[Not a valid template]The men’s team finished a creditable 6th place (in 40:22) in the Woodie’s DIY Road Relay Championships of Ireland held on Sunday at Raheny, improving on 11th place last year (41:00) and 8th place in 2004 (41:42). Retaining their title of 2006 were Clonliffe Harriers, with Raheny in 2nd and Rathfarnham in 3rd.
As usual, the race comprised 4 legs of 2, 1, 3 & 2 laps over a road lap of just over 1 mile situated close to Raheny Shamrock AC’s home base and – as usual – Mike Dyer was North Down’s lead off man. On a sunny, but breezy day, the 18 starting teams charged off at the start with Mike Dyer tucked in just behind the leaders. With 1 lap down he was still in the leading group of 4 and only lost contact over the last ½ mile to hand over in 4th place, and recording a 14 second improvement on his 2006 split time (with 9:50)
Although suffering from yet another cold (picked up returning from Switzerland midweek), cross country captain James Budde held things together admirably to run a solid 4:43 and keep the team in 4th place. James handed over to another cold victim, Jordan Neill, who had been sidelined since his fine midweek run in the Queens 5K. Jordan set off on the tough 3lap leg at a good pace, but slipped to 5th – after one lap – on a very competitive leg that normally includes each team’s strongest distance runner. By 2 miles, Jordan was in 7th position, but he put in a good effort over the last ½ mile to move the team up to 6th (15:40 split).
[Not a valid template]Francis Marsh took over for the anchor (2 lap) leg with Raheny ‘B’ and Lucan Harriers in hot pursuit. With ¾ mile to go Francis had overhauled Crusaders – who were in 5th – but had company from Lucan’s Fintan McGee. Francis ran neck and neck with the Lucan athlete hoping for a better kick over the final 200m (not a mission – what was he thinking!), but had to give way to younger legs to bring the team home in 6th place (with a 10:09 split), 3 seconds behind Lucan Harriers and 8 seconds behind Tallaght AC in 4th. With 2 potential “sick notes” in the team, last year’s 2nd leg runner Robin Brown travelled down ready to step in as reserve, but in the end he was only called upon to snap that perfect cheesy team photo for the website.
AAI Men’s Road Relays:
1. Clonliffe H. ‘A’ 37:42
2. Raheny ‘A’ 38:38
3. Rathfarnham ‘A’ 39:44
4. Tallaght AC 40:14
5. Lucan Harriers 40:19
6. North Down 40:22
7. Raheny ‘B’ 40:41
8. Crusaders ‘A’ 40:50
9. East Cork 40:58
10. Clonliffe ‘B’ 41:26
11. Sportworld AC 41:39
12. Letterkenny 41:59
13. Finn Valley 42:09
14. Liffey Valley 42:26
15. Donore H 42:30
16. Tullamore H 45:05
Incomplete teams: Rathfarnham ‘B’, Crusaders ‘B’.