Publication of this week’s report has been slightly delayed in order to allow inclusion of the results of Monday’s running of the 128th Boston Marathon, in which we had 3 participants from the club (and they were joined by one of our exiles in Canada). The sunny conditions were described as perfect for the race, although, in honesty, they might have been considered a little warm for those of us who have trained throughout the Irish winter, at 11 degrees Celsius, rising to 17-18 degrees over the course of the race. There was a light tailwind, however, for the point-to-point event, which would have helped to create fast times, as long as the runners did not overheat. The other challenge is the fast downhill first half which gives a false sense of security and which will have hammered the quads in places, followed by hills in the second half. It's not an easy marathon and certainly nowhere near a PB course even with a tailwind! Gerard White set off in the first wave along with Ian Kinsella, who now resides in Toronto and who amazingly underwent major heart surgery only six months ago. They were joined in the second wave by Paul Campbell and Conor Macguinness. With only a 2 minutes positive split, Gerard managed to cross the line in a super 2:59:15. He was followed by Conor who ran a creditable 3:09:02 and then by Paul who found the second half tough but still managed an excellent 3:37:50. Slightly further back came Ian with 3:38:38, amazing given the circumstances of his run. On Saturday morning we had Crusaders participate in at least 3 events, with another running a marathon for charity on Irishtown track. Over in Co. Mayo, Jeanie Watson competed in the Westport Half marathon, where, in a field of 1,170 finishers, she recorded a PB time of 1:36:32 for 129th overall and 13th female finisher places, whilst in the 10k, Annie Hughes also recorded a PB in completing the distance in 41:03. Annie placed 11th and 4th in a field of 1,228 finishers. Congrats to them. Elsewhere, John Corish and Phil Sykes joined 166 other runners around the racecourse in Leopardstown for the Grocers Fun Run 10k. Phil ran 49:19, but his place appeared not to have registered, whilst John placed 56th in a time of 51:40. Derek Boland had intended to run in the Ibiza marathon on Saturday, but illness in the family curtailed his plans, so, as he was running for charity, he decided to undertake the challenge on his own on the track in Irishtown, completing the distance in a highly creditable 3:19:36. That was a major achievement! The Great Ireland [10k] Run took place in the Phoenix Park on Sunday morning. It used the same course as last year, but this year, was run properly, with the cones being moved to allow runners to cross the start line again after a couple of kilometres. So, this year, the race measured an accurate 10k, as opposed to the 8.5k (and the course run ibn reverse) last year. However, it was no longer the national 10k championships. In windyish conditions (a southwesterly breeze), the course included a long downhill down the Upper Glen Road, but then a challenging climb on the bend from below the hospital up on to the Acres. Otherwise, the course was largely flat and, as a result, produced a few PBs, among them for Rachael Yorke and Rory Goldsmith. There were at least 7 Crusaders in the large field in excess of 2,000 finishers. Our contingent was led home by Andrea Rondina (5th in 32:41) and followed by Paul Cowhie (15th overall and 1st M60 in 36:57) and Rory (20th in 37:17, a road PB). The three leading male Crusaders won the team competition involving 20 clubs. Congrats to them. Further back came Rachael, in a PB time of 42:15 for 122nd and 10th places, followed by Will Holton (217th in a time of 44:10), with Phelim Murray further back, having started towards the back of the field (42:06 for 266th place). Tom Gleeson completed the contingent, running 47:23 for 413th spot. On the same day, Luke Haran ran in the Michal Rejmer (Dooneen AC-organised) 10-miler down in his native Limerick, where, in a field of 214, he ran 74 minutes for 66th place. Further afield, Cristian Vilchez Ceballos and Esther Requena Ferri, two of our Spanish exiles and living in Malaga, ran in the Carrera Solidaria Mayoral 5k on the sea-front. On an out-and-back street course, Cristian ran the distance in 16:43 and Esther ran 19:01 for a place on the podium. Also, Daniel O’Mahony ran in the Reading Half marathon, pacing a friend, and finishing in a time of 1:57:46. The parkruns on Saturday morning were well attended and we enjoyed a decent representation in them with a couple of first finishers as usual. Preparing for next week’s London marathon, Kevin Fitzgibbon enjoyed a decent shakeout in Poolbeg where he led the field of 232 across the line in a time of 17:02. He was followed by Adrian Groarke (19th in 20:58), Kevin Lambe (25th in 21:38), Charles Cartledge, in training for next week’s Zurich marathon (27th in 22:00), Josie Ward (75th and 7th female finisher in 24:49), Franky Keane, just behind (76th in 24:50), Christina Campbell (90th and 17th in 26:07), Djinn Von Noorden, also getting ready for Zurich (108th and 27th in 27:13), Aisling O’Riordan (116th and 32nd in 27:31), Cynthia Perucca (180th and 72nd in 32:29), Niamh Trihy and Tara Murphy (196th and 79th and 197th and 80th in 35:33), Andrea Talpo (221st in 45:44) and Kevin Kenny, tailwalking. Members may be interested to know that Anna Gallo’s father, Marco, on a visit from Italy, placed 99th in 26:50. Our other first finisher was Michael O’Conor, who ran in Brickfields, crossing the line first in a field of 104 and in a time of 18:17. Podium places went to Ross Neill (2nd in a time of 17:08 in a field of 488 in Ormeau Park, Belfast) and Karl Walsh (2nd in a field of 134 in a time of 20:11 in Naas). Toby Benham in Tramore Valley in a field of 239 and Maria Pertl in Tolka Valley with its field of 60, both tailwalked. Diarmuid Byrne also ran in Tolka Valley where he placed 16th and 30th in 25:59. Emer Kenny took 22nd and 6th places in a time of 24:34 in Father Collins Park with its field of 114, whilst Darina Scully ran 29:02 for 32nd and 12th places in the 95-strong field in River Valley Park. Mairead Cashman ran her 250th parkrun in Illaunmanagh where, in a field of 79, she placed 34th and 7th in 29:21. Paul F. and Aoife Kelly ran in Poppintree alongside 226 other runners, where Paul placed 32nd in 22:49 and Aoife came home in 73rd and 11th places in 27:18, whilst, in Marlay Park, Kate Murray took 151st and 28th spots in a field of 522 and in a time of 25:50. Meanwhile, Liam Lyster joined 31 other participants in Strokestown where he placed 13th in 31:16, whilst Eoghan Corrigan crossed the line in Kilcock in a time of 22:23 for 23rd place. The field there measured 189. In Fenit Greenway, Fiona Shine placed 43rd and 15th in 28:34, followed, in the field of 76, by Lisa Shine and Máirín Shine, tailwalking. In St. Anne’s Raheny, with its field of 482, Cian Coughlan placed 96th in 24:23, followed by Áine Crotty (114th and 29th in 24:53), Cría Dowling (313th and 129th in 31:07) and Louise O’Riordan (314th and 130th in 31:08), whilst, in Shanganagh, with its field of 229, Aoife Clarke finished in 132nd and 36th places in 29:27, followed by Carina Davidson (212th and 86th in 39:41) and Orlaith de Burca, tailwalking. Further afield, Aidan Hudner ran once again in Pollok in Glasgow where, in a field of 371, he placed 61st in 24:34, whilst Thom Martini placed 256th in 27:01 in a field of 626 in Gunnersbury Park in London, and Richard Morrissey placed 27th in 17:30 in the 778-strong field in Dulwich. Great Ireland Run 10k (2003) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Aaron Hanlon 1 00:31:10 36 Aisling O’Connor 1 00:38:16 Crusaders AC runners 5 Andrea Rondina 00:32:41 15 Paul Cowhie 00:36:57 20 Rory Goldsmith 00:37:17 (PB) 122 Rachael Yorke 00:42:15 (PB) (10) 217 Will Holton 00:44:10 266 Phelim Murray 00:42:06 413 Tom Gleeson 00:47:23 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/biofreeze_great_ireland_run_2024/4979/results Grocers Fun Run 10k (168) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Myles Gibbons 1 00:35:00 12 Siobhan Eviston 1 00:38:29 Crusaders AC runners XX Phil Sykes 00:49:19 56 John Corish 00:51:40 Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/grocers-fun-run-dublin-2024/#1_7336A4 Westport Half marathon (1170) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Hugh Armstrong 1 01:06:24 6 Elizabeth Griffiths 1 01:13:38 Crusaders AC runner 129 Jeanie Watson 01:36:32 (PB) (13) Full results here: https://sportmaniacs.com/en/races/westport-marathon-24/661a8a44-fd50-4073-abfb-48c3ac1f0060/rankings Westport 10k (1228) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 John Regan 1 00:34:14 3 Ellen Moran 1 00:34:59 Crusaders AC runner 11 Annie Hughes 00:41:03 (PB) (4) Full results here: https://sportmaniacs.com/en/races/westport-marathon-24/661a8a47-92d8-40bc-87e0-4101ac1f1551/rankings Michal Rejmer Dooneen 10-mile road race (214) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Peter Somba 1 00:52:40 26 Breda Gaffney 1 01:06:02 Crusaders AC runner 66 Luke Haran 01:14:00 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/michal_rejmer_dooneen_10_mile_2024/5046/results Illanmanaugh Parkrun (79) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Aidan Suleyman 1 00:17:25 16 Aoife Mullane 1 00:24:04 Crusaders AC runner 34 Mairead Cashman 00:29:21 (7) Shanganagh Parkrun (229) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Drew Donoghoe 1 00:16:49 11 Emily Feighan 1 00:20:57 Crusaders AC runners 132 Aoife Clarke 00:29:27 (36) 212 Carina Davidson 00:39:41 (86) 228 Orlaith de Burca 00:52:56 (100) Tolka Valley Parkrun (60) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Luke Townsend 1 00:17:48 11 Victoria Rooney 1 00:24:56 Crusaders AC runners 16 Diarmuid Byrne 00:25:59 59 Maria Pertl 00:49:52 (30) Poolbeg Parkrun ()232 Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Kevin Fitzgibbon 1 00:17:02 23 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:21:29 Crusaders AC runners 1 Kevin Fitzgibbon 00:17:02 19 Adrian Groarke 00:20:58 25 Kevin Lambe 00:21:38 27 Charles Cartledge 00:22:00 75 Josie Ward 00:24:49 (7) 76 Franky Keane 00:24:50 90 Christina Campbell 00:26:07 (17) 108 Djinn Von Noorden 00:27:13 (27) 116 Aisling O’Riordan 00:27:31 (32) 180 Cynthia Perucca 00:32:29 (72) 196 Niamh Trihy 00:35:33 (79) 197 Tara Murphy 00:35:33 (80) 221 Andrea Talpo 00:45:44 231 Kevin Kenny 01:01:56 St. Anne’s Parkrun (482) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Caleb Long 1 00:18:05 2 Maria Ní Mhaolagain 1 00:18:19 Crusaders AC runners 96 Cian Coughlan 00:24:23 114 Áine Crotty 00:24:53 (29) 313 Cría Dowling 00:31:07 (129) 314 Louise O’Riordan 00:31:08 (130) Naas Parkrun (134) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Steven Byrne 1 00:18:04 10 Aoibheann O’Brien 1 00:20:11 Crusaders AC runner 2 Karl Walsh 00:20:11 Marlay Parkrun (522) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ethan Bramhill 1 00:17:37 6 Doireann Mullany 1 00:19:33 Crusaders AC runner 151 Kate Murray 00:25:50 (28) Poppintree Parkrun (228) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Aaron Murray 1 00:17:46 25 Karen Slye 1 00:22:20 Crusaders AC runners 32 Paul F. Kelly 00:22:49 73 Aoife Kelly 00:27:18 (11) Fenit Greenway Parkrun (76) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Garoid Pierse 1 00:18:32 3 Abby Stephenson 1 00:20:06 Crusaders AC runners 43 Fiona Shine 00:28:34 (15) 73 Lisa Shine 00:48:08 (38) 74 Máirín Shine 00:48:16 (39) Father Collins Parkrun (114) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Anthony Brady 1 00:16:42 9 Andreea Bortas 1 00:22:35 Crusaders AC runner 22 Emer Kenny 00:24:34 (6) River Valley Parkrun (95) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Declan McGrath 1 00:21:18 12 Imelda Kavanagh 1 00:24:19 Crusaders AC runner 32 Darina Scully 00:29:02 (12) Brickfields Parkrun (104) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Michael O’Conor 1 00:18:17 12 Stephanie Bergin 1 00:22:12 Crusaders AC runner 1 Michael O’Conor 00:18:17 Strokestown Parkrun (32) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Barry Lohan 1 00:20:26 9 Katie Daly 1 00:28:42 Crusaders AC runner 13 Liam Lyster 00:31:16 Royal Canal, Kilcock Parkrun (189) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Alexander Wallace 1 00:16:48 8 Louise Reilly 1 00:19:31 Crusaders AC runner 23 Eoghan Corrigan 00:22:23 Ormeau Parkrun (488) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Neill Weir 1 00:17:04 24 Georgina Garland 1 00:20:40 Crusaders AC runner 2 Ross Neill 00:17:08 Tramore Valley Parkrun (239) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Alan O’Sullivan 1 00:18:10 12 Maeve Buckley 1 00:20:57 Crusaders AC runner 237 Toby Benham 00:51:32 You name a race location and the club was quite likely represented there this week. From Roscommon to Wexford and on to Paris, Berlin, Florence and Canberra and a few places in between. We start on Wednesday with Sean Brady running in a TCD 5k race on the grass of College Green. He thinks the race measured quite short (perhaps as much as 500m) with his 5th place time of 18:35, so he added an extra lap to get his watch to confirm 5k(!), but likely still ran sub-20 minutes. Then, on Friday evening Áine Kenny decided to run in the first race in a series of four 5k events in Roscommon. Alongside 130 other participants, Áine finished in 10th place overall, 3rd female across the line, in a time of 20:20. Storm Kathleen had a major impact on parkruns on Saturday morning, but, at least, several went ahead as did the BHAA DCC-sponsored 4-mile road race in St. Anne’s Raheny, which for much of the period leading up to its start, looked to be in jeopardy because of the proximity of the route to trees around the park. It attracted a larger field than usual, to include runners from the Lord Mayor’s current fitness initiative. At least 10 Crusaders joined the field of 181, and they were led home by Donatas Jocius in 4th place in a time of 23:34. Donatas was followed by Paul Cowhie (5th in 23:45 and 1st in his new M60 age category) and then by Karl Walsh who was also 1st in his M45 age category (7th overall in 24:01). Sean Murphy, who trains with us, was next in 12th place with a time of 25:33 and he was followed by the 4th Crusader home, Phelim Murray (15th in 26:15). Next came Robbie Moore (30th in 28:37) and he was followed by Neil Brown (32nd in 28:48), Tony Hackett (38th in 29:15) and Olwyn Dunne (46th overall, 7th female and 2nd F55) who had made a last-minute decision to race after her flight to watch son Jack’s Exeter Chiefs play in the European Cup was cancelled. Lorraine Fitzsimons (147th, 71st and 4th F60 in 44:16) and Faeed Faeedi (155th in 45:31) completed the contingent. Also on Saturday, Shane Egan took 23rd place in the 562-strong field in the Bear Races Dundalk Half marathon in a time of 88:48 in extremely windy conditions, whilst, further afield, Ciarain Kelly took part in the Prague Half marathon, and, in warm conditions, he ran 80:39. On the same day, one of our exiles in Australia, Maurice Kelter, ran a PB in a wet and hilly Canberra marathon with a time of 2:41. Finally, Brandon Lai ran an ultra in Croatia (The Istria 100 Buzet organised by the group that organises the UTMB) and, over a distance of 110k, Brandon completed the challenge in 16:04:48. Then, on Sunday, Justin O'Connor took part in the Sonia O’Sullivan Cobh 10-miler, where, in a field of 828 runners, he finished in 355th place in a time of 84:41. Members may be interested to hear that Shane Collins, an ex-Crusader, ran 53:57 for 5th place. Also, on the same day, we had a large contingent in both the Paris Marathon and the Berlin Half marathon. In warm conditions on the continent (as in Prague the previous day), we had some excellent results. Toby Benham led the contingent home in Paris, finishing in 2:58:49. He was followed not too far behind by Rob Glascott, who, despite an interrupted training programme, still managed to record a great time of 2:59:46. Next came Paul Moloney, who really enjoyed the experience and who ran another excellent time of 