IRISH INTERNATIONAL Andrew Ledwith of Fr. Murphy's, Meath, won the 31st Annual Tinryland AC Rockford road race in fine style at the weekend. From the start Ledwith signalled his intentions and quickly opened up a lead on the rest of the field along with former winner Mick Clohisey and Cillian O'Leary, both of Raheny, until the Kildalkey, Co. Meath native opened a decisive gap at the 2 mile mark.

Having gone through the two-mile mark in under nine minutes the former NCAA American Colleges Cross Country Bronze Medallist never rellinquished control of the race and won in a time of 19 mins 28, which was 30 seconds ahead of the 2nd placed O'Leary with Clohisey 10 seconds further behind in 3rd place. In 4th position was last year's winner Sandis Bralitis of Latvia with the excellent Irish Masters International Mick Traynor of Raheny 5th just ahead of 6th finisher Pat Byrne of the host club. The Pat Corcoran Memorial Trophy was presented to Byrne after the race for being the first Carlow athlete home on the day. The Masters over 40 section was won by Jim Stafford of Slaney Olympic and the Junior mens event was won by the fast finishing John Murphy of Gowran. The team event was won again by Raheny on 19 pts with Tinryland second on 72 pts with the scorers being Byrne 6th, the excellent Mick Kehoe 17th, Tommy Payne 19th and Eddie Walsh in 30th position. Other local athletes who performed well on the day included Colin Payne, Jeremiah O'Sullivan, John Dillon JJ Murphy (over 55 winner) , Peter Murphy (over 60 winner) and Denis Shannon 48th In the womens race Polish athlete Patrcyja Wlodarczyk of Raheny produced an outstanding display to win in a time of 22 mins

25 ahead of last year's winner Linda Byrne of Dundrum South Dublin.

It was a great overall showing by the Pole who won both the 3000m Steeplechase and 10,000m in the Polish National Championships in 2003 and looks likely to be dominant on the Irish road running scene over the coming year. There was also a great showing from Tinrylands young star Deirdre Doyle who took 3rd place in 23 mins 59 and looks likely to continue this form into the US college season with Bryant University, Rhode Island next year. Ann Sullivan of DMP ran a great race to take the Womens Masters section . The St Abban's team of Teresa Agar, Collette English and Mairead O'Kane took the team prize for the 2nd consecutive year. Special mention should also go to Tinryland stalwart Ann Brennan who was running the Rockford for the final time on Sunday last and once again had a creditable run.

This year's event was completely revamped and turned out to be an outstanding success with a record turnout of almost 200 athletes, fun runners and walkers. The event had many new features including an online entry facility, a new race clock, water stations along the route, live music along with a special draw for finishers after the race with many excellent spot prizes on offer. The winners of the main prizes included Keith McGrath, Tinryland (1,000 Euro Holiday Voucher), John Frier, Raheny (Colour Television), Rock Pender, Bagenalstown (Weekend Away) and Jeremiah O'Sullivan (Jewellery Voucher).

The prize-giving and showing of the race video took place afterwards in Tinryland GAA Centre, Rathcrogue.

Prior to the race the Rockford Mini Marathon was held for juveniles between the ages of 8 and 15 with 60 competitors taking part. Great credit is due to race director Sean Doyle and his team of local organisers in particular Pat and Carol Byrne, the caterers and stewards for the vast amount of work put in over the last few months which ensured the event was such a success and showed that this will be a fixture to be reckoned with on the Irish athletics calendar for a long time to come. The following are the top finishers: Senior Men: 1st-Andrew Ledwith (Fr.Murphy's) 19.28 2nd-Cillian O'Leary (Raheny) 19.58; 3rd-Mick Clohisey (Raheny) 20.08 4th-Sandis Bralitis (West Waterford) 20.23 5th-Mick Traynor (Raheny) 20.26 6th-Pat Byrne (Tinryland) 20.38 7th-Brian Kirwan (LOT) 20.58 8th-John Murphy (Gowran) 21.21 9th-Ian Walsh (Raheny) 21.37 10th-Paul Cowhie (Civil Service) 21.49

Senior Women: 1st-Patrcyja Wlodarcyzk (Raheny) 22.25 2nd-Linda Byrne (DSD) 22.52; 3rd-Deirdre Doyle (Tinryland) 23.59 4th-Ann Sullivan (DMP) 26.09; 5th-Teresa Agar (St.Abban's) 26.41 6th-Collette English (St.Abban's) 26.46.

Tinryland fun run

The 31st annual Tinryland AC Autumn Fun Road League sponsored by Jason Farrell Sports will commence on Wednesday, September 8th, with a two-mile stage starting in Tinryland at 7.30 pm.

This will be followed by 2 further stages with the second taking place on Wednesday September 15th at 7 pm over 5km with the final stage over 2 miles taking place on Friday September 24th at 7 pm.

The league is open to runners, joggers and walkers alike and also incorporates an inter firms, groups abnd organisations league with 3 per team.

After the final stage there will be prizegiving and refreshments in Rathcrogue Centre with prizes to all those who complete 3 stages.

Certificates with times will be given to all finishers. All courses are accurately measured with league results posted on the club website after each event.

For further information contact Sean at 087-2509520 or Carol at 0862410063