There was a serious show of strength from the club over the weekend in the second leg of the National league Track and Field semi-final. Coming into the leg at the Mary Peters track in Belfast in 5th place after the first round and needing to be in the top 8 from the aggregate of the two pools, it looks as though the men’s team has qualified for the final on 20 August in style. In the 17 events, we had no fewer than 9 first place and 3 second place finishes, coming home with 128 points to win the session, ahead of Clonliffe (120), Raheny (105) and Donore (97).
Andrew Mellon took on the 100m and 200m, placing respectively 4th and 1st. Then Brian Murphy ran the 400m for the club, winning that event. Kevin Woods came home in 2nd in the 800m, whilst Karl Fahy, running his first 5K on the track in a while, placed 6th. Matt Behan duly took care of the competition in the 110mH, winning that well and Jason Harvey, likewise, did the same in the 400mH. Team captain, and veteran 3000m steeplechaser (!), Gary Park, put in a great effort to take 5th place in that event, as did James Kelly, who took 2nd place in the shot put. Colin Quirke delayed his return to the US, to win the discus and Ciaran Donnelly finished 2nd in the hammer. Oisin Taylor won the triple jump. Bob Lyne was another who nobly took on two events, placing 2nd in the 56lbs throw and 3rd in the walk, whilst Adam McMullen took on 3 events: placing 5th in the javelin with a PB, 1st in the long jump, then joining Nick Ennis, Matt and Andrew in the 4x100m relay where the team placed 1st. Our men’s relay teams are riding high at the moment and this was demonstrated even more clearly with a win for Nick, Kevin, Jason and Brian in the 4x400m. Off the track, we had some excellent road racing results over the past few days. On Thursday, Ger Forde took part in the Dublin Airport Central 5k along with 180 other runners. Ger placed 2nd in 17:57, behind race winner Freddie Sittuk (17:33). On the same day, we had 3 runners in the second annual running of the Carton House 6k trail race. In a field of more than 530 runners, Michael Maughan placed 32nd in a great time of 23:51, followed by Kate Murray (117th overall, 16th female and 4th in her age category, in 27:55) and Emma O’Mahony (154th overall, 27th female, in 29:14). Then, on Sunday, we had at least 10 Crusaders participate in the more than 120-strong BHAA Dublin Fire Brigade 5k which was held near the Brigade’s training centre on the Malahide Road. On a course that was described as undulating with 500m of climb towards the end and in blustery conditions, Ilona McElroy distinguished herself with a win in the women’s race (11th overall in 18:35), nearly a minute ahead of the woman in 2nd place. The leader of our pack was, however, Karl Walsh, who placed 6th in 17:50, followed by a resurgent John Thuillier (8th in 18:02), and, after Ilona, Barry McGuire (15th in 18:50). Next came Robbie Moore (38th in 20:49), followed by Neil Brown (57th in 22:26), Emer Kenny, running really well in 68th place overall, 10th woman, (22:54), Olwyn Dunne (95th overall, 22nd woman, 4th in her age category) in 24:34 and, finally, by Paul Kelly (106th in 26:02). There was quite a bit of action in the mountains last week. On Wednesday a trail race over 7.5k took place on Djouce. 134 runners headed for the hills, which involved a relatively easy 118m climb. We had 3 clubmates in the event. With the winner, Barry Murray, coming home in a time of 28:40, Colm Kernan was our first Crusader finisher, placing 20th in 31:45. Colm was followed by Brian McGuckin (24th in 32:04) and Gavan Doherty (43rd in 34:04). Gavan went on to join Jason Kehoe on Saturday afternoon in the 4th race of the 5 race series of the Irish Mountain Championships. This time the race was held in Log Na Coile, Co. Wicklow, with the moderate climb of 500m taking runners up Lugnaquillia Mountain. In the best 3 of 5 races to count and with 2 wins already under his belt, Jason Kehoe needed to beat Brian Furey to avoid having to take the series to a decider as Jason was sitting on 2 points, equal with Brian (who until Saturday had only run in one race and placed 2nd to Jason). In the event, Brian won the race on Saturday (in 54:30), with Jason taking 3rd place (55:25) behind Michael McCarthy (55:07) in 2nd place. So, as the smoke clears, it essentially means that Jason has to finish ahead of Brian in the last race in Galtymore on 13 August to take the national title again. The event will be a challenging one, involving a climb over 12km of 1.34km. In a field of 65 runners on Saturday, Gavan took 31st place in a time of 1:14:12. Leo Lundy reports that he took part in a 28.5 mile "Invader ultra" in Dorset over the weekend. The Roman-themed event took place in lashing rain on muddy hills which soon became a quagmire. A truly difficult challenge and Leo finished in 7:28:48, in 262nd place out of nearly 300 runners. As usual, there were a number of Crusaders taking part in parkruns on Saturday morning. Kris Ryan ran one in Coomera in Queensland, Australia. In a field of 121, Kris ran a sedate (for her) 32:23 to place 89th overall (25th female finisher). In Marlay Park, Kevin Lynch ran 19:06 to place 12th in a field of nearly 400 participants. 5 of our club mates ran in St. Anne’s, Raheny, among nearly 380 runners. Matt Cranley finished in 21st place (19:41), followed by Colm Kernan (55th in 21:35), Denis Murphy (149th in 24:55), Aoife Quinn (237th overall, 65th woman, in 28:21) and Ciara McElligott (318th overall, 116th woman, in 31:25). We had a few run in Bere Island, off Co. Cork for the first time. Fiona Shine was first female finisher in a field of 112 runners, placing 4th overall, in a time of 21:27. Orlaith de Burca was next in 28:13 (30th overall, 12th woman), followed by Fiona’s daughter, Mia (62nd overall, 22nd female finisher, in 40:57). Paul Flynn came home in 3rd place in Kilkenny. Paul’s time was 18:39 and there were nearly 180 runners in the event. In Hartstown, Brendan Kieran improved on his time last week with a 14th spot (in a field of 59) and a time of 24:18. Helena Walsh placed 11th overall, 4th woman, in a time of 21:52 among the 70-strong field in Limerick, whilst Kevin Flynn took 45th place out of 88 runners in a time of 28:03 in Porterstown. Finally, we had 5 runners in Cabinteely. Raghnall O’Donoghue led the contingent home in 6th place in a field of 134 participants. Raghnall’s time was 20:49 and he was followed by Tom Dunne (10th in 21:21), Dave Carter (11th in 21:28), Colm Foley (28th in 24:05) and Olwyn Dunne (97th overall, 24th woman, in 30:13). Thanks to Liam Behan, Eithne from the BHAA and Action Photography for the photos. BHAA Dublin Fire Brigade 5k Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Sean Doran 1 00:16:00 11 Ilona McElroy 1 00:18:35 Crusaders AC runners 6 Karl Walsh 00:17:50 8 John Thuillier 00:18:02 11 Ilona McElroy 00:18:35 (1) 15 Barry McGuire 00:18:50 38 Robbie Moore 00:20:49 57 Neil Brown 00:22:26 68 Emer Kenny 00:22:54 (10) 95 Olwyn Dunne 00:24:34 (22) 106 Paul Kelly 00:26:02 Full results here: https://bhaa.ie/results/ Dublin Airport Central 5k Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Freddie Sittuk 1 00:17:33 19 Cindy Kelly 1 00:21:30 Crusaders AC runner 2 Ger Forde 00:17:57 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/dublin_airport__central_5k/2370/results Carton House 6k trail race Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Kieran Jackson 1 00:20:09 27 Hannah Carroll 1 00:23:26 Crusaders AC runners 32 Michael Maughan 00:23:51 117 Kate Murray 00:27:55 (16) 154 Emma O’Mahony 00:29:14 (27) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/carton_house_6k_trail_race/2208/results Marlay Parkrun #218 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 James Kelly 1 00:16:52 17 Sarah Baryga 1 00:19:59 Crusaders AC runner 12 Kevin Lynch 00:19:06 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=218 Hartstown Parkrun #141 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Owen Fletcher 1 00:18:34 13 Margaret O’Friel 1 00:24:17 Crusaders AC runner 14 Brendan Kieran 00:24:18 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/lhartstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=141 Porterstown Parkrun #93 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Niall Sherlock 1 00:18:43 7 Ann Horan 1 00:21:20 Crusaders AC runners 14 Donal Foley 00:22:36 44 Kevin Flynn 00:28:03 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/porterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=93 St Anne’s Parkrun #192 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Bernard Roe 1 00:16:55 11 Zoe Quinn 1 00:18:42 Crusaders AC runners 21 Matt Cranley 00:19:41 55 Colm Kernan 00:21:35 149 Denis Murphy 00:24:55 237 Aoife Quinn 00:28:21 (65) 318 Ciara McElligott 00:31:25 (116) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=192 