By Joe McCann

Newcastle perform well in windy Dundrum

The prevailing winds and inimically hostile conditions on the sand did little to deter the horde of athletes who participated in the second annual Gr8 Dundrum run held on Saturday 22 October. The organisers had done their homework well and runners were treated to the best of the conditions (poor though they were) on a day that deteriorated by the hour.
Over 500 athletes lined up, producing a stunningly chromatic display of colour and packing the streets of the village. Equally colourful were the large numbers of spectators who, presumably grateful that they were not facing the stern 8.2 mile test, had come out en masse to cheer on relatives, friends and loved ones. As 11:30am approached a carnival atmosphere was evident and the main contenders had noodled their way to the front of the assembled field, determined to get off to a clean and clear start.

Teer and McNeilly set the early pace

Amid the cheers of the crowds the hooter sounded and we were off. Into a headwind we made our way towards the Old Road, our destiny in our hands. McNeilly and Teer had opened up a gap by the one mile marker and it was on the only serious climb of the day that Teer would make the decisive break that would seize the day. By the time he crossed the road at the 12 arches a considerable gap had opened up and he was able to maintain his advantage to the finish, winning with a handsome margin to spare and set a new course record in the process. To his credit McNeilly carried on patiently, running his own race, and was too strong for the chasing pack. His time of 49:46 was outside the mark he set last year, but was a very credible effort given the conditions.

Newcastle pack well

A little further back Newcastle athletes packed well. David O’Flaherty is improving all the time and despite losing two places on the way home from the beach was very pleased to finish 5th overall. He was closely followed by David Steele, who had obviously chosen his footwear well for once, in 6th place. Brendan Quail was finishing strong and followed his colleagues home in 7th. Damien Brannigan had one of his best races in a long time and was not unlucky to finish 13th as he ran strongly throughout the entire race and recorded a very impressive time. In the battle of the Scots, Strachan narrowly defeated Watson – the latter benefitting greatly from an intense period of preparation under the watchful eyes of the ‘Big Fella’ and his fella.

Hen clips a few wings

As the PRO of Castlewellan GACAC in on permanent vacation, it would be remiss not to mention the tremendous achievement of their leading man, John ‘Hen’ Kelly. Hen showed he was no chicken by flying from the start and running strong throughout and certainly landed the golden egg with a highly credible finish in 19th place in 54:51, leaving all those he had set out to beat trailing in his wake. As he shared his success with anyone who would listen in the aftermath he was certainly proud as a peacock. Let’s hope this ‘unflappable’ character does not flee the nest in the Town and hatch out a plan join another club where the birds soar higher!!!

The performances keep on coming!

Nathan McComb and Brendan Donnelly worked well together in the latter stages of the race and both broke the 56 minute barrier to finish 27th and 28th respectively. PJ McCrickard had one of his less memorable runs. As I eased past him (I was destined to ease past few on this occasion!) at the beginning of the second mile, I heard a sentence that made me think Eugene McCann had received a late entry. Despite feeling less that besotted by his running, PJ stuck to his task and maintained a steady pace to the finish. He was closely followed by Jerome McCrickard who was overheard enquiring about membership forms after the race. Colin Pascoe, who it was remarked bears a striking resemblance to Stickler from the American Pie films was next home for Newcastle in 44th Patrick Bradley proved that all those weekend fry-ups were essential to a runners training regimen as he ran strongly to finish 48th, just ahead of Paschal Toner who won the Vet 50 prize, finishing rather fittingly in 50th place! Anne Sandford and John Kelly both finished just outside the hour mark after strong and determined runs, while Samantha McNeilly, put her recent speed training to good use as she dipped under the 70 minute mark.

The negotiations are under way

Well done to all athletes on coping with the unfavourable conditions on the sand and congratulations to our running neighbours Murlough AC for building on their initial success and making the 2011 race even better than it was in 2011. I am pleased to confirm that I will be available for their promotional work next year and long and no doubt protracted negotiations will supervene on our schedules in the months ahead. Finally, well done to the many local unattached athletes who made great efforts in finishing the race. It is great to see so many people out on the roads and in the local parks. My advice to you is to join one of the local clubs, where you will meet like-minded people who will be more than glad to help you take your running to the next level.

Good luck Mark and Paul

Newcastle athletes Mark Kendall and Paul Fegan have completed their preparation for the Dublin Marathon on October 31st. Both men report that they are happy with how their training programme has panned out and both are confident of achieving their objectives. We wish them well and look forward to reporting on their performances. Club marathon swami Damien Brannigan commented that the lads have trained hard and he is confident that they will do well. He further added that had he known about the event, he too may possibly and conceivably have thought about considering taking part. Now that he knows about it, it is guaranteed that there will be no change in his state of commitment for 2012.

Urgent – gear wanted

Several items of clothing are reported AWOL. The aforementioned apparel was last witnessed leaving the boot of Audey McVeigh’s car on Sunday 16th October, just after 9:30am. Potential suspects are known to be John ‘Magpie’ Kelly, David ‘Shooey’ Steele. The previous owner is desperate for the return of the items as they carry great sentimental value and he has missed two days of training in the last week as he simply had nothing to wear! As a reward I am proffering one or more of the many ‘goody bags’ that were abandoned in the boot of my car at the weekend. Please help this loving owner be reunited with his much cared for kit! No doubt a happy ending will be recorded next week. Next week we will also catch up with Kerry Harty as she trains at altitude, bidding to make the Olympic qualifying standard and Eoghan Totten as he settles into life and running at university in London.