At the South Munster Schools Track and Field Championships recently Douglas Community School had a great day with 20 individuals and one relay team qualifying for the Munster Schools Championships to be held on Saturday 22 May at Cork IT. Medal winners were as follows: David Kelly Intermediate 400m Hurdles gold, Jack O’ Mahony Minor 800m gold, Alan Ring Junior 800m bronze and 1200m Walk bronze, Ian Hartnett Intermediate 800m bronze and u16 Mile gold, Peter Hanrahan Senior 800m gold, Cullen Lynch Senior 800m silver and 1500m bronze, Patrick Coleman Senior 800m bronze and 2km S/C gold, Ian Tobin Intermediate 3km silver, Billy Murphy u16 Mile silver, Eoin Bourke u16 Mile bronze, Emmet Bracken Intermediate 1500m silver, Mark Seacy Intermediate 1500m S/C silver, Andrew O’ Keeffe Intermediate 1500m S/C bronze, Rob O’Neill Intermediate 2km Walk silver, Brendan Couch Junior 1200m Walk gold, Eric O’ Neill Junior 1200m Walk silver, Conor Foley Intermediate 400m silver, Minor 4×100m Relay (Jack O Mahony, Liam Harris, Luke Varian, Colm Daly) gold. Congratulations to all the athletes on some super performances and many personal bests.

Steven Macklin

Douglas Community School’s successful World Schools Cross-Country Championship team were honoured recently at a civic reception in the City Hall with the Lord Mayor. This was in recognition of their fifth place finish in Slovakia in April. Congratulations again to them on a brilliant performance.

Steven Macklin

Seven young athletes representing Douglas Community School produced a spectacular performance at the World Schools Cross-Country Championships in Slovakia to finish in fifth place. It was a superb result for the team and coach Steven Macklin and Head of Delegation Mark Dineen. The team had to endure a 14-hour ferry journey to France followed by a 2,250km drive across Europe to reach Liptovsky Mikulas in Northern Slovakia for the championships. The boys event was won by Turkey followed by New Zealand in second and Australia third with the DCS boys representing Ireland a mere 4 points behind the fourth placed British team. This was an outstanding achievement in a field consisting of 23 teams from all over the world. Top finisher was Patrick Coleman in a superb 9th followed by his teammates Cullen Lynch (21st), Ian Tobin (22nd), Mark Seacy (36th), Andrew O’Keeffe (61st) and Jamie Sullivan (77th) with the team completed by sub Billy Murphy. Lots of friendships were made and the school has been invited to compete in England, Malta and New Zealand next year. The team should be very proud of their performance and we all look forward to watching their progress over the next few years.

Douglas Community School athletes and coach Steven Macklin travelled to Portugal over Easter for a warm weather training camp to prepare for the up coming track season and the World Schools Cross-Country championships. A group of 16 in total spent nine very enjoyable days in Monte Gordo in superb weather. The athletes trained very well and all really enjoyed the trip. A special thanks to all the younger athletes for their superb behaviour and their dedication to training. The group did some very beneficial training and all also enjoyed the barbeque on the last night. All the athletes will benefit from the trip and will no doubt produce many PBs  [personal bests] throughout the track season.

Steven Macklin

Douglas Community School athletes had an up and down day at the All-Ireland Schools Cross-Country Championships held at Cork Institute of Technology. The team won the silver medals in the u17 race and were joint third in the u20 race, losing out on the bronze medals on countback.  The course was flat and firm with ideal weather conditions.  Brendan Couch ran a great race in the u15 3500m to finish 35th.  In the u17 race the schools first finisher was Mark Seacy with a superb run for 21st and with other great runs by Ian Tobin 25th, Emmet Bracken 32nd and Andrew O’ Keeffe 45th, the Douglas Community School team took team silver.  Finally in the u20 race over 6000m, the DCS team under-performed and finished joint-third losing out on the bronze medals on countback.  Overall a day of varying fortunes, with plenty of lessons learnt.  No doubt the boys will bounce back stronger in the future and try to win that elusive All-Ireland Senior team title.

