With reporting by Roisin Bell from the first day of the Meath Interclub league hosted by Cushinstown AC on Wednesday 24th February.

Myself and Rosemary turned up at Cushinstown on Wednesday evening around 7. If you’ve never been there, well – you’ll never find it! It’s the best hidden athletic secret in Meath and we all know there are a few good ones of those! (remember Star of the Sea XC a couple of years ago anyone?!). Luckily Rosemary had been there before so we managed to find the place – and the last parking space too – the place was packed!

So, out of the darkness and into a kid filled, screaming hall of chaos! Well it looked like chaos but actually it was extremely well organised. How the coaches and stewards kept track of all the kids is beyond me but they did a super job.

Cushinstown Indoor is basically a huge long shed type building with a 60 meter tartan track down the middle. There is a narrow space on either side of the track which holds spectator space and two long jumps. When we arrived the teeny kids were just taking off, racing their little hearts out down the track to the screams of their club mates and friends. Some of them were still in their school tracksuits, some in club singlets, but all had the cutest looks of determination on their little faces as they galloped down the track.

Ah – the track. 60 meters is nothing right? Wrong! Look at 60 meters indoors and it seems like it goes on forever! Compared to looking at it on our outdoor track it’s really long! Definitely room to work up a pace!

So, Saoirse joined us and we met up with the juvenile coaches and the dozens of young athletes from the club. After cheering on a few of our very successful (as always) younger club members, it was time for our warm up, i.e. around and around and around the car park outside! There’s a lovely grass track at Cushinstown but it wasn’t lit. Warm up done our friendly steward came looking for us (where else would you get a steward roaming around the hall trying to find you!) to tell us our race was starting early. A quick change in the call room (ooh, a call room!) before being handed our lane numbers and frogmarched down the hall to the starting line.

The nerves were starting to kick in now. This was starting to feel like a professional race! We even had starting blocks! Luckily Rosemary had given me a go on her blocks the previous week so after getting over the sensation that I was about to topple over my own head I was ready to give them a try.

The hall fell silent.

We got Ready.

We got Set.

The whistle blew and we were off!

THUNDERING DOWN THE TRACK! HOW FAST CAN YOU GO! PUMP THOSE ARMS! DRIVE THOSE LEGS! NO TIME TO BREATHE, THE FINISH LIN’ES JUST THERE, CATCH HER, CATCH HER DON’T LET HER GET AHEAD AND

wham, over the line and whack into the padded wall at the far side. It’s all over.

BUT it takes ten minutes for the crazy crazy adrenaline to stop pumping around my body and arms – I’ve never felt anything like it. I always feel an ‘adrenaline rush’ at the end of a race – giddy and high and jittery – but this was something completely different: my arms were shaking and quivering with the blood pumping madly around. The race was over but the effects will stay a while.

Amazing.

I realised afterwards that the race was so short there was no time to feel any pain! You can’t say that about any other race! Rosemary and Saoirse were high as kites too after great performances from both super-fast ladies. As Rosemary said – ” Now you see why I’m addicted to sprinting Roisin!!!” And I do.

Don’t miss the next opportunity to do 60 meters folks, you can’t help but love this distance!

Next up for the grown ups was Keith, doing justice to the intense training he’s put in recently. Keith came in an excellent second to national indoor and outdoor 60 meter champion Peter Doherty from Ratoath.

Afterwards Keith informed us that we were needed on the long jump team to score points for the club (it was an interclub competition) so the fun didn’t stop there! This is the only competition where adult and juvenile club members compete together as a team, so there was no way we were backing out and letting the side down by losing valuable points! Keith explained what to do, and we had a few practice runs and jumps before our names were called. I managed to do a very impressive tumble getting sand in my hair (that’s not supposed to happen) and despite feeling like an elite long jumper on the telly managed no more than 2.5 meters, which is basically the width of a medium sized puddle 🙂 Rosemary looked rather more dignified and after a couple of practice runs threw out a nice jump. Keith of course led the way with impressively long leaps. Good fun though and an interesting experience.

All in all, a really fun night. Well done to Rosemary, Saoirse and Keith on their super racing, and to all the juveniles who of course are the real pros at this racing business and basically showed us grown ups how it’s done 🙂 The Juvenile race report will follow once the results are available.

If anyone is interested in competing at sprint or middle distance you should check out the club’s new training group coached by Liam Treacy. Sessions are on Tuesdays at 6pm and on Saturday mornings and all training is geared towards the various track races throughout the year. Ask us for more details, comment below, or email us on dunboyneac@gmail.com. We’d love you to join us.

[Pictured is Roisin Bell, Keith Eglington and  Rosemary Higgins, with just Saoirse McGrath missing from the group]