EVENT REPORT 

 

 

The 53rd Dunboyne A.C. Road Race was a special event today in the Meath Village.The Nally's Supervalu Dunboyne 10k had the added attraction of hosting this year's Athletics Ireland  National Championships. This was always going to be a mouth watering affair. This renowned fast course brought record numbers to Dunboyne for their race. Over 1,500  runners signed up with an eye on running a fast time. We also had 914 athletes entered as part of the National race. Normally National 10k Championships would have 400 to 500. It was a great occasion for both Dunboyne A.C, and Athletics Ireland indicating the vast numbers now registetering for clubs around the country. 

Every aspect of this year's race was perfect. The weather conditions were calm and mild for runners to record good times. The race itself was deep with extremely talented club runners. The start line was jammed packed with top end runners battling for every inch that could be gained even on the start line. It had a truly great championship race feel.

 

Sean Tobin who was a late addition to the race was the pre race favourite but only just, as there were some fine athletes to take him on. We had a great race right to the finish. Sean lead out early and seemed to have pulled away from Pierre Murchan of Dublin City Harriers, only to be brought back as the race was coming to its final stages. When the 2 athletes entered the track for the final 300m we had what you call, "Race On". Sean dug deep and held strong to take a well earned title. Sean recorded a time of 29:17 with Pierre clocking 29:21. It certainly was a 2 horse race. Emmet Jennings of DSD A.C. was 3rd in a time of 29:44. After these 3 we had a constant wave of runners cross the line. The depth of talent crossing in bunches was remarkable. For a standard 10k road race you may only get 3 or 4 athletes running sub 34 mins. We had 76 runners in sub 34 mins in this race. 

The women's race had just as much quality. Again pre race favourite Shona Heaslip of An Riocht A.C. (Kerry) won the race in a time 32:49. Anne Marie McGlynn of Letterkenny A.C. was 2nd in a time of 33:10. Current national XC champion Fiona Everard of Bandon A.C. was 3rd in a time of 33:22. All of these women have national titles behind them such as the quality of the women's race. And just like the men's race we had a wave upon wave of women cross the line in fast times. We had 46 women run sub 40 mins.
There was a lot of individual and club pride at sake.

 

The  National race and the Dunboyne 10k race itself had lots of age cats and team awards. Rathfarham WSAF were narrow winners over Clonliffe Harriers by only 12 seconds. There was very little between the 2 clubs from analysing before the race and this is how it went when adding all times up. The 2nd senior men's team was Clonliffe (2:05:44) with City of Derry Spartans making a return to winning ways in 3rd. One of their runners was Declan Reed who had a great performance age over 50. The men's senior team was 4 to score, with the over 35+ and 50+ with 3 to score. The M35+ team winners were Clane A.C  and the M50+ team winners were the now usual Innisowen A.C., who keep performing in this very competitive team category.

The women's senior team winners with 3 to score were Tullamore Harriers Dublin City Harriers were 2nd and another Dublin Club Metro St. Brigid's 3rd. The over 35+ team winners were Raheny Shamrock A.C. The Women's over 50+ winners were Mayo A.C.
To check out club participation and all stats you can click on the race stats button below.