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. 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 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 Over four and half thousand runners took part in two iconic 10-milers on Sunday. One of them was holding its 32nd edition, the John Treacy Dungarvan 10-miler down in Co. Waterford, the other, the much younger, but no less well-supported, Trim AC-organised 10 miler took place in Co. Meath. Neither race disappointed, despite challenging weather conditions. Another classic set of races took place on Saturday morning. These were the ladies' and mixed cross-country races organised by the BHAA and sponsored by An Garda Siochána traditionally held around the Munich mile area of the Phoenix Park. We start with the Garda races. In damp but not too windy conditions on Saturday morning, the first race of the day, the two-mile event, enjoyed a much smaller field than of late, lacking the numbers that have been produced in the past by the Dublin Lord Mayor’s initiative. Nevertheless, 48 plucky runners took part in the race, among them 7 from the club, on a course that twice took in the gullies leading down to, and up from, the bottom of the Khyber Pass near the Islandbridge Gate and the Magazine fort at the southern end of the park. Conditions were quite muddy in places, although the course deviated slightly from and avoided a familiar particularly muddy gap between the trees in the copse at the top of the uphill gully. Clare Sullivan was our leading finisher, placing second, having led a pack pursuing the eventual winner, Laura McDonnell, throughout the race. Clare’s time was 13:13 and she was followed home by Saoirse McGrath (4th in 13:29) and by Amy McGuinness (6th in 13:37), both of whom had tried to stick with Clare in her pursuit of Laura. Rachael Yorke was next, in 10th place in a time of 14:16, with Rebecca Fleming not too far behind in 17th place (15:09). The contingent was completed by Olwyn Dunne who placed 24th overall and 3rd F55 in 16:29, followed by coach Susan Walsh who placed 26th overall and 2nd F60 in 17:10. The following race was ostensibly a mixed 4-miler on the same course, with an extension up to the Acres Road near the Papal Cross. However, only one or two women actually decided to take part in it. The event enjoyed a field nearly double that of the ladies’ race and again we provided a significant percentage of the numbers, nearly 12% or 11 runners. Michael O’Conor demonstrated that he is running as well as ever with a super 5th place finish in 24:26, pursued by Ross Neill in 11th place (25:00). Placing 21st and 4th M45 Joe Walsh was next, in 21st place in a time of 26:00 and slightly further back came Karl Walsh (33rd in 27:23). There was a further pack of Crusaders to come, led home by Neil Brown (51st in 30:07), followed by Robbie Moore (58th in 30:33). Next came David O’Donnell (60th in 30:44), followed closely by Tony Hackett (62nd in 30:50). The contingent was completed by Tomás Dunne (72nd in 32:56), coach Michael McGovern (81st in 35:04) and Paul E. Kelly (92nd in 40:28). Then on Sunday, the first of the 10-milers to head out was in Dungarvan. The conditions would have been relatively dry on the largely anti-clockwise course that for about 60% of its length resembled a profile similar to that of Trim. With a strong WSW wind (27kph), runners would have had a headwind for some of the time from the start where they headed due south on a small loop and then as they headed west after about 3 miles before running into a cross wind and finally a tailwind to take them home. As in Trim, the course can be considered undulating, but not overly hilly. We had 11 of our clubmates in the race, led home by Ciarain Kelly with a PB time of 56:51 to place 28th in a field measuring 2835 finishers. Ciarain was followed by Ger Forde (51st in 58:30), who was not too far in front of Michael Kiely (57th in 58:54) who was pacing again the Thurles visually impaired runner Declan Ryan (58th in 58:55). In a race where 79 runners broke the hour mark, John Mulvihill was not too far outside with a time of 60:04 for 80th spot. The three