Early starts and late nights: Sally and Laura spill the beans!

Sally Aherne and Laura Tuite provide the inside scope of Clonliffe juvenile sections trip to Wales/Chester/Liverpool: “Bright and early Friday morning we set off from the stadium. Spirits were high on the bus, a mix of nerves and excitement. A long boat journey followed by a further bus ride had us all tired, but once we stepped off the bus we perked up. Straight away we got our rooms and went off for a jog on the racecourse. although we were all excited for the race, we were most excited to go for a swim. once we arrived at the pool are hopes dropped a little because the pool was 10 metres long not 50m like we had in mind. After our long awaited swim we headed out to get some food (a healthy mc Donald’s). we arrived back in the hotel and we were all told to get an early night and good rest for our race. but of course nobody listened and we ended up getting caught after hours, all piled into one room and were sent to bed.

At half 7 the dreaded wake up call woke us all up. We all headed to breakfast looking like zombies before we headed out to our race. It was a gorgeous morning in Wales the sun was shining so we all decided to head out in shorts and leave our coats in the hotel. we soon found out this was a huge mistake because as the day went on the sun turned to wind and rain.
We all had a great day racing with good performances all round, but after six hours at the track we were all wrecked!
That night, after another anticipated swim and sauna, we went bowling and got food in the bowling alley and had a great time. Saturday night was our last night and we all planned to stay awake all night, but most didnt stick to the plan with almost everyone asleep by 4 o’clock.
The dreaded wake up call came again at half 7 getting us all out of bed. we ate breakfast with little conversation, the tiredness clearly seen on our faces. the choppy boat journey home was the perfect time to catch up on lost sleep, and by the time we got back we were all ready to go home to our beds!
We all really enjoyed the weekend and we’re already talking about other trips for next year!”