The Dublin Race Series Half Marathon always attracts a decent crowd and Saturday’s edition was no exception with nearly 7,000 finishers in warm but windy conditions. Long forgotten is the debacle of Newbridge House and its vast traffic jams. The old familiar course (with one or two tweaks) should hopefully be here to stay, albeit with a maximum participation of 9,000. The race is almost a rite of passage for those in training for the October Bank Holiday weekend’s Dublin Marathon, sponsored for the first time by KBC. And so it proved on Saturday with at least 61 Crusaders completing the race (and one more that would have made it 62, Brendan Murphy, who was, unfortunately, unable to start because of an unexpected family sickness on his way to the start line). With the two or three half marathons that took place last week along with the one in Clondalkin next weekend, it’s a fair representation of the kind of numbers we’re going to see in October at the marathon. The course is challenging with numerous hills and long drags. We had blustery conditions in places, notably heading west along the Ordnance Survey Road near the start and then along Chesterfield Avenue between 8 and 10 miles where we had a strong headwind. Whenever the wind was behind runners, it was hard to prevent over-heating, but thankfully the water stations were adequately positioned, serving alternately both cups and bottles, both useful for a good drenching. Basically, the course is much the same as the Frank Duffy 10-miler with an extra bit up towards Castleknock Gate on Chesterfield and then a diversion outside the park down Knockmaroon Hill from Farmleigh to the Knockmaroon Gate thrown in for good measure. Interestingly enough, we must have found the conditions slightly easier than in the Frank Duffy as several of us recorded faster 10 mile times in the half than our finishing times in the 10-miler. In addition, where we saw only a few PBs in the Frank Duffy, we saw a plethora in the half, which bodes well for the marathon which the majority of us will be running (at least 90 Crusaders signed up at last count). Our contingent was led home, in his second half in 7 days, by Ciaran Diviney who placed 41st in 1:19:35 for 4th place in his M45 category. Ciaran was followed by Eugene McDonough who shrugged off a recent bout of plantar fasciitis to record a PB time of 1:20:28 and 51st place. Following James Moran (58th in 1:20:57) came Seamus Moore, another runner to mark his finish with a PB. Seamus ran 1:21:37 for 65th spot. We had at least 17 runners who broke 1:30 and overall top 250 places, 8 of whom came away with PBs. Frank Hague followed Seamus home in 72nd spot with 1:21:54, and behind him came Joe McDermott (81st in 1:22:17) who would have run even faster but for the presence of a street pole which he whacked with his left leg just a few days before running home after a long run and which left him in severe pain for most of the week. Eoin Fitzpatrick (89th in 1:22:42) and Rory Goldsmith (90th in 1:22:45) both registered PBs coming in almost together, ahead of Barry McGuire (100th in 1:23:27) and Graham Crowley (105th in 1:23:31), another man to run a PB time on the day. With his 1:25:01 PB time, Maurice Kelter (144th) stuck rigidly to the game plan and gave himself buckets of confidence for Dublin. Maurice was followed by our first two female finishers, both running super races. Adrienne Jordan took 7th place (170th overall) in a great time of 1:26:12 and having a great surge from about 8k and she was followed by Catherine Thornton who ran pretty level splits throughout and with an extremely strong finish to record a PB time of 1:27:33 (8th female finisher and 211th overall). The race will also have