There was a decent amount of choice this weekend for those looking to race, from cross-country, to roads, paths and beach and to events in the mountains, and we had strength in some numbers, running in windy conditions. The first event of the racing week, however, took place on the Dublin quays, using the entirety of the route we use for the Docklands 5k, but also bringing in the inclines of the Samuel Beckett bridge and starting and finishing at the Point. There were two races on offer on Tuesday evening, the latest edition of Dublin’s contribution to the Run in the Dark in aid of research on behalf of Mark Pollock, and, as usual, they did not fail to produce their brand of mayhem. The first race to go was the 10k, which may have been a mistake, in that, because the race was an out-and-back two laps, the front runners soon came up against the back markers in the following race, the 5k, and so did the front runners in the 5k come across the back markers in the 10k. A total bottleneck by all accounts! It seems inexplicable that the organisers persist with two different races on the same course and involving over 4000 runners! It’s the same each year. Also, in years gone by, some of the 10k runners ended up running only 5k because of the confusion on the course. This may well have happened again this year and, for this reason, along with the fact that at least one male runner finished up on the women’s podium of the 5k, it is hard to trust the results. In addition, for some reason, at least 3 of our clubmates who did not run on the night had their bibs used by others without their knowledge although their names appeared in the results. So, it appears that the following Crusaders did run on the night: Will Owens was our first runner home in the 10k in 43rd place in a field of more than 1900 participants. Will’s time was given as 40:47. He was followed by Tom Gleeson (67th in 41:55), Adrian Groarke (100th in 43:37) and Kevin Kenny (889th in 54:59). It is possible that Anna Hoesl ran in the race too, finishing in 43:38. However, her result and that of Daniel Gleeson has not been recorded. We had at least 2 runners in the 2105-strong 5k, and it is possible that Annie Hughes won the women’s race, although, officially, she was placed 4th in 20:03 (26th overall). The recorded winner (running under the name of one of our athletes!) was actually a man (and we have ignored his result in the results below) and it is possible that the runners awarded second and third places finished the 10k early. Given that the results are essentially gun-time, it is impossible to tell. The other runner was Kelly Brown who placed 256th overall and 60th female finisher in 25:53. Another event that may have had more than its fair share of critics over the years, but, like the RITD, remains popular all the same, is the Clontarf half marathon and 5 miler, conducted back and forth along the Tolka estuary coast. There has often been congestion with the front runners and back markers clashing on the narrow paths on the route, without there being adequate demarcation between those running out and those running back. However, this year, there do not appear to have been any major complaints on a course that traditionally experiences quite windy conditions, Saturday’s event being little different. Indeed, we even saw some PB results amongst our finishers. We had at least 7 runners take part in the half, led home by Jamie Symmons who placed 74th in the field of 2821, in a time of 1:29:36. Jamie was followed by Annie Hughes, in her second race of the week, recording a PB time of 1:33:14 for 126th and 10th places. Just behind Annie came Anna Gallo, who really enjoyed the race, placing 152nd and 12th in a PB time of 1:34:18, and she was followed by Gareth Phelan (353rd in 1:41:52). Next to cross the line was Diarmuid Fahey, who placed 399th in 1:43:26, and he was followed by another runner with a PB, Séamas Bulaeir. Séamas ran 1:46:37 FOR 614th place. Finally, Phil Sykes recorded a time of 1:53:15, placing 1463rd. The 5-miler also produced a PB, this time for Alex Ainsworth. Alex placed 3rd in a field of 1116 and in a great time of 28:22. He was followed by Ronan Smith, making a welcome return to racing, who placed 50th in 35:32. Much more straightforward was the combined 6k cross-country race held in Tymon Park on Saturday morning, the first race of the cross-country season organised by the BHAA. Having said that, it is a shame that the fields for such events nowadays are reasonably modest, with only 111 turning out on the day, given that the BHAA cross-country races are really the only game in town outside of the county, provincial and national championship events. Still, it was enjoyable for those who did get to race, completing four and a bit laps of the course used by the Dublin novices on the west side of the park across the M50, near the national basketball arena. It is quite hilly in places and a true test of cross-country racing. Our clubmates made up nearly 10% of the field, led across the line by Joe Walsh in 16th place and in a time of 23:05. Joe placed 2nd M45. He was followed by Donatas Jocius who ran 23:37 for 21st place and then by the third-placed M45, Eddie Nugent, who took 29th spot overall in 24:39. Rachael Yorke was next, placing 37th and 3rd female finisher in 25:32, and further back came a bunch of Crusaders led by David O’Donnell. David placed 65th in 28:14, ahead of Neil Brown (66th in 28:22), Kate Murray (69th overall, 11th woman home and 2nd F50 in 28:30) and Robbie Moore (70th and given the same time). The contingent was completed by Mairead Cashman (107th, 24th and 4th F55 in 38:01) in her second run of the day, having completed the Bushy Park parkrun just over an hour earlier. Members may be interested to know that Sean Murphy, who sometimes trains with us, ran 25:42 for 38th spot. The other major event to take place on Saturday was the Run the Line in aid of the Dublin and Wicklow mountain rescue teams, in the mountains of Co. Dublin, on two courses starting and finishing in Glencullen. The short course of 13k took in a loop around Three Rock Mountain and Ticknock, whilst the long course added another loop to the west around Tibradden Mountain and Cruagh Wood. It was quite a windy affair. At least 5 Crusaders took on the short course, and they were led across the line by Conor Macguinness, placing 14th in a field of 679 and in a time of 63:13. Conor was followed closely by Dave Carter who placed 16th in 63:31. Slightly further back came Kim Hickey who took 2nd place in the women’s race, placing 29th overall, in a time of 65:26, and Kim was followed home by Áine Kenny (105th and 19th in 74:31) and Daniel Gleeson, in 149th spot (77:16) in what was likely to have been his second race of the week. The long course enjoyed a field of 523 and among the participants were at least 3 Crusaders. Aaron Farrell was our first athlete home, in 44th spot, with a time of 2:30:10. Aaron was followed by Kevin Fitzgibbon (64th in 2:33:26) and Kevin Kenny, further back in 3:29:46, placing 395th. Further afield over the weekend, we saw a super result from Maurice Kelter who ran the 30k race in the Stromlo Running festival, west of Canberra, Australia. On an undulating series of loops on trails, Maurice completed the distance in 2:05:18, taking 2nd place in the race (reporting, that for the first time he saw kangaroos in the wild!). Members may be interested to learn that Maurice’s partner, Pauline Parker, ran in the 15k event which she completed in 1:40:31. On Sunday, our Italian exile, Italo Giancaterina, ran in the Verona Marathon where he placed 10th overall, 2nd M35, in a fabulous time of 2:23:04, a new PB. Earlier in the weekend, and much further west, one of our exiles in the USA, Damien O’Brien, took part in the Philadelphia Half Marathon which he completed in an excellent 1:23:54. Although numbers in the parkruns on Saturday morning appeared generally to be down, there was no real shortage of Crusaders taking part. As usual, we had a number of first and podium finishers across the board. Saoirse Mcgrath placed 59th and first in Marlay Park, with its field of 473. Saoirse’s time was 19:17, and she was followed by Gary Park who took 22nd spot in 20:13. Then in the Mountjoy Prison Progression parkrun, in a field of 38, Sarah Lyons placed 7th and 1st in 22:22. Sarah was joined by husband Phelim Murray (9th in 22:45) and Mags Foley (10th and 2nd in 22:52). Finally, completing the first finishers, Tara Murphy ran once again in the US, in the Delaware and Raritan Canal parkrun. In a field of 68, Tara placed 13th and first in 25:29. Other podium place finishers were recorded by several Crusaders. Toby Benham placed 2nd in 19:19, alongside 47 other runners, in Pobalscoil na Tríonóide down in Youghal, whilst Emer Kenny placed 38th and 2nd in Ardgillan in a time of 25:50. Emer was followed home, in the field of 174, by Lisa Shine (44th and 3rd in 26:10), Fiona Shine (77th and 6th in 29:46) and Máirín Shine (81st and 8th in 30:01). We had 10 club-mates running in the 147-strong field in Poolbeg, led home by Stephen Hurley in 2nd place in a time of 17:31. Close behind came Kenan Furling, for third place, in 17:53 and he was followed a little further back by Oisin Corish (6th in 19:38). Kevin Lynch was the next runner home in 11th place in a time of 20:45 and he was followed by Louise O’Riordan (54th and 7th in 25:04), Franky Keane (56th in 25:06), Caitlin Ni Mhurchu (77th and 19th in 27:59), Una McCullagh (96th and 28th in 29:24), Jeanie Watson (103rd and 35th in 29:51) and Evelyn Neary (115th and 42nd in 30:27). Ross Neill ran in Woking in Surrey where, in a field of 270, he placed 5th in 19:10, whilst Richard Morrissey ran once again in Brockwell, Herne Hill, where he also placed 5th in 17:55 in a field of 353. Another 5th place performance came from Kevin Lambe, fresh from his marathon exploits in Athens. Kevin joined 91 other runners in Mullingar where he finished in a time- of 19:52. Dale Whelehan took 7th spot in a time of 21:56 in the 98-strong field in Vicarstown, whilst Maria Pertl also placed 7th (30th overall) in 33:02 in the 43-strong field in Tolka Valley. Enda Currid ran 25:54 in Brickfields for 32nd place in a field of 98, whilst Darina Scully placed 59th and 8th in 23:43 in the 295-strong field in Malahide. We had 2 runners in St. Anne’s where Zlatko Kulic took 51st spot in 20:49 and Michael Maughan crossed the line in 22:52 for 90th place. The field there measured 385. Meanwhile, we had 3 runners in Shanganagh. Alongside 207 other runners, Tanja Narancic placed 80th and 19th in 25:26, followed by Olwyn Dunne (88th and 22nd in 25:47) and Carina Davidson (178th and 74th in 33:33). Andy Deuser finished in 12th place in a time of 22:11 in Fairview alongside 110 other participants, whilst Eoghan Corrigan took 31st spot in 23:05 in Poppintree with its field of 173. Finally, as reported above, Mairead Cashman ran in Bushy Park where, in a field of 166, she placed 106th and 32nd in 31:43, whilst our exile in Scotland, Aidan Hudner, ran once again in Pollok, Glasgow, where, in a field of 260, he placed 54th in 24:21. BHAA Eir AC Combined 6k XC (111) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Sean Doran 1 00:21:08 14 Laura McDonnell 1 00:2:50 Crusaders AC runners 16 Joe Walsh 00:23:05 21 Donatas Jocius 00:23:37 29 Eddie Nugent 00:24:39 37 Rachael Yorke 00:25:32 (3) 65 David Odonnell 00:28:14 66 Neil Brown 00:28:22 69 Kate Murray 00:28:30 (11) 70 Robbie Moore 00:28:30 107 Mairead Cashman 00:38:01 (24) Full results here: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:EU:9a51d0af-747b-4d22-967c-2235b94cadc7?fbclid=IwAR1asuwD7Hy_-RvoNVyAovNrGNWboW_6mjcaIgP0YcKMQaB1vT3UE4fBJCs Run the Line Short Course 13k (679) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Alex Gray 1 00:49:14 13 Niamh Murphy 1 01:03:10 Crusaders AC runners 14 Conor Macguinness 01:03:13 16 David Carter 01:03:31 29 Kim Hickey 01:05:26 (2) 105 Áine Kenny 01:14:31 (19) 149 Daniel Gleeson 01:17:16 Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/run-the-line-2023/#2_9D70EA Run the Line Long Course 26k (523) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Killian Mooney 1 01:52:50 24 Elizabeth Wheeler 1 02:25:20 Crusaders AC runners 44 Aaron Farrell 02:30:10 64 Kevin Fitzgibbon 02:33:26 395 Kevin Kenny 03:29:46 Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/run-the-line-2023/#2_9D70EA Clontarf Half Marathon (2821) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Anthony O’Brien 1 01:10:34 9 Becky Woods 1 01:21:28 Crusaders AC runners 74 Jamie Symmons 01:29:36 126 Annie Hughes 01:33:14 (PB) (10) 152 Anna Gallo 01:34:18 (PB) (12) 353 Gareth Phelan 01:41:52 399 Diarmuid Fahey 01:43:26 614 Séamas Bulaeir 01:46:37 (PB) 1463 Phil Sykes 01:53:15 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/the_joe_duffy_bmw_clontarf_half_marathon__5_mile/4767/results Clontarf 5-mile race (1116) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Johnpaul Williamson 1 00:25:45 28 Sive Duncan 1 00:33:51 Crusaders AC runners 3 Alex Ainsworth 00:28:22 (PB) 50 Ronan Smith 00:35:32 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/the_joe_duffy_bmw_clontarf_half_marathon__5_mile/4767/results Run in the Dark 10k (1903) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Evan Reid 1 00:34:21 2 Sinead Fitzpatrick 1 00:34:28 Crusaders AC runners 43 Will Owens 00:40:47 67 Tom Gleeson 00:41:55 100 Adrian Groarke 00:43:37 889 Kevin Kenny 00:54:59 Full results here: https://www.sportsplits.com/races/run-in-the-dark-dublin-2023/events/1?page=1 Run in the Dark 5k (2105) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Jack Maughan 1 00:16:07 9 Lynette Richardson 1 00:18:18 Crusaders AC runners 26 Annie Hughes 00:20:03 (3) 256 Kelly Brown 00:25:53 (60) Full results here: https://www.sportsplits.com/races/run-in-the-dark-dublin-2023/events/2/ Vicarstown Parkrun (98) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Kristian Redmond 1 00:19:05 3 Niamh O’Boyle 1 00:21:11 Crusader AC runner 7 Dale Whelehan 00:21:56 Brickfields Parkrun (98) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Christopher McMahon 1 00:18:13 24 Mairead Conlon 1 00:24:42 Crusaders AC runner 32 Enda Currid 00:25:54 Malahide Parkrun (295) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Liam Duffy 1 00:17:53 27 Caroline Hynes 1 00:21:40 Crusaders AC runner 59 Darina Scully 00:23:43 (8) Bushy Parkrun (166) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 2 Daniel Tallon 1 00:19:36 28 Anne Linton 1 00:23:53 Crusaders AC runner 106 Mairead Cashman 00:31:43 (32) Pobalscoil na Tríonóide Parkrun (48) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Jack Murphy 1 00:19:04 11 Ornaith Keane 1 00:23:30 Crusaders AC runner 2 Toby Benham 00:19:19 Poolbeg Parkrun (147) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ashley Hayes 1 00:17:29 24 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:22:20 Crusaders AC runners 2 Stephen Hurley 00:17:31 3 Kenan Furlong 00:17:53 6 Oisin Corish 00:19:38 11 Kevin Lynch 00:20:45 54 Louise O’Riordan 00:25:04 (7) 56 Franky Keane 00:25:06 77 Caitlin Ni Mhurchu 00:27:59 (19) 96 Una McCullagh 00:29:24 (28) 103 Jeanie Watson 00:29:51 (35) 115 Evelyn Neary 00:30:27 (42) Tolka Valley Parkrun (43) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Owen Robinson 1 00:19:31 18 Kate Brazier 1 00:26:06 Crusaders AC runner 30 Maria Pertl 00:33:02 Shanganagh Parkrun (209) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Rían MacMaoláin 1 00:17:33 6 Sarah Baryga 1 00:20:03 Crusaders AC runners 80 Tanja Narancic 00:25:26 (19) 88 Olwyn Dunne 00:25:47 (22) 178 Carina Davidson 00:33:33 (74) Poppintree Parkrun (173) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Dermot Coffey 1 00:17:33 16 Maura Matthews 1 00:21:23 Crusaders AC runner 31 Eoghan Corrigan 00:23:05 St. Anne’s Parkrun (385) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Oisin McKinley 1 00:15:41 24 Aisling Ahern 1 00:19:29 Crusaders AC runners 51 Zlatko Kulic 00:20:49 90 Michael Maughan 00:22:52 Fairview Parkrun (111) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Jake Butler 1 00:19:04 30 Orla Deighan 1 00:23:32 Crusaders AC runner 12 Andy Deuser 00:22:11 Mullingar Parkrun (92) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Eddie Newman 1 00:18:00 26 Mia Flynn 1 00:25:29 Crusaders AC runner 5 Kevin Lambe 00:19:52 Ardgillan Parkrun (174) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 K. Downey 1 00:19:31 37 Loretto Lacey 1 00:25:47 Crusaders AC runners 38 Emer Kenny 00:25:50 (2) 44 Lisa Shine 00:26:10 (3) 77 Fiona Shine 00:29:46 (6) 81 Máirín Shine 00:30:01 (8) Marlay Parkrun (473) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ruben Bartelink 1 00:16:39 15 Saoirse McGrath 1 00:19:17 Crusaders AC runners 15 Saoirse McGrath 00:19:17 (1) 22 Gary Park 00:20:13 Progression Parkrun (38) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 2 Timothée Laurent 1 00:20:15 7 Sarah Lyons 1 00:22:22 Crusaders AC runners 7 Sarah Lyons 00:22:22 (1) 9 Phelim Murray 00:22:45 10 Margaret Foley 00:22:52 On Saturday morning, continuing a recently-established tradition of Crusaders athletes participating in the annual British and Irish International Masters Cross-Country competition between age-categorised teams from Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales, we had two runners take part in the competition, hosted this year in Tollcross Park in Glasgow. Our two intrepid athletes representing Ireland were Brian O’Kelly in the M40 age category and Paul Cowhie in the M55 category. Both had qualified for the contest in the trials held in Abbotstown as part of the Autumn Open in mid-October and Brian was running in the Irish vest for the first time. It is great to be able to say that, on the day, both were members of bronze-medal-winning teams competing on what was quite a tough hilly course, held in otherwise dry and sunny conditions. Both had to run 8k and, in a field of 29, Brian, who is currently training for a Spring marathon, placed 13th overall and was 5th placed in the 6-man team, in a time of 26:51, whilst Paul placed 10th overall and was 2nd scorer in a time of 29:03, in a field of 20 runners in his age category. Many congrats to them! Kathryn Gibbons travelled up to her native Co. Donegal over the weekend and competed in the