AAI Nation Road Relays - Raheny, Sunday 23/Apr

MisterDrak

The AAI Nation Road relays are on this Sunday 23th April from 2:00pm in Raheny.

Run on the Wade Avenue 1 mile loop, there are 4 races on the day including :-

Masters Women
Masters Men
Senior Women
Senior Men

The masters races are run over a 1 mile, 2 mile, 1 mile format.

The Seniors over a 2 mile, 1 mile, 3 mile, 2 mile format.

Always a Great Afternoon of Running...

Krusty_Clown

Looking forward to it, even if only as a spectator. It's a super event to be a part of, but equally as good to take in from the sidelines!
Any sign of the teams to be published/preview?

Sacksian

I’m unfortunately missing it this year, but it really is a super race: genuinely one of the few occasions when our best distance athletes in the country go head-to-head on the road.
Last year, you had Mick Clohissey, John Travers and Brandon Hargreaves all on the 3-mile leg, with both Mick and John running 14:04 while the last 2-mile leg saw Kevin Mulcaire holding off Eoin Everard on the line. It would be great to see Ennis actually take the title this year, as I think they’ve three silvers in the last few years now? Mick Clohissey missing as he’s doing London.

In the senior women’s, I think Leevale did 3-in-a-row last year, while their b-team finished 4th by 7 seconds, so they could potentially threaten two senior medals. Not sure who else will feature.

The master men o35 is probably a foregone conclusion this year for Raheny, unless a club like Sligo or East Cork decide to forego the senior race and put their eligible master men in. The battle for the minor medals should be very, very close though, if every one gets their full squad out. Crusaders, Newbridge, Rathfarnham, Donore, Sligo (even without their newest masters) should be in the mix; all depends on the 2-mile leg.

Master women’s o35 and men’s o50 used to be a cert for Raheny too but Sli Cualann upset the women’s streak last year, so who knows?!

HelenAnne

Sacksian wrote: »

I’m unfortunately missing it this year, but it really is a super race: genuinely one of the few occasions when our best distance athletes in the country go head-to-head on the road.
Last year, you had Mick Clohissey, John Travers and Brandon Hargreaves all on the 3-mile leg, with both Mick and John running 14:04 while the last 2-mile leg saw Kevin Mulcaire holding off Eoin Everard on the line. It would be great to see Ennis actually take the title this year, as I think they’ve three silvers in the last few years now? Mick Clohissey missing as he’s doing London.

In the senior women’s, I think Leevale did 3-in-a-row last year, while their b-team finished 5th, so they could potentially threaten two senior medals. Not sure who else will feature.

The master men o35 is probably a foregone conclusion this year for Raheny, unless a club like Sligo or East Cork decide to forego the senior race and put their eligible master men in. The battle for the minor medals should be very, very close though, if every one gets their full squad out. Crusaders, Newbridge, Rathfarnham, Donore, Sligo (even without their newest masters) should be in the mix; all depends on the 2-mile leg.

Master women’s o35 and men’s o50 used to be a cert for Raheny too but Sli Cualann upset the women’s streak last year, so who knows?!

I think Raheny's F35 and F50 teams are very strong this year.

raiders11

Sacksian wrote: »

I’m unfortunately missing it this year, but it really is a super race: genuinely one of the few occasions when our best distance athletes in the country go head-to-head on the road.
Last year, you had Mick Clohissey, John Travers and Brandon Hargreaves all on the 3-mile leg, with both Mick and John running 14:04 while the last 2-mile leg saw Kevin Mulcaire holding off Eoin Everard on the line. It would be great to see Ennis actually take the title this year, as I think they’ve three silvers in the last few years now? Mick Clohissey missing as he’s doing London.

In the senior women’s, I think Leevale did 3-in-a-row last year, while their b-team finished 4th by 7 seconds, so they could potentially threaten two senior medals. Not sure who else will feature.

The master men o35 is probably a foregone conclusion this year for Raheny, unless a club like Sligo or East Cork decide to forego the senior race and put their eligible master men in. The battle for the minor medals should be very, very close though, if every one gets their full squad out. Crusaders, Newbridge, Rathfarnham, Donore, Sligo (even without their newest masters) should be in the mix; all depends on the 2-mile leg.

Master women’s o35 and men’s o50 used to be a cert for Raheny too but Sli Cualann upset the women’s streak last year, so who knows?!

Is Mulcaire running as thought there was an article up a few weeks ago about him having an injury!!

Sacksian

raiders11 wrote: »

Is Mulcaire running as thought there was an article up a few weeks ago about him having an injury!!

I honestly don't know, I think he's in the states anyway, but Ennis should still have a team to compete.

Team entry list here:

http://www.athleticsireland.ie/downloads/other/Road_Relay_Entries.pdf

No Sligo or Newbridge in the M35 category (no MSB either) but East Cork are in there and not in the senior men, so they might challenge. Only one Leevale team in the Senior women, but UCD and QUB are in there, which is interesting.

