United Striders hosted the very successful first county road race of the year, the ladies and mens novice events. Thanks to fantastic organisational efforts from Catherine Ronan, Mick O’Gorman, John Kent and others, the event proved to be very popular for both athletes and spectators. The ladies event, over 3km, was won in spectacular fashion by Katie Wilson of DMP. The USAC ladies squad were very well represented, with Sandra Young, Beth O’Connor, Caitriona McLoughlin, Leona Cranny, Paula Freeman, Sareen O’Farrell, Geraldine Purcell and Liz Keating. All raced very well, with Sandra and Beth just outside the individual medals, in a big field. With everybody contributing so well to the team effort, there was great excitement when the Striders were awarded second place in the club competition. A big congratulations to our ladies squad, who have all made such fantastic progress.
The Striders mens squad of George Delaney, Martin Majeski, Pat O’Callaghan, Pat Murray, Thomas Moran, Mick O’Gorman, Paul Colfer, Colm Stafford and Emmett Malone produced some spectacular performances over the testing 6km course. At the halfway point George and Martin had established a commanding lead over the chasers, with the remaining Striders all well positioned to contribute to the team score. The leaders maintained the scorching pace over the second half of the race, with George securing the county title, ahead of clubmate Martin. Further down the field, the Striders landed some very impressive finishing positions to ensure the club were first in the mens club event.
On an evening where the club really pulled together to put on a marvellous event, it was fitting that the USAC athletes, in particular our latest county champion George Delaney, stole the show. Well done to all.