given her enormous confidence for her first marathon in October. Just behind Catherine came Paul McNamara (213th in a PB time of 1:27:37) in his first half leading to his first marathon too. He sensibly allowed himself to be led for most of the race by Catherine and also by the next runner across the line, James Cottle, whom he had followed closely in the 10 miler. James finished in 225th place (2nd M60) in a time of 1:27:51 and he was helped towards the end in what he mistakenly thought was a battle with a fellow 60-year-old (who turned out not to have a number!) by Rob Browne (227th in 1:27:39) who, having run in Charleville the week before, decided to run his 3x5k session (at 21k pace) in the race itself. Joe Walsh was next (259th in 1:28:31) in what was effectively an LSR before next week’s Berlin marathon. Other notable runs came from Bob Cahill in his 4th half marathon in 5 weeks (356th in 1:31:00) and from Aine Kenny (428th and 24th in 1:32:20 and 3rd F35). Known PBs came from Kevin Lambe (1:33:09 for 467th), Liam O’Brien (638th in 1:36:11), both Paul Kellys (Paul F finishing in 1:36:38 for 684th and Paul E. finishing in 2:13:41 for 4973rd place), Frank Renehan (1:38:01 for 684th), Mark Swan (1:38:39 for 859th), Alessandro Nappi (1:40:05 for 1021st) and Maria del Carmen Jimenez Campos (1:45:46 for 2131st and 374th places). It was great to see that we had at least 35 runners who ran 1:40 or better. Other notable results came from Patrick Needham (1:33:09 for 450th) who ran with a broken arm, Shane McGrath (1:39:06 for 943rd) whom it’s great to see back on the running scene after having to tackle some troubling knee injuries in recent times, Alma Hanevy (1072nd and 113th in 1:41:42), like husband Joe Walsh, preparing for Berlin, Amy McGuinness (1:45:38 for 1398th and 186th) in her first Dublin half in 7 years, and Mark O’Connor, training for Amsterdam but who had recently been diagnosed with anaemia and treated the half as part of a 20 mile long run (2721st in 152:46). Top 250 places in the women’s race went also to Kate Murray (senior!) (1:42:58 for 1183rd and 132nd) and, likely, Aoife Clarke (1645th overall in 1:48:26). Joanne Carey’s chiptime would have been good enough to get her a top 250th place, but she started out quite far back so that her gun time didn’t help (1862nd in 1:44:52). Joanne will celebrate her 40th birthday on the day of the 40th Dublin marathon. Crusaders were involved in other events much further afield over the weekend. The furthest away was Joe Dunne who took on the Buenos Aires marathon in Argentina on Sunday, finishing in a great time of 3:29:05 (with post cardiac arrest PB!) before he takes on his usual pacing role in Dublin in 5 weeks’ time. He reports that it’s the largest marathon in Latin America with a field just under 14,000 and its quite flat and scenic with cool weather (their spring) and the celebrations are fun. Then, in Toronto, our exile in Canada, Ian Kinsella ran in a half marathon there (the MEC Half, part of a series of races around Canada), where, in hot conditions, he placed 2nd in an excellent time of 1:17. Slightly closer, we had 3 runners who, as part of a Dublin City Council contingent ran in two of the races on what is otherwise marathon weekend in Oslo. Enda Currid ran in the half marathon there, on a hilly course in quite warm conditions, where he recorded a time of 1:38:39 as he comes back from injury. Mairead Cashman also ran in the half, where she recorded a time of 2:15:22 in a field of 9,600 runners. Meanwhile, Philip Matthews took on the 10k where he crossed the line in 44:41 to place 641st in a field of nearly 5,400. Much nearer, Donatas Jocius reported that he ran in the Glen of Aherlow Ultra trail run