years. Some will be back; some will not. There were asmall number of new events to offset these losses, but onlysomewhat.

The pillar events continue to do well: The Streets, The 5KSeries, The Fields, and Galway Bay with TheConnemarathon, Tuam and Headford holding steady. Mostothers are surviving but there is a decreased appetite onbehalf of both runners and organisers across the county.

Fourteen different Galway clubs (Athenry, Craughwell,Loughrea, South Galway, CRH, Tuam, Caltra, Corrib, EastGalway, GCH, Castlegar, Club Chonamara, Corofin, Maree)sponsored at least one road race permit during 2016.

6th Galway (Resolution Run) 5K, 1 January12th Tuam 8K, 17 January (Club)3rd Ballinderreen 10K, 24 January (Club)4th Coldwood 5K, 31 January9th Maree 8K, 7 February (Club)5th Gort (Gorgeous) 4M, 14 February (Club)8th Kilconieron 5M, 21 February2nd Clonbur 10K, 28 February6th Kinvara (Rock n Road) 10K & Half, 5 March4th Abbey 10K, 13 March7th Craughwell 10M, 20 March (Club)6th Colemanstown 10K, 26 March2nd Loughrea 5K, 28 March (Club)5th New Inn 5K, 3 April15th Connemarathon Half & Full, 10 April13th Connemarathon Ultra, 10 April3rd Claregalway 5K, 12 April5th Labane 10K, 17 April11th 5K Series #1 @ Ballybrit, 26 April11th 5K Series #2 @ Craughwell, 3 May11th 5K Series #3 @ Loughrea, 10 May11th 5K Series #4 @Tuam, 17 May6th Oughterard (Mayfly) 10K, 22 May (Club)11th 5K Series #5 @ Claregalway, 24 May

11th 5K Series #6 @ Athenry, 31 May7th Portumna (Forest) Half, Full & 50K, 11 June2nd Bullaun 8K, 18 June10th Annaghdown 10K, 19 June1st Loughrea (St Brendan's NS) 5K, 23 June4th Monivea Half, 25 June (Club)12th Headford 8K, 2 July1st Caltra Sports Day, 3 July (Club)8th Connemara 100M, 6 August31st Streets 8K, 6 August (Club)1st Caltra 5KM, 12 August (Club)31st Claregalway 10K, 22 August (Club)1st Craughwell Full, 27 August1st Lust for Life 5K, 3 September1st Clarinbridge 10KM, Half & Full, 10 September2nd Barnaderg 10K, 10 September8th Clifden (Lifeboats) 10K, 11 September1st Castlegar XC, 24 September18th Loughrea 10K, 25 September (Club)14th Galway Bay 10K & Half, 1 October2nd Galway Bay Full, 1 October6th Conamara 10K, 8 October6th Moylough 10K, 16 October7th Corofin (Winning Ways) 8K, 6 November (Club)7th Athenry AC F4L 5K, 12 November (Club)3rd Killanin 5K, 19 November (Club)4th Ballinderreen 10K, 27 November (Club)15th Fields 10K, 26 December (Club)

The following is a list of races that are likely to go aheadbetween January-June 2017:

1 January, Galway(Resolution Run) 5K14 January, Athenry 1M15 January, Tuam 8KM29 January, Coldwood 5KM5 February, Maree 8KM12 February, Gort 4M26 February, Kilconieron 5M4 March, Kinvara 10KM, Half12 March, Abbey 10KM19 March, Craughwell 10M26 March, Ballinderry 5KM2 April, New Inn 5KM4 April, Claregalway 5KM8 April, Ahascragh 5KM15 April, Colemanstown 10KM

17 April, Loughrea 5KM22 April, Labane 10KM23 April, Connemarathon25 April, 5KM Series #1 5KM2 May, 5KM Series #2 5KM6 May, Forest Marathon Day 19 May, 5KM Series #3 5KM16 May, 5KM Series #4 5KM21 May, Oughterard 10KM23 May, 5KM Series #5 5KM30 May, 5KM Series #6 5KM10 June, Forest Marathon Day 211 June, Clifden 10KM17 June, Bullaun 8KM18 June, Annaghdown 10KM24 June, Monivea 5KM, Half

Start of the Caltra 5KM

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It is that time of year again andalthough Christmas is a great time forgetting together with friends andfamily, it also provides ampleopportunity for the flu virus to causehavoc with your training routine!

The influenza (flu) virus can cause avariety of symptoms including fever,sore throat, muscles aches and pains,dry cough, sneezing, headache andnausea. These symptoms will bemuch more severe than a routine flu-like viral illness and even if you areyoung and fit it can make you illenough to need to go to bed.

Obviously exercise is good for youand it is recognised that those whoexercise regularly 30-90 minutes/daywill get a significantly reducednumber of infections each year.However those that are planning awinter training programme need to beaware that longer runs/activitieslasting more than 90 minutes canactually make you more susceptible tothese infections.

We thought we’d put down on papersome very basic tips for avoiding theflu and also what to do if you’reunlucky enough to catch it.

If you get it:

1. Rest and wait for the fever tosettle. If you try and train duringthis time you will use up vitalenergy reserves and ultimatelypay the price with a delayedrecovery.

2. Take regular Paracetamol orNeurofen to control the fever andimprove symptoms.

3. Use a saline nasal spray if youhave nasal congestion.

4. Stay well hydrated. The hightemperature and your body’soverall response to the infectionwill use up a lot of fluids.

5. Get good rest and sleep. Growthhormones that boost immunityare released during sleep andvirus attacking cells are producedin their highest levels after 8 hrssleep.

6. Ask your pharmacist/GP for moreadvice on over-the-countermedicines.

7. As a general rule take 2-3recovery days for each day youwere sick. So, if you were out forfour days give yourself 8-12 daysto work your way back to regulartraining. This isn’t to say that youcan’t train on these days but

gradually build things up andkeep the sessions easy.

8. Don’t spread it! Discouragevisitors and stay off work untilyou’re recovered.

How to avoid it:

1. Stay hydrated.2. Get good sleep – we should be

aiming for 7-8 hours per nightespecially after your hardersessions/long runs as yourimmune system can be slightlyweaker at these times.

3. When training dress appropriately– have proper waterproof gearand layer up if required.

4. Once you’ve finished your sessiontake a hot shower as soon aspossible and get warm.

5. Rehydrate.

6. Eat well. Don’t miss meals andmake sure you have taken on agood load of carbohydrate beforeduring and after your session.

Running from the fluDavid Meehan

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Martin Keane and I both entered, asrequired, in December by post. I dorecall having to change the date onmy entry form as it may not havebeen posted strictly before thedeadline. I hope John Walshe doesnot get to read this! Martin got a freeentry for being of a certain age.

Training started in earnest on 1January, with a wretched run in theResolution Run around Galway City. Iknew this build-up would not bepretty, to get to the Ballycotton startline; it wasn’t. Clarinbridge, Tuam,Coldwood, Kilconieron and Ballindinewere my warm-up races. None ofthem were anything to write homeabout, with a few PWs along the way– Personal Worsts. I was struggling,really struggling to get any bit of formgoing.

I got sorta injured at the very end of2014, probably a result of running arecord 44 races that year, winningClub Member of the year in theprocess though. I limped through allof 2015, with a lot of reffing alsothrown in for good measure. Did notget down to Ballycotton, as a result. Ialso made sure not to take any of myvarious physios’ advice: stretchingand more of it. Without flexibility,running becomes very difficult,possibly terminal. I know what Ineeded to do; doing it is an altogetherdifferent thing. Habits of a lifetime arevery hard to break. I love running butI hate the necessary maintenance itrequires.

Anyhow, I stuffed 198 miles into mylegs between 1 January and 6 March,but there was no bounce at all. MartinKeane was doing his own work, allbehind closed doors, as is always thecase with this man. He popped up fora few races, but otherwise kept hiscards very close to his chest. He willalways be ready, for what is a race healways takes quite seriously.

I drove. It is a very easy journey on anon-work day in early Spring. Weknew there was serious roadworks inButtevant so decided to go by Cahir,whether right or wrong. This meantgoing back through the part of theworld I’m from originally, EastLimerick. It also happened to have thecheapest petrol in the country at thetime, and we got some in a placecalled Monard, just inside theTipperary border. 96.8 cent per Diesellitre too – I don’t think it ever got anylower than that during this time. Willwe ever see it as cheap again duringour lifetime? I very much doubt it.

Loads of time in Midleton for a bite toeat, before travelling the back roadsinto Ballycotton via Cloyne andChurchtown. We got into the ‘highfield’ pretty much without any delays,unlike other years. Twenty minutesearly makes a huge difference on thisback road. Martin pointed me to anice car park spot but I didn’t take itand finished up halfway down the fieldinstead. Luckily we were in no rushaway afterwards. otherwise it wouldnot have been pretty if we were in abig hurry out. Up into the big tentsoon thereafter, which was to the sideof the school and not on its usualstand on the basketball court. It wasraining and cold now. Brilliant, NOT!Met LG of this AC-parish, but also ofCork. He was not running, though heshould have been worrying the top-100 T-shirt list.

The weather looked up soon after andwe got down to the start without anyfurther pressure. We both got up veryhigh in the corral, surprisingly high,and quite close to the start line. Itthreatened rain during the race but it

never came, from my recollection atthis remove.

And off the gun went, the Ballycottonsong blaring over the tannoy, and cuethe mad rush down the narrow mainstreet of the village. Eight seconds tocross. I hate that part of the race asyou have the usual quota/queue oflunatics who will do almost anythingto get past you, including pushing,shoving, weaving – downright stupid& foolish & dangerous road etiquette.I kept to the side and attempted to runas evenly as possible. I knew what Iwas capable of, and have beenrunning long enough at this stage toknow what I can squeeze out of myracing “tube”, without it being fullyempty before the finish. This race wasa good example of apportioning myrace resources almost perfectly evenlyover this classic distance of 10 miles.

This was my 11th time racingBallycotton and I now know thecourse almost off by heart. Dare I say,that the course is seared into my roadracing heart and mind. I can visualiseand feel every ‘up’ and ‘down’, everytwist and turn. I know where everymile marker is. I have poured more ofmyself into this race since 2002, thanI have any other single event I haveever taken part, including The Streetsand the Galway 5KM Series. This isalways one of the three highlights ofmy running year, and will continue tobe, as long as I am capable and fitenough to travel and compete. My 11Ballycottons are '02-'06, '08-'09, '12-'14 and now '16. I did not run ‘07 as Ididn’t think I was going to run anybetter than I did in 2006, where I ranthe race of my lifetime at anydistance, 65:40 (first 10KM was40:19). How I wish I could roll backthe years and review that stupiddecision now! The last time I broke 70in Ballycotton was in '09. I got asclose 70:37 in ’14, and was targetingsub-73 in ‘16, but hopefully not a PWof 74:33 when I jogged around thefirst year, when I was a much youngerand inexperienced runner though.

The first few miles resulted in mybeing passed, on the inside, on theoutside, by man, by woman and byold age pensioner. I keep to themiddle of the road and stayed awayfrom the watch, trying to control mybreath and effort instead. I could notavoid the announcers/clocks at 1, 3,5, 7 and 9 miles, which were easilycalculated in my head though. I don’trecall the wind being too much of a

2016BallycottonRoad Trip James Lundon

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factor during the day. Zero six seemeda very long time ago: none of us growany younger, only more experienced!Stay steady and don’t get carriedaway by anyone who might pass,whether I know them or not. I took onwater at 3 and 7 – I cannot recall forsure if there was water at Ballymaloe?

The countryside had not changedmuch since ’14, though I was in for ashock when I turned onto the mainroad just before four miles. The roadseemed to have been re-surfaced andwas quite rough. I was surprised andit jolted/annoyed me a little. Strangethe things that go through runner'sheads during races! People were stillstreaming past me, right up to fivemiles and after. This was partly afunction of starting so high up, but Ifelt I was keeping things as steady asI could, so let them all go. I wanted tomake sure I have enough in reservefor the more difficult second half,which I have never run in a negativesplit, even when going well.

I got to five miles and the backentrance to Ballymaloe House in sub-36. I was happy enough with that butthe more difficult half was still tocome and I didn’t know what I had inthe locker to make sure that I couldcome home in sub-37, to get close to73. That was the real target now: fivesub-7:30 miles. Mental note: Martinand I have to call in and see the Allensproperly some time, though it wasn’tgoing to this year either. We did try in’14 but the shop was closing as wegot there just before 6PM :-(.

Down around to 6M. Then the 10KMsemi-mark. Then the trudge up andaround to 7M, which is also the 3Mmark. This is when the race is wonand lost. The pressure is on. Thereare not as many passing me now, asthe field have settled down into theirvarious stratums, give or take one ortwo lunatics who started five minutesafter the gun, or who just woke up. Orthose poor people who went out waytoo optimistically and are nowlearning that time in the bank is notmuch good, if you don’t havesufficient training in the legs. Therewas a slight onshore breeze waftingover from Ballycotton. That niggledaway all the way up to 8M. The moneymile in Ballycotton is from there to9M, across the inlet. This is whereyour race is won or lost, if you aregoing for a time. Deep breath time,and try to hold onto the people in

front of you and hope that no onecomes from behind, as there is nodoubt people behind me with theireyes only on my bald head andhumped back . Up and around the Tjunction and climb that last third of amile to the 9M mark. We all look likeshíte now, there is no other way ofsaying it. If you look good at 9M, youhave been wasting your time out thecountry. I got from 8M to 9M in 7:30,which I would have bitten the hand offyou for before the race. I did 6:59here in ’06 when running 65:40,which I have always said was my bestever mile in any race ever.

There are two things about the lastmile in Ballycotton that I will nevermiss. (1) The big chip van betweenthe old church and national school,with its appealing fish, chip andburger smell. I’m always dying goingpast it . I have still to partake in anyof their specialties, after a race, neverbefore! (2) And then the two villagepubs and the huge amps that blareout music and “encouragement” withabout 800 metres to go. I have wishedvery bad things on the poor chap onthe “mic” over the years but for noparticular reason this year, I don’tremember it being that bad orannoying.

That last push, which is ever-so-helpfully measured in segments of200M, does not get any easier as theyears go by. The finish line announcercan now be clearly heard. I passed thechipper at around 65:40, the time Ifinished the race itself in 2006. That iswhat 10 years does to a body, minemore specifically. I had little left torace up those last two laps, only hopethat I didn’t lose too much time. Theclock kept ticking onwards, past 71and then 72 minutes. I was within 100metres by then and scuttled in as

quickly as my legs would let mewithout them spasming. I am gonepast caring who beats me or who Ibeat to the line. The only thing thatmatters is the clock over the finishline and that will never be fully beaten.It was passed under 72:25, and themuch coveted mug was soonsecured. I spent the next 10 minutestrying to cough up an imaginary knotin my chest, a dry retching cough,and manage a mental tiredness andgeneral soreness that will take somedays to wear off too. I made sure towait for Martin to finish, which heduly did in fine-looking form just over90 minutes after starting. He was 4thM70. Most importantly, he finished inno obvious distress. I wouldn't like toexplain to Mary if anything everhappened to that man while in mycare.

We limped back to the school,whereby it had started to rain again.The race stayed itself dry; no doubtthe man above was looking on ;-). Westuck around for the prize-giving andeven got to meet the great manhimself, John Walshe, not God!Bernie Kelly, as well as Fr. LiamKelleher, were there too. On the flipside, they got to meet Martin Keane!By the time we got back to the ‘highfield’, there was less than 50 cars andhad some great fun slip, sliding out ofthere. A necessary pit stop a fewmiles outside Ballycotton to meetanother legend completed the trip toCork, before heading back up toGalway by mid-evening.

Will I have in the same shape tocomplete the Ballycotton dozen in2017? Time will tell, but it may not bekind!

72:15 − 6:50 7:01 7:14 7:21 7:12 (=35:38) 7:11 7:26 7:15 7:30 7:15 (=36:37).

Five mile mark

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Breaking40 Deirdre Brophy

For me, the details of what happensbetween the start and finish of a racecan be a blur. But I do remember howI got to the start line of the Conamara10K (8 October 2016), on a perfectday for running, reasonably confidentthat I could get around the course inunder 40 minutes.

