Sportsworld Terenure

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2010-07-01T20:41:00.003+01:00

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Bye Bye Blogger - Hello Wordpress

2010-05-14T12:17:00.003+01:00

The emotional last post to the blogger site. We have updated the club website to use Wordpress which offers us a lot more options. This site will remain here while we transfer all the content across.

Scheduled downtime for Website updates

2010-05-06T22:17:00.005+01:00

Hi everyone. We wanted to give you advance notice that over the coming days the Sportsworld website will be down for a period whilst we do some essential upgrades. We have scheduled these updates over the weekend which is generally the lowest period for website traffic, in order to have as little impact on visitors to the website as possible.

During the down time a message will appear on the home page with links to the 5 mile classic registration page and as always the current site will continue to be available from http://sportsworld-terenure.blogspot.com

A good website should have a clear vision and be capable of developing over the long term. This vision will evolve through discussions among the site’s stakeholders and users. On Sunday we hope to have in place a future proofed website with improved aesthetics, killer content and clearer objectives. Those objectives being to inform current members and attract new members to a great running club.

Even after the initial site has been launched, our responsibility toward generating content doesn’t end. We continually need to keep the content fresh and up to date. We need to continually source new content, review existing copy, and update as necessary. We need new content, such as news stories, reports, forum comments to keep users coming back for more. We encourage you to make an effort over the coming weeks to contribute and spend some time on the new site. You can get a sneak peak of the almost finished update at the bottom of this page.

With the 5 mile classic next weekend we have set a deadline of this weekend to get the website live. Whilst all the new content wont go live initially it will over the coming weeks. Please bare with us whilst we make these changes and feedback any comments or issues once the site goes live to info@sportsworld-terenure.ie

Meet and Train : Raheny

2010-04-25T22:06:00.001+01:00

The Meet and Train Road Race Series kicked off in Raheny (Sunday, April 25th). Compared to the winter cross country races Sportsworld had a smaller representation of teams but this doesn't mean that the red and white was any less prominent. In the top ten alone our club had six finishers with Susan McDonnell winning the race in a time of 12.09, Lorna Quinn was second and Ciara Foster third. Also in top ten was Mairead O'Callaghan, Louise Nolan and Ann Higgins. Well done also to Catherine Higgins who being relatively new to the club showed a great form and finished in 14th place in this 2 mile race.
Next up is Lucan (Sun May 23rd 11am) which is a 3 mile road race and an important part of build-up to the upcoming Flora Mini Marathon.
Here is the list of teams for this series:
Team A
773 Mairead O'Callaghan
774 Susan McDonnell
775 Louise Nolan
776 Ciara Foster
777 Ann Higgins
778 Catherine Higgins
Team B
779 Tara Quirke
780 Natalia Sokolowska
781 Eileen Dalton
782 Ann Sweeney
783 Catherine Gilmore
784 Clare O'Reilly
Team C
785 Kim Masuda
786 Claire O'Brien
787 Maura Maughan
788 Cliona O'Riordan
789 Laurence Delair
790 Milena Delussu

Connemara Marathon

2010-04-20T11:31:00.001+01:00

Sunday 11th April at 10.30am I found myself with Jack and Billy Tyrell standing at the start line of the 9th Connemara Marathon. Spectacular was how the view could be described as it temporarily took our minds off the 26.1 miles of road that lay ahead. However it was to get a whole lot better. The sun split the stones and the rugged landscape and the motionless Lake Inagh reflected the surrounding mountains back in their glorious detail.

Once again the hooped sportsworld vest had been taken from the national history museum for its first outing of 2010 through the hills and beauty of Connemara.

Never in all my years of running have I enjoyed a race as much. I was determined to soak up the atmosphere and scenery along the route. And so with Jack and Billy and Mary on the bike with all our supplies we set off on the road ahead.

One hour and 43 mins later we had covered half way through the village of Leenane with the Killary harbour on our left. After a further 2 miles of climbing we started to pick up the back markers on the half marathon race. Thus set the scene for the next 11 miles as we weaved our way in and out of these runners.

Through 20 miles in 2hrs and 39 mins and most of the talk and joking had stopped although we were still feeling quite comfortable on our schedule. At 22 miles we commenced our climb of the ‘hell of the west’ which we had heard so much about. Not much of a hill I suppose compared to the ‘Ballinascorney hill’ on the waterworks run, however after 22 miles in the legs it’s a different story. Eventually the ‘hell’ was conquered and we passed the memorial to Frank Haines at 24 miles . Frank died tragically at this point in the race in 2006 and a plaque and tree along with his commemorative medal is there for all to see.

The final 2 miles and 385 yards was a gentle downhill trot and brought me under the finish clock in a time of 3 hours 27 mins and a credible 32nd place. Billy and Jack, about a minute ahead placed 1st and 2nd respectively in the over 50 age category, congratulations to them. Whilst thanks also to Mary who played a stormer on the bike and catered for our every need along the way.

Hope this piece will encourage a bigger sportsworld entry for next years race. Everything about the event was superb and is certainly in our race diary for ’11 all going well.