It's hard to tell without the individual runners listed how strong some of those teams are; Clonliffe can be very variable in the senior men.

djemba djemba

Raheny won the mens relay and Queens the Womens

walshb

Great turnout there today...

MisterDrak

Great day of running from all of the teams entered.

The senior men's race was epic stuff with the lead swinging one way then the other between Raheny and DSD, with Raheny getting the win. Mark Kirwan had a fall on the first lap, breaking his collar bone, but continued on to run a 9:36 for the 2 mile loop.

PVincent

It was actually Donore Harriers and John Travers who shook the 3rd leg up ...Travers made up a serious amount of ground on young Dooney . Fabulous racing during the day ...Ann Marie McGlynn was amazing, running in both Masters and Seniors for her club

Sacksian

I thought Donore were going to take it on the last leg, but fair play to Conor Dooney holding off Eric Keogh until the end.

I heard mention of the relays being moved at some point - anyone know why or where the suggestion came from?? It's really a classic venue. In terms of atmosphere and quality, I think it's a great event to introduce the sport to anyone who doesn't really know anything about club athletics.

Dubgal72

I am still buzzing from yesterday! Such an amazing day of racing. I was in the lucky position of first leg, first race so got to watch it all.

From the Finn valley athlete, Teresa, in the first leg (got to watch her too as she sped off to a 5:20 leg. This would have had her not far off the pointy end of the senior women mile leg) to Annmarie McGlynn who casually threw in a 10:43 2 mile leg in the masters before lining up to do the same in the seniors....
She ran 10:29 in that leg (Lizzie Lee and Deirdre Byrne ran the fastest 2 mile legs last year in 10:38), she had several jaws dropping as we watched!

Great to see Ciara Everard run a strong mile leg. She looked in the zone prior to her leg. Universities took the 1st and 2nd placings this year.

The men's race was fab, it really was a case of 'who is going to come around the corner now?!' each of the 8 times they approached the finishing straight. I confess, I was rooting for Donore but correctly predicted that Raheny would get the jump in the last lap. But what a thrilling last lap! Talking of which, Raheny simply rock. Their many teams were of the highest quality, the organisation as usual, seamless, the residents generous in again allowing their Sunday to be overtaken by mad, over-excited athletes and supporters and of course all the volunteers and marshals who make the event happen.

Yes, the relays used to be rotated around the country and definitely, some championship races would benefit from a rotation (the national half, for example) but in this case, if it ain't broke, why fix it?!

Congrats to all who took part yesterday. We are brave animals to enter the mad rollercoaster of the relays

Oh and ps we didn't manage to defend our title but we held our heads high and will be back for another try next year. The bar has been raised!!

Birdie Num Num

Sacksian wrote: »

I thought Donore were going to take it on the last leg, but fair play to Conor Dooney holding off Eric Keogh until the end.

I heard mention of the relays being moved at some point - anyone know why or where the suggestion came from?? It's really a classic venue. In terms of atmosphere and quality, I think it's a great event to introduce the sport to anyone who doesn't really know anything about club athletics.

It actually used to move around before and it's probably not a bad thing but Raheny really has become a home for it and it is a great event. The residents are never a problem either, at least from what I can see. If it does move around I would imagine it would come back again to Raheny at times. The only issue is would it slot back in without any hiccups. Not sure if it's just talk or if it will move. Fair play to the likes of Finn Valley, Letterkenny, Ennis Track, Leevale and others for making the trip each year.

annapr

What a fantastic event to watch yesterday... DG, really sorry to miss you completely (even though we saw your race... ooops)

Annemarie McGlynn was phenomenal (did I mention she's from Donegal?), not once but twice, she was so far ahead in her master's race that she ran the second lap by herself and in the seniors she brought her team from 8th to 2nd, brilliant.

And to see Mark Kirwan come in fourth, and finishing looking grey with pain...unbelievable performance. And what a great finish to the men's race (I was rooting for Raheny )

But... it's a national AI event and the athletes had to share road space with cars and buses :eek: we saw at least one athlete having to dodge a bus :eek: Seriously, a national event with such high calibre athletes, surely they could cordon off part of the road... even a few traffic cones....

davedanon

Fantastic event, fantastic atmosphere, great venue. Ok, the concrete roads might put some off, but it's a gladiatorial setting. Great for saying hello to people you haven't seen in a while, both among the competitors and spectators (both are willing to travel for this), and a privilege to be one of only a matter of dozens in with the elite, rather than hundreds or thousands as is usual.

You just pray you aren't paddy-last.

Working class heroes

http://lindienaughton.com/ucd-women-take-relay-title-after-queens-disqualified/
Queens disqualified. UCD awarded gold.
Oh dear.

Dubgal72

Working class heroes wrote: »

http://lindienaughton.com/ucd-women-take-relay-title-after-queens-disqualified/
Queens disqualified. UCD awarded gold.
Oh dear.

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