In April 2013 I resumed racing afterbaby number two. I was gunning toget back to where I was six yearspreviously (around the 42 minute 10Kmark). I thought a few months shoulddo it, but getting any sort of speedback took a lot longer than I expected.That much lauded post-childbirthendurance boost seemed tocompletely pass me by. Anyphysiological benefits of increasedblood volume or enhanced painthreshold were counteracted by sleepdeprivation and ever increasingdemands on my time. I managed tocobble together some sort of trainingroutine (essentially, bolting out thedoor whenever I could). With littletime to be sensible (i.e. stretching,strengthening and resting), I soon gotstuck in a cycle of slow progress,followed by periods of over-enthusiasm, followed by injuries thattook me back to square one.

By 2014 I had abandoned all timetargets, my goal for that year was tostay injury free. I made the time forregular yoga classes and took up TRX(with James in bikefit). On maturereflection, I now swear by thisapproach! By the end of that year Iwas bendier (sic), stronger and hadreached my modest goal to avoid anyrunning related niggles. I’d alsomanaged to get a little faster throughconsistent uninterrupted training. Iwas patiently biding my time...

In April 2015 I finally got back underthe 42 minute mark and felt ready tostart chasing some PBs. I checked inwith Matt at fitness analytics for a

lactate threshold test. Armed with lotsof great advice on heart rate training, Istarted to up the ante. That summer Imanaged to beat my younger child-less self which gave me more than alittle satisfaction. As I watched mytimes drop in training and racing Istarted to wonder if a sub-40 10K wasa realistic goal.

2016 was the year I was to turn 40.No better time I thought to make it mytarget. I plugged my goal time intoMcMillan calculator, I was now armedwith equivalent targets for every otherdistance and as the year progressed Ihit them all, 10 mile, 8K, 5K, but thesub-40 10K still eluded me. A fewattempts were marred by strongwinds and over exuberant starts. Thepancake flat Galway Bay 10K was theday before my birthday and theperfect day to do it, but it didn’thappen. So aged 40 years and 6 daysI made the trek out to Carna to set therecord straight.

I’d read somewhere that the coursewas flat. I had done a couple oftriathlons there in the past and itwasn’t how I remembered the terrain,but I buried that and was thankful fora perfect weather forecast. On thestart line there was talk of a hillaround kilometre 4. I remained calm.There wasn’t a breath of wind, I coulddo this. I’d spent an hour and a half inthe car winding around the roads of

Connemara and faced the same againon the way home, I had to make itworth the trip.

Off we went. The first kilometre wentpast in a comfortable 3:55. Kilometres2-4 were all on target. We hit a fairlynoticeable hill between 4 and 5 – mysplit was 4:15. I furiously chasedthose 16 lost seconds down the otherside of the hill and managed a 3:48split. Still on target. Another hill atkilometre 9 took me by surprise. Atthis point I could no longer do thesums. I’d lost 10 seconds, could I getthem back? I booted down that hilland rounded the bend to see thefinish line pontoon up ahead.

I looked at my watch, 38 something,the gap ahead looked less than aminute. I belted on and hit the finishin 39:45. Delighted, excited andrelived to finally move on from mysub-40 quest. Earning a county medalwas the icing on the cake. Fergal andNiall also landed medals for firstsenior and first over 40 respectivelyand there was a (hotly contested)team prize for the Athenry men. Wellworth the trip.

The Conamara 10K is a lovely raceand really well organised by the localhosts, Club Lúthchleas Chonamara.Yes, the course is flat (in parts!), andwonderfully scenic. Next time I’llspend less time looking at my watch.

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The following 7 people hold the distinction of competing in all 14 "Fields of Athenry" 10km races to date. We wish themall the best of luck on their 15th outing this year.

2016 Stalwarts

2015 Prize Winners

Name 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015Bernie Kelly 45:48 49:31 52:05 44:20 46:08 47:46 45:46 47:23 45:50 45:43 1:58:12 49:43 48:07 50:50

Danny Carr 36:15 38:11 36:00 36:41 38:06 38:06 37:29 38:38 38:27 45:54 59:59 39:05 38:25 40:48

Kevin O'Dea 48:27 50:16 51:25 46:44 53:49 53:35 45:57 42:33 40:35 44:23 40:39 42:55 51:24 56:12

Martin Keane 51:20 50:02 54:48 51:17 50:44 52:27 53:42 52:49 52:42 52:09 53:15 53:34 55:02 54:14

Mary Mullins 1:05:50 1:00:37 1:06:27 1:07:22 1:11:31 1:05:23 1:07:36 1:06:30 1:05:32 1:11:20 1:10:18 1:11:51 1:09:56 1:16:12

Tom Mac Lochlainn 49:57 56:35 50:10 52:23 56:58 FNSED 56:32 59:05 57:06 56:41 1:04:17 58:59 1:00:29 1:02:33

Tommy Joe Whyte 36:35 36:16 36:29 38:40 36:58 37:15 37:39 37:11 37:20 38:11 37:37 37:56 38:38 38:48

Year Men's Winner Time Woman's Winner Time Finishers <40:00 <50:00 <60:00 Top 502002 Paul McNamara 31:15 Kathryn Casserly 36:57 69 13 44 59 n/a2003 Noel Kelly 32:46 Fionnuala Keane 38:18 171 30 92 126 n/a2004 Paul McNamara 31:11 Lucy Brennan 36:36 253 38 130 179 n/a2005 Gary Thornton 30:34 Lucy Brennan 37:30 351 51 168 252 n/a2006 Gary Thornton 30:12 Lucy Brennan 37:03 470 42 211 339 n/a2007 Gary Thornton 30:02 Orla Ní Mhuircheartaigh 38:52 617 50 253 457 39:592008 Gary Thornton 30:40 Catherine Conway 36:53 838 58 359 642 39:292009 Gary Thornton 29:57 Teresa McGloin 35:17 517 53 238 406 39:542010 Gerry Ryan 31:12 Catherine Conway 35:53 546 49 253 426 40:102011 Sean Hehir 31:07 Lizzie Lee 36:27 1042 65 434 794 39:082012 Mick Clohisey 30:57 Elish Kelly 35:45 1041 87 426 824 38:152013 Mick Clohisey 30:48 Elish Kelly 35:45 1132 71 481 880 39:172014 Mick Clohisey 30:18 Norah Pieterse 37:02 1145 85 467 865 39:062015 Mick Clohisey 30:03 Marie Hyland 36:36 1045 79 440 834 38:35

Race Result HistoryFields of A

thenry 10km

Category Pos NameWomen Senior 1st Marie Hyland

2nd Jane Ann Healy3rd Laura Shaughnessy4th Angela Buechler5th Clare Rowe6th Irene Gorman

Women Junior 1st Lorna Hannon 2nd Ruth Keogh

Women V40 1st Maggie Vahey2nd Carmel Coyne

Women V45 1st Mary Connolly2nd Rena Deely

Women V50 1st Carmel Brannigan2nd Barbara Bergin

Women V55 1st Bernie Kelly2nd Geraldine McHugh

Women V60 1st Adrienne Walsh2nd Judith Roche

Women V65 1st Margaret Glavey2nd Angela McCluskey

Women V70 1st Kathryn ReillyWomen Team 1st GCH (2:47:14)

2nd GCH (3:05:48)3rd Athenry AC (3:07:29)

Category Pos NameMen Senior 1st Mick Clohisey

2nd Brendan Hargreaves3rd Matthew Bidwell4th Jason Broderick5th Brian Furey6th Gerry Carty

Men Junior 1st Joe Hastings2nd Pearse McCrann

Men V40 1st Lloyd Malcolm2nd David Grange

Men V45 1st Tom Prendergast2nd Lawrence Kelly

Men V50 1st Eddie Newman2nd Tommy Joe Whyte

Men V55 1st Padraig Concannon2nd Frank Kinneen

Men V60 1st Martin Kearney2nd Michael Harvey

Men V65 1st Martin McEvilly2nd Caomhan O'Fatharta

Men V70 1st Philip Cribbin2nd Brian Geraghty

Men Wheel 1st Jerry FordeMen Team 1st GCH (2:18:03)

2nd Craughwell AC (2:21:04)3rd GCH (2:30:27)

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Recently I met up with the spry 97-year-old veteran Willie Morris, theforerunner for all of us elderlyathletes. He certainly made it mucheasier for us to participate in sport ata later stage of life as we always feltso much younger than him. He was inexcellent form and has no intention ofdoing his miles with St Peter anytimesoon.

Chatting to him brought back so manymemories of yore. I remember I firstran against him 54 years ago in 1962and would you believe it, that racetook place in Athenry. Our collegeclub athletes were innocent novices‘coming up against hardenedcountrymen, who soon showed us aclean pair of heels and vanishing rearends.

Races in those days were simpleoccasions, with little fuss orbureaucracy, requiring no insuranceor permits. My old friend John Pottsex-GCH, and now with the famousBirchfield Harriers, sent me a fewlines that were published recently in

Athletic Weekly about a just-retiredcharacter who organised races andcross country events in the “OldSchool” Way in Gloustershire formany, many years.

"Entry fee 5 bob and 6 bob on raceday.Run your eyeballs out.No goody bags − it’s a road racenot a children’s party.Return your numbers and pins forreuse.1st prize three packets of biscuits.2nd prize two packets of biscuits.3rd prize one packet of biscuits."

But there has been one thing that hasnot changed down through the yearsof racing, and that is the greatwelcome and hospitality afforded toall athletes and volunteers in the post-race celebration and get-together,when we all enjoy meeting old friendsagain.

In The Old DaysBrian Geraghty GCH

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The incidence of concussion isreported as 17% in rugby and in othersports 6%.

Is the rugby percentage higher due tolowering of our threshold of diagnosison the rugby field, a result of recentIRFU protocols, or is it a reflection ofan actual increase in concussion dueto the physicality of the game?

The British journal of sports medicinerecommend all sportsbodies/parents/schools and clubsfollow the Recognise and Removemodel.

Concussion is an injury to the brainwhich can result in numeroussymptoms. Everybody should beaware of the ‘HEADCASE’ analogy.

H - headacheE - eye/vision disturbanceA - agitatedD - drowsyC - confusionA - poor awareness/orientationS - slurring speechE - ear/eye trauma.

There are numerous online tools tohelp diagnose concussion. In the idealworld, these should be carried out bythe onsite doctor or physiotherapist,however we do not live in an idealworld so it is imperative that you thepublic are aware of the above signsand symptoms.

It is worth noting that a secondconcussion is more likely in the firstsix months of return to play ifprotocols are not followed. Sportspeople must follow a graded return toplay. For U20 the average time is 14-20 days and for adults 14 days.Depending on the severity of theconcussion the time out will increase.

It is important to remember thatasking sports people questions suchas ‘what is your name?’, ‘what date isit?’ are now being scrapped asassessment questions as these can belearnt and become reflex answers.

Sample questions that could be askedare, ‘who scored the last point?’, ‘whodid we last play?’, ‘who won our lastgame?’.

Remember concussion is not only asport injury. We have all experiencedthat feeling when you jump up and hityour head off the shelf or walked intothe press door! Trying to relive youryouth doing tumbles on thetrampoline, car accidents andbouncing castles are all simple waysin which one can sustain aconcussion.

New advances in return to play fromconcussion are looking atrehabilitation. Physiotherapy afterconcussion is focussed on balanceand co-ordination.

These two skills can be severelyaffected after concussion. Recentevidence suggests that if somebodysuffers a concussion they are morelikely to have a musculoskeletal injuryin the following year.

Is this injury because they returned toplay too soon after concussion? Or isit because recovery focussed onpassive rest rather than active rehabfocussing on the above, balance andco-ordination?

Please check out the IRFU/SCATforms/HEADCASE forms all availablefreely to download.

Every club should have theHEADCASE form laminated and in avisible place in their clubhouse.

Remember brain rest is required post-concussion. No TV/iPad/phone.

Br J Sports Med; 10. 1136-2015-094982

Dr. Simon Kemp and Dr. Matt CrossBJSM online.

SCAT 3, BJSM, Mar 13; 2013.

Concussion − A Public Health ChallengeJane-Ann Meehan Chartered Physiotherapist (www.athenryphysio.com)

Following on from the enjoyment oflast year’s #akwrunstreak I signed uponce again in earnest to run 30minutes or 5k per day for the monthof December. Organised by Sean atAmphibian King it was just the target Ineeded to try get back on track withsome training at the end of this year.

Prior to the start of this year’s streak Ihad been running 2-3 times per week5k–11k per run, nice and steady,squeezing in the sessions when Icould. Throughout the year I had letmy time for training slip and onlyraced once in 2015 at the Craughwell10 mile road race in March. I reallyneeded to kick start something for2016 and have a focus during theupcoming festive period. The#akwrunstreak was the perfect plan.

It was a busy few weeks in the lead upto the #streak and indeed the first 2weeks of December were a bit manichaving handed in my notice at work inNovember I had a mammothworkload to get through to finish upwith the Irish Cancer Society in midDecember. Coupled with plotting andplanning for 2016 for Tri Talking Sportand of course a jam packed socialdiary for the month of December, Iwas looking forward to the timeoutthe #sanityclause would bring eachday with the chance to make time forme, to just run... Although getting outsome days was admittedly tougherthan others after too much festivefun!

The Fields of Athenry 10K onStephen’s Day became the focus ofthe streak. Not sure how the legs andbody would hold out with my limitedamount of training in advance ofDecember but I wanted to put in asolid performance at the race. Ifnothing else I wanted to just test thebody, see how it would hold up under

pressure, both from the 25 days ofrunning up to race day and also interms of where my fitness is atheading into 2016. The race did notdisappoint.

The 'Fields' is a great local, club racehosted by Athenry AC and is theperfect way to keep the indulgenceson Christmas Day somewhat withinreason. Don’t get me wrong I ateplenty throughout the day, the turkeysandwiches at 10pm the tastiest partof the day as always!

Waking early on race day, I wasn'tfeeling the love. I would havepreferred to stay in bed but thatthought disappeared fairly quickly as Igot excited at the prospect ofparticipating in a race rather thanbeing on the mic, plus I still had to getmy 5k done for the day so I got readyto race. I picked up my pacer, NoelGriffin and off we headed to Athenry.As always the marshals have theparking down to a tee, no issues,#Renaultcaptur parked quickly andeasily. Into registration and again thevolunteers and marshals were brilliantand efficient, in and out in recordtime.

Along the way pre race it was great tosee and catch up with some familiarfaces, Ray O'Connorwww.runireland.com and FrankGreally www.irishrunner.com having achat pre-race, as well as a host ofpeople from Galway Triathlon Club,Galway City Harriers, fellow#streakers and plenty more peoplefrom across the county and beyond,all friendly faces, wishing each othergood luck and of course HappyChristmas.

With a few minutes to spare, wequeued for the loo (plenty Portalooson site, never any harm to have a few

more) and then it was off to the racestart. Just as the gun went we joinedthe crowd down towards the back ofthe pack, close to the 55 minutepacers. Based on my training to dateand the running times of the streak Ihad thought somewhere around 55-58 minutes would be a respectabletime for me and also doable.Considering this was Day 26 of 31days of running I didn’t want tooverdo it and I also wanted to finishthe race. I had decided to try and stickwith the 55 minute pacers and couldmove on or fall back as was needed.

Off we go, cross the timing mat,Garmin on, Strava on and it’s straightup that first hill, it is a killer, you havebarely started running and already areon an unforgiving hill. The 55 minutepacers already had gained greatground and I was fearful of runningtoo fast in the first km, the goal at theend of the day was to finish, I didn’twant to have to pull up half waythrough.

When we got the top of the hill wehad the joy of the downhill, what goesup must go down. Noel tells me I amrunning 5:30km, which is what theplan was. As we continue along theearly part of the course the time prettymuch stays close to this and I wascomfortable. I got the odd word ofencouragement and a few jokes fromNoel, at one stage I thought he wasgoing to start making up a song calledthe ‘Hills of Athenry’ as we continuedalong the course making it to the 3kmark and the water station.

I was feeling ok, we had passed a fewpeople I knew at this stage and weregaining on the 55 minute pacers. I gota few ‘ shouldn't you be on the mic’comments going past which was anice boost and brought a bit of banteras we continued on the course.Coming into the 4k point Noel tells mewe are running well ahead of theplanned time and to just keep pushinguntil the 5k mark, then I can relax for2k and pick it up again. I could notwait to hit 5k for my ‘rest’! At thispoint we had passed the 55 minpacers so I knew if I could keep thepace up I would break 55 mins.

My fear was I had gone out too fastand would not be able to sustain thepace but as we approached the nexthill Noel told me I was holding steady.