3:07:14. Paul was followed by Brian Reilly, nursing a slight injury, who ran 3:21:52 and by Eva Kennedy who recorded a net time of 3:38:25 (a difference of nearly an hour from her guntime of 4:29:13!). The contingent was completed by Kevin Kenny (4:06:29), Thomas O’Dwyer (4:19:00) and Florian Mormont (4:46:41) who suffered severe leg cramps in the heat after 28k, but still managed to finish. We had a decent turnout too in the Berlin Half marathon, again in much higher temperatures than we are used to at this time of year in Ireland. Kevin Kavanagh crossed the line in a great time in the circumstances of 79:38. He was followed by Lukasz Batruch (90:54) and then by Luke Haran. Luke recorded a time of 1:43:44 and he was followed by Lydia Bigley (1:58:38), Tanja Narancic (1:59:32), Lieze Verberght (2:01:49), Joe Green (2:05:03) and by Fanny Trébouet (2:06:58). Elsewhere, Rachel Kelly recorded a 25-minute PB improvement in the Brighton marathon on Sunday, where she ran 5:18:22, whilst, in the Firenze Half marathon in Florence, Jeanie Watson ran 2:18:07. Further north, Sala Kabir ran in the Milan Marathon, where he finished in a time of 3:41:58. Finally, Cristian Vilchez Ceballos, one of our Spanish exiles, ran a 3,000m on the track in Malaga, winning the race in 9:28.62. Closer to home, the WM&T held a social run and awards ceremony on Sunday and we learned that the Crusaders ladies C team had placed 2nd in their division in the winter league, whilst Máirín Shine was 2nd F60 in the league. In the mountains over the weekend, Warren Swords ran in the Annagh Hill 10.7k challenge down in Co. Wicklow, where, in the race with its 550m climb, he took what he described as the scenic route, placing 20th in a field of 93 in a time of 77:18. The race was the latest in the Leinster Spring League. Probably as a consequence of the difficult conditions experienced on Saturday morning because of Storm Kathleen, there was a lower turnout than usual in all the parkruns. Our participation was also affected by foreign travel! Nevertheless, we had at least one first finisher among the relatively few from the club who did participate. Ciara Regan ran in the Tubbercurry Trail Parkrun, where, in a field of 108, she placed 3rd overall and 1st female across the line in a time of 22:08. Down in Shanganagh, Darina scully placed 37th and 5th in 23:35. Darina was followed home in the field of 220 by Jill Nason (124th and 38th in 29:34) and by Carina Davidson (198th and 88th in 36:38). Then, in Tolka Valley, Maria Pertl placed 20th and 7th in a 42-strong field and in a time of 29:55, whilst, in Fairview, with its field of 162, Andy Deuser ran 23:27 for 22nd place, followed home by Mairead Cashman who placed 110th and 42nd in 32:15. Poolbeg still enjoyed a relatively large field of 164 with at least 12 Crusaders taking part. Fiona Bane led the contingent home in 47th and 8th places in 24:46, followed by Josie Ward (66th and 17th in 26:08), Dave Tilly (72nd in 26:41), Tara Murphy (74th and 21st in 26:55), Iseult Ni Chuinneagain (75th and 22nd one second behind in 26:56), Aisling O’Riordan (96th and 34th in 28:22), Louise O’Riordan (106th and 40th in 28:58), Una McCullagh (126th and 55th in 31:26), Cynthia Peruicca (133rd and 59th in 32:43), Niamh Trihy (138th and 63rd in 34:35), Mari Hansen (143rd and 67th in 35:10) and John Lohan, tailwalking. Members of the Shine family ran in Marlay Park. Fiona placed 296th and 104th in 32:13, followed by Máirín (297th and 105th in 32:19) and by Lisa (377th and 157th in 46:19). The field there measured 392. Meanwhile, Colm Foley joined 179 other runners in Griffeen Park, where he placed 33rd in a time of 24:12. Further afield, our exile Thom Martini ran in Gunnersbury Park in Ealing in London placing 282nd in a field of 610 in a time of 27:47, whilst another exile, Richard Morrissey, placed 19th in a field 711 in Dulwich in a time of 17:55. Finally John Reidy ran in Perth in Scotland where, in a field of 307, he placed 55th in a time of 22:26. BHAA DCC mixed 4-mile road race (181) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Aidan Jones 1 00:21:48 6 Laura McDonnell 1 00:23:51 Crusaders AC runners 4 Donatas Jocius 00:23:34 5 Paul Cowhie 00:23:45 7 Karl Walsh 00:24:01 15 Phelim Murray 00:26:15 30 Robbie Moore 00:28:37 32 Neil Brown 00:28:48 38 Anthony Hackett 00:29:15 46 Olwyn Dunne 00:30:34 (7) 147 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:44:16 (71) 155 Faeed Faeedi 00:45:31 Full results here: https://irp.cdn-website.com/15e8030f/files/uploaded/DCC%204m%202024%20Results.pdf Roscommon Harriers 5k (131) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Declan Ryan 1 00:17:33 10 Áine Kenny 1 00:20:20 Crusaders AC runner 10 Áine Kenny 00:20:20 (1) Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/roscommon-harriers-5k-series-2024-race-1/ BearRaces Dundalk Half marathon (562) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Andrew Tees 1 01:17:15 24 Joan Flynn 1 01:29:06 Crusaders AC runner 23 Shane Egan 01:28:48 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/dundalk_half_marathon__10k/5122/results Sonia O’Sullivan Cobh 10-mile road race (257) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Tim O’Donoghue 1 00:51:37 12 Michelle Finn 1 00:57:08 Crusaders AC runner 355 Justin O'Connor 01:24:41 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/sonia_osullivan_cobh_10/4981/results IMRA Annagh Hill 10.7k (93) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Enda Cloake 1 00:57:40 18 Caroline Harney 1 01:15:35 Crusaders AC runner 22 Warren Swords 01:17:18 Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2467/category/O/ Tubbercurry Trail Parkrun (108) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 John Drew 1 00:21:00 3 Ciara Regan 1 00:22:08 Crusaders AC runner 3 Ciara Regan 00:22:08 (1) Shanganagh Parkrun (220) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Rory Lush 1 00:18:05 11 Eleanor Foot 1 00:20:03 Crusaders AC runners 37 Darina Scully 00:23:35 (5) 124 Jill Nason 00:29:34 (38) 198 Carina Davidson 00:36:38 (88) Tolka Valley Parkrun (42) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Eoin Callaghan 1 00:18:49 6 Caoimhe Hickey 1 00:23:26 Crusaders AC runner 20 Maria Pertl 00:29:55 (7) Poolbeg Parkrun (164) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Peter Kern 1 00:18:58 9 Ruth Dervan 1 00:20:29 Crusaders AC runners 47 Fiona Bane 00:24:46 (8) 66 Josie Ward 00:26:08 (17) 72 Dave Tilly 00:26:41 74 Tara Murphy 00:26:55 (21) 75 Iseult Ni Chuinneagain 00:26:56 (22) 96 Aisling O’Riordan 00:28:22 (34) 106 Louise O’Riordan 00:28:58 (40) 126 Una McCullagh 00:31:26 (55) 133 Cynthia Perucca 00:32:43 (59) 138 Niamh Trihy 00:34:35 (63) 143 Mari Hansen 00:35:10 (67) 164 John Lohan 00:52:21 Fairview Parkrun (162) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Niall Ainsworth 1 00:19:44 20 Aisling McNally 1 00:23:19 Crusaders AC runners 22 Andy Deuser 00:23:27 110 Mairead Cashman 00:32:15 (42) Griffeen Parkrun (180) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Michal Gil 1 00:18:19 21 Shuang Shuang Wang 1 00:22:26 Crusaders AC runner 33 Colm Foley 00:24:12 Marlay Parkrun (392) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Daniel Doran 1 00:18:21 8 Doireann Mullany 1 00:19:56 Crusaders AC runners 296 Fiona Shine 00:32:13 (104) 297 Máirín Shine 00:32:19 (105) 377 Lisa Shine 00:46:19 (157) Congratulations to our ladies’ team who won the bronze medal (possibly silver) in the Leinster 10-mile championships which were incorporated in the Battle of Clontarf, conducted entirely within the confines of St. Anne’s Park in Raheny on Easter Monday. Two of the team also won individual age category and county medals too.
The period covered by the report starts on Thursday evening in the Marble County, where 873 runners took part in the quality Streets of Kilkenny 5k, the second race of the year in the Peugeot Series (the first being the Streets of Portlaoise 5k earlier in the month). On a fast and flat course, no fewer than 89 athletes broke 17 minutes with a total of 274 finishing under 20 minutes. The race was won by last year’s Docklands 5k winner, Pierre Murchan, in a road PB time of 14:04. We had 4 athletes in the race, all breaking 20 minutes and at least two likewise achieving PB results. Our first runner home was Colm Parnell in 11th spot, recording a time of 15:06. Colm was followed across the line by Brian Regan (99th in 17:10), closely followed by Henry Griffin in 101st with a PB time of 17:20. Conor Macguinness completed the contingent, placing 179th in a PB time of 18:32. The 4-man team placed 10th overall in a competition involving 34 teams. On Good Friday, two of our runners took part in a race around the streets of Glasnevin, the Na Fianna 5k. In a field of 294, Paul F. Kelly placed 22nd in 21:09, whilst his wife, Aoife, took 79th spot overall (and 7th female finisher) in a super time of 24:42. Dee Lawlor profited from a trip to Co. Kerry over the weekend to win the Ballybunion 10k in a time of 36:03. On a relatively hilly out-and-back north-south oriented course, Dee had little competition from the field of 257 runners, finishing a good 3 minutes ahead of the athlete in 2nd place. On Easter Monday, 6 members from the club took part in the tricky Battle of Clontarf 10-miler which incorporated the Leinster 10-mile championships. The race is challenging principally because of the course which can be quite confusing in places and has loads of twists and turns and slippery at times with mud on path corners. It also has a hill, as runners, having run down to the estuary, turn from running parallel to the coast road and push up alongside Watermill Road from the tree sculpture. They also had to negotiate the hill twice, in the 4th mile (memories of the old Raheny 5 course!) and then again in the 8th. The breezy and chilly day didn’t start out too well since the lead bike failed to turn up and the race director needed to get into his car to lead runners up the main drag, showing them the way and clearing out pedestrians (narrowly avoiding one or two!). Unfortunately, though, a car could not go any further and so the runners were dependent on marshalls being strategically placed for the rest of the race. Quite a challenge on such a course. Nevertheless, the lead runners thankfully didn’t take a wrong step. Our first athlete home was Aoife Quigley who was delighted with her experience, and who placed 60th overall and 8th female finisher in a good time for such a course of 67:07. Aoife won the silver medal in the F35 age category and was lead scorer in the women’s O/35 team and a scorer on the gold-medal winning Co. Dublin senior team. Aoife was followed by Robbie Moore who had a stormer of a second half to the race (134th in 74:06) and then by the team’s 2nd scorer, Dee Ni Chearbhaill (135th and 29th) just behind. Further back came Adrian Groarke, in his first run following injury (156th in 75:22), followed by the third team scorer, Olwyn Dunne (161st and 36th in 76:15) who also won the F55 bronze medal and was a scorer on the gold medal-winning Co. Dublin team in the Leinster Championships. The contingent was completed by Paul E. Kelly who finished in 331st place in a time of 99:06. In the initial results the women’s O/35 team have been given the bronze medal. However, the winning O/35 team (LSA) actually recorded a better score than the third-placed (3-woman) senior team (Sportsworld) who also had a poorer score than all three O/35 teams. So, it is possible that the Crusaders’ women’s team might get promoted to the silver medal. Congrats in any event! Also, on Easter Monday, Máirín Shine took part in the 256-strong field running the Rosslare 10k, where she placed 204th overall and 64th female finisher (and 4th in her age category). Just in, came news that Ross Neill won the Carney Half marathon in Co. Mayo on the same day. On an out-and-back hilly and undulating course with one large loop, Ross headed the field of 229 runners in a super time of 76:17. He was followed across the line by Megan Smith who placed 203rd overall in 2:14:05 Further afield over the weekend, Andrej Kujikis, our New Zealand exile now based in Scotland, ran in the Tom Scott 10-mile race around Strathclyde Country Park, southeast of Glasgow. On a course that was largely flat, but with one large climb at about 5k, Andrej ran 66:44, possibly recording a PB. Parkrunners were out in force on Saturday morning, profiting from the Easter holiday. We had clubmates participate in at least 27 parkruns in Ireland and the UK, well up on the usual weekly numbers. As a consequence, we also witnessed a decent number of first finisher and podium finishes. Michael O’Conor took advantage of a trip to Co. Donegal to finish ahead of the 150-strong field in Falcarragh. Michael’s time was a useful 17:22. Then in her native Longford, in a field of 61, Rachael Yorke placed 4th overall and 1st female finisher in a time of 20:30. In Co. Galway, husband and wife, Alan Sheehy and Yvonne Macauley, ran alongside 67 other participants in Clonbur Woods, where Alan took first place in 19:49 and Yvonne placed 10th and 4th in 25:44. Closer to home, Darina Scully was a first finisher in Shanganagh. In a field measuring 255, Darina placed 45th overall in 23:28 and she was followed by Janet McManus (73rd and 7th in 25:21), Carina Davidson (97th and 17th in 26:36) and Orlaith de Burca, tailwalking. In Rostrevor, Ciara Regan placed 8th overall and first female finisher in a field of 79. Ciara’s time was 21:38, whilst, in Coole, Áine Kenny was also a first finisher in a time of 21:14, placing 8th overall in a field of 115. Among those recording podium places was Rory Goldsmith who finished in 2nd place in the 59-strong field in Knocknacarra. Rory’s time was 19:40. Meanwhile, Sharon Woods placed 34th and 3rd in the 169-strong field in Poolbeg in a time of 22:54. Sharon was led home by Rob Glascott, as he prepares for the Paris marathon next week. Rob placed 5th in 19:30 and further back they were followed by Tanja Narancic (55th and 12th in 24;39), Paul Campbell (56th in 24:41), just behind, Josie Ward (60th and 14th in 25:11), Russell Murphy (69th in 26:04) and Tara Murphy (70th and 18th in 26:12). Eoghan Corrigan was our sole runner in Porch Field in Trim, where, alongside 71 other participants, he placed 5th in 21:56, whilst, further afield, in Brockwell Park in London, Richard Morrissey ran once again, placing 5th in 17:59 in a field of 273. Also, near London, another of our exiles, Thom Martini, ran in a field of 1598 in Bushy Park, where he placed 301st in 23:13. Over in Sligo, Karl Walsh and Fiona Bane ran in a field of 144, with Karl placing 4th in 19:31 and Fiona taking 21st and 6th places in 25:06. Meanwhile, Dave Carter and Olwyn Dunne joined in the 9th anniversary celebrations in Cabinteely, where, in a field of 181, Dave placed 10th in 20:55, whilst Olwyn placed 61st and 13th in 25:58. Emer Kenny joined 126 other runners in Father Collins Park where she ran 26:58 for 45th and 12th places, whilst, in Tramore, Waterford, Gemma Cooper placed 67th and 17th in a field of 159, with a time of 26:27. As part of a much longer run, Franky Keane ran in the 111-strong field in Mullingar, where he placed 20th in a time of 24:48, whilst Daniel Cullen ran in Templemore, where, in a field of 115, he placed 66th in a time of 30:19. Down in Killarney House Park, Luca Marchesotti placed 27th in 22:41. The field there measured 194, whilst, in Fairview, Andy Deuser took 21st spot in 22:36, alongside 157 other runners. We had two participants down on the Wexford Racecourse. In a field of 132, Máirín Shine placed 65th and 17th in 29:20, whilst daughter Lisa placed 121st and 51st in 47:31. Then, in Tralee, Mary Noelle Rohan joined 264 other runners, placing 123rd and 44th in 29:35, whilst, in Tramore Valley, Cork, Martin Jones placed 91st in 25:55 and Mairead Cashman took 136th and 36th spots in 28:16, in a field of 244. Barry O’Neill ran in the Pobalscoil na Tríonóide parkrun, where, in a field of 72, he placed 38th in 27:08, whilst, in Narin Beach, Hannah Jones joined 82 other participants, where she placed 51st and 12th in 32:22. Meanwhile, we had 2 athletes