Report by
Joe Byrne

National Road Relays 2010

2010-04-11T21:50:00.001+01:00

Congratulations to the Sportsworld Masters Ladies Team who came second in this years running of the road relays in raheny. Helan White lead out the team on a one mile leg, passing onto Lucy Darcy on a two mile leg and the final leg being ran by Aideen Downes. The senior women and men also had teams on the day.

Dunboyne 4 Mile

2010-03-30T16:36:00.004+01:00

Sunday afternoon was the 41st running of the Annual Dunboyne 4 mile road race. Dunboyne is located just off the N3 about 10 minutes from the Blanchardstown exit of the M50. One of the first major road races after the cross country season it brings out a strong bunch of runners. This year there was a new apparently faster course over the same 4 mile distance but with a strong head wind and a twisty last mile times on Sunday were very similar to last year's race.

The reason so many people turn up at Dunboyne is the solid organisation that many road races cant compete with.This year maybe down to the new course there was a mix up at the end where the road was partitioned with cones to carrel the leaders to the finish (and those with 1.5 miles still to go away from finish). Traffic was allowed to overtake the runners and not enough room was left for the lead car and a few cones were flattened. It cost the leader a few second to overtake the lead car but he was already twenty seconds clear. A good few other athletes were impeded by passing cars. It seemed to be a coordination issues between civil defence and club volunteers.

There was only three people from the club running but three very good performances none the less. First home for the club was Paul Duffy in 21:19 followed by Gareth Murran in 21:34 and Sandra Armstrong in 24:43. The race was well won by Joseph Sweeney from DSD in 18:52 and Ciara Durkan in 21:44. I'll be going back next year it was a very enjoyable race. It would be great to get a few teams out.

Some pictures can be found on racepix

IMRA Wicklow Way Trail and Ultra Races

2010-03-27T12:59:00.001+00:00

Saturday the 27th March saw 4 members from Sportsworld heading for the Wicklow way Trail and Ultra Races. The Ultra race started at Johnny Foxes and made its way to Ballinastoe Car park and back to Johnny Foxes, were the Trail race people were collected at Johnny Foxes and Dropped of at Ballinastoe Car park.

First up was Ed McEntee in the Ultra race. What lay ahead of Ed was 51kms of trails, fire roads, open mountains and part of the Wicklow way boardwalk with a total climb of 1950m’s. Ed adapted to this Ultra race excellently and completed the course in 4hours 33 minutes, and with it second place behind Eoin Keith. Congratulations to Ed.

Next up was the Trail race that got under way in Ballinastoe car park at 12 o Clock. On the starting line for Sportsworld were Paul O Connell, Jakub Splawski and Liam Mc fadden. The race got of to a steady start with everybody aware of the 25.5kms that lay ahead, we head up the fire trail from Ballinastoe car park for about 2km climbing all the way and then right on to Djouce Mountain and picked up the Wicklow way board walk trail. After ten minutes or so of climbing we got to probably the third most difficult part of the race trying to run on the boardwalk with a near gale force wind blowing side on to you. Once we managed to get through this it was nice to stretch the legs on the down hill section from Djouce. At this stage Paul O Connell was well clear of Jakub and myself, and was doing battle with the race leaders.

Jabuk and I worked excellently together through out the race. Jabuk pushing it out on the down hills and me doing my best to keep us going on the climbs.

After the fast down hill section off Djouce we came to our first major climb of the Day which reduced the field to doing all sorts of power walking movements to get up the steep climb before powerscourt waterfall. Not having time to admire the waterfall it was full steam ahead to the all to familiar Crones Wood Trail, Jabuk and I managed to over take 3 trail runners on this section of the course and when we arrived at Crones wood car park were glad of the water station there and with knowledge we had half the course complete and just under the hour mark, with no time to waste we kept going, after 2km of flat running we got to what looked like a small climb of about 75metres but once we got to the top of it, it was like we had climbed for hours and our legs were like jelly, At this stage we got a very luck break as we came to a road section just past Knockree hostel and we were looking at a runner in the distance and heading the same way when a Ultra runner started to shout at us that we were going the wrong way, we should have just crossed the road, but thank god for the Ultra runner as Jakub and I could still be running around Wicklow. After that we continued on towards Cutlerstown carpark and the last of the climbs which probably was only about a 1km Climb but seemed to last for ages but to our delight we managed to over take 2 trail runners and at the top of the hill had our next target insight. We took off like greyhounds after our hare on the fast down hill section away from Price Williams Seat and by the bottom of the hill we had him caught or thought we had him caught him, but he took off again on the final road section to Johnny Foxes and was the last we saw of him till we crossed the line. It was then down to the the last 1.5km and from somewhere I got a 30th wind and took off from Jakub and I managed to stay ahead till the end. Revenge for last year in Ballinastoe where Jakub beat me on the line.

Excellent days running and great overall result for Sportsworld taking the team victory.

