Mick Kearney reports: On Thursday evening 1st August 2024, in very pleasant conditions, the Cooper/Lawler Plate was run in Morton Stadium. This was the second year this Plate was competed for. Last year the event was a 5000m race. This year the event was changed to a Mile race and attracted a large entry of 43 athletes. To facilitate the entry three separate Mile races were held.
Race 1: In the first race of the night 14 runners competed. This was a keenly contested race with a pack of three in contention. It was Niall Sherlock who powered down the finishing straight to win in a time of 00:05:10. This was the fastest time of the night. In second place was Peter Bissett in 00:05:13 with David Dunwoody following closely in 00:05:15. Aisling Andrews posted the fastest time ladies time of the night in 00:05:46.
Race 2: The second race featured a further 14 athletes. On this occasion it was Dave Doran who finished the strongest finishing in 00:05:55. Joe Fowler was second in 00:05:59 with Jerry O’Sullivan in third in 00:06:04. Eimear Griffin was first lady home in 00:06:07.
Race 3: In the final race of the night 15 athletes took to the start line. Kevin Sheehy powered to the finish in first place in a time of 00:06:35. Dermot Breslin was second with a time of 00:06:40. Deirdre Fitzsimons took third place in 00:06:49.
Full results:
Grand Prix result: The winner of the Grand Prix was Jason Kernan who ran the race of his life. His time of 00:06:59 was PB for the mile. A delighted Jason received the Cooper/Lawler Plate from Liam Hennessy at the post race presentation. In second place was Catherine Harvey in 00:05:48. In third place was Deirdre Fitzsimons in in 00.06:49. Congratulations to all three athletes. Many thanks to all who took part, those who officiated and colleagues who provided the post-race refreshments. A special word of thanks to our race sponsor Pamela and Ben’s training group. Runners will have a further opportunity to tackle a further Mile race on the 29th August 2024, namely the Guiden Mile.
Next race : The next Grand Prix race, Pat O’Hara Cup, takes place on Thursday 15th August 2024 at 8pm.