Outstanding Clonliffe at Euro Clubs

An historic day for Clonliffe Harriers as for the first time in our history we had both men’s and women’s U/20 teams competing in the European Champion clubs cup. It was also one of the most successful European campaigns with the U/20 women finishing a superb 5th, spearheaded by outstanding performances in particular from Emily Bolton, 5th and Lorraine O’Connor 8th and the U/20 men taking an excellent 7th position.

The day began early with breakfast starting at 6:45, then onto shuttle buses to the course for warm up and then fitting of the race transponder, before entering the call room. 

The U/20 women’s race was over a distance of 5.620 km , 3 laps of 1.830 km over the established course in Albufeira. The Clonliffe team lining up was Hazel Kenny, Goda Buivydyte, Lorraine O’Connor and Emily Bolton. These four were the club’s first women’s team to take part in the Euro clubs championship continuing the legacy of of the Morton Marvels, through names like Kathryn Davis, Mary Donohoe, Ann Keenan -Buckley, Sarah McCormack and Hope Saunders, to mention but a few.

The race started promptly at 10:00 with a blistering pace from the gun with both Emily and Lorraine prominent at the head of proceedings with Hazel and Goda placed well in the main pack. On the second lap Emily and Lorraine were placed 5th and 6th and making up ground on the competitors ahead. Into the final lap where Emily was in a battle for 4th, the medal positions having been decided with the breakaway trio clear, Lorraine had slipped back to 10th but with that never say die attitude battled back to secure 8th position. Emily was several metres adrift from 4th as they turned into the finishing straight, she unleashed a brilliant sprint finish closing second by second on 4th place, but to use the proverbial saying ‘the finish line came too soon’ and in a photo finish Emily ended up 5th….. but for a few metres more! Hazel Kenny, running possibly her best ever race, came in 33rd and Goda Buivydyte 42nd.

This was a truly magnificent performance by the team to take a superb 5th position in the team competition ahead of some top-class outfits including the Swiss, the 2 Italian teams and 1 of the Spanish teams.

The club’s Men’s U20 team of Sean Cronin, Matei Ursachi, Tom Breslin and Lorcan Benjacar was packed with experience, this group has been together right through from U/14 with 3 of the 4 gaining valuable experience in last year’s event. From the start the 4 Clonliffe lads were prominent in the pack with Sean and Tom just ahead of Lorcan and Matei. Tom Breslin ran an excellent and mature race moving well through the 3 laps to just pip Sean on the home straight. Tom finished in 27th, Sean 29th and Lorcan in 33rd completing the scoring 3, with Matei coming home in 60th. The team finished with 89 points to secure 7th, again an excellent team position from the 21 teams competing. The team finished ahead of clubs from Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, and both home Portuguese clubs.

In the open women’s race there were 2 Clonliffe athletes Sorcha O’Connor and Isla Duncan. The race distance was 4.290 k and was a mixed U/20, senior and Master’s regional race. From the start it was a race between Clonliffe and Lagan Valley. Isla Duncan had an excellent race showing a maturity beyond her years and was unlucky to be passed by a group of Master Athletes in the last 400m, finishing in 8th position. Sorcha O’Connor ran steadily through out and finished strongly in 9th.

The Men Development U/20 men squad raced in the final race of the day, Rory Quill, Harry Lynam, Aidan Benjacar, Jack Quinn and Cillian Keegan, supplemented by the Clonliffe Euro clubs squad duo of Leon Brady and Harry Bogan. Harry Bogan made an early impression and dug deep to finish in 14th, with Leon Brady in 17th, Cillian Keegan 22nd, Rory Quill 23rd, Harry Lynam in 27th, Aidan Benjcar in 33rd and Jack Quinn in 37th. 

In all an excellent day for the club’s young athletes and a very proud day in the history of Clonliffe Harriers.

Photos click: https://www.flickr.com/photos/146364500@N04/albums/72177720323555055/with/54302629243/