Lucan secure medals at National Masters

A GROUP of Lucan Harriers travelled to the Indoor Arena in Athlone to compete in the National Masters Championships at the weekend with a number of medals secured and personnel best results.

In the field events we had Katriona Power in weight for Distance threw 6.76m to win the gold and bronze in the shot putt with a 9.02 throw.

Laura McAteer had some great jumps in the long jump and claimed the silver medal while on the track we had eight participants, we started off with the 1500m Breda Smyth getting the bronze, Breda went on to compete in the 800m and was 5th, Eileen O’Brien also competed in the 800m where she got the gold medal.

John Healy was the last of the 800m runners and he stormed home in 5th place, with an indoor pb of 2.27.

The club had four athletes compete in the 400m John Flanagan, he had a tough race with heats, he ran it in 68.4, Sorcha Dineen ran a pb of more than 2 seconds to get silver, Leanne Wellings was 4th in her 400m race and finally Carol Kearney won gold in 400m.

Lucan had five race the 200m, John Flanagan ran a strong race, he finished 5th, Sorcha Dineen raced another pb in the 200m and got the bronze, Leanne and Laura raced in a tough 200m with Leanne finishing 4th and Laura 6th, Carol Kearney ran the 200m with a photo finish and a silver medal.

The day finished off with the Lucan Ladies Carol, Leanne, Dervila, Sorchca and Laura making up the relay team, it was a great end to the day with Lucan getting Silver in a very tough relay race.

Jacob Ciomek and Aoife Coffey represented Ireland at the Celtic Cross Country in Scotland, Aoife finished 3rd in the U23 race with the Irish team winning gold and Jacob finished 8th in the U17 race and was part of the team who finished 2nd.

Last week, the second race of the ‘Meet and Train’ league took place at Irishtown.

Having successfully hosted this race previously, Crusaders set a personal best in being ‘hostess of the mostess’.

It is evident that Women’s and Masters running are experiencing a surge and many who ran at the Dublin Masters XC in Raheny last week were also present.

It was Donore to the fore – Caroline McCarthy was first over the line, followed closely by first timer Deirdre Lyons of Dublin Front runners and Lisa Gaughan of DSD.

Raheny Shamrocks, fresh from their gold medal winning exploits of last week sent a good contingent.

The field included non-other than the World 3000m Indoors Masters champion, Ann Woodlock of Donore Harriers.

The course was varied in terrain, a mix of tarmac, muck and grit.

It took in a loop covering 3.5k and did not fail to disappoint.

This was coupled with amazing views of the bay, a treat after the steep uphill climb.

Poolbeg Parkrun covers a similar route.