Douglas Community School athletes travelled in force to the University of
Ulster Jordanstown for the All-Ireland Schools & University Cross-Country
championships held on Saturday. The course was relatively flat with some
mucky patches but got more testing as the day went on. Douglas CS travelled
to the championships being the only boys’ school in the country to have
three teams qualified for the event. First into action were the junior boys
racing over 3,500m. The Douglas CS team battled hard through out and were
led home by a superb run from Eoin Bourke in 30th place. He was backed up
well with great runs from Billy Murphy, John Durcan and Michael McLaughlin
and the team took 7th place in the team contest. No doubt this team will be
battling for medal in the inter race in two years time.

Next up were the inter boys team who were seeking the schools first ever
team title in any age group. This team is a very special group of guys and
the fight and determination portrayed by this team was something special to
witness. Racing over 5000m the team was to have a real battle with Knockbeg
College Carlow. Patrick Coleman only home from Australia two days ago
epitomized the determination of this team. Patrick had spent 20 hours
travelling home from Australia on Wednesday and then travelled to Belfast
and raced superbly to take 10th place and a place on the Irish team as two
of the top 10 finishers were over age. Behind Patrick, Peter Hanrahan had a
fine run coming 13th and captain Cullen Lynch a superb 30th. The performance
of the day came from Ian Tobin who had been ill for most of January and had
little training done coming into this race. Ian showed true guts and
determination in picking his way through the field and finishing an
outstanding 34th and thus winning the team title for Douglas CS.
Congratulations also to Mark Seacy, Emmet Bracken, Andrew O’ Keeffe and
Conor Foley on their great performances also. Well-done lads on a superb
win.

The senior boys race was held over 6,500m and here the Douglas CS lads
battled bravely to a 7th place finish. The team were led home by Adam
Kelleher in 41st place and other fine runs came from Brian Murray, Alan O’
Brien and Richard Quirke.

Stephen Macklin

It was another very successful weekend for Douglas Community School with athletes competing at the Ras na hEireann International Cross-Country in Drogheda and the Munster Juvenile Indoor T&F in Nenagh. At the Munster Juvenile Indoor T&F championships in Nenagh Alan O’ Brien was the schools sole representative running in the boys u19 800m and had a superb win.

Fourteen athletes and coach Steven Macklin travelled to Drogheda Co. Louth for the Ras na hEireann International Cross-Country championships. The school had two teams in action u15 and a combined u17/u19 team. The racemoved to a new venue at the battle of the Boyne site just outside Drogheda. First into action was the boy’s u15 team who were running without the services of two of their top runners. Billy Murphy once again had a superb run finishing in 8th place and with other great runs from John Durcan 11th, Michael McLaughlin 13th and Brendan Couch 14th they won the team title.

The u17/u19 boy’s race was combined and held over a 4000m distance. Peter Hanrahan continued his recent impressive form producing an outstanding run against some top competition. Peter led for most of the race and had a titanic battle with two South African athletes. He found himself in 4th place with 400m to go but produced a great sprint to finish 3rd and narrowly piped for 2nd on the line by one of the South African athletes. Behind Peter, Emmet Bracken was having an outstanding run finishing 12th and with Andrew O’ Keeffe 16th and Conor O’ Brien 18th the team came 2nd. The athletes compete next at the All-Ireland Schools Cross-Country championships in Belfast in two weeks time.

Well done to Second Year Student Shahruk Nawuk, Abdullah Khan, Robert
O’Reilly, Andrew O’Keeffe and Kevin O’Leary who won the CEIA Robotic
Competition. They made it through four rounds and beat Bandon Grammar in an
exciting final. They were presented with Logitech equipment for themselves
and for the school by Minister Micheal Martin.

Douglas CS athletes were well represented at the Munster Schools
Cross-Country championships held at Tramore Racecourse Co. Waterford
recently. First into action were the Douglas CS minor boys team racing in
their first ever Munster championships. The team battled well with some
outstanding runs, and was led home by the inspirational Alan Ring in 15th
place. He was backed up by great runs from Brendan Couch, Paul Lehane and
Daniel Mason.

The Junior boys raced over 3,500m and here the Douglas CS team were looking to make their mark. Billy Murphy was having another fine run leading in the Douglas CS team in 15th position and with Gary McCarthy 19th, Eoin Bourke 20th and John Durcan 21st the team took the bronze medals in a very competitive team contest.
The inter boys team were without the services of South Munster Schools champion Patrick Coleman who is holidaying in
Australia but still put in a dominating display winning the team contest easily. Peter Hanrahan had a fine run finishing in 3rd place and with great runs from Cullen Lynch 9th, Andrew O’ Keeffe 12th, and Mark Seacy 13th they easily took the gold medals.

Other great runs came from Conor Foley, Emmet Bracken, Rob O Neill and Jamie Sullivan all in the top 30. The senior boys
raced over 6,500m and had a mighty battle with Thurles CBS for the team title. The Douglas CS team was minus two of their top men due to exams but battled to a team win. It was neck and neck throughout the race with only a point or two separating the teams at times. Douglas CS lads packed well with Brian Murray leading the team home in 11th, Adam Kelleher 12th, Alan O’
Brien 13th.

A special mention is deserved of Captain Alex Kelly who really stepped up his performance today to win the title for Douglas CS. Alex battled heroically throughout and held onto the vital 17th place and thus helped the team win the title by a mere 1 point. Douglas CS was also awarded the best overall cup for the 5th consecutive year. Well done to all the athletes on a superb days racing and with the full teams back for the All-Ireland Schools championships on March 7th we look forward to more success.