Report
Review 2003 Grand-Prix Series - McDonald Cup – 4-Mile Track Race
Venue Morton Stadium, Santry
Date Thursday 27th, March  2003

  This year the Grand-Prix series has more events  than before, with 14 races from March to November across a variety of distances and disciplines (see FIXTURES LIST for details).   Sponsored again by Behan & Associates and headed up by Noel Guiden, Pat Bonass, David Brennan and Paddy Tuite.   As there are a lot of races and administration involved, each participant also has to help out in the adjudicating for one of the events. As usual the race directors will allocate handicaps to all athletes which makes this a very special and interesting competition.   As an extra 'incentive', this year we have included a 'Joker' system whereby athletes nominate at the start of the series an event for which they will double the points they score in the event. The series is judged on the best 10 results.   The leader during the series will be entitled to wear the Yellow Jersey and there are prizes for the different races as well as the overall BEHAN & ASSOCIATES CLONLIFFE GRAND-PRIX SERIES PERPETUAL CUP and other prizes, awarded at the end of the series in November.

  The first event this year was the McDonald 4-Mile Track Race.   The turnout was excellent with 32 runners taking to the start.  The conditions were perfect for the time of year as it was quite cool (as the officials Mags Greenan, Jim Cleary, Gerry McCabe, Paddy Tuite, Brian Rankin and Aidan Creaner can testify!) with no breeze or rain.   Once the race was started, the athletes went out hard with 16 laps of the track to complete.   Colin Coyne showed his current excellent form and struck out to lead from the start.   Second and Third place changed hands a few times before eventually falling to Seán McDonnell and William Stafford.   Every place was fought for as each athlete knew that the handicapping could make an enormous difference to their points. Well done to Colm Doran on a well deserved win for the McDonald Cup.  Well done also to Declan Murray on his astute playing on the Joker to become the first Series Leader & holder of the yellow jersey.  Next event the 112th run of the Clonliffe 2-mile road race in Finglas on 16th April.
McDonald Cup 4-Mile race  Thursday 27th, March  2003
PLACE

NUMBER

 NAME H'CAP TIME Points Actual Time Actual Place
1 214 C. Doran 19:04 20 23:04 8
2 247 K. O’Gorman 19:06 19 24:36 14
3 250 S. McDonnell 19:11 18 21:41 2
4 204 D. Murray 19:19 17 23:11 9
5 233 S. Pender 19:21 16 26:51 21
6 241 J. Kearns 19:30 15 23:30 10
7 201 E. Harrison 19:32 14 24:31 13
8 206 J. Bennett 19:45 13 29:15 25
9 252 P. Byrne 19:52 12 22:22 5
10 215 P. Devitt 19:54 11 25:39 17
11 240 M. Fennell 20:03 10 21:48 4
12 244 D. Ahern 20:04 9 26:04 18
13 217 T. Griffin 20:09 8 22:39 7
14 213 R. Connolly 20:09 7 24:49 15
15 249 S. Byrne 20:13 6 26:43 20
16 242 W. Stafford 20:15 5 21:45 3
17 209 N. Pearce 20:18 4 22:38 6
18 248 T. Westby 20:21 3 29:45 26
19 224 T. Mee 20:29 2 26:14 19
20 220 P. Bonass 20:30 1 25:20 16
21 203 M. Ahern 20:30   30:30 30
22 237 C. Coyne 20:39   20:39 1
23 208 S. Greenan 20:55   24:25 12
24 235 J. Cleary 20:55   31:25 31
25 216 F. Devitt 20:57   27:07 22
26 254 P. Duggan 21:20   23:50 11
27 236 A. Field 22:11   30:11 29
28 218 M. McFadden 22:35   28:35 23
29 223 M. Kearney 22:54   29:54 27
30 230 P. Healy 25:05   29:55 28
31 253 R. McConville 26:21   28:51 24
Grand-Prix Leader Board after Round 1
PLACE NAME POINTS JOKER Used
1 D. Murray 34 Y
2 P. Byrne 24 Y
3 S. McDonnell 21  
4 C. Doran 20  
= M. Fennell 20 Y
6 K. O`Gorman 19  
7 S. Pender 16  
8 J. Kearns 15  
9 E. Harrison 14  
10 J. Bennett 13  
11 P. Devitt 11  
12 C. Coyne 10 Y
13 D. Ahern 9  
14 T. Griffin 8  
15 R. Connolly 7  
16 S. Byrne 6  
= W. Stafford 6  
18 N. Pearce 4  
19 T. Westby 3  
20 T. Mee 2  
21 P. Bonass 1