participate in Tolka Valley Park, where, in a field of 38, Diarmuid Byrne placed 14th in 27:46, whilst his partner Maria Pertl took 23rd and 9th spots in 30:14. Colm Foley joined 247 other runners in Griffeen Park, where he placed 55th in a time of 24:06, whilst, in St. Anne’s, Raheny, Áine Crotty and her husband, Cian Coughlan joined 455 other participants. Áine placed 168th and 42nd in 26:27, just ahead of Cian (169th in 26:28). Finally, in Marlay Park, with its field of 510 participants, Maureen McGinley placed 314th and 78th in 29:24, followed by Cynthia Perucca (488th and 181st in 44:41). Battle of Clontarf 10 miler (Leinster 10-mile Championships) (359) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Karl Nolan 1 00:54:16 25 Sarah Flannigan 1 01:00:46 Crusaders AC runners 60 Aoife Quigley 01:07:07 (8) 134 Robbie Moore 01:14:06 135 Deirdre Ni Chearbhaill 01:14:20 (29) 156 Adrian Groarke 01:15:22 161 Olwyn Dunne 01:16:15 (36) 331 Paul E. Kelly 01:39:06 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/battle_of_clontarf_10_mile_leinster_championships/5011/results Streets of Kilkenny 5k (873) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Pierre Murchan 1 00:14:03 76 Fiona McKenna 1 00:16:46 Crusaders AC runners 11 Colm Parnell 00:15:06 99 Brian Regan 00:17:10 101 Henry Griffin 00:17:20 (PB) 179 Conor Macguinness 00:18:32 (PB) Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/the-streets-of-kilkenny-2024/ Na Fianna 5k (294) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 John Donlon 100:17:29 47 Aoife Reynolds 1 00:22:38 Crusaders AC runners 22 Paul F. Kelly 00:21:09 79 Aoife Kelly 00:24:42 (7) Full results here: http://redtagtiming.com/results/NaFianna5km2024.pdf Ballybunion 10k (257) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Derek Lawlor 1 00:36:03 14 Cara Leahy 1 00:43:44 Crusaders AC runner 1 Derek Lawlor 00:36:03 Full results here: https://results.sporthive.com/events/7179812346981609216/races/2 Rosslare 10k (256) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Paul Doran 1 00:34:06 9 Erika Dowling 1 00:39:25 Crusaders AC runner 204 Máirín Shine 01:00:26 (64) Full results here: Rosslare10km_2024.pdf (redtagtiming.com) Carney Half marathon (229) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Ross Neill 1 01:16:17 12 Aela Stewart 1 01:25:49 Crusaders AC runners 1 Ross Neill 01:16:17 203 Megan Smith 02:14:05 Full results here: https://coretiming.ie/events/carney-10km-and-half-marathon-24/#1_876FAE Wexford Racecourse Parkrun (132) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Sean Leahy 1 00:18:12 10 Annemarie Doyle 1 00:21:57 Crusaders AC runners 65 Máirín Shine 00:29:20 (17) 121 Lisa Shine 00:47:31 (51) Shanganagh Parkrun (255) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Rory Lush 1 00:17:24 45 Darina Scully 1 00:23:28 Crusaders AC runners 45 Darina Scully 00:23:28 (1) 73 Janet McManus 00:25:21 (7) 97 Carina Davidson 00:26:36 (17) 248 Orlaith de Burca 00:50:45 (99) Porch Field Parkrun (72) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Thomas Feeley 1 00:19:19 7 Libby Rickard 1 00:23:25 Crusaders AC runner 5 Eoghan Corrigan 00:21:56 Narin Beach Parkrun (83) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Peter Fenyvesi 1 00:21:56 2 Helen McCready 1 00:22:25 Crusaders AC runner 51 Hannah Jones 00:32:22 (12) Templemore Parkrun (115) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Jake Bowe 1 00:20:13 5 Maria Maher 1 00:21:37 Crusaders AC runner 66 Daniel Cullen 00:30:19 St. Anne’s Parkrun (457) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Daniel De Palol 1 00:16:49 20 Emily Witham 1 00:20:09 Crusaders AC runners 168 Áine Crotty 00:26:27 (42) 169 Cian Coughlan 00:26:28 Tolka Valley Parkrun (38) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Sam Steenson 1 00:20:44 9 Ciara Grant 1 00:25:54 Crusaders AC runners 14 Diarmuid Byrne 00:27:46 23 Maria Pertl 00:30:14 (9) Poolbeg Parkrun (169) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Seán Cahill 1 00:18:09 18 Joanne Page 1 00:21:24 Crusaders AC runners 5 Rob Glascott 00:19:30 34 Sharon Woods 00:22:54 (3) 55 Tanja Narancic 00:24:39 (12) 56 Paul Campbell 00:24:41 60 Josie Ward 00:25:11 (14) 69 Russell Murphy 00:26:04 70 Tara Murphy 00:26:12 (18) Knocknacarra Parkrun (59) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Conor O’Rourke 1 00:19:33 7 Brigeen Dolan 1 00:23:58 Crusaders AC runner 2 Rory Goldsmith 00:19:40 Fairview Parkrun (158) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Daniel Toal 1 00:18:15 24 Roisin Vance 1 00:22:54 Crusaders AC runner 21 Andy Deuser 00:22:36 Tramore Valley, Cork Parkrun (244) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Fintan Kerins 1 00:16:04 6 Siobhan Hoare 1 00:19:03 Crusaders AC runners 91 Martin Jones 00:25:55 136 Mairead Cashman 00:28:16 (36) Coole Parkrun (115) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 2 Mairtin Grealish 1 00:18:18 8 Áine Kenny 1 00:21:14 Crusaders AC runner 8 Áine Kenny 00:21:14 (1) Rostrevor Parkrun (79) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Andrew Hicks 1 00:18:01 8 Ciara Regan 1 00:21:38 Crusaders AC runner 8 Ciara Regan 00:21:38 (1) Griffeen Parkrun (248) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Gary Farrell 1 00:18:32 13 Breda Smyth 1 00:20:43 Crusaders AC runner 55 Colm Foley 00:24:06 Marlay Parkrun (510) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ruben Bartelink 1 00:17:40 18 Sarah Fitzpatrick 1 00:19:55 Crusaders AC runners 314 Maureen McGinley 00:29:24 (78) 488 Cynthia Perucca 00:44:41 (181) Tralee Parkrun (268) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Kevin Gahan 1 00:18:36 16 Linda O’Sullivan 1 00:21:10 Crusaders AC runner 123 Mary Noelle Rohan 00:29:35 (44) Sligo Parkrun (144) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Rob Cross 1 00:18:41 8 Aoife Molloy 1 00:21:13 Crusaders AC runners 4 Karl Walsh 00:19:31 21 Fiona Bane 00:25:06 (6) Cabinteely Parkrun (181) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 George Storey 1 00:18:17 4 Cristin Scollard 1 00:18:56 Crusaders AC runners 10 David Carter 00:20:55 61 Olwyn Dunne 00:25:58 (18) Father Collins Parkrun (127) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ciaran Chandler 1 00:18:35 16 Andreea Bortas 1 00:22:36 Crusaders AC runner 45 Emer Kenny 00:26:58 (12) Tramore, Waterford Parkrun (159) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Conor Cavanagh 1 00:18:18 14 Ruth Comerford 1 00:21:24 Crusaders AC runner 67 Gemma Cooper 00:26:27 (17) Falcarragh Parkrun (150) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Michael O’Conor 1 00:17:22 22 Ita McCambridge 1 00:24:04 Crusaders AC runner 1 Michael O’Conor 00:17:22 Mullingar Parkrun (111) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Paulius Patackas 1 00:19:08 15 Kate Plunkett 1 00:24:06 Crusaders AC runner 20 Franky Keane 00:24:48 Longford Parkrun (61) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Patrick Meehan 1 00:18:49 4 Rachael Yorke 1 00:20:30 Crusaders AC runner 4 Rachael Yorke 00:20:30 (1) Clonbur Woods Parkrun (69) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Alan Sheehy 1 00:19:49 6 Aoife Kearney 1 00:24:50 Crusaders AC runners 1 Alan Sheehy 00:19:49 10 Yvonne Macauley 00:25:44 (4) Pobalscoil na Tríonóide Parkrun (91) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 John Ross 1 00:18:09 10 Caroline Geary 1 00:21:36 Crusaders AC runner 38 Barry O’Neill 00:27:08 Killarney House Parkrun (194) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Martin Dineen 1 00:17:18 11 Mia Gallagher 1 00:20:27 Crusaders AC runner 27 Luca Marchesotti 00:22:41 opefully, we have now seen the last blast of Winter in the first week of Spring. Conditions have been cold again this week, with a strong wind on Saturday, mercifully much reduced for the big races on Sunday, the Dunboyne 10k, incorporating for the first time the 10k national championships, along with the tough Wicklow Gaol Break 10k and half marathon. We had runners in all of them.
First things first, though, and as usual, we start with track results. It was a great achievement for Enda Clarke to make the final of the M40 1500m in the European Masters Indoor Championships in Torun in Poland on Saturday. On the previous day, Enda had qualified as a fast finisher by placing 3rd in his heat with a time of 4:20.06. In the final, he placed 10th in a strong field, with a time of 4:22.20. Congrats to him. For road racing, we start earlier in the week, in fact on bank holiday Monday, with the Skerries 10k. We had 3 athletes in the race, which was held in breezy conditions on a 1-looped relatively flat clockwise course, although with a bit of a climb at the start, that took in the outskirts of the town as well as the seafront. Our small contingent in the 379-strong field was led home by Peter O’Toole in 10th place with a time of 37:31. Peter was followed by Seamus Moore (23rd in 39:13) and Mark Browne (112th in 48:12). Later in the week, Darina Scully joined 123 other runners in the DCU Campus 5k in which she placed 32nd and 4th female finisher in a time of 24:23. Then, on Saturday morning, Gary Park took part in the Forth Mountain Trail Run, a largely out-and-back, north-south race with a steep climb at the start and a corresponding descent to the finish. He joined a field of 217 athletes running in the event, placing 16th in exactly 60 minutes. On Sunday lunchtime attention focused on the Dunboyne 10k, the 53rd running of a road race there, although in past times its distance was 4 miles. The race this year was awarded the honour of hosting the national 10k championships (after last year’s Phoenix Park débacle) and, as a consequence, although it has always enjoyed a strong field, its ranks were swelled by quality athletes. As illustration of this, despite the club fielding at least 24 athletes and with a few PBs, we were quite far away from podium positions, age category or otherwise. Indeed, of a field of 1256 finishers, no fewer than 365 runners (or nearly 30% of the field) broke 40 minutes in the race, a figure which included 9 of our athletes. The race took place in chilly but not too windy conditions, in some ways, perfect for such an event. As in Tallaght last week, our first runner home was Andrea Rondina who placed 32nd in a PB time of 32:22. Andrea was followed by Kieran Little who is soon to depart for Blackrock AC. Kieran placed 58th in 33:33 and he was followed by Kevin Fitzgibbon (63rd in a PB time of 33:30). Ger Forde was next, placing 94th in 34:25 and he was followed by a late entrant, Ciarain Kelly (106th in 34:46), with, further back Joe McDermott (156th in 35:55). Remaining runners to break 40 minutes included John Fahy (202nd in 36:49), Julie McGrath (316th overall and 42nd female finisher in 39:20) and Kathryn Sweeney just behind and breaking 40 minutes for the first time (323rd and 43rd in a PB time of 39:27). Carolyn O’Reilly enjoyed a strong outing to place 374th and 52nd in 40:18, and she was followed by Ollie McGrath (376th in 40:06), Phelim Murray (378th in 40:16), Isabelle Cairns with a steady run (443rd and 75th in a PB time of 41:43), Oisin Browne (487th in a PB time of 42:33), Ciara Regan (538th and 106th in 43:45) and Sarah Lyons, running with a slight injury (598th and 133rd in 44:46) alongside Rachael Yorke (599th and 134th in 44:45). Next came Robbie Moore (635th in 44:49), followed by Emily Glen (637th and 144th in a PB time of 44:48), Neil Brown (666th in 45:42), Olwyn Dunne (672nd and 159th in 46:11), Tony Hackett (678th in 46:03), Sharon Woods (692nd and 171st in 46:25) and Paul E. Kelly (1127th in 59:42). Earlier in the morning, we had 7 clubmates take part in the hilly Wicklow Gaol Break Half marathon, with its 100m climb over the first 10k of the race and its cobbled finish. In a field of nearly 1600 finishers, Dee Lawlor ran exceedingly well to record a time of 78:16 for 4th place. He was followed by Gerard Moore (45th in an excellent 88:38), Michael Judge (63rd in 91:53), Daniel Cullen (124th in 96:27), Phil Sykes (544th in 1:50:55), Catriona Egan (905th and 178th in 1:58:54) and Kelly Brown (1206th and 297th in 2:08:57). The results of the 10k were somewhat traumatic for at least one of our runners. Unfortunately, Joanne Carey was late to arrive at the start and, as a consequence, had to run without a chip. Her time of 45:59 would likely have placed her in the top 45 overall (in a field of over 1000 participants) and quite likely 7th female finisher place. Moreover, although she was the second F40 to cross the line, she would likely have been awarded first place, as the first runner in her age category placed 3rd overall in the women’s race. Commiserations to her. Joanne was followed by Darina Scully who placed 195th and 47th in 52:41 and by Carina Davidson (532nd and 222nd in 61:20). Further afield, in the South of France, Kevin Lambe ran in the windy and warm St. Tropez marathon, completing the point-to-point course in a time of 3:34:19. The route went from Sainte-Maxime in the north to Cavalaire-sur-Mer in the south and runners enjoyed a tailwind for large parts of it. It was mostly flat except for a large hill towards the end. Also, over the weekend, one of our London-based exiles, Louise Van der Wildermeersch took part in the flat Milan half marathon, the “Stramilano” which she completed in a PB time of 1:38:13. There was at least one event in the mountains this weekend, that possibly had Crusader participation. It was the Maurice Mullins 50k. If and when the results are published and they show we had one or more runners then the report will be updated. Also, just to point out that an IMRA race last week was initially missed, but last week’s report has now been updated with the result, which saw Warren Swords compete in his first race of the year, placing 6th overall along with Gavan Doherty in 79th spot. Saturday morning’s parkruns enjoyed a reasonable turnout, although several runners, who would otherwise have participated, may have been saving themselves for Sunday’s efforts and so our numbers were a little down as a result. As usual, our largest contingent contested Poolbeg. In a field of 187, Stephen Hurley was first across the line in a time of 18:38. Stephen was followed by Sharon Woods (29th and 2nd female finisher in 23:13), Franky Keane (36th in 23:31), Tanja Narancic (42nd and 4th in 23:52), Fiona Bane (72nd and 12th in 26:31), Olwyn Dunne (73rd and 13th in 26:32), Josie Ward (78th and 16th in 26:46), Louise O’Riordan (85th and 20th in 27:14), Maureen McGinley (107th and 30th in 29:24), Djinn Von Noorden (119th and 38th in 30:03), Niamh Trihy (149th and 53rd in 34:20) and Kevin Kenny (150th in the same time). Another podium place went to Dee Lawlor in Shanganagh, where, in a field of 185, he placed 3rd in a time of 17:55, followed home by Orlaith de Burca (136th and 37th in 30:40). Elsewhere, Ross Neill placed 4th in the 575-strong field in Ormeau Park in Belfast. Ross’ time was 18:27. Then, in the Ballinamore Greenway parkrun, Áine Crotty joined 31 other runners, placing 10th and 3rd in 29:05, whilst Maria Pertl placed 29th and 7th in the 38-strong field in Tolka Valley. Enda Currid and Hannah Jones ran alongside 402 other runners in St. Anne’s, where Enda placed 29th in 20:47 and Hannah took 160th and 34th spots in 26:23. We had 5 participants in Malahide. In a field of 296, Emer Kenny ran 25:11 for 115th and 15th places and she was followed by Darina Scully (136th and 23rd in 26:39), Fiona Shine (155th and 29th in 27:33), Máirín Shine (194th and 51st in 29:15) and Lisa Shine, tailwalking. Meanwhile, Mairead Cashman ran alongside 38 other runners in Macroom Castle Demesne, where she took 29th and 11th places in 32:20, whilst, in Poppintree, Paul F. Kelly placed 16th in 23:41 in a field of 232. Kevin Flynn ran 41:14 for 85th in the 97-strong field in Porterstown, whilst Eoghan Corrigan (and baby daughter Clodagh) tailwalked in River Valley. Over in the UK, Richard Morrissey placed 25th in 17:44 in the 666-strong field in Dulwich, whilst Aidan Hudner ran once again in Pollok in Glasgow, where he placed 70th in a field of 317 and in a time of 25:16. Following her recent return from a trip to Japan to run in the