Finn Valley AC-organised 10k Remembrance Run on Sunday morning. In rainy and chilly conditions and east-south-easterly breeze on a slightly undulating anticlockwise loop, Kathryn joined 359 other runners, placing 19th and 3rd female finisher in a super time of 39:42. Also, on Sunday, we saw the start of the Women’s Meet & Train winter (cross-country) league. Sixteen of our fellow clubmates ran in Tymon Park alongside 101 other club runners on a 3k course, taking in three and a bit laps of the cross country course used for the recent novices races beside the national basketball arena. They were led home by Jeanie Watson in her first ever XC in 4th place in 12:23 and Jeanie was followed by Rebecca Fleming (11th in 12:40), Joanne Carey (16th in 12:48), Tanja Narancic (22nd in 13:09), Cría Dowling (25th in 13:12), Hannah Jones (27th in 13:16), Laura Gobbi (32nd in 13:26), Lisa Shine (37th in 13:30), Louise O’Riordan (40th in 13:32), Darina Scully (44th in 13:41), Emer Liddy (67th in 14:23), Anna Shine (82nd in 14:54), Carina Davidson (85th in 14:58), Catriona Egan (102nd in 15:42), Máirín Shine (108th in 16:25) and Zara Lou McGrath (117th in 20:01). On Sunday morning we had at least 5 Crusaders take on the iconic Athens marathon which as one would expect is a point to point from Marathon in the north to Athens in the south, finishing in the original Olympic stadium. Conditions were extremely warm with a light headwind (which may actually have been more refreshing than a real hindrance) on what is a hilly course with a significant 200m climb over 12k from 19k (after a 75m climb over about 9k just before it), but ending with a 10k descent to the finish. Leo Lundy who ran just over 6 hours on little preparation but a veteran of 377 previous marathons, reported that he had never seen so many people walking after halfway. Joe McDermott found the last few kms really tough, finishing in a creditable 3:00:36 (chiptime). Guntime results were provided for Richie Phelan (3:08:57), Kevin Lambe (3:39:35) and Lisa Branigan (3:52:45). Lisa ran an amazing negative split of over 4 minutes in Athens, on top of completing a 3:46 result in the Dublin marathon only two weeks earlier. Also, outside Ireland, Chris Russell ran in the annual Edinburgh University-organised Braids Hill XC 5k run on Saturday morning, where he completed the event, held on a golf course, in 17:31. There were a couple of hill races organised by IMRA on Saturday around Powerscourt in Co. Wicklow. One of the courses, involving 2 loops over difficult terrain and including an overall climb of 860m, measured 15k (the “long course”) and we had at least four runners involved in that. Donatas Jocius led our contingent home in 15th place in a field of 161, running a time of 1:26:01. He was followed by Paul Flynn (46th in 1:36:39) and by Brian McGuckin (60th in 1:41:55) and Anna Gallo (63rd and 6th in 1:43:32). The other course (the “short course”) involved only one of the two loops and measured 7.5k. Warren Swords ran in that race, recording a time of 38:35 for the win, ahead of a field of 39 in total. Dee Lawlor led home the field of 139 in the Cabinteely parkrun on Saturday morning, recording a time of 18:41. He was followed by Padraig Walsh (38th in 24:46) and Kevin Kenny, tailwalking. Ciara Regan was first female finisher in Poolbeg in a time of 19:48. She also placed 6th overall in the field of 168. Ahead of Ciara came Oisin Corish who placed 3rd in 19:25 and then behind her came Zlatko Kulic (15th in 20:57), John Lohan (29th in 22:32), Sharon Woods (31st and 3rd in 22:44), Pat Quill (33rd in 22:48), Josie Ward (44th and 4th in 23:26), Tanja Narancic (51st and 7th in 24:04), Franky Keane (63rd in 24:37), Kenan Furlong (66th in 24:50), Gillian Curran (69th and 11th in 25:13), Fanny Trébouet (92nd and 23rd in 27:24), Caitlin Ni Mhurchu (93rd and 24th in 27:31), Djinn Von Noorden (96th and 26th in 27:35), Linda Walsh (125th and 42nd in 29:55) and Una McCullagh (142nd and 52nd in 32:15). Tara Murphy was also a first finisher, running again in her native New Jersey in the Delaware and Raritan Canal parkrun. The field there measured 55 and Tara placed 7th overall in 25:30. Podium places were recorded by Tomás Bradley in Tolka Valley and Richard Morrissey in Brockwell, Herne Hill near London. Tomás placed 2nd in 19:55 in Tolka Valley where he finished ahead of Phelim Murray (8th in 22:16) and Sarah Lyons (38th and 11th in 31:26) in a field of 58, whilst Richard, more generally known as an international sprinter for the club in his day, joined a field of 447, placing 3rd in 18:11. Dave Carter ran in Strathclyde in Scotland where, in a field of 288, he placed 4th in 18:57, whilst Daniel Lowe also placed 4th in Bushy Park. In the field of 174, Daniel recorded a time of 20:08. Olwyn Dunne placed 24th and 5th in a time of 24:06 in the 100-strong field in Knocknacarra, whilst Dale Whelehan also placed 5th in the field of 66 in Glengarriff. Dale’s time was 22:53. Kate Murray placed 44th and 6th in 23:00 in Griffeen Park where the field measured 221. Enda Currid took on Brickfields again, where, in a field of 69, he placed 10th in a time of 22:25, whilst Orlaith de Burca joined 40 runners in the Edwin Carolan Community parkrun in Mullagh, Co. Cavan, where she placed 19th and 7th in 30:20. In Strokestown, with its field of 79, Liam Lyster placed 28th in 28:47, whilst Brian Scanlan ran 26:47 for 31st place in River Valley Park where he joined 89 other participants. We had 7 runners in the 184-strong field in Poppintree. They were led home by Julian Callan (37th in 24:05), followed by Diarmuid Byrne (43rd in 24:41), Emer Kenny (50th and 8th in 25:04), Máirín Shine (108th and 27th in 30:31), Fiona Shine (109th and 28th in 30:36), Lisa Shine (110th and 29th in the same time) and Maria Pertl (144th and 47th in 34:15). Andy Deuser took 9th spot in 22:02 in Fairview alongside 146 other runners, whilst Brendan Glynn placed 35th in the 212-strong field in Donabate in a time of 23:22. Phil Sykes ran in Marlay Park, where, alongside 496 other participants, he recorded a time of 23:06 for 92nd place, whilst Helena O’Keeffe took 86th and 18th spots in 27:14 in the field of 236 in Tralee. A large field of 524 in St. Anne’s included Eoghan Corrigan who ran 23:04 for 39th spot and he was followed by Caroline Crowley and Irene Gorman, both of whom are in various stages of pregnancy. Caroline placed 363rd and 136th in 31:25, alongside Irene who placed 364th and 137th in 31:26. We had two runners in each of Tramore Valley in Cork and in Shanganagh with similar size fields. In Tramore Valley, Toby Benham placed 32nd in 22:50, followed by Mairead Cashman (113th and 24th in 28:29). The field there measured 203. Then, in Shanganagh, Jill Nason ran 29:10, placing 134th and 34th, with Carina Davidson taking 196th and 75th spots in 38:01. The field there measured 209. Finn Valley AC 10k Remembrance Run (360) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Danny Mooney 1 00:32:43 19 Leoni Cooke 1 00:37:50 Crusaders AC runner 29 Kathryn Gibbons 00:39:42 (3) Full results here: Women’s Meet and Train 3k (117) Overall place Name Guntime 1 Sophie McGovern 00:11:49 Crusaders AC runners 4 Jeanie Watson 00:12:23 11 Rebecca Fleming 00:12:40 16 Joanne Carey 00:12:48 22 Tanja Narancic 00:13:09 25 Cría Dowling 00:13:12 27 Hannah Jones 00:13:16 32 Laura Gobbi 00:13:26 37 Lisa Shine 00:13:30 40 Louise O’Riordan 00:13:32 44 Darina Scully 00:13:41 67 Emer Liddy 00:14:23 82 Anna Shine 00:14:54 85 Carina Davidson 00:14:58 102 Catriona Egan 00:15:42 108 Máirín Shine 00:16:25 117 Zara Lou McGrath 00:20:01 IMRA Powerscourt Ridge Long Course (161) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Killian Mooney 1 01:13:25 6 Sarah McCormack 1 01:19:04 Crusaders AC runners 15 Donatas Jocius 01:26:01 46 Paul Flynn 01:36:39 60 Brian McGuckin 01:41:55 63 Anna Gallo 01:43:32 (6) Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2335/category/O/ IMRA Powerscourt Ridge Short course (39) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Warren Swords 1 00:38:35 5 Niamh Murphy 1 00:43:46 Crusaders AC runner 1 Warren Swords 00:38:35 Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2335/category/O/ Strokestown Parkrun (79) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 John Feeney 1 00:21:09 7 Sarah Dixon 1 00:24:44 Crusader AC runner 28 Liam Lyster 00:28:47 Donabate Parkrun (212) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Conor McGuirk 1 00:16:16 10 Dara Ann Harford 1 00:20:20 Crusaders AC runner 35 Brendan Glynn 00:23:22 Knocknacarra Parkrun (100) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Joe Warne 1 00:16:58 8 Aining Zhan 1 00:21:24 Crusaders AC runner 24 Olwyn Dunne 00:24:06 (5) Bushy Parkrun (174) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Edwin Keville 1 00:18:03 19 Victoria Hepburn 1 00:23:01 Crusaders AC runner 4 Daniel Lowe 00:20:08 Cabinteely Parkrun (139) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Derek Lawlor 1 00:18:41 3 Robyn Kennedy 1 00:19:47 Crusaders AC runners 1 Derek Lawlor 00:18:41 38 Padraig Walsh 00:24:46 139 Kevin Kenny 01:02:07 Poolbeg Parkrun (168) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Seán Cahill 1 00:18:51 6 Ciara Regan 1 00:19:48 Crusaders AC runners 3 Oisin Corish 00:19:25 6 Ciara Regan 00:19:41 (1) 15 Zlatko Kulic 00:20:57 29 John Lohan 00:22:32 31 Sharon Woods 00:22:44 (3) 33 Pat Quill 00:22:48 44 Josie Ward 00:23:26 (4) 51 Tanja Narancic 00:24:04 (7) 63 Franky Keane 00:24:37 66 Kenan Furlong 00:24:50 69 Gillian Curran 00:25:13 (11) 92 Fanny Trébouet 00:27:24 (23) 93 Caitlin Ni Mhurchu 00:27:31 (24) 96 Djinn Von Noorden 00:27:35 (26) 125 Linda Walsh 00:29:55 (42) 142 Una McCullagh 00:32:15 (52) Tolka Valley Parkrun (58) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Matthew Dunne 1 00:17:27 13 Grace Haughey 1 00:24:23 Crusaders AC runners 2 Tomás Bradley 00:19:55 8 Phelim Murray 00:22:16 38 Sarah Lyons 00:31:26 (11) Shanganagh Parkrun (209) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Nickolas Colyn 1 00:16:01 23 Sheelagh Jones 1 00:21:37 Crusaders AC runners 134 Jill Nason 00:29:10 (34) 196 Carina Davidson 00:38:01 (75) Poppintree Parkrun (184) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Bobby Bedford 1 00:18:19 20 Kate Cleary 1 00:21:58 Crusaders AC runners 37 Julian Callan 00:24:05 43 Diarmuid Byrne 00:24:41 50 Emer Kenny 00:25:04 (8) 108 Máirín Shine 00:30:31 (27) 109 Fiona Shine 00:30:36 (28) 110 Lisa Shine 00:30:36 (29) 144 Maria Pertl 00:34:15 (47) St. Anne’s Parkrun (524) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Evan Reid 1 00:16:20 8 Fiona Stack 1 00:19:02 Crusaders AC runners 39 Eoghan Corrigan 00:21:16 84 Michael Maughan 00:23:04 363 Caroline Crowley 00:31:25 (136) 364 Irene Gorman 00:31:26 (137) Fairview Parkrun (147) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Seán Byrne 1 00:18:55 16 Aine Ni Ghloinn 1 00:22:53 Crusaders AC runner 9 Andy Deuser 00:22:02 Glengarriff Parkrun (66) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Peter Little 1 00:19:27 6 Alice Coppinger 1 00:23:19 Crusaders AC runner 5 Dale Whelehan 00:22:53 Brickfields Parkrun (69) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 2 Christopher McMahon 1 00:19:19 18 Sinead Tyrrell 1 00:23:41 Crusaders AC runner 10 Enda Currid 00:22:25 River Valley Parkrun (90) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Viktoras Kuzminas 1 00:20:37 3 Cecile Ollagnier 1 00:22:14 Crusaders AC runner 31 Brian Scanlan 00:26:47 Edwin Carolan Community Parkrun (41) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Gerry O’Connell 1 00:19:56 8 Shirley Farnan 1 00:25:14 Crusaders AC runner 19 Orlaith de Burca 00:30:20 (7) Griffeen Parkrun (221) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Gary Farrell 1 00:18:21 22 Ruby Kelly 1 00:21:18 Crusaders AC runner 44 Kate Murray 00:23:00 (6) Tralee Parkrun (236) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Tadhg Connolly 1 00:17:18 12 Mary Kilkenny Barrett 1 00:21:03 Crusaders AC runner 86 Helena O’Keeffe 00:27:14 (18) Marlay Parkrun (497) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 August Benedicto 1 00:16:37 37 Muirna Twomey 1 00:20:53 Crusaders AC runner 92 Phil Sykes 00:23:06 Tramore Valley, Cork Parkrun (203) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ben Leen Smith 1 00:15:46 20 Katie Walsh 1 00:21:26 Crusaders AC runners 32 Toby Benham 00:22:50 113 Mairead Cashman 00:28:29 (24) As only to be expected, with all the rain we suffered this week from Storm Ciarán all the weekend running events would be impacted. The two major cross-country events of the weekend, the Leinster Senior and the Dublin Senior XC championships, both presented waterlogged and muddy courses. So, it was true cross-country necessitating the wearing of spikes. Nothing quite like it! First up for Crusaders was the women’s 6k race in the Leinster championships on Saturday afternoon. It took place on a course with which we are extremely familiar just outside Dunboyne and aptly named Cowpark. It’s not particularly hilly, but it does often present quite a lot of spongy grass and mud on the tight corners even without the rainfall we had experienced. We fielded a team of 5, with 4 to score and although we did not win any medals the team did us proud, mid-packing in a bunch and, as a consequence, placing 4th, only 7 points off the podium. In the field of 44, they were led home by Rachael Yorke who crossed the line in 21st spot in a time of 28:19. Rachael was followed home by Lorraine Healy just 3 seconds behind in 22nd place (28:22) and Kathryn Gibbons a little further back (25th in 28:34). Saoirse McGrath was next in 27th place in 28:46, followed by Ciara Regan (31st in 29:37), meaning that only about 78 seconds separated our first and final runner. Interestingly, the second placed team, Mullingar, finished level with the 3rd placed team, Sportsworld, on 88 points, but won the silver medal on countback, Mullingar’s 4th scorer finishing in 33rd spot, 2 places ahead of Sportsworld’s 4th scoring athlete. It goes to show that every place counts! On Sunday, we just had the one athlete take part in the men’s 9k race in the Dublin senior XC Championships held in Santry Demesne. By all accounts, it was as muddy as it could ever get and, therefore, tough as a consequence. In another small field of 50 runners, Dee Lawlor joined the fray, placing 46th in a time of 37:57. There appear to have been no road races in Ireland during the last week with Crusaders involvement on which to report, but, as usual, if anyone has a result he or she would like to have recorded, please let us know. Further afield, our Spanish exiles, Esther Requena Ferri and Cristian Vilchez Ceballos, ran in a 7k street race in the sun in Vélez-Málaga, just in the hinterland north of Torre del Mar. Esther placed 2nd woman in a time of 27:48, whilst Cristian completed the course in 24:14. Also, we had two runners in the New York marathon. In brilliant sunshine and increasingly warm conditions (around 18 degrees), Brian Rainey ran 3:49:12, whilst Bob van der Helm completed the distance in 4:41:45. Well done to them. At least two of Saturday morning’s parkruns (Poolbeg and St. Anne’s) celebrated runners from last weekend’s marathon, and, in anticipation of this, we had a fabulous turnout of Crusaders in Poolbeg. Indeed, in Poolbeg, in a field of 176, in otherwise swampy conditions, including deep puddles on all the paths, no fewer than 28 runners from the club turned out, at least 18 of whom who had participated in the marathon. Because of the conditions, the organisers were close to cancelling the event. However, everyone was delighted it went ahead, although we were all cautioned not to try and achieve PBs in such slippery conditions (at least one of our runners did slip in the mud!). In any event, most of the marathoners were taking it carefully anyway! The first finisher in the event was Stephen Hurley in 18:15 and he was followed in 2nd place by Kevin Kavanagh (18:29) and in 3rd by Ross Neill (18:36). Further back came Kieran Martin (8th in 20:04), Adrian Groarke (14th in 20:51), Kevin Fitzgibbon (15th in 20:53), James Cottle (26th in 21:56), Kevin Lynch (31st in 22:27), Sharon Woods (37th and 4th female finisher in 23:21), Josie Ward (46th and 8th in 24:17), Joanne Carey (65th and 14th in 25:36), Olwyn Dunne (73rd and 16th in 26:27), Franky Keane (74th in the same time of 26:27), Rebecca Fleming just behind (75th and 17th in 26:28), Tara Murphy (76th and 18th in 26:28 too), Richard Kavanagh (79th in 26:35), Dee Ni Chearbhaill (82nd and 20th in 26:53), Kevin Kenny (85th in 27:22), Alby Allan (92nd in 27:50), Paul Campbell (93rd in 27:51), Christina Campbell (96th and 27th in 27:59), Tanja Narancic (100th and 30th in 28:10), Cian Coughlan (104th in 28:12), Áine Crotty (134th and 49th in 30:25), Niamh Trihy (154th and 65th in 36:04) and Cynthia Perucca (155th and 66th in 36:22). Joe Dunne and David Timoney also ran, but their times were not recorded. We had a first finisher in St. Anne’s too. Ruben Vega led the field of 406 home in a time of 17:11. He was followed by Michael Maughan (93rd in 24:18), and Paul and Aoife Kelly. Paul placed 139th in 26:09 and Aoife ran 33:36 for 332nd and 115th spots. We did have podium finishers elsewhere. Garret Connolly placed 2nd in 21:05 in the 112-strong field in Fairview. Garret was followed by Andy Deuser in 18th place in a time of 23:01. Then, in Cabinteely, in preparation for the following day’s challenge, Dee Lawlor placed 2nd in a field of 114 in a time of 19:05. Kevin Lambe, who will be running in the Athens marathon next week, got a good shakeout in Mullingar, where he placed 2nd in 19:56 in a field of 80. Finally, Luke Corcoran took 3rd place in Bushy Park. In a field of 135, Luke ran 19:35, followed by Kate Murray, who ran 25:23 for 43rd and 5th places. Back home for a brief while from Australia, Steven Walker ran in the 241-strong field in Portrush where he placed 4th in 20:26, whilst, in Tolka Valley, Diarmuid Byrne joined 48 other runners to place 6th in 23:25. Brendan Glynn ran in Donabate with 129 other participants where he placed 19th in 23:23, whilst members of the Shine family ran once again together, this time in Kilcock on the Royal Canal. In a field of 124, Máirín placed 51st and 16th in 28:09, followed by Lisa (52nd and 17th in