Raheny Shamrock AC hosted their 3rd annual Battle of Clontarf 10 miler incorporating the Leinster 10 Mile Road Race Championships on Easter Monday, and it was an all ladies affair there in terms of attendance from Dunboyne AC. Captain Emilia had the troops rallied and all seven were magnificent.

It was cold and breezy but the sun shone at least and as always Raheny put on an excellent race.

Leading from the front Emilia Dan not alone ran the fastest time in her category but was third lady in the most prestigious Senior category. An excellent 65:06 and a negative split to her name on the day.

Next in for the Club behind Emilia was Clodagh Dunphy, clocking a time of 71:02, good enough to win gold in her category.

All were delighted to see Dee Fitzsimons back in competitive action after a torrid couple of years with knee trouble. The race was just a feeler to see where she was at but Dee’s obviously still incredibly fit, not only did she run 74:20 she also picked up bronze in the championship.

An excellent performance from Heather Harold in her first race since the marathon, who increased the pace progressively to finish strong in 81:08.

Mirella Herghelegiu, often seen sharing the pace with Heather on reps at training, took on the 10 mile distance for the first time, and ran almost 5 mins inside where she expected to finish, with an excellent 85:37.

Jackie Brannigan as always, makes endurance look effortless, the longer the race the stronger she is, dealing with the 10 miles like most of us deal with a few, 86:51 for Jackie on the day.

Sporting the finest and most authentic tan of the day was Ana Quigley, only just back from a week in the sun, where the runners were packed and obviously went to good use. A little colder this week but her performance was hot, a super 98:22 from Ana in Clontarf.

Not only did we see seven great individual efforts, the ladies combined to win silver, in the Senior Championship, despite all scorers being Masters, scoring 34 points to Tallaght AC’s 30.

Well done to all on a fine outing. Next up of course is our own 4 Mile on next Sunday and the National 10k on Sunday week.