Leevale’s claire Gibbons had an excellent run in the FMC International four mile road race on Sunday, finishing a close second to road specialist Mary Sheehan. Claire has been showing excellent form in recent weeks.
(Results)
The Celtic International was held at the Aer Lingus Sports Complex in Dublin on Sunday. Damien Dunlea was the only Leevale runner in action and he ran an excellent race to finish eight in the under 17 race. A stitch in the middle of the race caused him to lose contact with the leaders. However, at 15 years of age he looks to have an excellent future in the sport.
Glenbower’s Joyce Curtin ran another great race to finish second to Scottish runner Elaine Renouff in the girls under 17 race.
The mens junior race was superb with Pat Muldoon and Martin Fagan battling all the way to the finish before Fagan got the better of his rival in the last few strides. Edward McGinley only lost contact in the last lap.
The organisation of the event was a shambles, with lots of officials around, but none, seemingly, in charge. Tempers were frayed and short for a lot of the time, but, regardless of the organisation failure, there was no excuse for the verbal abuse some of the runners experienced from prominent officials who are long enough in the sport to know better.