ALL-ROUNDER SPORTS WINTER LEAGUE
THE PERFECT START.
The All-rounder Sports Winter league got off to the perfect start last Wednesday evening from Dungarvan Sports Centre with as expected a huge turn out of runners on the night, Over 260 have registered after round one and many more are expected in the coming weeks. Our thanks to all the team on the winter league committee who came along ensuring a smooth operation at registration. The weather for round one was good and dry, indeed it was perfect for running, so hopefully now this weather trend will continue for the duration of the league which takes place each Wednesday until the end of February and newcomers are welcome to come along and join in the league at any stage. Last week for round one as is now traditional we had a mass start with two groups going off, firstly the 2.7 mile group were got under way by league sponsor Pearse Moloney of All Rounder Sports and shortly after the 5.7 mile group were sent on there way by Rory Moloney.
The league handicap system kick’s tonight for round two and it’s expected that we will have the first of the runners of at 7.20 pm. The entry fee for the league each night is 2 euro for members and 3 euro for non-members. For those who have yet to register there is a once off registration fee of 5 euro. So remember if registering for the first time its 5-euro plus your nightly fee of 2 euro for club members and 3 euro for non-club members. That’s 8 euro for non-members or 7 euro for members on the first night. Remember the number allocated to you is your number for the duration of the league, you will have to wear this number each week for the duration of the league and also each night you attend you have to register before running. This is most important from a safety point of view.
OPERATIONS OF THE WINTER LEAGUE
For all those of you out there that are still unsure as to how the Winter League operates, just follow the following steps and they will lead you on the way to becoming a Winter League expert!!
1. Always wear your reflective bib and your number. You must wear your number at the front so it can be seen when you are finishing.
2. As soon as you arrive at the Sports Centre you must register each week, €2 for members and €3 for non-members.
3. After registering, you must then find out your starting time. These times will be displayed in the hall and you just have to locate your number and name and your starting time will be written beside it.
4. The clock will be in the hall and will begin at 0.00.
5. Keep an eye on the clock and when your time is approaching please make your way out to the front door. Ideally make your way out to the door about a minute before your actual time.
6. When your time is called you then begin your run.
7. While on the course please stay on the footpaths at all times and obey the instructions of the stewards, they are there for your personal safety.
8. When finishing your run, please stay in the finishing tunnel. Please do not exit the finishing tunnel by ducking under the tape. Doing so means that your time will not be recorded and it also distorts all the other runners finishing times.
9. Obeying all the above will ensure the smooth running of the Winter League for all involved.
10. Last but certainly not least, enjoy your run!!
WINTER LEAGUE STEWARDING.
Thanks to the team of stewards who were out on the course last week. Some are club members and many are not members at all but give us of their time every Wednesday evening for the safety and enjoyment of those taking part in the league. Without your help we could not have a winter league, thanks for your commitment once again and for the good work you are doing.
NIKE TRIAL VAN VISITS WINTER LEAGUE TONIGHT.
The Nike Trial van and foot gage analyses crew will make a visit to tonight’s winter league. This is an opportunity for all to run the league if you wish, in a pair of Nike Running shoes of your choice you can also have a foot gage analyses done which will indicate which Nike running shoes are best for your running gate. There will be no shoes sold on the night so no pressure on anyone to purchase runners. The Nike foot gage analyses expert will be travelling from England and available to answer any questions on Nike footwear, which you may have.
WEST WATERFORD A.C. CLUB MEMBERSHIP FOR 2008.
The club’s yearly membership has been set for the coming year and is 25 Euro. As stated now by Athletics Ireland because of insurance reasons it has become compulsory that all running in club events be covered by insurance so with this in mind we urge all local runners to join West Waterford AC.
For those taking part in the winter league its practically fee membership as the league each night is 3 Euro for non members and 2 euro for members, over the period by saving the 1 euro each week of the league you would nearly have the membership paid when having only to pay 2 euro each night. Also if you join now you are a member up until end of December 2008.Michael Tutty is the clubs registration officer and he will be available each week of the league or any upcoming club event to look after your membership.