Final Places
1st Diarmaid Collins 1h 56 min
4th Paul O Connell 2h 00 min
16th Liam Mc Fadden 2h 14 min
17th Jakub Splawski 2h 15 min

Report by Liam Mc Fadden

Sportsworld Quiz Night

2010-03-24T13:51:00.002+00:00

There is a Sportsworld quiz night this Friday at 8pm at Faughs GAA Club, Wellington Lane, Templeogue, Dublin 6W. I'm sure there are plenty of people in the club with brains and beauty but there is no minimum IQ requirement needed. The night is to raise money for Temple Street Children's Hospital. Its €10 a head and 4 per table. Participants will be searched for encyclopedia's on arrival with severe punishment for anyone caught using their I Phone for answers.

Ballycotton 2010

2010-03-21T15:08:00.000+00:00

Its March and to many runners in Ireland that can only mean the Ballycotton 10, even if it was a couple of weeks later this year due to a clash of dates with other races. A much smaller contingent than usual from Sportsworld made its way down this year, apparently due to a lot of people been caught out by the closing entry date. Margaret in the Bayview Hotel was asking about your whereabouts Tony, Ruth, Trevor and Judith - I promised her you would be back next year !

This race seems to just get better and better. Indeed it was included in a list of the Top 10 races in the world by the Daily Telegraph a couple of weeks ago. Its hard to say what it is that attracts so many people but I suspect it has a lot to do with its unique race day atmosphere as people stroll up and down to the race HQ at the bottom of the village looking over at the spectacular bayside view that extends out from this beautiful village. Along the way one can stop and talk to people that you recognise from previous races - this becomes even more interesting if one is accompanied as I was on my journey to and from the race tent by Lucy Darcy who seems to know and be known by everybody !

The weather was perfect this year, if a little humid. Be warned if you are planning on doing this race that ,while it is a superbly organised race with tremendous local support, that the last 2 miles can be only described as 'savage'. There are few races I have done that have such a tough finish but of course this only adds to the challenge. There were surprise winners in both the mens and ladies races with Greg Robers from City of Derry winning the mens in 50 mins 17 seconds and Barbara Sanchez winning the womens race in 58 mins 45 seconds.

There were some excellent performances from Sportsworld, headed by Lucy who finished 5th in a magnificent time of 62:08 (also winning her age category with ease). Next up was Stephanie Bergin who broke the seventy minute barrier when she finished in a fine 69:08. Not far behind was Edel Madigan in 71:54. The ever consistent Ann Higgins finished in a commendable 73:18 and Ger Carragher finished in 76:49. As for myself I ran 77;42 - significantly slower than last year but faster than each of the two previous years (I think I missed tailing off the back of the brother as I have done here the last few years - Killian was another victim of the missed last entry date malaise that seemed to sweep the club !).

Make sure you all get in before the closing entry date next year - it really is a fine race.

Race Report by
Enda McMorrow

National 10km Entry

2010-03-16T09:30:00.004+00:00

UPDATE - If you print off and fill out the entry form below, we'll take the 20 euro cash entry fee at the club on Thursday and next Tuesday, and submit all the entries with the required AAI number on your behalf for March 25th. Give the completed forms to aileen/emily.

Entry for the Great Ireland Run/National 10k Road Race closes on March 25th. Its 29 euro via the online system, but all AAI club members can enter for 20 euro.

Paper Entry Form

Aileen will have the AAI number for each sportsworld club member with her at the club this Thursday. Put the club name on the form, but the final teams will be entered by Emily (there are rumours of trials!).

St Patrick's 5K Road Race

2010-03-15T22:07:00.009+00:00

The image is copyright RacePix 365

After a cold winter and plenty of miserable afternoons in muddy fields in the middle of nowhere, yesterday for many was the first road race of the summer season. The ST PATRICK’S 5K FESTIVAL ROAD RACE is held on the streets of Dublin.

It's nice to run at speed around the city streets. The course goes around Dawson Street, Baggot Street area and along the canal. It felt like the start of summer with a great Spring day for racing. The substantial €1000 (1st) prize money brings many of the top athletes out. The course is mostly flat so if it’s your day then a PB is on the cards. There was a large crowd of spectators and people dotted all around the course.

I was chatting to Lucy at the start questioning why I was running after missing a bunch of training. After a slow start I saw that there a group with the top 2 girls in front of me when I turned onto Baggot Street. I closed the gap and ran along side for about 3-4 minutes. After busting a gut I started to fall back at about the 2.5K mark and sadly that was the end of the racing. I was in bits but determined not to give up I kept running but couldn’t relax into the race. I started to get passed out which never happens to me in a 5K and see a large gap open up come 3.5K with the group in front of me.

After 5K of running I was about a minute off where I would have liked to finish. I went over in 16:53. The time is by no means a complete disaster but way off what I’d be aiming for over the summer. Next over the line pushing each other to the line was Lucy and Crona. Lucy continued her outstanding form of late to finish second in the Over 40's Ladies. The girls also picked up a bronze team medal.

The only problem I had with the course was the markers. They are key to knowing how you are doing in these shorter races. The only marker I saw on the course was at the 4K mark. Apart from that a great race that comes highly recommended.

A full list of results is shown below.