the same time) and Fiona (54th and 19th in 28:11) just slightly behind. We had two runners in Shanganagh. Carina Davidson placed 79th and 20th in 27:12, followed by Aoife Clarke who ran 27:57 for 87th and 24th places. The field there measured 141. Meanwhile, further afield, Áine Kenny ran in Manchester in the Heaton Parkrun where she placed 173rd and 27th in 25:36 in a field of 688. Then, in Pollok in Glasgow, Aidan Hudner ran 27:07 for 141st place in the 328-strong field there. Finally, Kris Ryan, our Australian exile, ran in the Main Beach Parkrun in Queensland where she recorded a time of 32:39 for 127th and 32nd places. Leinster Senior Women XC Championships 6k (44) Overall place Name Guntime 1 Claire Fagan 00:23:51 Crusaders AC runners 21 Rachael Yorke 00:28:19 22 Lorraine Healy 00:28:22 25 Kathryn Gibbons 00:28:34 27 Saoirse McGrath 00:28:46 31 Ciara Regan 00:29:37 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/leinster_senior_xc_championships_2023/4980/results Dublin Senior Men XC Championships 9k (50) Overall place Name Guntime 1 Efrem Gidey 00:28:50 Crusaders AC runner 46 Derek Lawlor 00:37:57 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/dublin_uneven_age__junior__senior__xc_championships_2023/4911/results Portrush Parkrun (241) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Scott Rankin 1 00:17:31 17 Fiona Prue 1 00:22:31 Crusader AC runner 4 Steven Walker 00:20:26 Donabate Parkrun (130) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Derek Nolan 1 00:18:56 16 Katie Halpin 1 00:22:55 Crusaders AC runner 19 Brendan Glynn 00:23:23 Mullingar Parkrun (80) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Micheal Forde 1 00:19:15 21 Mia Flynn 1 00:25:42 Crusaders AC runners 2 Kevin Lambe 00:19:56 Bushy Parkrun (135) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Jonathan Kearsley 1 00:17:22 6 Rachel Sidebotham 1 00:20:31 Crusaders AC runner 43 Kate Murray 00:25:23 (5) Cabinteely Parkrun (114) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 George Callery 1 00:18:47 6 Derval Devaney 1 00:21:40 Crusaders AC runner 2 Derek Lawlor 00:19:05 Poolbeg Parkrun (176) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Stephen Hurley 1 00:18:15 16 Laura Behan 1 00:20:59 Crusaders AC runners 1 Stephen Hurley 00:18:15 2 Kevin Kavanagh 00:18:29 3 Ross Neill 00:18:36 8 Kieran Martin 00:20:04 14 Adrian Groarke 00:20:51 15 Kevin Fitzgibbon 00:20:53 26 James Cottle 00:21:56 31 Kevin Lynch 00:22:27 37 Sharon Woods 00:23:21 (4) 46 Josie Ward 00:24:17 (8) 65 Joanne Carey 00:25:36 (14) 73 Olwyn Dunne 00:26:27 (16) 74 Franky Keane 00:26:27 75 Rebecca Fleming 00:26:28 (17) 76 Tara Murphy 00:26:28 (18) 79 Richard Kavanagh 00:26:35 82 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:26:53 (20) 85 Kevin Kenny 00:27:22 92 Alby Allan 00:27:50 93 Paul Campbell 00:27:51 96 Christina Campbell 00:27:59 (27) 100 Tanja Narancic 00:28:10 (30) 104 Cian Coughlan 00:28:12 134 Áine Crotty 00:30:25 (49) 154 Niamh Trihy 00:36:04 (65) 155 Cynthia Perucca 00:36:22 (66) Tolka Valley Parkrun (49) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Owen Robinson 1 00:19:29 8 Mary Gavin 1 00:24:53 Crusaders AC runner 6 Diarmuid Byrne 00:23:25 Shanganagh Parkrun (141) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Mark Kelly 1 00:19:21 5 Lynne Hennessy 1 00:19:54 Crusaders AC runners 79 Carina Davidson 00:27:12 (20) 87 Aoife Clarke 00:27:57 (24) Royal Canal, Kilcock Parkrun (124) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 John Regan 1 00:18:30 11 Emma Finlay 1 00:21:53 Crusaders AC runners 51 Máirín Shine 00:28:09 (16) 52 Lisa Shine 00:28:09 (17) 54 Fiona Shine 00:28:11 (19) St. Anne’s Parkrun (406) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ruben Vega 1 00:17:11 19 Helen Marshall 1 00:19:30 Crusaders AC runners 1 Ruben Vega 00:17:11 93 Michael Maughan 00:24:18 139 Paul F. Kelly 00:26:09 332 Aoife Kelly 00:33:36 (115) Fairview Parkrun (112) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Paddy Murphy 1 00:20:49 3 Kirsty Beattie 1 00:21:13 Crusaders AC runner 18 Andy Deuser 00:23:01 Where to start? This weekend’s Dublin City Marathon was really the only game in town, in terms of road racing at least if not also in terms of one of the highlights of the year for Dublin’s fair city. It did not disappoint, even though we were forecast perhaps longer dry spells throughout the race on Sunday morning than we got and when the rains came, they came with a vengeance. All of us who ran were not particularly bothered about the conditions ourselves; in fact, a bit of rain can be quite refreshing in such an event. Indeed, we were more worried that the weather would prevent our supporters from coming out. They are a vital element of the experience for us and everyone running for the club on the day was encouraged to wear the Crusaders singlet because we are always so amazingly well-supported along the full length of the course. Maith thú to all who braved the elements on Sunday to give us encouragement. It makes such a difference. The day didn’t start out like that and for the early starters in wave one, the damp conditions just after the gun at 8:45 were reasonably soft. The later waves, however, were to bear the brunt of the heavy showers. It made the otherwise light (super) shoes quite heavy at times. Many of us took advantage of the use of Pembroke Hall close to the start line in Fitzwilliam Square generously donated for about the 10th time by Bob Manson. It provided us with a really comfortable and warm changing environment (with showers) and a safe bag drop. It’s a super privilege and we are so grateful for Bob to let us use it. So, on the day we actually had at least 105 Crusaders start the race with no fewer than 104 of us finishing, an unprecedented result. This year, we welcomed quite a large number of newcomers to marathon racing, but even without their results we recorded a significant number of PBs. Of the 40+ PBs reported, at least a third came from those who had completed the distance before. It’s surprising because no one would suggest that Dublin is a PB course with its multitude of horrible hills in the first half (up to Christchurch and then up through Blackhall, the drag through the Phoenix Park, the really steep climb at Ballyfermot, another at Kilmainham and in Crumlin, the drag along through Dolphins Barn, the list is long) and then a couple late on just to sort the men from the boys in Milltown, Clonskeagh and the famous one at Roebuck. Admittedly there are some recovery-assisting downhills, particularly around the Phoenix Park (Knockmaroon Hill coming off a climb in Castleknock and then the Upper Glen Road) as well as Fosters Avenue and Nutley towards the end, but they just play havoc with your quads! Nevertheless, with all the support out there, our runners turned in some fabulous performances. It's going to be difficult to list everyone here (although in principle they are listed!) and all the results are shown below, but we should point out that we had at least 16 runners who broke 3 hours, led home by Vinnie McGuinness in 34th place overall with a time of 2:29:27, just a little off his PB for the distance. Vinnie was followed by Ciaran Diviney, the 51-year-old placing 72nd and 2nd in his M50 age category, meaning that he won national silver and Leinster and Dublin gold medals, as the lead runner in the category was from a Northern club. Behind Ciaran came Kevin Fitzgibbon (92nd in a PB time of 2:39:46) and Ciarain Kelly (just behind in 93rd in a PB time of 2:39:53). Fingers crossed that we might have picked up a medal at least provincially or locally for the O/35 team. Others to break 3 hours were Robert Browne (155th in 2:44:49) and Thomas Vogée (another runner with a PB result of 2:45:37 for 171st place). They were followed by Eugene McDonough (222nd in 2:47:49) who was suffering the effects of a head-cold, Daragh O’Reilly (255th in 2:49:15), Shane Egan with a PB time of 2:52:17 for 346th place, TJ Bourke, another runner with a PB (363rd with 2:52:55), Warren Swords (378th in 2:53:21), Kieran Martin (422nd in 2:54:36), Michael Reilly (425th in a PB time of 2:54:28), Donatas Jocius, who ran in the second wave (602nd in 2:58:09), Charles-Edouard Cattier who knocked off over 10 minutes from his previous best in a PB time of 2:57:52 for 603rd place and also celebrating becoming a father a few days earlier, John O’Donnell, another runner with a PB time of 2:58:20 in 654th spot and, finally, young Matthew Ryan. The 18-year-old runner recorded a five seconds PB improvement to register a time of 2:59:22, placing 785th, despite being plagued by a pair of shorts that kept continuously trying to slip down. We had at least 40 female athletes in our contingent, a percentage greater than the overall gender mix in the marathon (70:30, male to female), and more than half finished inside 4 hours (well inside the top 25% of all the female runners in the race). Indeed, we had 7 female athletes who broke the 3:30 barrier. They were just behind the following athletes: Aaron Farrell (827th in a PB time of 3:01:36), Conor Macguinness (891st in 3:03:08), James Cottle (937th in 3:04:46), who, despite having difficulties crossing the line as he was throwing up (too many gels probably!), ran about 2 minutes faster than last year, in 2nd place overall in the M65 age category (to a runner from the north like Ciaran) and thereby claiming, like Ciaran, national silver and Leinster and Dublin gold medals, Mick Smyth (965th in 3:04:29), James Donlon (997th in 3:05:05), and then Paul O’Hara (1003rd with a time of 3:06:09), Oisin Corish (1117th in a time of 3:08:10) and Eddie Nugent (1173rd in 3:08:45), all three running their first marathon. Despite being weakened by a heavy bout of sinusitis, which had prevented her from running in Berlin, Adrienne Jordan gamely tackled Dublin, placing 1202nd overall and 74th female finisher in 3:09:22. Ado was followed by Will Owens (1216th in 3:09:40), Alby Allan (1328th in a PB time of 3:10:44), Michael Fitzsimons (1388th also with a PB of 3:12:06) and then by Áine Kenny (1738th and 128th in 3:17:36) and Aoife Quigley (1758th and 131st in 3:18:22). With a bit of luck our O/35 women’s team may have podiumed in the Co. Dublin championships. To be seen. Aoife was followed by Seamus Moore (1886th in 3:19:41), Carolyn O’Reilly (another runner with a PB, placing 1982nd and 163rd in 3:19:16), Paul Moloney (2075th in 3:21:30), who was a runner with an interrupted training schedule with a slight injury, Gerard Moore (2,341st in 3:23:55), Jeanie Watson who surprised herself with her PB time of 3:24:39, placing 2344th and 210th, Paul F. Kelly (2365th in a PB time of 3:25:19), Oisin Browne (Carolyn’s fiancé) with a PB time of 3:24:31 to place 2404th, Ciara Lynch in her first marathon (2421st with a time of 3:24:04), Paul Campbell, pacing the 3:30 finishers (2852nd in 3:29:17), Kevin Lynch (2862nd in 3:27:36), Ruadhán Mac Cormaic, another novice marathoner who found getting in the training challenging and who was rightly delighted with his time of 3:28:45 for 2912nd place, and Paula Bradshaw, who has done so much to help the marathoners get to the start line. Paula broke 3:30 for the first time with a 3:29:28 finish for 3014th and 8315th places. A large-ish group ran together for much of the race, comprising of Áine Crotty and her fiancé Cian Coughlan (3251st and 361st and 3252nd respectively) in the same time of 3:31:02, Joanne Carey (3303rd and 369th in 3:31:40), Ciara Lehane, with a PB time of 3:33:11 for 3357th and 380th and Rebecca Fleming with a PB time of 3:32:31 for 3375th and 382nd. Shivananda Pukhrem finished close to the group, placing 3338th in 3:33:52 in his first marathon having been guided for much of the race by Paul. Just ahead of Shiva came Adrian Groarke, placing 3315th in 3:32:05. Next came Karl Walsh (3496th in 3:34:46), Daniel O’Mahony (3534th in 3:34:20), Ian Weldon (3782nd in 3:37:35, a PB improvement of about 17 minutes), Tara Gavin (3870th and 477th in a PB time of 3:37:35), David Tuohy (4589th in 3:43:22), Triona Quill (4720th and 666th in 3:43:14, a time that may have gained her a Dublin medal), Jessica Norris (4742nd and 674th in a PB time of 3:43:48), Maeve Lochrie, another newcomer to marathon running, who suffered a bit in the race from an interrupted training schedule in the build-up (4829th and 692nd in 3:41:30), Lisa Branigan (4972nd and 724th in 3:46:03), Carmel Higgins (5186th and 7773rd in a PB time of 3:47:29), James Bradshaw (Paula’s husband), another newbie, who ran 3:47:08 for 5222nd place, Liam Nagle (5291st in 3:48:52), Emily Glen (5395th and 819th in a PB time (by 1 second) of 3:48:14), Tanja Narancic (5491st and 839th in a PB time of 3:48:42), Joe Green (5546th in 3:49:04 in his first marathon), Fiona Collins (5547th and 847th in her second marathon (10 years after the first) in a huge PB time improvement of 3:48:56), David McDonald (5911th in 3:51:47), Hannah Jones (6116th and 998th in 3:54:13), Liam O’Brien (6429th in 3:56:20), Ciara Black (3:57:24 in her first marathon, placing 6557th and 1131st), Mary Fitzsimons (6635th and 1158th in 3:55:50), Christina Campbell (another runner delighted with her PB time of 3:58:00 for 6656th and 1163rd), Franky Keane (6666th in 3:57:16), Mark Browne (6854th in 3:58:44), Joe and Olwyn Dunne, who were pacing the 4-hour finishers, with Joe placing 7012th in 3:59:36 and Olwyn, 7029th and 1265th in 3:59:45, and Gillian Curran who completed the sub-4-hour contingent by placing 7264th and 1336th in a PB time of 3:58:43. We had at least 7 more PBs in the contingent that followed, including Lindsay Butler who placed 8011th and 1568th in 4:06:09. Lindsay was followed by John Kennedy (8326th in 4:07:35), Gillian McDarby (8497th and 1725th in 4:10:06), Mike Stewart, on his way back from injury (8525th in 4:09:49), David Pepper (8537th in his first marathon in 4:09:00), Lieze Verberght (another marathon novice, who ran 4:16:17 for 9129th and 1954th places), Kevin Kenny (9188th in 4:14:11), Avril Ryan (9502nd and 2106th in her first marathon in a time of 4:19:14), John Corish (another newbie, with a time of 4:18:59 for 9640th), Tara Murphy (9759th and 2206th in 4:20:02), Evelyn Neary (9946th and 2271st in a PB time of 4:22:04, definitely enjoying the experience this year), Aitor Arribas Velasco (10792nd in 4:29:42), Daniel Cullen (10894th in 4:29:49), Anna Hernick (11217th and 2788th in a huge PB improved time of 4:33:09), Fanny Trébouet, who knocked 50 minutes off her previous best time in Connemara to record a PB of 4:34:40 for 11587th and 2927th places, Darina Scully (11628th and 2940th in 4:37:13) and Djinn von Noorden, whose training has been impacted by a whole summer spent in the heavy heat of south-west France (11671st and 2960th in 4:36:26). Martin Joyce was next in a PB time of 4:36:24 for 11686th place, and he was followed by Mairead Cashman (12329th and 3222nd in 4:42:57), Barbara Walsh with a PB run of 4:48:18 for 12712th and 3400th, Joe O’Reilly (14542nd in 5:14:15), Linda Walsh (14639th and 4356th in 5:14:42), Leo Lundy, running his umpteenth marathon (15428th in 5:44:34), Patrick Needham (15540th in 5:50:33), Niamh Quinn (15610th and 4834th in 5:53:54), Rachel Kelly, several months pregnant (15543rd and 4770th in 5:43:04) and Lorraine Fitzsimons (15891st and 5002nd in 6:12:23). Well done to all. Roll on 2024!! Elsewhere over the weekend, we have news from Spain that Esther Requena Ferri and her partner in exile Cristian Vilchez Ceballos both achieved PBs in the Malaga half marathon. Esther ran 1:27:31 and Cristian ran 1:19:14. Luke Davis reported that he competed in another Hyrox event in Dublin, finishing 111th out of 778 competitors. Understandably, most of the marathoners did not take part in parkruns on Saturday morning. However, there were exceptions. Cian Coughlan and Áine Crotty joined 399 other participants in St. Anne’s where respectively they placed 260th and 261st (and 100th female finisher) in 31:47 and 31:48. It was Cian’s 50th parkrun. Then, in Cabinteely, Olwyn Dunne placed 46th and 7th in 27:34. The first finisher in the event was Dee Lawlor who ran 18:52 ahead of a field of 112 which also included David Carter who ran 19:40 for 4th place. Julie McGrath was another first finisher, placing 11th overall in 21:38 in what she described as muddy and hilly conditions. In the field of 170, Dublin marathoner Mairead Cashman also ran, placing 123rd and 45th in 33:46. Paul Cowhie led the field of 463 home in Marlay Park in a time of 17:57 and he was followed by his wife, Aoife, in 25:29 for 145th and 25th places. As usual, Poolbeg didn’t disappoint. Luke Corcoran and Ciara Regan were first finishers there. In a substantial field of 197, Luke crossed the line first in 17:43 and Ciara placed 15th overall in 20:23. They were followed by John Lohan (36th in 22:43), Sharon woods (42nd and 4th in 23:22), Josie Ward (48th and 5th in 23:54), Russell Murphy (57th in 24:26), Mary Dolan (108th and 29th in 28:36) and Cynthia Perucca (150th and 57th in 32:42). Ross Neill placed 4th in Ormeau Park in Belfast in a time of 17:48. The field there measured 414, whilst Toby Benham headed to Worthing on the English south coast where he placed 5th in a field of 379 and in a time of 18:08. Gemma Cooper was our lone runner in Tramore, Waterford, placing 52nd and 6th in a time of 27:04 and in a field of 144, whilst Eoghan Corrigan joined 149 other runners in Kilkenny where he placed 18th in 22:42. Members of the Shine family joined 182 other runners in Griffeen Park on Saturday morning. Lisa came home in 68th and 15th places in 26:28, followed by Máirín in 82nd and 21st in 28:24 and Fiona in 83rd and 22nd places in 28:25. Louise O’Riordan placed 183rd and 70th in Ballincollig. Louise’s time was 32:38 and the field there measured 221, whilst Luke Haran ran once again in Mungret where, in a field of 109, he placed 5th in 21:15. Andy Deuser joined 127 other participants in Fairview, where he placed 12th in 22:47, whilst Carina Davidson was a participant in Shanganagh. In her d70th parkrun, Carina ran 37:37 to place 166th and 70th in a field of 184 runners. Irish Life Dublin City Marathon (16356) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Kemal Husen 1 02:06:50 (CR) 18 Amente Sorome Negash 1 02:26:21 Crusaders AC runners 34 Vinnie McGuinness 02:29:27 72 