14th ANNUAL MC GRATHS NEWSAGENTS BRICKEY RUN IN ASSOCIATION WITH DUNGARVAN HOCKEY CLUB IS ON SUNDAY WEEK.
All roads lead to Bushy Park Sunday week next November 18th at 11am, for the 14th Annual Brickey run and Walk. The event this year through the kind sponsorship of Mc Graths newsagents will be held in association with Dungarvan Hockey club and the proceeds from the event will be donated to the hockey club. There will be a 5-mile and 3 mile Run and Walk and entries will be taken at Bushy Park from 10am. By kind permission of Brickey GAA club. Entry fee is €7 Euro per person. The Martin Curran Perpetual Cup will be presented to the first man to finish, and the Jim Lyons Memorial Shield will be presented to the first woman to finish the 5-mile course. There will be individual and weight categories for men and prizes. Individual prizes for Women. There will also be prizes in the 3-mile event. The weight categories are as follows: Under 40kg, 50kg, 60kg, 70kg, 80kg, 90kg, and 100kg and over 100kg. Presentation of prizes will take place during a social evening at Bridie Dees, Mary St. Dungarvan after the race. This years race will as in the past be sponsored By McGrath’s Newsagents Mitchell St, We thank Albert and Patricia for their kind sponsorship of this event once again this year.
INTERMEDIATE CROSS-COUNTRY TEAM COMPETE AT MUNSTERS THIS SUNDAY.
West Waterford Athletic Club’s cross country Ladies and Men’s teams for next Sundays Munster Intermediate cross-country championships which are being held in Carraig Na Bhfear.Cork are.
Men’s team 8.000 meters.
James Ledingham, Alan O’Brien, Johnny O Connor, Brian Byrne, Rory Moloney, Con Kelleher, Kevin Kenneally, Padraig Healy, Pat Dunford, Trevor Mason, Conor Murray.
Ladies team 4.000 meters.
Bridget Coffey, Brenda Hunt, Ann Dunford, Norma Wall, Anne Whelan, Brid Veale, Judy Hanrahan, Eibhlis ní hAodha, Sinead Crotty.Regina Byrne, Josie Uí Chuirrin.
COMMITTEE MEETING.
The senior clubs next committee meeting will be held tomorrow night Thursday 8th November at 8.30 PM in Minnie’s Bar.Abbeyside.
RUNNING QUOTE.
Desire is the most important factor in the success of any athlete. Terri Gough.
DUBLIN CITY MARATHON
BENJI RETAINS PADDY JOE DELANEY MEMORIAL SHIELD
TERRI GOUGH COMPLETES HER 50TH MARATHON AND TAKES ANOTHER NATIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
Despite the fact that the club had athletes competing in Marathon’s as far away as Chicago and as near as Amsterdam in the recent past couple of weeks we also had thirteen athletes running in The Dublin City marathon last bank holiday Monday. The morning was ideal for marathon running with possibly the wind a tad too strong non-the less it was good and dry and temperatures were ideal. As has been the case since the untimely death of one of our esteemed members some years back the Paddy Joe Delaney memorial shield was up for contention among all West Waterford athletes at the race and hot favourite to retain his title from last Year Benji Whelan duly obliged and retained the Paddy Joe Delaney memorial shield with a superb time of 2.44.The presentation of the shield will be made to Benji at tonight winter league. This time was a new personal best for the Kilmac Physio who ran a very sensible race throughout. As predicted by many Marathon Debutant Declan McGrath had the preverbal blinder when he scaled around the course comfortably in a time of 2.53 a superb performance in this Declan’s first attempt at the distance, But to be fair he had massive preparation for the race with no stone left unturned in his training programme. Ray Dwyer needed to kept a cool head these last couple of weeks, when at a time which saw him running at his best ever, injury was his lot just weeks before he was due to run Amsterdam, But he worked hard at his rehabilitation and was back in action a week later after