After a long winter of restrictions, racing returned for some Newcastle & District AC members this weekend. In glorious summer-like weather conditions matched the mood of the runners.

Drake Relays & World Continental Tour – Silver in Des Moines, Iowa

First up on Friday evening was Kerry O’Flaherty as part of World Athletics Global Tour in the women’s steeplechase on the track. O’Flaherty travelled 6 weeks ago to a training base at altitude in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was granted an Entry Waiver by US Homeland & Border Security following support from the US Olympic Committee, USA Track & Field Association and Athletics Ireland. Training has been consistent all winter at home and this has continued during her stay in the US.

19 months ago in her last steeplechase in southern Spain, she was pushed from behind when hurdling a barrier early in the race and broke her 5th metatarsal. Two operations followed, one to insert a screw and the other to remove it. She got back to training and had a few low key races during last summer before lockdown struck again.

Just when ‘she thought it was safe to go back in the water’, near disaster struck as she cleared a few hurdles in the warm-up area. Due to the COVID restrictions at the meeting venue, the warm-up area was makeshift and as she landed she caught her spikes on a piece of uneven track material and skidded to a halt head first along the floor – result were both knees burned. Resilient is what she is and it was straight out to the track where she faced the demons of that incident some 19 months ago. Continue reading →

Race Report by BOGBOY

Trofeo Vanoni is a traditional late Autumn ‘end of season’ mountain relay race where each leg starts and finishes in Morbegno, Sondrio in the Lombardy Region of northern Italy. Over the years it has maintained a strong link with the Snowdon Race, welcoming a team selected from the front end of that race which typically takes place back in July.

Unsurprisingly, this year is different, no Snowdon Race and no Snowdon team at Vanoni. However, 25-year-old Zak Hanna, a Salomon and Newcastle & District AC athlete from the slopes of Slieve Croob was introduced to the Vanoni in 2016, when still a novice to mountain racing, he was invited to travel as part of an Irish team. He helped the team to 11th overall out of 143. Personally, he recorded 32:38 for his leg, 24th fastest and with 21:35 for the climb (12th fastest) and 11:03 for the descent.

Hanna was hooked, he loved the atmosphere, the buzz in the village set amongst the towering mountains and the love for mountain racing oozing out of everyone he met. He didn’t make it back in 2017, but in 2018 after a superb Snowdon Race in July he was invited as part of the ‘Snowdon select’ and helped the team to a great 2nd place behind a strong French team and ahead of the top Italians. It was a wet day and times were slower but he still managed an improvement of 32 seconds from a couple of years earlier and 13th fastest overall (32:06 with the 9th fastest climb of 21:42). Continue reading →

A number of people have been asking about ordering new club coats (an ideal Christmas gift for the one you love!). In the present climate, the best way to do this is by contacting the supplier directly. The details are as follows: Malachy Mullan (MJM Design) – 07934774693 – you can pay him directly and he will arrange delivery with you. The cost for a coat with club logo and initials is £44.