7th March 2010- Results and Fixtures

Tullamore Rocket Wins World Silver Medal

Ger Hensey made the long trip to Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada to compete in the World Masters Indoors Track and field Championships. After recently winning the Irish championships in the 60 metres,200 metres and the 400 metres in the over 40 age category, Ger was now pitting himself against the best in the world. Ger’s championship kicked off with the heats of the 60 metre sprint and any doubts whether he could compete on the world stage were dispelled when he won his heat in a new Irish record time of 7.31. A few hours later Ger lined up for the semi finals and improved on his heat time by clocking 7.30 when coming a close second to Will MacGee of Great Britian. And so it was on to the final which consisted of two Australians and athletes from the United States, France, Italy and Great Britian. Ger ran a great final to win the silver medal behind the winner Reggie Pendland of the United States with Will MacGee back in third. Ger’s time in the final was 7.33.

Ger had planned to compete in the 200 metres but due to the fact that the heats of the 200 metres were run off before the 60metre final, he had to make the difficult but ultimately wise decision to withdraw from the event and reserve his energy for the 60 metre final. He did however compete in the 400 metres but running from the difficult lane one he had to be satisfied with fifth place in the heats in a time of 55.82 and narrowly missed out on making the final.

Ger’s success was greeted with great excitement back home and gave his coaches Nick Hannon, Frank Brennan and training partners great satisfaction in that all the hard work put in paid off on the highest stage possible.

National Cross Country
The National Senior Inter Club Cross Country Championships were held last Sunday over a dry fast course in Dublin’s Phoenix Park. The women’s race was run over 8,000 metres and here Pauline Lambe had a great run to finish in 22nd place. Pauline was closely followed by Liz Cuskelly in 27th position. Maire Triona O’Connor in 40th and Mary Daly in 43rd completed the Tullamore scoring and placed seventh team.

The men’s race was 12,000 metres in distance and here Declan Fahey continued his recent good form to come home in 46th place followed by Catch Grennan in 52nd. Eddie Garry had a strong run to finish in 71st place with Johnny Feery the next best for the Harriers in 90th place. The men’s team took second place in Grade B.

Full results : Women’s 8,000 metres : 22 Pauline Lambe 29.34 ; 27 Liz Cuskelly 29.45 ; 40 Maire Triona O’Connor 33.02 ; 43 Mary Daly 34.36.

Mens 12,000 metres : 46 Declan Fahey 39.26 ; 52 Catch Grennan 40.04 ; 71 Eddie Garry 41.37 ; 90 Johnny Feery 43.19 ; 97 Mark Servis 45.04 ; 104 John O’Connell 50.33 ; 107 Brendan Kennedy 53.46.

Adare 10 K
The annual Adare 10K road race took last Sunday and The Harriers had three athletes competing. Best of these was Declan Madden who finished in 20th place overall and 2nd over 40 in a quick time of 36.12. Next was Tony McCormack in 32nd place and 1st over 50 in a time of 38.29.Jim Langan place 271st in a time of 57.49

3K Run/Jog/Walk event for beginner and improver runners.
Last Wednesday night was the first night of the Beginners series of 3,000 metre runs and it was a great success with fifty runners turning up on the night. This will continue for the next four Wednesday’s in March, with a timed 3000m run on the tarmac track in the Harriers Grounds at 6.45pm.So come on and join the crowds on Wednesdays at Tullamore Harriers. This is strictly aimed at non competitive runners who regularly run/jog and would like to challenge themselves without any pressure whatsoever of official racing. Tullamore Harriers members will supervise the event and encourage all those taking part to enjoy and improve their running times and fitness. Details from John @ 087 9253739 or Mary @086 1906747 or any club member

Fixtures.
March 10th : 3000 metre run for non competitive runners at 6.45 pm.
March 14th : McNamara 5 mile road race at 10am.
March 21st : Leinster Senior 10K Road Race, Enniscorthy, Co.Wexford at 2pm.
March 23rd : First leg of Spring League. 3000 metres at 7pm.
April 11th : National Road Relays, Raheny.
April 18th : National 10K Road Race and Bupa Run, Phoenix Park.
May 2nd : Boston Scientific 4 mile road race
May 3rd : Leinster Novice and Masters Road Race, Gowran, Kilkenny.
May 8th Croghan Hill 10K.
May 21st: Jack Cox road race, Kilcormack at 8pm.

Training: Tuesday and Thursday at 6.30pm, Sunday morning at 8.30am Except on a race day. New members always welcome.

With the dark evenings now here it is important to be seen on the roads so reflective gear must be worn while training on the roads

Membership is now overdue. Forms available in clubhouse.