33	30	30	321	MURRAN GARETH	SPORTSWORLD A.C.	-	00:16:53	00:16:53
71	12	2	1122	D'ARCY LUCY	SPORTSWORLD A.C.	F40	00:18:01	00:18:01
73	13	61	1120	BRADY CRONA	SPORTSWORLD A.C.	-	00:18:01	00:18:01
82	16	69	1121	BRADY AOIFE	SPORTSWORLD A.C.	-	00:18:18	00:18:16
96	19	77	1452	WILSON JEAN	SPORTSWORLD A.C.	-	00:18:30	00:18:26
122	21	96	1095	ARMSTRONG SANDRA	SPORTSWORLD A.C.	-	00:19:04	00:19:01
241	206	16	26	WILLOUGHBY STEPHEN	SPORTSWORLD A.C.	M45	00:21:09	00:20:59
282	240	10	1551	MCMORROW KILLIAN	SPORTSWORLD A.C.	M50	00:21:55	00:21:42
346	61	7	1010	MURPHY TARA	SPORTSWORLD A.C.	F40	00:22:30	00:22:20
694	506	19	1074	GANNON ROBERT	SPORTSWORLD A.C.	M55	00:26:42	00:26:31

National Senior Cross Country

2010-03-10T13:56:00.002+00:00

Phoenix Park last Sunday March 7th held the National Cross Country Championships on a cold but gorgeous dry spring day, who said cross country was about muck and rain and hardship. The senior girls where up first hoping to get Sportsworld an earned Senior Team gold medal. However even with some brilliant performances and a strong team it was not meant to be and the girls have to be content this year with National Bronze medals. Without an unlucky broken toe the girls times and places would of guaranteed them a gold.

On to the Mens race and it seemed strange doing the Munich lap in the sun having spent so many Saturday mornings running the lap in the rain and muck with only the thoughts of the Swiss deli afterwards keeping you going. But this was a slightly easier lap then we trained on but 6 continuous laps was keeping me awake at night and as usual the competition was fierce. This cross country season has seen a number of new guys coming out and doing the weekend training and travelling to the novice and intermediate races (not all making it to the final senior race) and it paid off with a very strong Sportsworld mens team running. Even though we had not trained in getting to the race start line on time the mens team got gold in Category B which now puts us up with the girls in Category A for next year.

A big thanks to all the Sportsworld members who came out on Sunday, the cheers and shouts made a big difference.

Race results http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/?page_id=160

National Intermediate Cross Country 2010

2010-02-21T21:51:00.001+00:00

Boyle, Sunday February 21st – The beautiful Lough Key Forest Park was the setting for the National Intermediate & Masters cross country at the weekend. We hired out a club bus and hit for Roscommon at 10 am. As we headed through the midlands, snow covered fields was the theme everywhere but thankfully there was none in the forest park. Weather wise things were perfect – dry and no wind. The course, with one steady uphill followed by its descent at the other side, was medium – heavy, and ploughed up at one corner in particular.

With Emily collecting our numbers in the log cabin, we realised that the master’s women’s race was off in a half an hour, so quick action had to be taken. It was extremely competitive, with 100 girls crossing the finishing line within 5 minutes of each other, so averaging out at a woman every 3 seconds.

Both Lucy (3rd in her age category) and Helen finished in the top 10 overall, and we got a decent display from all of our women. Judith narrowly missed out on an age category medal by less than 10 seconds. The best news was that we came away with team silver with Lucy, Helen, Aideen & Sandra scoring. Helen White helped Dublin to a silver medal.

The team contest was won comfortably by a North Belfast Harriers side that are easily capable of medalling at senior level, indeed they were national senior champions in 2007 albeit with a stronger team on that occasion. They had all team members running in the top twenty five.

While the intermediates was a race for younger (and in some cases faster) girls, it was understandably not as competitive or packed as the masters race that preceded it. Both races were held on the same length of course. The team comprised mainly of October’s Dublin novice winning team, with welcome additions Stephanie and beginner Aoife Lynch. We came away with team bronze medals and were led home by a brilliant Louise. Well done girls.

The master’s men’s field was equally as competitive and condensed as the master’s women’s race was, as the 200 runners completed the course within 9 minutes of each other. It was won by a terrific Peter Matthews who despite being well ahead kept huffing and puffing as he wanted a good workout ahead of the National Inter Clubs XC on Sunday week. There was no joy for us here, but it was great to have a men’s team running in the national master’s; something that we usually don’t get. Well done to Ed, Paul Mitchell, Willers, Seán and Killian for giving up their Sunday and travelling down with us.

The final race of the day was the intermediate men. Their was no joy here either for our men, however it was still a beneficial race that will serve the men’s team well for the Inter Clubs XC on Sunday week. It was won by DSD’s Breandán O Neill. Breandán is on scholarship at DCU, and was bronze medallist in last week’s intervarsities indoors 3000m in 8:34.05. The team title was won by City of Derry, who are also the current National Novice and National Half Marathon champions, and for the record they have Ireland’s current fastest man too in Jason Smyth.