Cabinteely Parkrun #122 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Barry Thornton 1 00:18:12 26 Doireann Nash 1 00:23:56 Crusaders AC runners 6 Raghnall O’Donohue 00:20:49 10 Tomas Dunne 00:21:21 11 David Carter 00:21:28 28 Colm Foley 00:24:05 97 Olwyn Dunne 00:30:13 (24) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=122 Bere Island Parkrun #159 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Donal Murphy 1 00:20:41 4 Fiona Shine 1 00:21:27 Crusaders AC runners 4 Fiona Shine 00:21:27 (1) 30 Orlaith de Burca 00:28:13 (12) 62 Mia Shine 00:40:57 (22) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/bereisland/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=159 Limerick Parkrun #79 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Oisin Hughes 1 00:19:01 7 Tanya Cox 1 00:20:15 Crusaders AC runner 11 Helena Walsh 00:21:52 (4) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/limerick/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=79 Kilkenny Parkrun #144 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Chris Olley 1 00:15:19 2 Sarah Johnson 1 00:18:22 Crusaders AC runner 3 Paul Flynn 00:18:39 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/kilkenny/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=144 The Summer just gets better and better and we have witnessed and participated in some super events so far! There was a fair representation for the club among track and field and road runners over the past few days as we had numerous members compete in the national Senior track and field championships up in Santry and more than 40 turned out for the first event in the Dublin race series, the Fingal 10K, part of the traditional build up to the Dublin marathon in October. We start with track and field and the highlight of this weekend was the two days of action at the national Senior T&F Championships. Several crusaders made it to finals, and of those that didn’t we had a fair smattering of PBs in any event. On Saturday, Lisa Shine took part in the first heat of the women’s 800m, placing 9th behind eventual national champion and World Championships-bound Ciara Mageean. Lisa ran 2:39.50. In the third of the 3 heats, we had 3 Crusaders together with Lorraine Healy who trains with us. It was probably too big an ask to expect them to make the final, but the women ran well with Lesley-Ann Doughan running strongly at the finish to take Fiona Shine who had led the small group behind the front runners for much of the race. Both recorded PBs, with Lesley-Ann registering 2:25.71 for 5th place and Fiona, 2:26.11 for 6th. Lorraine also recorded a PB in 7th (2:26.62), just ahead of Grainne Regan in 8th (2:35.34). In the men’s 800m heats, Kieron Sexton ran a PB in the first race by hanging on to Mark English (1:54.14 to place 3rd) and qualify as a fastest loser. Kevin Woods duly won his heat with a good lead throughout (1:54.00) with Michael O’Conor back in 7th (2:01.87), demonstrating his usual strong finish to a race and just off his PB. The final the following day saw Kevin take up the lead towards the end of the race but he was overhauled in the finishing straight, coming home in 5th place (1:52.67) and Kieron took 10th spot in 1:56.70, no doubt spent after his previous day’s courageous effort. Men’s captain Michael Kiely was on his own in the men’s 1500m heats, finishing in 12th place in 4:06.76, whilst, in the women’s race which went straight to final without any heats, Niamh Boland took 11th spot in 4:44.50, followed by Orla Kennedy in 16th with a PB of 4:53.39. There were some spectacular performances among our sprinters. Jason Harvey was our lone participant in the men’s 400mH, but he ran well in the first round on Saturday, placing 2nd in 55.05 and then acquitted himself well against the tough opposition of Thomas Barr and Paul Byrne to take bronze in the final, with a great 51.19 finish. Then, in the men’s 110mH final (an event without heats), Matthew Behan narrowly missed out on the title with a PB run of 14.09 (his second PB in as many weeks), the winner running 13.94, Matt having been in contention from gun to tape. We managed to get 4 Crusaders into the men’s 400m final on Sunday, with some convincing runs in the heats the previous day. Nick Ennis and Brian Murphy came through as fastest losers from their respective heats, Nick having run a likely PB of 48.53 and Brian, 49.00, behind heat winner, newcomer Andrew Mellon (48.59). Ben Maze won his heat in 48.14. So, onto the final, in which we witnessed a fabulous spectacle behind national champion Brian Gregan, off to the World Championships next week. Andrew (47.44) ran an explosive last 100m to overhaul Ben (47.64) and take silver, with Ben taking home the bronze. Brian, with a tough inside lane draw for a tall runner, ran his heart out in his 16th consecutive appearance in a national 400m championship final (and twice winner of the title) to place 5th in a season’s best 48.32 and Nick took 8th spot in 49.31. Indeed, the club dominated the distance over the day as we fielded two men’s teams for the 4x400m relays, with the team of Ben Maze, Nick Ennis, Andrew Mellon and Jason Harvey taking the title and the team of Matthew Behan, Kieron Sexton, James and Kevin Woods, placing third. Ciara Barry was our lone female sprinter, running gamely to place 4th in the second of 2 heats (1:01.66) and qualify for the final as a fastest loser. Ciara then went on to take 8th place in the final with a marginally faster time of 1:00.45. We also had some success in the field events over the weekend. Adam McMullen successfully defended his national title in the long jump with a leap of 7.74m (having placed 2nd earlier in the week in the Cork City Games in windy conditions with a jump of 7.49). Colin Quirke, having been unable to defend his 2015 title in the 2kg discus last year, came back to win it this year with a throw of 55.12m, one of only 2 valid throws (out of 6) in the final analysis, the other also being enough to take the title. Alix Hughes contested the women’s long jump, but, unfortunately, did not qualify for the final, recording only one valid jump (4.36m) of the three to determine qualification. Finally, James Kelly took 8th spot in the 7.26kg shot put with a throw of 12.40m. Staying with track and field, a few of our clubmates headed over the Morton stadium on a wet and windy evening last Wednesday for the 7th Dublin Athletics graded meeting. Patrick Gilceava won the long jump with a leap of 6.35m, whilst Alix Hughes took 2nd in the women’s 200m B race in a time of 27.34. In the women’s 1500m C race, Darina Scully ran 5:27.01 in finishing 5th, whilst, in the B event, Fiona Shine won easily in a time of 5:03.14. We had a runner in each of the two races in the men’s 200m B standard. Sam Bolger won race 1 in 24.90 and John Nugent placed 7th in race 2 in a time of 26.21. Finally, we had 6 runners in 4 of the 1500m graded races. In the D event, Brendan Glynn narrowly failed to improve on his PB when he placed 8th in 5:20.27, whilst, in the C event, Brian Carroll did get a PB by winning it in 4:37.90, followed by Frank Halligan (6th in 4:45.48) and John Thuillier (8th in 4:49.99) in a field of 16 runners. Alan Sheehy took on the B grade, placing 10th in 4:40.10, whilst Michael Kiely ran in the A event as a warm up for the national championships, taking 10th in 4:22.92. In mountain running during the week, Ali Onur Uyar was our lone representative in the Dublin mountains in a 60-strong race known as the Kippure Handicap. Ali, completed the tough race in 1:31:55 to place 34th. It was held on a tough 9.27km course with a climb of 300m and in wet and windy conditions. There were two notable road races in the Dublin area during this period. On Thursday, more than a 1,000 runners took to the streets around Kilmainham and the Liberties, among them at least 13 Crusaders. The event was the annual Liberties run and this year was clearly a 4 mile event. Orla Drumm successfully and convincingly defended her title (some 80s ahead of 2nd place), placing 10th overall in 22:34 behind overall race winner John Coghlan (18:59) who narrowly beat Freddie Sittuk (19:00) and Sean Hehir (19:05) and there were also great runs from Crusaders James Moran (6th in 22:11) and Joe Walsh (17th in 23:26). Top 50 places among the men went to TJ Bourke (30th in 24:58) and Gearoid Grogan (32nd in 24:59). Marius McNicholas (56th in 26:21), Luke Haran (65th in 26:34) and Lorcan Wogan (144th in 29:16) were our other men in the race. On the women’s side, Orla was followed by Katie McElroy (98th overall, 15th woman, in 27:52), Ruth Dwyer (104th overall and 17th woman, in 27:59), Rachel Yorke (147th overall, 29th woman, in 29:25) and Olwyn Dunne (181st overall, 39th woman, in 30:20). The second big road race of the weekend was the Dublin Race Series Fingal 10K, which has become a