The following race report was submitted by Keith Burke…

Race Report – John Buckley Sports Graded Track & Field League Medley Relay

The final round of the John Buckley Sports Graded Track & Field League took place on 22nd July at the C.I.T. track. The closing event was a medley relay with legs of 400m, 200m, 200m and 800m. Eagle A.C. took part with a running order of Keith Burke, Damian Kenneally, Donnacha Lehane and Shane O’Shaughnessy.

Keith Burke building up a lead in the first 400m leg

Keith brought the baton to the first changeover in the lead but unfortunately a “Zola Budd/Mary Decker moment” set the team back when Keith’s spike accidentally clipped Damian’s heel during the baton change as Damian set off on the second leg.

Unphased, Damian dusted himself off and quickly chased down the lead runner over his 200m leg to handover to Donnacha for the third leg with Eagle still in contention. Donnacha (fresh from a 3,000m race earlier in the evening!) kept pace with the lead runner to handover to Shane O’Shaughnessy for the 800m anchor leg.

Shane bided his time on the shoulder of the first placed St.Finbarr’s athlete…

…and with 300m to go on the last lap, he overtook and pulled out a lead of 6/7 metres which he never gave up. Eagle brought the baton home in first place in a time of 04:20.8 to win by just over 3 seconds!

Eagle AC Medley Relay Team…Keith Burke, Damian Kenneally, Shane O’Shaughnessy and Donnacha Lehane.

Club Cat Event Time Points Grade
1 Eagle M Medley 4:20.8 6.27 Gold
2 St Finbarrs M Medley 4:24.0 5.95 Silver

800m Race 3
No Name Club Category Event Time Points Grade
723 Shane O ShaughanesEagle M 800m 2:49
701 Pat Murphy Eagle M 800m 2:57

3000m Race 1
708 12 Donacha Lehane Eagle M 3000m 10:25
726 15 Pat Power Eagle M 3000m 11:22

Photos by Joe Murphy of Eagle AC