It was a dark , wet and windy morning in the Phoenix park for the 2018 National 10k Championships incorporated into the Great Ireland Run. The mud around the start area had more of a cross country than a road race feel. Adam Jones was seen doing what we thought were pretty pacey 1k intervals but, as it turns out, he was just rushing to collect the numbers for those who were late. It has been decided not be name and shame them here, but well done Adam!

The women’s race kicked off first. First over the line was the steadily returning to form Clare Sullivan in an excellent 12^th position. The team finished 7^th overall.

The highlight of the day was senior men’s team bronze. It was Seán Hehir first over the line for Rathfarnham WSAF AC, followed by Louis McCarthy, Eoin Reville and David Power.

Second bronze came from the Rathfarnham WSAF AC M50 team of Colm Murray, Denis Daly and Brendan Hogan.

Well done to all club participants who backed up the medal performances. The individual results are as follows:

Seán Hehir 31:02 5th

Louis McCarthy 32:36

Eoin Reville 34:44

David Power 35:48

Ciaran Aylward 36:00

Eoin McLoughlin 36:16

Peter Toomey 37:05

Colm Murray 37:07

Neil Skelton 37:14

Denis Daly 37:51(PB Whoohoo!!)

Brendan Hogan 41:06

Derek Bain 41:18

Eric Cullen 41:46

Clare Sullivan 40:20 12th

Beth Neal 44:37

Aisling O’Connor 44:04

Sue Ryan 44:13

Jennifer O’Malley 44:57

Ester Lawlor 47:43

Grainne Forde 48:22

Lian Brady 48:23

Orla Murray 48:24

Una Rice 48:57

Orla Wilson 63:49

Thanks to Shane Grehan for the photos

On the final day of competition, Sofia Hyland came 5th in the Girls U15 Long Jump with a best jump of 4.50m. The Girls U12 4 x 100m Relay team of Sophie Maxwell, Jodie Ritchie,  Isobel Burge and Claudia Manning narrowly missed out in a place in the final,  finishing 3rd in heat 3 in a time of 1:01:31. Well done to all of our young athletes! 

The 48th running of the Dunboyne AC 4 mile Road Race took place on the 25th March 2018. A quality field contained two Rathfarnham WSAF AC athletes. Both had excellent runs with Seán Hehir finishing 4th in a PB time of 18:46 and Bobby Murphy finishing 9th in 19:30. Well done to both of you.

By Sue Ryan

This year Fit4Life started a little later than usual but it was nicely timed to finish just before Easter week. Well earned Easter eggs.
Big numbers signed up this year so we added an additional coach to the sessions. This enabled the group to break into three different pace groups. 
We run Fit4life as an introduction to club running. It is an eight week programme, once a week. Each week we do different types of speed sessions, like we do at a club session. Explaining the importance of pacing and recovery. We did 400’s, 1k's, 1miles, pyramids, hill repeats and a few Parkruns for good measure.
It was a very focused and determined group and weren’t going to let The Beast of the East stop them from their Tuesday session. We wouldn’t let it stop them either! So the Tuesday before “The Curfew” we did a longer warm-up and ran our interval session as usual. However the week after was different. When all the snow seemed to have vanished from everywhere else, the paths in Loreto Park in Nutgrove were still impassable. No one told us there was a localised Red Weather Warning there!  So we moved onto a small patch of grass, had a great session and kept our feet dry too.
No one stops Rathfarnham AC athletes, even guest ones, from running.
Congratulations and well done to everyone who took part and challenged themselves. We admire your commitment to the eight weeks despite seriously cold weather. You all did great. A warm welcome to those who are continuing their training with us as full members of the club.
A big thank you to all in the club who volunteered and offered to help, we couldnt have run Fit4Life without you. You all added greatly with your own knowledge and experience.
Lets do it again next year!
Sue

Editor's note: Massive congratulations to Sue and her crew for brilliant organisation!