Ciaran Diviney 02:37:33 92 Kevin Fitzgibbon 02:39:46 (PB) 93 Ciarain Kelly 02:39:53 155 Robert Browne 02:44:49 171 Thomas Vogée 02:45:37 (PB) 222 Eugene McDonough 02:47:49 255 Daragh O’Reilly 02:49:15 346 Shane Egan 02:52:17 (PB) 363 TJ Bourke 02:52:55 (PB) 378 Warren Swords 02:53:21 422 Kieran Martin 02:54:36 425 Michael Reilly 02:54:28 (PB) 602 Donatas Jocius 02:58:09 603 Charles-Edouard Cattier 02:57:52 (PB) 654 John O’Donnell 02:58:20 (PB) 785 Matthew Ryan 02:59:22 (PB) 827 Aaron Farrell 03:01:36 (PB) 891 Conor Macguinness 03:03:08 947 James Cottle 03:04:46 965 Mick Smyth 03:04:29 997 James Donlon 03:05:05 1003 Paul O’Hara 03:06:09 (PB) 1117 Oisin Corish 03:08:10 (PB) 1173 Eddie Nugent 03:08:45 (PB) 1202 Adrienne Jordan 03:09:22 (74) 1216 Will Owens 03:09:40 1328 Alby Allan 03:10:44 (PB) 1388 Michael Fitzsimons 03:12:06 (PB) 1738 Áine Kenny 03:17:36 (128) 1758 Aoife Quigley 03:18:22 (131) 1886 Seamus Moore 03:19:41 1982 Carolyn O’Reilly 03:19:16 (PB) (163) 2075 Paul Moloney 03:21:30 2341 Gerard Moore 03:23:55 2344 Jeanie Watson 03:24:39 (PB) (210) 2365 Paul F. Kelly 03:25:19 (PB) 2404 Oisin Browne 03:24:31 (PB) 2421 Ciara Lynch 03:24:04 (PB) (19X) 2852 Paul Campbell 03:29:17 (PACER) 2862 Kevin Lynch 03:27:36 2912 Ruadhán Mac Cormaic 03:28:45 (PB) 3014 Paula Bradshaw 03:29:28 (PB) (315) 3251 Áine Crotty 03:31:02 (361) 3252 Cian Coughlan 03:31:02 3303 Joanne Carey 03:31:40 (369) 3315 Adrian Groarke 03:32:05 3338 Shivananda Pukhrem 03:33:52 (PB) 3357 Ciara Lehane 03:33:11 (PB) (380) 3375 Rebecca Fleming 03:32:31 (PB) (382) 3496 Karl Walsh 03:34:46 3534 Daniel O’Mahony 03:34:20 3782 Ian Weldon 03:37:53 (PB) 3870 Tara Gavin 03:37:35 (PB) (477) 4589 David Tuohy 03:43:22 4720 Triona Quill 03:43:14 (666) 4742 Jessica Norris 03:43:48 (PB) (674) 4829 Maeve Lochrie 03:41:30 (PB) (692) 4972 Lisa Branigan 03:46:03 (724) 5186 Carmel Higgins 03:47:29 (PB) (773) 5222 James Bradshaw 03:47:08 (PB) 5291 Liam Nagle 03:48:52 5395 Emily Glen 03:48:14 (PB) (819) 5491 Tanja Narancic 03:48:42 (PB) (839) 5546 Joe Green 03:49:04 (PB) 5547 Fiona Collins 03:48:56 (PB) (847) 5911 David McDonald 03:51:47 6116 Hannah Jones 03:54:13 (998) 6429 Liam O’Brien 03:56:20 6557 Ciara Black 03:57:24 (PB) (1131) 6635 Mary Fitzsimons 03:55:50 (1158) 6656 Christina Campbell 03:58:00 (PB) (1163) 6666 Franky Keane 03:57:16 6854 Mark Browne 03:58:44 7012 Joe Dunne 03:59:36 (PACER) 7029 Olwyn Dunne 03:59:45 (PACER) (1265) 7264 Gillian Curran 03:58:43 (PB) (1336) 8011 Lindsay Butler 04:06:09 (PB) (1568) 8326 John Kennedy 04:07:35 8497 Gillian McDarby 04:10:06 (1725) 8525 Mike Stewart 04:09:49 8537 David Pepper 04:09:00 (PB) 9129 Lieze Verberght 04:16:17 (PB) (1954) 9188 Kevin Kenny 04:14:11 9502 Avril Ryan 04:19:14 (PB) (2106) 9640 John Corish 04:18:59 9759 Tara Murphy 04:20:02 (2206) 9946 Evelyn Neary 04:22:04 (2271) 10792 Aitor Arribas Velasco 04:29:42 10894 Daniel Cullen 04:29:49 11217 Anna Hernick 04:33:09 (PB) (2788) 11587 Fanny Trébouet 04:34:40 (PB) (2927) 11628 Darina Scully 04:37:13 (2940) 11671 Djinn von Noorden 04:36:26 (2960) 11686 Martin Joyce 04:36:24 (PB) 12329 Mairead Cashman 04:42:57 (3222) 12712 Barbara Walsh 04:48:18 (PB) (3400) 14542 Joe O’Reilly 05:14:15 14639 Linda Walsh 05:14:42 (4356) 15428 Leo Lundy 05:44:34 15540 Patrick Needham 05:50:33 15543 Rachel Kelly 05:43:04 (4770) 15610 Niamh Quinn 05:53:54 (4834) 15891 Lorraine Fitzsimons 06:12:23 (5002) Full results here: https://www.tdleventservices.co.uk/en/results-embed.php?event=3985#0_C42451 Ballincollig Parkrun (221) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Gerard Geary 1 00:18:45 5 Rachel Finn 1 00:20:07 Crusader AC runner 183 Louise O’Riordan 00:32:38 (70) Ormeau Parkrun (414) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Daniel Molloy 1 00:17:08 18 Shileen O’Kane 1 00:20:03 Crusaders AC runner 4 Ross Neill 00:17:48 Marlay Parkrun (463) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Paul Cowhie 1 00:17:57 15 Martha Moore 1 00:20:14 Crusaders AC runners 1 Paul Cowhie 00:17:57 145 Aoife Cowhie 00:25:29 (25) Bushy Parkrun (170) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Alfie Davis 1 00:19:22 11 Julie McGrath 1 00:21:38 Crusaders AC runners 11 Julie McGrath 00:21:38 (1) 123 Mairead Cashman 00:33:46 (45) Cabinteely Parkrun (112) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Derek Lawlor 1 00:18:52 6 Robyn Kennedy 1 00:20:35 Crusaders AC runners 1 Derek Lawlor 00:18:52 4 David Carter 00:19:40 46 Olwyn Dunne 00:27:34 (7) Poolbeg Parkrun (197) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Luke Corcoran 1 00:17:43 15 Ciara Regan 1 00:20:23 Crusaders AC runners 1 Luke Corcoran 00:17:43 15 Ciara Regan 00:20:23 (1) 36 John Lohan 00:22:43 42 Sharon Woods 00:23:22 (4) 48 Josie Ward 00:23:54 (5) 57 Russell Murphy 00:24:26 108 Mary Dolan 00:28:36 (29) 150 Cynthia Perucca 00:32:42 (57) Mungret Parkrun (109) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 John Whittaker 1 00:18:23 9 Kate O’Brien 1 00:22:02 Crusaders AC runner 5 Luke Haran 00:21:15 Shanganagh Parkrun (184) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Will Foot 1 00:18:19 16 Liadh Fitzmaurice 1 00:21:45 Crusaders AC runners 166 Carina Davidson 00:37:37 (70) Kilkenny Parkrun (150) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Mike Cullen 1 00:18:44 3 Meghan McCarthy 1 00:19:30 Crusaders AC runner 19 Eoghan Corrigan 00:22:42 Griffeen Parkrun (185) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 John Canny 1 00:18:16 8 Niamh Murphy 1 00:20:24 Crusaders AC runners 68 Lisa Shine 00:26:28 (15) 82 Máirín Shine 00:28:24 (21) 83 Fiona Shine 00:28:25 (22) St. Anne’s Parkrun (401) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Dermot Coffey 1 00:17:37 9 Helen Marshall 1 00:19:18 Crusaders AC runners 260 Cian Coughlan 00:31:47 261 Áine Crotty 00:31:48 (100) Tramore, Waterford Parkrun (144) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Damian Bourke 1 00:19:50 15 Amy Storey 1 00:23:31 Crusaders AC runner 52 Gemma Cooper 00:27:04 (6) Fairview Parkrun (128) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Aoife O’Connor 1 00:20:19 2 Peter Fenyvesi 1 00:20:30 Crusaders AC runner 12 Andy Deuser 00:22:47 L-R: Emily Glen, Gillian Curran, Paula Bradshaw, Mairead Cashman, Jessica Norris, Tara Gavin, Tanja Narancic, Fiona Collins, Ciara Lehane, Rebecca Fleming, Christina Campbell, Carmel Higgins, Lindsay Butler, Avril Ryan, Lieze Verberght, Anna Hernick, Carolyn O'Reilly, Triona Quill, Joanne Carey, Ciara Lynch, Aoife Quigley The cross-country course in Ballyhale in Co. Kilkenny on Saturday morning was surprisingly dry, given the fierce weather conditions that had erupted in the couple of days beforehand across the island. The occasion was the Leinster Novices and the location on a golf course was familiar to some as it has been used as a venue before, but for the uninitiated its hilly challenges would have come as a bit of a shock, with little flat ground and the course itself inevitably avoiding any spike damage to the pristine fairways, sticking to the deep rough! Nevertheless, the 10 runners representing the club embraced the challenges and performed extremely well. First up was the women’s 4k race with a total field of 68 runners from around 9 or 10 clubs. Our 5 women packed well behind Kathryn Gibbons who took 12th place in 17:21. The 4 other members finished within 6 places of each other, with Annie Hughes taking 23rd spot in 17:54, followed immediately by Saoirse McGrath in 24th one second behind in 17:55 and Kim Hickey just 1 second further back in 25th in 17:56. Only 6 seconds further back came Rachael Yorke (28th in 18:02), acting as an effective spoiler. The net result was that, although it would have been difficult to contest the gold medal place which inevitably went to DCH on 14 points (all their scorers finishing in the top 10), the first four of our runners were able to win the silver medal with a score of 84 points, ahead of St. Senan’s on 92 (their 3rd scorer finishing just behind Rachael) in a team competition between 9 clubs. The men’s race yielded a couple more medals, in respect of the county competition. The team itself placed a creditable 4th in a competition involving 15 clubs, so no medals there. However, Colm Parnell, who led our 5-man contingent home in 5th place in the 6k event in 21:11, along with our next finisher, John Mulvihill (24th in 23:04), picked up a gold medal with the Co. Dublin team. In the field of 110, Patrick Conlon was our next scorer, placing 35th in 23:32, followed by Ross Neill (46th in 23:46) and Alex Ainsworth (67th in 25:06). The 4th place finish of the team came from a score of 109 points, 9 behind Newbridge in 3rd place and 3 ahead of Kilkenny in 5th. Well done to all! So, the XC season is well and truly upon us. One might describe the Sandymount Night 10k as something of a hybrid XC, in that it takes in a lot of beach and paths around Sandymount Strand and Seán Moore Park. In many ways it resembles the series of races that take place during the year in Clontarf which also is conducted on the beach and also narrow bike paths with runners and walkers going in all directions. Last Tuesday’s 5k and 10k races in Sandymount enjoyed an aggregate field of 852, with 467 of the runners taking part in the 10k. Among them were at least 5 Crusaders. They were led across the line by Tom Gleeson who placed 28th in 42:51, and he was followed by Daniel O’Mahony who ran 45:10, but who didn’t get a chiptimed result. Next over the line was Charlotte Rufié (91st overall and 14th female finisher in 49:07) followed closely by Cría Dowling (94th and 16th in a chiptime of 48:54). Tom’s brother, Daniel, completed the picture with a 53:12 finish for 163rd spot. On Sunday, Philp Matthews signed up at the last minute for the Clonliffe 2-mile road race. It is the oldest continuous road race in Ireland, having commenced in 1891 as a club race, soon becoming an invitational race, originally conducted over a distance of 1.75 miles and eventually becoming a 2-mile event. In a field of 242 and in relatively sunny, warm and wind-less conditions, Philip placed 73rd in a time of 13:09. As usual, we had some great results further afield over the weekend. Kevin Kavanagh travelled to Valencia for Sunday’s half marathon there, producing a wonderful result of 1:18:57 to take 808th place in a field of nearly 24,000 runners. In achieving his new PB, Kevin registered remarkably even 5k splits. Italo Giancaterina, our Italian exile, actually won the Maratona di Pescara over the weekend in a time of 2:35:08, whilst Clément Rincé had a top 30 finish in the French National 5k championships in St. Omer near Calais with a time of 15:16. Down in Spain our inveterate racing exiles, Cristian Vilchez Ceballos and Esther Requena Ferri could not resist running in a 10k race around the streets of Malaga, with Cristian completing the distance in 35:39 and Esther running 40:11. No one was expecting the relatively benign conditions for parkrunning on Saturday morning and perhaps some of the fields were smaller as a consequence. Nevertheless, we enjoyed a good turnout, particularly those getting a good shakeout before embarking on next weekend’s Dublin City Marathon (we have at least 85 Crusaders listed as registered for the race). Husband and wife duo, Vinnie and Amy McGuinness, shared the spoils this week in St. Anne’s. In a field of 376, Vinnie was first across the line in 17:03, with Amy placing 15th and first female finisher in 19:39. We had three other club members in the event. Sarah Lyons placed 140th and 28th in 26:06, followed by Rebecca Fleming (266th and 80th in 30:56) and Áine Crotty (267th and 81st in the same time). Another first finisher was Fiona Collins, like Vinnie, Rebecca and Áine preparing for next week’s marathon. Fiona ran in the 28-strong field in Rostrevor where she placed 8th overall in a time of 24:56. Kate Murray finished on the podium in Mullingar. In a field of 107, Kate placed 13th and 2nd in 22:14, whilst, in Griffeen Park in Lucan, Alby Allan placed 3rd out of 186 runners in a time of 19:07. Tanja Narancic got a real boost of confidence as she placed 27th and 2nd in 22:31 in Shanganagh, followed, in the field of 200, by Olwyn Dunne (45th and 7th in 23:47) and Carina Davidson (83rd and 18th in 26:42). We had at least 15 Crusaders run in the field of 160 in Poolbeg. Michael Wycherley enjoyed a course PB with a time of 17:45 for 3rd place along side Stephen Hurley awarded the same time for 4th spot. Eddie Nugent was next, in 9th place in a time of 19:24, and he was followed by Christina Campbell (43rd and 6th in 23:26), Ailsa Berkeley (44th and 7th in 23:35), Josie Ward (52nd and 9th in 24:06), Fiona Bane (57th and 11th in 24:23), Julian Callan (60th in 24:52), Kevin Kenny (63rd in 25:08), Gillian Curran (65th and 14th in 25:14), Louise O’Riordan (83rd and 21st in 26:34), Anna Hernick (100th and 29th in 28:50), Maureen McGinley (119th and 43rd in 30:34), Cynthia Perucca (134th and 54th in 32:13) and Niamh Trihy (148th and 65th in 35:36). Dave Carter took 5th place in Cabinteely in 20:10 where he ran with 140 other participants, whilst, in Naas, in a similar field of 137, John Lohan placed 19th in 21:56, followed by Karl Walsh (23rd in 22:14) and Tara Murphy (48th and 5th in 25:19). We had two runners in Malahide with its field of 285. Hannah Jones placed 48th and 7th in 22:08, whilst Darina Scully placed 66th and 14th in 23:24. Mairead Cashman ran in Ireland’s most unusual parkrun, the Progression parkrun set in the confines of Mountjoy Prison. In a field of 48, Mairead placed 38th and 7th in 30:58, whilst in Bushy Park, the Shine family joined 120 other runners there. Máirín placed 93rd and 26th in 34:31. In the same time one place behind in 94th and 71st came Fiona, with Lisa a little further back (99th and 30th in 35:02). Eoghan Corrigan took 68th spot in a time of 28:43 in Kilcock, with its field of 147, whilst Martina White placed 101st and 33rd in 30:14 in almost the same size field (148) in Porterstown. Finally, it was great to see Kris Ryan recording another parkrun. Our Australian exile ran in Main Beach in Queensland where, in a field of 319, she ran 32;40 for 188th and 56th places. Leinster XC Novices Women’s 4k (68) Overall place Name Guntime 1 Faye Dervan 00:15:22 Crusaders AC runners 12 Kathryn Gibbons 00:17:21 23 Annie Hughes 00:17:54 24 Saoirse McGrath 00:17:55 25 Kim Hickey 00:17:56 28 Rachael Yorke 00:18:02 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/leinster_nov_jnr__u18_xc_chmps_2023/4691/results Leinster XC Novices Men’s 6k (105) Overall place Name Guntime 1 Michael Murphy 00:20:25 Crusaders AC runners 5 Colm Parnell 00:21:11 24 John Mulvihill 00:23:04 35 Patrick Conlon 00:23:32 46 Ross Neill 00:23:46 67 Alex Ainsworth 00:25:06 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/leinster_nov_jnr__u18_xc_chmps_2023/4691/results Sandymount Night Run 10k (467) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Mihail Sprincean 1 00:33:49 6 Niamh Chambers 1 00:35:51 Crusaders AC runners 28 Tom Gleeson 00:42:51 XX Daniel O’Mahony 00:45:10 91 Charlotte Rufié 00:49:07 (14) 94 Cría Dowling 00:48:54 (16) 163 Daniel Gleeson 00:53:12 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/sandymount_night_run_5k__10k_2023/4929/results Clonliffe 2-miler (242) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Cathal Doyle 1 00:08:46 21 Carla Sweeney 1 00:10:34 Crusaders AC runner 73 Philip Matthews 00:13:09 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/clonliffe_2_mile_2023/4956/results Malahide Parkrun (285) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Matthew Glitz 1 00:17:06 4 Annette Kealy 1 00:18:47 Crusader AC runners 48 Hannah Jones 00:22:08 (7) 66 Darina Scully 00:23:24 (14) Rostrevor Parkrun (28) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 David Walker 1 00:19:40 8 Fiona Collins 1 00:24:56 Crusaders AC runner 8 Fiona Collins 00:24:56 (1) Progression Parkrun (48) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Owen Fletcher 1 00:19:49 10 Emma Finlay 1 00:24:15 Crusaders AC runner 38 Mairead Cashman 00:30:58 (7) Bushy Parkrun (123) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 2 Paul Wilson 1 00:19:52 9 Christine Kinsella 1 00:22:20 Crusaders AC runners 93 Máirín Shine 00:34:31 (26) 94 Fiona Shine 00:34:31 (27) 99 Lisa Shine 00:35:02 (30) Cabinteely Parkrun (141) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Sean Terek 1 00:19:08 7 Robyn Kennedy 1 00:21:05 Crusaders AC runner 5 David Carter 00:20:10 Poolbeg Parkrun (160) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Alexander Simon 1 00:16:59 20 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:21:13 Crusaders AC runners 3 Michael Wycherley 00:17:45 4 Stephen Hurley 00:17:45 9 Eddie Nugent 00:19:24 43 Christina Campbell 00:23:26 (6) 44 Ailsa Berkeley 00:23:35 (7) 52 Josie Ward 00:24:06 (9) 57 Fiona Bane 00:24:23 (11) 60 Julian Callan 00:24:52 63 Kevin Kenny 00:25:08 65 Gillian Curran 00:25:14 (14) 83 Louise O’Riordan 00:26:34 (21) 100 Anna Hernick 00:28:50 (29) 119 Maureen McGinley 00:30:34 (43) 134 Cynthia Perucca 00:32:13 (54) 148 Niamh Trihy 00:35:36 (65) Mullingar Parkrun (107) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Mark Deacon 1 00:18:41 9 Geraldine Carthy 1 00:21:06 Crusaders AC runner 13 Kate Murray 00:22:14 (2) Shanganagh Parkrun (200) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 James Burke 1 00:17:46 11 Emily Kane 1 00:20:10 Crusaders AC runners 27 Tanja Narancic 00:22:31 (2) 45 Olwyn Dunne 00:23:47 (7) 83 Carina Davidson 00:26:42 (18) Porterstown Parkrun (148) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Kevin Kelly 1 00:19:01 6 Joan O’Callaghan 1 00:21:57 Crusaders AC runner 101 Martina White 00:30:14 (33) Griffeen Parkrun (186) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Michael Gil 1 00:18:00 21 Mary Browne 1 00:22:31 Crusaders AC runner 3 Alby Allan 00:19:07 St. Anne’s Parkrun (376) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Vinnie McGuinness 1 00:17:03 15 Amy Wright 1 00:19:39 Crusaders AC runners 1 Vinnie McGuinness 00:17:03 15 Amy Wright 00:19:39 (1) 140 Sarah Lyons 00:26:06 (28) 266 Rebecca Fleming 00:30:56 (80) 267 Áine Crotty 00:30:56 (81) Naas Parkrun (137) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Peter Tuohy 1 00:16:50 4 Alison Duff 1 00:19:36 Crusaders AC runners 19 John Lohan 00:21:56 23 Karl