man team of Ciarain, Ger and Michael took a creditable 4th place in a competition involving 64 teams. Mikey Coleman was our next athlete to cross the finishing line, in 235th spot and a time of 64:43, followed closely by Kathryn Gibbons, who is in training for March’s Rome marathon, with a PB time of 64:53 (236th overall and 15th female finisher). Eddie Nugent came next (290th in 66:25) and he was followed by Conor Macguinness (67:36 for 334th). Gillian Earley also had a good run in the conditions for 419th and 36th places with a time of 68:59 and she was followed by Dee Ni Chearbhaill (800th and 123rd in 74:37). Finally, Miriam Logan made a welcome return to racing, placing 951st and 155th in a time of 76:56. The three-woman team of Kathryn, Gill and Dee placed a strong 5th out of 48 teams in the competition. Members may be interested to learn that Sean Murphy, of the Wexford United Striders club, who trains with us, also ran in the race, recording a time of 69:01 for 430th spot. Trim was a similar story, although arguably the wind would have had more of an impact. Starting an hour later, the wind had time to increase to a speed of 35kph from the WSW, so that runners on the anti-clockwise route (and not unduly hilly) had a couple of miles of a headwind at the top of the course, then a strong crosswind on the return for about 4 miles, followed by a finish that was incredibly tough with about 600m of relentless headwind that may have added 15-30 seconds to runners’ times. The race witnessed a return of Peter Somba to the competitive environment, but on this occasion he had to settle for 2nd place in a field of 1687 finishers, running 51:33, two seconds behind the winner, Conor Duffy. AnnMarie McGlynn was a late entry to the field, but she took away the main prize in the women’s race, placing 14th overall in 56:23. Despite many times recorded being slower than last year’s because of the wind, we still saw PB finishes from runners over a distance which for many is a sweet spot in long distance racing. Dee Lawlor was one of those. He placed 33rd in a PB time of 58:27 and also coming home in 5th place in his M45 age category. Joe McDermott was next, placing 56th in 59:44 and he was followed by Kevin Kavanagh (67th in 60:08) who, for the second half of the race, was pacing ex-Crusader (now GCH, but who still trains with us from time to time) Catherine Thornton to a PB time of 60:07 (66th overall and 4th female finisher). Along with Robert Browne (89th in 61:07), the 4-man team of Dee, Joe, Kevin and Robert placed 4th men’s team in a competition involving 89 teams. Of interest, 62 runners broke 60 minutes in the race. The next athlete across the line was Kieran Martin who ran a satisfying 61:58 for 112th place and he was followed by Kevin Lambe wo recorded a PB of 65:21 for 206th place. He was possibly trying to follow the solitary 65 minutes pacer whose silver balloon flew up into space within the first 3 miles. Kevin was followed by Adrienne Jordan, who is racing herself back to fitness (219th and 22nd in 65:56) and by James Cottle (269th overall and 1st M65 in 67:49). James, who is in training for the Tokyo marathon in less than a month’s time, ran a tactical race, starting relatively steadily and reeling in his closest adversary at around 4 miles. He then hung on to the lead for the rest of the race. Aoife Quigley was the next runner home, placing just behind James in 284th and 34th places in a time of 68:38. Further back, in her first 10-mile race, Anna Gallo, who was not recorded as a Crusader in the race, placed 349th and 43rd in a super time of 70:29 and she was followed by Sharon Woods (707th and 156th in 78:56). If Anna had been included in the team results, then the first 4 women home would have placed 5th in a competition involving 76 teams. The contingent was completed by tow of our runners pacing the 90 minutes finishers (Olwyn Dunne who ran 79:40 for 735th and 168th places) and husband Joe who was pacing the 100 minutes finishers (99:33 for 1475th place). Both are preparing for this month’s Donadea 50k race, with Joe likely to pace that too. All in all, a highly satisfying