permanent and popular fixture in the racing calendar after about 5 years now. It is run on a fast and largely flat course, with slight drags at 4km and then in the final kilometre. Conditions were damp before the start with some fine drizzle, but by the time the race started at 10 conditions were dry, if a little humid and clammy in temperatures in the high teens and the sun briefly shone about 20 minutes into the race. The hose shower from Swords’ fire brigade in the 9th kilometre was greatly appreciated by all! The race attracted more than 3,000 runners, at least 40 of them Crusaders, a huge turnout for the event and noticed by the race commentator, at the start and as we finished, with some top level performances, more than half of our number finishing in the top 500 overall and as many as 14 running under 40 minutes. Several of our participants are training for the Dublin marathon and will have got some confidence from this event. Adrienne Jordan was our first female athlete home, taking 4th place (136th overall) in 38:23 behind Gladys Ganiel and Niamh Devlin. Adrienne was followed by newcomer Kiera Roche (168th overall, 7th woman) in 39:18 and by Catherine Thornton (211th overall, 10th woman) in 39:51. Next home for the club was Nina Holmes, on her way back to pre-injury form, with a PB time of 42:09 (374th overall, 28th woman), followed by Dee Ni Chearbhaill (513th overall, 49th woman, in 43:39). There were PBs, too, for Katie McElroy (608th overall, 72nd woman, in 44:50), Ruth Dwyer (715th overall, 95th woman, in 45:57), both having run in the Liberties Run on Thursday and Ciara Lehane (844th overall, 126th woman, in 47:01). Other good results came from Ciara McElligott (724th overall, 100th woman, in 45:51), Olwyn Dunne (906th overall, 143rd woman, in 47:52), Darina Scully (933rd overall, 155th woman, in 48:10), Niamh Quinn (1,046th overall, 190th woman, in 48:03), Aisling Dilworth (1,070th overall, 199th woman, in 48:35), Orlaith de Burca (1,073rd overall, 200th woman, in 48:55), Carina Davidson (1,093rd overall, 207th woman, in 48:24), Ela Szkamruk (1,241st overall, 252nd woman, in 50:19), Aisling O’Connor (1,580th overall, 392nd woman, in 53:050, Jean Devlin (1,812th woman, 484th woman, in 55:17), Siobhan Russell (1,907th overall, 543rd woman, in 55:53), Lucy Collender (1,976th overall, 578th woman, in 57:24) and finally, special mention should be made of Maria Pertl, looking magnificent as she sprinted towards the line, in her 7th month of pregnancy (2,812th overall, 1,144th woman, in 1:07:54). On the men’s side there were some terrific runs, with a good spread of PBs, particularly towards the front of the race. The overall event was won by John Coghlan, overpowering Freddie Sittuk for the second time in 4 days, but this time with a more comfortable gap of 7 seconds. The first male Crusader home was John Mulvihill, who had an outstanding run to place 9th in a PB time of 32:53. He was followed by Ciaran (registered as Ciara!) Diviney, who also obtained a PB in 33:19 with his 14th placing. Ciaran additionally distinguished himself with first place in the O/40 age category. There were also PBs for the next two athletes home: Frank Halligan (34th in 35:19) and Joe McDermott (54th in 36:06, a more than 50 seconds improvement over the recent Dunshaughlin 10k). Frank Hague was next (58th in 36:15), followed by Karl Walsh (64th in 36:26), Paul Flynn (93rd in 37:21), Joe Walsh (140th in 38:29), newcomer Brian Scanlan (154th in 38:55), Brian Leonard (getting back to his old form, 159th in 39:07), Diarmuid Byrne (161st in 39:09) and Gearoid Grogan (like Joe, in his second race in 4 days) (201st in 39:42). Niall O'Connell was our only real casualty of the race. He was well-placed at the half-way mark but a recurring ankle injury forced him to stop. Niall was able to finish, however, after helping a few other runners themselves to get to the line. Our visually-impaired colleague, Donnacha McCarthy was guided expertly by Dave Tilly to a 9–minute PB improvement, coming home in 40:39 (259th place), and they were followed by a storming Dave Tuohy (287th in 40:50). Next came James Cottle, in his first race back from recent injuries to both of his Achilles (302nd in 41:24). Whilst still far from past form, James outsprinted another O/60 runner in the last 100m to claim 3rd place in that age category. Other runners in the race included Phelim Murray (326th in 41:48), Tom Dunne (338th in 41:51), Robbie Moore (481st in 43:10), Denis Murphy (496th in a PB time of 43:23) and newcomer Ian Hennessy with a PB (946th in 46:57), to complete the complement of runners in the race. Over the weekend some of our clubmates, particularly those training for an Autumn marathon, took part in some long distance events. Newcomer Fergal Condron ran a PB in the Killarney half. In a field of nearly 1,100 runners, Fergal placed 63rd in a time of 1:29:54, his first time under 90 minutes. Then, in Donabate on Saturday, newcomer Barry McGuire and Paul O’Meara ran in a half marathon organised by the East of Ireland marathon club. They were joined by 56 other runners and Barry took 2nd place in 1:28:54, with Paul in 4th, treating the event as a training run, finishing in a time of 1:32:35. As a recovery run from last week’s 24-hour effort, Leo Lundy took on the international Achill back-to- back marathon event around the toughest and one of the most scenic routes in the country. In extremely warm and sunny conditions, Leo came mid-pack both days in a reasonably modest field (results yet to be published). In Queensland, Australia. Kris Ryan took part in a 24-hour event around an iconic 600m trail in the historic village of Coobulture. Kris is to be congratulated as she managed 103 miles for 1st place overall in the race. John Fitzsimons and his daughter Lorraine ran in the Lord Mayor's 2 mile run in Raheny last Tuesday, with John finishing in 17:40 and Lorraine, 19:28. There is news that soon there may be a park run in Sean Moore Park. Watch this space. In the meantime, Crusaders took part in 9 parkruns on Saturday morning. Colm Kernan and john Fitzsimons joined more than 320 other runners in St. Anne’s, Raheny, with Colm placing 10th in 19:13 and John still going strong just before his 80th birthday with a 28:54 finish (195th place). Sharon Woods placed 35th overall, 7th woman, in 25:56 among the 123 runners in Tymon. Fiona Bane ran in Cootehill, placing 11th overall, 4th woman, in 25:04. The field was a modest 38. Then, in Hartstown, Brendan Kieran made a rare foray into park-running, placing 22nd out of 57 in a time of 24:44, whilst Neil Brown took on the hilly Cabinteely along with nearly 140 other participants, placing 33rd in 24:36. Kevin Flynn was also a solo representative for the club in Porterstown, where he ran 27:20 to finish in 44th spot out of 70 runners. Darina Scully and Olwyn Dunne prepared for the following day’s 10K race with a trip around Bushy Park in Bushy Dublin. Of 123 runners, Darina placed 67th overall, 21st woman, in 28:25, whilst Olwyn took 69th spot overall, 23rd woman, in a time of 28:28. In the 2nd running of Fairview, 6 of our members explored this new event. Aoife Clark was first home, finishing in 14th spot overall (out of nearly 90 runners), 2nd woman, in 22:52, followed by Aoife Quinn (19th overall, 4th woman, in 24:43), Sarah Lyons (51st overall, 15th woman) in 29:30, Phelim Murray (52nd overall, same time), the game Maria Pertl (56th overall, 18th woman, in 31:28) and Diarmuid Byrne (57th in 31:29), the last 3 athletes preparing for the Fingal 10k the following day. Finally, Rob Cross took time off from a wedding down in limerick to run in the parkrun there, coming home as first finisher in a time of 16:53 in a field of 74 runners. Race Series Fingal 10K Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 John Coghlan 1 00:30:38 41 Gladys Ganiel 1 00:35:33 Crusaders AC runners 9 John Mulvihill 00:32:53 (PB) 14 Ciaran Diviney 00:33:19 (PB) 34 Frank Halligan 00:35:19 (PB) 54 Joe McDermott 00:36:06 (PB) 58 Frank Hague 00:36:15 64 Karl Walsh 00:36:26 93 Paul Flynn 00:37:21 136 Adrienne Jordan 00:38:23 (4) 140 Joe Walsh 00:3829 154 Brian Scanlan 00:38:55 159 Brian Leonard 00:39:07 161 Diarmuid Byrne 00:39:09 168 Kiera Roche 00:39:18 (7) 201 Gearoid Grogan 00:39:42 211 Catherine Thornton 00:39:51 (10) 259 Donnacha McCarthy 00:40:39 (PB) 260 Dave Tilly 00:40:39 (guide) 287 Dave Tuohy 00:40:50 302 James Cottle 00:41:24 326 Phelim Murray 00:41:48 338 Tomas Dunne 00:41:51 374 Nina Holmes 00:42:09 (PB) (28) 481 Robbie Moore 00:43:10 496 Denis Murphy 00:43:23 (PB) 513 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:43:39 (49) 608 Katie McElroy 00:44:50 (PB) (72) 622 Ciara Lynch 00:44:57 (77) 715 Ruth Dwyer 00:45:57 (PB) (95) 724 Ciara McElligott 00:45:51 (100) 844 Ciara Lehane 00:47:01 (PB) (126) 906 Olwyn Dunne 00:47:52 (143) 933 Darina Scully 