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Fields ofAthenry 10k(Day 26 of the DecemberRun Streak #sanityclause)Joanne Murphy

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The pace wasn’t slowing down as wewent uphill, we continued to passpeople on the hills recovering slightlyon the down hills, but continuing torun well ahead of the 5:30 min k's wehad planned.

Hitting 6k, time for more water andthe sight of another hill, I was gettingtired at this stage, trying to control myheart rate, but I knew we had at leastone big downhill from 9k-10k so I justkept going. We hit some minorflooding on the course, the ice coldwater was a welcome wake up for myfeet and there’s nothing like a bit ofsplish splashing in puddles toincrease the novelty factor on theroute and create a distraction from thetired legs.

When we got to the 8k point I washappy that we were running downhill,facing into good road surface and afew small uphills, but it was less thanthe length of the prom to the finish soI just had to keep going and knew Iwould finish the race. It was all aboutthe time now.

Hitting the 9k point was a welcomerelief, we were picking people off allthe way from 8-9k; people who hadpassed us earlier, some we caught upwith joined and ran with us, others Ihad in my sights for a couple of k’sand just focussed on as targets toreach and pass. Noel continued to tellme I was running well and better thanthe time we had planned so I did mybest to try and just stick with him andthe pace.

The boost at the 9k mark with thegathered crowd was great, as well asthe upcoming down hill section. Thesupport on the course at the junctionswas brilliant, the shouts ofencouragement from the marshalsmuch appreciated. Running that lastkm, I knew I could finish the race, mylegs were screaming, but my headsaid just keep going. I knew I wasbelow 55 minutes and that I needed tokeep something in the tank for thefinal sprint under the arch.

As we moved closer to the finish lineNoel counted down the distance, 900,800, 700, warning me not to sprinttoo soon, 500, 400, 300, 200, 100...rounding the final corner I took off, itwas if my legs took on a life of theirown, cadence increased, armspumping and eyes firmly on the finishline I ran as if my life depended on it.

I wasn’t sure I would make it to thefinish at one point in that final sprintto the end but pushed on, mentalstrength winning over the cries frommy legs to just stop. I crossed thefinish line in a time of 53:13! Almost 2minutes faster than I had planned! Iwas out of breath and wrecked, I hadleft it all on the course, but was veryexcited to see the numbers on Strava.I hadn’t really been looking at mywatch throughout the race, justrelying on Noel to tell me whether wewere on pace or not.

Finishing under the iconic arch inAthenry, there were lots of familiarfaces and plenty of marshals to directyou to the ample water and bananas

on offer. It was great to see everyone,happy to be finished after#workingoffheturkey. After a quickchange it was into the hall for tea andbickies and a catch up with fellowrunners and the supporters. Theatmosphere and energy was one ofexcitement and accomplishment,everyone in great spirits. Day 26 inthe bag for the #streakers!

My final result from RedTagTimingwas 53:06, the fastest and longest(time and distance) run of the streak. Ialso ran my fastest run of the streak26:02 for the second 5k section of therace which was a nice surprise. Day27 was most definitely a 5k and a#recoveryrun.

Although not my fastest time over thepast few years at the race it was agood test and a great starting pointfor setting out my training plans for2016 and a proper return to racing.Now to just get on my bike and get inthe pool to start some much neededtriathlon training.

Thanks to Seanat www.amphibiankinggalway.ie forgetting us all motivated for the#sanityclause this year, to Noel for hissuperb pacing on race day and toAthenry AC for once again putting ona great race. I'm looking forward toreading my copyof www.irishrunner.com picked upfrom Frank Greally as I was leavingthe race.

P.S. I love the 2015 edition of the racehat! #brightpink #Roll on 2016.

Selection of 2016 Fields 10k prizes

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The use of Radio Frequency ID (RFID)technology in timing running raceshas spread from large massparticipation race to almost every raceon the running calendar over the lastdecade.

The origins of RFID go back to thedevelopment of radar systems in thelate 1930s and through the secondWorld War. Radar operates bysending a pulse of radio wavestowards a target and calculating thedistance to it from the time taken forthe reflected pulse to come back tothe radar receiver. During the warradar operators needed a way todistinguish ‘friend or foe’ aircraftamong the radar signal detections. By1939 an ‘Identify Friend or Foe’ (IFF)system had been developed to beattached to aircraft which would emita radio signal at the same systemradar frequency. This extra signal wastransmitted immediately after thereceived radar pulse and thislengthened the apparent radarreflection pulse from the aircraft andcreated a readily identifiable signatureto confirm a friendly aircraft. Theseoriginal IFF systems have grown intothe modern civilian and militarytransponders (transmitter/responder)which use a variety of techniques toimprove the quality of the returnedsignal and to avoid jamming.

One of the first sports to use RFIDtransponders was motor racing in the1980s. Similar to the IFF systemsthese used battery power to give astrong return pulse when thetransponder on the vehicle passedover the detection antenna (normallya wire loop embedded under thetarmac.) This form of ‘active’ radioresponse to an incoming signalremains the standard design for highspeed sports like motorsport andprofessional road cycle racing. Theprice of inclusion of a battery in asports transponder has however kept

‘active RFID’ out of reach of use inmass participation sport.

Through the 1980s lower cost non-battery powered (passive) RFIDtechnologies were being developed totarget mass markets in road tolling,access control, and animal tagging.This work led to the most significantstep in passive RFID technology fromthe sports point of view with thedevelopment of the 134kHz TIRISsystem by Texas Instruments.

These small glass-encapsulated chipshad a read range of up to a metre.Initial products using the chipincluded car keyfob security systemswhich prevented vehicle start unlessthe chip was recognised. Smaller 1cmlong versions of the chip with bio-compatible coatings on the glasswereimplantable under the skin ofanimals for pet identificationprogrammes. This same technologyevolved into the international petmicrochipping technology thatremains in use today. Under Irish lawall Irish dogs were to be microchippedby the end of March 2016.

The first significant use of these chipsin tracking humans was at the 1993Zevenheuvelenloop (Seven Hills Run)15km race in Nijmegen in Holland.This technology became theChampionChip system which was thefirst major RFID product in therunning timing market. After beingused in the Berlin Marathon in 1994 it

went on to dominate the timing oflarge running races wordwide. Theyalso began to be used in the triathlonwhose popularity increaseddramatically after inclusion in theSydney Olympics in 2000.

The cost of these glass tags meantthat these sports chips had to berecovered after the race for re-use orthe athletes needed to buy their ownchip to use at each race they took partin.

Through the early 2000s thedevelopment of lower cost UHF(900MHz band) RFID technologyprogressed with new printingtechniques allowing aluminium foilantennas on plastic backing and moresensitive silicon devices allowingbetter reading distance. The desire inthe logistics and supply chain trackingindustry for cheap, disposable RFIDtags that could be read in bulk on apallet led to the adoption of thecurrent standard. One major driver inincreasing adoption and reducing coston UHF RFID supplies was the driveby Walmart in the USA to insist thatits leading suppliers tagged all theirpallets with UHF tags. The rollout ofthis programme through the mid2000s led to its increasing usethrough the supply chain in the USand a subsequent improvement inprice and availability of the readingequipment and chips. As with theTexas Instruments technology adecade earlier, sports timingbusinesses began to adopt the newchips with their offer of a lower-costdisposable solution. The earlydevelopments in particular by SAITiming in the US were not withoutproblems including major timingproblems at Honolulu Marathon 2007which delayed adoption. Over the last10 years however the growing use ofdisposable UHF technology haslargely replaced the olderChampionChip-style low frequencysystems.

The Early Historyof Sports ChipTimingJohn Cunniffe

TIRIS chip at the heart of the ChampionChip system

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Onwards and Upwards forCraughwell Athletic ClubMichael Tobin

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It’s been two short years sinceCraughwell Athletic Club completedthe purchase of its 8 acre site besidethe primary school in Craughwell inSeptember 2014. Later that year theclub reached another historicmilestone when it became the largestjuvenile athletics club in Ireland, alofty position that the club still holdswith junior membership topping 600this autumn.

The club’s facility developmentcontinued at pace throughout theseyears with initial floodlightingcompleted in late 2014/early 2015 tobring the field in routine use for cross

country training and the developmentof high jump, long jump and sprintlanes with an IAAF standard tartanfinish in 2016. There is still somework to do on the sprint lanes but alltartan areas are now in full use for thewinter and will be of huge benefit tothe club as it continues to develop.

In total the club has spent over€460,000 on these facilities betweensite purchase, professional fees andconstruction costs. This was fundedto a large degree by loans frominstitutions and parents, for which theclub is very grateful. But a large slicealso came in an €100,000 grant from

the Sports Capital Programme and aneven larger slice of €160,000 fromclub savings, parents’ donations andother fundraising activities in the pasttwo years with a large number offamilies contributing substantialdonations to the project – amazingsupport!

Watch this space: the club is hopingto embark on the first phase of asubstantial indoor training buildtowards the end of 2017/early 2018 –a building which will eventually span36m wide by 110m long, but alifetime project for the club due to thecosts involved.

Go WestAdam Leadbetter

The first time I came to Galway was fora job interview just over two years ago.Having flown to Shannon fromManchester, I had an afternoon to killand how best to spend it trying to putmy nerves about the following day toone side but running. Where to go? AsI was staying in Oranmore, I tentativelystepped into Amphibian King (as it wasway back then) and spent some timechatting with Sean to find out someroutes and discover just how manyrunning clubs there were near by. Thefollowing hour or so down in Rinvilleand Maree had a big bearing on memoving to Ireland from the UK.

Fast forward a few months to the endof the Craughwell 10 mile and my firstrace in Ireland. It gave me a chance tochat to a few people, in particular toJane-Ann and some of the other

Athenry AC runners. From there it wasonly a few weeks to being at clubsessions every week. And my runninghasn’t looked back with all theencouragement and support from theclub and its members. PBs at 5km,10km, 10 miles, half-marathon, marathonall in the last two yearsand debuts at 8km,50km (and further!)were all more than Icould have hoped forwhen stepping into ashop to look for agood place to go for anOctober afternoon run.

What do I miss frommy running back in England? There’salways the people. Just like AthenryAC, my club in England − SpectrumStriders − is really friendly with a hugerange of abilities but everyone has alove of running. Apart from that, it’sreally the muddy runs either up anddown hills after work at a fell race in

the Pennines when you turn up to apub, give a bloke a fiver for a racenumber and enjoy the scenery withyour pals; or the club XC leagues in thewinter.

But what’s been so greatover the last two yearshas been the chance togive something back.Like stewarding today atthe Fields race; orblowing the whistle forthe club speed sessionson a Tuesday night, butmost of all gettinginvolved with the twoparkruns around Galwayand seeing so many

people turn out for their Saturdaymorning 5km come rain, or wind, orrain, or shine, or rain. Come and joinus in Cappagh Park or Rinville Parkone Saturday, and ask me where agood place to go for a run is.

You never know where it might takeyou.

1 Mick Clohisey 30:032 Brendan Hargreaves 31:133 Matthew Bidwell 32:004 Jason Broderick 32:175 Brian Furey 34:446 Gerry Carty 34:467 Damien Larkin 34:568 Kevin Keane 35:109 Ruaidhri Geraghty 35:1410 Unknown Male 35:2211 Lloyd Malcolm 35:3312 Donal Egan 35:3713 Rob Lennon 35:4414 Gearoid Hynes 35:4515 Colm Daly 36:0416 Joe Hastings 36:0717 Eddie Newman 36:2118 Lonan O'Farrell 36:2419 Fergal Walsh 36:3120 Marie Hyland 36:3621 Ollie Moore 36:4022 David Grange 36:4823 Paul Keane 36:5124 Dariusz Monkiewicz 36:5125 Sean McDermott 36:5326 Jane Ann Healy 36:5827 Tom Prendergast 37:0028 Padraic Birmingham 37:0429 Stephen Casserly 37:1430 David Meehan 37:1831 David Cuddy 37:2732 Conor Devaney 37:2833 Conall Murphy 37:3134 Conor Fahy 37:4835 Kevin Keever 37:5636 Mark Hannon 37:5637 Sean Burke 37:5938 Eamonn McWalter 37:5939 Fergal Grogan 38:0140 Lawrence Kelly 38:0141 Laura Shaughnessy 38:0242 Diarmuid Coughlan 38:0443 Andrew Hayes 38:1144 Aidan Connaughton 38:1345 David Evans 38:1346 Niall Murphy 38:1847 Martin Kearney 38:2348 Kevin Moloney 38:2849 Jonathan Cunningham 38:3250 Cillian Collins 38:3551 Alan Daniels 38:3952 Dan O'Rourke 38:4053 Kilian Dooley 38:4054 Noel Maher 38:4355 Tommy Joe Whyte 38:4856 Shane Spellman 38:5257 David Brogan 38:5258 Seamus Coyne 38:5259 Aodan MacCarthaigh 39:0060 Paul Hevican 39:0461 Piotr Prokop 39:1062 Brian Hyland 39:1763 Michael Costello 39:1864 Rory Owens 39:2165 Tim Rabbit 39:2366 Joe Walsh 39:2667 Paul Reynolds 39:2868 Noel Griffin 39:3069 Damien Kelly 39:3070 Donal Devaney 39:3271 Paraic Raftery 39:3572 Gearoid Rohan 39:4273 Colm Rowe 39:4374 Angela Buechler 39:4575 Clare Rowe 39:4676 Niall Hardiman 39:4977 Barry McCann 39:5178 Martin McEvilly 39:5379 Kieran Walsh 39:5780 Christopher Magee 40:0181 Justin Fahy 40:0782 John Lynch 40:0983 Irene Gorman 40:1584 Aidan Spellman 40:1785 Martin McGrath 40:1986 Julian Howley 40:3087 John O'Brien 40:3188 Gabriel Brennan 40:3289 Brendan Monaghan 40:3590 Derek Kelly 40:3691 Diarmuid Mulkerrins 40:3792 Colin Dockery 40:3893 Esther O'Flaherty 40:3894 Micheal Conway 40:4095 John Murphy 40:4396 Jonathan Glavin 40:4497 Drew Davison 40:4598 John Moran 40:4599 Ronan Dervin 40:46100 John Rushe 40:48101 Danny Carr 40:48102 Jimmy Ward 40:50

103 Cathal McDonagh 40:50104 Evan Scott 40:52105 Maire-Triona Keane 40:53106 Kevin Mooney 40:55107 Stephen Donnelly 40:57108 Martin Mulkerrins 40:57109 Frank Clancy 41:00110 James Malone 41:01111 Kenneth Joyce 41:06112 Jim Maguire 41:08113 Stephen Bushell 41:09114 Fintan O'Callaghan 41:09115 Brendan Forde 41:12116 Tom Tuohy 41:15117 Brendan Ruane 41:16118 Cathal Ruane 41:22119 Sean O'Boyle 41:23120 Tara Whyte 41:26121 Proinnsias Glynn 41:29122 Michael Begley 41:30123 Declan McCaffrey 41:31124 Tom Hession 41:32125 Liam Rabbitt 41:34126 David Carroll 41:37127 Caoimhe Daniels 41:38128 Fergus Scott 41:43129 Enda Hallinan 41:44130 Noel Igoe 41:45131 Patrick Fleming 41:46132 David Kenny 41:51133 Stephen Donnellan 41:56134 Brian Mooney 41:59135 Michael Harvey 42:05136 Morgan McHugh 42:08137 Mike Kerrins 42:13138 John Duffy 42:18139 John Kelly 42:18140 Neasa Canavan 42:22141 Michael O'Coonor 42:24142 John Fitzmaurice 42:24143 Eoin Cotter 42:27144 Vinny Clohisey 42:27145 Patrick O'Dwyer 42:27146 Caroline Kelly 42:30147 Darragh Geraghty 42:32148 Krzysztof Straszewski 42:34149 Michael McCormack 42:34150 John Norris 42:38151 Paul Kilkelly 42:39152 Aidan Monahan 42:44153 Stephen Carty 42:44154 TJ Hynes 42:48155 Francis Holian 42:48156 Victoria Nicholson 42:51157 Niall Burke 42:58158 Kevin Lynch 43:01159 Liam Bushell 43:01160 Hugh Burke 43:07161 Pat Morrissey 43:07162 Frank Power 43:08163 Thomas Conneally 43:10164 Kevin Varley 43:11165 Kieran Whyte 43:11166 Dalva McPhillips 43:13167 James Rohan 43:14168 Martin Glynn 43:19169 Seamus Daly 43:19170 Antony Ryan 43:20171 Brendan Higgins 43:25172 Paul Fahy 43:26173 James Loughnane 43:29174 John O'Grady 43:34175 Maggie Vahey 43:36176 Tony Nevin 43:37177 Mark Heneghan 43:38178 Kevin Flanagan 43:40179 Adrian McKiernan 43:43180 John Callanan 43:45181 Alma Hanevy 43:46182 Eugene Feely 43:49183 Jack Gibbons 43:52184 Carmel Coyne 43:55185 Kevin Hastings 43:56186 Paul Batty 43:59187 John Kilraine 44:02188 Kieran Sharkey 44:02189 Andrew Talbot 44:02190 John Daly 44:04191 Geza Kun 44:05192 Michael Hyland 44:08193 Sean Small 44:09194 Michael Hennelly 44:09195 Eoghan Hynes 44:09196 Shane Crisham 44:10197 Darren Hollywood 44:11198 Padraig Hawkins 44:12199 Pearse McCrann 44:12200 Fintan Donnellan 44:12201 Greg Osborne 44:14202 Kieran Moran 44:14203 Dara McDonagh 44:15204 Niall O'Grady 44:16

