Race Report – Dunboyne AC’s Inaugural Carton House Trail Race, Thursday 28th July 2016
Thursday evening last saw Race Director Tommy McDonnell and Dunboyne AC host our inaugural Carton House Trail Race over 6km’s.
With the Carton Trail Race came the promise of beautiful course in idyllic surrounds, an evening to forget the watch and enjoy the scenery, the low key atmosphere and test the legs over a multitude of different terrains. Of course race goers in the area were again attracted by the promise of not just a great route, but medals for all finishers and the excellent post-race spread which Dunboyne AC have become synonymous with at its four annual races.
This proved to be enough to entice a huge amount of entries, a staggering amount in fact. The event was a resounding success, with almost 500 entrants, of all standards, travelling to the Meath-Kildare border from as far afield as Antrim, Carlow and Tipperary. The home Club was delighted to see the support of local Meath Clubs and others in our vicinity such as Lucan Harriers, Celbridge AC, St. Coca’s Kilcock and Le Cheile AC, Leixlip.
The course starts on the River Rye outside the Boat House in Carton House, for those who are familiar with the Demesne. It rolls along some pathway, rolling grassy trails, along the old Carton Wall between Maynooth and Leixlip before veering onto trails in mature forest for a kilometre. Runners were then challenged to a steep hill climb before they were back on the trails towards Carton House, completing their race back beside the Boat House. Parts of the route were used for old NACAI cross country races in the past.
The evening itself was a balmy one, despite the threatening weather forecast and the conditions only added to the event, which will surely grow in numbers to 750 in 2017. The event seen a high club participation rate battling for honours at the front of the race. Prizes were awarded to age categories and teams by Club President Sean Conroy and Liam Treacy, father of Dunboyne AC Olympian Sara Treacy who competes in Rio very soon. Both were very accomplished runners themselves in past years.
We had the honour of having owner Lee Mallaghan of Carton House start the race. From the off the two favourites from Raheny Shamrock AC took the pace on. Their Kenyan athlete Freddie Situk and local man Mark Kirwin no more than a yard apart for all but the last 400m of the race when Freddie put the foot down to claim first over the line in a time of 19:05, just one second ahead of Kirwin. Completing the podium places on the night in the Men’s senior grade was SLOT’s talented Steeplechaser Brian Kirwin.
In the women’s senior race we’d a clear winner in DSD’s Laura Shaughnessy in a time of 21:21. Laura mixed it well with the men and was 11th finisher overall. In a repeat of 2nd and 3rd in Dunboyne AC’s Clonee 10k Road Race we’d the home Clubs’ two strongest home runners complete the podium however they traded positions on this occasion, with Laura Buckley finishing in 2nd and Emilia Dan in 3rd.
In the team competitions, Dunboyne AC managed to win both the men and women’s contest. The trio of Loughlin Campion, Morgan McDonagh and Derek Finegan scoring 24 points, fending off a strong challenge from Carlow club St. Lawrence O’Toole AC in 2nd place with 26 points, and Celbridge AC in 3rd with 66 points. In the women’s team competition the trio of Laura Buckley, Emilia Dan and recently returned Aoiffe Kerrigan secured the honours for the club by a margin of 4 with a score of 22 points, ahead of fellow Meath club Dunshaughlin AC with 26 points and St. Coca’s AC, from Kilcock, 3rd place with 71 points.
Prizes were also presented to all category placings, from Junior to M&F60. Those results can be viewed here – http://www.myrunresults.com/events/carton_house_6k_trail_run/1806/results
The race drew on support from lots of local clubs, from all sides of the Meath / Dublin / Kildare border. It was supported significantly by the Carton House team, to whom the Club is greatly indebted to for its assistance in making the race a huge success.
We had a small race organisation team in Dunboyne AC for this event but they worked feverously in the weeks and days before the race and things ran off impeccably to the delight of all entrants.
With an event like this there are always a number of thank you’s to make…
Well done to all our teams: registration, catering, promotions, Paul Gorey and his marshals, MC and Race Director Tommy McDonnell, and again, our hosts Carton House. Above all we’d like to thank the runners who turned out, almost 500 of you who entered, brilliant support. We hope this race will grow significantly again in 2017.
Some photo’s and reports on the achievements of our Seniors and F4L’rs in this race will follow in a short while.
