29th March 2010- Results and Fixtures

SPRING LEAGUE WIN FOR IN FORM GRENNAN

The first leg of the Spring league was run off on Tuesday and a good field of thirty two runners lined up for the start of the 3000 metre race which was run on the tarmac circuit. Catch Grennan and guest runner David Finn went into an early lead followed closely by John Harkin, John Donegan and Jody O'Reilly. Grennan and Finn continued to dispute the lead up until the last lap when Catch Grennan increased the pace and went on to win by a margin of forty metres from Finn. In a close battle for third place, John Harkin just got the better of John Donegan with Jody O'Reilly a close up fifth.

In the team standings Pat Conlon's team have a clear lead over Maurice Fitzgerald's team with Tony Mccormack's team third. Results; C Grennan 9.36. D Finn 9.46. J Harkin 9.51. J Donegan 9.53. J O'Reilly 9.57. D Butler 10.23. J Feery 10.31. C Colohan 10.38. L Dunne 10.48. L Cuskelly 10.51. V Conlon 10.53. L Byrne 11.00. J Wrafter 11.08. P Conlon 11.09. J Mahon11.26. F Mollen 11.28. N Coughlan 11.33. M. Fitzgerald 11.37. A Martin 11.45. A McCormack 11.48. M.Daly 12.04. B.Kennedy 12.10. D.O'Connor 12.18. M.Scnicer 12.47. D.Lambe 12.49. M.Conlon 13.09. M.Carroll 14.00. A.McNamara 14.27. F.Claffey 14.27. J.Dolan 14.39. N.Mcloughlin 14.41. A.Killen 18.13

Harriers Regain Peter Devery Shield
The second leg of the Peter Devery Shield took place last Sunday on a beautiful spring morning in Charleville Estate. This is an annual Cross Country team event between the Harriers and Ballyfin Athletic club run over two legs on a home and away basis. Tullamore went into the second leg trailing by fifty two points from the first day but were hoping for a much improved performance on home ground.

Thirty eight athletes lined up for the start of the 4800 metre race which consisted of four laps. Catch Grennan went to the front from the start and he quickly established a lead of fifty metres over the chasing Ballyfin pair of Cormac Fitzpatrick and David Finn. However on the second lap Fitzpatrick started to east into Grennan’s lead and overtook him on the downhill stretch.

The strong running Fitzpatrick continued to increase his lead over Grennan and came home a clear winner by a margin of over one hundred and fifty metres from Grennan in second place. John Donegan and Eddie Garry overtook David Finn to finish in third and fourth place respectively with Finn having to settle for sixth behind Johnny Feery who placed fifth.

The remaining Tullamore athletes ran well and played their part in the team overhauling Ballyfin in the team competition with a points total of 460 points to Ballyfin’s 515 points and so regain the Peter Devery Shield for 2010.

Tullamore Results : 2 Catch Grennan 16.56 ; 3 John Donegan 17.08 ; 4 Eddie Garry 17.16 ; 5 Johnny Feery 17.21 ; 8 Martin Carroll 17.39 ; 10 Pauline Curley 17.50 ; 11 Jody O’Reilly 18.13 ; 12 Liam Dunne 18.46 ; 14 Liz Cuskelly18.56 ; 15 Dave Gorry 19.04 ; 16 Pat Conlon 19.12 ; 17 Vinny Conlon 19.18 ; 18 Joe Wrafter 19.35 ; 19 Liam Byrne 19.55 ; 20 Maurice Fitzgerald 20.01 ; 24 Fra Mollen 20.35 ; 25 Adrian Martin 20.44 ; 26 Glen Finlay 20.51 ; 27 Mary Daly 21.27 ; 28 Darren O’Connor 21.29 ; 31 Brendan Kennedy 22.05 ; 32 Tony McCormack 22.15 ; 34 Deirdre Feery 22.29 ; 36 Declan Lambe 22.53 ; 37 Martina Conlon 24.34 ; 38 Jim Dolan 26.54.

Omagh Half-Marathon
Three local athletes competed in the Omagh Half-Marathon on Saturday last and all can be happy with their performances. Shane Guinan was the fastest of the trio when finishing in 186th position in a great time of 1.31.16. Next home was Conor Mooney in a time of 1.32.42 in 205th place. Neville Coughlan also had a strong run when placing 363rd in a time of 1.40.42.

3K RUN/JOG/WALK
The fourth run in the series took place last wednesday with a very promising crowd of 45 taking part in the challenge. The improvement in fitness levels is very apparent and is very encouraging for those taking part. The final run is wednesday 31st March at 7pm. 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 @ 0861906747 or any club member.

Fixtures
March 30th : Second Leg Spring League. 1 mile on track at 7pm.
April 6th : Third leg Spring League 5k 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 28th: 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.

Membership is now overdue. Forms available in clubhouse.