Meet and Train Winter League

2010-02-21T17:49:00.000+00:00

The woman's Meet and Train cross country series finished on Sunday 21st of February in Irishtown with 4 x 400m relay races and a small prizegiving ceremony. The Sportsworld B team won the Dimond division. Also, by winning each of the four races of the series Edel Madigan won the overall first place and Louise Nolan got the third spot.
The whole event was great fun and for many of us it was a first try on the track so we enjoyed the opportunity of experiencing something new. Running in random teams added novelty to the event and the benefit of it was that we got to know girls from other clubs.

Congratulations to the winners and see you all in the next Meet and Train series. The dates of the races should be known shortly.

Report by Natalia

Leinster Senior Cross Country 2010

2010-02-14T20:51:00.002+00:00

Leinster Senior Cross Country 2010

Kilmacow, Sunday February 14th – Distance runners are such a romantic race of people that (for some of them anyway) their ideal way of spending Valentine’s day involves a trip to south Kilkenny to run in the Leinster senior cross country, well away from where their partners can nag them. And how worthwhile a trip it was, as it turned out to be one of the most successful days in the club’s history. We passed through a deserted Ballyhale on the way down, as most of the parish would have been in Thurles to see their hurlers beat Newtownshandrum in the club semi finals. Kilmacow is only 4m from Waterford and is home to agriculturally some of the best land I’ve seen in a while. The St Senan’s sports complex is a great example of how when a rural community pulls together they can create something marvellous. There are a soccer club, GAA club, tug of war and athletics club all set up at the clubhouse. They have fantastic GAA and soccer pitches, a long jump straight, an improvised running track and miles of stoned or grassy trails through a forest or along the banks of a tributary of the Suir. All off little if any public funding I would imagine.

We were greeted with gorgeous sunshine and a very firm course that didn’t cut up anywhere despite the amount of kiddies races preceding that of the adults. The course was 95 % flat across pitches and fields and there was one steep hill thrown in and a steep downhill at the opposite side of the course, both of which were no more than 10m long. Both hills were paved with shredded wood bark to prevent any slippages of the large amount of athletes that the organisers were expecting. However most of this expected crowd never showed up possibly due to a number of reasons:

1. People wanted to be fresh for the more important national intermediate & masters XC next week in Roscommon
2. A large amount of club runners showing up at the MySport Enniscorthy 10k
3. Faster athletes ran at the AAA indoor championships in Sheffield

Remember that this event was re-fixed since mid-January due to the ice & snow that crippled Ireland at the time. Athletes usually have schedules planned for up to six months in advance of an event that they’re looking to peak at, and if a race was cancelled along the way they usually would not pencil it in on the re-match. Anyway we could only deal with and dispose of the athletes that did show up. First up were our senior women who had a 90 % strength squad lining out. The race was won by Beijing 08 Olympian Pauline Curley, with Catriona only 14 seconds behind her taking individual bronze. She was followed home by Lucy, Aoife and Crona. With four athletes in the top ten, we were always destined to become Leinster senior champions for 2010; getting the nod over 40 - 50 % strength Raheny and Tullamore sides. Jean also had a magnificent run, finished only 12 seconds off Crona and a minute off the leader; and she was followed closely by Helen. It’s great that there’s so much competition for places on the team.

It is equally difficult to get on the men’s team, although we compete at a lower level than the girls (we are rated in the B category for the national cross country). At the sharp end it was a five horse race for much of the time, with local farmer and Irish international Brian Maher pulling away for victory in the closing stages. Phil had possibly his finest ever half an hour in a Sportsworld singlet, as he finished 6th and a minute behind the leading group. Paul also did magnificently to earn a place in the top ten. Mikey and Garrett completed the Sportsworld scoring. Paul Duffy had to stop to tie his shoelaces in the middle of it, and that took the sting out of his attack. However he’ll be there again next week in Roscommon. Packie also came along for the sunshine following on from his pentathlon the previous day.

Our men’s team ended up battling it out with a large Liffey Valley squad, with ourselves getting the nod by a mere four points (or one place per man). While it’s great to get a team medal, it’s ironic because both clubs would normally be battling it out for 7th or 8th positions in the Dublin senior cross country, yet now we’re the second best Leinster side (in theory anyway). It’s particularly great for Mikey and Garrett, as they never won a medal of any description in their year or two of athletics, so the day belonged to them.

In addition we had Lucy and Aoife scoring on the victorious Meath team, with Catriona and Jean contributing to Dublin’s silver. Phil and Paul scored for the winning Dublin team. Overall it was a fantastic day out in the Kilkenny countryside, and it was great to come away with a haul of medals; especially for people that rarely win them. It was nice to get a relaxed atmosphere at what is normally a very stressful and competitive race; however the national intermediates next week will be a much different kettle of fish. It was also great that we had almost full strength squads out for both races, and hopefully we’ll get more of the same next week. The cross country season will be all over in a two or three weeks. It remains to be seen if this race means anything in a national context, but all we can do for the time being is keep up the hard work.