Tokyo marathon at the beginning of the month, Kate Murray ran 26:29 in Brickfields with its field of 113, to place 46th and 9th, whilst, in Ballincollig, Toby Benham joined 260 other participants, placing 27th in 22:46. Finally, Andy Deuser ran in Fairview where, in a field of 147, he placed 23rd in a time of 23:37. Dunboyne 10k (National 10k Championships) (1256) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Sean Tobin 1 00:29:17 44 Shona Heaslip 1 00:32:48 Crusaders AC runners 32 Andrea Rondina 00:32:22 (PB) 58 Kieran Little 00:33:23 63 Kevin Fitzgibbon 00:33:30 (PB) 94 Ger Forde 00:34:25 106 Ciarain Kelly 00:34:46 156 Joe McDermott 00:35:55 202 John Fahy 00:36:49 316 Julie McGrath 00:39:20 (42) 323 Kathryn Sweeney 00:39:27 (PB) (43) 374 Carolyn O’Reilly 00:40:18 (52) 376 Ollie McGrath 00:40:06 378 Phelim Murray 00:40:16 443 Isabelle Cairns 00:41:43 (PB) (75) 487 Oisin Browne 00:42:33 (PB) 538 Ciara Regan 00:43:45 (106) 598 Sarah Lyons 00:44:46 (133) 599 Rachael Yorke 00:44:45 (134) 635 Robbie Moore 00:44:49 637 Emily Glen 00:44:48 (PB) (144) 666 Neil Brown 00:45:42 672 Olwyn Dunne 00:46:11 (159) 678 Anthony Hackett 00:46:03 692 Sharon Woods 00:46:25 (171) 1127 Paul E. Kelly 00:59:42 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/dunboyne_53rd_road_race_10k_2024/5045/results Wicklow Gaol Break 10k (1002) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Eoin Cregg 1 00:37:20 18 Elaine Kennedy 1 00:43:00 Crusaders AC runners XX Joanne Carey 00:45:59 195 Darina Scully 00:52:41 (47) 532 Carina Davidson 01:01:20 (222) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/the_wicklow_gaol_break_half_marathon__10km_2024/4930/results Wicklow Gaol Break Half marathon (1597) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Marc Augustin 1 01:14:19 19 Evelyn Twomey 1 01:22:13 Crusaders AC runners 4 Derek Lawlor 01:18:16 45 Gerard Moore 01:28:38 63 Michael Judge 01:31:53 124 Daniel Cullen 01:36:27 544 Phil Sykes 01:50:55 905 Catriona Egan 01:58:54 (178) 1206 Kelly Brown 02:08:57 (297) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/the_wicklow_gaol_break_half_marathon__10km_2024/4930/results Skerries 10k (379) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Mick Clohisey 1 00:32:23 39 Sive Duncan 1 00:41:55 Crusaders AC runners 10 Peter O’Toole 00:37:31 23 Seamus Moore 00:39:13 112 Mark Browne 00:48:12 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/skerries_10k/5023/results DCU Campus 5k (124) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Gearóid Ó Cleircín 1 00:17:59 11 MK Andersen 1 00:21:57 Crusaders AC runner 32 Darina Scully 00:24:23 (4) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/dcu_campus_5km_fun_run/5169/results Forth Mountain Trail Run 13k (217) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Niall Sheil 1 00:49:25 17 Eilis Peat 1 01:00:31 Crusaders AC runner 16 Gary Park 01:00:00 Full results here: https://justrunsevents.ie/event-results/forth-mountain-trail-run_results_2024-03-23?fbclid=IwAR3F3hE_H7AoRJMr7AaibNVeFtaRMxf5CURRidmQfjfsBC3O7UZChO2Mvxw Malahide Parkrun (296) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Hugh Armstrong 1 00:14:57 12 Iseult O’Donnell 1 00:18:37 Crusaders AC runners 115 Emer Kenny 00:25:11 (15) 136 Darina Scully 00:26:39 (23) 155 Fiona Shine 00:27:33 (29) 194 Máirín Shine 00:29:15 (51) 296 Lisa Shine 1:01:52 Shanganagh Parkrun (185) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Nickolas Colyn 1 00:15:20 16 Emily Feighan 1 00:21:05 Crusaders AC runners 3 Derek Lawlor 00:17:55 136 Orlaith de Burca 00:30:40 (37) River Valley Parkrun (95) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Viktoras Kuzminas 1 00:19:19 8 Sarah Pye 1 00:23:04 Crusaders AC runner 87 Eoghan Corrigan 00:46:14 Poppintree Parkrun (232) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Andrew Gaffney 1 00:17:55 10 Peigí Allen 1 00:22:09 Crusaders AC runner 16 Paul F. Kelly 00:23:41 Brickfields Parkrun (113) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Wesley Harrison 1 00:18:51 11 Eva Kennedy 1 00:22:20 Crusaders AC runner 46 Kate Murray 00:26:29 (9) St. Anne’s Parkrun (404) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Kevin Kelly 1 00:16:46 18 Carmel Ward 1 00:20:01 Crusaders AC runners 29 Enda Currid 00:20:47 160 Hannah Jones 00:26:23 (34) Tolka Valley Parkrun (38) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Oisin Gavin 1 00:18:29 2 Joanna Brown 1 00:19:58 Crusaders AC runner 29 Maria Pertl 00:32:53 (7) Poolbeg Parkrun (187) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Stephen Hurley 1 00:18:38 24 Deirdre McGing 1 00:22:41 Crusaders AC runners 1 Stephen Hurley 00:18:38 29 Sharon Woods 00:23:13 (2) 36 Franky Keane 00:23:31 42 Tanja Narancic 00:23:52 (4) 72 Fiona Bane 00:26:31 (12) 73 Olwyn Dunne 00:26:32 (13) 78 Josie Ward 00:26:46 (16) 85 Louise O’Riordan 00:27:14 (20) 107 Maureen McGinley 00:29:24 (30) 119 Djinn Von Noorden 00:30:03 (38) 149 Niamh Trihy 00:34:20 (53) 150 Kevin Kenny 00:34:20 Ormeau Parkrun (575) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Tom Fleming 1 00:16:17 16 Lyda Martin 1 00:20:09 Crusaders AC runner 4 Ross Neill 00:18:27 Fairview Parkrun (147) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Edward Blacque 1 00:19:41 15 Ann-Marie Hayes 1 00:22:43 Crusaders AC runner 23 Andy Deuser 00:23:37 Macroom Castle Demesne Parkrun (39) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Conor Lucey 1 00:18:22 7 Claire Curtin 1 00:24:49 Crusaders AC runner 29 Mairead Cashman 00:32:20 (11) Ballinamore Greenway Parkrun (32) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Caoimhe Mohan 1 00:22:41 2 Eamon MacFihionnlaoich 1 00:22:45 Crusaders AC runner 10 Áine Crotty 00:29:05 (4) Ballincollig Parkrun (261) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Diarmuid O’Sullivan 1 00:19:06 3 Aoife Cooke 1 00:19:20 Crusaders AC runner 27 Toby Benham 00:22:46 Porterstown Parkrun (97) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Niall Sherlock 1 00:18:32 18 Caroline Nolan 1 00:25:05 Crusaders AC runner 85 Kevin Flynn 00:41:14 It was another busy weekend in the road racing calendar, with events from 5k to marathon, near and far. Once again, Tallaght AC hosted the Dublin novices, incorporated into a more general 5k race, on Sunday morning, and we came away with a haul of medals, both individual and team. The field measured 483 on the one-looped anti-clockwise course, with a tough hill towards the end, running into the southwesterly wind. We had at least 15 Crusaders in the race and they were led home by Andrea Rondina, who managed to take 4th place in 15;34, after lying 5th with about 600m to go. With the result, Andrea was awarded with gold in the novices competition, as well as leading home the next three runners to first place (and the gold medal) in both the race team competition and the novices contest. The other three members were Alex Ainsworth who placed 11th overall and bronze medallist in the novices competition (in 16:30), Patrick W. Conlon (17th in 17:03) and Joe McDermott (28th and 4th M40 overall in 17:21). Henry Griffin with a PB time of 17:37 was next in 35th place and he was followed by Eddie Nugent (79th in 18:57). Eddie was followed by the first of our female scorers. Annie Hughes placed 96th and 13th in 19:24 and she led home the novices team to the silver medal (as well as 3rd place in the general competition). The other members of the team were Aoife Quigley (121st and 21st in 19:59), Cría Dowling (177th and 43rd in a PB time of 21:10) and Rebecca Fleming (196th and 49th in 21:55). Congrats to all! In between the women's team finishers came Simon Kenny (99th in 19:30) and then further back they were followed by Kelly Brown (289th and 87th in 24:32) who treated the race as a training run. Kelly was then followed by Paul E. Kelly (350th in 27:18), Mairead Cashman (372nd and 129th in 28:33) and Maureen McGinley (385th, 138th and 4th F60 in 29:40). Members may also be interested to hear that Catherine Thornton who trains with us periodically placed 42nd and 4th in 17:56. On the same day, there was another fast and furious 5k taking place in Portlaoise, where we had 2 athletes appearing. In a quality field of 862 and in wet conditions, Brian Regan took 55th place in 17:06, followed by Miriam Logan who recorded a time of 21:21 for 207th and 41st places. The day before, Donatas Jocius had run in a 5k in Kildare, where, in a field of 280 in the Run for Raphael’s, he placed 4th in a time of 18:05. Back to Sunday, we had at least 14 Crusaders take part in the Mullingar half marathon. On a wet and breezy day in Co. Westmeath, on an undulating anti-clockwise one loop course with lots of twists and turns on country roads, Alby Allan was our first clubmate across the line in a PB time of 83:39 (an improvement of 5 minutes) for 53rd place in a field of nearly 1400. Aaron Farrell was next, in 102nd place with a time of 87:33 and he was followed by Tim O’Donnell who recorded a PB time of 88:55 for 129th spot. Tim was followed by Michael Fitzsimons (149th in 90:30) and he was followed by Rachel Calvey (173rd and 13th female finisher in 91:35). Áine Kenny was next across the line (211th and 21st in 94:01) and she was followed by Gill Earley (244th and 29th in 94:15), Judy O’Connell (339th, 49th and 2nd F45 in 99:38), Triona Quill (421st and 69th in 1:43:42), Louise O’Riordan (480th and 87th in 1:44:49), Tanja Narancic (600th and 124th in 1:49:00), Kevin Kenny (654th in 1:51:15), Lisa Branigan, who, like her run in Bohermeen last week, treated the race as a training run (869th and 239th in 1:57:23) and Evelyn Neary (1105th and 378th in 2:08:50). Up in Belfast, Ross Neill joined over 4000 runners taking part in the Spar Craic 10k, where he placed 17th in a great time of 34:43. Earlier in the week, we had runners in two races organised in Sandymount, once again taking in the beach. In the Sandymount Night Run 10k, with its field of 733, Adrian Groarke placed 58th in 45:43, followed by John Corish (255th in 54:54). Meanwhile, in the 5k event on the same night, Alban Coghlan placed 2nd in 17:41 and Jim Stagg took 3rd spot in 18:21 in a field of 511. They were followed by Alan Martin (72nd in 28:01), Adam Kinch (74th in 27:51) and Feed Faeedi (440th in 39:34). Further afield, we had 4 runners take part in the Rome marathon on Sunday morning. In increasingly warm conditions, Kathryn Gibbons ran a negative split of around 90 seconds to finish her first marathon in a super 3:10:38, having joined up in the last 2k with Brian McGuckin who ran 3:10:39. They were followed by Sam McArdle who, despite hitting the wall at 35k, nevertheless produced a PB time of 3:21:07. Aitor Arribas Velasco also ran, but pulled out at the halfway stage. Elsewhere, one of our US exiles, Damien O’Brien ran in the NYC Half marathon where he recorded a time of 82:35. He was joined by Ian Kinsella, our exile in Canada, who ran in his first race since having had open heart surgery 5 months ago. Ian ran a great time of 1:44:15. Then in France, Clément Rincé took part in the 10k de Lille where he produced an excellent PB time of 32:33. Further south, Esther Requena Ferri and Cristian Vilchez Ceballos ran in the Campeonato Andalucia 10k torre del Mar where, Esther completed the distance in 39:08 and Cristian ran 34:09. Lydia Bigley ran 2:01 as a training run in the Lisbon half marathon, accompanied by Rory Goldsmith, who, in the heat of the day found the going tough but still recorded a good time of 1:24:07, whilst further north, Fanny Trébouet and Adelaide Foglia ran in the Liverpool Half marathon, where Adelaide recorded a time of 2:14:35 and Fanny, 2:14:40. In the mountains on Friday night, Warren Swords and Gavan Doherty took part in the 7.4k Crone Maulin Night Challenge in Co. Wicklow. It started at 20:00 and, although the route, with its climb of more than 400m, was well-marked, necessitated the wearing of head torches. In his first outing of the season, Warren placed 6th in the field of 161 in a time of 40:20, and he was followed by Gavan who ran 58:03 for 79th spot. With all the racing taking place over this weekend, there appears to have been lower participation generally in the parkruns. Nevertheless, we saw some super results among those that did participate. Stephen Hurley led the reduced field of 124 home in Poolbeg in a time of 18:30. We had at least 8 other club mates in the event, with Neil Monahan taking 6th spot in 20:16. Neil was followed by Jessica Norris (31st and 3rd in 24:44), Kevin Kenny (42nd in 25:41), Tara Murphy (52nd and 10th in 27:04), Tanja Narancic (66th and 16th in 28:40), Franky Keane (72nd in 30:02), Maureen McGinley (83rd and 26th in 31:49) and Rachel Calvey, tailwalking. Liam Morris, who has not featured in recent events, made a great return, placing 2nd in 17:12 in the field of 207 in Corkagh, ahead of Mairead Cashman who placed 102nd and 28th in 29:12. Dee Lawlor also placed 2nd, in Shanganagh, where, in a field of 215, he ran 17:28, ahead of David Carter (16th in 20:26) and Carina Davidson (181st and 75th in 34:46). In Tolka Valley Park, Phelim Murray placed 3rd in 21:21, and he was followed, in the field of 46, by Diarmuid Byrne (6th in 23:09) and Garret Connolly, no doubt pushing a buggy (14th in 25:38). Another buggy pusher was Eoghan Corrigan who tailwalked in Dodder Valley in the field of 143. Richard Morrissey ran once again in Brockwell Park, Herne Hill, placing 5th in 17:57 in a field of 396, whilst Toby Benham also ran in the UK, where, in Worthing, in a field of 585, he ran 21:19 for 71st spot. Áine Kenny placed 14th and 3rd in 28:25 in the 31-strong field in Mountbellew Forest, whilst Andy Deuser took 21st spot in 23:52 in the field of 115 in Fairview. Ross Neill joined 461 other runners in Ormeau Park along with Fiona and Lisa Shine. Ross placed 18th in 20:27, followed by Fiona (195th and 40th in 27:34) and Lisa, tailwalking. Finally, Barry O’Neill ran alongside 468 other participants in Marlay Park where he placed 198th in 27:08, whilst Paul F. Kelly ran in Ballina. In a field of 51 there, Paul placed 14th in 25:11. Tallaght AC 5k (Dublin Novice 5k) (483) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Mitchell Byrne 1 00:15:03 15 Carla Sweeney 1 00:16:54 Crusaders AC runners 4 Andrea Rondina 00:15:34 11 Alex Ainsworth 00:16:30 17 Patrick W. Conlon 00:17:03 28 Joe McDermott 00:17:21 35 Henry Griffin 00:17:37 (PB) 79 Eddie Nugent 00:18:57 96 Annie Hughes 00:19:24 (13) 99 Simon Kenny 00:19:30 121 Aoife Quigley 00:19:59 (21) 177 Cría Dowling 00:21:10 (PB) (43) 196 Rebecca Fleming 00:21:55 (49) 289 Kelly Brown 00:24:32 (87) 350 Paul E. Kelly 00:27:18 372 Mairead Cashman 00:28:33 (129) 385 Maureen McGinley 00:29:40 (138) Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/tallaght-ac-5k-2024/ AON Mullingar Half marathon (1392) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Peter Somba 1 01:09:24 34 Fiona Stack 1 01:21:26 Crusaders AC runners 53 Alby Allan 01:23:39 (PB) 102 Aaron Farrell 01:27:33 129 Tim O’Donnell 01:28:55 (PB) 149 Michael Fitzsimons 01:30:30 173 Rachel Calvey 01:31:35 (13) 211 Áine Kenny 01:34:01 (21) 244 Gillian Earley 01:34:15 (29) 339 Judy O’Connell 01:39:38 (49) 421 Triona Quill 01:43:42 (69) 480 Louise O’Riordan 01:44:49 (87) 600 Tanja Narancic 01:49:00 (124) 654 Kevin Kenny 01:51:15 869 Lisa Branigan 01:57:23 (239) 1105 Evelyn Neary 02:08:50 (378) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/aon_mullingar_half_marathon__st_patricks_day_5k/5004/results Run for Raphael’s 5k (280) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Eoin Dowling 1 00:17:38 13 Theresa Doherty 1 00:21:36 Crusaders AC runner 4 Donatas Jocius 00:18:05 Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/run-for-raphaels-2024/ Spar Craic 10k (4138) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Stephen Connolly 1 00:31:42 19 Sophie Wood 1 00:35:10 Crusaders AC runner 17 Ross Neill 00:34:43 Full results here: https://www.championchipireland.com/index.html#results Streets of Portlaoise 5k (862) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Pierre Murchan 1 00:14:24 28 Annmarie McGlynn 1 00:16:19 Crusaders AC runners 55 Brian Regan 00:17:06 207 Miriam Logan 00:21:21 (41) Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/streets-of-portlaoise-2024/ Sandymount Night Run 10k (733) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Conor O’Reilly 1 00:36:01 16 Jamie Fitzgerald (sic) 1 00:41:22 Crusaders AC runners 58 Adrian Groarke 00:45:43 255 John Corish 00:54:54 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/sandymount_nightrun_10km__5km_2024/5003/results Sandymount Night Run 5k (511) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 John Bugeja 1 00:17:30 15 Ursula Hughes 1 00:21:19 Crusaders AC runners 2 Alban Coghlan 00:17:41 3 Jim Stagg 00:18:21 72 Alan Martin 00:28:01 74 Adam Kinch 00:27:51 440 Faeed Faeedi 00:39:34 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/sandymount_nightrun_10km__5km_2024/5003/results IMRA Crone Maulin Night Challenge 7.4k (161) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Greg Byrne 1 00:38:55 37 Rebecca Carolan 1 00:48:56 Crusaders AC runners 6 Warren Swords 00:40:20 79 Gavan Doherty 00:58:03 Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2492 Corkagh Parkrun (189) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 2 Liam Morris 1 00:17:12 5 Kate McDonald 1 00:18:30 Crusaders AC runners 2 Liam Morris 00:17;12 102 Mairead Cashman 00:29:12 (28) Shanganagh Parkrun (215) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Brian Maher 1 00:17:18 11 Sarah Healy 1 00:19:37 Crusaders AC runners 2 Derek Lawlor 00:17:28 16 David Carter 00:20:26 181 Carina Davidson 00:34:46 (75) Dodder Valley Parkrun (143) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Robert O’Brien 1 00:17:59 12 Louise O’Brien 1 00:23:21 Crusaders AC runner 126 Eoghan Corrigan 00:42:48 Ballina Parkrun (51) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ciarán Canning 1 00:19:08 2 Grace Dempsey 1 00:20:24 Crusaders AC runner 14 Paul F. Kelly 00:25:11 Marlay Parkrun (469) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 August Benedicto 1 00:17:14 16 Anne O’Donovan 1 00:20:01 Crusaders AC runner 198 Barry O’Neill 00:27:08 Mountbellew Forest Parkrun (31) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Alan Conway 1 00:21:28 10 Bridget Murray 1 00:26:57 Crusaders AC runner 14 Áine Kenny 00:28:25 (3) Tolka Valley Parkrun (46) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Cian Ó Raghallaigh 1 00:19:13 13 Jill Gillman 1 00:25:34 Crusaders AC runners 3 Phelim Murray 00:21:21 6 Diarmuid Byrne 00:23:09 14 Garret Connolly 00:25:58 Poolbeg Parkrun (124) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Stephen Hurley 1 00:18:30 13 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:21:55 Crusaders AC runners 1 Stephen Hurley 00:18:30 6 Neil Monahan 00:20:16 31 Jessica Norris 00:24:44 52 Tara Murphy 00:27:04 (10) 66 Tanja Narancic 00:28:40 (16) 72 Franky Keane 00:30:02 83 Maureen McGinley 00:31:49 (26) 117 Rachel Calvey 00:47:52 (50) Ormeau Parkrun (462) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 2 Matthew Wray 1 00:18:27 12 Shileen O’Kane 1 00:19:33 Crusaders AC runners 18 Ross Neill 00:20:27 195 Fiona Shine 00:27:34 (40) 459 Lisa Shine 00:53:38 (182) Fairview Parkrun (115) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Koffi Kpoglo 1 00:20:10 18 Aine Ni Ghloinn 1 00:23:40 Crusaders AC runner 21 Andy Deuser 00:23:52 There were at least two races with Crusaders participation this weekend and neither disappointed in terms of results. The first was the visit of the BHAA to the University of Maynooth for its annual XC event, this year the penultimate race of the winter series. The second was the iconic Bohermeen half marathon in Co. Meath, with a turnout of more than 30 of our clubmates. Starting with the XC, there were 23 runners in the 2-mile women’s race on Saturday morning, conducted on two laps of a largely flat anti-clockwise looped course but in windy conditions. We only had two runners in the race, but they acquitted themselves well. Clare Sullivan won the race in a time of 13:08, with Rachael Yorke not too far back in 5th place in a time of 13:51. The following mixed race involved a field of 74 with 5 Crusaders included. On the same looped course with double the distance of the first race, Karl Walsh placed 19th in 26:19, followed by Neil Brown (35th in 28:39), Robbie Moore (40th in 29:17), David O'Donnell (44th in 30:24) and Paul E. Kelly (69th in 39:45). Then, on Sunday, many of our members recorded PBs in the half marathon conducted on the country roads around Bohermeen. It is a race well-known for its PB possibilities and we can safely say that at least half of those who represented the club on Sunday morning recorded improved times over the distance. Even so, it was a race carried out in wet conditions, making one’s shoes heavier over the two lapped course. It was breezy enough at times on what is essentially a flat course with just a couple of drags over the motorway. The start was slightly delayed because of late buses and the delay was compounded somewhat by a car meandering through the crowd gathered at the start line just before the gun. But, once the race was underway, there was no stopping everyone and there were some excellent performances recorded. Indeed, we even came home with some silverware. In a field of nearly 1500 runners, our contingent was led home by Kevin Fitzgibbon who placed 27th in a PB time of 74:11. Kevin was followed by Ciarain Kelly who also recorded a PB with a time of 74:45 for 34th. Next came Ciaran Diviney (36th and 1st M50 in 75:01) and Dee Lawlor, another runner with a PB (51st in 76:37). The 4 runners placed 3rd men’s team out of 40 in the open competition. When one adds in Robert Browne (69th in 78:05) and Joe McDermott (70th in a PB time of 78:12), the 6 men placed 2nd in the Rennick Cup behind Raheny and ahead of 27 other teams. Well done to them. Eugene McDonough was next (84th in a PB time of 79:00) and he was followed by Gerard White (97th also with a PB time of 79:29) and by Kenan Furlong (another runner with a PB, 107th in 79:42). Rory Goldsmith followed, with a time of 82:24 for 156th, ahead of Eddie Nugent (280th in 87:05) and Mags Foley who led the 4-strong women’s team home to victory in both the Delany Cup and the open competition (ahead of 24 other teams in both competitions). Mags recorded yet another PB in her preparations for the London marathon in April with a time of 88:24 for 319th place overall and 19th female finisher. The other scoring runners were Carolyn O’Reilly (415th and 38th in a PB time of 91:00), Sarah Lyons (440th and 44th in a PB time of 91:51) and Ciara Lynch (449th and 47th in 92:10). Congrats to them. In between came Conor Macguinness (351st in 89:03), David Carter (371st in 89:08) and Michael Fitzsimons (386th in 89:45), and they were followed by Tom Gleeson (in a placing to be confirmed in a PB time of 93:00) and Oisin Browne (476th in a PB time of 93:23). Oisin was followed by Isabelle Cairns (566th and 77th in 97:12), Cría Dowling (616th and 92nd in a PB time of 98:28), Dee Ni Chearbhaill (628th and 95th in 98:49), whose husband, Sean Murphy, who trains with us, placed 334th in a satisfying 1:28:30, Emily Glen (687th and 111th in a PB time of 99:58), Daniel Gleeson (695th in a PB time of 1:40:40) and Tara Gavin (698th and 113th in 1:40:14). Further back came Shivananda Pukhrem (822nd in 1:45:14), Kevin Kenny (928th in a PB time of 1:47:46), John O’Donnell (1029th in 1:51:34), Ciara Black (114th and 294th in 1:55:38), Daniel O’Mahony (1159th in 1:56:17) just ahead of Cecilia Sandre (1160th and 312th in a PB time of 1:56:18), Evelyn Neary (1396th and 440th in 2:14:25) and Linda Walsh (1414th and 454th in 2:15:48, her second fastest half marathon). We had participants on Saturday morning in only 9 parkruns, one of them in London, but as above, we had some super results. Kieran Little led home the field of 180 in Shanganagh in a time of 16:30. He was joined by Carina Davidson who placed 118th and 44th in 30:10. Dee Lawlor was one of those runners who prepared for Sunday’s half marathon by running a parkrun on Saturday morning. Dee placed 3rd in 19:59 in the 128-strong field in Cabinteely. A couple of others who participated in Bohermeen ran in Poolbeg in a contingent of 20 out of a field of 191 there. Kevin Kavanagh took 2nd place in 18:07 and he was followed by Stephen Hurley (4th in 19:13), Neil Monahan (7th in 20:36), Zlatko Kulic (21st in 21:38), Tanja Narancic (45th and 8th in 24:37) just ahead of Cian Coughlan (46th in 24:40), Franky Keane (69th in 27:04), Sharon Woods (70th and 15th in 27:05), Tara Murphy (75th and 19th in 27:14), Ciara Lehane (104th and 35th in 28:43), Yvonne Macauley (105th and 36th in 28:44), Fiona Shine (110th and 39th in 29:06), Mairead Cashman (115th and 43rd in 29:10) alongside Kenan Furlong (116th in the same time), Maureen McGinley (120th and 44th in 29:24), Máirín Shine (125th and 47th in 29:39), Áine Crotty (126th and 48th in 29:42), Kevin Kenny (129th in 29:53), Lisa Shine (161st and 73rd in 37:38) and Fiona Bane, tailwalking. Coming back from injury, Thomas Vogée headed over to London for the weekend and, alongside his brother, he ran in the hilly Hampstead Heath parkrun, placing 11th in 20:26 in a field of 372. Closer to home, Eoghan Corrigan placed 14th in 22:19 in the 228-strong Royal Canal Parkrun in Kilcock, whilst Toby Benham took 22nd spot in 21:40 in Tramore Valley, Cork in a field of 237 runners. Darina Scully placed 125th and 31st pushing her buggy in Malahide. Darina’s time was 27:33 and the field there measured 262. Finally, Maria Kennedy ran in Kilkenny, where, in a field of 189, she placed 83rd and 27th in 29:03, whilst, in Donabate, Brendan Glynn ran 25:10 for 46th place alongside 174 other participants. Bohermeen Half marathon (1486) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Martin Hoare 1 01:06:49 44 Ciara Wilson 1 01:15:31 Crusaders AC runners 27 Kevin Fitzgibbon 01:14:11 (PB) 34 Ciarain Kelly 01:14:45 (PB) 36 Ciaran Diviney 01:15:01 51 Derek Lawlor 01:16:37 (PB) 69 Robert Browne 01:18:05 70 Joe McDermott 01:18:12 (PB) 84 Eugene McDonough 01:19:00 (PB) 97 Gerard White 01:19:29 (PB) 107 Kenan Furlong 01:19:42 (PB) 156 Rory Goldsmith 01:22:24 280 Eddie Nugent 01:27:05 319 Margaret Foley 01:28:24 (PB) (19) 351 Conor Macguinness 01:29:03 371 David Carter 01:29:08 386 Michael Fitzsimons 01:29:45 415 Carolyn O’Reilly 01:31:00 (PB) (38) 440 Sarah Lyons 01:31:51 (PB) (44) 449 Ciara Lynch 01:32:10 (47) Xxx Tom Gleeson 01:33:00 (PB) 476 Oisin Browne 01:33:23 (PB) 566 Isabelle Cairns 01:37:12 (77) 616 Cría Dowling 01:38:28 (PB) (92) 628 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 01:38:49 (95) 687 Emily Glen 01:39:58 (PB) (111) 695 Daniel Gleeson 01:40:40 (PB) 698 Tara Gavin 01:40:14 (113) 822 Shivananda Pukhrem 01:45:14 928 Kevin Kenny 01:47:46 (PB) 1029 John O’Donnell 01:51:34 1114 Ciara Black 01:55:38 (294) 1159 Daniel O’Mahony 01:56:17 1160 Cecilia Sandre 01:56:18 (PB) (312) 1396 Evelyn Neary 02:14:25 (440) 1414 Linda Walsh 02:15:48 (454) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/bohermeen_ac_half_marathon/5001/results BHAA AIB/NUI women’s 2-mile XC race (23) Overall place Name Guntime 1 Clare Sullivan 00:13:08 Crusaders AC runners 1 Clare Sullivan 00:13:08 5 Rachael Yorke 00:13:51 Full results here: https://irp.cdn-website.com/15e8030f/files/uploaded/AIB%20NUI%202m%20CC%20results.pdf BHAA AIB/NUI mixed 4-mile XC race (74) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 George Snee 1 00:23:05 45 Louise English 1 00:30:27 Crusaders AC runners 19 Karl Walsh 00:26:19 35 Neil Brown 00:28:39 40 Robbie Moore 00:29:17 44 David O'Donnell 00:30:24 69 Paul E. Kelly 00:39:45 Full results here: https://irp.cdn-website.com/15e8030f/files/uploaded/AIB%20NUI%204m%20CC%20results.pdf Kilkenny Parkrun (189) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Edoardo Daves 1 00:18:54 10 Claire Phelan 1 00:21:50 Crusaders AC runner 83 Maria Kennedy 00:29:03 (27) Shanganagh Parkrun (180) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Kieran Little 1 00:16:30 11 Eileen O’Toole 1 00:20:58 Crusaders AC runners 1 Kieran Little 00:16:30 118 Carina Davidson 00:30:10 (44) Royal Canal, Kilcock Parkrun (228) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Gary McKenna 1 00:17:03 15 Aisling Nolan 1 00:22:34 Crusaders AC runner 14 Eoghan Corrigan 00:22:19 Cabinteely Parkrun (128) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Oren Kenny 1 00:18:19 5 Phillippa Lloyd 1 00:20:46 Crusaders AC runner 3 Derek Lawlor 00:19:59 Malahide Parkrun (262) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Conor Twomey 1 00:17:31 11 Jesseka Gallagher 1 00:19:58 Crusaders AC runner 125 Darina Scully 00:27:33 (31) Donabate Parkrun (175) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Patrick Phillips 1 00:18:22 9 Katie Halpin 1 00:21:18 Crusaders AC runner 46 Brendan Glynn 00:25:10 Tramore Valley, Cork Parkrun (237) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ken Ince 1 00:17:40 6 Siobhan Hoare 1 00:19:33 Crusaders AC runner 22 Toby Benham 00:21:40 Poolbeg Parkrun (191) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 James Morris 1 00:17:55 18 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:21:31 Crusaders AC runners 2 Kevin Kavanagh 00:18:07 4 Stephen Hurley 00:19:13 7 Neil Monahan 00:20:36 21 Zlatko Kulic 00:21:38 45 Tanja Narancic 00:24:37 (8) 46 Cian Coughlan 00:24:40 69 Franky Keane 00:27:04 70 Sharon Woods 00:27:05 (15) 75 Tara Murphy 00::27:14 (19) 104 Ciara Lehane 00:28:43 (35) 105 Yvonne Macauley 00:28:44 (36) 110 Fiona Shine 00:29:06 (39) 115 Mairead Cashman 00:29:10 (43) 116 Kenan Furlong 00:29:10 120 Maureen McGinley 00:29:24 (44) 125 Máirín Shine 00:29:39 (47) 126 Áine Crotty 00:29:42 (48) 129 Kevin Kenny 00:29:53 161 Lisa Shine 00:37:38 (73) 184 Fiona Bane 00:55:02 (89) The races are now starting to come thick and fast and a little snow at the end of last week was not enough to put people off taking to the cross country and roads over the weekend.