day for many of our athletes. Further afield, Tara Gavin joined our Spanish exiles Esther Requena Ferri and Cristian Vilchez Ceballos in running in the Torremolinos Half marathon on Sunday. Cristian was 4th in his category running 1:19 for the distance, followed by Esther who recorded a PB with her time of 1:26. Tara ran a super 1:42 on what would be considered a hilly course (first half and finish) in otherwise excellent conditions. We had a number of first finishers in Saturday morning’s parkruns. Our largest contingent was as usual in Poolbeg where Chris Russell was first across the line in 16:54. He led home at least 13 Crusaders in a field of 171. Chris was followed home by Stephen Hurley in 5th place in 17:59 and Luke Corcoran a little further back (11th in 20:10). Josie Ward was our first female runner home in 60th and 9th places in 24:20 and she was followed by Michael Fitzsimons (63rd in 24:27). Kevin Kenny followed Michael in 67th place in a time of 24:45 and he was followed by Russell Murphy (71st in 24:58), Tanja Narancic (78th and 13th in 25:48), Paul Campbell (81st in 25:56), Christina Campbell (83rd and 15th in 26:05), Maureen McGinley (116th and 33rd in 28:49), Jessica Norris (126th and 41st in 29:26) and Cynthia Perucca (152nd and 55th in 32:55). Elsewhere, Paul Flynn was a first finisher in Griffeen Park where he ran 18:58 ahead of a field of 220. Colm Foley also ran there, placing 43rd in 23:40. Meanwhile Laura Flannelly (née Schwirz) placed 14th overall and first female runner across the line in the 108-strong field in Claremorris, recording a time of 23:31. She was preceded by John O’Donnell who finished in 3rd place in 19:13. Kate Murray took second spot and 20th overall in Mullingar. In a field of 129, Kate ran a time of 22:12. Meanwhile, Mairead Cashman ran in a modest field of 16 in Knockanacree Woods where she finished in 6th and 2nd in a time of 36:23, whilst, in River Valley Park, pacing the 25 minute runners, Darina Scully ran 25:02 for 21st and 5th places in a field of 109 runners. Members of the Shine family ran in the 75-strong field in Hartstown, where Fiona placed 32nd and 8th in 28:01, Máirín took 38th and 13th spots in 29:08 and Lisa finished in 59th and 29th places in 36:20. Kieran Martin and Michael Maughan joined 504 other participants in St. Anne’s, Raheny, where Kieran placed 18th in 20:39 and Michael placed 91st in 23:59, whilst Toby Benham placed 34th in 22:26 in a field of 247 in Tramore Valley, Cork. Jill Nason ran in another Tramore parkrun, in Co. Waterford, where she placed 43rd and 11th in a time of 25:26. The field there measured 202. Further afield, Sarah Lyons ran in her native Aylesbury where, in a field of 140, she placed 48th and 11th in 26:38, whilst Enda Currid joined 667 other runners in Oxford, where, in the University Parks parkrun, he placed 69th in 20:34. Aoife Quigley and Harp Bhambra ran in the 461-strong field in Marlay Park, where Aoife placed 57th and 6th in 23:18, whilst Harp came home in 329th and 110th places in 32:37, whilst in Tolka Valley, Diarmuid Byrne placed 8th in 22:59 and Felipe de Sousa ran 28:05 for 25th place in a field of 50. Andy Deuser was our singleton runner in Fairview alongside 188 other participants where he placed 56th with a time of 25:36, whilst we had two runners in Bushy Park. Daniel Lowe made a welcome return to competitive running, placing 9th in 21:05, followed by Gillian Lyons (154th and 47th in 32:38). The field measured 211 there. Finally, our new club communications officer, Cría Dowling, joined Carina Davidson in Shanganagh, where, in a field of 213, Cría placed 195th and 75th in 37:04, followed by Carina who placed 202nd and 80th in a time of 42:31. John Treacy Dungarvan 10-mile race (2835) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Oisin Spillane 1 00:51:56 65 Ciara Wilson 1 00:59:14 Crusaders AC runners 28 Ciarain Kelly 00:56:51 (PB) 51 Ger Forde 00:58:30 57 Michael Kiely 00:58:54 80 John Mulvihill 01:00:04 235 Mikey Coleman 01:04:43 236 Kathryn Gibbons 01:04:53 (PB) (15) 290 Eddie Nugent 01:06:25 334 Conor Macguinness 01:07:36 419 Gillian Earley 01:08:59 (36) 800 