Now with only days to go to Christmas the club’s Cake Races took place on the roads around Santry followed by the annual Athletes of the Year. Once again there was a tremendous turnout of athletes to compete in the two 5 K road races which started and finished on the track in Morton Stadium and took in a loop around Northwood. Proceedings got underway with the Ladies race at 7.30 p.m. sharp with the 40 athletes being let off on a handicapped basis until the scratch athlete Alannah Cooley. First to cross the line and the winner of the 2018 Cake Race was Sarah Bateson (actual time 19.38) with the fastest athlete Alannah Cooley in 19.32.
The Men’s race also attracted an even bigger field of some 64 athletes and again followed the same format with an 8 p.m. start. It was particularly pleasing to see some of the top Clonliffe athletes take part in this race with fast running being recorded by several athletes over the 5K loop. The winner of the 2018 Men’s Cake Race was Ian Guiden (actual time 14.51) with the fastest athlete who recorded a time of 14.45 Sean O’Leary just shading it from Jayme Rossister (same time).
The prize giving led off the Athletes of the Year presentation night in the club bar with the prizes being presented by the respective captains who before the presentation thanked the athletes for their support throughout the course of 2018 and congratulated them all on their achievements throughout the course of the year.
After the presentation was made the club President Paddy Marley congratulated the athletes, the club captains and all the coaches on the fantastic performances by the club throughout the course of the year which culminated in the club being for the 4th year in succession recognised by Athletics Ireland as the Performance Club of the Year.
Presentations were then made to the club’s record breakers in 2018 who were:
Leo Morgan – 60m (indoor) – 6.82, Keith Marks – long jump (indoor) – 7.20m and Stephen Rice who threw 75.89 in the javelin at Morton Games.
The club’s National champions this year were Stephen Rice, Javelin, Stephen Scullion 10,000.
Our 2018 team champions were also congratulated:
Men’s National Indoor winning team, Men’s National Track and Field winning team, Men’s National half marathon (David Flynn, Gary O’Hanlon, Matt McGuinness), Men’s National Marathon(Gary O’Hanlon, Sergiu Ciobanu, David Flynn).
National Junior Cross Country (Sean O’Leary, Efren Gidey, Daniel Stone, Ben Guiden, Jordan Byrne, Jarlath Jordan))
National U/18 champions (Daniel Stone, Ben Guiden, Alex Murray, Darragh Carter)
National U/19 cross country champions (Efren Gidey, Jordan Byrne, Stephen Cashin, Ben Guiden, Daniel Lacey, Ryan Sheridan) – the latter six were presented with the their national medals by the club president.
Athletes of the Year was once again most generously sponsored by John Shields/Loki Sports. The winners were announced as follows:
Juvenile Athlete of the Year: Sarah Bateson.
Junior Athlete of the Year: Sean O’Leary
Master Athlete of the Year: Snezana Bechtina
Women’s road/cross country Athlete of the Year: Alannah Cooley
Men’s road/cross country Athlete of the Year: Stephen Scullion
Women’s track and field Athlete of the Year: Shannon Sheehy
Men’s track and field Athlete of the Year: Stephen Rice
The Clonliffe Harrier of the Year: Keith Marks
After the presentations were concluded all present enjoyed a superb social night as Clonliffe well and truly got into the Christmas spirit.Happy Christmas to all our members and their families and many thanks for your support throughout the course of the year.
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