**Dunboyne Men & Women take Gold and Silver at Meath Spring Half Marathon, March 2016***

Sunday saw another mammoth turnout from the Seniors at the Bohermeen (Meath) Spring Half Marathon. This is a popular race given that’s it’s a short jaunt down the M3 and that if offers the chance for our top runners to score points and win team medals. The day dawned and gone were the recent storms of late, replaced by a perfect spring morning, sunny, dry and mild, giving our athletes every chance to race well. And race well they did!

First up for the club was Rory Kavanagh, Rory ran just behind the first lead group of men and staved off the competition to come home second Meath man with a PB time of 1:14:38, fantastic result for Rory, not far behind Rory was Alan Kenny in 12th place overall with a time of 1:15:10, a new PB for Alan, well done! Gerry O’Reilly who finished in the top forty, took 2nd place in his age category, with a time of 1:20:58, his first time to go sub 1:21. Hot on Gerry’s heals was Ger Sloan with another PB, (and an age category win) crossing the line in 1:21:11, super prep for the upcoming Cork Marathon Ger! Another athlete on the PB train was Alan McKernan, better known to all as S3A2, he can now add S1:22A to his many aliases, well done Alan (1:21:32), he also took 2nd place in his age category but we’ll keep that part secret!  Next up the trio of Kevin Clancy (1:28:17), Fintan Crehan (1:28:55) and Garban Blake (1:29:42), all with PB’s and Garban’s first time to break the 1:30 barrier, well done guys! Last but by no means least for the senior men were Diarmuid Collins (1:36:37), Dave Galbraith(1:40:14) John O’Malley (1:40:27), Paul Lord (1:41:58 ) Alan Doyle (1:42:38), Mark McDonald (1:43:30) and Anthony O’Connor (1:55:54) with more PB’s among them – this was Mark’s first outing for the club and second half marathon, congrats on your 6 minute PB Mark.

The mens’ team took Gold in the Meath Championships, not surprising given the performances on the day, a very well done to all.

Not to be outdone, the senior women took to the race with equal gusto, led by ladies club captain Emilia who came home in fine style 2nd Meath lady in 1:27:56, fantastic Emilia! Not far behind the captain was Clodagh Dunphy in 1:32:53, Clodagh is going from strength to strength as her ever falling times show. Chasing down Clodagh was an always smiling Ciara Nolan who joined the now very large PB train to come home sub 1:40 in 1:39:17, Ciara’s hard work over the winter in the cross country clearly paying dividends on the day. Completing the ladies team was Aoife Kerrigan, who stepped in at the last minute to save the team! Aoife who is coming back from injury, had a storming run crossing the line in 1:44:28 only minutes away from her PB time and best of all, ensuring that the ladies team took home SILVER on the day.

It is fantastic to see so many blue & white vests at these local and more importantly, championship races, to have both Men’s and Women’s teams scoring so high is a double bonus, the club had 9 athletes under 90 minutes – well done to each of you on a superb days racing.  The results are a testament to the hard work each athlete has put in over the winter months.