We start, however, with action on the track in the middle of last week. The highlight of the day in the latest and possibly last in the season of graded indoors races at the National Indoors Arena was the result produced by Mary Horgan who ran in a quality field of 14 in the indoors women's mile event, winning the race in a super time of 4:53.16. Two other Crusaders ran in different events on the night producing equally impressive outcomes. Liam Beaumont went in series 2, heat 1 (of 4) in the 60m sprint, which he won in 7.56, whilst Rhianna McCarthy, who now runs for UCD, also won her 60m sprint heat (heat 3 of 4 in series 1) in a time of 7.88. The poor weather leading up to the weekend, produced difficult conditions again for cross-country and the playing fields of ALSAA were back to their traditional challenging boggy conditions for the two BHAA races that took place on Saturday morning. The races enjoyed smaller fields of late, but still with some stalwart Crusaders involved. In the women’s 2-mile race, with its field of 28, once again Clare Sullivan podiumed, coming second in a time of 12:58. Clare was followed by Miriam Logan who ran 14:37 for 12th place and 1st F40. Then, in the mixed 5-mile event, enjoying a field of 68 athletes, John Mulvihill was our lead runner across the line, placing 5th in 30:21. John was followed by men’s captain Joe McDermott who placed 8th overall and 2nd M40 in 31:35 and then by Karl Walsh (33rd in 36:39), Neil Brown (37th in 38:17), Robbie Moore (38th in 38:25) right on Neil’s heels, Tomás Dunne (43rd in 39:38), Tony Hackett (45th in 40:05), David O'Donnell (50th in 40:43), Patrick Needham (54th in 42:18) and Paul E. Kelly (65th in 52:43). Members may also be interested to hear that Sean Murphy, the United Striders athlete who trains with us, placed 32nd in 35:43. Sticking with cross-country, on Sunday morning, 14 of our female club-mates took part in the 4th and final Women’s Meet and Train winter league. This time the race, that measured slightly short of the usual 2 miles, was conducted on one of the loops of the purpose-built XC course in Abbotstown. The women had to run 3 times round the course which was on a mix of firm and muddy ground (and, in particular, including an unexpected set of deep and muddy tractor tracks across the course in the final dash for the line). In a field of 93 runners, the contingent was led home by Cría Dowling (15th in 12:18) and Cría was followed by Hannah Jones (25th in 13:00), Darina Scully alongside her (26th in the same time) and Laura Gobbi closely behind (28th in 13:01). Catriona Egan was next, placing 52nd in 14:10, closely followed by Lydia Bigley (54th in 14:13), a little ahead of Laura O’Malley (59th in 14:18). Next came Carina Davidson (68th in 14:36), followed by Emma O’Mahony (72nd in 14:58), Anna Shine (82nd in 15:50), Máirín Shine (83rd in 16:11), Fiona Shine (86th in 16:30), Niamh Trihy (89th in 19:20) and her guide Lisa Shine (90th in the same time). Because we had incomplete teams for each of the series of races in the league, it appears, subject to confirmation, that we did not produce any meaningful results from a team competition point of view, but everyone had great fun in taking part in the races in which they did participate. On the roads on Saturday morning, we had two Crusaders taking part in both the half and ¾ marathons in Kinvara in Co. Galway. In extremely windy conditions, with horizontal rain at times, on an undulating looped course, Áine Kenny joined 174 other runners in the ¾ marathon, where she placed 35th overall, 5th female finisher, and probably 1st F40 by virtue of the fact that the podium had two O/40 runners on it. Then, in the half marathon, the women’s race being won by an athlete who trains with us from time to time (Catherine Thornton who was 11th overall in 1:23:14), Tara Murphy placed 414th and 128th in the field of 608 in a time of 2:01:45. Similarly, on Saturday, Kathryn Sweeney headed up to Donegal where she ran in the Bundoran 10-mile race there. In a large field of 1544 finishers, Kathryn placed 130th and 12th in a great time of 66:45. That same day, Daniel Cullen also found a ten miler to run in, closer to home. In Naas, in a field of 519, Daniel came home in 79th spot in a respectable time of 71:53. Finally, and further away from home, Florian Mormont, in training for the Paris marathon in April, ran in the Semi-Marathon de Paris, recording a time of 1:53:54 for the 21.1k distance. Even further afield, on Sunday there was a reasonable number of Irish runners among the overseas contingent who took part in the Tokyo marathon, with its field of 38,500 runners. Among them were 4 Crusaders, Liz Nixon, Kate Murray, Liam O’Brien and James Cottle. Conditions at the start were quite cold and we were packed into the corrals for over an hour beforehand. It was difficult to stay warm in temperatures just above freezing, but then when we got underway, the cool and sunny morning provided some upside and was ideal for marathon running. The starting gun produced a cascade of petals for us to run under to begin our race. The chilly start had required a decent amount of discardable clothing, which had to be placed in large bins in the starting corrals. This was just one element of the rules of the game in Japan. As we ran the course, there was virtually no litter on the roads: paper cups at the water stations were discarded in bins at the end of each station, used gel sachets were either put in the same containers or held onto. We were advised we could be disqualified for littering or throwing clothing away enroute. As a result, this approach to tidiness was pretty firmly adhered to by the competitors. The course has a slight downhill element to it over the first 5km, but thereafter flattens out with just the odd few bridges, which provided some relatively steep climbs at times. It also involves 4 out-and-back elements, allowing runners to see those ahead, including the elite front runners, and those behind. For some of us, it was exhilarating, but such elements can be demoralising for others. The turns at the end of each “finger” were also quite tight and we were reduced to a walk at times to go round them. Huge, polite crowds lined the wide streets as we went along, many of the spectators in fancy dress. It was a fun experience and so different from western marathons. We were lucky with the weather as the sun came out for much of the race, but it only got really warm towards the end and there was plenty of shade from the skyscrapers lining the route. Such buildings also created a challenge for runners. Our GPS watches were all over the place and we found that as each km mark came along our watches were registering a distance that increased over time. At the start the difference between watch and course marker was in tens of metres, but by the end of the race our watches had us finishing over 500m before the actual finish line, meaning that our watches were telling us that we had run around 43k. This made it hard for the pacing groups too and led to a certain amount of surging by the pacers at times to keep on track. In the end the best way to pace was to ignore the watch from a distance point of view and simply to check on the cumulative time at each km marker. The contingent was led home by James who stuck with the 3:10 pacers for the first 35k and ran 3:12:23 to place 5th in his M65 age category, a highly satisfactory outcome after a truncated 8-week period of training following injury in December. This was also James’ 6th marathon major (the majors being Berlin, Boston, New York, Chicago, London and Tokyo) and all runners who completed the six were given a second medal commemorating the achievement, with James joining about 250 others in Ireland to have done this (including Alma Hanevy, Joe Walsh, Ciaran Diviney, Áine Kenny and no doubt a couple more Crusaders). James was followed by Liz who was also delighted with her 3:43:31, achieved with level splits, then by Liam (3:47:58), with Kate running 4:01:25. All enjoyed the experience and the day was completed with a lavish after race party involving demonstrations of Japanese activities, including traditional theatre and Sumo wrestling together with sumptuous Japanese food and drink. Following the surprising snow storm in Dublin on Friday, several of the parkruns, including Poolbeg, were cancelled and, indeed, there appeared to be generally smaller fields at those that were held. Still, we had a decent showing in those parkruns that did take place along with a few podium finishes. The highlight of the day probably belongs to Brian Regan who was in London on the day (and where presumably the weather would have not had any impact) and in the Hackney Marshes parkrun he led home the field of 330 in a time of 18:44. Darina Scully recorded a podium finish in River Valley Park, placing 11th overall and 3rd female finisher in a time of 24:08 and in a field of 91, whilst Toby Benham also placed 3rd in Tramore Valley, Cork in a time of 18:57. The field there measured 200. Serena Molony also got herself on the podium once again in Templemore, where in a field of 67, she ran 24:18 for 16th and 3rd places. We had a reasonably large contingent in Shanganagh. In a field of 225, Dave Carter took 8th place in 20:00, followed by Caroline Crowley (39th and 4th in 23:09), Eoghan Corrigan (no doubt with his buggy), (61st in 24:21), Kevin Kenny (70th in 24:56), Orlaith de Burca (171st and 66th in 30:34), Máirín Shine (194th and 82nd in 33:47), Fiona Shine (195th and 83rd in 33:48), Carina Davidson (209th and 91st in 38:01) and Lisa Shine (212th and 93rd in 40:14). Also, running well, Paul Cowhie ran with 278 other participants in Malahide, where he placed 6th in a time of 18:07. Diarmuid Byrne took 4th spot in22:21 in the 37-strong field in Tolka Valley, whilst Andy Deuser placed 14th in 23:04 in the field of 132 in Fairview. Susanne ran on Laytown Beach where, in a field of 388, she placed 119th and 16th in 26:55. Interestingly, next week’s parkrun there is cancelled due to the start time coinciding with high tide. Mairead Cashman headed down to Co. Waterford where in the SETU Arena Parkrun she placed 62nd and 25th in 30:29 in a field of 106, whilst we had a lone runner too in St. Anne’s where, in a field of 429, Irene Gorman placed 357th and 126th in 33:40. Finally, once again Brendan Glynn ran in Donabate where, in a field of 128, he placed 56th in 26:37. Bundoran 10-mile race (1544) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Eoghain McGinley 1 00:56:18 14 Noeleen Scanlan 1 00:58:40 Crusaders AC runner 130 Kathryn Sweeney 01:06:45 (12) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/_bundoran_10_2024/5164/results Kinvara half marathon (608) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Evan Reid 1 01:12:23 11 Catherine Thornton 1 01:23:14 Crusaders AC runner 414 Tara Murphy 02:01:45 (128) Full results here: https://www.rockandroad.ie/results/?fbclid=IwAR0W543ZQriwDOVeAMPIwXvYD-ny4p-HKUOqmao5yhs4FktuFXZlVwabiAA Kinvara ¾ marathon (175) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Karl Ennis 1 01:57:24 9 Dee Collins 1 02:09:50 Crusaders AC runner 35 Áine Kenny 02:30:54 (5) Full results here: https://www.rockandroad.ie/results/?fbclid=IwAR0W543ZQriwDOVeAMPIwXvYD-ny4p-HKUOqmao5yhs4FktuFXZlVwabiAA BHAA ALSAA women’s 2-mile XC (28) Overall place Name Guntime 1 Karla Doran 00:12:43 Crusaders AC runners 2 Clare Sullivan 00:12:58 12 Miriam Logan 00:14:37 Full results here: https://irp.cdn-website.com/15e8030f/files/uploaded/ALSAA%20CC%205m%202024%20Results%20V2.pdf BHAA ALSAA mixed 5-mile XC (68) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Daniel O’Brien 1 00:28:22 21 Zoe Quinn 1 00:33:57 Crusaders AC runners 5 John Mulvihill 00:30:21 8 Joe McDermott 00:31:35 33 Karl Walsh 00:36:39 37 Neil Brown 00:38:17 38 Robbie Moore 00:38:25 43 Tomás Dunne 00:39:38 45 Anthony Hackett 00:40:05 50 David O'Donnell 00:40:43 54 Patrick Needham 00:42:18 65 Paul E. Kelly 00:52:43 Full results here: https://irp.cdn-website.com/15e8030f/files/uploaded/ALSAA%20CC%205m%202024%20Results%20V2.pdf Naas 10-mile race (519) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Hugh Armstrong 1 00:50:12 8 Becky Woods 1 00:58:24 Crusaders AC runner 79 Daniel Cullen 01:11:53 Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/naas-10-mile-2024/ Women’s Meet & Train 4th 2-mile XC (169) Overall place Name Guntime 1 Lisa Gaughan 00:11:04 Crusaders AC runners 15 Cría Dowling 00:12:18 25 Hannah Jones 00:13:00 26 Darina Scully 00:13:00 28 Laura Gobbi 00:13:01 52 Catriona Egan 00:14:10 54 Lydia Bigley 00:14:13 59 Laura O’Malley 00:14:18 68 Carina Davidson 00:14:36 72 Emma O’Mahony 00:14:58 82 Anna Shine 00:15:50 83 Máirín Shine 00:16:11 86 Fiona Shine 00:16:30 89 Niamh Trihy 00:19:20 90 Lisa Shine 00:19:20 Laytown Beach Parkrun (388) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Chun Man Tam 1 00:17:59 31 Caitriona Costello 1 00:22:33 Crusaders AC runner 179 Susanne English 00:26:55 (16) Shanganagh Parkrun (225) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Risteard MacEoin 1 00:18:30 13 Robyn Kennedy 1 00:20:40 Crusaders AC runners 8 David Carter 00:20:00 39 Caroline Crowley 00:23:09 (4) 61 Eoghan Corrigan 00:24:21 70 Kevin Kenny 00:25:46 171 Orlaith de Burca 00:30:34 (66) 194 Máirín Shine 00:33:47 (82) 195 Fiona Shine 00:33\:48 (83) 209 Carina Davidson 00:38:01 (91) 212 Lisa Shine 00:40:14 (93) St. Anne’s Parkrun (429) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ryan Bradshaw 1 00:18:39 20 Triona Nic Dhónaill 1 00:20:54 Crusaders AC runner 357 Irene Gorman 00:33:40 (126) Fairview Parkrun (132) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Matthew Cleave 1 00:18:42 7 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:21:52 Crusaders AC runner 14 Andy Deuser 00:23:04 Malahide Parkrun (279) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Stephen Butler 1 00:17:02 4 Kate Cronin 1 00:17:32 Crusaders AC runner 6 Paul Cowhie 00:18:07 River Valley Parkrun (91) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Viktoras Kuzminas 00:19:27 5 Cecile Ollagnier 1 00:22:06 Crusaders AC runner 11 Darina Scully 00:24:08 (3) Donabate Parkrun (138) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Daniel Doran 1 00:18:37 13 Órla Gilheany 1 00:22:37 Crusaders AC runner 56 Brendan Glynn 00:26:37 SETU Arena Parkrun (106) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Damian Bourke 1 00:18:48 12 Maire Mahony 1 00:22:46 Crusaders AC runner 62 Mairead Cashmman 00:30:29 (25) Tramore Valley, Cork Parkrun (200) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Barry Walsh 1 00:18:32 8 Carmel Crowley 1 00:20:15 Crusaders AC runner 3 Toby Benham 00:18:57 Tolka Valley Parkrun (37) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Mindaugas Igaris 1 00:20:19 3 Siobhan Nugent 1 00:21:24 Crusaders AC runner 4 Diarmuid Byrne 00:22:21 Templemore Parkrun (67) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Tom Lupton 1 00:19:01 10 Mairead Butler 1 00:22:14 Crusaders AC runner 16 Serena Moloney 00:24:18 (3) It was another weekend of super road racing. We had 5 runners take part in the Wicklow Hospice Half marathon this year. In a field of 373 finishers Rob Glascott was our first athlete across the line, finishing in a great time of 1:25:58 for 8th place. Further back came Phil Sykes who ran 1:50:55, taking 139th spot, and he was followed by Amy Forde (303rd and 94th female finisher in 2:07:46), Emma O’Mahony (320th and 103rd in 2:11:09) and Rachel Kelly (335th and 112th in 2:13:31). There were 4 more races on which to report over the weekend. Ciara Regan joined 168 other runners in a 5k race organised by the local GAA club in Cloonacool, South Co. Sligo, where, on an out-and-back North to South (a downhill then uphill course heading back into a strongish NE wind), she placed 18th and 2nd in a time of 19:55. Meanwhile, we had 4 runners in another 5k, the Duleek and District AC-organised event on Sunday. In a field of 333, Alex Ainsworth, just off the Dolomites the day before and, therefore, benefitting from having had a bit of altitude training, placed 5th in a PB time of 16:24. Alex was followed by Sean Brady (78th in 20:29) and by Joanne Carey (92nd and 15th in 21:08) and Carmel Higgins (138th and 30th in 22:40, neither of whom had been able to benefit from a proper warm-up, having had difficulties finding the start line. The remaining two races were both 10 milers. Triona Quill ran in the Turgeusis 10-mile race in Collinstown Co. Westmeath, where, in a field of 187, she placed 60th, 5th female finisher and 1st F50 in a time of 1:16:56. Then, down in Kinsale, Co. Cork, Tim O’Donnell and Louise O’Riordan took part alongside 925 other runners in the 10 miler there. Tim placed 77th in 1:08:38, followed by Louise (302nd and 60th in 1:20:05). Conditions were apparently quite wet. There was quite a sizeable turnout by club members in parkruns on Saturday morning, and, once again we had some first finisher and podium results. In a final shakeout before heading to Tokyo for the marathon, Kate Murray ran in Mullingar where she placed 9th overall and first female finisher in a field of 109 and in a time of 22:59. Serena Moloney was also a female first finisher, in Templemore. In a field of 100, Serena placed 19th overall in 23:45. Ross Neill led the field of 176 home in Poppintree in a time of 17:54 whilst Paul F. Kelly placed 35th in 24:56 and Diarmuid Byrne, 73rd in 27:38, there. Poolbeg also produced a first finisher this week. Rachel Calvey finished 19th overall and first female finisher in a time of 20:15. Just ahead of her in the field of 261 came Neil Monahan (14th in 20:05) and then Rachel was followed by Adrian Groarke (21st in 20:27), just ahead of John McDowell (22nd in 20:29), then came Áine Kenny (32nd and 4th in 21:11), followed by Sharon Woods (52nd and 7th in 23:03), Thomas Vogée, making his way back from injury (81st in 24:33), Josie Ward (91st and 24th in 24:57), Franky Keane (96th in 25:06), Gillian Curran (104th and 27th in 25:24), Kevin Kenny (105th in 25:26, right behind, with Eoghan Corrigan and his buggy further back (109th in 25:33). Tara Murphy was next (in 123rd and 36th spots in a time of 26:40) and she was followed by Aisling O’Riordan (138th and 44th in 27:29), Evelyn Neary (149th and 50th in 28:22) alongside Michael Fitzsimons (150th in 28:23), Faeed Faeedi (215th in 34;37), Niamh Trihy (217th and 93rd in 35:21), Mari Hansen (219th and 95th in 35:58), Mary Dolan (221st and 96th in 36:01) and Maureen McGinley, tailwalking. Toby Benham ran in the Roma Pineto parkrun in Italy, where he placed 2nd in a field of 41 and in a time of 20:03, whilst Aidan Hudner ran once again in Pollok in Glasgow, where he placed 119th in a field of 354 in a time of 27:00. Karl Walsh was another runner on the podium, running in in Naas, where, in a field of 130, he placed 2nd in 18:47, whilst Conor Little took 3rd spot alongside 179 other runners in Limerick in a time of 19:33. David Carter joined 3 other Crusaders running in Shanganagh. Dave placed 10th in the field of 256 in a time of 19:27, followed by Jill Nason (137th and 35th in 29:14), Orlaith de Burca (146th and 39th in 29:27) and Carina Davidson (194th and 74th in 33:46). Simon Kenny joined 526 other participants in St. Anne’s where he placed 17th in 19:16, whilst we had 3 runners in Fairview. Garret Connolly took 6th spot in 20:58. In a field of 158, he was followed by Andy Deuser (24th in 23:10) and Hannah Jones (37th and 3rd in 24:18). Darina Scully was our lone representative in the 118-strong River Valley Park, running a time of 31:20 with her buggy, for 58th and 18th places, whilst Ronan Moynihan also placed 18th in Marlay Park in a time of 20:06. In a field of 518, Ronan was followed by Mia Zoladz (308th and 94th in 29:48) and by Cynthia Perucca 2(385th and 132nd in 32:26). We also had 3 runners in Cabinteely. In a field of 142, Louise Dobbyn, on maternity leave, came home in 48th and 9th places in 26:18, followed by Máirín Shine (86th and 24 in 31:12) and by Lisa Shine (127th and 55th in 41:50). Finally, Mairead Cashman joined 259 other runners in Bushy Park where she placed 135th and 32nd in 39:51, whilst, on the Grand Canal Way in Tullamore, Kevin Lambe placed 55th in a time of 41:31 in a field of 74. Wicklow Hospice Half Marathon (373) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Lee Lindsay 1 01:22:39 10 Sheila O’Byrne 1 01:26:52 Crusaders AC runners 8 Rob Glascott 01:25:58 139 Phil Sykes 01:50:55 303 Amy Forde 02:07:46 (94) 320 Emma O’Mahony 02:11:09 (103) 335 Rachel Kelly 02:13:31 (112) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/wicklow_hospice_half_marathon_and_10k/4969/results Duleek & District AC 5k (333) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Kevin Donagher 1 00:15:50 23 Laura McDonnell 1 00:18:04 Crusaders AC runners 5 Alex Ainsworth 00:16:24 (PB) 78 Sean Brady 00:20:29 92 Joanne Carey 00:21:08 (15) 138 Carmel Higgins 00:22:40 (30) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/duleek__district_ac_5k_/4974/results Kinsale 10-mile race (927) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Tim O’Donoghue 1 00:52:05 29 Aoife Cooke 1 01:03:31 Crusaders AC runners 77 Tim O’Donnell 01:08:38 302 Louise O’Riordan 01:20:05 (60) Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/kinsale-10-mile-2024/ Turgeusis 10-mile race (187) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 James Keegan 1 00:56:50 35 Emer Gaffney 1 01:11:49 Crusaders AC runner 60 Triona Quill 01:16:56 (5) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/turgeusis_10__5_mile/4973/results Cloonacool GAA 5k (169) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 John Travers 1 00:14:52 8 Sinead Fowley 1 00:18:53 Crusaders AC runner 18 Ciara Regan 00:19:55 (2) Full results here: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=864614632130836&set=pcb.864614705464162 Poolbeg Parkrun (261) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Simon Schonenberger 1 00:16:46 19 Rachel Calvey 1 00:20:15 Crusaders AC runners 14 Neil Monahan 00:20:05 19 Rachel Calvey 00:20:15 (1) 21 Adrian Groarke 00:20:27 22 John McDowell 00:20:29 32Áine Kenny 00:21:11 (4) 52 Sharon Woods 00:23:03 (7) 81 Thomas Vogée 00:24:33 91 Josie Ward 00:24:57 (24) 96 Franky Keane 00:25:06 104 Gillian Curran 00:25:24 (27) 105 Kevin Kenny 00:25:26 109 Eoghan Corrigan 00:25:33 123 Tara Murphy 00:26:40 (36) 138 Aisling O’Riordan 00:27:29 (44) 149 Evelyn Neary 00:28:22 (50) 150 Michael Fitzsimons 00:28:23 215 Faeed Faeedi 00:34:37 217 Niamh Trihy 00:35:21 (93) 219 Mari Hansen 00:35:58 (95) 221 Mary Dolan 00:36:01 (96) 248 Maureen McGinley 00:51:06 Shanganagh Parkrun (256) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Nickolas Colyn 1 00:15:40 25 Lindh Fitzmaurice 1 00:21:02 Crusaders AC runners 10 David Carter 00:19:27 137 Jill Nason 00:29:14 (35) 146 Orlaith de Burca 00:29:27 (39) 194 Carina Davidson 00:33:46 (74) St. Anne’s Parkrun (527) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Mick Clohisey 1 00:16:11 10 Helen Marshall 1 00:18:48 Crusaders AC runner 17 Simon Kenny 00:19:16 Fairview Parkrun (158) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Michael Lynch 1 00:18:13 32 Charlotte Brennan 1 00:23:56 Crusaders AC runners 6 Garret Connolly 00:20:58 24 Andy Deuser 00:23:10 37 Hannah Jones 00:24:18 (3) Limerick Parkrun (180) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Rob Cross 1 00:17:58 6 Niamh Carey 1 00:20:58 Crusaders AC runner 3 Conor Little 00:19:33 River Valley Parkrun (115) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Chun Man Tam 1 00:18:40 9 Cecile Ollagnier 1 00:21:50 Crusaders AC runner 58 Darina Scully 00:31:20 (18) Mullingar Parkrun (109) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Paulius Patackas 1 00:19:35 9 Kate Murray 1 00:22:59 Crusaders AC runner 9 Kate Murray 00:22:59 (1) Naas Parkrun (130) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 David Browne 1 00:17:29 3 Aoibhreann O’Brien 1 00:20:21 Crusaders AC runner 2 Karl Walsh 00:18:47 Poppintree Parkrun (176) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ross Neill 1 00:17:54 12 Miriam Kearney 1 00:21:17 Crusaders AC runners 35 Paul F. Kelly 00:24:56 73 Diarmuid Byrne 00:27:38 Marlay Parkrun (518) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Simon Ollo 1 00:18:03 12 Lynne Hennessy 1 00:19:39 Crusaders AC runners 18 Ronan Moynihan 1 00:20:06 308 Mia Zoladz 00:29:48 (94) 385 Cynthia Perucca 00:32:26 (132) Bushy Parkrun (260) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 August Benedicto 1 00:18:59 8 Eimear O’Brien 1 00:21:01 Crusaders AC runner 135 Mairead Cashman 00:29:55 Templemore Parkrun (100) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Tom Lupton 1 00:18:11 19 Serena Moloney 1 00:23:45 Crusaders AC runner 19 Serena Moloney 00:23:45 (1) Cabinteely Parkrun (172) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 2 Diarmuid Murray 1 00:20:14 L7 Derval Devaney 1 00:21:55 Crusaders AC runners 48 Louise Dobbyn 00:26:18 (9) 86 Máirín Shine 00:31:12 (24) 127 Lisa Shine 00:41:50 (55) The Grand Canal way, Tullamore Parkrun (74) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Sean Purcell 1 00:21:07 7 Aisling Cotter 1 00:22:58 Crusaders AC runner 55 Kevin Lambe 00:41:31 The club was involved in quite a bit of racing this weekend, from XC in the latest local BHAA and WM&T races via the Senior Indoor Championships in Abbotstown to road racing around the country and further afield. We start with the Senior indoor track and field championships in the National Arena that took place over both days of the weekend. This year, just four of our club mates competed. The standout performance came from our masters athlete, Mary Horgan, who ran on both days, qualifying in the women’s 1500m in the 1st heat of 2 in 4th place with a time of 4:38.41. In the final, Mary improved significantly on her time, placing 4th in a super time of 4:29.95. Victor Michalak took on 2 events, placing 3rd in heat 5 of the 200m sprint, in a time of 26.76, but unfortunately not progressing further. Then, he placed 8th in heat 2 of the 60m in a time of 8.14, again not qualifying for the next round. Charlie Bastow and Pierre Villemin took on the 400, but neither athlete progressed beyond the heats. In heat 2 Charlie placed 3rd in 51.41, whilst Pierre ran 51.39 in heat 4, also finishing in 3rd place. On Saturday morning the latest BHAA event took place in rainy conditions in Kiltipper Park in southwest Co. Dublin, situated just below the Hellfire Club. The 4-mile mixed race in an unfamiliar location was sponsored by the Central Bank and involved a field of 109 runners. By all accounts it was something of a challenge, involving 3.5 anticlockwise laps of a 2-looped and extremely hilly course. No one found it easy, particularly as it measured slightly long! There were at least 19 Crusaders in the race, representing over 17% of the field. It was won by Colm Parnell in 24:45 and he was followed by Michael O’Conor who placed 4th in 26:32, with John Mulvihill (5th in 26:36), right on his heels. Next came Joe McDermott (11th and 3rd M40 in 27:59) and he was followed by Joe Walsh (20th and 1st M45 in 29:26). Clare Sullivan crossed the line not too far back in 2nd place in the women’s race and 21st overall in 29:40. Saoirse McGrath also finished on the podium in 3rd place (28th overall in 30:39) with Eddie Nugent in between (24th and 4th M50 in 30:07). Rachael Yorke took 32nd and 5th places in 31:04 and she was followed further back by Robbie Moore (55th in 33:31), Karl Walsh (57th and 3rd M45 in 33:54), Kate Murray (66th, 15th and 2nd F50 in 34:55) and Miriam Logan (68th, 16th and 2nd F40 in 35:12). Behind Miriam came Tony Hackett (69th and 4th M45 in 35:25), immediately followed by Tomás Dunne (70th in 35:29) and Tomás was followed by David O’Donnell (76th in 36:04), Patrick Needham (82nd in 36:55), Susan Walsh (98th, 25th and 2nd F60 in 40:44) and Paul E. Kelly (104th in 43:59). The next XC race took place on the familiar western side of Tymon Park next to the National Basketball Arena on Sunday morning, involving at least 16 Crusaders. The event was the 3rd race in the winter league of the Women’s Meet & Train. The contingent was led home in the field of 116 by Rebecca Fleming who flew round the 3-lap course in 12:45 for 14th place. Rebecca was followed by Cría Dowling in 24th place with a time of 13:22. Cría was followed by Kate Murray, two weeks before her upcoming run in the Tokyo marathon (34th in 13:41), with Carmel Higgins right behind (36th in 13:43). Darina Scully was next (39th in 13:47) and she was immediately followed by Tanja Narancic (40th in 13:48). Further back came Laura O’Malley (81st in 15:08), just ahead of Catriona Egan (82nd in 15:10) and Lydia Bigley (83rd in 15:11). The contingent was completed by Carina Davidson (91st in 15:32), Emer Liddy (92nd in 15:35), Máirín Shine (107th in 17:22), Anna Shine, who had to stop briefly with a sugar low (111th in 18:13), helped by Fiona Shine (112th in 18:14) and then came Niamh Trihy (114th in 20:23) who was guided by Lisa Shine (115th in 20:24). The race was hosted by Esker AC and was described as slightly soft and mucky in parts, but generally considered to be conducted on a relatively flat loop. Well done to all. We had at least three PB results on the roads this weekend. Down in Co. Kerry Mags Foley recorded yet another significant improvement in her time in the Tralee Valentine’s 10-mile run, placing 27th overall and 2nd woman home in a great time of 68:36. The field there measured 203. Then, on Sunday morning, Alby Allan headed down to Co. Wexford, where he ran in the Enniscorthy 10k. Alby reported that he misjudged the finish and could have finished faster, but still recorded a super 1-minute improvement by running 38:05 for the distance, placing 36th in a field of 251. The last of the PBs of which we are aware came in Mullingar in the Fore Marathon, organised by the Marathon Club of Ireland. On a hilly course, involving several out-and-backs and a couple of small loops, all conducted on country roads surrounded by farmland, Kevin Lambe ran a PB time of 3:11:24. Further afield, our exile in Dubai, John Cunnane, ran in the Town Square 5k there where he finished in a time of 23:06. We also saw Esther Requena Ferri and her partner Cristian Vilchez Ceballos in action on the roads of Southern Spain again. In El Bonillo, Esther came first in a race which measured just shy of 8k in a time of 33:22, whilst Cristian placed 2nd in his race, which was about 6.75k, in a time of 24:50. There were at least two IMRA races taking place at the weekend. However, at time of writing, results had yet to be posted and so it is unknown if any Crusaders took part in either or both of them. Once determined, the report may need to be updated. The parkruns proved quite popular this weekend, with Crusaders featuring in at least 18 of them, mostly in Ireland. This week we did not see any first finishers. However, we did record a few podium places. Ross Neill took 2nd place in Poolbeg where he ran with at least 13 other Crusaders in a field of 237. Ross was followed across the line by Stephen Hurley (4th in 19:16), Cathal O’Hara (10th in 20:01), Tom Gleeson (11th in 20:04) just behind, Michael Fitzsimons (36th in 23:04), Sharon Woods (39th and 4th in 23:07), Russell Murphy (51st in 24:00), Josie Ward (73rd and 14th in 25:09), Kevin Kenny (74th in 25:09), Aisling O’Riordan (123rd and 38th in 28:02), Una McCullagh (154th and 57th in 30:00), Cynthia Perucca (195th and 91st in 33:42), Faeed Faeedi (201st in 34:58) and Mari Hansen (208th and 100th in 36:50). Nina Holmes joined Caroline Crowley and Eoghan Corrigan in Brickfields. In a field of 103, Nina placed 8th and 2nd in 20:39, followed by Caroline, celebrating the recent birth of her second child (43rd and 11th in 26:50) and Eoghan, tailwalking. Two other of our athletes placed 2nd in their respective events. Louise O’Riordan joined Toby Benham in Tramore Valley, Cork, where Toby placed 4th in 19:29 and Louise took 23rd and 2nd spots in a field of 142 and in a time of 22:52. Then, in Templemore, Serena Moloney ran 24:13 also for 23rd and 2nd places in the 85-strong event. Dee Ni Chearbhaill and her husband Sean Murphy, the United Striders athlete who trains with us, ran in Malahide. Dee placed 39th and 5th in 22:01, whilst Sean placed 19th in 20:12 in the 332-strong field. In Tolka Valley, alongside 63 other runners, Felipe de Sousa took 7th spot in 21:41, whilst in the 517-strong field in Marlay Park, David Long placed 23rd in 20:05. Michael Judge ran with 539 other runners in St. Anne’s where he placed 18th in 20:00, whilst we had two runners in Fairview. In a field of 202, Andy Deuser took 38th spot in 23:33, whilst Hannah Jones crossed the finish line in 45th and 6th places in a time of 24:23. We had two runners in Shanganagh. In a field of 230, Carina Davidson placed 122nd and 27th in 27:42, followed by Orlaith de Burca who ran 29:37 for 156th and 48th places. Darina Scully was our lone representative in River Valley Park where, in a field of 97, she placed 64th and 19th in 32:18, whilst, in the University of Galway, Olwyn Dunne placed 160th and 38th in 28:40 alongside 95 other participants. Mairead Cashman took 160th and 38th positions in a time of 28:40 in Victoria Park in Belfast where she accompanied 244 other runners, whilst John Reidy headed to Perth in Scotland where, in a field of 284, he placed 60th in 23:17. Áine Crotty and Cian Coughlan joined 53 other runners in Coole in Co. Galway, where Áine placed 27th and 7th in 29:41, with Cian right behind in 29:42 for 28th spot. Maureen McGinley joined 71 other participants in Illaunmanagh in Co. Clare, where she placed 49th and 14th in 30:01, whilst Máirín Shine ran in the 172-strong field in Cabinteely, where she ran 33:44 for 135th and 45th places. Finally, Kevin Flynn ran 38:04 in Porterstown, where, in a field of 101, he placed 77th. BHAA Central Bank of Ireland mixed 4-mile XC (109) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Colm Parnell 1 00:24:45 12 Laura McDonnell 1 00:28:10 Crusaders AC runners 1 Colm Parnell 00:24:45 4 Michael O’Conor 00:26:32 5 John Mulvihill 00:26:36 11 Joe McDermott 00:27:59 20 Joe Walsh 00:29:26 21 Clare Sullivan 00:29:40 (2) 24 Eddie Nugent 00:30:07 28 Saoirse McGrath 00:30:39 (3) 32 Rachael Yorke 00:31:04 (5) 55 Robbie Moore 00:33:31 57 Karl Walsh 00:33:54 66 Kate Murray 00:34:55 (15) 68 Miriam Logan 00:35:12 (16) 69 Anthony Hackett 00:35:25 70 Tomás Dunne 00:35:29 76 David O’Donnell 00:36:04 82 Patrick Needham 00:36:55 98 Susan Walsh 00:40:44 (25) 