Walsh 00:22:14 48 Tara Murphy 00:25:19 (5) Royal Canal, Kilcock Parkrun (147) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Tommy Walsh 1 00:18:14 3 Louise Reilly 1 00:19:36 Crusaders AC runner 68 Eoghan Corrigan 00:28:43 There were super conditions for the running of the Autumn Open XC series of races in Abbotstown on Sunday afternoon. Although the sun was shining, the temperature was crisp enough and there was little wind to speak of. Also, with little rain in the past few days, the ground was not too churned up even though many events had been scheduled, including, for the first time, a club relay, which we might give consideration to in the coming years, given that the top two teams go on to represent Ireland in Europe. We had three runners in the Men’s masters 8k on the purpose-built course. The race involved a substantial (200+) mix of masters, seniors and juniors, so, until late on, it was hard to see who was where in relation to his peer group. Eventually, the field thinned out and it was possible to check on masters positioning, as they all had to wear their age category number on their backs. Among the 101 masters athletes in the race, ranging from 35 to 64, with a time of 27:10 Brian O’Kelly led our small contingent home in 13th place overall, but, more importantly in 6th place as an M40 and in with a chance of making the 6-man team for Glasgow in November. The decision will rest on whether or not there are wildcards out there. On the other hand, there is no doubt about Paul Cowhie who placed 54th overall and 1st M55, despite being only a short time away from hitting 60. Paul’s time was 30:00. He was followed by Dee Lawlor who ran 31:44 for the 8k distance, placing 83rd and 19th in his competitive M45 age category. Abroad, the weekend started off with news from some of our exiles which may be of interest to our members. The first result was that of Katie Eisenhauer who won the women’s race in the 11k event in the Lonely Mountain Ultra series of races in NSW in Australia. In so doing, Katie also set a new course record of 57:15 in the challenging hill race, placing 11th overall in the field of 251. Then, Maurice Kelter ran yet another marathon down under, finishing the Melbourne Marathon in the top 150 in a field of nearly 8000 finishers and in a super time of 2:47:12. Italo Giancaterina ran 68:40 in a half marathon in Telese Terme in Italy, whilst Cristian Vilchez Ceballos won a 10k on an out-and-back course along the seafront in Malaga with a time of 36:05. Cristian’s partner, Esther Requena Ferri, ran in the half marathon there, finishing in a time of 1:40:12. Two of our British exiles were also competing in the UK at the weekend. Jon Lawrence finished the Manchester half marathon in a time of 1:39:44, whilst Thom Martini ran in the Cabbage Patch 10-miler in London, where he finished in a time of 76:43. Several of our home-based runners took part in races abroad this weekend too. Ladies’ captain, Rebecca Fleming, celebrated her birthday with a last-minute decision to run in the Palma half marathon in Mallorca where she finished the coastal, mostly flat, race in a time of 1:44:32. Donatas Jocius took part in a 43k trail marathon in his native Lithuania where he placed 7th overall in a time of 3:25:49. We also had two runners in the half marathon in Amsterdam, with Eoghan Kerins finishing in a time of 1:32:30, whilst Mary Dolan crossed the finishing line in a time of 2:08:17. Another late result in is that of Pat Quill who completed another ultra over the weekend, running nearly 164km over a period of nearly 26 hours, in the UK, along the Ridgeway and Thames towpath near Reading. There were not many road races taking place in Ireland this weekend, possibly because so many runners are tapering now for the Dublin marathon with its national championships. However, an interesting innovation took place in the Donadea Forest in Co. Kildare, where runners could practice pacing and fuelling by repeating as many of the 5k loops used in the 50k championships as they liked. Mags Foley ran 4 of the laps in a time of 97:50, whilst Kathryn Gibbons took on 3, in a time of 63:50. Several of our clubmates headed outside the island for the weekend and found parkruns in which to run. Sarah Lyons ran with her father in Faelledparken in Copenhagen where she placed 89th and 29th female finisher in a field of 109 in 31:11. Michael Wycherley ran in a field of 301 in Bognor Regis, where he placed 3rd in a time of 18:17. Olwyn Dunne took advantage of another trip to Exeter to support Saracens and ran in the 409-strong Exmouth parkrun where she placed 88th and 11th in 23:42. Maureen McGinley also found herself in Amsterdam at the weekend, running in the parkrun in Amsterdamse Bos, where, in a field of 508, she placed 313th and 101st in 30:07, whilst Tom Conlon ran in the modest field of 12 in Lillsjon in Sweden, where he placed 2nd in 22:54. Finally, our exile in Glasgow, Aidan Hudner, ran once again in Pollok where he placed 50th in a field of 317, in a time of 24:06. Back home, we had, as usual, at least two first finishers and several podium places. Luke Corcoran led home the field of 165 in Bushy Park where he recorded a time of 19:12. Ross Neill took 2nd place in the 195-strong field in Poolbeg where he was joined by several of our marathoners incorporating the parkrun into an otherwise long run. Ross’ time was 17:48. Hard on his heels came Kenan Furlong (3rd in 17:52) and then, further back, Anna Gallo led the remaining Crusader contingent. Anna placed 28th and 3rd in 21:33, with Ciara Regan just behind in 21:34 for 29th and 4th places. Paula Bradshaw was next (41st and 6th in 22:50) and she was followed by John Lohan (45th in 22:56), Paul Campbell (49th in 23:31), Mark Browne (54th in 24:06), Franky Keane (68th in 24:55), Julian Callan (72nd in 25:14), Jessica Norris (82nd and 17th in 25:41), Emily Glen (87th and 21st in 25:44), Cliodhna O’Reilly (92nd and 23rd in 25:52), Tara Murphy (94th and 25th in 26:03), Louise O’Riordan (158th and 65th in 32:03) and Cynthia Perucca (163rd and 69th in 33:32). Another marathoner-in-training, David Pepper, also ran in Poolbeg. However, his time was not recorded. Meanwhile, Saoirse McGrath was a first finisher in Marlay Park. She and Julie McGrath joined 426 other runners where Saoirse placed 8th overall and first female across the line in 18:59 and Julie placed 38th and 4th in 21:33. Kevin Lambe placed 3rd in a time of 20:15 in Mullingar which enjoyed a field of 96, whilst Ailsa Berkeley ran in the 70-strong field in Glen River where she placed 21st and 3rd in 25:02. In Shanganagh, with its field of 199, Tanja Narancic placed 37th overall and 7th female finisher in 23:30 and she was followed by Dee Lawlor, running with his younger daughter, who placed 134th in 29:39 and Orlaith de Burca (147th and 48th in 30:29). Aoife Cowhie made a welcome return from injury by running in Malahide. Among a field of 341, Aoife placed 109th and 21st in 25:28, whilst, in nearby St. Anne’s Michael Maughan ran 21:47 for 50th spot in a field of 441. Eoghan Corrigan took 9th place in Porterstown in 21:41, whilst, in the field of 117, Kevin Flynn ran 40:40 for 103rd spot. Máirín Shine ran alongside 134 other participants in Cabinteely where she placed 70th and 20th in 29:44, whilst Mairead Cashman ran in Tramore Valley, Cork, where she placed 113th and 36th in 29:26. The field there measured 171. Lastly, Darina Scully ran in River Valley with its field of 103, placing 45th and 15th in 29:44, whilst Maria Pertl took on Poppintree once again where she took 124th and 39th spots in 33:56. Malahide Parkrun (341) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Matthew Glitz 1 00:17:37 4 Annette Kealy 1 00:18:44 Crusader AC runner 109 Aoife Cowhie 00:25:28 (21) Poppintree Parkrun (167) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 2 Bobby Bedford 1 00:18:15 6 Rhianna Fynes 1 00:19:04 Crusaders AC runner 124 Maria Pertl 00:33:56 (39) Tramore Valley Cork Parkrun (171) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Paul Cotter 1 00:18:21 4 Niamh Cronin 1 00:19:42 Crusaders AC runner 113 Mairead Cashman 00:29:26 (36) Bushy Parkrun (165) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Luke Corcoran 1 00:19:12 24 Nicola Aspinall 1 00:23:59 Crusaders AC runner 1 Luke Corcoran 00:19:12 Cabinteely Parkrun (134) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Matthew Dunne 1 00:18:18 18 Emma Gunn 1 00:23:32 Crusaders AC runner 70 Máirín Shine 00:29:44 (20) Poolbeg Parkrun (195) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ashley Hayes 1 00:17:45 11 Hayley McAteer 1 00:20:01 Crusaders AC runners 2 Ross Neill 00:17:48 3 Kenan Furlong 00:17:52 28 Anna Gallo 00:21:33 (3) 29 Ciara Regan 00:21:34 (4) 41 Paula Bradshaw 00:22:50 (6) 45 John Lohan 00:22:56 49 Paul Campbell 00:23:31 54 Mark Browne 00:24:06 68 Franky Keane 00:24:55 72 Julian Callan 00:25:14 82 Jessica Norris 00:25:41 (17) 87 Emily Glen 00:25:44 (21) 92 Cliodhna O’Reilly 00:25:52 (23) 94 Tara Murphy 00:26:03 (25) 158 Louise O’Riordan 00:32:03 (65) 163 Cynthia Perucca 00:33:32 (69) Mullingar Parkrun (96) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Susan Glennon 1 00:19:24 2 Tom Wallace 1 00:20:12 Crusaders AC runner 3 Kevin Lambe 00:20:15 Shanganagh Parkrun (199) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Sonya McConnon 1 00:19:27 2 Rob Whelan 1 00:19:37 Crusaders AC runners 37 Tanja Narancic 00:23:30 (7) 134 Derek Lawlor 00:29:39 147 Orlaith de Burca 00:30:29 (48) Porterstown Parkrun (117) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Niall Sherlock 1 00:18:00 4 Caroline McCarthy 1 00:20:03 Crusaders AC runners 9 Eoghan Corrigan 00:21:41 103 Kevin Flynn 00:40:40 River Valley Parkrun (103) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Brian O’Reilly 1 00:19:21 7 Cecile Ollagnier 1 00:22:13 Crusaders AC runner 45 Darina Scully 00:29:44 (15) St. Anne’s Parkrun (441) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Karl Fitzmaurice 1 00:15:52 14 Helen Marshall 1 00:19:26 Crusaders AC runner 50 Michael Maughan 00:21:47 Glen River Parkrun (70) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Loic Garel 1 00:19:21 11 Maura Ginty 1 00:22:39 Crusaders AC runner 21 Ailsa Berkeley 00:25:02 (3) Marlay Parkrun (427) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ruben Bartelink 1 00:16:53 8 Saoirse McGrath 1 00:18:59 Crusaders AC runners 8 Saoirse McGrath 00:18:59 (1) 38 Julie McGrath 00:21:33 (4) Podium places in the Dublin Novices and Three-quarters of the way there for the Marathoners9/10/2023
It was a busy weekend of racing, with, on the one hand the start of the XC season with the Dublin Novices on an unseasonably warm day on Sunday and, on the other, many of our clubmates were involved in ¾ marathons, full marathons and other road races. We start with the cross-country. On the plus side, the ground was not too soft on what is a hilly course at the southern end of Tymon Park near the National Basketball Arena, and several runners did not bring out their spikes for the races. However, it was extremely warm and this definitely had an impact on those who went out too fast. The first adult race of the afternoon involved novice women and it brought out at least one runner who benefitted this year from a change in the rules. In previous editions, members of gold winning teams in previous races would not have been eligible. Now, a runner is only ineligible after winning an individual medal. The women’s race involved 80 runners and, in the 4k event, a group of 3 runners soon broke free of the rest of the field, and even though towards the end gaps appeared between the three, they were not to be overtaken. Nevertheless, Emma Rowe made a valiant effort to work her way through the field and was not too far behind in 4th place at the finish. Emma ran 15:37 for the distance and she was followed just a few seconds back by a strong-running Kathryn Sweeney, nursing a slight injury, who placed 6th in 15:48. The third scorer was Saoirse McGrath who placed 10th in 16:08 and she was followed by Isabelle Cairns, another runner with a strong finish, who placed 13th in 16:20. The four runners were our team scorers who, with 33 points, took the silver medal, only 4 points behind DCH who won gold with 29 points (two of their young athletes placing 1st and 2nd) and 7 ahead of a Clonliffe team with 40 points from a significant contingent of 15 runners in the race. There were 10 teams in the event. In addition to our 4 scorers we had 3 “spoilers” and they were led home by Ciara Regan in her second race of the day (16th in 16:26, just behind Isabelle). Ciara was followed by Nina Holmes (27th in 16:59) and the 7-woman team was completed by Cría Dowling (52nd in 18:20). If the women’s race was not exciting enough, the men’s 6k event gave us much to cheer about too and was fun to watch and support. Runners were quite disciplined for much of the race, having seen how the heat affected the earlier race, and the leading group probably amounted to about 10 until the last lap. Among them was Colm Parnell who tucked in for much of the race, only to break free in the last lap to come in with an extremely strong finish for third place in a field of 110 finishers. It was possibly our first men’s individual medal in the event for some time. Colm ran 19:26 for his podium place and he was followed by Luke Corcoran (17th in 20:51). The remaining 9 athletes from the club were led home by Alex Ainsworth (32nd in 21:36) and he was followed by Patrick Conlon (36th in 21:45), just ahead of Stephen Hurley coming back from injury (37th in 21:47), men’s captain Joe McDermott, otherwise in training for November’s Athens Marathon (43rd in 22:10), Ross Neill (45th in 22:16), Jan Manschot (60th in 22:53), another marathoner Dee Lawlor (71st in 23:09), Tomás Bradley (81st in 23:58) and Cathal O’Hara (83rd in 23:59). The scoring team of Colm, Luke, Alex and Patrick took 5th place on 88 points in a competition involving 11 clubs. Well done to everyone who ran for the club on the day and many congrats to all. Now, on to road racing. In the Phoenix Park in calm conditions on Saturday morning on a 5-mile course that took in much of the southwest quadrant of the park and finishing uphill on the Khyber Pass, Chris Russell joined a field of 820, taking 2nd place in a great time of 28:06. Then, on Sunday, as mentioned, Ciara Regan joined others to take part in the Fastlane series of races along the Grand Canal towpath and around Clondalkin in west Dublin. Ciara and Annie Hughes ran with 273 others in the 10k race, with Ciara placing 17th overall and 2nd female finisher in a time of 41:17, followed not too far behind by Annie, placing 19th and 3rd in 42:00. Gian Piero Allerta was our sole representative in the half marathon there, where he took 173rd spot in a field of 318 and in a time of 1:59:00. Stephen Mulligan placed 18th in a field of 489 in the ¾ marathon. He ran 2:07:53, whilst Niamh Quinn placed 467th overall in a time of 3:58:22. By far the largest turnout from the club, however, was in Longwood, Co. Meath where 32 of those training for the Dublin marathon ran in the Irish ¾ Marathon there, organised by Bear Events. At least 7 of our clubmates paced, whilst the others used the event as a training run. In a field of well over 1,000 runners Robert Browne was our first athlete home in 13th place and a time of 2:03:45 and he was followed by two of our pacers, Kieran Martin (58th in 2:19:58) and Kevin Fitzgibbon (59th in 2:19:59). Michael Fitzsimons was next in 80th spot in 2:24:43 and he was followed by Karl Walsh (94th in 2:28:19). Ciara Lynch was next (162nd and 20th in 2:38:14) and she was followed by the pacing couple of ladies’ captain Rebecca Fleming (240th and 38th in 2:45:28) and Áine Crotty (241st and 39th in 2:45:29) with Ciara Lehane (278th and 50th in 2:48:54) not too far behind. Further back came Franky Keane (411th in 2:59:38) and he was followed by David Pepper (504th in 3:06:23) and Joe Green (507th in 3:06:29). David McDonald ran 3:07:32 for 521st place, with another couple of pacers just behind. Emily Glen and Tanja Narancic ran the same time of 3:09:07 for 544th and 128th and 545th and 129th places, respectively. The contingent was completed by Lindsay Butler (603rd and 153rd in 3:14:15), Evelyn Neary (606th and 154th in 3:13:59), Darina Scully (652nd and 175th in 3:17:51), Gillian Curran (675th and 186th in 3:20:00), Lisa Branigan (678th and 187th in 3:16:11), Mairead Cashman (819th and 270th in 3:33:29) and pacer Aitor Arribas Velasco (842nd in 3:33:46). Áine Kenny, John Lohan and Tara Murphy ran in another ¾ marathon on Sunday, one in Tarmonbarry in Co. Roscommon. In a field of 177 Áine placed 8th overall and came across the line winning the women’s race in a time of 2:29:11. She was followed by John (13th in 2:38:25) and Tara (90th and 35th in 3:16:16). In Limerick, Luke Haran took part in the non-chiptimed mini marathon there where he ran 44:44 for the 10k event. Further afield, we had runners in full marathons in Chicago and Lisbon, as well as the full marathon, marathon relay and 10k in Munich, along with races elsewhere. In Chicago, in great cool conditions and unusually little wind, and where both winners of this year’s London marathon, Kelvin Kiptum and Sifan Hassan, won again, Kiptum with a new World record of an incredible 2:00:35, we had 5 runners. The contingent was led home by David Willis who ran 2:43:30 and David was followed by Eóin Ó’Rathallaigh in 2:49:03. Next came Kate Murray (3:41:19), followed by Liam O’Brien (3:53:38) and Andrea (Andy) Garcia (5:57:49). In Lisbon, Kevin Kenny ran 4:15:37, whilst, in Munich, in a field of over 4,000 finishers, Olwyn Dunne placed 706th, 52nd female finisher and winner of her F55 age category in a super 3:29:49. Olwyn was followed by Emer Kenny who unfortunately suffered from severe foot pain for much of the race (1,453rd and 160th in 3:50:12). Fiona and Lisa Shine each ran two legs of the four-leg marathon relay, placing 276th overall out of 638 teams and 13th female team overall in a time of 3:54:16, whilst we had 3 runners in the 10k there. In a field of nearly 2,500, Julian Callan placed 488th in 51:01 and he was followed by Anna Shine (1082nd and 311th in 57:36) and by Máirín Shine (1,251st, 385th female finisher and 3rd in her F65 