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 01:14:37 (123) 951 Miriam Logan 01:16:56 (155) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/john_treacy_dungarvan_10_mile/4982/results Trim AC 10-mile race (1687) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Conor Duffy 1 00:51:31 14 AnnMarie McGlynn 00:56:23 Crusaders AC runners 33 Derek Lawlor 00:58:27 (PB) 56 Joe McDermott 00:59:44 67 Kevin Kavanagh 01:00:08 89 Robert Browne 01:01:07 112 Kieran Martin 01:01:58 206 Kevin Lambe 01:05:21 (PB) 219 Adrienne Jordan 01:05:56 (22) 269 James Cottle 01:07:49 284 Aoife Quigley 01:08:38 (34) 349 Anna Gallo 01:10:29 (PB) (43) 707 Sharon Woods 01:18:56 (156) 735 Olwyn Dunne 01:19:40 (168) PACER 1475 Joe Dunne 01:39:33 PACER Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/trim-10-mile-road-race-2024/ BHAA Garda 2-mile XC women’s race (48) Overall place Name Guntime 1 Laura McDonnell 00:12:17 Crusaders AC runners 2 Clare Sullivan 00:13:13 4 Saoirse McGrath 00:13:29 6 Amy McGuinness 00:13:37 10 Rachael Yorke 00:14:16 17 Rebecca Fleming 00:15:09 24 Olwyn Dunne 00:16:29 26 Susan Walsh 00:17:10 Full results here: https://irp.cdn-website.com/15e8030f/files/uploaded/Race%20Master%202024%20Garda%202m%20-%204m%20CC%20races.pdf BHAA 4-mile XC mixed race (94) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Daniel O’Brien 1 00:22:57 71 Pauline Hilliard 1 00:32:18 Crusaders AC runners 5 Michael O’Conor 00:24:26 11 Ross Neill 00:25:00 21 Joe Walsh 00:26:00 33 Karl Walsh 00:27:23 51 Neil Brown 00:30:07 58 Robbie Moore 00:30:33 60 David O’Donnell 00:30:44 62 Anthony Hackett 00:30:50 72 Tomás Dunne 00:32:56 81 Michael McGovern 00:35:04 92 Paul E. Kelly 00:40:28 Full results here: https://irp.cdn-website.com/15e8030f/files/uploaded/Race%20Master%202024%20Garda%202m%20-%204m%20CC%20races.pdf Poolbeg Parkrun (171) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Chris Russell 1 00:16:54 24 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:21:26 Crusaders AC runners 1 Chris Russell 00:16:54 5 Stephen Hurley 00:17:59 11 Luke Corcoran 00:20:10 60 Josie Ward 00:24:20 (9) 63 Michael Fitzsimons 00:24:27 67 Kevin Kenny 00:24:45 71 Russell Murphy 00:24:58 78 Tanja Narancic 00:25:48 (13) 81 Paul Campbell 00:25:56 83 Christina Campbell 00:26:05 (15) 116 Maureen McGinley 00:28:49 (33) 126 Jessica Norris 00:29:26 (41) 152 Cynthia Perucca 00:32:55 (55) Shanganagh Parkrun (213) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Nickolas Colyn 1 00:15:41 10 Muirna Twomey 1 00:20:39 Crusaders AC runners 195 Cría Dowling 00:37:04 (75) 202 Carina Davidson 00:42:31 (80) St. Anne’s Parkrun (506) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Kevin Donagher 1 00:16:14 7 Helen Marshall 1 00:19:03 Crusaders AC runners 18 Kieran Martin 00:20:39 91 Michael Maughan 00:23:59 Fairview Parkrun (189) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Rory Hearne 1 00:18:51 23 Aine Ni Ghloinn 1 00:22:58 Crusaders AC runner 56 Andy Deuser 00:25:36 Griffeen Parkrun (220) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Paul Flynn 1 00:18:58 36 Jiaojiao Wang 1 00:23:16 Crusaders AC runners 1 Paul Flynn 00:18:58 43 Colm Foley 00:23:40 River Valley Parkrun (109) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Declan McGrath 1 00:21:14 4 Cecile Ollagnier 1 00:22:18 Crusaders AC runner 21 Darina Scully 00:25:02 (5) Hartstown Parkrun (75) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 John Brogan 1 00:18:54 17 Olivia Barrett 1 00:25:56 Crusaders AC runners 32 Fiona Shine 00:28:01 (8) 38 Máirín Shine 00:29:08 (13) 59 Lisa Shine 00:36:20 (29) Marlay Parkrun (461) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 August Benedicto 1 00:17:38 3 Amy Pollmann-Daamen 1 00:17:57 Crusaders AC runners 57 Aoife Quigley 00:23:18 (6) 329 Harp Bhambra 00:32:37 (110) Mullingar Parkrun (129) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 2 Oisin Quinn 1 00:19:03 14 Michelle Langan 1 00:21:39 Crusaders AC runner 20 Kate Murray 00:22:12 (2) Tramore Waterford Parkrun (202) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Brian Gallagher 1 00:17:48 11 Sarah Whelan 1 00:21:26 Crusaders AC runner 43 Jill Nason 00:25:26 (11) Tramore Valley, Cork Parkrun (247) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Fergal Sargent 1 00:17:59 6 Teresa Murphy 1 00:19:32 Crusaders AC runner 34 Toby Benham 00:22:26 Bushy Parkrun (211) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Peter Gray 1 00:19:25 4 Caroline McCarthy 1 00:20:18 Crusaders AC runners 9 Daniel Lowe 00:21:05 154 Gillian Lyons 00:32:38 (47) Claremorris Parkrun (108) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Cian O’Mahony 1 00:18:33 14 Laura Flannelly 1 00:23:31 Crusaders AC runners 3 John O’Donnell 00:19:13 14 Laura Flannelly 00:23:31 (1) Knockanacree Parkrun (16) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 William Delahunty 1 00:22:28 5 Sorcha Holohan 1 00:30:08 Crusaders AC runner 6 Mairead Cashman 00:36:23 (2) Tolka Valley Parkrun (50) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Mindaugas Igaris 1 00:19:46 6 Miriam Kearney 1 00:22:16 Crusaders AC runners 8 Diarmuid Byrne 00:22:59 25 Felipe de Sousa 00:28:05 A significant percentage of the adult membership of the club was out road racing on Sunday. In the morning, several of our clubmates took part in the Seville half marathon, and then, in the afternoon, we had more than 80 runners from the club take part in the 40th edition of the AXA Raheny 5-mile race. We also had success in Co. Kerry with our sole runner in a 10k there. Starting with Seville, Lisa Branigan led home a contingent of at least 9 Crusaders in a super time of 1:37:17. In mild conditions (around 9 degrees Celsius at the start) and little wind on a flat course, Lisa was followed by Sharon Woods (1:44:56) who amazingly has just recovered from a fractured foot that kept her in a boot throughout December and the first week of January and still managed to finish 13th in her age category. Sharon was followed by Gillian Curran (1:56:17), Donna Barry (1:57:10), Cliodhna O’Reilly (1:58:15), Patrick D. Conlon (2:04:14), Jonathan Staunton (2:04:19), Megan Smith (2:13:57) and Paul E. Kelly (2:20:22). Around midday on Sunday, Mags Foley ran in a GAA club-organised 10k, the Kerins O’Rahillys. In a field of 260, and in windy and wet conditions on a two-looped slightly hilly course, Mags ran a creditable 43:55 for 33rd place overall and 1st place in the women’s race, earning her a most impressive shield for her effort. So worthwhile! The major event of the day for the club took place on Sunday afternoon on the roads around and in St. Anne’s Park in Raheny for the 40th running of the Raheny Shamrock AC-organised 5-mile race. It is so iconic and always attracts significant participation, perhaps because it is considered a kick-off event at the start of the year and is conducted on what would be considered a decent course, which includes a fun out-and-back element in the park itself in the 4th mile. It is a PB opportunity as well as being a great benchmark for people to determine their condition going into the new year. Crusaders also enjoy the privilege of commentary provided by coach Susan Walsh who gives each of us a shout out as we cross the line in our distinctive singlets as well as making some surprising announcements! The event this year enjoyed mild conditions and the southerly wind, strong in places, did not leave much of an impression. This year, the race had possibly its largest field in its history with nearly 4,300 finishers, which made for a bit of (expected) chaos in the early part of the race and meant that the field remained quite dense for many runners for much of the distance. Our sizeable contingent was led home by Colm Parnell, one of our many athletes to register a PB, in a great time of 25:14 for 13th place and he was followed by two others with PB results, Andrea Rondina (24th in 25:49) and Luke Corcoran (43rd in 26:41). The 3 athletes placed 4th in the senior team event in a competition involving 91 teams. Kevin Fitzgibbon (48th in 26:57), Chris Russell (58th in 27:07), John Mulvihill (86th in 27:50), Patrick Conlon (87th in the same time) and Michael Kiely making a welcome return to racing (91st in 27:53), completed the list of our runners in the top 100. They were followed by an