Leinster Senior Cross Country 2010 Women

Place Name Club County
1 Pauline Curley Tullamore Harriers Offaly
3 Catriona Jennings Sportsworld Dublin
5 Lucy Darcy Sportsworld Meath
6 Aoife Brady Sportsworld Meath
10 Crona Brady Sportsworld Meath
12 Jean Wilson Sportsworld Dublin
13 Helen White Sportsworld Dublin

Leinster Senior Cross Country 2010 Women – Team Result

Place Club Points
1 Sportsworld 24
2 Raheny Shamrocks 59
3 Tullamore Harriers 65
4 St Abban’s 91

Leinster Senior Cross Country 2010 Men

Place Name Club County
1 Brian Maher KCH Kilkenny
6 Phil Kilgannon Sportsworld Dublin
10 Paul O Connell Sportsworld Dublin
15 Mikey Cunningham Sportsworld Dublin
18 Garrett Murran Sportsworld Dublin
22 Paul Duffy Sportsworld Dublin
25 Packie Enright Sportsworld Dublin

Leinster Senior Cross Country 2010 Men - Teams

Place Club Points
1 Raheny Shamrocks 23
2 Sportsworld 49
3 Liffey Valley 53
4 Tullamore Harriers 100

IUAA Indoors

2010-02-13T20:45:00.002+00:00

Nenagh, Saturday February 13th – We had one Sportsworld athlete (Packie Enright) at the universities indoor track & field championships at the weekend )www.iuaa.org). Representing the college he graduated from in October (the DIT) as a one year down, he elected to avoid the stiff competition at the running events and partake in the combined events; consisting of 5 events in which he had absolutely no prior experience. His reason for doing this is because last year, they were only two competitiors at the pentathlon, so Enright saw it as a chance to score some points for the college by just turning up. However his cunning plan backfired, and this year it was well populated with genuine combined eventers and all year round track athletes.

As a sport, combined events is certainly no soft touch; it ranks up there with the toughest of them. It’s for powerfully built people that usually don’t have the talent to be victorious at one of the single events. Training for it is like a full time job – Moscow 80 & LA 84 decathlon champion Daley Thompson used to spend his day at the track, and I’m sure Jessica Ennis does the same. Thankfully it didn’t drag onto two days or more like it usually does.

The first event for Enright was the high jump, and three failures at the minimum opening height of 1.30m meant that he’d no points bagged; in fact the only thing he was going away with was a sliced lower back and metal burn from the outdated aluminium bar. The thing was that if he scissor kicked it he would probably have got over, but he tried a pathetic attempt at a Fosbury flop using the wrong takeoff foot (or maybe even off two feet which would have been a foul). However it’s a technical event rather than a talent-based one, and with practice it can be mastered to jumping far above your own height.

Next up were the nipple high (1.10m) sprint hurdles. Now lanes, high hurdles, starting blocks, false starts, pressure applied to the blocks, reaction times, dipping at the line, photo finishes, steward’s enquiries; what would a road runner know about any of these? Not a thing. Well in fact Enright easily cleared all five of them with plenty to spare, and survived it. When people clip or knock them (or fall) it’s because they want to just glide over them rather than expending too much vertical energy (which slows you down of course).

Then there was the long jump, another technical event for explosive people who have superb speed. An average showing here by Enright, but there were plenty of other novices in the same ball park of 4m. Better long jumpers firstly generate superb velocity on the straight. Then after foot plant they push all their weight upwards from the thigh/gluteal areas, and their momentum gains them the distance. People not up on the technique tend to stay lower to the ground, kind of like running through it instead of jumping.

Getting hungry at this stage, but there was no time for food as it was into the concrete block throwing festival (or shot putt as it’s usually known). Up against big huge rugby guys that would rather be in the pub watching the France match than in a Baltically cold converted hay barn, Enright gave as good as he got here too. Or maybe we should re-phrase that – stick with cross country running. His last throw was a foul as the ball had left his jaw before leaving the circle. Another words you must push it out, rather than a hooked style soccer goalkeeper’s long throw.

Having been on the first bus down from Dublin at cock crow, at 18:30 the final event of the elongated day took place – a 1 kilometre run. Enright had been looking forward to this all day as a revenge opportunity on the rest of the lads. Their aerobic fitness wouldn’t have a patch on someone running 60m a week and that’s from a specialist running club. Would it not? Well Enright found himself last at the gun after an aggressive opening lap of 27 seconds. The Sportsworld representative went through in 30-31, but even this felt too fast. But bit by bit he managed to pick people off, reminding himself along the way that this was his event over the rest of them. It wasn’t though, as it was won by a 400m hurdler who, if kept going for another three laps would have ran a 4:09 mile.

And so it was to the end of proceedings. With the top six competitors getting points for their college in every event, Enright failed to score any points for his college (only two out of our four athletes did). Mission failed. Moral of the story – don’t attempt competing in something that you haven’t trained for. Applies to everything. However he set some DIT records that will hopefully be around for a long time to come.