age cat in a time of 59:31). We also saw some excellent results in other events on the continent. Zlatko Kulic ran in the Zagreb Half marathon, where, in a field of 1,318, he placed 56th in a time of 1:32:47. Then, in Spain, Esther Requena Ferri placed 6th overall and won the women’s race in the El Torcal - La Paz 10k in a time of 39:56, whilst Cristian Vilchez Ceballos placed 3rd in a PB time of 35:59. In terms of trail-running this weekend there were several races organised by IMRA in the context of the Kilmac Running Festival. Donatas Jocius and Brian McGuckin started out in the 12k Long Hill Run, which was a race of moderate difficulty, in principle on a marked course from Kilmacanogue to Paddock Hill in Co. Wicklow, with a climb of 415m. Unfortunately, whilst leading the event, Donatas was directed by a marshall onto the 30k long course (a race from Kilmacanogue to Djouce on an unmarked course of extreme difficulty with a climb of 1500m. Once the smoke cleared, Donatas found himself at the tail end of the field of 10 finishers (out of 12 who started) on the long event in a time of 4:04:02, which probably does not represent his true time. On the other hand, Brian was able to complete the 12k event, in 8th place overall in a field of 33, 1st M50, and in a time of 1:20:40. Further north, we had at least two competitors in the challenging hilly Gaelforce Howth 10k race, Anna Hoesl and Anna Gallo. In a field of 555 finishers, Anna H. placed 52nd overall, 16th female finisher, in 49:32, whilst Anna G. ran 53:16 for 87th and 19th spots. Our tradition of having at least one first finisher in the parkruns each week was maintained on Saturday morning by Michael Wycherley in Poolbeg. Michael led home the field of 132 in a time of 18:11 and he was followed by Adam Kinch (14th in 22:21), Diarmuid Fahey (17th in 22:29), Josie Ward (36th and 7th in 24:11), John Lohan (46th in 25:07), Fiona Bane (49th and 12th in 25:18), Franky Keane (60th in 26:23), Maureen McGinley (93rd and 34th in 30:20), Cynthia Perucca (111th and 49th in 34:15) and Una McCullagh (112th and 50th in 34:32). Paul Cowhie took 2nd place in Marlay Park. In a field of 399, Paul ran 17:38, whilst, in River Valley, with its field of 98, Darina Scully placed 12th and 3rd in 23:46. David Carter was our sole representative in Shanganagh, where, in a field of 225, he placed 4th in 18:59, whilst Toby Benham ran in Tramore Valley, Cork, where, in a field of 209, he placed 8th in 18:02. Kieran Martin and Áine Crotty ran with 409 other runners in St. Anne’s where Kieran placed 9th in 19:17 and Áine (and her dog Lulu) took 345th and 135th spots in 34:41, whilst Karl Walsh placed 10th in 21:30 in Naas having joined a field of 141. In the Milleneum parkrun in Canada Orlaith de Burca ran in a modest field of 25 where she placed 16th and 7th in 32:38, whilst Luke Corcoran took 19th spot in 23:24 in the 168-strong field in Bushy Park. In Donabate Brendan Glynn ran 23:39 for 28th spot in a field of 225, whilst Eoghan Corrigan placed 41st in 24:11 in the field of 192 in Griffeen Park in Lucan. Finally, all 7 of our Munich runners on the Sunday took part in Saturday’s Riemer parkrun. In a field of 67, they were led home by Julian Callan (19th in 25:28) and Julian was followed by Anna Shine (43rd and 10th in 32:02), Máirín Shine (44th and 11th in 32:03), Olwyn Dunne (45th and 12th in the same time), Emer Kenny (46th and 13th in 32:04), Fiona and Lisa Shine (47th and 14th and 48th and 15th in the same time of 32:05). Dublin XC Novices Women’s 4k (80) Overall place Name Guntime 1 Elizabeth Gahan 00:14:44 Crusaders AC runners 4 Emma Rowe 00:15:37 6 Kathryn Sweeney 00:15:48 10 Saoirse McGrath 00:16:08 13 Isabelle Cairns 00:16:20 16 Ciara Regan 00:16:26 27 Nina Holmes 00:16:59 52 Cría Dowling 00:18:20 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/dublin_uneven_age_junior_and_novice_cross_county_championships/4935/results Dublin XC Novices Men’s 4k (110) Overall place Name Guntime 1 Dara Donoghue 00:19:14 Crusaders AC runners 3 Colm Parnell 00:19:26 17 Luke Corcoran 00:20:51 32 Alex Ainsworth 00:21:36 36 Patrick Conlon 00:21:45 37 Stephen Hurley 00:21:47 43 Joe McDermott 00:22:10 45 Ross Neill 00:22:16 60 Jan Manschot 00:22:53 71 Derek Lawlor 00:23:09 81 Tomás Bradley 00:23:58 83 Cathal O’Hara 00:23:59 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/dublin_uneven_age_junior_and_novice_cross_county_championships/4935/results Gaelforce Howth 10k (555) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Daniel Cogswell 1 00:40:26 6 Emma-Kate Reilly 1 00:41:54 Crusaders AC runners 52 Anna Hoesl 00:49:32 (16) 87 Anna Gallo 00:53:16 (19) Full results here: http://redtagtiming.com/results/GFHowth_2023.html Simon Community 5-miler (820) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Robin Mooney 1 00:27:29 13 Carmel Ward 1 00:31:49 Crusaders AC runner 2 Chris Russell 00:28:06 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/simon_home_run_2023/4833/results Fastlane 10k (275) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Conor Burke 1 00:31:38 7 Laura Buckley 1 00:37:25 Crusaders AC runners 17 Ciara Regan 00:41:17 (2) 19 Annie Hughes 00:42:00 (3) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/fast_lane_3_4_half_marathon__10k_2023/4766/results Fastlane Half marathon (318) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Gael Hernandez 1 01:18:47 29 Sarah Karpinski 1 01:31:44 Crusaders AC runner 173 Gian Piero Allerta 01:59:00 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/fast_lane_3_4_half_marathon__10k_2023/4766/results Fastlane 3/4 marathon (489) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 James Doran 1 01:54:04 22 Niamh Staunton 1 02:09:46 Crusaders AC runners 18 Stephen Mulligan 02:07:53 467 Niamh Quinn 03:58:22 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/fast_lane_3_4_half_marathon__10k_2023/4766/results Irish 3/4 marathon (1048) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Tudor Moldovan 1 01:47:02 30 Fiona Stack 1 02:13:31 Crusaders AC runners 13 Robert Browne 02:03:45 58 Kieran Martin 02:19:58 Pacer 59 Kevin Fitzgibbon 02:19:59 Pacer 80 Michael Fitzsimons 02:24:43 94 Karl Walsh 02:28:19 162 Ciara Lynch 02:38:14 (20) 240 Rebecca Fleming 02:45:28 (38) Pacer 241 Áine Crotty 02:45:29 (39) Pacer 278 Ciara Lehane 02:48:54 (50) 411 Franky Keane 02:59:38 504 David Pepper 03:06:23 507 Joe Green 03:06:29 521 David McDonald 03:07:32 544 Emily Glen 03:09:07 (128) Pacer 545 Tanja Narancic 03:09:07 (129) Pacer 603 Lindsay Butler 03:14:15 (153) 606 Evelyn Neary 03:13:59 (154) 652 Darina Scully 03:17:51 (175) 675 Gillian Curran 03:20:00 (186) 678 Lisa Branigan 03:16:11 (187) 819 Mairead Cashman 03:33:29 (270) 842 Aitor Arribas Velasco 03:33:46 (Pacer) Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/Irish3Quarter2023.html?fbclid=IwAR1dZXZNghaZa0C_SiQd855NUuVr36-jXdilol09ovkwJiyDti43yECfu9Q Tarmonbarry 3/4 marathon (177) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 David Tiernan 1 02:01:47 8 Áine Kenny 1 02:29:11 Crusaders AC runners 8 Áine Kenny 02:29:11 (1) 13 John Lohan 02:38:25 90 Tara Murphy 03:16:16 (35) Full results here: https://coretiming.ie/events/tarmonbarry-3-4-marathon-1-2-marathon-and-8km-23/ IMRA Kilmac Running Festival - 5 Tops ans 1 drop 30k (10) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Brian Furey 1 03:23:22 4 Elizabeth Wheeler 1 03:59:32 Crusaders AC runner 10 Donatas Jocius 04:04:02 Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2408/ IMRA Kilmac Running Festival - Long Hill 12k (33) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Rob Tobin 1 01:08:17 6 Eilis Connery 1 01:17:00 Crusaders AC runner 8 Brian McGuckin 01:20:40 Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2409/ Griffeen Parkrun (192) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 John Canny 1 00:18:23 10 Breda Smith 1 00:20:22 Crusader AC runner 41 Eoghan Corrigan 00:24:11 Donabate Parkrun (169) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 John O’Hare 1 00:18:52 5 Geraldine McHale 1 00:21:24 Crusaders AC runner 28 Brendan Glynn 00:23:39 Tramore Valley Cork Parkrun (209) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Eoghan O’Connor 1 00:15:39 26 Sophie O’Callaghan 1 00:20:59 Crusaders AC runner 8 Toby Benham 00:18:02 Bushy Parkrun (168) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 August Benedicto 1 00:18:30 15 Christine Kinsella 1 00:22:32 Crusaders AC runner 19 Luke Corcoran 00:23:24 Marlay Parkrun (399) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ruben Bartelink 1 00:17:24 6 Sophie Hartley-Green 1 00:19:12 Crusaders AC runner 2 Paul Cowhie 00:17:38 Poolbeg Parkrun (132) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Michael Wycherley 1 00:18:11 11 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:21:52 Crusaders AC runners 1 Michael Wycherley 00:18:11 14 Adam Kinch 00:22:21 17 Diarmuid Fahey 00:22:29 36 Josie Ward 00:24:11 (7) 46 John Lohan 00:25:07 49 Fiona Bane 00:25:18 (12) 60 Franky Keane 00:26:23 93 Maureen McGinley 00:30:20 (34) 111 Cynthia Perucca 00:34:15 (49) 112 Una McCullagh 00:34:52 (50) Naas Parkrun (141) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Michelle Cox 1 00:18:45 2 Peter Tuohy 1 00:18:46 Crusaders AC runner 10 Karl Walsh 00:21:30 Shanganagh Parkrun (225) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Nickolas Colyn 1 00:16:00 17 Ciara Peelo 1 00:21:06 Crusaders AC runner 4 David Carter 00:18:59 Porterstown Parkrun (89) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Niall Sherlock 1 00:18:55 5 Joan O’Callaghan 1 00:22:00 Crusaders AC runner 71 Kevin Flynn 00:35:21 River Valley Parkrun (98) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Peter Fenyvasi 1 00:19:34 8 Cassia Kelly 1 00:23:09 Crusaders AC runner 12 Darina Scully 00:23:46 (3) St. Anne’s Parkrun (411) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Liam Barry-Carroll 1 00:17:01 38 Fiona Skelly 1 00:21:55 Crusaders AC runners 9 Kieran Martin 00:19:17 345 Áine Crotty 00:34:41 (135) We enjoyed an altogether different week to mark the end of September from the one that preceded it. It was indeed much quieter in racing terms this week for the club, despite including the Grant Thornton 5k and the various distances covered by the Ecotrail event series. Many of us continue to build up training mileage before the taper into the Dublin marathon in 30 days’ time now. And, also, several of us turned up to run in the Poolbeg Parkrun on Saturday to celebrate the 70th birthday of one of our members who has recently taken over the training of the Fit4Life group in the club.
We start with the Grant Thornton 5k, a race in the Docklands incorporating the course used by Crusaders in the Docklands 5k, but with an added twist as runners must cross the Samuel Beckett Bridge twice on their journey, which adds between 7 and 9 metres in ascent to the course, so that it possibly is not as fast as our race. There is also a detour around Hanover Quay at the Grand Canal marina, which adds to the number of turns. Despite these added challenges, we had some decent times from our clubmates. At least 12 Crusaders joined the field of just over 3,000 participants racing solely in a team format. Recent new member Shane Egan, a runner training for the DCM, was our first athlete home in dry conditions in 16:56 for 13th place. Hot on his heels came Daragh O’Reilly, making a welcome return to road racing, who placed 14th in 16:58. Following Daragh came Alex Ainsworth who placed 19th in 17:19 and further back in 17:46 for 28th spot came Ross Neill, followed closely by John Mulvihill running 17:49 for 31st. Rory Goldsmith was next in 18:29, placing 57th, and he was followed across the line by the 3rd placed female athlete in the race, Clare Sullivan, who took 63rd place overall in a great time of 18:39. Clare had a good tussle throughout the event with Emma Rowe who finished in 4th place in the women’s race in 18:52 and 74th overall. Felipe de Sousa, like Shane and Emma, a recent new member to the club, placed 116th in 19:31 and he was followed by Simon Kenny (143rd in 19:48) and Gareth Phelan (156th in 19:55). Adam Kinch completed the contingent with a 21:29 run for 358th place. On Saturday, we had several runners take part in the tough and challenging Ecotrail series of races along the trails of the Wicklow Mountains, starting and finishing in Bray. In wet conditions, and each course ascending by 300-400m depending on the length, we had two runners in the 19k, two also in the 30k and one runner in the 47k events. Brandon Lai and Simon Kenny ran with 358 other runners in the 19k event, with Brandon completing the distance in 1:50:34 for 8th place overall. Simon probably placed in the low 20s; however, for some reason the organisers added a whole hour to his 2:00:53 result for reasons unknown. Currently he is recorded as having placed 247th, but this is likely to be amended. Christophe Marsan and Kevin Lynch, the latter, at least, training for the DCM, ran in the 30k edition along with 313 other participants. Christophe placed 50th in 3:28:15, whilst Kevin took 57th spot in 3:32:20. Finally, Gerald Hoare joined a field of 261 for the 47k race, where he placed a creditable 119th in 6:17:37. On Saturday afternoon, again in wet conditions, we had at least two runners take part in the Very Pink 5k run on the track around Leopardstown race course. No results get posted, but we can say that Paula Bradshaw, another runner preparing for the DCM, completed the distance in 23:54, followed by Kelly Brown who ran 28:41 in support of the charity trying to eliminate breast cancer. On Sunday morning, in much better weather conditions (i.e. warm and sunny), we had one runner in the Sanctuary Runners 5k that took place on the purpose-built cross-country track in Abbotstown. Lydia Bigley joined the field of 115 chip-timed runners, placing 33rd overall and first female across the line, in a time of 26:55. Congrats to Lydia. Elsewhere, Diarmuid Fahey took part in the Hell and back adventure race, whilst, further afield, Italo Giancaterina, ran another good race in Italy. Our Italian exile took part in the Pescara EMACS half marathon where he completed the distance on a streets-based course in 69:04 for 2nd place overall. In Spain, news comes from Laura Garcia Gonzalez who placed 2nd in the masters category in a 5k race in Aranda de Duero. Laura's time was 20:47. The most notable highlight of Saturday morning’s parkruns was the substantial turnout by Crusaders, many of whom were there for Richard Kavanagh’s surprise (at least for him!) 70th birthday celebrations. 28 of us (18% of the field) participated in a field of 156, graced also by David Gillick with the VHI team who sponsor parkruns here in Ireland. We did not disappoint either as the first three men across the line, along with three of the first four women (the other, an ex-Crusader being now apparently with Blackrock, who placed 2nd), in their respective gender categories, were from the club. The field was led home from start to finish by Stephen Hurley in 17:52 and he was followed closely by Michael Wycherley (2nd in 17:57) and Dee Lawlor (3rd in 18:03). Next came Kevin Lambe (9th in 20:36), followed closely by the first female finisher, Ciara Regan, who placed 10th overall in 20:43. Running a cooldown following a training session on the track beforehand, James Cottle placed 15th in 21:34 and he was followed by Sophia Morgan (18th and 3rd in 21:43). Anna Gallo (27th and 4th in 22:33) and Paul Campbell (32nd in 22:43), along with others, used the event as part of a 3 x 5k marathon training session and they were followed by Richard Kavanagh in his first event in 15 months since picking up an injury. Richard placed 35th in 22:53 and, in so doing, established a new O/70 record for the Poolbeg parkrun (already holding the record for the M65 age category). A great way to celebrate coming into a new age category! Richard was followed by John Lohan (36th in 22:54), Cría Dowling (41st and 7th in 23:36), Josie Ward (45th and 10th in 23:57), Olwyn Dunne, who is preparing for next week’s Munich marathon (46th and 11th in 24:00), David Pepper (48th in 24:13), Emily Glen (49th and 12th in 24:15), Russell Murphy (52nd in 24:22), Emer Kenny, like Olwyn, a week away from running the Munich marathon (53rd and 13th in 24:26), Tanja Narancic, who incorporated the event in an otherwise long run (70th and 19th in 25:56), Franky Keane (71st in 25:57), Tara Murphy (74th and 20th in 26:18), Máirín and Fiona Shine, who will be running the relay in Munich (respectively 98th and 36th and 99th and 37th in the same time of 28:58), followed closely by Fiona Bane (99th and 38th in 28:59), Fanny Trébouet, who was also celebrating a birthday (120th and 54th in 30:41) in her first ever parkrun, Anna Hernick (121st and 55th in 30:41), Cynthia Perucca (139th and 67th in 34:31) followed by Maureen McGinley, tailwalking. Elsewhere, we had some excellent results too. Kathryn Sweeney joined 126 other participants in Omagh, where she placed 7th and 1st female finisher in 19:31. Then, in Mullingar, Sarah Lyons was a first finisher in 21:29. In a field of 81, Sarah placed 5th overall, followed by Kate Murray who placed 8th and 2nd in 26:50. Caroline Crowley and her husband Eoghan Corrigan joined 36 other runners in Tolka Valley park where Caroline, who is pregnant, placed 4th and 2nd in 23:12, followed by Eoghan (8th in 24:08). Darina Scully also did well in River Valley Park, where, in a field of 83, she placed 8th and 2nd in 23:39, whilst Lisa Shine, in preparing for the Munich relay next week, ran on Wexford Racecourse where, in a field of 47, she placed 21st and 3rd in 26:19. Gemma Cooper placed 22nd and 7th in 26:50 in a field of 61 in Tramore, Waterford, whilst Paul F. and Aoife Kelly joined an enormous field of 911 (possibly mostly Sanctuary runners) in St. Anne’s where Paul placed 234th in 26:16 (part of a much longer training run) and Aoife ran 30:48 for 462nd and 195th places. Dale Whelehan took 20th spot in Bushy Park where he ran alongside 152 other participants. Dale’s time was 23:44, whilst, in Dodder Valley Park, Mairead Cashman ran 33:42 for 45th and 20th spots in a field of 64. Kevin Flynn placed 78th in 36:11 in the field of 95 in Porterstown, whilst Niamh Quinn joined 361 other runners in Marlay Park where she placed 311th and 110th