in Co Tipperary where he covered the distance of some 64km with its elevation gain of more than 1,600m in a time of 6:46:36 for 7th place in a small field of 23 runners. John Healy participated last week in the European Masters Track and Field championships in Venice, where he finished 1 second off a medal in the 1500m in the M60 age category, placing 5th in a super time of 4:45.29. Congrats to him. With most of the action taking place on Saturday morning in the Phoenix Park with the half marathon, understandably there was generally a lower turnout of the club in the parkruns in Ireland. However, we did as usual have some solid performances in those events all the same. Both Dave Carter and John Fahy came across the line as first finishers in their respective parkruns. John ran in Corkagh in his native county where he recorded a time of 18:50. Meanwhile, Dave ran in Cabinteely, coming home in 19:32. Fiona Bane mounted the podium once again. This time it was in Poppintree amongst a bunch of Crusaders. Finishing 12th overall, Fiona took 2nd place in the women’s contest, just ahead of Darina Scully (19th and 4th in 24:05), Maria Pertl (25th and 7th in 24:320 and Diarmuid Byrne, no doubt pushing a buggy (26th in 24:33). Just off the podium, Sarah Lyons ran in her native Aylesbury where she placed 4th (32nd overall) in a time of 22:08 in a field of 248, whilst Zlatko Kulic ran in Poolbeg where he took 4th spot too in a time of 19:35. Zlatko was followed by Mircea Ionita, a week before his marathon in Berlin (9th in 20:45), Russell Murphy (39th in 24:21), Sharon Woods (41st and 8th in 24:26), Gillian Curran (52nd and 13th in 25;450, just ahead of Ava Rose Clarke (53rd and 14th in 25:49), Cliodhna O’Reilly (63rd and 16th in 27:14), Neil Brown, just getting back (64th in 27:15), Kate Healy (68th and 18th in 27:35), Aisling O’Riordan (70th and 19th in 27:44), Maureen McGinley (81st and 22nd in 28:53), Mairin Shine, her times beginning to fall (98th and 30th in 31:05) and Lisa Shine, tailwalking. Another 4th place finish went to Mari Hansen in a parkrun in Toyen, Oslo in Norway. In a field of 76, which also included Mairead Cashman (57th and 18th in 33:28), Mari placed 25th overall in 25:50. Helena O’Keeffe placed 87th and 19th in Tralee in a time of 28:09, whilst Andrej Kujikis ran again in Edinburgh where, in a field of 610, he ran 19:42 for 44th spot. Colm Foley ran 23:41 in Griffeen Park where he placed 30th, whilst Dominick Branigan ran in Marlay Park, taking 10th place in 19:21 and coming home ahead of Barry O’Neill who placed 96h in 24:13. Finally, Ronan Moynihan placed 24th in Malahide in a time of 20:22. Dublin Race Series Half Marathon (6947) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Yared Derese 1 01:03:45 85 Niamh Clifford 1 01:2:22 Crusaders AC runners 41 Ciaran Diviney 01:19:35 51 Eugene McDonough 01:20:28 (PB) 58 James Moran 01:20:57 65 Seamus Moore 01:21:37 (PB) 72 Frank Hague 01:21:54 81 Joe McDermott 01:22:17 89 Eoin Fitzpatrick 01:22:42 (PB) 90 Rory Goldsmith 1:22:45 (PB)) 100 Barry McGuire 01:23:27 105 Graham Crowley 01:23:31 (PB) 144 Maurice Kelter 01:25:01 (PB) 170 Adrienne Jordan 01:26:12 (7) 211 Catherine Thornton 01:27:33 (PB) (8) 213 Paul McNamara 01:27:37 (PB) 225 James Cottle 01:27:51 227 Rob Browne 01:27:39 259 Joe Walsh 01:28:31 356 Bob Cahill 01:31:00 373 Karl Walsh 01:31:27 428 Aine Kenny 01:32:20 (24) 434 Eddie Nugent 01:32:37 450 Patrick Needham 01:33:09 467 Kevin Lambe 01:33:09 (PB) 542 Andy O’Sullivan 01:34:29 636 Cormac McGuire 01:36:24 638 Liam O’Brien 01:36:11 (PB) 660 Paul F. Kelly 01:36:38 (PB) 684 Damien Fitzgibbon 01:36:58 733 Phelim Murray 01:38:02 859 Frank Renehan 01:38:01 (PB) 860 Mauro Fiorio Pla 01:38:52 908 Luke Haran 