00:48:10 (155) 946 Ian Hennessy 00:46:57 (PB) 1046 Niamh Quinn 00:48:03 (190) 1070 Aisling Dilworth 00:48:35 (199) 1093 Carina Davidson 00:48:24 (207) 1241 Ela Szkamruk 00:50:19 (252) 1580 Aisling O’Connor 00:53:05 (392) 1812 Jean Devlin 00:55:17 (484) 1907 Siobhan Russell 00:55:53 (543) 1976 Lucy Collender 00:57:24 (578) 2812 Maria Pertl 01:07:54 (1144) Full results here: http://tdleventservices.co.uk/race-results.php Liberties 4 miles Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 John Coghlan 1 00:18:59 10 Orla Drumm 1 00:22:34 Crusaders AC runners 6 James Moran 00:22:11 10 Orla Drumm 00:22:34 (1) 17 Joe Walsh 00:23:26 (PB) 30 TJ Bourke 00:24:58 (PB) 32 Gearoid Grogan 00:24:59 (PB) 56 Marius McNicholas 00:26:21 65 Luke Haran 00:26:34 98 Katie McElroy 00:27:52 (PB) (15) 104 Ruth Dwyer 00:27:59 (PB) (17) 144 Loran Wogan 00:29:16 147 Rachel Yorke 00:29:25 (PB) (29) 181 Olwyn Dunne 00:30:20 (39) Full results here: http://www.championchipireland.com/results/index.php Killarney Half Marathon Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Niall O’Riordan 1 01:12:10 14 Sinead Tangney 1 01:19:58 Crusaders AC runner 63 Fergal Condron 01:29:54 (PB) Full results here: http://www.sportsplits.com/Home/Results Cootehill Parkrun #142 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Ronan McDermott 1 00:20:28 4 Oonagh Duffy 1 00:23:02 Crusaders AC runner 11 Fiona Bane 00:25:04 (4) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cootehill/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=142 Hartstown Parkrun #140 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Efrem Gidey 1 00:17:07 10 Noelle Capewell 1 00:22:14 Crusaders AC runner 22 Brendan Kieran 00:24:44 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/lhartstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=140 Porterstown Parkrun #92 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Gavin Byrne 1 00:18:06 16 Bronagh O’Hara 1 00:21:49 Crusaders AC runner 44 Kevin Flynn 00:27:20 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/porterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=92 St Anne’s Parkrun #187 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Bernard Roe 1 00:16:55 43 Michelle Langan 1 00:21:49 Crusaders AC runners 10 Colm Kernan 00:19:13 195 John Fitzsimons 00:28:54 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=187 Cabinteely Parkrun #116 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Barry Thornton 1 00:18:23 17 Rita Moran 1 00:23:05 Crusaders AC runners 33 Neil Brown 00:24:36 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=116 Tymon Parkrun #156 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Gavin Curran 1 00:18:28 17 Niamh Murphy 1 00:23:56 Crusaders AC runner 35 Sharon Woods 00:25:56 (7) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tymon/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=156 Limerick Parkrun #78 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Rob Cross 1 00:16:53 10 Shona Ni Fhloinn 1 00:20:46 Crusaders AC runner 1 Rob Cross 00:16:53 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/limerick/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=78 Bushy Dublin Parkrun #17 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Desie Shorten 1 00:19:44 2 Derval Devaney 1 00:19:59 Crusaders AC runners 67 Darina Scully 00:28:25 (21) 69 Olwyn Dunne 00:28:28 (23) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/bushydublin/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=17 Fairview Parkrun #2 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Simon Befort 1 00:18:44 11 Aine Ni Ghloinn 1 00:22:40 Crusaders AC runners 14 Aoife Clarke 00:22:52 (2) 19 Aoife Quinn 00:24:43 (4) 51 Sarah Lyons 00:29:30 (15) 52 Phelim Murray 00:29:30 56 Maria Pertl 00:31:28 (18) 57 Diarmuid Byrne 00:31:29 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/fairview/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=2 What a week that was! We witnessed some fabulous track racing at the Morton Games and also at the IMC meet in La Cheile, but also there was an outstanding performance from Matthew Behan in the U23 European Championships in Bydgoszcz in Poland, denied a place in the 110mH final by 1/1000th of a second, despite a PB run. There were also standout performances on the track and on the roads this week from a lot of familiar Crusader names. On the track the week started on Wednesday with the Morton Games, which included some IMC events among a plethora of international runners and a mile event that saw as many as 11 of the 16 runners go under 4 minutes. One of the most fascinating results of the evening was the 800m B race in which Niamh Boland took part. Niamh finished in 9th place in 2:17.25, but the race was won by Sonya O’Sullivan’s 15-year old daughter, Sophie, around 2:11. A name to watch. Michael O’Conor continues to get faster as an 800m runner, placing 6th in the men’s 800m D race in a PB time of 2:01.47, after a really strong sprint for the line. After a week of sickness, Brian Murphy tested himself out in the men’s 400m B race, placing 4th in a season’s best 48.41, behind a surging Ben Maze who ran a super-fast 2nd half of the race to take 2nd place in 47.71 and ahead of Nick Ennis who ran 49.72 to finish in 7th place. Jason Harvey was another of our top athletes at the games and he placed 5th in the 400mH in a time of 51.48. On Thursday evening several of our members headed up to Drogheda for the 5th graded meet of the season there. In the mixed 1500 B race Brendan Glynn led our contingent home in a 12 second PB improvement, placing 11th in 5:19.22, followed by Darina Scully (11th in 5:23.27) and Lisa Shine (14th in 5:24.71). Paul Kelly ran in the mixed 1500m C event, taking 11th spot in 7:00.8. Again, in a mixed race, Liam Lyster ran 75.33 in the 400m D event, taking 4th place, with a similar result in the mixed 100m B, where Liam ran 13.7. We come to Friday where Matthew Behan ran in the heats of the 110mH in the U23 European Championships. Only the first two of each heat qualified for the final and despite hitting at least 3 hurdles Matthew was well in contention all the way through his race. His PB time of 14.14, however, placed him in 3rd, but only 1/1000th of a second behind the Czech runner in 2nd after a photo finish. Finally, on Saturday, in their 2nd meet of the week, and last of the season, Mike McGovern and Susan Walsh organised a track meet at Le Cheile AC’s track in Leixlip. It was a warm but really blustery day, so it was quite surprising to see PBs emerge from some of the events. In the men’s 400m A race, an event full of international athletes, Brian Murphy ran an excellent race, not reflected in the time, probably because of the wind (and the winning time was 47:21), to place 4th in 49.33. Then in the women’s 800m B event, Fiona Shine ran a canny race, coming from right at the back after the first lap to place 7th in a PB time of 2:26.71. Amy Wright enjoyed a sprint for the line with Fiona, placing 8th in a time of 2:26.75, also huge improvement in time since her previous race, and Amy was followed by Lorraine Healy who trains with the club (9th in 2:27.60) and Grainne Regan, who placed 10th with a PB of 2:29.66 (a 3 second improvement). Kevin Woods was also running in a strong field in the men’s 800m A race and came through well to place 3rd in 1:51.03, quite possibly a PB for him. In the women’s 1500m, among a large field of 19 runners, we had 2 Crusaders. Niamh Boland, in her 2nd event of the week, placed 8th in 4:42.82, possibly a season’s best run, whilst Orla Kennedy ran well in no man’s land at times to place 17th in 5:02.84. Michael Kiely placed 9th in the men’s 1500m B race in 4:13.03, whilst Michael O’Conor, well in contention in the men 800m C race, was clipped and, unfortunately, fell out of the race at the bell. Finally, Adam McMullen duly won the long jump with a jump of 7.55m. There was one race in the mountains this week, on Wednesday. This time the league moved to Bray Head and a moderately difficult course of 6k, with a climb of some 300m. Among the 206 runners we had 6 Crusaders competing. They were led home by Warren Swords who placed 8th in a time of 27:36, just 1m22s behind race winner Michael McCarthy (26:14). Warren was followed by John McAuley (13th in 28:34) and by a slightly out-of-sorts Brian McGuckin (37th in 31:53). Sonja Fuhrmann was next, in 33:20, placing 55th overall, 4th female behind Sonya McConnon (22nd overall in 29:55). Ali Onur Uyar came home in 67th place (33:51) and he was followed by Berndt Heim (194th in 47:15). We now come to the road-racing events of the week, of which there were several. On Wednesday, the BHAA took over Irishtown stadium for a 5K run on a mixture of bike path in Ringsend Park and track. There was a good turnout from the club for the event. Frank Hague was first home, in 13th place (17:43), followed by Karl Walsh in 14th and given the same time. Michael Wycherley followed closely behind in 15th (17:53), with Joe Walsh not too far behind (21st in 18:15, quite possibly a PB). Ollie McGrath was next, in 29th (18:41), and he was followed closely by Tomas Mahony (30th in 18:42). The final members of the contingent were Gearoid Grogan (34th in 19:11), Simon Kenny (39th in 19:48), Robbie Moore (56th in 20:38), Olwyn Dunne (84th overall, 9th female, 2nd in her age category, in 22:53) and Sharon Woods (117th overall, 26th female, in 25:11). The field measured 135 runners (and there is a question mark over some of the times and positions recorded). On Saturday morning, on an undulating course in windy conditions in the northern end of Phoenix Park, we had 3 Crusaders take part alongside nearly 1,000 other participants in the Spar Fit Live 5k. Gian Piero Allerta, who is coming off a slight injury, ran 20:29 to place 28th and he was followed home by John Fitzsimons (265th in 28:59) and John's daughter, Lorraine (418th overall, 182nd female, in 31:43). Then, on Sunday, there were several events from which to choose and we had some great performances in each of them. The first was the Celbridge 5K and Adrienne Jordan ran on a newly-modified (and arguably slower) course. In a race won, not unsurprisingly, by Peter Somba (15:2) and Ciara Hickey (8th overall, in 17:15), in her second win of the week, Adrienne joined 190 other runners on a tough course (an unexpected hill at mile 2 and an 800m finish on grass) to take 3rd spot in the women’s race, 24th overall and first F40, in a time of 18:40. On the same morning we had 5 runners in Mullingar for the 10 miler there. Rob Cross ran a super 54:39 to place 3rd not too far behind winner Freddie Sittuk (54:02) and the first M40 across the line. Joe McDermott also ran out of his skin to record a PB time of 1:00:57 (25th out of a field of 240 and a 4 minutes improvement), with Bob Cahill not too far behind in 33rd place (1:02:55). Aoife Clarke was one of two women in the race, the other being Fiona Bane and they ran, respectively, 1:17:32 (a PB time) and 1:25:29 to place 114th and 164th overall, 14th and 37th female finishers. Finally, in the well-organised Dunleer 4 mile later in the day, Ilona McElroy distinguished herself among the field of 333 runners, by placing 17th overall, 2nd woman home to Niamh Devlin, in a time of 24:24, 5 seconds ahead of 3rd place. The undulating course had a few drags and conditions were hot and windy. We had two ultra-marathoners in action over the weekend. Our exile in Canada, Ian Kinsella, decided to take on his first ultra at the Northface 50k in the Blue Mountains and ended up sharing the podium with ultra legends Rob Krar, winner of the Western States 100 in 2014 and 2015, and Dean Karnazes, who needs no introduction! Then, Leo Lundy participated in the Spitfire 24-hours race in Hornchurch Park, Essex. Leo finished at 101K after having some nutritional and hydration issues for the first time ever (no solid food from 40 miles and no liquids from 50 miles). He was a little unsteady on his feet and the early onset of what felt like hallucinations decided him to call it a day with quite a bit of time still left on the clock. This still goes in as Leo’s 4th longest run ever and this was his 100th UK based Marathon or Ultra (64 UK marathons and 36 UK Ultras). The event was a poor cousin to the Endure 24 but at least the timing and medical support was good and runners were treated to the most amazing sunset over Central London. As usual, we finish the report with a round-up of parkrun events in which Crusaders took part. Darina Scully joined 292 other runners in Malahide, placing 69th overall, 11th female, in a time of 23:42. Alban Coghlan was first finisher in the 141-strong field in Tymon, with a time of 16:43. Orlaith de Burca ran 26:13 to place 74th overall, 9th woman home, in Shanganagh, alongside 171 other runners. Tomas Dunne was another lone runner in Cabinteely, placing 6th out of 137 in a time of 21:17. In Father Collins Niamh Quinn ran 23:00 to place 23rd overall, 2nd woman home, in a field measuring 77 participants. Relative newcomer, Noel Reilly, like Alban this week, placed first finisher in Castlerea. Noel’s time was 21:13 and he finished ahead of 30 other runners. Lesley-Ann Doughan took 2nd place (18th overall) in a time of 21:20 and in a field of 227 runners. Finally, in the inaugural parkrun in Fairview, Parkrun's 65th event, on Saturday morning, 276 men and women participated in the run, among them 5 Crusaders. Colm Kernan led our contingent home in 5th place (19:36), followed by Denis Murphy (29th in 21:59), Sharon Woods (120th overall, 24th woman, in 26:08), Mairead Cashman (175th overall, 52nd woman, in 28:54) and Aoife Quinn (190th overall, 60th woman, in 29:31). Thanks to BHAA and Peter Mooney for some of the photos. BHAA DCC 5K Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Conor Burke 1 00:16:07 12 Ciara Hickey 1 00:17:21 Crusaders AC runners 13 Frank Hague 00:17:43 14 Karl Walsh 00:17:43 15 Michael Wycherley 00:17:53 21 Joe Walsh 00:18:15 29 Ollie McGrath 00:18:41 30 Tomas Mahony 00:18:42 34 Gearoid Grogan 00:19:11 39 Simon Kenny 00:19:48 56 Robbie Moore 00:20:38 84 Olwyn Dunne 00:22:53 (90 117 Sharon Woods 00:25:11 (26) Full results here: https://bhaa.ie/events/dcc-5k-irishtown-2017/ Fit Live 5K Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Anthony Flannery 1 00:17:06 5 Niamh Gallogly 1 00:18:15 Crusaders AC runners 28 Gian Piero Allerta 00:20:29 265 John Fitzsimons 00:28:59 418 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:31:43 (182) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/spar_fitlive_run_series/2261/results Mullingar 10 miles Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Freddie Sittuk 1 00:54:02 15 Breege Connolly 1 00:58:44 Crusaders AC runners 3 Rob Cross 00:54:39 25 Joe McDermott 01:00:57 (PB) 33 Bob Cahill 01:02:55 114 Aoife Clarke 01:17:32 (PB) (14) 164 Fiona Bane 01:25:29 (37) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/mullingar_10/2266/results Celbridge 5K Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Peter Somba 1 00:15:22 8 Ciara Hickey 1 00:17:15 Crusaders AC runner 24 Adrienne Jordan 00:18:40 (3) Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race-results/ Dunleer 4 miles Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Paddy Hamilton 1 00:19:58 10 Niamh Devlin 1 00:23:30 Crusaders AC runner 17 Ilona McElroy 00:24:24 (2) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/dunleer_4_mile_road_race/2205/results Malahide Parkrun #245 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Declan Doherty 1 00:16:39 3 Annette Kealy 1 00:17:59 Crusaders AC runner 69 Darina Scully 00:23:42 (11) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=245 Tymon Parkrun #160 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Alban Coghlan 1 00:16:43 14 Amy Moran 1 00:20:31 Crusaders AC runner 1 Alban Coghlan 00:16:43 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tymon/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=160 Shanganagh Parkrun #121 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Paul McKenna 1 00:17:51 6 Sarah Baryga 1 00:19:19 Crusaders AC runner 74 Orlaith de Burca 00:26:13 (9) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=121 Father Collins Parkrun #95 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Alan Clarke 1 00:18:52 6 Elaine McNulty 1 00:20:09 Crusaders AC runner 23 Niamh Quinn 00:23:27 (2) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/fathercollins/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=95 Cabinteely Parkrun #120 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Timothy Bowen 1 00:17:57 7 Susanna Murphy 1 00:21:24 Crusaders AC runner 6 Tomas Dunne 00:21:17 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=120 Castlerea Parkrun #14 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Noel Reilly 1 00:21:13 3 Charlene Curran 1 00:23:00 Crusaders AC runner 1 Noel Reilly 00:21:13 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/castlerea/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=14 Fairview Parkrun #1 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Bernard Roe 1 00:17:33 35 Nicola Mooney 1 00:22:24 Crusaders AC runners 5 Colm Kernan 00:19:36 29 Denis Murphy 00:21:59 120 Sharon Woods 00:26:08 (24) 175 Mairead Cashman 00:28:54 (52) 190 Aoife Quinn 00:29:31 (60) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/fairview/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=1 Bushy Dublin Parkrun #21 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Karl Chatterton 1 00:17:41 14 Christine Kinsella 1 00:21:08 Crusaders AC runner 18 Lesley-Ann Doughan 00:21:20 (2) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/bushydublin/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=21 