205 Mark Dunne 44:17206 Gillian Bogan 44:18207 Vinny McManus 44:20208 Maurice Dempsey 44:23209 Cliona Hurst 44:23210 Shane Gilhooley 44:23211 Michael O'Sullivan 44:28212 Martin Ryan 44:30213 Thomas Tynan 44:30214 David Daly 44:30215 Tom Burke 44:31216 John Whiriskey 44:31217 James Kelly 44:33218 Conor Owens 44:34219 Adrian Bushell 44:36220 John McDonald 44:36221 John Langan 44:37222 Tadhg Duffy 44:37223 Ken Farragher 44:40224 John Lawlor 44:43225 Cora Grimes 44:44226 Trevor Jennings 44:46227 Gerard Glynn 44:46228 Garry Lyons 44:53229 Austin Sammon 44:56230 William Murphy 44:56231 Louise Loughman 44:58232 Mark Dinkin 45:03233 Imelda Gormally 45:12234 David Courtney 45:13235 Paddy Holland 45:15236 Niamh Flavin 45:18237 Eoin Larkin 45:19238 Barry Smyth 45:20239 Maurice Hannon 45:22240 Gerry Carroll 45:23241 Carmel Brannigan 45:25242 Margaret Glavey 45:28243 Daniel Milner 45:29244 Orla Kilraine 45:30245 Noel Gorman 45:30246 Barbara Bergin 45:32247 Padraig Concannon 45:34248 Frank Kinneen 45:36249 Wojciech Musial 45:38250 Kenneth Duane 45:38251 Darran Hennessy 45:41252 Alexandre Boeuf 45:42253 Rynal Browne 45:43254 Ciaran Coye 45:43255 Steven Jennings 45:44256 Thomas Murphy 45:44257 Niall Healy 45:48258 Aidan Morrissey 45:50259 Jason Varley 45:52260 Frank Byrnes 45:54261 Nicky Curran 45:54262 Killian O'Brien 45:54263 Thomas McDonagh 45:55264 William Geraghty 45:55265 Pat Nash 45:57266 Margaret Glavin 45:57267 David Donohue 45:57268 Michael Dermody 45:59269 Mark Moran 46:00270 Ronan Lyons 46:04271 Maureen O'Donohue 46:07272 Thomas Jennings 46:08273 Mirko Warnke 46:12274 Fergus Mullins 46:16275 Derek Gallagher 46:18276 Vincent Cosgrove 46:20277 John Killilea 46:20278 Orla Glynn 46:24279 Patrick Crowley 46:30280 Paul Greaney 46:34281 Julie Bradshaw 46:35282 Sean Bradshaw 46:35283 Barry Doyle 46:36284 Richard Fox 46:37285 Linda Lally 46:38286 John Connolly 46:43287 Brian McCaffrey 46:44288 Al Callanan 46:45289 Ross Scully 46:46290 Derek Hampson 46:49291 Ronan Corbett 46:51292 Tricia Kelly 46:52293 Declan Gorman 46:53294 Colin O'Rourke 46:54295 Benny Niland 46:55296 Sinead Joyce 46:55297 Margaret Sheridan 46:56298 Fergus Kerrigan 46:58299 Tom Spelman 47:05300 Lourda McCormack 47:07301 Declan Morgan 47:07302 Fiona Hobler 47:08303 Kevin Kitt 47:10304 Francis Curran 47:11305 David Curran 47:11306 Helen Heneghan 47:12

307 Jarlath Fitzgerald 47:13308 Emmett Kerrigan 47:14309 Mark Campbell 47:16310 Ruth Kilcawley 47:16311 Anita Murphy 47:19312 Philip Flaherty 47:20313 Eimear Bray 47:23314 Ruth Dervan 47:24315 Malcolm Hennigan 47:25316 Derek Cooney 47:26317 Brian Moloney 47:26318 Brian Gallagher 47:30319 Sean Barrett 47:31320 Diarmuid Keaney 47:36321 Sarah Donohue 47:42322 Mary Connolly 47:43323 Diana Hogan-Murphy 47:43324 Damien Connolly 47:45325 Don Nyhan 47:47326 Ciara Beuster 47:47327 Brian Rasmussen 47:49328 Stephen Clarke 47:49329 Emmet Mahony 47:50330 Mike McCartin 47:51331 Shane Cummins 47:52332 Jacinta Walsh 47:52333 Buzz Lightyear 47:52334 Catherine Burke 47:53335 Barry Kilkelly 47:53336 Hazel Kilkelly 47:53337 Ciaran Finnerty 47:53338 Maura Dunne 47:55339 Joe Kerrins 47:56340 Rena Deely 47:56341 Andy Gacquin 47:57342 Jason Kelly 47:58343 Rory Madden 47:58344 Conor Madden 47:58345 Tomas Madden 47:58346 Mags Page 47:59347 Eoin Raftery 47:59348 Bryan Tully 47:59349 Finn Hawkins 47:59350 Richard Comer 48:02351 Richard Moloney 48:03352 Ronan O'Reilly 48:09353 Jean Coleman 48:10354 Shane Tighe 48:10355 Neil Coffey 48:10356 Ben Vahey 48:14357 Claire Killilea 48:15358 Shane Donohue 48:15359 Brian Burke 48:15360 Christopher Hughes 48:16361 Seamus Brady 48:18362 Yvonne Croke 48:18363 Patrick Byrne 48:25364 Aidan Cleary 48:26365 John Antwoon 48:27366 Liam Mannion 48:29367 Niall Cleary 48:31368 Micheal McDermott 48:33369 Peter Corrigan 48:38370 Patrick Meleady 48:39371 Aodhan Fitzgerald 48:41372 Colette Kelly 48:44373 Aoife Kerans 48:45374 Shane O'Meara 48:46375 Neil Murphy 48:47376 Judith Campbell 48:51378 Martin O'Donnell 48:52377 Declan Ryan 48:52379 Aidan Kelly 48:53380 Barry Moran 48:53381 Enda Keehan 48:57382 Miriam Cuddy 48:58383 John Fahy 49:01384 Michelle Murphy 49:02385 Aidan Doyle 49:08386 Michelle Hanley 49:08387 John Carr 49:09388 Carol Duffy 49:10389 Andrew Flanagan 49:12390 Ger Moran 49:13391 Niamh Broderick 49:15392 Deirdre King 49:16393 Brian McGrath 49:17394 Conor Lawless 49:17395 John Giles 49:18396 Linda McGuinness 49:19397 Claire Rowley 49:21398 Patrick Daly 49:21399 Brendan Kennelly 49:22400 Malte Engels 49:23401 Sean Dinneen 49:24402 Thomas Mannion 49:25403 Brenda Fleming 49:26404 Kevin McGinley 49:28405 Wendy Hickey 49:30406 Pat Burke 49:31407 Declan Derrane 49:31408 Gavin Murphy 49:32

409 Albert Dolan 49:33410 Martin Ruane 49:34411 Brendan Lardner 49:34412 Ann Marie Clarke 49:34413 Maria Flaherty 49:35414 Alan Deacy 49:36415 Brian O'Flynn 49:37416 Joseph O'Neill 49:38417 Deirdre Bree 49:40418 Mike Ryan 49:40419 Linda Kilkelly 49:42420 Julie Maguire 49:44421 Adrian Enright 49:47422 Carol Screene 49:47423 John O'Meara 49:47424 Tim Holian 49:48425 Kay Tuohy 49:48426 Andrew McGhee 49:49427 Eoin Hurst 49:50428 Mark Feeney 49:51429 Eamonn Delaney 49:52430 Carol Barrett 49:52431 Keith Donohue 49:54432 Donal Murphy 49:54433 Aideen Gilchrist 49:54434 Sean O'Shea 49:55435 Gerry Rohan 49:56436 Pat Hession 49:56437 David Rohan 49:57438 Cathal Reidy 49:58439 Ollie Conway 49:59440 Joseph Twomey 49:59441 Sorcha Hannon 50:00442 Padraig Gibbons 50:00443 Andrew Gavin 50:00444 John Sheehan 50:01445 Danielle McCarthy 50:01446 Sean Conneely 50:01447 Jonathan White 50:01448 Ciara Cannon 50:02449 PJ McDonagh 50:02450 Joe-Ann Burke 50:02451 Mary Kealy 50:03452 Neville Hynes 50:07453 Siobhan Guinan 50:07454 Ronan Berry 50:07455 Noel Donnellan 50:09456 Liam McDonagh 50:11457 Amie Healy 50:15458 Jos Heemskerk 50:18459 Aine Codyre 50:19460 Maurice Boyle 50:21461 Bridget Murray 50:21462 Louise Larkin 50:22463 Micheal Morris 50:23464 Niall Cullinane 50:25465 Ruth Butler 50:27466 Aine Dunneleavy 50:28467 Donnchadh O'Malley 50:28468 Will Mundow 50:29469 Martin Grenham 50:31470 Bob Sideshow 50:33471 John Reddington 50:34472 Pat O'Donnell 50:35473 Gerry Treacy 50:36474 Fergal O'Malley 50:38475 Orla Sugrue 50:40476 Christopher Rozario 50:42477 Aine Kenny 50:43478 Maà re Nà Haltuà n 50:44479 Ferdy Whelan 50:44480 Steven Lally 50:45481 Eoin O'Loughlin 50:46482 Vanessa Sumner 50:46483 Gerard Conway 50:48484 Cathal Silke 50:49485 Eugene Hanley 50:50486 Bernie Kelly 50:50487 Shirley Potter 50:53488 Micheál Molloy 50:54489 Cormac McCarthy 50:55490 Fergal Ruane 50:56491 Colm Connaughton 50:56492 Cian Begley 51:01493 Brendan McGrath 51:04494 Treasa Gannon 51:05495 John O'Gorman 51:08496 Noreena Morrissey 51:09497 Mary Lynch 51:12498 Fionnuala Mannion 51:18499 Mary Berry 51:23500 Sheila Hession 51:25501 Eric Delaney 51:25502 Ryan Wilbur 51:26503 Declan O'Leary 51:28504 Gretta Hillary 51:28505 Noeleen Heanen 51:29506 Caroline Feeney 51:33507 Maud Molloy 51:35508 Patrick Keane 51:41509 Aidan Conlon 51:43510 Caolan Maher 51:43

Fields of Athenry Results 2015

511 Michelle Rowley 51:44512 Seamus McCaffrey 51:44513 Peter Barron 51:44514 Colin Gibbons 51:45515 Tommy Newell 51:45516 Joanne Hennessy 51:47517 Noelle Rooney 51:47518 Noel Conneely 51:51519 Orla Kelly 51:51520 Hilda Robinson 51:54521 Roseann Heavey 51:54522 Orlaith Cormican 51:55523 Tara Canning 51:55524 Annika Hobler 51:59525 Anne-Marie Wwalsh 52:01526 Austin Clancy 52:01527 Claire Cellarius 52:01528 Laura Kitt 52:04529 Aoife Mullane 52:04530 Karla Hannon 52:06531 Peter Conroy 52:11532 Alan Lynch 52:11533 John Fahy 52:17534 Joao Soares 52:17535 Daire Curley 52:19536 Tomas Geraghty 52:20537 Marian Coleman 52:21538 Fiona McHugh 52:24539 Norman Black 52:25540 Tom Maguire 52:26541 Mary Kate Heaslip 52:27542 Denise Conway 52:27543 Marguerite Duffy 52:28544 Elaine Wilbur 52:28545 Lauren Jauss 52:28546 Geraldine Fegan 52:29547 Gary Ruane 52:31548 Ciaran Duggan 52:34549 Gerald Purcell 52:36550 Thomas O'Reilly 52:37551 Conor McAuliffe 52:38552 Eileen Murphy 52:44553 Jean Mackey 52:47554 Brid O'Brien 52:48555 Maura Walsh 52:48556 Brian Burke 52:52557 Tim Donnellan 52:55558 Maura Raftery 52:56559 Michael O'Dwyer 52:56560 Ann Cosgrove 52:57561 Peter McKiernan 53:03562 Kate Varley 53:03563 Sinead Conneely 53:04564 Katie O'Connor 53:05565 Barry Kennedy 53:05566 Amir O'Connor 53:05567 Patrick Foley 53:07568 Olivia Connolly 53:08569 Gabriel Gardiner 53:14570 Michael Ludden 53:14571 John Ludden 53:14572 Philip Cribbin 53:16573 Declan Furey 53:16574 Mark Fitzgerald 53:18575 Denise Barrett 53:19576 Shane Donnellan 53:19577 Thomas Curtin 53:21578 Caroline Grealish 53:22579 Marie Cronnelly 53:25580 Cara Gleeson 53:25581 Geraldine Hynes 53:26582 Anne Marie Giblin 53:26583 Dermot Hession 53:27584 Colin McDonagh 53:29585 Una Murphy 53:29586 Caimin Keogh 53:32587 Brian Geraghty 53:33588 Lynda Madden 53:35589 Dolores Foley 53:40590 Brendan Treacy 53:42591 Noel Griffin 53:44592 Joanne Murphy 53:44593 Mary Murphy 53:44594 Graham Martin 53:45595 Tom Moroney 53:46596 Sabrina O'Regan 53:54597 Joseph Clancy 53:56598 Meadhbh Carr 53:57599 Aine Griallais 53:58600 Julie Murphy 53:59601 John Egan 54:01602 Emer Molloy 54:01603 Lorraine Morrissey 54:04604 Laurence Smyth 54:04605 Niamh Murphy 54:05606 Orla Phelan 54:06607 Amie Lawless 54:10608 Conall Hawkins 54:12609 Karen Sweeney 54:12610 Martin Keane 54:14611 Patricia Foley 54:14612 Margaret Murray 54:15613 Deirdre Kelly 54:16614 Murray McSharry 54:17615 Ronan Collins 54:18616 Colm O'Donnell 54:19617 Michael O'Shea 54:20618 John McManus 54:21