01:39:34 943 Shane McGrath 01:39:06 966 Vincent Murphy 01:39:38 1001 Gian Piero Allerta 01:40:39 1021 Alessandro Nappi 01:40:05 (PB) 1072 Alma Hanevy 01:41:42 (113) 1082 Dave Tuohy 01:40:50 1135 Gearoid Grogan 01:41:05 1161 Marynella Hernandez 01:42:41 (125) 1183 Kate Murray 01:42:58 (132) 1317 Brian Carroll 01:44:30 1363 Christophe Marsan 01:44:59 1398 Amy McGuinness 01:45:36 (186) 1580 Phil Sykes 01:47:13 1645 Aoife Clarke 01:48:26 (xxx) 1661 Robbie Moore 01:48:54 1862 Joanne Carey 01:44:52 (299) 2131 Maria del Carmen Jimenez Campos 01:45:46 (PB) (374) 2298 Carina Davidson 01:49:12 (xxx) 2358 Paul Campbell 01:49:53 1:50 PACER 2612 Colin Maguire 01:51:50 2721 Mark O’Connor 01:52:46 2837 Tim Hyland 01:54:15 3004 Jean Devlin 02:01:51 (xxx) 3212 Olwyn Dunne 02:00:01 (1169) 2:00 PACER 3761 Lakshmi Prasad Venkatarama Gowa 02:03:03 4042 Donna Barry 01:59:04 (1117) 4887 Lucy Collender 02:13:33 (1541) 4973 Paul Kelly 02:13:41 (PB) 5749 Lorraine Fitzsimons 02:32:23 (2074) Full results here: https://www.tdleventservices.co.uk/event-results Malahide Parkrun #359 (331) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Wesley O’Brien 1 00:16:55 2 Kate Cronin 1 00:17:26 Crusaders AC runner 24 Ronan Moynihan 00:20:22 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=359 Marlay Parkrun #320 (456) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Valter Valente 1 00:17:18 23 Paula Prendergast 1 00:20:28 Crusaders AC runners 10 Dominick Branigan 00:19:21 96 Barry O’Neill 00:24:13 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=320 Griffeen Parkrun #328 (130) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Kevin Moriarty 1 00:18:51 8 Breda Smyth 1 00:21:44 Crusaders AC runner 30 Colm Foley 00:23:41 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/griffeen/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=328 Tralee Parkrun #246 (257) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 James Daley 1 00:18:02 5 Suzanne Neilan 1 00:19:47 Crusaders AC runner 87 Helena O’Keeffe 00:28:09 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/fairview/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=111 Poolbeg Parkrun #109 (132) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Christopher O’Reilly 1 00:18:24 15 Ruth Comerford 1 00:21:22 Crusaders AC runners 4 Zlatko Kulic 00:19:35 9 Mircea Ionita 00:20:45 39 Russell Murphy 00:24:21 41 Sharon Woods 00:24:26 (8) 52 Gillian Curran 00:25:45 (13) 53 Ava Rose Clarke 00:25:49 (14) 63 Cliodhna O’Reilly 00:27:14 (16) 64 Neil Brown 00:27:15 68 Kate Healy 00:27:35 (18) 70 Aisling O’Riordan 00:27:44 (19) 81 Maureen McGinley 00:28:53 (22) 98 Mairin Shine 00:31:05 (30) 130 Lisa Shine 00:46:01 (53) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=109 Poppintree Parkrun #253 (102) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Noel Selorm 1 00:18:43 9 Hazel Kenny 1 00:22:05 Crusaders AC runners 12 Fiona Bane 00:22:30 (2) 19 Darina Scully 00:24:05 (4) 25 Maria Pertl 00:24:32 (7) 26 Diarmuid Byrne 00:24:33 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poppintree/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=253 Corkagh Parkrun #105 (158) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 John Fahy 1 00:18:50 13 Finola Fitzsimons 1 00:22:52 Crusaders AC runner 1 John Fahy 00:22:52 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/corkagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=105 Cabinteely Parkrun #232 (136) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 David Carter 1 00:19:32 7 Susanna Murphy 1 00:21:05 Crusaders AC runner 1 David Carter 00:19:32 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=232 Comments are closed.
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