in 34:18. Finally, Carina Davidson, rehabbing her injured hamstring, placed 133rd and 55th in a time of 31:37 in the 177-strong field in Shanganagh. Grant Thornton 5k (3011) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Richie Gardner 1 00:15:28 29 Sheila O’Byrne 1 00:17:47 Crusaders AC runners 13 Shane Egan 00:16:56 14 Daragh O’Reilly 00:16:58 19 Alex Ainsworth 00:17:19 28 Ross Neill 00:17:46 31 John Mulvihill 00:17:39 57 Rory Goldsmith 00:18:29 63 Clare Sullivan 00:18:39 (3) 74 Emma Rowe 00:18:52 116 Felipe de Sousa 00:19:31 143 Simon Kenny 00:19:48 156 Gareth Phelan 00:19:55 358 Adam Kinch 00:21:29 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/grant_thornton_corporate_5k_team_challenge_dublin/4844/results Sanctuary Runners 5k (115) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Kahumburuka Tuahuku 1 00:19:57 33 Lydia Bigley 1 00:26:55 Crusaders AC runner 33 Lydia Bigley 00:26:55 (1) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/the_permanent_tsb_sanctuary_run/4941/results Ecotrail 19k (360) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Des Kennedy 1 01:37:32 12 Erin Gillingham 1 01:52:43 Crusaders AC runners 8 Brandon Lai 01:50:34 2X Simon Kenny 02:00:53 Full results here: http://redtagtiming.com/results/EcotrailWicklow2023_19km.html Ecotrail 30k (315) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Luke Weldon 1 02:37:46 5 Kaisa Laapas 1 02:50:54 Crusaders AC runners 50 Christophe Marsan 03:28:15 57 Kevin Lynch 03:32:20 Full results here: http://redtagtiming.com/results/EcotrailWicklow2023_30km.html Ecotrail 47k (261) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Enda Cloake 1 04:25:35 12 Hillary Allen 1 05:07:13 Crusaders AC runner 119 Gerald Hoare 06:17:37 Full results here: http://redtagtiming.com/results/EcotrailWicklow2023_46km.html Omagh Parkrun (127) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Sean Diamond 1 00:17:21 7 Kathryn Sweeney 1 00:19:31 Crusader AC runner 7 Kathryn Sweeney 00:19:31 (1) Mullingar Parkrun (81) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Colm Butler 1 00:20:15 5 Sarah Lyons 1 00:21:29 Crusaders AC runners 5 Sarah Lyons 00:21:29 (1) 8 Kate Murray 00:22:04 (2) Tolka Valley Parkrun (38) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Brian Fay 1 00:20:08 3 Aisling Ahern 1 00:22:41 Crusaders AC runners 4 Caroline Crowley 00:23:12 (2) 8 Eoghan Corrigan 00:24:08 Dodder Valley Parkrun (64) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Alan Brady 1 00:20:11 3 Lauren Murnaghan 1 00:20:39 Crusaders AC runner 45 Mairead Cashman 00:33:42 (55) Marlay Parkrun (362) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ruben Bartelink 1 00:17:43 25 Rachel McArdle 1 00:21:34 Crusaders AC runner 311 Niamh Quinn 00:34:18 (110) Poolbeg Parkrun (156) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Stephen Hurley 1 00:17:52 10 Ciara Regan 1 00:20:43 Crusaders AC runners 1 Stephen Hurley 00:17:52 2 Michael Wycherley 00:17:57 3 Derek Lawlor 00:18:03 9 Kevin Lambe 00:20:36 10 Ciara Regan 00:20:43 (1) 15 James Cottle 00:21:34 18 Sophia Morgan 00:21:43 (3) 27 Anna Gallo 00:22:33 (4) 32 Paul Campbell 00:22:43 35 Richard Kavanagh 00:22:53 36 John Lohan 00:22:54 41 Cría Dowling 00:23:36 (7) 45 Josie Ward 00:23:57 (10) 46 Olwyn Dunne 00:24:00 (11) 48 David Pepper 00:24:13 49 Emily Glen 00:24:15 (12) 52 Russell Murphy 00:24:22 53 Emer Kenny 00:24:26 (13) 70 Tanja Narancic 00:25:56 (19) 71 Franky Keane 00:25:57 74 Tara Murphy 00:26:18 (20) 97 Máirín Shine 00:28:58 (36) 98 Fiona Shine 00:28:58 (37) 99 Fiona Bane 00:28:59 (38) 120 Fanny Trébouet 00:30:41 (54) 121 Anna Hernick 00:30:41 (55) 139 Cynthia Perucca 00:34:31 (67) 154 Maureen McGinley 00:47:25 Wexford Racecourse Parkrun (47) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Padraig Coone 1 00:18:18 11 Annaleigh Hore 1 00:22:36 Crusaders AC runner 21 Lisa Shine 00:26:19 (3) Bushy Parkrun (153) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Shane O’Neill 1 00:19:50 10 Mary Donnelly 1 00:22:17 Crusaders AC runner 20 Dale Whelehan 00:23:44 Shanganagh Parkrun (177) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 August Benedicto 1 00:17:15 3 Sarah Baryga 1 00:18:17 Crusaders AC runner 133 Carina Davidson 00:31:37 (55) Porterstown Parkrun (95) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Niall Sherlock 1 00:18:31 5 Caroline McCarthy 1 00:20:05 Crusaders AC runner 78 Kevin Flynn 00:36:11 Tramore Waterford Parkrun (61) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 David Power 1 00:18:22 5 Ciara Peelo 1 00:22:23 Crusaders AC runner 22 Gemma Cooper 00:26:50 River Valley Parkrun (83) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Viktoras Kuzminas 1 00:19:59 6 Cécile Ollagnier 1 00:22:17 Crusaders AC runner 8 Darina Scully 00:23:39 (2) St. Anne’s Parkrun (911) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Dermot Coffey 1 00:17:17 13 Megan Roberts 1 00:19:21 Crusaders AC runners 234 Paul F. Kelly 00:26:16 462 Aoife Kelly 00:30:48 (195) There are loads to get through this week, with some substantial club presence in just a handful of races. Before we start on this week’s results, however, we have an update to the results of the Dublin 10 mile championships held as part of the Irish Life Frank Duffy 10-miler back in late August. After much challenging of the originally-published results, we now have some extremely good news on the outcome. Firstly, with the individual medals: Dee Lawlor won the gold medal in the M45 age category, whilst Brendan Murphy took senior bronze. Paula Bradshaw also took her first ever medal, winning the F40 bronze, whilst James Cottle was confirmed as taking the M65 silver medal. We were also super successful in the team results. A team of Ciara Regan, Ciara Lynch, Maeve Lochrie and Áine Crotty took the senior women’s bronze, whilst our O/35 team of Paula Bradshaw at its helm, with Rebecca Fleming, Dee Ni Chearbhaill and Lisa Branigan won the women’s O/35 team gold, by a margin of 6 seconds over Bros. Pearce! A team of Brendan Murphy, Dee Lawlor, Rory Goldsmith and Cian Coughlan won the men’s senior team silver medal. The Co. Dublin medal-winning habit continued on Sunday morning in the Dublin 5k road championships with Kieran Little taking individual gold in the M35 category, along with Paul Cowhie who took gold in the M55 category. They were joined by Nina Holmes who won silver in the F35 age group, alongside Kevin Fitzgibbon in the male equivalent category who took bronze. Olwyn Dunne also came home with a well-deserved bronze medal in the F55 age category. Finally, our men’s team of Colm Parnell, Kieran Little, Kevin Fitzgibbon and Ciarain Kelly won the senior team bronze medal. Congratulations to all the medal winners! So, the weekend was also marked by numerous PBs arising from the races on offer. Our largest turnout, nearly 70 members from the club, many of them preparing for various upcoming Autumn marathons, principally Dublin, joined the field of in excess of 6,000 runners in the Phoenix Park on Saturday morning for the last event in the Irish Life Dublin Race Series, the half marathon. Conditions were almost perfect for such distance racing. The race started with a temperature of a crisp but sunny 8 degrees with little wind (and what wind there was came as merely a refreshing relief). The course itself is twisty, the OPW having confined races now to the west side of the park, and we visited the Acres Road and the downhill Upper Glen Road at least twice on our journey around the park. Most would say that, despite its hilly challenges (along the snake and up to the Wellesley monument as well as a final sharp and steep climb from Chapelizod up past St. Mary’s hospital), it’s actually quite a fair course, with the downhills coming at the right times. The lack of a strong wind or the heat that we felt in the 10-miler (a lot of which course was used for the half) was also extremely beneficial. The huge contingent was led home by Ross Neill, running a half for the first time, coming home in 28th place in a time of 78:19. Ross was followed by Dee Lawlor with a PB performance to place 36th and 3rd M45 in 79:08. Another PB was recorded by Darragh McCarthy who placed 42nd in 79:28 and by Michael Reilly (89th in 82:28). In between came Eugene McDonough who placed 77th in 81:49. The results below are clear enough, but we should highlight the PBs of which there may have been at least 30. Charles-Edouard Cattier made a huge PB improvement to place 111th in 83:04. TJ Bourke placed 129th with a PB time of 83:27, with PBs also coming from Oisin Corish (135th in 84:01), Aaron Farrell (186th in 86:21) on his birthday, a celebration noted by the race announcer at the start, and Paul O’Hara (237th in 87:49) who came flying in the last 3k past James Cottle who did not record a PB with his placing of 249th in 88:25 on this occasion but did place 2nd M65. The next PB came from Paul Campbell (392nd in 90:59) who was followed in a PB performance by Carolyn O’Reilly (424th and 21st female finisher in 92:00), by Adrian Groarke (505th in 93:04) and by Carolyn’s fiancé, Oisin Browne (521st in 93:49). Lisa Branigan was the next runner across the line with a PB (806th and 76th in 98:22) and Lisa was followed with a PB by Ciara Lehane (841st and 80th in 98:44), Sophia Morgan (859th and 83rd in 97:27), Tara Gavin (962nd and 105th in 98:51), Hannah Jones (1,103rd and 133rd in 1:41:07), David McDonald (1218th in 1:41:37), Sharon Woods (1,252nd, 173rd female finisher and 6th F50 in 1:43:41), John Kennedy (1,300th in 1:40:56), Joe Green (1,312th in 1:43:05, a 10 minute improvement), Jessica Norris, who equalled her PB (1,436th and 219th in 1:42:18), David Pepper (1,528th in 1:45:13), Ciara Black (2,32nd and 569th in 1:54:07), Lieze Verberght (3,049th and 749th in 1:56:13), Lindsay Butler, whose chip seems to have malfunctioned in each of the races in the series, who recorded a PB time of 1:56:00 and change, Cecilia Sandre (3,880th and 1,096th in 2:06:50) and Barbara Walsh (4,919th and 1,658th in 2:14:29). Several runners, like Joanne Carey (1,707th and 295th in 1:48:42), Carmel Higgins (2,106th and 414th in 1:52:35), Michael Fitzsimons (323rd in 89:48) and Evelyn Neary (3,391st and 869th in 2:01:34) combined the race with a much longer run. In any event, most of the runners enjoyed the race, despite its rather eccentric twists, turns and coned side-by-side elements along the Acres and ordnance Survey Roads! Sunday morning was completely different. Although there was a similar level of humidity to the day before, there was a bit more of a wind on the Rathfarnham course for its 5k and the Dublin championships. Despite that, it is a decent race for PBs and so it proved. This year there would be no controversy as regards the course measurement. At least 27 Crusaders took part in the event and the Dublin Championships results are outlined above. In terms of the overall race which was won by East Cork’s Michael Harty (runner-up in our Docklands 5k race this year), our first athlete home in 7th place in a field of 995 and a time of 14:58 (a PB) was Colm Parnell, whose mother, Carmel, held an age category course record for the race a while back. Colm walked off with a senior bronze medal as part of the men’s team as mentioned above, so the race has been a happy hunting ground for the family! Colm was followed by Kieran Little (24th in 15:41), Kevin Fitzgibbon (40th in 15:55), Chris Russell (41st in 16:02), Ciarain Kelly (63rd in 16:33), John Mulvihill (83rd in 16:53) and Paul Cowhie (88th in 16:59 and, overall, first M55). So, we had 7 runners finish under 17 minutes. Paul was followed by John Fahy (125th in 17:24). Garret Dunne was next in 133rd place with a time of 17:28 and he was followed by our first female finisher with a super time. Emily Sheils led our women across the line in 158th place overall and 20th female finisher in 17:52. The team of Emily, Kathryn Sweeney (201st and 30th in a PB time of 18:23), Kathryn Gibbons (223rd and 32nd in 18:44) and Lorraine Healy (235th and 37th in a PB time of 19:05) placed 4th. In between came Cathal O’Hara (209th in 18:38) and then following came Tim O’Donnell (251st in 19:10), Tomás Bradley (252nd in 19:11) and Ruadhán MacCormaic (252nd in 19:12). The O/35 team of John, Paul, Tim and Ruadhán came home in 6th place in the team competition. Ruadhán was followed by Annie Hughes, whose 2nd 5k in a week produced another PB. Annie’s placing was 260th and 41st in a time of 19:08 and she was followed by Nina Holmes (284th and 44th in 19:34) and then by Isabelle Cairns with a PB (305th and 50th in 19:58) and by Brian McGuckin (307th in 19:59). All in all, 22 of our 27-person contingent broke 20 minutes and Carmel Cooney (323rd and 57th in 20:08) was not too far behind. The club participation was completed by Sarah Lyons (394th and 80th in 21:48), Olwyn Dunne (420th, 88th and 4th F55 in 22:04, a day after the half marathon), Brendan Glynn (457th in 22:55), Anna Brown (483rd and 115th in 23:18), Kevin Kavanagh (520th in 23:41) and Paul E. Kelly (796th in 28:55). Also, on Sunday, Áine Kenny ran in the Athlone AC-organised half marathon there. On a flat course in what Áine described as perfect conditions, the race enjoyed a field of 219 finishers. Áine, who like most of the half marathoners over the weekend, is training for the Dublin marathon, ran a respectable 1:32:12 for 32nd place overall and 3rd woman home. Further afield on the day we had at least 6 Crusaders take part in the Berlin marathon, one of the 6 marathon majors. On an overcast morning with the sun appearing through late on and temperature rising to around 20 degrees and a day on which a new women's marathon record was established (a phenomenal 2:11:52), Ger Forde led our contingent home in a super 2:39:17, despite feeling the challenge at times. Mags Foley had some unfinished business to complete after a less than enjoyable experience in Dublin last year. On Sunday, she had the run of her life, improving her finishing time by 22 minutes to a fabulous 3:20:28 with a negative split of over 2 minutes. She attributes it all to starting out slowly and treating the race with proper respect, a lesson for everyone! Another runner with an equally impressive 2 minutes negative split was Lukasz Batruch who finished ahead of Mags in a finishing time of 3:12:06, quite possibly a PB for him too. Triona Quill was next with another consistent performance, finishing in 3:39:25. We also had two runners who paced Declan Ryan of Thurles in the race. Declan ran a 2 minutes PB improved time of 2:41:19 with the help of Michael Kiely and Vinnie McGuinness, who each ran a half marathon. Declan is hoping to qualify for next year’s Paralympics and this result will have done him no harm whatsoever. Fingers crossed! Also abroad, Laura Garcia Gonzalez, one of our Spanish exiles, ran in a 5k in Getafe just outside Madrid, a race dedicated to helping handicapped people, and she placed 3rd female finisher in the race. Earlier in the week, our Italian exile Italo Giancaterina ran in the European Masters 10,000m, taking the bronze medal in the M35 event in a fabulous time of 31:06.96. The race took place in Montesilvano al Campo in Italy. To complete the picture, Donatas Jocius took part in the IMRA-organised Glen of Ahern Trail half marathon in Co. Tipperary on Saturday. In a race with a climb of 300m on moderate terrain conducted on a looped course in the Bansha Forest, Donatas placed 9th and 3rd M35 in a time of 1:39:03. Participation in parkruns by members of the club on Saturday was severely reduced, understandably, given the huge numbers we and other clubs had had out running in the Phoenix Park and Rathfarnham races. Poolbeg was noteworthy in that the first finisher in a field of 116 was Cristian Vilchez Ceballos, on a brief return visit to Dublin from Spain with Esther Requena Ferri. Cristian ran 17:26 and he was followed by Michael Wycherley (2nd in 18:12), John Lohan (14th in 21:02), Fergal Carroll (24th in 22:23), Josie Ward (50th and 6th in 24:46), Esther (probably 56th and 10th in 25:24), Tara Murphy (69th and 16th in 27:02), Cliodhna O’Reilly (71st and 17th in 27:13) and Cynthia Perucca (109th and 42nd in 35:55). Once again Yvonne Macauley led the entire field home in Clonbur Woods, where she ran 20:07 in a field of 54 runners. Ilona McElroy placed 4th overall and first female finisher in Tolka Valley with a time of 20:56 in a field of 41. Caroline Crowley, who is pregnant, placed 18th and 2nd in 24:44 in the 126-strong field in Castletown, with her husband, Eoghan Corrigan, taking 6th place in 22:05. Emer Kenny placed 17th and 3rd in 24:43 in a field of 78 in Father Collins Park, whilst Kate Murray placed 40th and 3rd in 22:11 in a field of 380 in Marlay Park. Kate was followed home by Niamh Quinn who placed 324th and 116th in 34:00. Aoife Clarke took 41st and 11th spots in the 102-strong field in Avondale Forest, whilst, in Shanganagh with its field of 198, Lisa Shine placed 95th and 29th in 26:52, Máirín Shine placed 125th and 47th in 28:13 and she was followed by Carina Davidson (175th and 75th in 33:54. Finally, Aoife and Paul F. Kelly ran in Dodder Valley Park where Aoife placed 30th and 12th in 25:58 and Paul ran the same time for 31st place. They were accompanied by 101 other runners. Irish Life Dublin Race Series Half Marathon (6136) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Peter Somba 1 01:07:01 25 Aoife Cleary 1 01:18:06 Crusaders AC runners 28 Ross Neill 01:18:19 (PB) 36 Dee Lawlor 01:19:08 (PB) 42 Warren Swords 01:19:28 (PB) 89 Michael Reilly 01:22:28 (PB) 111 Charles-Edouard Cattier 01:23:04 (PB) 122 Rory Goldsmith 01:23:40 129 TJ Bourke 01:23:27 (PB) 135 Oisin Corish 01:24:01 (PB) 143 Ronan Doolin 01:24:17 186 Aaron Farrell 01:26:21 (PB) 212 Michael Judge 01:26:59 237 Paul O’Hara 01:27:49 (PB) 249 James Cottle 01:28:25 323 Michael Fitzsimons 01:29:48 392 Paul Campbell 01:30:59 (PB) 403 Karl Walsh 01:31:32 424 Carolyn O’Reilly 01:32:00 (PB) (21) 450 Gillian Earley 01:32:00 (25) 453 Kieran Martin 01:32:42 505 Adrian Groarke 01:33:04 (PB) 521 Oisin Browne 01:33:49 (PB) 564 Cormac Fenton 01:34:48 602 David Carter 01:35:05 618 Kevin Lambe 01:35:36 806 Lisa Branigan 01:38:22 (PB) (76) 841 Ciara Lehane 01:38:44 (PB) (80) 859 Sophia Morgan 01:37:27 (PB) (83) 962 Tara Gavin 01:38:51 (PB) (105) 1103 Hannah Jones 01:41:07 (PB) (103) 1109 Alby Allan 01:29:03 1218 David McDonald 01:41:37 (PB) 1226 Mark Browne 01:43:54 1250 Luke Haran 01:43:36 1252 Sharon Woods 01:43:41 (173) 1294 Rob Glascott 01:42:42 1300 John Kennedy 01:40:56 (PB) 1312 Joe Green 01:43:05 (PB) 1325 Adam Kinch 01:42:18 1436 Jessica Norris 01:42:36 (=PB) (219) 1477 David Tuohy 01:44:57 1528 David Pepper 01:45:13 (PB) 1707 Joanne Carey 01:48:42 (295) 1801 Robbie Moore 01:49:56 1996 Olwyn Dunne 01:49:48 (PACER) (295) 2106 Carmel Higgins 01:52:35 (414) 2532 Ciara Black 01:54:07 (PB) 569) 2536 Garret Connolly 01:54:30 2634 Liam Nagle 01:57:03 2714 Gillian McDarby 01:58:17 (632) 2832 Miranda Spencer 01:56:37 (677) 2893 Kevin Kenny 01:58:24 2954 Martin Joyce 01:58:34 3049 Lieze Verberght 01:56:13 (PB) (749) 3XXX Lindsay Butler 01:56:XX (PB) (XXX) 3391 Evelyn Neary 02:01:34 (869) 3403 Beatriz Novoa Fidalgo 02:01:26 (876) 3705 Anna Hernick 02:05:21 (1018) 3722 Darina Scully 01:56:25 (1027) 3770 Mairead Cashman 02:07:02 (1049) 3880 Cecilia Sandre 02:06:50 (PB) (1096) 3891 Diarmuid Fahey 01:58:36 4024 Patricia Velasquez 02:08:52 (1170) 4180 Marcus Donnellan 02:08:20 4880 Avril Ryan 02:13:31 (1633) 4919 Barbara Walsh 02:14:29 (PB) (1658) 5472 Joe O’Reilly 02:21:47 5522 Lakshmi Prasad Gowda 02:22:59 5972 Andy Garcia 02:45:24 (2333) Full results here: https://www.tdleventservices.co.uk/en/results-embed.php?event=3976#0_68258A Athlone AC Half Marathon (219) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Mick Fogarty 1 01:11:04 27 Monika de Almeida 1 01:30:37 Crusaders AC runner 32 Áine Kenny 01:32:12 (3) Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/athlone-ac-half-marathon-10k-2023/#2_CB8D18 Rathfarnham 5k (Dublin 5k road championships) (995) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Michael Harty 1 00:14:30 52 Claire Fagan 1 00:16:19 Crusaders AC runners 7 Colm Parnell 00:14:58 (PB) 24 Kieran Little 00:15:41 40 Kevin Fitzgibbon 00:15:55 41 Chris Russell 00:16:02 63 Ciarain Kelly 00:16:33 83 John Mulvihill 00:16:53 88 Paul Cowhie 00:16:59 125 John Fahy 00:17:24 133 Garret Dunne 00:17:28 158 Emily Sheils 00:17:52 (20) 201 Kathryn Sweeney 00:18:23 (PB) (30) 209 Cathal O’Hara 00:18:38 223 Kathryn Gibbons 00:18:44 (32) 235 Lorraine Healy 00:19:05 (PB) (37) 251 Tim O’Donnell 00:19:10 252 Tomás Bradley 00:19:11 258 Ruadhán MacCormaic 00:19:12 260 Annie Hughes 00:19:08 (PB) (41) 284 Nina Holmes 00:19:34 (44) 305 Isabelle Cairns 00:19:58 (PB) (50) 307 Brian McGuckin 00:19:59 323 Carmel Cooney 00:20:08 (57) 394 Sarah Lyons 00:21:48 (80) 420 Olwyn Dunne 00:22:04 (88) 457 Brendan Glynn 00:22:55 483 Anna Brown 00:23:18 (115) 520 Kevin Kavanagh 00:23:41 796 Paul E. Kelly 00:28:55 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/rathfarnham_5k_2023/4842/results IMRA Glen of Ahern Trail Half marathon (143) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Barry Minnock 1 01:33:55 4 Kealey Tideswell 1 01:35:47 Crusaders AC runner 9 Donatas Jocius 01:39:03 Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2352 Avondale Forest Parkrun (102) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Owen Gibbons 1 00:17:26 9 Layla Dixon 1 00:21:23 Crusader AC runner 41 Aoife Clarke 00:29:17 (11) Father Collins Parkrun (78) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Jordan McDonnell 1 00:18:01 6 Ciara Motherway 1 00:21:53 Crusaders AC runner 17 Emer Kenny 00:24:43 (3) Tolka Valley Parkrun (41) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Paul Fleming 1 00:17:58 4 Ilona McElroy 1 00:20:56 Crusaders AC runner 4 Ilona McElroy 00:20:56 (1) Dodder Valley Parkrun (103) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Kahumburuka Ivan Tuahuku 1 00:18:55 15 Sophie McGovern 1 00:22:19 Crusaders AC runners 30 Aoife Kelly 00:25:58 (12) 31 Paul F. Kelly 00:25:58 Marlay Parkrun (380) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Paul Stephenson 1 00:15:24 26 Muirna Twomey 1 00:21:05 Crusaders AC runners 40 Kate Murray 00:22:11 (3) 324 Niamh Quinn 00:34:00 (116) Poolbeg Parkrun (116) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Cristian Vilchez Ceballos 1 00:17:26 19 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:21:35 Crusaders AC runners 1 Cristian Vilchez Ceballos 00:17:26 2 Michael Wycherley 00:18:12 14 John Lohan 00:21:02 24 Fergal Carroll 00:22:23 50 Josie Ward 00:24:46 (6) 56 Esther Requena Ferri 00:25:24 (10) 69 Tara Murphy 00:27:02 (16) 71 Cliodhna O’Reilly 00:27:13 (17) 109 Cynthia Perucca 00:35:55 (42) Castletown Parkrun (126) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 James Hoare 1 00:18:46 16 Anita Rimmer 1 00:23:56 Crusaders AC runners 6 Eoghan Corrigan 00:22:05 18 Caroline Crowley 00:24:44 (2) Clonbur Woods Parkrun (54) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Yvonne Macauley 1 00:20:07 2 Maurice Walsh 1 00:21:22 Crusaders AC runner 1 Yvonne Macauley 00:20:07 (1) Shanganagh Parkrun (198) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Paul Allen 1 00:18:38 4 Eva Kelly 1 00:20:20 Crusaders AC runners 95 Lisa Shine 00:26:52 (29) 125 Máirín Shine 00:28:13 (47) 175 Carina Davidson 00:33:54 (75) It was a relatively quieter time for racing this week. Nevertheless, we had some excellent results in several of the races that did take place, some of which had tough weather conditions with which to contend.
We should start perhaps outside Ireland, with Niamh Allen, our exile in Australia, chalking up yet another victory. This time she ran a superb 33:30 to win the women’s race and placing 13th overall in the field of more than 10,000 in the Sydney marathon 10k. Deirdre Kennedy also ran in the 10k, where she finished in 54:43, placing 1,522nd overall and 429th female finisher. Maurice Kelter and Katie Rogers took part in the full marathon. In a field of more than 13,000 runners, Maurice placed 122nd in 2:51:12, whilst Katie (in what was her first marathon) ran 3:21:40 for 888th place overall (81st female finisher). Conditions were reported to be unusually hot with several heatstroke victims being admitted to hospital. Back home, we continued with the half marathon running that has been notable over the last couple of weeks for those preparing for an Autumn marathon. Eddie Nugent joined a field of 284 to run in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary in the Boston Scientific half marathon. Part of the undulating out-and back, east-west oriented course, had to be changed because of flooding from the River Suir, but that seemed to have no major impact on the times. Eddie ran an excellent 1:27:16 for 17th place. Further north, we had two runners take part in the Kilkenny Mediaeval Half marathon. In a field of 290, Conor Macguinness, who like Eddie is preparing for the DCM, placed 9th in a similar super time of 1:27:31. Maria Kennedy, who is not marathon training, also took on the challenge despite suffering from a head cold during the week. Maria ran 2:08:03 for 205th and 61st places. Leo Lundy completed his 373rd full marathon in Kilkenny. In a field of 137, Leo placed 128th in 5:34:55. Then, in the 30k event, Tara Murphy placed 174th and 65th in a time of 3:02:59 in a field of 235 finishers. Conditions for all the races on Saturday were definitely not ideal, with strong winds at around 25 kph from the north, which certainly impacted the events which largely involved a north-south out-and-back, with a distinct headwind on the return. To complete the half marathon results in Ireland, Kathryn Sweeney paced a friend to a PB in the Belfast Half marathon on Sunday. Kathryn’s time was 1:46:00, placing 1198th overall and 231st female finisher. Also, over the weekend we had a runner in the Griffith Ave 1 mile that took place on Sunday morning in the rain. In a quality field of 221, Aoife Kelly ran 7.29 for 143rd and 44th places. Then, down in Cork, Louise O’Riordan ran in the 5k Women’s Mini Marathon where, in a field of 2664 runners, she placed 520th in 32:02. Further afield, another runner training for the DCM, Thomas Vogée, ran in the Copenhagen half marathon, which he completed with a strong run in 1:20:22, for 675th place overall in a field of nearly 25,000 finishers. Continuing with half marathons abroad, Eoghan Kerins, another runner preparing for Dublin, ran the DC half marathon in Washington DC on Sunday. Eoghan also ran a great time of 1:28:10 to place 170th in a field of over 4000 finishers. Conditions would have been quite pleasant, with little wind on an extremely flat course which would have taken in quite a few of the memorials and monuments. In the UK, Louise Van Wildermeersch, our London-based exile, ran in the Truro half marathon which she completed in 1:52:09. On Saturday evening, Esther Requena Ferri and Cristian Vilchez Ceballos took part in the Legua nocturna torre del Mar along the seafront on the coast east of Malaga in Spain. Esther won the women’s event in the flat 5.8k race in 21:56, with Cristian running 20:35. Finally, closer to home, Isabelle Cairns took part in a duathlon (run/bike/run) in Wexford, involving a 5k road race (21:13) and also a 10k leg (46:37). There may have been an IMRA event in the mountains this weekend, with Crusader participation. If that turns out to be the case, the report will be updated with the results. There was increased participation by members of the club on Saturday morning. At least 11 club members took part in the parkrun in Poolbeg, being led home by Stephen Hurley (18:11) and swiftly followed by Michael Wycherley (2nd in 18:20). Further back in the field of 148 came David O’Donnell (26th in 21:28), who finished ahead of Ailsa Berkeley (62nd and 7th in 24:39), Kenan Furlong (70th in 24:57) who incorporated the parkrun into his long run, Kevin Kenny (77th in 25:37), Aisling O’Riordan (101st and 27th in 28:56), Anna Hernick (116th and 39th in 30:35), Mary Dolan (125th and 44th in 32:27), Gillian Curran (126th and 45th in 32:28) right behind, and Evelyn Neary who arrived late for the event and so ran much faster than the time attributed to her (133rd and 48th in 37:03). Áine Kenny was again a first finisher in Mountbellew where she placed 3rd overall in a time of 22:51 and in a field of 33, whilst Yvonne Macauley mirrored the feat in nearby Clonbur Woods. Yvonne ran 22:37, finishing ahead of the whole field of 35. Gareth Dunne also led the field of 96 home in Tymon where he ran 18:58, followed `by Sharon Woods (12th and 2nd in 22:47), whilst Annie Hughes placed 14th and 2nd in a PB time of 19:36 in the 372-strong field in St. Anne’s, Raheny. Annie was joined by Michael Maughan who placed 53rd in 22:02. Another 2nd place finish was recorded by Kate Murray who ran a time of 22:23 for 14th place overall in a field of 102 runners in Dodder Valley, whilst Michael O’Conor took 2nd place too in Brickfields where he joined 58 other participants. Michael’s time was 18:44. Dee Lawlor and Carina Davidson ran in Shanganagh with unfortunately mixed outcomes. Dee placed 3rd in a field of 172 and in a time of 18:10, whilst Carina struggled on gamely after her hamstring went after 4k to record a time of 40:08 and 169th and 74th places. Fingers crossed that Carina can resume training for the DCM soon. Paul Cowhie placed 4th in Marlay Park. Alongside 383 other runners, Paul recorded a time of 17:51 and he was followed home by his wife, Aoife, who placed 152nd and 34th in 25:37. Toby Benham finished in 8th place in Mallow Castle, in a time of 22:06 and in a field of 49, whilst, not so far away, in Ballincollig, Louise O’Riordan prepared for the following day’s mini marathon, placing 234th and 62nd in a field of 302 and in a time of 32:53. Another runner warming up for the following day’s racing was Aoife Kelly who ran in Poppintree, where, in a field of 127, she placed 70th and 18th in 29:56. John Lohan went down to Kilkenny to support Tara Murphy and ran there in a field of 126, placing 7th in a time of 21:57, whilst Karl Walsh ran once again in Naas, where, in a field of 109, he placed 16th in 22:09. Lisa Shine ran down in Tramore Valley in Cork where, in a field of 193 runners, she placed 162nd and 66th in 32:31, whilst her mother Máirín took on the Grand Canal Way parkrun in Tullamore, where she placed 15th and 5th in a time of 28:07 alongside 36 other participants. In Corkagh Eoghan Corrigan came home in 23rd place in a time of 23:37, with the field measuring 160, whilst Mairead Cashman ran once again in Bushy Park where, in a field of 103, she crossed the line in 82nd and 29th places in a time of 32:45. Over in the UK, John Reidy ran in the 232-strong field in Perth in Scotland, where he placed 34th in 21:41, whilst Orlaith de Burca ran in Oxford in the University Parks, where, in a field of 436, she came home in 319th and 93rd places. Boston Scientific Half Marathon (284) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 John Meade 1 01:13:15 22 Clara Ryan 1 01:28:49 Crusaders AC runner 17 Eddie Nugent 01:27:16 Full results here: https://www.premiertimingsystems.ie/2023-Race-Results/Boston-Scientific-Half-Marathon-results?fbclid=IwAR3PKUnDwOw0VTDqFMyvmatQA7B85kicNIKKnsV9IQyTwq4BJB7-W2bCY00 Kilkenny (Mediaeval) Half Marathon (290) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Richard Hobson 1 01:19:57 12 Edel Byrne 1 01:29:10 Crusaders AC runners 9 Conor Macguinness 01:27:31 205 Maria Kennedy 02:08:03 (61) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/medieval_marathon_2023/4743/results Kilkenny (Mediaeval) Full Marathon (137) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Carlos Gonzalez 1 02:53:34 15 Lise Friis 1 03:25:57 Crusaders AC runner 128 Leo Lundy 05:34:55 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/medieval_marathon_2023/4743/results Kilkenny (Mediaeval) 30k (235) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Aubrey Storey 1 01:47:02 14 Sarah Flanagan 1 02:06:42 Crusaders AC runner 174 Tara Murphy 03:02:59 (65) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/medieval_marathon_2023/4743/results Belfast Half marathon (4814) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Eskander Turki 1 01:09:10 23 Ann Marie Glynn 1 01:14:53 Crusaders AC runner 1198 Kathryn Sweeney 01:46:00 (231) Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/2023-mash-direct-belfast-city-half-marathon/ Cork Mini marathon 5k (2664) Overall place Name Chiptime 1 Lizzie Lee 00:17:19 Crusaders AC runner 520 Louise O’Riordan 00:32:02 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/the_echo_womens_minimarathon_2023/4903/results Griffith Avenue 1 mile (2221) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 John Travers 1 00:04.01 22 Ide Nic Dhomhnaill 1 00:04.45 Crusaders AC runner 143 Aoife Kelly 00:07.29 (44) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/griffith_avenue_mile__family_fun_mile_2023/4857/results Mountbellew Parkrun (33) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Thomas Scarry 1 00:20:47 3 Áine Kenny 1 00:22:51 Crusader AC runner 3 Áine Kenny 00:22:51 (1) Tramore Valley, Cork Parkrun (193) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Heywood Richardson 1 00:16;18 15 Clodagh Creedon 1 00:20:58 Crusaders AC runner 162 Lisa Shine 00:32:31 (66) Ballincollig Parkrun (302) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Alan O’Sullivan 1 00:18:37 12 Niamh Cronin 1 00:20:01 Crusaders AC runner 234 Louise O’Riordan 00:32:53 (62) Dodder Valley Parkrun (102) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Kahumburuka Ivan Tuahuku 1 00:17:41 12 Vanessa Sallier 1 00:22:03 Crusaders AC runner 14 Kate Murray 00:22:23 (2) Marlay Parkrun (384) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ruben Bartelink 1 00:16:43 19 Ruth Wilson 1 00:19:59 Crusaders AC runners 4 Paul Cowhie 00:17:51 152 Aoife Cowhie 00:25:37 (34) Poolbeg Parkrun (148) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Stephen Hurley 1 00:18:11 29 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:21:47 Crusaders AC runners 1 Stephen Hurley 00:18:11 2 Michael Wycherley 00:18:20 26 David O’Donnell 00:21:28 62 Ailsa Berkeley 00:24:39 (7) 70 Kenan Furlong 00:24:57 77 Kevin Kenny 00:25:37 101 Aisling O’Riordan 00:28:56 (27) 116 Anna Hernick 00:30:35 (39) 125 Mary Dolan 00:32:27 (44) 126 Gillian Curran 00:32:28 (45) 133 Evelyn Neary 00:37:03 (48) Kilkenny Parkrun (126) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Graham Bourne 1 00:18:35 8 Ellen Costelloe 1 00:22:01 Crusaders AC runner 7 John Lohan 00:21:57 Mallow Castle Parkrun (49) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Conor Lavery 1 00:19:27 5 Niamh Lavery 1 00:21:30 Crusaders AC runner 8 Toby Benham 00:22:06 Clonbur Woods Parkrun (35) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Yvonne Macauley 1 00:22:37 2 Theo Hampton 1 00:24:47 Crusaders AC runner 1 Yvonne Macauley 00:22:37 (1) Shanganagh Parkrun (172) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Morgan Durston 1 00:17:19 13 Suzanne Foot 1 00:20:38 Crusaders AC runners 3 Derek Lawlor 00:18:10 169 Carina Davidson 00:40:08 (74) Brickfields Parkrun (59) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Seán Cahill 1 00:18:39 29 Caroline Brogan 1 00:27:44 Crusaders AC runner 2 Michael O’Conor 00:18:44 Tymon Parkrun (96) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Gareth Dunne 1 00:18:58 10 Louise English 1 00:22:34 Crusaders AC runner 12 Sharon Woods 00:22:47 (2) Bushy Parkrun (103) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Clara Kinsella 1 00:19:51 2 Edward Ahern 1 00:20:07 Crusaders AC runner 82 Mairead Cashman 00:32:45 (29) Corkagh Parkrun (160) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Oliver Warren 1 00:18:18 5 Emma Hand 1 00:19:57 Crusaders AC runner 23 Eoghan Corrigan 00:23:37 The Grand Canal Way, Tullamore Parkrun (37) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Tim O’Brien 1 00:19:24 7 Siobhan Sellar 1 00:26:26 Crusaders AC runner 15 Máirín Shine 00:28:07 (5) St. Anne’s Parkrun (372) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Dermot Coffey 1 00:17:49 2 Lucy Barrett 1 00:18:10 Crusaders AC runners 14 Annie Hughes 00:19:36 (PB) (2) 53 Michael Maughan 00:22:02 Naas Parkrun (109) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Conor McGrane 1 00:17:17 28 Cliona Kenny 1 00:23:47 Crusaders AC runner 16 Karl Walsh 00:22:09 Poppintree Parkrun (127) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Dean Hayden 1 00:19:15 8 Maura Matthews 1 00:20:49 Crusaders AC runner 70 Aoife Kelly 00:29:56 (18) |