IUAA Indoor Male Combined Events 2010

Place

Name

College

60mH

1000m

Total

Paul Byrne

DCU

8.91

2:44.80

1.85

6.32

8.22

766

821

670

657

379

3293

John Fagan

DCU

8.95

2:35.80

1.75

5.81

8.87

757

921

585

546

418

3227

William Finnegan

NUIG

9.84

3:09.30

1.65

5.84

9.12

572

576

504

552

433

2637

Joe Barry

CIT

10.25

2:56.90

1.50

5.49

9.25

495

695

389

479

441

2499

Rory Moloney

12.47

2:46.50

1.55

4.54

6.18

172

803

426

297

259

1957

Damien Walsh

WIT

11.02

3:08.30

1.35

4.61

6.43

365

585

283

310

274

1817

Donal McCann

NUIG

10.20

DNF

1.60

5.73

8.94

504

464

529

422

1919

Packie Enright

DIT

12.97

2:55.30

4.15

6.35

100

711

230

269

1310

Seán McMahon

DNS

1.65

DNS

504

Do i need to say who the report is by?

Annacurra IMRA Winter League

2010-02-09T14:11:00.009+00:00

Annacurra 2010: Colm, Paul, Jakub,Liam, Con & Brid

On Saturday last (Feb 6th), a good group of Sportsworld members made the trip down to the village of Annacurra near Aughrim, Co.Wicklow for the 2nd instalment of the IMRA Winter League. Although it was fairly miserable leaving Dublin, conditions on arrival in Annacurra were perfect – sunny but not too warm and much more importantly – no wind! The village itself was also perfectly set up for the race with the registration, the start and the pub for prize giving all within a few metres of each other. This led to everybody hanging around the one area which gave us a chance to check out the competition - unfortunately there was a lot of it.

At 11am, the race began. 172 competitors in total. The course itself was 10.5km with a 420m climb thrown in for good measure. The first 3.5km were straight up to the summit on nice wide fire roads which gave plenty of opportunities for overtaking, or being passed, if like some of us you ran off like a hero at the start - only for your calves to give in after about 2km! First Sportsworld member to the top was Paul, followed by Jakub, Liam and myself who were running as a group cross country style at this point. From here, there was a 2km fast descent followed by another steep climb back up to the summit again. Paul was only visible at the summit as we reached the peak for the second time. Again, Liam and Jakub were way too close for comfort as I reached the top. A very fast descent of the original climb ensued back to the village and to the finish – main objective here – stay ahead of the 2 lads. Thankfully I managed this and together we all passed a good number of people on the way down.

Sportsworld finishers as follows;

Paul Mitchell 12th
Colm Kennedy 18th
Jakub Splawski 20th
Liam McFadden 29th
Helen Dixon 95th
John Fitzgerald 121st
Brid Higgins 155th
Charlie O'Connell 169th

Check out http://www.imra.ie/ for details. Yet again, our ladies would have claimed a team prize if they had just one more team member so with the meet and train over for a while maybe this is a perfect time for a few more of our female members to discover the joys of hill running. The next race is Saturday week in Tibradden (just south of our Ballyboden lap).

Report By: Colm Kennedy

Irish Indoor Track Championship

2010-02-09T13:32:00.002+00:00

The Woodie’s DIY Irish Indoor championships at the Odyssey Arena Belfast attracted all the top class track runners in the country. Without fail our sportsworld colours where shining brightly in the 3,000m. Our Girls did extremely well.

4th Aoife Brady time of 9.53.40
5th Catriona Jennings time of 9.57.33
9th Crona Brady time of 10.23.92

Well done Girls. We are all very proud. For full results see link below.

http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/irish-indoor-results.pdf

Report by Orlagh Flemming

Meet & Train Swords

2010-02-08T12:45:00.004+00:00

Meet & Train Swords Feb 2010

The Meet & Train Cross Country Series concluded on Sunday (Feb. 7th) with Swords once again the venue. Although the course was quite muddy surely I wasnt the only one who preferred that to the freezing cold of a fortnight ago. Congratulations to Edel Madigan who won the race, and completed the Series sweep by winning each of the four races. (joining our own Breda Browne in the record to accopmplish this rare feat)
With strong runs were Susan McDonnel in third and Ruth Kelly who showed a great spirit finishing fourth after taking a fall in the opening lap. Also with top ten finishes were Louise Nolan (in fifth) and Mairead O'Callaghan (in sixth)
Well done to all the girls who ran and see you on prizegiving and relay on 21 February in Irishtown.

Race Report by
Natalia Sokoowska

Senior Indoor Track & Field Nenagh January 31st

2010-02-02T18:31:00.001+00:00

Congratulations to our track ladies who were also competing at the weekend 1500M Catriona Jennings was first home in a time of 4.51.20 3000M Aoife Brady was first home in a time of 10.09.81 with Crona Brady in fourth place time of 10.32.32 Well Done Girls. Full results can be found on http://www.athleticsleinster.com/

