Hiko Tonosa, national champion 5,000m (track) and 10,000m (road), confirmed his rankings as No. 1 in Ireland with a hard fought win in the Axa Raheny 5 mile road race on Sunday. All of the top athletes in Ireland turned up in Raheny, to a well organised race by Raheny Shamrocks.
The pace was fast and furious from the gun, with John Travers, Donore Harriers, to the fore with Hugh Armstrong, Ballina AC., Matt Bergin and Hiko Tonosa D.S.D., and Efrem Gidey,Clonliffe Harriers, in the leading group. The pace never relented and John Travers was the first to feel the pinch, as the other four pushed on into the last mile, with a tough climb into Raheny village ahead of them. It was then down to the last 200m and they were still locked together until Hiko used an incredible finishing kick to carry him through to the finish tape, for a great win for the D.S.D. athlete. Hiko missed the course record by 1 second, as he led our D.S.D. team to victory with Matt Bergin 3rd; Paul O’Donnell 13th; Emmet Jennings 14th.
D.S.D’s women’s team were in top form also, taking gold in the team race with Fiona Clinton 6th; Niamh Devlin 13th and Amy Moran 18th. Fiona repeated her recent good form in the national cross-country, and is really on a roll at the moment. The race became of great benefit to D.S.D., as our Masters also finished 1st, with Cathryn Brady 1st F50; Pauline Robertson 2nd F50 and Eileen Gillick F40.
Sheelagh Jones was her usual energetic self, as she won the F60 category.
Aaron Donnelly took the silver medal in the U.20 Men’s section.
Congratulations to all!
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