under-the-weather (recovering from a bout of flu) Alex Ainsworth (110th in 28:23) and then by Paul Cowhie, one of our 3 age category prize winners. Paul placed 119th and 2nd M55 in 28:29. Kevin Kavanagh, running his first 5 miler was next in 121st place with a time of 28:27, and he was followed in the top 150 by Joe McDermott (127th in 28:35) and relative newcomer Brian Regan (142nd in 28:45). Peter O’Toole (213th in 29:35) was next and he was followed by Paul O’Hara, another running his first race of this distance, in a super time of 29:49 for 239th position, and then by Rory Goldsmith (251st in 29:55), to complete a list of 16 of our athletes to break 30 minutes. Also, the O/40 team of Paul, Joe and Peter took 7th place out of 71 teams in that competition. Rory was followed by Kieran Martin (273rd in 30:14), Gerard White (278th in 30:18), Alby Allan (294th with a PB time of 30:25), Oisin Corish (304th in 30:29), Aaron Farrell (370th in a PB time of 31:16) and Tim O’Donnell (380th in 31:30), just two days after his wedding. Kathryn Sweeney was our first female competitor home with a PB time of 31:36 for 382nd place overall and 29th woman across the line. Kathryn was followed by Eddie Nugent (409th in 31:47), Sarah Lyons (444th and 36th in a PB time of 31:58) and by Aoife Quigley (449th and 38th in 32:09). The three female athletes (Kathryn, Sarah and Aoife), like the men’s senior team, also placed 4th as a senior team in a competition involving 75 teams. Phelim Murray was next, placing 459th in 32:11, followed by Ollie McGrath (463rd in 32:12), Zlatko Kulic (467th in 32:33) and Tomás Bradley (470th in 32:23). Robert Browne must have started slightly late as there is quite a difference between gun and chiptimes for him (placing 505th in 30:32) and he was followed by a highly satisfied Simon Kenny (592nd in 32:40). Further back came the second of our age category prize winners, James Cottle. Despite a bout of nausea in the 5th mile and a brief stop to deal with it, James placed 607th and 2nd M65 in a time of 33:41. Accompanying him across the line came Ciara Lynch in a PB time of 33:33 for 610th and 64th places, and they were followed by Rachael Yorke (650th and 72nd in 34:04) and by Oisin Browne, another runner with a PB on the day (653rd in 33:42). Isabelle Cairns came next (697th and 85th in 34:21) and she was followed by Gerard Moore (709th in 33:02), who also started at the back of the field. Mullingar exile Ronan Dooley (770th in 33:13) was next, followed by Rebecca Fleming (813th and 108th in 35:05), Adrian Groarke (824th in 34:26), Luke Haran (868th in 35:15), Robbie Moore (911th in 35:58), Dee Ni Chearbhaill (918th and 125th in 35:35), Hannah Jones (920th and 126th in 35:06), Judy O’Connell, another runner in her first 5-miler (966th and 136th in 35:28), just ahead of Emily Glen (968th and 137th in a PB time of 36:16), David O’Donnell (1020th in 36:10) and Olwyn Dunne (1082nd overall, 162nd female finisher and 7th in her F55 age category in 37:01). Dee, Judy and Olwyn placed 8th as an O/40 team in a competition involving 54 teams in total. Olwyn was followed by Tony Hackett (1122nd in 37:06), Triona Quill (1201st, 192nd and 10th F55 in 37:11), Gian Piero Allerta (1214th in 37:22), Mark Browne (1260th in a PB time of 38:14), Mauro Fiorio’Pla (1285th in 36:52), Aoife Matthews (1302nd and 222nd in 37:19), Tomás Dunne (1410th in 38:42), Emer Kenny (1430th and 259th in 38:39), newcomer Noel Carr (1544th in 39:10), Kevin Kenny (1587th in a PB time of 39:20), Lydia Bigley (1606th and 312th in 40:25), John Kennedy (1625th in 38:44), Darina Scully (1675th and 329th in 40:16), Elad Solomon (1744th in 40:47), Aoife Cowhie (1805th and 373rd in 41:08), Martin Joyce (1935th and 8th M65 in 41:36) and Amy O’Donoghue, the third of our age category prize winners (1957th, 429th and 1st in the FJ category in 42:39). Emily Quinlan arrived at the start line after finding difficulty in parking 7 minutes after the field and placed 2005th and 443rd in 43:20. Lindsay Butler had a similar experience and was not given a finishing time. After Emily came Fanny Trébouet, another runner in her first race of