Mick Rice takes pride of place in this week's notes due to his

excellent 7th place overall finish in the Anglo-Celtic Plate

100K road race, which took place on Sunday, 2 April in

Gloucester. Yes, 100 kilometres or 62 miles - two full

marathons and 10 more miles for good measure! Mick completed

the 32 laps of the 1.95 mile circuit in a little over 8 hours

and 18 minutes (just over 8 minute per mile average). He even

had to complete an additional lap due to a mix-up with the

race recorders, whose mistake was subsequently corrected, to

Mick's huge relief. Mick wore the Irish singlet for the first

time at this race. The club are immensely proud of his most

recent "ultra" achievement.

Many of the club's runners ran in the Connemara half and full

marathons on Sunday, 25 March. Ray O'Connor (Athenry AC club

member) and his able team are to be sincerely congratulated

for putting on another great show on the day, despite the

inclement weather conditions. Over 1600 competitors

successfully completed one of the three races, of which at

least 15 wore Athenry AC colours. In the full: Gary Doherty

(32nd), Mick Rice (35th), James Lundon (87th), Paul Keane,

Mike McMahon, Gary Begley, Mark Flannery, Liam Mycroft and

Bridget-Anne Walsh all completed the 26.2 miles. In the half,

Brian O'Connor (7th), Peter Delmer (18th), John O'Connor

(37th), Alan Burke (48th), Michael Rooney and Maria Caulfield

completed the gruelling course between Leenane and Maam Cross.

Finally, our thoughts are to the family of Frank Haines who

died on the course during the day, while competing in the half

marathon.

Paul McNamara continued his good early-season form in winning

a four mile road race in the Phoenix Park on 17 March. He

recorded 19:35 for the four miles and beat Peter Mathews in

the process.

The club also had a good representation at the Quilty 4M road

race on Sunday, 2 April.

For more information on the club and its activities, click on

http://www.athenryac.com. The club run takes place every

Saturday morning from the church car park at 9:00 AM SHARP!