Newcastle are ladies’ champs

Newcastle are ladies’ champs

7 October 2015

THE Newcastle AC ladies’ team of Kerry O’Flaherty, Joanne Mills and Mari Troeng were crowned 2015 NI Senior Road Relay Champions at the weekend.

The championships have enjoyed an unbelievable renaissance since Orangegrove AC took the event over four years ago.  This year, there were almost 600 athletes representing 150 teams drawn from clubs the throughout Northern Ireland.  

The senior ladies’ team was highly regarded in advance of the race and were billed as medal contenders and possible favourites to wrest the trophy from defending champions North Down AC. 

With three athletes competing the 2.1 mile distance over two laps of Victoria Park, a good start was always going to be important. Newcastle’s world championship 3,000m steeplechaser and multiple Irish record holder Kerry O’Flaherty was tasked with building the platform to set up a possible victory and maybe even a tilt at the championship record.  

However, she did not have it all her own way in the open stages with the Banbridge AC athlete matching her step for step in the first mile.  As they embarked on the second lap, O’Flaherty showed all her experience, ability and tactical nous and forged ahead, establishing a significant gap very quickly.  

Encouraged by the support of her clubmates, strategically peppered along the course, she was able to open a 23 second lead  in running 10:49. O’Flaherty would record the fastest female time of the day and be the only lady to dip under the 11 minute barrier. 

Joanne Mills took up the challenge on the second leg and ran a very strong 11:28 to extend the lead still further. With Banbridge fading, North Belfast took up the challenge, secure that their fastest runner was on the final leg. Mills ran a well-paced leg and handed over to Mari Troeng with a substantial lead.  Thankfully, Mari had received some excellent coaching on pacing over this course two weekends earlier and though nervous, knew exactly what she had to do.

She ran conservatively in the first lap, enabling Briege Connolly, who would run 11:11, to close the gap and set up the final mile as the most exciting finish of the afternoon.

Treong ran the second mile gallantly and, despite sensing her potential nemesis closing in, kicked very hard in the last quarter of a mile to cross the line first by a narrow margin of seven seconds.  

Mari was cheered every step of the way and Connolly, magnificent athlete as she is, deserves great credit for never giving up and chasing down what seemed an impossible cause right to the line.

Amid the euphoria of the victory, NAC had a second team in the race and they performed equally stoically to secure 12th place overall. Their lead out Sinead Murtagh was in contention throughout the first leg and recorded 12:12, a mere eight seconds slower than Mari.  

Sam McNeilly ran a very impressive 13:09 on the second leg and attributed this to the benefits that accrue from regular strenuous workouts with the club and Rita Devlin brought the team home with a very credible 14:42. 

The senior men fielded a strong team and finished just outside the medals in a very competitive and fast race. 

North Belfast Harriers proved to be the stand out team with their four athletes completing the course in a combined time of 40.29. East Down AC was among the early pace setters with Teer and McCartan both clocking 9.57. Lynch was in contention with 10.07 and O’Flaherty took up the chase with an impressive 10.19. 

Carlin and Melville were both under 11 minutes with identical times of 10.54 as the quartet finished in a combined time of 42.13, an improvement of two places and one minute from 2014.

The senior B team all turned in quality performances, coming home in 19th overall. It was great to see Patrick Sheridan competing for the first time in a long time in club colours.

Earlier in the afternoon the largest number of the NAC runners (16) competed in the male masters race.  

Unsurprisingly, the Masters A team of McNeilly, Steele, O’Hare and Gallagher were first home in a very credible 6th overall in a race won by a stacked Willowfield AC team.  

Despite their exertions on Saturday, the marathon crew turned out early on Sunday for the last long run before Dublin. Sixteen miles were completed at a fairly quick pace as the countdown reaches 21 days. Next up for this hardy bunch is the Armagh 10, one of the lesser mentioned races during club runs. Lynch has his eye on a sub 55, though everyone is baffled as to why he would have set this target.