619 Angelina Hynes 54:21620 Shane Hynes 54:21621 Gerry Hurley 54:23622 Maria Lawless 54:24623 Hayden O'Connell 54:24624 Patrick Dolan 54:26625 Dervla O'Reilly 54:27626 Trish Conlon 54:27627 Bridget McGrath 54:32628 Mary Gavin 54:37629 James Duffin 54:38630 Shaun Porter 54:39631 Chris Murray 54:39632 Jim Cloonan 54:40633 Tadhg Fahy 54:40634 Mairead Lane 54:40635 Lorna Hannon 54:40636 James O'Donnell 54:41637 Lisa Finn 54:42638 Maeve Gacquin 54:43639 Steven Horan 54:43640 Kevin Fitzpatrick 54:44641 Mary Cummins 54:47642 Gerry Hession 54:47643 Jason Hodgins 54:48644 Leona Mahony 54:48645 Joe Duane 54:48646 Kenneth Greaney 54:49647 Michelle Purcell 54:50648 Patrick Greaney 54:51649 Derek Duffy 54:52650 Helen Moran 54:53651 Martina Fleming 54:54652 Rodger Delehanty 54:54653 Assumpta King 54:55654 Emer McDermott 54:56655 Fiona Diviney 54:57656 Deirdre Keary 54:57657 Lorna Freeman 54:59658 Mary Keogh 55:03659 Sarah Burke 55:03660 Derval McDonagh 55:03661 Caomhan O'Fatharta 55:03662 Paul Collins 55:04663 Kieran Duane 55:05664 Alan Keating 55:06665 Frank Kitt 55:09666 Siobhan Brennan 55:09667 Iomhar Noone 55:12668 Colm McAllen 55:15669 Sharon Dolan 55:15670 Lisa Gilmore 55:19671 Stella Carty 55:20672 Marian Spelman 55:26673 Rachel Murphy 55:27674 Kenneth O'Hara 55:32675 Tony Flint 55:32676 Breda Fallon 55:35677 Adrian Hurley 55:38678 Naofa Furey 55:39679 Darren Lavelle 55:41680 Niamh Duggan 55:42681 Ruth Keogh 55:54682 John Keogh 55:55683 Michelle Tighe 55:56684 Bernadette Conway 55:57685 Padraic Meenaghan 55:59686 Fiona Broderick 55:59687 Martina Corcoran 56:00688 Martin Burke 56:05689 Gearoid Finnerty 56:05690 Audrey Flynn 56:08691 Claire Shields 56:11692 Kathleen Melville 56:12693 Kevin O'Dea 56:12694 Michael Carr 56:20695 Fergal Leahy 56:30696 Jennifer Mongan 56:31697 Derek Kerrigan 56:41698 Helen Kerrigan 56:41699 Kevin Nolan 56:46700 Paula Kavanagh 56:47701 Michael Burke 56:47702 Henry Lavelle 56:48703 Ronan Sheridan 56:49704 Aine Kelly 56:50705 Sandra Morris 56:54706 Kenneth Molloy 56:55707 Niall MacSweeney 56:55708 Eddie Fitzsimons 56:56709 Lorcan Cameron 56:58710 Caitriona Foley 56:59711 Kieran O'Leary 57:00712 Colm Bushell 57:06713 Adrienne Walsh 57:08714 Petrina Egan 57:09715 Orla Murray 57:11716 Tony O'Callaghan 57:12717 Marita Carolan 57:16718 Fintan Forde 57:19719 Serena Hansberry 57:20720 Pearse Mulhall 57:21721 Joe Callanan 57:24722 Claire Hodgins 57:25723 Claire Dempsey 57:25724 John Burke 57:25725 Pamela Mahony 57:27726 Liam Connell 57:28

727 Aisling Martyn 57:29728 John Quinlivan 57:29729 Martin Naughton 57:31730 Fergus Walsh 57:32731 Eamon Connaughton 57:38732 Fionnuala O'Connor 57:40733 Dee McGrath 57:41734 Lorraine Reynolds 57:45735 Dave Connolly 57:46736 Michelle Naughton 57:49737 Maggie Duff 57:49738 Conor Carty 57:54739 Jerry Forde 57:54740 Gearoid Mitchell 57:54741 Gerry Larkin 57:55742 Aoife Sharkey 58:01743 Beyoncé Knowles 58:02744 Siobhan Moran 58:05745 Helen Colfer 58:06746 Conor Ryan 58:06747 Julianne Clarke 58:07748 Anne Morris 58:07749 Maeve Heneghan 58:07750 Geraldine Bogan 58:09751 Michelle Carr 58:11752 Judith Roche 58:12753 Sean Noone 58:12754 Anne Higgins 58:12755 Patricia Fallon 58:15756 Sharon Commins 58:16757 Frank Noone 58:17758 Paul Tierney 58:22759 Lisa Kirwan 58:28760 Cora Molloy 58:32761 John Kelly 58:32762 Conal Burke 58:39763 Aine Coen 58:39764 Marie Killilea 58:40765 Kevin Devine 58:41766 Emma Feerick 58:42767 Louise Walshe 58:42768 Paul Creedon 58:42769 Julie O'Donnell 58:43770 Geraldine Keogh 58:44771 Marie Coyne 58:45772 Mary Connaughton 58:46773 Marina Burns 58:48774 Olivia Darcy 58:49775 Mary Smyth 58:51776 Sandra Dolan 58:52777 Geoffrey Naughton 58:53778 Karl Darcy 58:54779 Oliver McGaugh 58:56780 Mairead McGhee 58:57781 Susanne Lawlor 58:59782 Cariosa Walsh 59:00783 Helen Connaughton 59:00784 Martin Hynes 59:02785 Emma Brannlund 59:04786 Leonie Cullen 59:05787 Katie Barrett 59:06788 Fergal King 59:07789 Padraic Gavin 59:11790 Aura Lounasmaa 59:15791 Claire Smyyh 59:17792 Shaon Linnane 59:17793 Brenda Bourke 59:17794 Joan Rohan 59:17795 Evelyn Birmingham 59:20796 Enda Fox 59:22797 Padraic Cummins 59:26798 Maeve Seery 59:27799 Martina Donnellan 59:28800 Hilda Dooley 59:28801 Eithne Seery 59:29802 Eva Hannon 59:31803 Lisa Hannon 59:32804 Ann Marie McSharry 59:32805 Brian Flaherty 59:33806 John Kelly 59:34807 Brian Silke 59:35808 Emmett Cotter 59:35809 Connie Egan 59:36810 Marian Byrnes 59:38811 Ronan O'Grady 59:39812 Éanna Molloy 59:39813 Conor Cuddy 59:39814 Andy Kirkpatrick 59:40815 Caroline McAuliffe 59:40816 Colette Finneran 59:42817 Damien Sheridan 59:43818 Michelle King 59:43819 Fiona Mitchell 59:44820 Catherine Bourke 59:45821 Helen McDermott 59:45822 Magdalena Papkala 59:45823 Sarah Noonan 59:46824 Natalya O'Connor 59:46825 Ailish Rohan Seoighe 59:48826 Noel Grealish 59:49827 Conal Kavanagh 59:50828 Sorkunde Ugalde 59:50829 Adrienne Heerey 59:51830 Emer O'Byrne 59:53831 Maura Lyons 59:53832 Siobhan O'Grady 59:55833 Brendan Walsh 59:56834 Aoife Tuohy 59:56

835 Caitriona Duggan 1:00:00836 Sinead Hynes 1:00:01837 Geraldine McHugh 1:00:02838 Tom Cleary 1:00:02839 Una Dixon 1:00:03840 Helen Creedon 1:00:05841 Sarah Frawley 1:00:07842 Oliver Kyne 1:00:12843 Nina Keane 1:00:13844 John Murphy 1:00:25845 Rena Ruane 1:00:27846 Maura Shaughnessy 1:00:36847 Ciara MacSweeney 1:00:45848 Siobhan McMahon 1:00:46849 Oliver Niland 1:00:46850 Aine McGuinness 1:00:52851 Maria Gibbons 1:00:56852 Mary Duggan 1:01:03853 Liam Egan 1:01:05854 Bernie Healy 1:01:15855 Mary Rohan Coll 1:01:19856 Noel Kenny 1:01:20857 Sarah Burke 1:01:23858 David O'Donohue 1:01:26859 Gerry Hynes 1:01:33860 Caitriona Nic Oireachtaigh 1:01:37861 Bridin Nic Dhonncha 1:01:39862 Darragh Carroll 1:01:51863 Patrick Glavin 1:01:52864 Florence Sharkey 1:01:52865 Austin Connolly 1:01:58866 Evelyn Flynn 1:01:58867 Patricia Rovira 1:02:07868 Paul Hogan 1:02:10869 Sandra Smith 1:02:21870 Shauna Carr 1:02:22871 Leo Mitchell 1:02:31872 Edwina Coen 1:02:31873 Tomás Mac Lochlainn 1:02:33874 Tom Newell 1:02:33875 Paul McEnroe 1:02:49876 Joe Leahy 1:02:57877 Bryan Fox 1:02:57878 Anne-Marie Fox 1:02:58879 Gerardine Lally 1:03:02880 Seamus Quinn 1:03:02881 Laura Cahill 1:03:05882 Susan Moggan 1:03:05883 Alan Slattery 1:03:11884 Saorla Ni Fhatharta 1:03:13885 Aine Ni Fhatharta 1:03:14886 Niamh Ni Fhtaharta 1:03:15887 Sabhbh Ni Fhatharta 1:03:16888 John Copeman 1:03:17889 Maggie Flaherty 1:03:26890 Grainne Engels 1:03:31891 Fiona McGinley 1:03:36892 Colm Glynn 1:03:38893 Julianne Ryan 1:03:47894 Carmel Mitchell 1:03:52895 Sandra Martyn 1:03:59896 Trina O'Neill 1:04:01897 Jacqueline Caulfield 1:04:10898 Ben Creaven 1:04:19899 Tara Coyne 1:04:34900 Louise Melville 1:04:38901 Lorna O'Regan 1:04:44902 Sarah O'Regan 1:04:49903 Tara O'Regan 1:04:49904 Caroline McDonagh 1:04:52905 Louise Egan 1:04:52906 Deirdre Keague 1:05:01907 Brid Kirwan 1:05:02908 Susanne Curtin 1:05:12909 Adrian Brannelly 1:05:18910 Mairead Maceoin 1:05:24911 Maria Maher 1:05:25912 Genevieve McDonagh 1:05:46913 Hughie McDonagh 1:05:46914 Jerome McDonagh 1:05:47915 Jacinta Lyubin 1:05:51916 Sinead Costello 1:05:51917 Kathlenn Kelly 1:05:52918 Aoibheann Lindsay 1:05:53919 Catherina Forde 1:06:00920 Betty Coleman 1:06:01921 Ciara Barrett 1:06:02922 Cathy Dillon 1:06:03923 Mari O'Ryan 1:06:07924 Emmet Major 1:06:29925 Noreen Hickey 1:06:43926 Hanna-Kaisa Himanen 1:06:45927 Emer Flaherty 1:06:51928 Frances Gilmore 1:06:59929 Laura Murphy 1:07:01930 Jane Cullinane 1:07:07931 Diane Collins 1:07:10932 Olive Nolan 1:07:10933 Michael Glynn 1:07:14934 Veronica Coffey 1:07:16935 Sarah Summerville 1:07:19936 Margaret Hannon 1:07:22937 Deirdre Coleman 1:07:52938 Stephanie O'Reilly 1:08:06939 Lara Crean 1:08:06940 Brian Melinn 1:08:09941 Tara Higgins 1:08:21942 Natalie Jordan 1:08:23

943 Jessica Deely 1:08:28944 Diana Riva 1:08:38945 Sean Molloy 1:08:38946 Angela McCluskey 1:08:40947 Anne-Marie Dyar 1:08:49948 Peter Mizzi 1:09:14949 Gerard Hickey 1:09:17950 Pascal O'Brien 1:09:19951 Pat Earls 1:09:20952 Brian Walsh 1:09:20953 Dearbhla Walsh 1:09:21954 Danni Barrett 1:09:31955 Teresa O'Malley 1:09:32956 Joan Comer 1:09:43957 Lyola Molloy Conway 1:09:51958 Sadhbh Ó Cinnseala 1:10:00959 Jim Carolan 1:10:01960 Caroline Mohan 1:10:15961 David Howley 1:10:19962 Frances Hynes 1:10:20963 Donna Hansberry 1:10:21964 Eimear Keane 1:10:49965 Edel Killilea 1:11:01966 Kate Corrigan 1:11:12967 Clair Corrigan 1:11:15968 Una Lally 1:11:26969 Helena Kenny 1:11:27970 Shauna Deely 1:11:38971 Lorraine Horan 1:11:46972 Julianna Dolan 1:12:18973 Aisling Deely 1:12:19974 Elaine Glavin 1:12:24975 Edel Moloy 1:12:25976 Sonya Broderick 1:12:39977 Ann O'Toole 1:12:39978 Deirdre Kelly 1:12:41979 Padraig Kelly 1:12:42980 Jackie Ryan 1:12:43981 Ruth Keating 1:12:47982 Janan Alani 1:13:21983 Gillian Moroney 1:13:28984 Petrina O'Halloran 1:13:28985 Joanne Cooley 1:13:33986 David O'Doherty 1:13:57987 Niamh O'Doherty 1:13:57988 Rebecca Ott 1:14:02989 Doireann Keaveney 1:14:03990 Clare Kelly 1:14:03991 Noreen Doherty 1:14:03992 Julie Carr 1:14:06993 Kathryn Reilly 1:14:38994 Martina Hansberry 1:14:49995 Edel Quinn 1:15:34996 Aisling Molloy 1:15:35997 Zara Sheerin 1:15:36998 Kathryn Molloy 1:15:37999 Claire Feeney 1:15:401000 Niamh Feeney 1:15:411001 Stephanie Joyce 1:15:411002 Mary Mullins 1:16:121003 Shauna King 1:16:171004 Kevin Burke 1:16:511005 Helena McGrath 1:18:451006 Majella Lennon-Dalton 1:18:461007 Cathal Doherty 1:19:121008 Paul Yaxley 1:19:151009 Anita Mundow 1:19:181010 Mary Flannery 1:19:181011 Donna Scully 1:19:401012 Nuala Heverin 1:20:411013 Deirdre Newell 1:20:421014 Joan Connaughton 1:20:451015 Jennifer Mullins 1:23:271016 Orla Mellett 1:23:331017 Melissa Hession 1:23:481018 Marian Spellman 1:24:241019 Liam Lowry 1:24:251020 Catherine Scanlon 1:25:251021 Maria Scanlon 1:25:251022 Cora McGuinness 1:26:501023 Vincent McGuinness 1:26:501024 Mandy Arnold 1:27:101025 Rebecca Keating 1:27:201026 Nicola Daly 1:29:511027 Aggie Burke 1:29:521028 Jillian Molloy 1:30:331029 Fiona Molloy 1:30:351030 Caitriona Molloy 1:30:391031 Leona Molloy 1:30:391032 Kate Kennedy 1:35:551033 Maria Kennedy 1:35:571034 Seamus Quinn 1:36:021035 Eilish McCormack 1:36:021036 Tara Breathnach 1:38:101037 Laura Browne 1:38:151038 Ann Murphy 1:39:341039 Helen Walsh 1:40:271040 Sharon Kilkelly 1:40:341041 Sharon Cotter 1:41:241042 Antonia Cotter 1:41:401043 Jennifer Joyce 1:41:421044 Elizabeth Joyce 1:41:421045 Peter Smart 1:41:45

Gun times listed.

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Ar Son Na CúiseSeán Ó Conchúir

Bliain eile (2016) beagnach thart aguschuir eagarthóir na h-irise seo brú ormarís píosa a scríobh ar son na cúise.

Thosaigh cuimhní cinn na bliana agsodar ar ais chugam. Bliain cosúil legach bliain eile ó thaobh na haimsire de− stoirmeacha agus tuillte − seachas mína Bealtaine. Bhí aimsir Dé againn donsraith 5K.

Bhí Gerry Carty, stiúrthóir nua, i lár anaonaigh i mbliana. Bhí Mick Rice arthaobh an bhóthair ag guí go leanfadhan sraith ar aghaidh gan stró gantrioblóid. Bhí an aimsir dochreidte, níosmó ná seacht gcéad reatha agus an t-ádh leis an bhfear mór ó Ghaillimh. Mocheol thú, a Ghearóid.

Taréis tréimhse sa bhfásach bhuaighDarragh O'Brien an Kilconieron CharityRoad Race. Bhunaigh Niall Callanan anrás seo seacht mbliana ó shin. Tugtar ant-airgead go léir do charthanachtaíáitiúla. Is rud iontach é seo i ré anábharachais. B’é Patrick Forde anstiúrthóir i mbliana.

Bíonn craic, ceol and spraoi timpeall airi gcónaí. Tá sé ina stiúrthóir freisin donleath mharatón i Muine Mheá.Reáchtáileann Athenry AC cúig rás gachbliain ar son na cúise.

Chríochnaigh an bheirt Mháirtín go h-iontach sna rásaí trasna tíre i nGlaschú.Sa mhí chéanna shroich Martin Keanebarr an tsléibhe i DCM37. Tá mil saphota fós, a Mháirtín. Uimhir tríochaseacht − chuir an t-uimhir sin spleodar igcroí Pheadair Nugent agus é agscipeáil thar an líne sa rás céanna. Níl aré thart fós. Beidh grá don Gaeilge inachroí go deo.

Bhí rásaí eile iontacha an fud an chontaei mbliana. In Abbey chonaic mé arán −saor ó ghluten − ag rás don chéad uairriamh. Ba lá iontach é gan ghaoth ganbháisteach. An t-arán céanna i mBulláin.Bhí tine chnámh ag lasadh ann ag dul

faoi na gréine. I gCill Fhinín thosaigh anrás san áit chéanna ar thosaigh ÉiríAmach na Cásca i naoi déag a sé déag.Bhí an craic go h-iontach ag an gcríochlíne i gCastlehackett. Ní fhaca tú aimsircosúil leis riamh. An ghrian agscoilteadh na gcloch, aimsir ghleoite,ardú chroí, ard iúmar agus Matt Bidwellar bharr a réimse. Rith Matt ar adhicheall sa rás darbh ainm WinningWays i gCora Finne freisin. Bhí an tae godeas tar éis an rása sin.