It was a quiet week overall for road racing generally around the country but a momentous one for the club, as we hosted the Docklands 5k for the 3rd consecutive year. On a warm and humid, but, most importantly, dry, evening, with a westerly breeze, the race went largely without a hitch and we had sufficient volunteers to ensure generally a great experience for the runners. Since we started organising the event in 2015, we have seen ever faster times generated on the course and this year was no exception. New course records were established by both male and female winners and it is quite possible that we saw the greatest concentration of elite female runners in a 5k in Ireland this year, with the top 5 runners all breaking 17 minutes. The men also distinguished themselves, with a super sprint for the line involving 4 runners, finishing only 8 seconds apart in total. The race was won in a course record time of 14:30 by MSB’s John Coghlan, ahead of Kevin Maunsell (14:32) and Freddie Sittuk (14:37) ahead of a field of 1,558 finishers, the largest number for the race yet. The women’s race was won by another international athlete, Shona Heaslip of An Riocht, who also established a new course record of 16:12, ahead of last year’s winner Laura Shaughnessy (16:34) and another international, Ciara Durkin (3rd in 16:54). It was gratifying to see the first 4 female finishers complete the course in under 17 minutes, with the first 12 running under 19 minutes on chiptime. Indeed, the first 11 men ran under 16 minutes and over 15% of the field finished under 20 minutes, demonstrating that we really do have a fast and flat course. Apart from the intrepid pacers recruited to try to ensure that runners finished under 20, 25 or 30 minutes, we had a few other Crusaders take part in the race and the ones we have been able to identify included Rob Cross, who ran 15:55 to place 10th and winner of his age category. Rob was followed by Tomas Mahony who took 131st place in 18:54, TJ Bourke (157th in 19:14), Zlatko Kulic (162nd in 19:15), Dave Tuohy (215th in 19:40), Luke Haran (535th in 20:24), Siobhan Russell (900th overall in 25:54), Orlaith de Burca (1,297th overall in 29:46), John Fitzsimons (a super 29:49 in 1,303rd) and Lorraine Fitzsimons (1381st overall in 32:53). The pacers were John McAuley, James Murphy, Adrienne Jordan, Hugh Larkin, Orla Kennedy, Catherine Thornton, Michael Fitzsimons, Fiona Shine, Lisa Shine and Emer Kenny, all expertly managed by Joe Dunne who also ran. So, we held what has been acclaimed as a well-organised and safe race (although next year we will need to bring the water closer to the finish line), with a fun party afterwards in HQ. One notable observation is that 2 hours after the race our volunteers had removed all the evidence that a race had ever taken place, which hopefully will endear us to DCC, Garda an Siochana and local residents for future running of the event. Thanks to all who took a role in making the event such a huge success. On Sunday, Dee Ni Chearbhaill reports that she placed 3rd woman finisher in a time of 20:41 in a 5K race (in Craanford in Co. Wexford) organised by Sliabh Buidhe Rovers with a field of nearly 190 runners. In fact, the first 3 women across the line were only 18 seconds apart and they finished one behind the other in 22nd, 23rd and 24th places overall. The overall race was won by Docklands third place finisher, Freddie Sittuk, in 15:06. Also, over the weekend, Kris Ryan competed in the Beach Run Half Marathon on the Gold coast of Australia, placing 3rd overall and first female finisher in a time of 1:54. Finally, on Sunday, Olwyn Dunne celebrated her birthday by running the Wicklow Hospice marathon in the Avondale forest. Olwyn passed through the marathon distance on the 5 mile loop course in 4:06:15, but ended up, for the sheer joy of running, covering at least 51k, indeed probably 54k. The week started with the 6th graded meet organised by Dublin Athletics, this time in Irishtown stadium, with a plethora of sprints and 800m, together with a 5,000m event. In the 100m, there was a photo finish for 2nd place for Alix Hughes in the women’s 100m A race, Alix edging it in 13.08. Ines Fetahovic was 8th in 15.9 in the same race. Whilst, in the men’s 100m sprint, Abbas Bowen placed 4th in the B grade in 12.1 and, in the C grade, John O’Loughlin took 4th in 12.66, followed closely by novice Alex Romano who took 6th in 12.69. We then come onto the 800m events. The standout performance came from Niamh Boland who dominated her A race with a win close to her PB of 2:16.86, which qualified her for this coming Wednesday’s Morton Games in Santry. Amy Wright also won her C standard event in 2:29.34, at least 2 seconds ahead of 2nd place, with Niamh Aspell taking 5th in 2:33.38 and Grainne Regan, 6th in 2:34.55. In the women’s B event, Anna King led for most of the race, but had to settle for 2nd place when she was caught within a whisker of the line. In only her 2nd 800m of the season, Anna ran a creditable 2:23.61. In the men’s races, there was a 6th place finish for Kevin Lynch in race 1 of the D grade, with a time of 2:25.61. The multi-disciplined John O’Loughlin took 8th in the same race in a time of 2:30.20. In race 2 of the same grade, Frank Halligan placed 3rd in 2:18.25, with Paul Kelly 7th in 3:04.94. We had 1 runner in the C grade where John Fahy took 7th in 2:14.88. Then, in race 1 of the B grade, Alan Sheehy finished in 7th spot in a time of 2:11.97, whilst, in the 2nd race, Brian Carroll came home in 3rd in 2:07.72. Michael Kiely placed 7th in race 1 of the A standard in a time of 2:05.13, whilst Michael O’Conor cemented his qualification for the Morton Games, running 2:01.83 to place 5th in the second race. Darina Scully took on the women’s 5,000m and, in the combined B and C race, placing 4th in a time of 21:35.91, whilst, in the men’s equivalent standard event, Brian O’Kelly finished in 2nd place in 16:13.04 with Frank Halligan in 7th (16:51.10) and Joe McDermott, 11th in 17:20.96. On Saturday junior hurdler Valantinos Goularas won the Greek National U20 110mH. Major congratulations to him. There were two events in the mountains on which to report. On Wednesday evening, in IMRA’s Leinster League, on a really tough course in Ballinastoe, 158 runners took on a 500m climb over 12km. By all accounts, it was the toughest challenge of the year so far, in warm conditions. Warren Swords placed 12th in 56:57, about 5 minutes behind race winner Laura Kedney (51:49) and 2nd place finisher Michael McCarthy (53:27). The battle of the two Brians was won this week by Brian McGuckin (26th in 1:01:59), with Brian Leonard hot on his heels (28th in 1:02:38). Sonja Fuhrmann was next, placing 50th overall (8th woman) in 1:08:12, followed by Ali Onur Uyar (58th in 1:10:20) and Berndt Heim (155th in 1:37:11). Then on Saturday, Jason Kehoe distinguished himself with a win in the second of two races he has run (both, victories) in the Irish National Championships, this time on Croagh Patrick in Co. Mayo. The race involved challenging terrain with an ascent of more than 500m on a 7Km course. Among 54 competitors, Jason ran 52:58 for the win after a ding-dong battle with Rathfarnham’s Brian Furey (2nd in 53:55). Laura Flannelly’s husband, Brian, ran 1:05:09 to place 12th. We wish Jason, a recent national champion, well for the remaining races. And so, we come to the parkrun results. A win is a win, no matter how small the field and Denis Murphy came home as first finisher whilst on holiday in southwest France in Cubnezais in the Gironde. At les Dougnes parkrun, a modest 10-person field, Denis ran 23:28. Meanwhile, John McAuley did the same thing in Shanganagh, taking first place ahead of 122 other runners, in a time of 17:35, with Neil Brown placing 52nd in 24:55. We also had a few second place finishes, with John Fahy taking 2nd place in Bushy Dublin in a field of nearly 170 runners and a time of 19:13. Diarmuid Byrne also took 2nd spot, this time in Poppintree where we seemed to have a substantial Cru presence, with some excellent times. Diarmuid’s time was 18:42 and, among the other 115 runners, Ciaran Smyth placed 3rd in 18:46, Aoife Clarke, placed 18th overall (2nd placed woman), in 21:51, Darina Scully placed 22nd overall (3rd placed woman), in 22:22, Fiona Bane took 27th overall (6th placed woman), in 22:54 and Maria Pertl ran a valiant 31:41 to place 95th overall, 46th female finisher. Another good result came from Maria Kennedy who took on the 122-strong field in Kilkenny, placing 20th overall, 3rd female finisher, in 24:02, whilst Sharon Woods was also a lone representative for the club in Tymon, taking 35th place overall (in a field of 119), 6th female finisher, in 24:28. Similarly, Orlaith de Burca was on her own, unusually, in Cabinteely, placing 76th overall out of 103, in a time of 30:59 (22nd