getting a late call up to compete in Dublin which was held one week after Amsterdam, he ran a time of 3.08,all in sundry were delighted for Ray after knowing the huge disappointment felt when getting injured at the 11th hour before Amsterdam. But patience prevailed in the end. The clubs well known Tri- athlete Eoin O’Riordan proved to be in good shape and he pulled out all his Triathlon experience with his pacing on the day coming home comfortably with a time of 3.17Paul McManus one of our city members is as consistent as they come and he gave another solid performance with his time of 3.22We then saw four West Waterford AC athletes finish with in two minutes of each other when Waterford based Liam Cuddihy was clocked at 3.25 Non one knows the Dublin course like Anthony Dwyer who was completing his 39th marathon ( most of them in Dublin ) his time 3.26 indicates that he is running as well as ever. Cycling enthusiast Justin Coonan turned his recent attentions to Marathon running and to good effect I might add as he also was clocked at 3.26 along with Paul Brunnock who will be delighted with his new personal best time of 3.26 for the distance. All the above came through to finish in fine style. Another who battled with his share of injury worries was Abbeysides, Dublin based runner Martin Mullarkey, Martin was delighted to get around and he clocked 3.33.David Connors also missed quite an amount of training for this year’s event but he still managed a goodtime of 3.55 on the day. We had two female athletes competing Terri Gough and Ann Moroney, I’m sure Ann won’t mind if we say the day belong to Terri as she was in creditably running her 50th marathon. Competing in the over 60 category Terri covered the course in a time of 4.53,To add jam to the occasion for Terri she went on to take yet another national gold medal in the over 60 Ladies category when she had two minutes to spear over her main rival Maggie Dunne Grange/Fermoy AC .Terri has run marathons all over the globe these past few years and for someone to complete 50 is a real milestone in the sport of Marathon running congratulation’s Terri from all at the club and hears to the next 50.Her good friend Ann Moroney completed the course in a very good 4.30 and raised a large sum of money for a local charity into the bargain. Well done to you also Ann. The story of the race itself up front saw Russia’s Aleksey Sokolov win in a time of two hours, nine minutes and seven seconds. The Russian’s time was the fastest recorded in the 28 runnings of the event, and it is also the fastest time ever run on Irish soil. Sokolov, who also won the race last year, finished 90 seconds clear of Briton Thomas Abyu, while the leading Irishman was Michael O’Connor. He came home in 14th place in 2:25:48secs.O’Connor claimed the Irish Championship as a result of being the first native man to cross the finishing line. There was also Russian success in the women’s race, with Alina Ivanova winning in 2:29:20secs – two minutes clear of the rest of the field. The Russian Lady also won the race last year. The leading Irish Lady finisher was Pauline Curley in ninth place, claiming the Irish Championship in a time of 2:42:30sec.
WEST WATERFORD FINISHERS IN DUBLIN CITY MARATHON.
Benji Whelan 2.44
Declan McGrath 2.53
Ray Dwyer 3.08
Eoin O’Riordan 3.17
Paul McManus 3.22
Liam Cuddihy 3.25
Anthony Dwyer 3.26
Paul Brunnock 2.26
Justin Coonan 3.26
David Connors 3.55
Martin Mullarkey 3.55
Ann Moroney 4.30
Terri Gough 4.53
BILLY MAGUIRE RECORD’S P.B.FOR 10K .
Club member Billy Maguire is in terrific form since his recent sub 3-hour marathon run in Berlin. Last Sunday week he finished 3rd in the Johnstown Castle 10k race in Wexford recording a time of 38.09.This was a new personal best time for the distance by the Waterford city man.
NEW BOOK -LETS RUN -BY LINDIE NAUGHTON HITS THE SHELVES.