I mí Feabhra bhain a fhoirne gaisceamach nuair a bhuaigh Gaillimh dháChraobh TreasTíre i dTuaim. Lá eilebhuail Brendan Monaghan ar a rotharagus níor chríochnaigh sé go bhfaca séan Túr Eiffel i bPáras. Casann Tuaim ACan geansaí glas go bródúil i gcónaí.

Bhí bliain iontach ag LauraShaughnessy. Dara áit sa láb i dTuaimsan Intercounties i mí Feabhra; ceathrúagus naoú áit in Abbotstown mí ó shin.Beidh sí ag rith inniu. Is iomaí rás ar naboithre a bhuaigh sí i mBleá Cliath. Isiomaitheoir den scoth í Laura.

I mí an Mhárta tharla an rás deich míle igCreachmhaoil. Ba lá gnóthach an lá sin− cuireadh rás den scoth ar síúl – boinn,tae, siamsaíocht agus bláthanna.

Thug Celebrity Operation Transform-ation cuairt ar Chreachmhaoil i MeánFómhair. Chaith siad leath lá ann. Bhígach duine bródúil astu féin agus anTartan Track nua (céad seasca méadar)ag lonrú i dtaitneamh gréine.

Chonaiceamar Andy and TJ ag cur brúar reathaí daichead bliain níos óige náiad. Bhí Regina Casey chun tosaigh imbeagnach gach rás inár rith sí. RithAisling Joyce (NUIG) go h-iontach saIUAA Relays in i Maigh Nuad. Bhí sí arfhoireann na hÉireann (sóisearach) igChia i Sardinia.

Ní rabhas i mBaile Locha Riach i MeánFómhair. Ach Luan Cásca bhí rás den

scoth ar siúl i Locha Riach. Mílebuíochas do Martin Smyth don gheansaíglas a fuaireas uaidh ag céiliúradh 1916ar an lá sin.

I mí Eanáir chuir an bháisteach go móristeach ar an rás i bhFuarchoill[Coldwood] (chuaigh mo mháthair arscoil ann). Bhí dhá rás i mBaile Chláir −ag tús agus ag deireadh an tsamhraidh.

Bunaíodh club nua − Caltra & DistrictAC; dhá ocáid a bhíos ann − ag tús agusbarr an lae. Tá todhchaí gheal ag lonrúdon chlub seo.

I mí na Feabhra bhí rás deas ag MareeAC in aice na mara. Cuimhním Satharnamháin eile i gCarna, rás eile in aice nafarraige agus an fómhar ag éagnú.

Bhí Gaeilge líofa thart ort, ceamaraí óTG4 agus ceoltóirí ag seinm sa chúinne.Cuirfeadh bodhrán, veidhlín aguscláirseach gliondar i do chroí.

Bhíos ar ais le haghaidh Hollymount 51agus creid nó ná créid bhí an aimsirdeabhéasach. Rith Damien Larkin gomaith. Ach bhí sé níos fearr ag an BDNseachtain ina dhiaidh sin. Bhí TomásPorter mar thacaíoht dó ann freisin. Nílan rith go maith ag Tomás faoi láthairach níor chaill sé sruth na cainte riamh.

Ní mór dom imeacht anois mar tá andinnéar réidh, mo láimh at éirí troimeagus an tobar tirim. Beir bua agusbeannacht.

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My Special Races and WhyBernie Kelly GCH

There are a small number of racesthat I run every year, no matter what.Ballycotton 10 (I did my 15th thisyear), Warrior Run (I did my 16th thisyear) and of course The Field ofAthenry. 2016 is my 15th consecutivetime to run it, an honour that I sharewith an ever-dwindling number ofathletes.

So what is special about these races?What draws you back to a race?

Ballycotton 10M, CorkThis 10 mile road race is indeed aclassic. 2017 will see the 40th annualrunning of the event on Sunday 12thMarch at 1.30pm. Even though it’shard to get an entry, even harder toget in and out of Ballycotton on theday, you can’t deny the wonderfulfeeling as you start off down thenarrow village street lined by crowdsto the rousing words of theBallycotton 10 song “Here we areagain for the Ballycotton 10”.

It’s a fair course but the last mile ismostly uphill so it does require goodpacing from the start to have a littlesomething in the tank to conquer thattough climb at the end to claim thecoveted T-shirt (for the first 100finishers) or for the rest of us thefamous Ballycotton Mug. (Mydaughter Róisín once remarked thatwe would have very few mugs in ourhouse if I didn’t run this race everyyear!) My PB is 1:14:31 (2003).

Warrior Run, SligoThis (approx) 15K event is tough. Ittakes place in late August, with therace starting and ending in Strandhill,Co Sligo. The race is classified as aroad and hill race, or multi-terrained,so whilst approximately nine of itskilometres are on paved roads, it isthe special six kilometres in themiddle, to the top of Knocknarea thatgives the race its bite. These sixkilometres include a 700 foot climbthrough fields, loose gravel,unsurfaced and heather paths. At itssteepest incline on the way up, eventhe most professional athlete slows to

a walk and then brace themselves toface the equally daunting downhillrun, back down the often slipperyslopes, even in the driest of weather.

The feeling when one reaches the topof Knocknarea where you then have torun around the large cairn whereQueen Maeve is supposed to beburied is magic. It’s a race where youget to know just how tough you are. Itsaps your energy, you slip and slideand it’s unrelenting but then you seethe top, you hear the stewardsencouraging you, you take a quicklook back down the hill and you seeall that are behind you and suddenlyyou are literally on top of the worldand off you set back down the otherside. My PB is 1:20:37 (2002).

Fields of Athenry 10KM, GalwayBack in the noughties I regularly did50 races a year. I didn’t train I raced! Iloved the buzz of a race, lovedmeeting new people, loved travellingto Mayo, Clare, Cork, Sligo, all overGalway, indeed anywhere to a race. Itwas my social life, petrol was fairlycheap and I loved running. I didn’tknow a whole pile about PBs anddidn’t care. When I heard about a 10Kon St Stephen’s Day back in 2002, Ithought it probably was not the bestchoice of day. Who in their right mindwould want to run on that day? Whowould be in any shape to run on thatday? I wasn’t sure even if I wouldhave the discipline to. But of course

when the time came I hauled myselfout of my lovely cosy bed and foundmyself lining up with 70 or so morefor the first ‘Fields’.

Boy did I enjoy it. There wassomething so special about runningaround the legendary ‘fields ofAthenry’ with Christmas trees lit inmany windows, practically car-freeroads, everyone full of Christmascheer and so lovely to exchange thetraditional Happy Christmas Wisheswith my many running friends. I washooked, this was going on my racecalendar from then on. So 14 yearslater I am still running this race. MyPB over 10K happened in 2005 when Iran 44.20 which for me was amazing.I had a really good run that day andhad Michelle Lynch (GCH) in mysights for most of the race until shetook off over the last mile. I had a verybad year in 2012 when I pulled amuscle in my lower back onChristmas Eve and could barely walkon St Stephen’s Day but I wasdetermined to take part and finish,which I did, but it took a painful1:58:12. I’ll never forget getting to the1K marker just as they were taking itdown. Thanks again Frank for leavingthe "Finish" gantry in place until Ifinished!

The ‘Fields’ is special, a unique day,superb organisation, nice course andbest of all great tay (sic!) and bunsafterwards.

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Athenry TrackDevelopmentIain Shaw

The Athenry Track Development, or togive it its correct name, MoanbaunSports Development Project, took itsfirst steps late in 2016 to being able toprovide a training facility. As thesummer track season ended, thejuvenile section of the club faced theprospect of training for the upcomingcross country season in one of ourusual haunts around the pitches atRaheen. Now don’t get me wrong,that pitch has served us well foryears, but at the end of the day it isflat and doesn’t provide the trainingchallenge required to develop therunners to the best of their ability. Itwas decided that we needed to bringthe new field into play and a few ofthe club members, from both seniorand juvenile sections had a head-scratching session in the middle ofthe field to decide what could bedone.

A plan was hatched to drive a trackaround the perimeter of the field, tobe as long as possible, and also tomaintain the contours of the field toprovide a rudimentary cross countrytrack. We engaged with localcontractor Derick Caulfield to do theground works and over the course of10 days in August Derick constructeda 2.5 metre wide track around thefield. As the land had previously beenused as a quarry there was plenty ofmaterial left in spoil heaps to providea nice hard surface. Derick was alsoable to clear away the scrub on thedriveway up to the track from theRaheen Woods Road and also providea small car park area. On 10th AugustI took a run around the track and myGarmin measured the route at 710mwith a 10m elevation gain. If youadded on the run down to the gateand back from the car park you gotalmost another 300m and so we had aroute just shy of 1km. At the car parkside of the track there is a short andvery sharp hill which looked to be agreat tester for anyone using thetrack. So the first phase of thedevelopment has been completed withthis track and it is now useable.

As the schools returned we movedMonday and Wednesday juveniletraining to the new track and tested itout with a large group of kids.Whether it was something novel, orthe athletes knew they had somethingof their own, the numbers of peopletraining there started to swell. At theend of the first session, which was ahard run for many given the summerexcesses, there were smiles allaround and everyone was saying thatit was so much better than runningendless loops around a muddy field.

The part they liked the most – the hill,which they all received significant‘encouragement’ to get up from ourcoaches. But this track is not just ajuvenile facility and very quickly therewere a few from the senior sectiontaking tentative steps onto the trackand testing it out, and again thereports back from the senior athleteswere encouraging, and more andmore people started to use it and thetrack very quickly became a track ofchoice to use by all of the AC when anice peaceful run without traffic wasrequired. The benefits of the track onour juveniles were instant to see andthe results from the schools crosscountry and the Galway cross countrychampionship were very encouragingand across the board ourperformances have improved.

Alas, the story doesn’t end on such apositive note. As the year wore on, thenights drew in and the impendingchanging of the clocks came upon us.Although the training sessions werebrought forward as early as we couldpossibly make them, darkness soonbecame our enemy and at the end ofOctober we were forced to leave ournew home and take up residency inthe field in Raheen. For us to be ableto use the track year-round we needto light the track, and light it in such away that it is safe to use. Lighting isnot cheap and we are looking atfacing a bill of close on €30K to carryout the works. We have toyed with atemporary solution, but ultimately a

permanent set of lights will berequired and so we may as well try toinstall them from the start. We arecurrently looking at our finances andit is hoped that we may be able tomake a decision on the lights inJanuary and without carrying out asignificant amount of fundraising.

So what does the future hold for thenew facility? Next year is likely to be acritical year for us, and we need tomake significant inroads on the majorgroundworks required. We need toflatten the ground, and start workingon the plans for what the facility willlook like. The plans are still to havethe 400m track, the new Astroturfpitch in the middle for the footballclub and also an indoor trainingfacility for use by all. We will bemaking an application to the SportsCouncil ‘Capital Grant Fund’ to carryout as much work as possible, andalso look to find other sources ofgrant revenue to complete the work asfast as possible.

In time I hope that this facility issomething that the whole of Athenryis proud of, and it will provide muchneeded facilities for our schools andcommunity groups that will allow usto make Athenry one of the fittesttowns in the country.

Iain Shaw, Chairman, JuvenileSection, Athenry AC and Director,Moanbaun Sports DevelopmentProject.

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Hallo zusammen! Ich heiße Luisa undich komme aus Deutschland.Nachdem ich fünf Jahre im sonnigenSüdwesten Irlands in Kilkennyverbracht habe, bin ich in dieGrafschaft Galway umgezogen. DerAthenry Athletics Club schien dieperfekte Idee zu sein, ein wenigBewegung in mein Leben zu bringenund neue Galwayaner kennen zulernen.

Um mit den Profis mithalten zukönnen, bin ich zuerst einige Maleallein laufen gegangen. Im Frühlingfühlte ich mich bereit für mein ersten5km Rennen und meldete mich inLoughrea zum Osterlauf an. Es liefgut, ich war glücklich mein erstesRennen erfolgreich beendet zu haben.

Kurz danach fühlte ich mich sichergenug um mein Können dem AthenryAthletic Club zu zeigen und ich gingzu einer der Fit4Life Sessions, dieimmer mittwochs stattfindet. Sehrschnell fühlte ich mich wiederunsicher als wir mit einem 8k Laufbegannen.

Ich machte mit dem Laufen daraufhineinige Wochen Pause und entschiedmich dann, es noch einmal zuversuchen. Ich ging zu einigenweiteren Trainingseinheiten des

Athenry ACs und fühlte mich dannbereit für mein erstes 10km Rennen.

Der 10km Burger Lauf fand im Julystatt und ich ging hin. Eine meinergrößten Sorgen war es mich zuverlaufen, da es keine Wegweiser gab.Glücklicherweise hat mich der Clubsuper unterstützt und ich habe esohne Umwege über die Zielliniegeschafft. Dann genoss ich einenleckeren Hamburger, der von denfreiwilligen Helfern professionellgegrillt worden war. Ich war begeistertmein erstes 10k Rennen geschafft zuhaben.

Nachdem ich das 10k Rennenüberstanden hatte, nahm ich mir vorim Jahr 2016 noch einenHalbmarathon zu laufen. Der Winterkam, das Leben selbst kamdazwischen und leider erreichte ichmein Ziel nicht. Jedoch bin ich mirsicher, dass ich im Frühling einenHalbmarathon laufen werde.

Der Athenry AC ist ein großartigerVerein für Neuzugezogene. Es gibtjede Menge Trainingseinheiten, beidenen man mehrmals jede Wochemitmachen kann und die Mitgliedersind sehr nett. Wenn ihr Laufanfängerseid, seid bereit, denn diese Leutesind schnell!

A NewBeginningHi guys! My name is Luisa and I amfrom Germany. After having spent fiveyears in the sunny southeast, inKilkenny, I had moved to Co. Galway.The Athenry athletic club seemed theperfect idea to get some dreadedexercise into my life and also to meetsome Galwegians.

In order to get up to speed, I hadgone on some runs on my own. Inspring time, I was comfortable withrunning my first 5k and signed up tothe Loughrea 5k race at Easter. It wentwell − I was delighted to havecompleted my first race ever.

Shortly after this, I decided that I wasnow brave enough to show off myabilities in the Athenry AC and went tothe Fit4Life session that takes placeevery Wednesday evening. Instantly, Ifelt thrown into the deep end as weembarked on an 8k run. I managedbut felt rather deflated about myrunning abilities. I took a few weeksbreak from running but decided that Iwanted to give it another go. I went toa few more training sessions with theAthenry AC and finally felt ready formy first 10k race.

The club’s 10k Burger Run was on inJuly and I turned up for it. One of mybiggest worries was getting lost as Iwas unfamiliar with it. Thankfully Ireceived great support from the cluband made it to the finish line withoutany detours. I enjoyed a tasty burgerprovided by the great catering team

after the race. I was thrilled to havecompleted my first 10k race.

After finishing the 10k, I had theambitious plan of completing a halfmarathon before the end of the year.With winter and life in general gettingin the way, I unfortunately did notreach my goal. However, I amconfident that I will be able tocomplete a half marathon in spring.

Athenry AC is a great club forsomeone new to the area. There areplenty of training sessions that onecan attend during the week and thepeople are very friendly. Be preparedhowever, if you are a newbie torunning, they’re fast!

Ein Neuer AnfangLuisa Golz

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So what are my memories of 2016 – ayear of an Olympics, and a EuropeanChampionships within weeks of eachother and much, much more?

The National Track and FieldChampionships came in June – muchearlier than usual. My abiding memoryfrom that is the sheer relief of Clonliffe'sBrian Gregan when he crossed the lineto win the men's 400m. Brian had beenill with a recurrent virus so debilitatingthat he spent a night in hospital. His aimto make an Irish 4×400m squad for Riowere shattered, but he had his healthback.

At the Europeans, held in Amsterdam,Ciara Mageean took a bronze medal inthe 1500m, proving that she is back intop form after years of injury. On to Rio,which was marred by scandals we won'tgo into here. Could it be the end of theOlympic movement in its current form?

Since it is largely a TV event these days,one suggestion is to turn it into a"virtual" Olympics. Might work.