female finisher). Finally, we had 3 runners in St. Anne’s. In a field exceeding 300 runners, Noel Reilly placed 13th in 20:15, whilst the venerable John Fitzsimons placed 188th in 28:54 and his daughter Lorraine took 246th spot overall in 32:03 (93rd female finisher). Docklands 5K Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 John Coghlan 1 00:14:30 (CR) 16 Shona Heaslip1 00:16:12 (CR) Crusaders AC runners 10 Rob Cross 00:15:55 131 Tomas Mahony 00:18:54 157 TJ Bourke 00:19:14 162 Zlatko Kulic 00:19:15 215 Dave Tuohy 00:19:40 535 Luke Haran 00:20:24 900 Siobhan Russell 00:25:54 1297 Orlaith de Burca 00:29:46 1303 John Fitzsimons 00:29:49 1381 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:32:53 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/dublin_docklands_5k/2340/results Run with Ray 5K Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Freddie Sittuk 1 00:15:06 22 Mary Gorham 1 00:20:23 Crusaders AC runner 24 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:20:41 (3) Full results here: http://www.sbrclub.com/ Tymon Parkrun #159 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Sean Mac Fhearraigh 1 00:19:07 11 Therese Hanly 1 00:21:12 Crusaders AC runner 35 Sharon Woods 00:24:28 (6) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tymon/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=159 Kilkenny Parkrun #141 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Robbie McGee 1 00:17:32 18 Theresa van Marter 1 00:23:50 Crusaders AC runner 20 Maria Kennedy 00:24:02 (3) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/kilkenny/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=141 Shanganagh Parkrun #120 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 John McAuley 1 00:17:35 26 Noelle Thorpe 1 00:22:00 Crusaders AC runners 1 John McAuley 00:17:35 52 Neil Brown 00:24:55 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=120 St Anne’s Parkrun #190 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Damien Martin 1 00:16:44 16 Caitriona Costello 1 00:20:35 Crusaders AC runners 13 Noel Reilly 00:20:15 188 John Fitzsimons 00:28:54 246 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:32:03 (93) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=189 Cabinteely Parkrun #119 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Angus Tyner 1 00:19:02 8 Ciara Brady 1 00:21:03 Crusaders AC runners 76 Orlaith de Burca 00:30:59 (22) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=119 Poppintree Parkrun #140 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Bobby Bedford 1 00:17:19 13 Kate Cleary 1 00:20:52 Crusaders AC runners 2 Diarmuid Byrne 00:18:42 3 Ciaran Smyth 00:18:46 18 Aoife Clarke 00:21:51 (2) 22 Darina Scully 00:22:22 (3) 27 Fiona Bane 00:22:54 (6) 95 Maria Pertl 00:31:41 (46) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poppintree/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=140 Bushy Dublin Parkrun #20 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Damien Bourke 1 00:18:35 10 Christine Kinsella 1 00:21:02 Crusaders AC runner 2 John Fahy 00:19:13 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/bushydublin/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=20 On Tuesday evening last week the BHAA held its annual 5K trail race in the Phoenix Park. It was a major undertaking as the principal sponsor had pulled out quite close to the race itself and so it was the committee that took on the organising. By all accounts, it was extremely well done and the new timing system appears to be working well. 135 runners participated in the race held on an extremely warm and dry evening and the usual anti-clockwise route near the cricket pitches was apparently reversed. We had 8 Crusaders in the race, led home by Karl Walsh in 4th place (in a PB time of 16:53). Karl was followed by Joe Walsh in 8th (18:31) and by Ilona McElroy who placed 17th overall, 3rd female finisher, in 19:04. Robbie Moore was next in 49th place (21:20), followed by Dee Ni Chearbhaill (50th overall, 8th female, and 3rd in her age category, also in 21:20) Tony Hackett (60th in 22:08), Sharon Woods (103rd overall, 26th female, in 25:31) and Mairead Cashman (121st overall, 40th woman, in 28:00).
Then, on Thursday evening Tomas Dunne participated in the Clonee 10K in wet conditions, along with nearly 300 other runners. The race was notable for the finish line video showing a super sprint for the line won by Emmett Dunleavy (30:50) over Peter Somba (30:51). Tom placed 51st in a guntime of 40:39. A day later, Peter Somba was in action again, this time in the Kilcock 5K, organised by St. Coca’s AC. He and fellow Kenyan, Freddie Sittuk, broke away from the field early on, but were reeled in by Ian Guiden of Clonliffe, with Peter (who is actually coming back from injury) holding on for 2nd (about 35 seconds behind) and Freddie falling back to 6th. The race itself is a true gem. Given that the event, which has been going for some time, boasts, with reason, that it produces PBs, as the course, on which it is run, is pretty much as flat as a pancake (although GPS monitors produce a phantom hill in the first kilometre by virtue of a canopy of trees), surprisingly, the field comprised fewer than 450 runners, although of decent quality. We produced a women’s team of 4 runners accompanied by Vinnie McGuinness. In perfect running conditions in dry weather, Vinnie duly came in with a decent time of 16:21, for 29th place, whilst our 4 person women’s team, who came in third overall, produced 3 PBs among them. First home was Catherine Thornton, who, fresh off the back of a 10K PB last week, not unsurprisingly also produced a PB run this week for the shorter distance, coming home in 9th place in the women’s race, 102nd overall, and a time of 18:42. Amy Wright was next, just returning to fitness, placing 156th overall, 21st woman, in 20:03, having latched on to a slightly erratic pacer, followed by Lisa Shine, in 173rd place overall, 29th woman, in a PB time of 20:36. Kate Murray was our 4th scorer (as in Dunshaughlin last week) and Kate also improved on her PB, coming home in 207th spot, 40th woman finisher, in 21:27. The race itself was followed by a feast as fine as anywhere in Ireland! On Saturday morning, a handful of our club-mates ran in the two races on offer in Clontarf, a 5 miler and a half marathon. The race was run in windy conditions, particularly for the return on the beach where there was an increasing headwind throughout the morning. We had 3 Crusaders run in the 760-strong 5 mile race. First home was Diarmuid Byrne in 9th place (31:40), followed by Niamh Aspell (21st overall, 4th woman) with, quite likely, a PB time of 33:06. Maria Pertl also continues to race and placed 301st overall in 46:57. Dominick Branigan was first home for the club in the half marathon, placing 8th in a field of more than 1,500 and a time of 1:23:56. Dominick was followed by Amy Brogan (205th overall) in 1:39:36 and by 2-hour pacers Olwyn and Joe Dunne, respectively 815th and 820th, in 1:59:24 and 1:59:36. A lot of great track racing took place over the weekend. In the junior and U23 championships in Tullamore on Saturday, Matthew Behan was our standout performer, winning both the U23 100mH in 14.39 and the 200m in 22.36. The multi-talented Alix Hughes placed 2nd in the U23 100mH in 16:06, then came home in 5th in the 200m in 27.28, and then 4th in the long jump (4.48m). Meanwhile, Kevin Woods placed 5th in the U23 400m in a time of 49.50 and James Kelly won the junior 6 kg shot put with a throw of 15.05m. The following day, it was the turn of the masters in the same stadium. Graham Flynn won his heat of the 100m in 12.48, whilst John O’Loughlin placed 2nd in his heat (12.52) and Liam Lyster came home in his heat, also in 2nd place, with a time of 13.94 (going on to take 2nd in the 200m in 30:09 and then win his age category in the 400m in 57.76, followed by Paul Francis in 5th place in 60.15). John O’Loughlin also placed 2nd in the 200m in 25.29. Another ambidextrous athlete, Bob Lyne, placed 4th in his age category shot put with a throw of 9.41m, whilst also taking 2nd place in the 5k walk (34:49.29), 3rd in the hammer (18.80m) and 9th in the discus (21.54m). Adrienne Jordan, meanwhile, placed 3rd in the 3,000m in a time of 10:42.64, and Brian Carroll took on the 800m, placing 6th in 2:07.52. Simon Everard placed 4th in his age category heat in the 400m in a time of 53.98, whilst Niamh Boland took 2nd place in the women's 1,500m in a time of 4:46:25. Finally, Karen Conway took 2nd place in the discus (23.25m) and then going on to win the hammer with a throw of 32.26m. Further afield, in a race in Switzerland that enabled Brian Gregan to qualify for the World Championships in London in August with a time of 45.48, Brian Murphy took 6th place in 48.79. Kris Ryan took part in the Gold Coast marathon in her native