With thanks to Crusaders AC for Sharing. For results, and images, please view the full weeks review on -> http://www.crusadersac.ie/news/highly-memorable-week-of-racing
There was plenty of choice this week for anyone looking for a challenge, from the graded meet in Irishtown midweek, to the BHAA road race in Dunboyne, to the IMRA mountain challenge of Carrauntoohil and to the marathon and mini marathon of Cork and Dublin. Something there for everyone.
We start with track and field in Tullamore, where, on Sunday we had at least 3 athletes compete in the Leinster Masters championships. John O’Loughlin came away with 3 medals in his M50 category, gaining silver in the 200m (25.84) and 100m (12.69) and bronze in the 400m (58.66), whilst Neil Brown nearly did the same in the M50 category by winning silver in the shot put and bronze in both the discus and 56lb weight for distance (no details as yet provided, except for the weight by distance, where Neil threw 5.08m). Michael Wycherley took part in one event, the 5,000m, where he also won silver in his M45 category in a time of 17:23.78.
Sticking with track, we had several Crusaders take part in the 3rd graded meet of the year, held this time in Irishtown. The results were as follows: In the 400m men’s A1 race, Fearghal O’Hare placed 4th in 53.15. Then in the C1 race of the same distance Ronan Moynihan placed 2nd in 59.33, followed by Dee Lawlor in his first attempt (66.44 for 5th place). These sprints were followed by a series of 800m races. Niamh Allen found herself in a field of modest size in the A1 event and as a result was not given much competition, easily winning in a time of 2:16.17. We had 4 athletes in the 800m B1 race, with Katie Rogers, just back from a slight knee injury, taking 3rd place in a super time of 2:24.66. Katie was followed by Rachael Yorke in 5th spot with another great time of 2:30:08, Fiona Shine hard on Rachel’s heels (6th in 2:30.47) and Serena Moloney a little further back (8th in 2:35.60). There were 3 other women’s races in which Crusaders featured, the first of which, the B2, involved an ever-improving Rebecca Fleming who placed 7th in 2:38.44 a little behind Lorraine Healy, who trains with the club, who placed 5th in 2:30.69. In the two C standard races, Sarah Lyons won the first in 2:43.33, followed by Dorothy Maguire (5th in 2:55.59) and Emer Kenny (6th in 2:57.18). Then, in the 2nd race, Lisa Shine placed 2nd in 2:45.01, followed by Maura Mahoney (3rd in 2:47.65) and Isabelle Cairns (4th in 2:51.36). We had runners in the 3 of the men’s 800m races. Fearghal O’Hare took on his second challenge of the night by placing 3rd in the A1 event in a time of 1:59.74, followed by Michael O’Conor who came across the line in 6th in 2:03.67. Tomas Bradley placed 4th in the C2 race in a time of 2:13.36, whilst Paddy Murphy won the D standard in a time of 2:20.68, followed by Brendan Glynn (6th in 2:41.64). Finally, in the men’s mixed standard 10,000m race (which also doubled as the Dublin championship 10,000m), won by Sean Hehir in 31:40.43, Italo Giancaterina acquitted himself well to place 4th in a super time of 33:44.86.
There were two races in the mountains last week. One of them took place on Wednesday night on Carrick Mountain in Co. Wicklow and we fielded 5 participants in a field of 166. The race involved a climb of 427m (almost immediate and challenging) on moderate terrain over a distance of 6.0km. Warren Swords was our first runner home, placing 12th (5th M40) in 38:08, followed by Brian McGuckin (46th and 9th M50 in 44:13). Not too far behind came Gavan Doherty (56th in 45:24) and Anthony O’Reilly (57th in 46:01). The contingent was completed by Berndt Heim (153rd in 1:05:51). Warren and Brian turned out again at the weekend, this time in the first race of the Irish Championships on Saturday, held on Ireland’s highest mountain in the Macgillycuddy Reeks range in Co. Kerry. In foggy conditions toward the top and involving a distance of 12.5km and a climb of 1,137m, Becky Quinn excelled herself by winning the women’s race (25th overall) in a time of 1:50:48. In a strong field of 79 (it was also the Munster championships), Warren placed 22nd in 1:48:32, followed by Michael Maughan (61st in 2:33:07) and Brian (73rd in 2:53:18). The next race in the Irish Championships will be held on Mweelra in Co. Mayo at the end of June.