Then there was the National crosscountry Championships, held over thenew purpose-built course atAbbotstown, which is still looking like abuilding site, but no doubt will settledown in years to come. For some time, Ihad noticed Mark Christie fromMullingar belting up my road in

Booterstown on training runs. He lookedbetter and better as the weeks went byand it was no surprise when he won theAutumn Open, the Leinster senior titleand then the national title, beating thedoughty Mick Clohisey. 

What a thriller the women's race provedto be, when a new star was born in theform of Irish dancer Shona Heaslip, whois coached by Kerry master NiamhO'Sullivan after taking up running onlytwo years ago.

Which brings us neatly to mastersathletics, which – so far – remainsuntainted by the scandals surroundingour sport; in particular doping, and theovernight switching of nationality andname. At the European Indoors inAncona Italy, Ireland took 27 medalsand finished 11th nation – a magnificentachievement. 

Among the gold medal winners wereJoe Gough, who had earlier competed atthe World Indoors in a special masters800m, Brian Lynch, Master of the Year,Kelly Neely and Denise Toner, all in themiddle distances. At WorldChampionships in Perth, Australia, inNovember, Cathy McCourt won a recordfive medals individual and team crosscountry and individual 5000m, 10,000mand half marathon.

Only a week earlier, at the annual Britishand Irish Masters cross country inGlasgow, the remarkable Carmel Parnellfrom Cork stretched her winning streakto eleven when she took W60 gold. WithGalway's own Christine Kennedy secondand Mayo's Pauline Moran third, Irelandhad its first clean sweep of the day.

The second clean sweep came in theM35 race won by East Cork's MichaelHarty, who was followed home byPaddy Hamilton of Slieve Gullion andEast Cork's Tim Twomey. 

Finally – road running. My star of theyear is wheelchair phenomenon PatrickMonahan from Co Kildare who blazedaround the Dublin Marathon course in anew course record of 1 hour 39 minutesleading home a record entry of over19,000. Dublin is now the fourth largestmarathon in Europe.

Wishes for next year? Life bans fordoping and residency of three years foranyone switching nationality. Make ithappen Seb Coe – or athletics is dead.

Lindie Naughtons's latest book is"Markievicz – a Most Outrageous Rebel"(Merrion Press).

2016Lindie Naughton

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Loughrea Athletic Club purchased 27acres at Bushfield on the Bullaun road inthe 1980s. This was a big decision forthe club in recessionary times, but weare glad to say it was a good investmentwith athletics and other sportsbenefitting in the meantime. The centrepiece of the early development was aneight lane grass track whichencompassed a soccer pitch. Thegrounds also has a one-mile perimetercross country course and with variedroutes has been used for County andConnacht Colleges fixtures.

The Manning Sports Day is a big eventon our athletic calendar with childrenfrom fourteen local national schoolscompeting against each other on apoints basis. The opening of our newclub house in 2014 was a milestone andhas plenty of off-road parking. We arealways updating facilities for users.Having a base of our own has enticedmore children into the club and withnew coaches coming on board, the fun-run child or the more competitive onecan both be accommodated. Floodlighting is on site to help with eveningtraining.

However, we always recognised that 27acres was greater than the needs ofathletics and with this in mind we arepresently developing a multi-purpose

grass pitch bordered by a running track.The local Gaelic Football club is verykeen to use the pitch and we arethankful to them for their help inoffsetting the costs involved. Therelatively new sport of Footgolf is alsobeing played at Bushfield and onoccasions groups from Galway haveused the grounds to learn the basicskills of orienteering. Soccer, inparticular, has benefitted for many yearswith all facilities on hand for theirfollowers.

The club is approaching developmentsat Bushfield with the provision of amulti-purpose pitch our main focus atthe moment. Improvements for athleticswill always be part of an on-goingprogramme. Present developments willrestrict the use of the cross countrycourse for competitive purposes but wewill let you know when we are up andrunning again − pardon the pun!

In the meantime you are welcome tovisit our grounds and see the potentialfor athletics and other activities.

LoughreaAthletic ClubDevelopment

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1. What shoes do you train in? ASICS.

2. How many miles did you run lastweek? 45-50, not enough and slower to startthan ever.

3. What’s your favourite racingdistance? Anything Cross Country, 12km used tobe great over the mud.

4. Where’s your favourite place totrain? Dangan.

5. What’s your favourite race or eventeach year? National Senior Cross Country orStreets of Galway.

6. What annoys you most at races? Older lads beating you. Marshals whodon’t direct you.

7. What race, that you haven’t yet run,would you most like to take part in? European cross country and too latenow!

8. What was your best-ever runningperformance? National 10k team gold M35s a coupleof years ago & sub-27 in the Streets.

9. What was your worst-ever runningperformance? Loads! Usually blowing up inmarathons, Connemara 3:00:20 beingthe most annoying.

10. What’s the strangest thing thatyou’ve ever seen on a training run?Plenty of unusual incidents in Danganand surrounds involving people invarying states of undress and/or underthe influence of unknown substances.

11. Favourite piece of running gear? Long sleeve anything.

12. Who would you most enjoy beatingin a sprint for the line? Anyone, can't sprint.

13. What was the best bit of runningadvice you were ever given? Consistency is key. Train on grass. Aimfor the big races.

14. In ten years time will you still berunning? Yes, hopefully better than now

15. If for some reason you were toldyou could never run again, how do youthink you’d react? Very badly.

16. Have you ever been bitten by a dogwhile running? No, but loads of fights with them andtheir owners verbally.

17. Have you ever had to stop for anemergency ‘Paula’ during a race? Yes a couple of times, no fun.

18. Favourite post-race food? Yazoo and anything sweet.

19. Most embarrassing ever runningrelated moment? See question 17, in Connemara oneyear, rough second half.

20. The greatest Irish Athlete of alltime is/was? John Treacy.

20 Questions forBRIAN BRUTON (GCH)

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As we approach the end of anotheryear I'll think of it being the year ofthe anniversaries. Of course we hadthe 1916 celebrations, with twoevents here in Athenry. At Easter wehad a big day in the town park, inJune we had another outing inMellows College. We also had the50th anniversary of Galway winningthe football final, completing a three-in-row in doing so. Also in that year,Galway won the All-Ireland crosscountry in Dromoland Co. Clare and Istill remember being at the race withthe Galway team made up ofDerrydonnell AC runners filling four ofthe first five places to easily winningthe team event.

Sometime in the late summer, tosatisfy my grá for traditional music, Idecided to go to the Fleadh Cheoil inEnnis Co. Clare. Knowing they'd betraffic and parking problems I went bytrain from the station in Athenry. Asthe ticket checker approached I heldup my travel pass and declared "I'llarise and go now and go to Ennisfree". On the journey I switched on theradio to find Joe Duffy doing a 50thanniversary special to Dickie Rockwho represented Ireland at theEurovision song contest in the sameyear.

Now you have to be of a certainvintage to remember Dickie's hittunes from that era but Joe played afew I remember like, 'Candy Store onthe Corner', 'Come Back to Stay' and'Every Step of the Way'. Whilelistening to the latter I thought howmany steps it takes to completethe Dublin City Marathon. A few dayslater I read that this year's race was tobe special race to commemorate the1916 rising. Due to my familyconnection with that difficult time inIrish history, need I say anymore?

Unfortunately, a few small healthissues hampered my preparations butanyhow on 29 October, I'm back inthe RDS to collect my number. At thedesk I handed in my acceptance slip,

which a girl looked at, and then gotoff her chair turned her back on meand walked away, leaving me towonder what did I say or do to offendher. She was back in a flash with onehand extended for a handshake, andin her other hand she had an envelopewhich contained a card wishing me ahappy birthday on marathon day.

Haven't they a marvellous teamrunning that race for the last 36 years,with nearly all volunteers I believe,much like John Walshe's gang downin Ballycotton Co. Cork. Nowadays, onthose weekends I stay with mydaughter Siobhan, who lives in northCo. Wicklow and, of course, she looksafter me very well, but I often remindher that it's only payback time.

Sunday morning we're on the M11driving towards Dublin and as I lookto my left I see a dark cloud on top ofthe Sugar Loaf mountain. Siobhantold me to look out towards DublinBay as there was a lovely blue skythere. A good friend of mine has afavourite song called, 'Always Lookon the Bright Side of Life'. Maybe it'sthe way to view life in general.

Among the thousands on the startline, I thanked God for giving me thestrength to even attempt this longrace, as many people will claim you'reonly half way at twenty miles. Insaying that, I'm probably speaking forMichael Glynn and Peadar Nugent too,who were both competing that day aswell. My plan for the race was to runeach mile in 10 minutes, for as longas I could keep going. After 24 miles Iwas almost on target but I slowed atad from there to the finish, mainlydue I'd say from not enough of longruns during my health problems.

I finished the race in 4:25, gaining 7thplace out of 49 in my race agecategory, but 4th in my NationalMarathon age category. My abidingmemory of the race was the massivecrowd support all along the route,with a lot of them handing out sweets,

fruit, drinks etc. But in that last milethe cheering was something else, andif it wouldn't put the hairs on the backof your neck standing, well, then youhave no hair. Not since the early1960s when the Beatles cameto Dublin was such cheering, I'd say.

After finishing, I met a fewacquaintances but I didn't have muchtime for talking as I had to catch mytrain. As is now the norm, Peadar wason the Six One RTE TV News alongwith Máire Treasa. Didn't they bothlook well! The rewards for being"photogenic" I suppose. My one regretis I missed the sprint finish betweenMichael and Peadar, but Peadar’sexperience gained over the last 36years won the day by one second.

On reading the results the followingday I noted that had there been a teamprize for our age category we'd havewon the All-Ireland. I doubt verymuch if 2017 will have anyanniversary important enough to getme out running around the streets ofDublin again, but certainly I've noregrets over losing a good few dropsof blood, sweat and tears to get thatspecial medal with the GPO on it.

9:49 9:51 10:10 9:53 9:52 10:02 9:529:33 9:51 9:53

10:01 9:53 9:56 10:20 10:05 9:499:59 9:43 9:54 9:42

9:50 10:41 10:01 9:48 11:00 11:33

The Year of theAnniversariesMartin Keane

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For the second year I have had theprivilege to be Chairman of the JuvenileSection of Athenry AC and work with afantastic bunch of athletes (much moreof them later) and a truly brilliant groupof coaches who really do go above andbeyond in their dedication to training ouryoung athletes in all disciplines. It is agreat pleasure for us all to be under theguidance of our head coach DermotMcNamara, his knowledge isencyclopaedic and his encouragement forall athletes and coaches is second tonone.

As has now become customary, theathletics year opens with our trip to thewonderful venue of the Athlone IndoorArena for the Galway Indoors. Forty-twoathletes from Athenry AC competed andcame away with a fair haul of metalwork.In the relays the U12 girls and U11 boysgot gold and the U13 boys, U15 girls andU10 boys got bronze. In the individualevents there were 4 gold medals, 14silver medals, 6 bronze and many close4th positions. The U12 girls relay teamhad another run out at AIT arena wheninvited to take part in the events of theInternational Athletics Grand Prix andthey did themselves proud in comingsecond in their race. It is great experiencefor these young ladies to have competedon an International programme, andhopefully they will have a chance to dothe same in their future athletic careers.

Galway’s turns to Connachts, and theadded bonus of qualification for theNational Indoors. Once again we madethe 40 minute journey down themotorway to AIT and a very serious levelof competition. Thirteen medals cameback across the border from Westmeathin a super series of performances. Therewere a number of breakthroughperformances which set the tone for theremainder of the year: Leonore Churchtook bronze in the High Jump, AoibheDeeley took bronze in the 60m Hurdlesand Liam Shaw put the cat amongst theproverbial pigeons, and broke up theexpected clean sweep by Lake District ACby taking silver in the Shot Putt.Performance of the competition thoughhas to go to Brandon Lee who took silverin the 60m, Gold in the 60m Hurdles and

silver in the 800m. Brandon’s constanthigh level of performance was recognisedwhen he received the U15 boys prize atthe Galway Athletics Awards.

The indoor season came to a close withour Connacht qualifiers representing theclub at the National Indoor Finals. For thejuveniles, this is the toughest competitionthey will face all year, but to even get thisfar is the greatest of achievements.Although there were no medals, bothBrandon and Aoibhe qualified for the finalof their hurdle events, and Liam reachedthe final eight in the shot putt competitionand a nice haul of PBs were brought backhome.

There really is no downtime to catch yourbreath following the indoor season beforethe Galway outdoors is upon you. Theoutdoor track and field is somewhatdifferent to the indoor with the inclusionof younger athletes in a team event, whocan ultimately progress to the NationalCommunity Games Finals. On the firstday of competition, which includes U8-U12 there were 35 Athenry athletescompeting, with everybody giving theirall with impressive performances. Formany of these athletes this was their firsttaste of real competition. Medals on theday were taken as follows: U12 SadbhMc Donagh silver in hurdles and sprint,bronze in long jump. Leonore Churchgold in high jump. Liam Shaw gold inshot put. Mark O Halloran bronze inhurdles. U11 boys Aska Little and Cian

McNelis bronze in 60m sprint. SenanTreacy and Aska Little silver in 600m,Adam O Halloran and Cian McNelisbronze in 600m. The U11 boys also gotsilver in the relay. In the older age groupsthere was a great medal haul with 7 Gold,7 Silver and 5 bronze across both trackand field events. With Ryan McNelistaking four medals and Saoirse Healeytaking three medals.

The Connacht championships this yearwere split across two venues due to thethrows cage not being available inDangan. The team and younger agescompeted in Dangan whilst the olderages had to make the journey up to whatended up being a deluge in Sligo IT.Again the Connacht serve as a qualifierfor the National Outdoor Championships,with the top 4 in each event going toTullamore in July. In Dangan animpressive set of performances sawsome of our young athletes on their wayto the finals: Senan Treacy and Aska Littlewent one better than their Galwayperformance and took gold in the 600m.Aska and Cian McNelis were unlucky inthat they were edged out of qualificationin the sprint by two hundredths of asecond – this is ten times faster than ittakes you to blink. Leonore Churchcontinued her good form from the indoorseason by finishing fourth in the highjump and securing herself a place in theNational Finals. For Liam Shaw there wasdouble silver, in both Shot Putt and HighJump. Liam’s inclusion in the high jump

Athenry AC Juvenile –A Year in ReviewIain Shaw

Saoirse jumping - U12 boys cross country team

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final necessitated a hasty change insummer holiday plans for the year !!. Thevariable weather in Sligo made for somechallenging conditions. In the early partof the day there was rock splittingsunshine but this soon gave way to someof the worst torrential rain seen atConnacht Championships for manyyears. However, the weather did not putoff our older athletes with Calum Healycoming 3rd in Hurdles and 4th in thelong jump and sprint. Sarah Gilhooleytook silver in the long hurdles, 800m and1500m. Brandon continued another fineyear with silver in hurdles and bronze inthe sprint. The throws duo of RyanMcNelis and Cian Naughton took a goldapiece in the shot putt and javelinrespectively, with Cian taking silver in theshot putt. Ryan finished off a great daywith silver in the long jump and hurdles.Athenry AC has struggled in recent yearswith older age athletes and so it wasencouraging to see medals being takenby Aine Farrell (3000m gold), AislingKeane (silver in sprint and long jump)and Patryk Woleniuk a bronze in thehurdles. Our most senior of femalejuveniles, and role model to all our youngfemale athletes, Shannen Lee took fourthplace in both the steeplechase and the3000m.

The County Offaly venue of Tullamoreprovides the location for the pinnacle ofJuvenile Athletics competition, theNational Championships. A mixture ofinjury and holidays meant that not all ourqualifiers made it to the champs andunfortunately for those competed on thefirst of three days of competition therewere no medals making it back west,however there were a bunch of PBs andraised profiles to be proud of. On thesecond day both Shannen Lee and PatrykWoleniuk made into onto the podiumtaking bronze in the steeplechase andhurdles respectively. The standard at this

years championships was one of thehighest in recent years and to simply beat the championships is a massiveachievement. So at this point the curtainswere pulled on the track and field season,and the athletes were given theircustomary break to recover and preparefor the cross country season.