104 Paul E. Kelly 00:43:59 Full results here: https://irp.cdn-website.com/15e8030f/files/uploaded/BHAA%20Central%20Bank%204m%20CC%202024%20Results.pdf Tralee Valentine’s 10-mile run (203) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Tadgh O’Sullivan 00:55:17 19 Yuliya Tarasova 1 01:06:34 Crusaders AC runner 27 Margaret Foley 01:08:36 (PB) (2) Full results here: https://results.sporthive.com/events/7164930607274760960/races/1 Enniscorthy 10k (251) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Shane Spring 1 00:32:25 23 Becky Woods 1 00:36:12 Crusaders AC runner 36 Alby Allan 00:38:05 (PB) Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/enniscorthy-10k-2024/ WM&T 2-mile XC (3rd race Tymon Park) (116) Overall place Name Guntime 1 Lisa Gaughran 00:11:49 Crusaders AC runners 14 Rebecca Fleming 00:12:45 24 Cría Dowling 00:13:22 34 Kate Murray 00:13:41 36 Carmel Higgins 00:13:43 39 Darina Scully 00:13:47 40 Tanja Narancic 00:13:48 81 Laura O’Malley 00:15:08 82 Catriona Egan 00:15:10 83 Lydia Bigley 00:15:11 91 Carina Davidson 00:15:32 92 Emer Liddy 00:15:35 107 Máirín Shine 00:17:22 111 Anna Shine 00:18:13 112 Fiona Shine 00:18:14 114 Niamh Trihy 00:20:23 115 Lisa Shine 00:20:24 Poolbeg Parkrun (237) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Seán Cahill 1 00:17:52 17 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:20:59 Crusaders AC runners 2 Ross Neill 00:18:03 4 Stephen Hurley 00:19:16 10 Cathal O’Hara 00:20:01 11 Tom Gleeson 00:20:04 36 Michael Fitzsimons 00:23:04 39 Sharon Woods 00:23:07 (4) 51 Russell Murphy 00:24:00 73 Josie Ward 00:25:09 (14) 74 Kevin Kenny 00:25:09 123 Aisling O’Riordan 00:28:02 (38) 154 Una McCullagh 00:30:00 (57) 195 Cynthia Perucca 00:33:42 (91) 201 Faeed Faeedi 00:34:58 208 Mari Hansen 00:36:50 (100) Shanganagh Parkrun (230) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Bobby More 1 00:17:46 10 Holly O’Brien 1 00:18:45 Crusaders AC runners 122 Carina Davidson 00:27:42 (27) 156 Orlaith de Burca 00:29:37 (48) St. Anne’s Parkrun (540) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Niall Simmonds 1 00:17:24 19 Simone Young-Alls 1 00:20:01 Crusaders AC runner 18 Michael Judge 00:20:00 Fairview Parkrun (202) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Francesco Hua Huang 1 00:19:38 12 Natasha Pointon 1 00:21:38 Crusaders AC runner 38 Andy Deuser 00:23:33 45 Hannah Jones 00:24:23 (6) Victoria Park, Belfast Parkrun (245) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Paul Attley 1 00:16:39 26 Jennifer Black 1 00:20:20 Crusaders AC runner 160 Mairead Cashman 00:28:40 (38) River Valley Parkrun (97) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 S Jenkinson 1 00:18:45 7 Cecile Ollagnier 1 00:21:59 Crusaders AC runner 64 Darina Scully 00:32:18 (19) University of Galway Parkrun (96) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Eugene Feely 1 00:17:53 9 Kelsi Johnston 1 00:22:30 Crusaders AC runner 22 Olwyn Dunne 00:24:54 Malahide Parkrun (332) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Niall Baragwanath 1 00:18:30 4 Annette Kealy 1 00:19:05 Crusaders AC runner 39 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:22:01 (5) Tolka Valley Parkrun (64) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Robert Mackey 1 00:18:57 13 Claire Gilligan 1 00:24:37 Crusaders AC runner 7 Felipe de Sousa 00:21:41 Marlay Parkrun (517) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 August Benedicto 1 00:17:43 17 Chloe Hartley-Green 1 00:19:51 Crusaders AC runner 23 David Long 00:20:05 Tramore Valley, Cork Parkrun (142) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Conrad Watt 1 00:17:05 10 Daniela Wright 1 00:21:08 Crusaders AC runners 4 Toby Benham 00:19:29 23 Louise O’Riordan 00:22:52 (2) Brickfields Parkrun (103) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Richard Henderson 1 00:17:59 2 Emily McNicol 1 00:19:10 Crusaders AC runners 8 Nina Holmes 00:20:39 (2) 43 Caroline Crowley 00:26:50 (11) 98 Eoghan Corrigan 00:51:21 Cabinteely Parkrun (172) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Sean Terek 1 00:19:13 7 Phillippa Lloyd 1 00:21:40 Crusaders AC runner 135 Máirín Shine 00:33:44 (45) Porterstown Parkrun (101) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Thomas Sherlock 1 00:17:10 22 Joanne Bruen 1 0:26:03 Crusaders AC runner 77 Kevin Flynn 00:38:04 Templemore Parkrun (85) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Alex Crowley 1 00:17:44 4 Eileen McCullagh 1 00:20:13 Crusaders AC runner 23 Serena Moloney 00:24:13 (2) Coole Parkrun (54) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Michael McEnery 1 00:20:31 10 Cait McLoughlin 1 00:25:08 Crusaders AC runners 27 Áine Crotty 00:29:41 (7) 28 Cian Coughlan 00:29:42 Illaunmanagh Parkrun (72) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Christopher Hamilton 1 00:19:23 20 Barbara Gill 1 00:22:36 Crusaders AC runner 49 Maureen McGinley 00:30:01 (14) The iconic Donadea 50k, which doubles as the 50k national championships, took place this weekend, whilst the start of the week heralded the first of this year women’s mini marathon events, this being held in Galway, appropriately on St. Brigid’s Day. There were plenty of other races taking place during this period too. We start, however, as is our custom, with events on the track, indoors for the present. Midweek saw Meet 7 of the Track and Field (graded) competition at the National Indoor Arena. There were two heats of the women’s 800m and in the second, the faster of the two, Claire Mooney led home a field of 8 in a super time of 2:07.42. Mary Horgan also took part, and the masters athlete placed 4th in 2:11.84, just behind her training partner, Ellie Hartnett (2:10.87). Then, in heat 2 of 3 heats in the men’s 800m, Enda Clarke, another masters athlete, took 7th place in 2:06.37. Mention was made above of the Women’s mini-marathon in Galway. We had one runner in the event which enjoyed a substantial field of 556. As she prepares for the London Marathon in April, Mags Foley excelled herself over the 10k course, recording a PB time of 41:51 and 8th place in the race. On Saturday, Olwyn Dunne, Kevin Kenny and Joe Dunne featured in the Donadea 50k national championships. Likely because of recent bad weather, the course on forest trails this year had to be slightly changed so that, instead of the usual 10 laps of 5k, this year’s course (without the usual hill) began with 1 lap of just over 1km, followed by 13 laps of just over 3.75km. As a result of this, it might have led Kevin to miscounting his laps, ending up outside the cutoff time of 5 hours as he still had one lap to go as he crossed the line. Easily done, but a tough outcome. Joe paced the 5-hour runners, pulling out after about 42k, which was all that was required of him. Olwyn, therefore, was our sole recorded finisher and the former champion finished in 107th spot overall, 12th female across the line of the 261 recorded finishers, and also taking the silver medal in the F50 category. On the same day, Ciarain Kelly ran alongside 306 other runners in the Rathcoffey GAA 10k, outside Clane in Co. Kildare, where, on an undulating east-west out-and-back course with a large anti-clockwise loop at its furthest end, he recorded a PB time of 34:25 for 7th place overall. Then, on Sunday, Aoife Cleary, a recent member, took on the challenging hilly Gap of Dunloe half marathon in Co. Kerry, placing 5th overall in a race with a field of 243 and winning the women’s race in a time of 1:32:49, only a couple of minutes behind the overall winner. Further afield, we had at least 3 runners in the 34th edition of the Barcelona half marathon. Brian O’Kelly completed the distance in 1:14:40 to place 374th, followed by Nina Holmes who ran a super time of 1:28:59 to place 2,878th and 212th female finisher. Not much further back came Maeve Lochrie who ran 1:31:10 for 3499th and 277th. It was quite cool at the start at 8 degrees Celsius, with a strong-ish west-north-westerly breeze which would have been in runners’ faces for long pieces of the race. The day before, down in Australia, Maurice Kelter took part in the NSW State community 5k race, where he placed 2nd overall in a PB time of 16:18. We have been neglectful of a few IMRA results in recent weeks. A Leinster Spring League race that took place on 21 January, known as the Brockagh Burst in Co. Wicklow, covering a distance of 6k and a climb of 200m, involved Brendan Holton who took 36th place in the 149-strong field. Then, last weekend, in Mullaghmeen, Co. Meath, a race in the same league was conducted over 11.45k and involved a climb of nearly 450m. Becky Quinn ran in that, placing 17th and 2nd female finisher in a field of 99. Becky also won the F50 category. This weekend, two IMRA-organised races took place, for both of which we now have the results. The first race was the Trooperstown Winter 9.7k with a climb of 380m, another race in the Leinster Spring League. Once again, Becky Quinn, made an impact in the race, this time behind women’s race winner Clare Sullivan. In a field of 160, Clare placed 27th overall in 50:40, with Becky placing 33rd, 2nd and 1st F50 in a time of 51:56. The second event was the Slí Chorcaí Ultra, in Co. Cork, being the first round of the Irish ultra championships. In a field of 77 finishers Donatas Jocius placed 10th in a time of 7:39:45 (3rd M35), followed by Raghnall O'Donoghue who placed 26th (3rd M45) in a time of 8:28:56. The race involved a climb of over 2000m over a distance of over 70k. Crusaders’ participation in parkruns was down this weekend, but we still had some excellent results. Kieran Little made an appearance in Shanganagh and, in a field of 270, he led everyone home in a time of 18:05. Towards the back of the field came Carina Davidson in 253rd and 108th places in 43:02. Áine Kenny was also a first finisher, placing 4th overall in Mountbellew Forest. In a field of 47, Áine ran 22:03. Ross Neill ran once again in Ormeau Park in Belfast where, in a field of 550, he placed 2nd in a time of 18:01, whilst Darina Scully placed 13th and 2nd in the 125-strong field in River Valley in a time of 24:12. In a modest field of 15 in Narin Beach, Hannah Jones took 4th and 2nd places in 23:27, whilst in an equally modest field of 20 in Farfalle in Italy, Maureen McGinley placed 14th and 6th in 31:16. Our largest contingent was, as usual, running in Poolbeg. We had at least 14 take part in a field of 222. Kenan Furlong added the parkrun to his LSR, placing 27th in 21:36. He was followed by Michael Fitzsimons (41st in 22:28), Dale Whelehan (48th in 23:07), Franky Keane (49th in 23:14), John McDowell (65th in 24:10), Fiona Bane (70th and 8th in 24:28), Josie Ward (71st and 9th in 24:29), Louise O’Riordan (77th and 13th in 24:50), Kate Healy (83rd and 15th in 25:15), Kelly Brown (100th and 22nd in 26:14), Tara Murphy (109th and 27th in 26:41), Aisling O’Riordan (132nd and 39th in 28:48), Anna Hernick (147th and 52nd in 29:25) and Cynthia Perucca (194th and 77th in 33:55). We had a couple of runners in St. Anne’s Raheny. Michael Maughan placed 88th in a field of 559 and in a time of 24:25, followed by Irene Gorman (399th and 152nd in 32:33), whilst we also had two runners in Fairview. In a field of 186, Andy Deuser placed 25th in 23:31, followed by Garret Connolly, most like with a buggy (85th in 28:38). Mairead Cashman was our lone runner in Glen River alongside 75 other participants, where she placed 53rd and 11th in 32:19, whilst Eoghan Corrigan placed 108th in 25:49 in the 309-strong field in Malahide (again, Eoghan was likely pushing a buggy too). Finally, Toby Benham ran leisurely in Tramore Valley, Cork, where, in a field of 204, he placed 117th in 28:52. Galway Women’s Mini marathon (556) Overall place Name Chiptime 1 Isobel Oakes 00:37:06 Crusaders AC runner 8 Margaret Foley 00:41:51 (PB) Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/galway-womens-mini-marathon-2024/ Rathcoffey GAA 10k (307) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Colin Maher 1 00:31:05 27 Michelle Keenan 1 00:39:14 Crusaders AC runner 7 Ciarain Kelly 00:34:25 (PB) Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/rathcoffey-gaa-10k-5k-2024/ Donadea 50K (National Championships) (258) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Ian Fitzgerald 1 03:04:40 9 Sorcha Loughnane 1 03:18:00 Crusaders AC runner 107 Olwyn Dunne 04:26:20 (12) Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/donadea50k-2024/ Gap of Dunloe Half marathon (243) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Barry Kelly 1 01:28:31 5 Aoife Cleary 1 01:32:49 Crusaders AC runner 5 Aoife Cleary 01:32:49 Full results here: https://my.raceresult.com/277586/ IMRA Brockagh Burst 6k (149) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Enda Cloake 1 00:28:16 38 Niamh Brophy 1 00:38:48 Crusaders AC runner 36 Brendan Holton 00:38:22 Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2462/category/O/ IMRA Mullaghmeen 11.45k (99) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Enda Cloake 1 00:53:40 8 Sarah Flanagan 1 01:02:42 Crusaders AC runner 17 Becky Quinn 01:05:27 (2) Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2464/category/O/ IMRA Trooperstown Winter 9.7k (160) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Matthew McConnell 1 00:39:48 27 Clare Sullivan 1 00:50:40 Crusaders AC runners 27 Clare Sullivan 00:50:40 (1) 33 Becky Quinn 00:51:56 (2) Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2465/category/O/ IMRA Slí Chorcaí Ultra 71.5k (77) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1Enda Cloake 1 06:14:00 13 Lianne Van Dijk 1 07:45:00 Crusaders AC runners 10 Donatas Jocius 07:39:45 26 Raghnall O'Donoghue 08:28:56 Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2423/category/O/ Poolbeg Parkrun (222) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Jack Fullerton 1 00:17:18 16 Niamh Cotter 1 00:20:26 Crusaders AC runners 27 Kenan Furlong 00:21:36 41 Michael Fitzsimons 00:22:28 48 Dale Whelehan 00:23:07 49 Franky Keane 00:23:14 65 John McDowell 00:24:10 70 Fiona Bane 00:24:28 (8) 71 Josie Ward 00:24:29 (9) 77 Louise O’Riordan 00:24:50 (13) 83 Kate Healy 00:25:15 (15) 100 Kelly Brown 00:26:14 (22) 109 Tara Murphy 00:26:41 (27) 132 Aisling O’Riordan 00:28:48 (39) 147 Anna Hernick 00:29:25 (52) 194 Cynthia Perucca 00:33:55 (77) Shanganagh Parkrun (270) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Kieran Little 1 00:18:05 11 Sarah Baryga 1 00:20:36 Crusaders AC runners 1 Kieran Little 00:18:05 199 Orlaith de Burca 00:32:19 (75) 253 Carina Davidson 00:43:02 (108) St. Anne’s Parkrun (559) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Jamie Gahan 1 00:15:28 16 Jane Gormley 1 00:20:02 Crusaders AC runners 88 Michael Maughan 00:24:25 399 Irene Gorman 00:32:33 (152) Fairview Parkrun (186) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Mark Darcy 1 00:19:30 8 Lydia Blythe 1 00:21:56 Crusaders AC runners 25 Andy Deuser 00:23:31 85 Garret Connolly 00:28:38 Ormeau Parkrun (550) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Chris Anderson 1 00:17:26 15 Clare Lavery 1 00:20:01 Crusaders AC runner 2 Ross Neill 00:18:01 River Valley Parkrun (125) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Nicholas Ruiter 1 00:19:15 7 Sarah Rossiter 1 00:22:55 Crusaders AC runner 13 Darina Scully 00:24:12 (2) Glen River Parkrun (76) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Tadhg Crowley 1 00:18:44 12 Charlotte Bishop 1 00:23:28 Crusaders AC runner 53 Mairead Cashman 00:32:19 (11) Malahide Parkrun (309) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Hugh Driver 1 00:18:28 9 Aine Crimin 1 00:19:45 Crusaders AC runner 108 Eoghan Corrigan 00:25:49 Narin Beach Parkrun (15) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Eimear Marie English 1 00:20:32 2 Donal Cape 1 00:20:50 Crusaders AC runner 4 Hannah Jones 00:23:27 (2) Mountbellew Forest Parkrun (47) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Adrian Smith 1 00:18:43 4 Áine Kenny 1 00:22:03 Crusaders AC runner 4 Áine Kenny 00:22:03 (1) Tramore Valley, Cork Parkrun (204) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Andy Goulding 1 00:17:13 5 Orla Byrne 1 00:18:50 Crusaders AC runner 117 Toby Benham 00:28:52 |