First place for Ratoath AC in European competition

Hannah McNamara

Ratoath Athletics Club placed 1st in the European U20 Clash of the Clubs B final in the Dynamic New Athletics competition.

The team of 36 athletes and coaches travelled over to Rome to represent Ireland in the DNA competition.

The DNA competitions took place this year from the 16-17th September at Centro Sportivo Olimpico Esercito, Rome, Italy.

After 12 events on day one, Ratoath AC qualified for Sunday's B final. With the top clubs from Germany, Britain, France, Finland, Estonia and Ireland in the B Final each athlete had to bring their best to the final.

A full effort was witnessed from Ratoath AC who broke five club records and secured themselves a spot in the final event, the Hunt Relay.

Dynamic New Athletics' format is a team event with each athlete scoring points for their club during the day over 11 events before the last event. The points are calculated and teams are given a time penalty as per where they ranked after their 11 events.

For the final competition the Hunt Relay, Ratoath had a 3.30 second time penalty with Britain’s Blackheath and Bromley Harriers AC in first place and the strong German team, TYG Eagles following closely behind in 3rd, so the pressure was on.

With the support from the sidelines, Ratoath were able to race past the Great Britain team and take first place.

Ratoath AC shared to their Facebook:

"A fantastic competition to be a part of and we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who supported us to get to Rome. Our families, club members, Athletics Ireland, Athletics Leinster and Meath Athletics."

Dynamic New Athletics, or DNA, is an innovative, team-based competition concept for athletics created by European Athletics to complement the classical athletics format. It is 'a new way for fans and athletes of all levels to enjoy sport'.