Australia on Sunday and finished in 3:37, just a few seconds off her PB. Leo Lundy reports that the 24 Hour world championships were held over the weekend in Victoria Park in Belfast. It also included the Masters World championships and the Irish championships as well as an open race. Leo was lucky enough to have secured entry into most of the races along with 300 international athletes among whom were world champions and national champions as well as some notable record holders (from Trans-America, the Badwater 100 etc). Alongside these runners, 100 athletes took part in an open section (and the overall winner was from this element). So, the event took place around a 1 mile loop in Victoria Park in the east of the city. Unfortunately, Leo reports that he wasn’t really feeling it during the race, no doubt not fully recovered from recent exploits and pulled himself out of the race after 44.5 miles, just as light was fading and it had become clear that he wasn't going to reach his goals. Nevertheless, he felt that it was a great event for ultra-endurance runners and a super one-off experience. Midweek, the IMRA runners had a good contest in Tibradden. On a course of 11.23km in challenging terrain (an ascent of more than 500m) and misty conditions, 140 runners took part in the race. We had 9 of our clubmates taking part. Brendan Murphy led the way home in 2nd place (46:19), just over half a minute behind the race winner, Killian Mooney (45:45). Laura Flannelly placed 42nd overall (5th woman) in 59:03, behind women’s race winner, Sonya McConnon (13th overall in 51:48). Sonya Fuhrmann wasn’t too far behind, placing 54th overall, 8th woman in 1:00:41. Brian McGuckin this week won the battle of the two Brians, taking 21st place in 54:21, just 12 seconds ahead of Brian Leonard (22nd in 54:33) and not too far ahead of John Fahy, who has both of them in his sights now(!) (25th in 55:07). Michael Maughan was next, in 45th (59:22), followed by Gavan Doherty (47th in 59:29) and Berndt Heim (132nd in 1:26:19). 16 Crusaders took part in parkruns on Saturday morning. The most notable performance came from John Mulvihill who led the 67-strong field home in his native Longford, finishing in 16:30 and well ahead of the field, which included Noel Reilly (3rd in 20:56). Other good runs came from the likes of John Fahy, who ran 18:14 to place 3rd in Marlay Park ahead of more than 400 other participants and Gillian Errity who placed 3rd woman (33rd overall) in 23:50 in a field exceeding 150 in Griffeen, Fiona Bane who also placed 3rd woman (15th overall) in the 80-strong field in Father Collins, with a time of 23:29, Frank Hague, 2nd in Porterstown in a time of 17:57 ahead of nearly 80 other runners and Darina Scully (9th overall, 3rd woman, in 23:50) among 34 participants. Other strong runs came from Niamh Quinn (62nd overall, 7th woman, in 23:42) in St. Anne’s with its field of nearly 290 runners and Niamh was followed by Lorraine Fitzsimons (212th overall, 68th woman, in 30:52. Our runners seemed to find obscure parkruns everywhere. Denis Murphy ran on the tight course in Donabate with Aoife Quinn, taking 14th place in 22:19. Aoife, meanwhile also ran well to place 43rd overall, 10th woman, in 25:20 in a field of more than 120 runners. Neil Brown returned to Shanganagh, joining nearly 100 runners and taking 45th spot in 25:12, while Orlaith de Burca and Fiona Shine decided to run Cabinteely, despite Mairin Shine not being able to run her 100th parkrun there yet because of an injury picked up midweek. Orlaith placed 74th overall, Fiona 75th, and respectively 27th and 28th women finishers, in a time of 30:37 in a field of more than 100 participants. Finally, just over 12 hours after her super run in Kilcock, Kate Murray joined Mairead Cashman in Bushy Dublin with its field of 74 runners, finishing in 29th place overall, 7th woman, in 25:35, whilst Mairead ran 27:48 to place 41st overall, 12th female finisher. BHAA 5K Trail Race Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Kevin Donagher 1 00:16:45 9 Fiona Mckenna 1 00:18:36 Crusaders AC runners 4 Karl Walsh 00:16:53 (PB) 8 Joe Walsh 00:18:31 17 Ilona McElroy 00:19:04 (3) 49 Robbie Moore 00:21:20 50 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:21:20 (8) 60 Tony Hackett 00:22:08 103 Sharon Woods 00:25:31 (26) 121 Mairead Cashman 00:28:00 (40) Full results here: https://bhaa.ie/events/5k-trail-race-2017/#tab-id-1 St Coca’s Kilcock 5K Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Ian Guiden 1 00:14:38 38 Rachael Smyth 1 00:16:37 Crusaders AC runners 29 Vinnie McGuinness 00:16:21 102 Catherine Thornton 00:18:42 (PB) (9) 156 Amy Wright 00:20:03 (21) 173 Lisa Shine 00:20:36 (PB) (29) 207 Kate Murray 00:21:27 (PB) (40) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/st_cocas_5k_kilcock/2328/results Clontarf 5 mile Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Tom McEnery 1 00:29:00 10 Zoe Quinn 1 00:31:43 Crusaders AC runners 9 Diarmuid Byrne 00:31:40 21 Niamh Aspell 00:33:06 (4) 301 Maria Pertl 00:46:57 Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/2017ClontarfJuly_5Mile.pdf Clontarf Half marathon Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Jesus Calle Arroyo 1 01:19:19 38 Anne Curley 1 01:29:29 Crusaders AC runners 8 Dominick Branigan 01:23:56 205 Amy Brogan 01:39:36 815 Olwyn Dunne 01:59:24 820 Joe Dunne 01:59:36 Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/2017ClontarfJuly_Half.pdf Clonee 10K Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Emmett Dunleavy 1 00:30:50 9 Teresa Doherty 1 00:34:25 Crusaders AC runner 51 Tom Dunne 00:40:39 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/clonee_10k_road_race/2207/results Marlay Parkrun #216 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 James Kelly 1 00:16:52 4 Ciara Hickey 1 00:17:28 Crusaders AC runner 6 John Fahy 00:18:14 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=216 Griffeen Parkrun #211 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Neil Fraser 1 00:19:17 20 Tricia Gough 1 00:22:29 Crusaders AC runner 33 Gillian Errity 00:23:50 (3) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/griffeen/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=211 Shanganagh Parkrun #119 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime Graham Bushe 1 00:18:21 5 Suzanne Foot 1 00:19:24 Crusaders AC runner 45 Neil Brown 00:25:12 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=119 St Anne’s Parkrun #189 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Terry Keogh 1 00:17:24 24 Crona Brady 1 00:20:44 Crusaders AC runners 62 Niamh Quinn 00:23:42 (7) 212 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:30:52 (68) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=189 Cabinteely Parkrun #118 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Mark Molloy 1 00:16:26 18 Eimear O’Neill 1 00:23:26 Crusaders AC runners 74 Orlaith de Burca 00:30:37 (27) 75 Fiona Shine 00:30:37 (28) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=118 Father Collins Parkrun #93 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Dermot Gorman 1 00:17:16 8 Eimear Dowling 1 00:22:08 Crusaders AC runner 15 Fiona Bane 00:23:29 (3) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/fathercollins/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=93 Donabate Parkrun #89 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Karl King McDonnell 1 00:18:32 8 Alex Bell 1 00:20:52 Crusaders AC runners 14 Denis Murphy 00:22:19 43 Aoife Quinn 00:25:20 (10) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/donabate/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=89 Porterstown Parkrun #89 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Niall Sherlock 1 00:17:52 11 Bronagh O’Hara 1 00:21:52 Crusaders AC runner 2 Frank Hague 00:17:57 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/porterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=89 Longford Parkrun #60 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 John Mulvihill 1 00:16:30 8 Caoimhe Roche 1 00:23:08 Crusaders AC runners 1 John Mulvihill 00:16:30 3 Noel Reilly 00:20:56 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/longford/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=60 Templemore Parkrun #25 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Tom Lupton 1 00:19:31 5 Mary Kate Burke 1 00:22:03 Crusaders AC runner 9 Darina Scully 00:23:50 (3) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/templemore/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=25 Bushy Dublin Parkrun #19 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Niall Coppinger 1 00:18:54 9 Ciara Kinsella 1 00:21:49 Crusaders AC runners 29 Kate Murray 00:25:35 (7) 41 Mairead Cashman 00:27:48 (12) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/bushydublin/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=19 |