Sunday 28th February was the last day of the four winter league races of the Women’s Meet & Train. The Cow Park it was not – Ballyboden St Enda’s pitches were a dream to run on and our teams didn’t know what hit them – nor did the other hundred or so racers who had to suffer our mucky fields the previous Sunday! So, it was never going to be a text of mud-endurance, more so speed and nerve.
Team A’s opponents in the Gold Division thought that they had it in the bag and positions 1, 2 and 3 were hotly contested between ourselves, Fingallions and Crusaders. But, they didn’t know about our secret weapon – Eva Mc Neilis 🙂 Between clashing dates and date changes Eva had been unable to make the previous three races, but she was lined up for the final event and so we knew our points would tumble, and hopefully take us into the winner’s enclosure.
Team B’s ever improving Annette was brought down by a stomach bug at the last minute and was forced to bow out, along with injured Eimear. Lack of clarity on the points split between the divisions meant that the remaining four were racing blind, without any indications of what was needed in order to podium.
It was all to play for.
Two laps of a large circuit comprising three fields and off we went. Laura and Eva immediately took the lead and formed an intimidating two girl barrier at the front. The pair were closely followed by Norma and Ciara, both fully aware of what they needed to do and the points they could not concede. Emily and Maeve provided the best of back up to the team’s leaders, and all in all the blue and white formed a formidable sight at the pointy end of this race. The B Team brought up the rear, comprised of Mirela, Eilieen, Rosemary and Roisin.
One lap in and the support from the sidelines started to make itself felt. Roisin said: “ I saw Emily’s mum, Ger at the end of the first lap. I got such a boost from her shout out of support I managed to overtake two girls straight away! Only for her :)” Towards the end of the race Eileen was feeling she’d given it all she had, but an inspiring shout from Tommy gave her the confidence she needed to push harder, overtaking a girl in the last hundred meters with a fantastic burst of speed and strength.
But the supporter of them all had to be Annemarie, who was like a genie popping out of a bottle everywhere we needed her! She found gaps in hedges and jumped in and out – and in again to lend support to each and every one of us, strung out as we were along the course. Fantastic.
Meanwhile, this was only a two mile race and things were heating up at the top. Eva and Laura had held off the main opponent from Fingallions for the whole course until now, and with half a lap to go Laura pulled ahead: Eva couldn’t manage match her pace but the Fingallions opponent stayed with her. Laura tried to pull away on the last stretch but couldn’t shake her. Reserves gone, her competitor managed to pull past in the last 30 meters and finished just ahead with Laura just behind and Eva in third. A great finish for the team, and so close to the ideal. Special mention to Laura who was 2nd individual overall in the league, finishing 2nd, 1st and 2nd in her three races. Fantastic racing Laura!
Hot on their heels were Ciara and Norma, both giving the team absolutely everything they had throughout every yard of those two miles and coming home in superb positions: 7th and 13th respectively. Norma put the boot down with 150 meters to go and overtook one girl in a head to head battle. Well done Norma! Ciara and Norma are an inspiration to us all – improving slowly and surely since they both joined the club and putting in the miles week in week out to realise their potential. From down the field a couple of years ago to top of the field this year – the hard work is paying off girls! Of course absolute determination to do their best for the team is the only match for the training, and these pair have it all. Well done to you both. Our team’s youngsters Maeve and Emily wrapped up their league well up the field, running great races to finish in 34th and 56th positions. Well done to Emily and Maeve.
On to the B Team who’d run inconsistently – in other words improving all the time! Rosemary managed to loose around 10 places from her Cow Park race the week before and could be seen beaming from ear to ear with a strong and steady finish in 83rd. Eileen as mentioned above pulled out all the stops to pass an opponent in the final stretch – a nice burst of speed there Eileen! We’ll be expecting that from now on! Roisin tried to put her recent sprint training into practice on the last stretch – it worked to an extent – until the girl ahead started to sprint too! Better start sprinting earlier next time Roisin! Mirela continued her strong cross country season fending off the competition to finish well up the field – the training’s paying off Mirela! Eileen came home in 76th, Roisin in 28th and Mirela in 45th. Well done Team B.
All in all a great league for Dunboyne’s A and B teams. Dunboyne A finished the league in joint 2nd position, just 3 points off the winners! Dunboyne B finished in a very respectable 14th team, out of a total of 28. Well done to all our women, thanks to the organisers and race hosts for a super competition and roll on the summer league!
Photos can be seen HERE.