Whether you’re an experienced runner with aspirations to win medals or a less-ambitious beginner about to take up running as a means of getting fit, Let’s Run – A Irish Runners Handbook for will help you on your way. Written in a bright and readable style by Lindie Naughton, the well-known Irish sports journalist and athletics coach, this guidebook will be invaluable to individuals, group leaders and club coaches, with its warming up, cooling down exercises/stretches, drills and other useful techniques, many of which are illustrated with photographs. The guide also features a collection of training schedules for all distances, from sprints to the marathon and triathlon, as well a six-week winter training schedule for clubs. Author Lindie Naughton is one of those behind the enormously successful Dublin Women’s Mini Marathon. The largest race of its kind in the world and now 25 years old, it has encouraged thousands of Irish women to improve their fitness levels. She continues to run a few miles three or four times a week. Lindie writes in the preface: “Although never a great runner, I soon became hooked on the positive energy running gives you. Even a bad run can cheer you up; after all, you could have wimped out and stayed indoors. Getting out of breath and sweaty is clearly a good thing for most human beings. Not only that, but the act of running frees up the creative juices; on any run, however plodding, my imagination runs riot and my brain starts buzzing. Then there are the good runs that leave you on a high for days. Add in the facts that you can eat as you please and are guaranteed a good night’s sleep. Who wouldn’t get addicted to all that?”Let’s Run – A Handbook for Irish Runners by Lindie Naughton should be an essential element of every runner’s kit. Published by Ashfield Press and supported by The Irish Sports Council, it is available in good bookshops nationwide, price €11.99, and from www.ashfieldpress.com. It’s a must from Santa girls and boys.
FRIENDS OF WEST WATERFORD ATHLETE OF THE YEAR.
The updated West Waterford Athlete of the year table is featured below in this weeks notes counting all points to the end of October, and at this stage to say the competition is more or less over would be an understatement as Raivis Zakis is now odds on favourite to retain the title he won in 2006 to become the first athlete ever to win the award twice in a row. Last year he finished on 96 points and looking to the points available to him until the end of December he should finish again with around the same points total,it is unlikely now that he will break the magic 100 barrier, having said that to notch up over 90 points in a year is in creditable indeed. Michael Tutty is currently sharing second place with Anne Whelan both have 60 points. Interestingly enough too is that fact that in the top ten positions we have seven Ladies and just three Men, so the Ladies are really showing strongly in all our club events and championship competitions.
Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sep Oct Total
Zakis, Raivis 7 7 4 7 10 7 9 13 8 10 82
Tutty Michael 9 3 6 4 7 3 8 5 5 10 60
Whelan, Anne 7 4 5 3 7 4 6 4 7 13 60
Dunford, Ann 9 5 2 4 8 7 7 1 6 10 59
Power, Onra 7 3 3 4 4 3 9 8 6 10 57
Budds, Liam 6 6 4 4 8 7 8 5 3 5 56
Wall, Norma 7 6 6 4 5 6 4 2 7 8 55
Hanrahan, Judy 6 8 4 3 5 5 6 2 4 12 55
Uì Chuirrìn, Josie 6 4 3 4 8 6 8 3 3 9 54
Wall, Triona 7 5 6 4 6 5 9 4 1 6 53
Morrissey, Pat 6 5 4 5 7 7 6 5 1 6 52
Stilwell, Sean 5 7 6 5 10 6 5 4 1 1 50
Deegan, Dixie 9 6 4 5 3 3 5 3 3 7 48
O’Riordan, Ptk 6 5 0 2 6 6 7 5 5 5 47
Tutty, Vincent 4 2 6 2 6 7 5 5 3 6 46
Veale, Brìd 6 2 4 2 5 4 7 5 1 9 45
Bralitis, Sandis 1 3 2 5 5 8 10 7 1 3 45
Lyons Colin 5 3 2 1 8 6 4 1 6 9 45
Colman Tomas 6 5 4 3 7 6 5 2 3 3 44
Power, Paddy 8 4 1 2 5 7 6 4 3 4 44
RADCLIFFE AND LEL PULL OFF VICTORIES IN NEW YORK MARATHON.