We now move on to road racing which started last Tuesday with the BHAA Government Services 5 mile race in Dunboyne and concluded on Sunday with the Women’s mini marathon in Dublin. There was a substantial field for the BHAA race as usual, with more than 400 runners taking on a country road course which, because of refurbishment of the Dunboyne track, finished on grass in a field just behind the club. Following Mick Clohisey home on the night were at least 14 of our club-mates. There were several notable performances, none more so those of Alma Hanevy who came 2nd in the women’s race (85th overall) in 31:32 and Joe McDermott who knocked 29 seconds off his PB to come home in 17th place in a time of 27:44, the first time he has broken 28 minutes. Joe Walsh was next (40th and 5th M40 in 28:34), followed by John McAuley (42nd in 29:02), Karl Walsh (56th in 29:15), Ollie McGrath (68th in 30:41), Eddie Nugent (78th in 31:04), Michael Maughan, in the first of his two races during the week (79th in 31:06), Tom Dunne (131st in 33:24) and Robbie Moore (164th in 34:43). In the women’s race, Alma was followed by Kate Murray (225th overall and 9th F45 in 37:19), Emma O’Mahony (275th overall and 6th F35 in 39:58), Jean Devlin (310th overall and 9th F35 in 42:23) and Mairead Cashman (360th overall in 46:21). Members will be interested to hear that Sean Murphy of RunHub and United Striders who trains with us recorded 28:35 for 35th place.
A few days later Seamus Moore took part in the Balbriggan Summer Fest 5k. In a field of 310 runners, Seamus placed 6th in 17:53. On Saturday morning, Bob Cahill ran in the hilly and challenging Tullaroan half marathon, distinguishing himself with 3rd place in a field of 105 and a time of 1:30:44. As part of his first triathlon, in Athy, on the same day Roland Cottle ran the 5k element in 28:39 and finished in 267th place out of a field of 633. Roland’s strongest discipline for the time being was the swim where he covered 750m in 13:08 for 44th place. Later on Saturday, Luke Davis took part in the Luxembourg Night Half Marathon. The race started at the same time as the marathon at 7pm and Luke was home 1:36:03 later in 224th place.
On Sunday morning, we had competitors in each of the races on offer as part of the Cork marathon festival and we had some excellent results despite the windy conditions. In a field of 1,052, and where the race was won by Gary O’Hanlon in 2:21:40 and a returning Angela McCann (39th overall in 3:02:46), Kieran Little, coming back from injury, placed 5th in the marathon in a super time of 2:32:10 and he was followed by our other participant, Adam Flanagan, anxious to improve on his time in Rotterdam where he had faced difficulty in the warm temperatures, who placed 11th in another excellent time of 2:46:06. At times, both runners could be seen running with our intrepid relay team, made up of Alan Sheehy, Michael Kiely, Shane Collins, guest runner Cian Murphy and anchor man Ciaran Diviney. The 5-man team managed to take 3rd place in the 623-team relay competition, beating 95 other all-male teams, in an impressive time of 2:30:37, just behind local clubs Leevale (2:24:24) and Togher (2:29:12) and less than 2 minutes ahead of Kieran. We had 4 participants in the half marathon, with its field of 2,566 runners. The race was won by Gavin Sweeney (1:09:04) ahead of Cillian O’Leary (1:09:29) and Freddy Sittuk (1:11:03). Just coming back from injury, Rob Browne ran within himself to place 72nd in 1:28:43 and he was followed by a super run from Irene Gorman, despite perhaps too fast a start by her own admission. Irene ran 1:31:15 for 10th place in the women’s race (104th overall). Not too far behind came Andy O’Sullivan (130th in 1:32:42) and later he was followed by Billy Kelly (453rd in 1:43:37).