One final event took place before thespikes were hung up with the CommunityGames Finals in Athlone IT. Athenry ACathletes were well represented in thegames, and there were medals for CalumHealy in the sprint (bronze) and AoibheDeeley in the hurdles (gold). Aoibhe’sperformance would probably go down asmy performance of the year by any of ourathletes. This was the first time Aoibhehad made it to the community gamesfinals as an individual athlete and she hadto come through several rounds beforeshe got to the final. Aoibhe played a verywell planned campaign, doing enough tosecure her progression each round.However in the final she made sure thatthe performance was one of truedominance. She led from the gun andwas the first to rise at each hurdle. Asshe came over the last hurdle she hit theground in the lead and screamed to theline. Sunday 21st August 2016 will bemarked as the day Aoibhe Deeley came ofage and showed just what she can do inthe hurdles.

Mud, lots and lots of mud, that is whatcross country should be about, it getsyou dirty but it also makes you stronger.At the start of the year Athenry AC wererepresented at the National Juvenile BChampionships in Dundalk. Laura Kennyfinished 52nd in U13 girls, SarahGilhooley finished 11th in the U15 girlsand Shannen Lee and Aishling Kennyfinished 7th and 14th respectively in theU17 girls. On the back of strongperformances, both Shannen and Sarah

were selected to compete for the GalwayJunior Ladies team at the Inter CountyCross Country Championships wherethey helped Galway take the silver medal.The Galway Championships were held inTuam (even ages) and in South Park (oddages). In near perfect cross countryconditions Athenry had good success inTuam. Obviously training on our newfacility in Moanbaun is having a positiveeffect on performance. In the U10 therewere individual medals for Nessa Mangan(8th) and Conor Curran (2nd). At U12Kayla Madden took a silver and doubledthat up with a team silver (Kayla Madden,Leonore Church, Abigail O’Shea, CiaraWalsh, Eabha Rohan and BronaghDeeley). The U12 boys competition sawgold for Mark O’Halloran and the U12boys team took bronze (Mark O’Halloran,Aska Little, Sean Doggett and LiamShaw). In U14 girls - Laura Kenny 5thAileen Evans 8th. Rory Fitzpatrick tooksilver in the U14 boys and was part of thesilver medal winning U14 boys team(Rory Fitzpatrick, Calum Healy, FearghusDeeley and Geordan Mangan. SarahGilhooley continued to show her strengthin cross country running taking gold inthe U16 girls, with Aoibhe Deeley 4th andEmma Boyle 5th. At the older ages it wasagain a pleasure to see the club fieldingan U18 team that took gold (ShannenLee, Aine O’Farrell, Aisling Keane andAishling Kenny). Shannen took anindividual bronze.

The odd ages took us to a new venue forus in South Park, and a great and testingvenue it was too. The club again hadgreat success, with a lot of athletesrunning out of age. U11 boys took teambronze (Adam O’Halloran, Conor Curran,Aska Little, Caelin Harrington, SeanDoggett, Aidan Shaw). U13 girls tookteam bronze (Kayla Madden, LeonoreChurch, Abigail O’Shea, Aoilbhe Murray).Kayla had a wonderful 4th place finishconsidering she was out of age. RoryFitzpatrick went one better than theprevious week taking the U13 gold andhelped lead the U13 boys team to gold(Rory Fitzpatrick, Fearghus Deeley, CalumHealey, Darragh McNelis and LiamShaw). There were individual medals forSarah Gilhooley (gold) and Shannen Lee(silver).

The Connacht even ages were held on theSouth Park course in Galway and onceagain the Athenry team were wellrepresented on the podium. U12 girlsindividual bronze for Kayla madden withteam bronze for Kayla Madden, LeonoreChurch, Abigail O’Shea, Mia Lukina, CiaraWalsh and Eabha Rohan). MarkO’Halloran took an U12 silver. RoryFitzpatrick, running out of age took anindividual silver, Sarah Gilhooley took an

Calum with coach Iain

Individual bronze at U16 and the fantasticU18 girls team of Aine O’Farrell, ShannenLee, Aishling Kenny and Leona Rabbittetook gold. In the uneven ages held atWestport House there was a great goldmedal performance from Rory Fitzpatrick(U13) and in the U17 a silver for AineO’Farrell and a 4th place finish for SarahGilhooley running out of age. The silvermedal for Aine was a testament to thehard work that Aine has put in all year intraining. The day was rounded off by a5th place finish by Shannen Lee.

The athletics year drew to a close withthe National Cross Country finals held onthe new course in Abbotstown for the

even ages and the uneven ages inDundalk. Unfortunately there were nomedals this year, in what was some ofthe hottest competition ever at crosscountry, which is a reflection on thegrowing standard of cross country inIreland. Rory Fitzpatrick was our highestplace finisher and rounded off his yearwith an 18th place finish in the U13championship, this followed on from hisfantastic win in the National PrimarySchools Cross Country Finals held inOctober.

I just want to finish by saying that insome ways it is unfair to pick outindividual performances as the club is

more than just about winning medals, itis about providing a training and love forathletics and showing that each andevery child has the ability to perform tothe best of their abilities. To take a youngathlete and watch them progress fromstruggling to run around a pitch to beingable to run constantly for 30 minutes andenjoy doing it is what we are all about,and what we will keep on doing week inweek out, helping them to win medals isa bonus.

2016 has been a great year for the club,and I have a feeling that we will be seeingsome really special things in 2017.

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2016 London Mini MarathonShauna Bocquet

On 23 April 2016 my Dad and I flew overto England as I was taking part in theLondon Mini Marathon the following day.It was my second time racing it, I camethird in the U14 last year, and I waslooking forward to race it again andhoped to win it this year. I trained hard allyear and it was my main objective of theseason.

When I woke up the next day I got readyand then we made our way to the start.We went into the waiting area and as weentered the building we were welcomedby the sound of people talking and therewas music blaring on the speakers. Icollected my number and t-shirt, eachage and group category had a differentcoloured t-shirts to make it easier toknow what age group they were fromwhen they crossed the finish line.

I can recall the last 20mins leading up tothe race, as I got into my chair and wentoutside to warm up with the othercompetitors. With only five mins beforethe race started the officials called us upto the start line. The boys were going firstfollowed by the girls 2mins after. As Iwaited on the start line with the othercompetitors I looked around at the bigcrowds on the roadside. I couldn’t wait toget going.

The boys went off, fast and furious, andthen after two more minutes of waitingwe were off. A girl called Kare, from theU17 hit the front, followed by Eden, alsoU17, and I was following close by. Istayed with Eden for about 800m andthen she started to pull away, but I stillhad her in sight so I pushed myself to tryand catch up. The three miles of racingflew by and, as I rounded the final bend,Eden was still in sight. The atmosphere in

the crowd on the Mall was surreal,clapping and cheering and banging thebarriers. The finish line was in sight. Istarted to sprint for my life and withabout two metres to go I took one finalbig push for the line. As I crossed the linea sense of joy and happiness came uponme. I had won the London Mini Marathonwith a new PB of 15:20!

After I received my medal, I made myway towards the holding tent with mydad and my coach Ian. Then the fourcategory winners had to go to a differenttent for the trophy presentation where wewere given a London Mini Marathonhoodie and Adidas tracksuits to put on.We were then brought outside where wewere joined by all the able-bodiedwinners. The people who presented ourtrophies were Prince Harry and gymnastWorld Champion Max Whitlock. After thepresentation, we went back to the holdingtent where I got to meet some of the eliteathletes including Paralympics gold

medallist Marcel Hug and WorldChampion and Paralympics goldmedallist Tatyana McFadden who bothwon the Marathon on the day.

It was one of the most memorable daysof my career so far, but I am alreadylooking forward to defend my title in Aprilnext year!

Patrick Carter was born in 1902 in thedelightfully named townland ofWormhole in Killanin (betweenMoycullen and Oughterard). Of farmingstock, we can safely assume that theyoung Patrick was a hardy boy,toughened by the never-ending tasksthat were performed daily on a smallholding. The Boer war, featuringtrenches and concentration camps stillraged in South Africa and dominated theheadlines. The ideals of the GaelicLeague and of Sinn Féin werepermeating Irish Society at the time, butit was the world of athletics andparticularly of distance running thatfascinated the young Killanin man.

He was reared on stories about theillustrious runners John Joyce and TomHynes. Joyce, his cousin, representedthe U.S.A. in the 1904 Olympics in St.Louis. He ran the 800 but the event didnot suit his talents. Joyce was a multiplechampion over the five mile (PB:28:25.2 in 1904) and ten mile distanceswhile at the same time, back at home,Hynes was one of Ireland’s top distancerunners and ran internationally for hiscountry in 1905. Both were rearedwithin a mile or two of the Carters and,with such heroes on his doorstep, it islittle wonder that the young Patrickobsessed with running.

Patrick had his friends assist him withhis training. Two or three of them ranlaps with him in turn, constantlypushing the pace. His marathon trainingconsisted of simply running thedistance several times a week. This he

did by going the thirteen miles fromWormhole to Galway and home again.This punishing regime brought successat sports meetings all over the countryat all distances from one mile to 26.2.His special diet was raw eggs of whichhe consumed over a dozen a day –while the hens were laying! Successfollowed success while far and wide hebecame known simply as 'The Harrier'and athletic excellence consumed hislife.

Patrick’s most prestigious win was inthe Morren Marathon in Sligo in theearly twenties. The race was run fromthe famous Cannon Gun in Strandhill tothe village of Gurteen. To get to the startline Patrick crossed the lake atKnockferry and then cycled with anotherrunner from Headford to Sligo. It wasnot the ideal taper and there wasdefinitely no pasta party. He actuallyfinished second but the ‘winner’ wassubsequently disqualified for taking a lifton the crossbar of a supporter's bike inmid-race. On his return Patrick nevermentioned his exploits, until news of thevictory appeared in the ConnachtTribune the following week.

Patrick was a regular winner atmeetings such as Shanaglish, Gort,Moyglass, Castlebar and of course Rosswhere he acted as secretary andincluded a marathon on the programme.He was still competing in his early fiftieswhen he married Mary Joyce fromArdnasillagh and went on to rear afamily of six boys and two girls.

The oldest two were still in their infancywhen tragedy struck the family. Patricklost his hand when his gun accidentallywent off while out duck shooting. Twoyears later his house burned to theground. All the family’s possessionswere lost including the cups, silverteapot, canteen of cutlery andinnumerable trophies that Patrick hadaccumulated over his career. Hisresponse to the double tragedy of thosedifficult years was typical of The Harrier:he put the running shoes back on.Gradually he learned to cope with theimbalance in his body and rediscoveredhis old cadence. And while he wouldnever be competitive again, in his latefifties he went back on the circuit. Thosewho remember him running in thosedays recall the one-armed competitorwhose courage and passion for hissport was admired by all.

Not many runners win marathons. It is ahuge achievement that sets Patrickapart as a special athlete. It is, however,the character and resilience with whichhe dealt with his disability that makeshim a unique and inspirational man.

The HarrierTom Mac Lochlainn

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Terryland Retail Park, Headford Road, Galway.Phone +353 91 563 356www.kearneycycles.com

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37th Dublin Marathon NOT OUTPeadar Nugent

The first Dublin Marathon started at thestroke of midday in St Stephen’s Greenon the last Monday of October 1980.Then aged 37 years, I was among the1,420 who finished the 26.2-milecourse. The 37th edition of the nowworld-famous event, which has beenheld annually without a break in theintervening years and with ever-increasing numbers, started at 9AM inFitzwilliam Street Upper on the lastSunday of October 2016. This was thefirst time that the event was stagedother than on the October bank holidayMonday and, with in excess of 19,500entries, the switch has been hailed ahuge success. The course has changedseveral times over the years. In 1993 itwas run over two laps for the first andonly time. This didn’t prove popular withthe participants and it was no surprisethat the experiment was never repeated.The event started and finished outsidethe GPO in O’Connell Street in a fewyears during the 1990s. A separateWalking Category was included in 1997and 1998.

My marathon PB of 2:58:50 wasachieved some 24 years ago in 1992 atthe age of 49 years. It goes withoutsaying that that has been the mostmemorable highlight of my marathoncareer. In 2012, twenty years later,despite being just one year short of theM70 grouping, I won bronze in a time of4:15:30 in the M65 category in theNational Marathon Championship whichwas run in conjunction with Dublin. Thisalso features among my many treasuredmemories of the Dublin Marathon.

A diagnosis of osteoarthritis in spring2014 put an abrupt end to my running.My knees had been paining me whilerunning for almost two years before thescan which identified the problem.While advising me that I couldn’t doworse than run because of thiscondition, my GP told me that it wouldbe ok to walk. This has allowed me,along with 13 other hardy individuals, tocontinue my unbroken participation inall 37 Dublin Marathons to date. Myknees don’t pain me anymore, thankGod.

Training went exceptionally well for mein preparation for this year’s episode. Iaveraged roughly 35 miles each weekfor about two months before the bigday. I consistently walked 10 miles eachWednesday and did a minimum of 15miles each Saturday. I felt confident as Ilined up near the head of the fourthwave beside my very loyal club mateMáire Treasa Beatty who was joining mefor the sixth time since 2009. MáireTreasa put me on the spot when an RTÉcrew approached her just before the offand she adeptly shifted their attention tome while telling them that I was aged 73years. She dug deeply for the walk and,despite her own injury woes and myhard steady pace, stayed with me all theway. The two of us had another clubmate, Michael Glynn, for company in thelater stages. We had hauled him in witha couple of miles to go and the three ofus crossed the finish line together in avery satisfactory 5:28:06.

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The passing earlier this year, withindays of each other, of running greatsDick Hodgins and Jim McNamararecalled a famous marathon that tookplace 40 years ago last April in whichboth played leading roles.

The BLE National Marathon of 1976was held in Limerick on Sunday April11th. Nowadays, in the weeks leadingup to a marathon, interest centres onthe numbers taking part and thoserunning for various charities. Backthen, it was all about the competition.That marathon of 1976 was also ofspecial significance as it acted asselection for the Olympic Games inMontreal. And, to add to the hype, thehot favourite was a local man namedNeil Cusack.

Two years before, the East TennesseeState student had etched his name inthe all-time honours list with afamous victory in the BostonMarathon, his time of 2:13:39 wasthen the fastest achieved by anIrishman. Dick Hodgins was thereigning Irish champion, his 2:19:45the previous year in Galway givinghim a close victory over Mick Molloy

with Jim McNamara finishing third.Danny McDaid − who had beatenHodgins in the 1974 decider − wasalso in the line-up along with 1972Olympic marathon representative,Donie Walsh. Marathon running then was a differentproposition compared to what’sexperienced today. The race tookplace at 2.30pm on a Sundayafternoon from the Dock Road inLimerick, straight out the Foynes roadwhere, after 13 miles, the runnersturned around and retraced theirsteps back to the finish. Entry fee wasjust 30 pence but all runners had toenclose a doctor’s certificateindicating they were medically fit tocompete. However, with only around70 entrants the medical professiondidn’t make a fortune – it can only beimagined nowadays with thousandscompeting what this would entail!

After the morning rain had cleared,conditions were ideal as the runnersfaced the starter on the journey, whichfor at least two would guarantee thema seat on the plane to Montreal. A 14-man bunch went through 5km in15:15 and at 10 miles, reached just

under 50 minutes, this had beenreduced to seven.

Tony Brien, who had returned fromthe USA for the race, was joined byCusack just before the turn along withMcNamara, Father Paddy Coyle andMcDaid. “The pace was faster thanmost of the runners had ever done onthe track, they pulled away from me at10 miles but I felt someone wouldhave to crack and I kept running on,”admitted Hodgins – who wouldeventually finish eighth – afterwards.

McDaid made his break at 30km,opening a slight gap on Brien withCusack in third and McNamara,getting over a bad patch, in fourth.Over the closing six miles McDaidcontinued to increase his lead while arejuvenated McNamara, just a weekshort of his 37th birthday, was thesurprise packet as he moved intosecond, thereby clinching Olympicselection.

McDaid’s time of 2:13:06 was thefastest ever achieved on Irish soil withMcNamara knocking a huge chunkfrom his previous best to cross theline in 2:14:54 as a tired Cusackfinished third on 2:17:07. For the localhero however, justice prevailed as hewas later added to the team forMontreal.

Donegal postman McDaid was thenaged 34 and many considered hisLimerick victory the swansong towhat had been a long and successfulcareer. However, his greatest day hadyet to come. Three years later, in thequagmire conditions of LimerickRacecourse, he played a captain’s rolewhen finishing 11th in the World C-Cbehind John Treacy’s individualvictory, thereby guaranteeing the Irishteam the silver medals.

BLEMarathonof 1976John Walshe

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Two Dates • Seven EventsMay 6th 20175km, 10km and Half Marathon

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