Report by Orlagh Fleming

AXA Raheny Shamrock 5 Mile Road Race

2010-02-02T18:29:00.001+00:00

We started off with a beautiful clear but little chilly afternoon in Raheny. All eyes were on Sean Connolly from Tallaght to see if he could retain his title. Sean held his title and managed to hold off the host team Raheny boys by leading home in a time of 24.13, next Mick Clohisey 24.23, third Mark Kirwan 24.27. The ladies race was very competitive with Linda Byrne first home in a time of 26.31, followed by Fionnuala Britton 26.46 and Maria Mccambridge 27.14. As for our own squad we had a good number of ladies running. Senior Women - Sandra Armstrong 19th place, time 31.59, Stephanie Bergin 22nd place,time 32.34, Mairead O'Callaghan 27th, time 33.32, Susan McDonnell 30th place, time 34.42, Orla Jordan 32nd place, time 35.16, Catriona Higgins 55th place, 37.38, Petrina Mulroe 59th place 37.51, Karen O'Connor 60th place, time 37.577 and Natalia Sokolowska 84th place 39.18 Our Senior Womens Team finish 6th place which consisted of Stephane, Susan and Orla well done girls. Also running under their age categories in the Women Section we had Breda Brown 5th in her age catagory time 36.19Anne Sweeney place 10th time 37.36 with Tara Murphy in the same catogory 11th place, time 37.37. Next we had Judith Lloyd 2nd place in a time of 38.42 and Carol Lynch in the same catgory 3rd place time of 40.28. Now onto the men unfortunately we had no Senior Men this year. But our men didnt let us down and placed very well in their age category.Kieran Foley finish in 14th place in his age time of 30.44, Stephen Willoughby 22nd place in his age time of 34.29, Trevor Lloyd 2nd place time 37.35, Ray Carpenter 24th place in 37.16 Well done to all who ran.

Report by Orlagh Fleming

Ticknock IMRA Winter League

2010-02-02T13:28:00.001+00:00

Ticknock – IMRA Winter League
Sunday, January 24th was a perfect day for hill running. It was sunny and the sky was clear so we could enjoy the scenery but it was cold enough not to get boiled at the ascent.
At 11:00 after registration and quick warm up over 130 runners started to race. The course was a 10k loop with 417m climb. The first half was a long climb to the summit of Three Rock Mountain. Later when it leveled for couple of meters there were patches of wet snow which was a tiring surface to run on. Snow which has already melted turned paths into streams that we followed at the descent. There was also a tricky section where the logs and many branches were sticking out of water and you could easily slip. All these made the race challenging and exciting.
Paul O'Connell was in a leading group from the start and won the race comfortably one minute before Eoin Brady from UCD. Another well experienced mountain goat Paul Mitchell (17 hill runs finished last year) began this hills season very well and finished 7th overall and 2nd in his age category. Together with Jakub Splawski in 23rd place Sportsworld won 3rd place in the team event.
John Fitzgerald was 5th in M50 and Charlie O'Connell won M70 category.
Sportsworld women Brid O'Higgins finished 2nd in F40 and Claire Rowley had a very good debut hill run too.
Next hill run in Annacurra on February 6th. All welcome!
More details on http://www.imra.ie/
Report by Jakub

Dublin Master Cross Country

2010-01-22T14:31:00.003+00:00

After what seemed like an ice age the snow finally melted and the Dublin Master Cross Country race could take part in a water logged Tymon Park on Sunday January 17th. Unfortunately due to injuries and the change in the age catagories there was only a Sportworld Womens Team but they certainly made their presence felt with all 4 coming away with medals. Lucy D'arcy led start to finish coming home comfortably with a 30 second lead running like a duck in water. Coming home nicely in 3rd place was Helen White also running excellantly. The Sportsworld team to win Silver in the team event was then made up by Adine Downs in 12th and Tara Murphy in a brillant 26th. A lot for the mens Masters Team to live up to.

2010 Sportsworld 5 Mile Classic May 16th 2010

2010-01-18T18:51:00.005+00:00

Online Entry Sportsworld 5 Mile Classic 2010

Download the Entry Form

Sportsworld 5 Mile Classic on Facebook

The 26th Annual Sportsworld 5 Mile Classic race will start at 10am on Sunday May 16th. This is a well established race on an excellent course organised by runners for runners. You can enter on-line, complete race forms handed out at the major races between now and May or drop in to Sportsworld shop in Terenure. So many running races this year have increased their entry fee but Sportsworld have kept the €15 entry fee or €20 on the day.

Fun Runners/ Joggers
The Sportsworld race is open to anyone who wants the challenge of completing a 5mile race. We have stewards at each junction along the course stopping the traffic so you are the priority on the road and also give you that piece of encouragement when you need it. There is tea/coffee and refreshments after the race and there will be details of some new items to the race over the next few weeks on the website. Please have a look at the photos and videos of the 2009 race on the website.

Club Runners/Teams/Racers
The 2010 Sportsworld race will have significant individual and team cash prizes. Teams and top racers will be given priority in the first couple of rows at the race start. The course is well marked and is stewarded by the Gardai and Sportsworld runners. The race is lead out by a time clock car and last year the race results were available on the website the same day. There is a course map with the elevation on the website and we hope to be adding more helpful race information to the website in the coming weeks.

As usual the Sportsworld Classic 5 mile race benefits Our Lady’s Hospital For Sick Children Crumlin and any money you can raise through sponsorship will be greatly appreciated.