EDITOR'S PICKS
Review and Look Ahead By Lindie Naughton
STONE ON A ROLL! An emerging athlete who’s having a moment is Daniel Stone of Raheny Shamrock Athletics Club. Last November, Stone not only won the Leinster senior cross-country title on the rolling hills of Avondale, but with Mick Clohisey second and Gavin Eccles third, led Raheny Shamrock to a comprehensive team victory. He followed that up with a third place at the National Novice Cross-Country, where the team also took bronze. On New Year’s Day, Stone won the Tom Brennan Memorial 5km in the Phoenix Park, beating his clubmate Kieran Kelly into second place. With Stephen Fay making up the team, Raheny were the team winners. Stone, still aged only 20, began running as a schoolboy and, in his final year at Belvedere College, finished second in the steeplechase at the All Ireland Schools Championships. In the summer of 2021, Stone ran a personal best 8:27.52 for 3000m and he has continued to shine since then.
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Irish Runner
ALL AMERICANS DALTON AND FAY
... AND THEN THERE WERE FIVE
On November 20, DCU graduates Cormac Dalton of Mullingar Harriers and Brian Fay of Raheny Shamrock AC both achieved All American status when they finished in the top 40 at the NCAA Division 1 Cross-Country Championships in Tallahassee, Florida.
Brian Fay of Raheny Shamrock AC is not the only Irish athlete to come from a multiple birth. Rory Cassidy from Bridgetown, Co Wexford is one of Ireland’s only quintuplets born in Dublin’s Rotunda hospital on 16 August 2001. When they were born, the five siblings - three boys and two girls - weighed just over a pound each and all remained under close supervision in the Rotunda for a few months. From an early age, Rory developed an interest in athletics, joining Kilmore AC and acting as the club’s PRO since 2017. He’s gone on to study journalism at DCU, where he’s the PRO for the athletics club, deputy sports editor of The College View and co-host of a weekly sports show on DCUfm.
In the final stages of the men’s 10km race, Dalton out-kicked Fay to finish 34th. Although he finished only a second behind Dalton, Fay was given 38th place. Dalton, a redshirt athlete at the University of Tulsa, ran a series of personal best times on the track last summer. Fay, who’s one of a set of quadruplets, had signed up to a postgraduate degree in history at the University of Washington in Seattle after graduating from DCU last year. In the women’s race, Laura Mooney of Tullamore Harriers, representing Providence College, was best of the Irish women in 60th place. In the Division 2 Championships, hosted by St Leo in Florida, freshman Fiona Hawkins, who has recently declared for Ireland, finished 30th and helped Adams State to team victory in the women’s race. Hawkins’ mother, Nessa Noone, a UCD graduate, emigrated to the USA a number of years ago. Shane Bracken of Swinford AC, part of the St Leo University squad, finished 16th in the men’s race. The attention of all US-based Irish athletes now turns to the indoor season, with the NCAA Indoor Championships taking place on March 11-13. Among those likely to compete is Tallaght’s Rhasidat Adeleke, who helped Texas to ninth place in the 4x400m last season.
TRY INDOOR RUNNING AT NIA LIVE The highlight of the first NIA Live indoors competition of the season in early December was a W55 world record in the mile of 5 mins 7 secs for Anne Gilshinan of Slaney Olympic AC. Gilshinan will be one to watch when the National Masters Indoors takes place on January 30. The fast-paced series, organised by David Matthews, continued on January 19, with a final round on February 15. Juvenile and adult athletes of all standards are welcome. Details https://www.athleticsireland. ie/competition/nia-live/
