Sunday 26th Feburary saw a large contingent of Dunboyne AC athletes competing for the club at the new National Indoor Arena, Abottstown, for day 4 of the Leinster Indoor Championships.  The day brought competitors together from all over the province for various track and field events at Junior, Senior and Masters grades.   It was a hugely encouraging and proud day to see so many Dunboyne AC athletes representing our club at provincial level in this great new indoor facility.

In the field events Dunboyne AC had two competitors, both in the Senior Men’s Shot Put competition.  Colm Tierney, fresh from his impressive display and PB at the National Indoor Seniors recently, delivered a couple of strong throws.  While he didn’t improve on his PB, he did enough to earn a Silver medal with his first round effort.  This was a very good performance from Colm who is still a novice at this event.   We weren’t finished there as Shane Nolan, despite a recent long layoff due to illness, threw a very consistent series of throws to earn a very impressive Bronze medal, making it a brilliant 2-3 for our club.  Well done lads and how great to see two Dunboyne AC throwers on the podium.

On the track Owen Fletcher was in a very competitive Senior men’s 1,500m: not liking the dry air in the stadium he nonetheless got stuck in and ran an impressive PB of 4:34.  Great running from Owen.

Eimear English had none other than European medallist and Irish Olympian Ciara Mageen to contend with in her Senior Women’s 800m.  Eimear who is a fine 800m runner equipped herself brilliantly and was in contention through this very fast race.  She ran a cracking time of 2:23, which was a PB we believe, so very well done Eimear.

Jane Bandila lined up in the Senior Women’s 1,500m and ran a very strong 5:10 in a very fast race where the Championship record was destroyed.  This was a very good run from Jane who battled hard throughout.  She then lined up for the Senior Women’s 3,000m where she had targeted a sub 11 minute run.   In another fast race which again saw the senior championship record broken, Jane ran very strongly to finish in a very impressive 6th place and more importantly in a time of 10:58.9, so mission accomplished.  Well done Jane.

Clodagh Dunphy toed the line in the masters 3,000m and proceeded to win her category with a fine run on the day.  Great running  Clodagh.  Perhaps hinting that 3,000m track running must be targeted by the Dunboyne AC ladies, Emilia Dan comfortably won gold in her category at the same distance with her usual strong performance after yet another fine run.  Well done Emilia.

Nobby Smith was in a tough Masters 60m category but scorched down the track to claim gold in a very fast time in a tight finish.  Well done Nobby, Dunboyne AC’s flying machine!

Michael Cornyn lined up for the 400m and went out hard.  He kept his form throughout and won gold in a very impressive 61 secs.    Michael was out again in the 800m and again ran a very strong race winning a silver medal, just missing out on Gold by less than 1 second.  Great running Michael.

Fintan Crehan  also represented us in the Masters 800m and was very positive throughout his race, being in the mix for the duration and running a very respectable time.  He finished outside the medals this time but this was very good running from Fintan.

Fintan was on 1,500m duty also along with newcomer to the track Jim Lineen: Fintan took the lead from his clubmate early on but Jim went ahead with a lap to go. Both again ran strongly and lots to come from these two, Jim running 5.14 and Fintan 5.21. Well done both.

Phelim Glynn was up next for his 800m and gets the ‘dash of the day’ title with his devastating last 150m kick to land the gold medal.  In a very tight race where the first 4 were separated by just under 1.5 seconds, it was Phelim’s superior finishing speed that was the difference in what was a very exciting and tactical race.  Phelim, like Fintan, was also doubling up in the 1,500m and again was involved at the business end of the race getting a well-deserved bronze medal, missing sliver by a tiny margin.  Well done Phelim on two good runs.

In an ultra-competitive Senior Mens 3,000m, Rory Kavanagh was our sole representative.  Rory was involved at the top end of the big field all through this extremely fast race and finished 4th, behind 3 athletes that were within a couple of seconds of the Championship record.  Well done Rory on a very good performance.

Paul Gannon had a number of his sprint group in action on the day, many of whom were experiencing indoor competition for the first time.  Paul deserves a lot of credit for the massive time and effort he has put into this group since last year, setting out individual tailored training plans and leaving no stone unturned in his meticulous preparation for this event and others.  His preparation included several trips to this indoor facility over the last number of weeks for training sessions, ensuring all his athletes were very familiar and comfortable with the unique challenges of running on an indoor track.  A huge thank you, Paul.