Steven Macklin

Douglas Community School athletes continued their outstanding Cross-Country season with some great individual and team performances at the Munster Schools Cross-Country Championships at Cork IT recently. The course proved to be a big hit with the athletes with plenty of fast running. First into action were the minor boys over 2000m where the DCS team had a superb team win with 29 points. The team had six athletes finish in the top 15 and easily won the team title. Jack O’ Mahony led the team home in a superb 3^rd with other great runs from Liam Harris 5^th, Kevin Horan 9^th, Alan Horgan 12^th, Jamie O’ Connell 13^th and Luke Varian 15^th. The junior boys raced over 3,500m and the race of the day came from Brendan Couch who eventually finished a superb 5^th. Brendan has come into great form in recent weeks and continues to get stronger. Behind him the team battled hard with Daniel Mason, Fintan Cadogan, Paul Lehane and Eric O’ Neill all having good runs to get the team into 6^th place. The intermediate boys team lined up in their 5000m with high hopes.  They produced the goods, winning the team title easily with 45 points.  The ‘B’ team came 3^rd with 93 points. Mark Seacy had his best race to date finishing a superb 5^th and with other great runs from Ian Tobin 12^th, Emmet Bracken 13^th, Andrew O’ Keeffe 15^th and Jamie Sullivan 16^th Douglas Community School had a great team win. Finally the senior boys’ race over 6000m proved to be a one-sided affair with Shane Quinn running away from the field. Patrick Coleman had a fine 2^nd place, running on his own for the whole race. With great runs by Cullen Lynch 7^th, Alan O’ Brien 11^th and Brian Murray 15^th DCS easily won this team title also. The team was without their 2^nd scorer in Peter Hanrahan, but will have him back in action in two weeks time. Douglas Community School also had the added bonus of winning the best overall school cup for the 5^th consecutive year.

Steven Macklin

Steven Macklin

Seven of the schools athletes and coach Steven Macklin travelled to Italy to take part in the IAAF Cinque Mulini International Cross-Country at the end of January. The athletes took part in the youth 6km race for those born in 1993/1994 and raced to a superb team win, with 6 athletes finishing in the top 18. The races were held in the town of San Vittore Olona just outside Milan on a wonderful course. The course proved a big hit with the athletes with fast sections, small sharp banks and a trip through some old historic mills. The seven athletes took to the line in the youth 6km race in confidant fashion. The pace was very fast from the start and Patrick Coleman settled into the break away group of six athletes. He battled well throughout and was rewarded with a superb fourth place finish in 19.51, just six seconds from a podium place. Behing him the team had a great run, with Cullen Lynch and Ian Tobin having a wonderful last lap battle, eventually finishing ninth and tenth respectively. Mark Seacy had a fine run to come home in 13th and with other superb runs from Andrew O’Keeffe 15th, Jamie Sullivan 18th and Emmet Bracken 26th they easily won the team event. Well done to all the athletes, who had an experience I am sure that will stand to them for the World Schools Championships in April.

Steven Macklin

All-Ireland u13-u19 Cross-Country Coleraine, December 2009.

In the u17 4000m Patrick Coleman made their intentions clear from the gun where he joined a group of 9 runners who broke away from the rest of the field. Patrick kept in touch with the leaders but couldn’t stay with them on the last hill. He raced to a great 6^th place and behind him the team was battling hard to retain their All-Ireland title. They were missing there 4^th and 5^th scorers in Ian Tobin (13^th u16 All-Ireland) and Emmet Bracken (14^th u16 All-Ireland) but all the others really stepped up when it counted. Conor Foley had his greatest race of the season finishing 46^th and other great runs came from Jamie Sullivan, Rob O’ Neill and David Kelly. In the end the team took a fantastic 1^st place. In the boys u19 6000m race there proved to be heartbreak stuff for the team losing out on the bronze medals by just 1 point. Peter Hanrahan had an off day leading them home in 34^th place and he was followed by great runs from Alan O’ Brien 39^th and Adam Kelleher 44^th.

Steven Macklin

Steven Macklin