Mayo AC Ladies excel at European Cup Road Race

 
Sunday October 17th was another outstanding day for the Mayo AC  ladies team as the club represented Ireland at the 24th European Clubs Road Race Cup in Torres  Vedras in Portugal. The five member team all recorded exceptionally good times for the 15 kilometre race held over a very testing hilly course in summer like conditions with  temperatures of over 20 degrees despite the fact that the race began around 10 am .
All participants  were transported out to the  race start in the village of Moncova and ran from there into Torres  Vedras  finishing  on the cobble streets of the historic town. The womens 15k race was won by Portugal international runner Dulce Felix in a time of 50.31 Mayo ac team leader Catherine Conway ran another  exceptionally strong race  finishing 9th overall clocking  55.22, she was closely  followed by Mary Gleeson 12th  in 56.57. Colette Tuohy was the clubs third finisher in 14th place  58.13  while Kathy Connolly [63.09] came home in 19th  one place ahead of her sister Chris Gallagher  who ran strongly to finish in 64.32
As the race progressed and made its way towards Torre Vedras the destination of the team medals was becoming more clearer  first and second would certainly be between Maratona  CP  and SC  Braga with  the destination of the bronze team medals being fought out between Canal+ Isabel AC  [Spain]  Lac TV  Unterstrass AC [Switzerland]and Mayo AC .

After some anxious waiting around the  finish line  in the historic town centre the official results confirmed  that indeed  the Spanish team took bronze with 28 points with the  Mayo ac ladies fourth on 35 points with the Swiss team  next on 48 points Despite finishing a little outside the medals the Mayo ac team soon realised that theirs was an incredible team performance and a great reward for the many hours of training that they had  put in over recent months in preparation for this and other major races.
The Mayo ac ladies had lots of support during the race a group of club  officials and supporters who  travelled out to the event lined the race route at different points  to cheer  on the women . Later the town centre was a hive of activity as runners from many  corners of Europe  in various coloured vests mingled in bright sunshine  along with hundreds of spectators and the international  media.  At the post race function there was more to celebrate when the Mayo ac ladies received their diploma for their fourth place finish
 
There was also great support for the City of Derry AC team who were Irelands representatives in the mens race which was held over the half marathon distance despite not having their full strength team there they went on to finish in  sixth team place
 
As Mayo AC  ladies team  reflect on a great performance over the weekend in Portugal it must be  remembered that as  current national half marathon  champions  the club has also  qualified to represent Ireland in the 2011 event, no doubt their preparations  will  soon begin all over again………