Michelle Eglington was representing Dunboyne AC and also the Eglington family (as husband Keith and sprinting daughter Lucy were off duty for the day) in the Masters 60m.   Michelle who is part of Paul Gannon’s group ran a very fast race and just failed to make the final but produced a fine run in her first indoor competition.

Roisin Bell who has been flying in Paul Gannon’s group of late, flew down the 60m track and won her Masters 60m heat to easily qualify for her final.   She was joined by Karen Ni Flaharta who has been impressing in Paul’s training sessions since the turn of the year.  Karen ran a cracker in her heat to qualify for the final also.  Karen, like Michelle, was upholding the family tradition of delivering on the track with her qualification.  In the very fast final Roisin produced another explosive run to win a fantastic silver medal while Karen was just outside the medals in her first competitive indoor outing.

Two more athletes from Paul’s Gannon’s group then lined up in the blocks for their 60m.  Fiona Tobin and Rosemary Higgins both ran an extremely quick 60m to just miss out on the medals in a tight race.  Great running from them both in what was a very exciting race.

Another one of Paul’s Gannon’s group, Sarah Faulker ran in an extremely competitive Senior Women’s 60m.  Sarah was right up there throughout the race and was unlucky to miss out on the final.

Roisin Bell was out again in the 200m.  On the blocks she had her game face on, determined to go one better than the 60m.  Her determination won the day and a very strong run delivered her a Gold medal.  Joining Roisin was Marie Tobin who also ran a very strong and controlled 200m to comfortably claim Bronze.  Yet again, two Dunboyne AC athletes were on the podium.  Well done Roisin and Marie, great running.

Dunboyne AC  had three more of Paul’s group lining up in the next category of the Masters Women’s 200m.  Helen Lonergan, Fiona Tobin and Angela Walsh all flew out of their blocks in adjoining lanes.  Helen won the race within in a race by leading them home and winning her heat after a very strong run.  Fiona flew around, pushing her all the way and finished just behind but disaster struck Angela who got injured while in full flow.    Well done ladies and we hope you recover soon Angela.

Next up for Dunboyne AC in her 200m category was Kay Gilmartin, another of Paul’s protégés who bombed around the 200m track to a great Silver medal in a fast time.  Well done Kay.

The 400m races were up next and Marie Tobin, after winning a bronze in her 200m, ran an absolutely brilliant race to win Gold in a PB time of 67 secs.  She had a great battle over the 2 laps with the athlete who had proved difficult to pass but Marie prevailed in the end coming away to win by 0.7 of a second.  Fantastic running Marie.

Helen Lonergan and Fiona Tobin were next to line up in their 400m race and both ran very good races in what was an extremely fast race, with Helen claiming a bronze and Fiona finishing 4th.  Again this was great running from both women.

Kay Gilmartin was out again looking for another medal in her 400m event and she did it again, this time going one better than her earlier 200m silver, grabbing a gold medal.  Add that to the rapidly growing medal collection, Kay.

Not content with a sack full of individual medals some of the ladies got together to run in the Senior Women’s 4 X 400m relay.  The team of Emilia Dan, Jane Bandila, Clodagh Dunphy and Eimear English, while possibly more suited to longer distances than 400m, showed that class always rises to the top by comfortably winning the senior category after 4 strong runs, despite the tired legs.   Great work ladies.

In all it was a great day for Dunboyne AC.  It was great to see so many of our club athletes on the track at a provincial championships and great to see so many athletes having their first taste of indoor competition.

A special word of thanks to Paul Gorey and Shay Dunne, who were our officials on Sunday and we thank them for so generously giving their time over the day.  Each club has to provide officials or their athletes cannot compete, so this was an important commitment from them both.  Thanks lads.  Also big thanks to our very vocal group of supporters, definitely the loudest in the stadium, several of whom had to forgo lunch in order to stay and support our competitors! Declan, Sean, Seamus, Annette, Sean, and Annemarie, as well as Dunboyne AC’s  own Statler and Waldorf, Ger and Joan , who sat up high in the stands from dawn til dusk offering great support and hilarious commentary. A great day out, thanks and well done to all.

Some photos can be viewed on the club’s Flickr account HERE.