The other major event of the day was, of course the 37th running of the Women’s Mini Marathon in Dublin, with its field of more than 25,000 participants. On a blustery and warm, but mercifully dry, day we had more than a dozen Crusaders towards the front of the huge field. The race was extremely challenging in the first half as runners headed straight into the wind on the N11 on their way to the turn at UCD. The race was won by Kilkenny athlete Aoibhe Richardson, who trains in Oregon in the USA, in a time of 34:35, from MSB’s Catherina Mullen (35:01) and Olympic marathoner Breege Connolly (35:13). Our participants included Rachael Yorke (who led the contingent home and who ran 43:11 for 68th place) followed by Ciara Lynch, (104th in 45:14) Kathryn Sweeney (113th in 45:33), Dee Ni Chearbhaill (127th in 46:15), Jemma Lyons (157th in 47:13), Emily Feighan (186th in 47:34), Maria Kennedy (206th in 48:11), Olivia McEvoy (213th in 48:13), Louise Yorke (237th in 48:50), Maria del Carmen Jimenez Campos (250th in 48:52), Liz Nixon (354th in 51:07), Amy McGuinness (in a similar time), Joanne Carey (475th in 52:18), Aoife Cowhie (662nd in 53:31) and Sarah Lyons (5,727th in 1:13:55)
Possibly because of the bank holiday weekend we had a significant turnout of participants in Saturday’s parkruns. Stephen Hurley was again a first finisher in Poolbeg in 17:57 as was Kate Murray in Shanganagh (32nd overall in 22:57). Dee Lawlor also performed the same feat in Cabinteely, in a time of 17:59, as did Lisa Shine in Tyrrelstown (7th overall in 21:51). As usual, Poolbeg witnessed the largest participation by the club. Stephen was followed by Kenan Furlong (4th in 18:25), Russell Murphy (27th in 22:14), Fiona Bane (63rd and 10th in 24:27), Ava Rose Clarke (76th and 15th in 25:29), Mari Hansen (96th and 23rd in 27:24), Maureen McGinley (110th and 28th in 28:46) and Ciara McElligott (121st and 32nd in 31:56). Brian Carroll ran in Father Collins where he placed 21st in 21:37, whilst in River valley, Brian Scanlan took 12th spot in 20:44. Andrej Kujikis marked his return by placing 8th in Bushy Park in a time of 20:24, whilst Zlatko Kulic came home in 6th spot in 20:27 in Fairview. Mairin Shine joined Lisa in Tyrrelstown where she placed 27th (and 11th) in 40:57, whilst Liam Lyster crossed the line in 18th place in Strokestown in a time of 27:36. Paul and Aoife Kelly ran in Darndale, where Paul placed 14th in 23:30 and Aoifeclose behind, 15th and 4th in 23:31. Another pair took on Tolka Valley. Diarmuid Byrne placed 48th in 28:29 followed closely by Maria Pertl, 49th and 14th in 28:34. Ronan Moynihan took to the paths of Malahide on Saturday where he crossed the line in 9th place in a time of 18:15, with Darina Scully tailwalking in the same event. Colm Foley ran in Griffeen where he finished in 25th place in 22:59, whilst Mairead Cashman ran in Cabinteely with Dee, placing 107th and 28th in 29:48. Finally, Anthony O’Reilly led our small contingent home in Marlay Park, where he placed 23rd in 19:39. Anthony was followed by Gillian Lyons (190th and 23rd in 24:45), Francis Furey (270th in 26:38) and Aisling O’Connor (381st and 100th in 29:53).
