Golden Mile Week 2

Golden Mile Summer Series - Week 10, Thursday July 10th.
New pbs were the order of the night down at the RSC last Thursday! A huge percentage of the 37 runners topped their previous bests and finished the Golden Mile Summer Series on a high. Well done to all 76 that competed at some point or other over the 10 weeks!
Thursday nights opener had a field of 10, including 2 terrific juvenile runners, Grainne and Karen who ran under the watchful eye of Gerry Deegan. The girls crossed the line before the more 'senior' runners of the group! Wayne Allen must have learned a lesson from his dog's performance the night before in Kilcohan and cut his pb down to an even 6m. Alan Everett had his second best run of the series, finishing in front of the fastest of the Mount Sion boys, Seamie Cleere. Michael Leechmere was unable to get a new pb, but looked very comfortable finishing the mile before Mount Sion's No.2 Liam Quinn. Sheik Shem, in his very impressive garb, wasn't going to be reeled in this week by Maura O'Doherty as they finished 10s apart, with Maura's result another new pb. Despite what she says herself, she has the ability to knock plenty more seconds off that time! Our favourite Vet, Francie Lonergan, proved without a shadow of a doubt that time is no enemy of his when he topped his own table with a terrific 7.16.
Race number 2 had the smallest field (numberswise, not girth of course), and were led home by an ever improving Des Colbert, who has proved week after week that a little extra training goes a long way. After his wedding in September he hopes to have even more spare evenings to work out! Poor Niamh! Bus Eireann's Red Setter showed that he's not ready just yet to hang up the spikes, but could probably do with a new back! Adele Walsh also managed a new pb, no doubt helped by some speedwork over the last few weeks with James Howley out in Kilmacow. Another Kilkenny stalwart, Nicholas Halley was unable to beat last week's Series best, and was followed home by Joanne Jackman in her new Air Zoom spikes, only 2 s short of her previous best.
With the huge number of 'elite' athletes that turned up, we were able to run 2 top class races. The first of which allowed a win and a fantastic return to form by Michael Halley, who broke the 5m barrier for the first time, very closely followed by the first of the Casey Twins (Conor). For the first time over the 10 weeks Conor completed the mile faster than big brother Owen! Hopefully he'll get less chores around the house for that honour! 2 of our better younger runners were separated by a mere second with the ever improving Kevin Cooper just pipping St.Senan's James Howley. Both showing tremendous improvement over the Series. Another of our top improvers, Liam Power, stormed home in 5.06 very closely followed by Owen Palmer, who didn't seem in the slightest bit affected by his lack of training over the latter weeks
We were treated to a fine display of running in the 4th race of the night, where James Sullivan used his strength, speed and running acumen to finish a full 5s ahead of the field and left no room for doubt as to the fastest finisher of the Series (4.34). The whole race was a thrill to watch, with Paul Stephenson and David Burke battling for second place before finishing in that order 2s apart. Mark Langford finished a very comfortable 4th in a fantastic time of 4.45, followed home by Paul Grant who has obviously recovered from his injury in fine form. We look forward to more battles between these guys over the Winter Series. Larry Kennedy finished, again, well under the 5minute mark, 8s before Eoghan Quinn who claimed another pb in 5.03! Must be his big sis's influence! Casey twin No.2 brought up the rear of the pack, perhaps keeping his energy for a few pints after!
The final race of the night was won by none other than our dependable time keeper Derek Tebay, who was pushed around the first lap faster than he might have liked by good ol' Milkman Joe. Joe paid for his initial speed by being last to cross the line unfortunately! He might be better off drinking some of that Bio Activia stuff instead of milk, protection from the outside in! Triathlete Kenny Power just managed to claim second place in a hugely improved time of 5.47, only 1s before James Maguire who must have been in a hurry to get those shorts off! A second later again was Pat Giles, closely followed by another triathlete, and member of the Kennedy/Jackman clan, Larry Douglas. Our favourite butcher and caterer, Bobby Coady again broke 6m to finish with a new pb of 5.55, probably trying to impress his little son Daniel (no mistaking him!)!

The night's festivities didn't end on the track. After showers (thank God), we all retired to Ryan's bar on Barrack street for craic agus sport mor. We had loads of winners over the series and each received a 25euro voucher for Alfie Hales, to help provide some much needed new gear for some of them! James Maguire missed out on a voucher unfortunately, winning instead a jar of fruity sweets?? Thanks to Bobby for providing a very tasty spread of sambos (albeit with a little too much butter), cocktail sausages and spicy chicken wings. Gerry Madden took care of the photo booth, so keep an eye on the website and weekly papers for evidence of the prizewinners. Declan Harte being one of the spot prize winners, gaining a very useful security camera!
That's it folks, no more Golden Miles on the track, but plenty more elsewhere until the start of the Winter Series (a week or two after the Dublin City Marathon). See you all there, or on our usual Wednesday night training runs at 6.30pm. Slan go foill.

Click here for full results of the night.

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