Both the men’s and women’s races at the ING New York City Marathon were decided with exciting finishes in the final mile last Sunday, but that was the only similarity between the two.Britain’s Paula Radcliffe, in her first marathon since becoming a mother, won the women’s race in 2:23:09 from Gete Wami of Ethiopia in a race that was a two-person affair from the first step. In the men’s race, Kenya Martin Lel outkicked Abderrahim Goumri of Morocco, 2:09:04 to 2:09:16, surviving a war of attrition which cut the field from a group of 17 at the halfway point in 1:05:45. The men’s race stayed in that 17-man group until they hit the 16-mile mark which has become the traditional break-up point for this race. Kenyan Rogers Rop zoomed the next mile in 4:25 quickly reducing the lead group to nine and dropping 2006 winner Marilson Gomes dos Santos, and by mile 20 it was down to five – former winners Rop, Martin Lel and South African Hendrick Ramaala plus New York first-timers Kenyan James Kwambai and Goumri, each of whom surged into the lead at one time or another. By mile 23, Rop and Kwambai had faded, leaving Lel, Goumri and Ramaala to duke it out in Central Park, with Lel doing most of the pushing. Suddenly Ramaala let go, and both Goumri and Lel looked very strong with 3000 metres (just under two miles) to the finish. The two had dueled similarly in April at London, when Lel sprinted past Goumri (in his first-ever marathon) to win by three seconds. This time Lel didn’t wait for the last 50 metres. With 400m or so to go, he accelerated swiftly and opened an eight-metre lead which he held to the line. More than two minutes behind Lel’s 2:09:04 and Goumri’s 2:09:16, Ramaala straggled in 2:11:25, with Italy’s Olympic champion Stefano Baldini charging up from tenth at 30km to grab fourth in 2:11:58.In the women’s race, Radcliffe lost no time in showing that motherhood has not changed her racing style. She charged to the front at the starting horn, and quickly took charge of a small group which went with her for the first mile or so, running uphill on the Verazzano bridge which is the toughest hill on the course. With her were two-time defending champion Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia, Ethiopia’s Gete Wami, World champion Catherina Ndereba of Kenya, and Lidiya Grigoryeva of Russia. But not for long. Prokopcuka had said earlier in the week that, “If Paula goes through the half-marathon in 1:10, I won’t go with her.” And it quickly became evident that that was pretty much what Radcliffe had in mind. So by 5km into the race, Radcliffe and Wami were five seconds clear of the other three and the next runner, American Elva Dryer, was another 47 seconds back. Radcliffe and Wami hit the half marathon in 1:10:47, now two and half minutes ahead, and for the next 20km or so, the two ran together, usually with Radcliffe in front but sometimes side by side. In Central Park, with perhaps 5km to go, Radcliffe put in a surge and opened a 20 metre gap.But Wami crept back and it was business-as-usual as they came into the last kilometre still together. Then Wami made a quick move, and for a moment it looked as if it might be decisive. It wasn’t. Radcliffe quickly blew back into the lead, and shortly after re-entering the Park for the final 600m, looked over her left shoulder to see Wami, then bent her head and started sprinting it was all over,the margin had grown to 100 metres at the finish. Nearly four minutes back in third was Prokopcuka, in 2:26:13, followed by Grigoryeva in 2:28:37 and Ndereba in 2:29:08.
RESULTS
Men1) Martin Lel (KEN) 2:09:042) Abderrahim Goumri (MAR) 2:09:16 3) Hendrick Ramaala (RSA) 2:11:254) Stefano Baldini (ITA) 2:11:585) James Kwambai (KEN) 2:12:256) Ruggero Pertile (ITA) 2:13:017) Stephen Kiogora (KEN) 2:13:41 8) Marilson Gomes Dos Santos (BRA) 2:13:47
Women1) Paula Radcliffe (GBR) 2:23:092) Gete Wami (ETH) 2:23:323) Jelena Prokopcuka (LAT) 2:26:134) Lidiya Grigoryeva (RUS) 2:28:375) Catherine Ndereba (KEN) 2:29:086) Elva Dryer (USA) 2:35:157 Robyn Friedman (USA) 2:39:198) Tegla Loroupe (Ken) 2:41:58