this distance, with 2153rd and 509th places in a time of 43:35, and Fanny was followed by Karen McNamara (2162nd and 517th in 41:05), Patrick Needham (2192nd in 42:30), Carina Davidson (2626th and 742nd in 44:23), Máirín Shine (2698th overall, 782nd female and 5th F65 in 46:31), accompanying Fiona Shine, who, Susan announced as she finished, is 4 months pregnant (2699th and 783rd in the same time), Mairead Cashman (2787th and 831st in 47:14), Alan Martin (2912th in 47:03) and Lisa Shine (3625th and 1345th in 53:20), who, we also learned, is a few weeks behind her sister Fiona in pregnancy! The contingent was completed by Lorraine Fitzsimons (3920th and 1567th in 57:54), Cynthia Perucca (3925th and 1571st in 54:07) and Faeed Faeedi (4175th in 65:28). Members may also be interested to hear that Catherine Thornton, the GCH runner who trains with us from time to time, placed 132nd and 9th in a superb PB time of 28:37. Well done to all those who ran and who enjoyed the usual famous heavy goody bag (although no chocolate this year!) and the usual kitchenware prizes. Numbers remain relatively high, but down on previous weekends, in the parkruns. We participated in only a few on offer, but had major participation in at least a couple, with some success too. Ilona McElroy celebrated her engagement with a first finisher placing in Marlay Park by completing the distance in 20:25 for 19th place overall in a huge field of 646. She was joined on the podium by her fiancé Paul Fleming who led the entire field across the line in 17:08. Paul was followed across the line by Killian Barry (6th in 19:15). There to share in Ilona and Paul’s celebrations were Clare Sullivan (120th and 20th in 24:17) along with other Crusaders, several of whom were saving ourselves for Raheny the following day. Clare was followed by Aoife Quigley (133rd and 22nd in 24:38), James Cottle (160th in 25:30), Eoghan Corrigan pushing a buggy with his son Oisin (212th in 26:39), Dee Ni Chearbhaill (304th and 68th in 28:17), Miriam Logan (313th and 74th in 28:28), Tanja Narancic (323rd and 75th in 28:39), Olwyn Dunne (348th and 92nd in 29:17), pacing the 29 minute runners, Irene Gorman who is 6 months pregnant (379th and 105th in 30:01) and Caroline Crowley, who completed the course with her two weeks old baby Clodagh (629th and 221st in 47:11. The other significant location was Poolbeg as usual, and, again, we enjoyed the result of having a first finisher. This time it was Kenan Furlong who recorded a time of 17:24 as he led home the field of 210. Kenan was followed by Ross Neill (4th in 18:07), Stephen Hurley (8th in 18:42), Redmond Murphy (30th in 21:49), John Lohan (45th in 22:56), Fiona Bane (61st and 7th in 23:53), Josie Ward (71st and 9th in 24:13), Kate Healy (79th and 13th in 24:47), Paul Campbell (86th in 25:02), Tara Murphy (106th and 23rd in 26:08), Maureen McGinley (140th and 40th in 28:21), John McQuaid (143rd in 28:31), Niamh Trihy (188th and 75th in 34:55), with Mari Hansen tailwalking (204th in 48:50). Further afield, once again Richard Morrissey joined 499 other runners in Brockwell, Herne Hill near London, where he placed 4th in 17:59, whilst Toby Benham took 2nd place in a time of 18:14 in the 80-strong field in Meadowvale, Mississauga near Toronto in Canada. Back in London, Felipe de Sousa joined 103 other runners in Wormwood Scrubs(!), where he placed 14th in 23:34. Then, over in Germany, Paul F. Kelly ran in the 131-strong field in Hasenheide where he placed 26th in 23:05. We had a good turnout in Shanganagh with its field of 250. Dee Lawlor placed 5th in 18:04, and he was followed by Jill Nason (151st and 37th in 28:24), Lisa Shine (221st and 82nd in 34:51), Máirín Shine (222nd and 83rd in 34:52) and Carina Davidson (236th and 92nd in 38:29), the last three runners preparing for the following day’s race. Ciara Regan and Kieran Little ran in St. Anne’s where, in a field of 460, Ciara placed 23rd and 3rd in 20:02, whilst Kieran, another runner preparing for the 5-miler, placed 42nd in 21:27. Colm Foley joined 213 other runners in Griffeen Park where he placed 33rd in 23:49, whilst Martina White ran in the 119-strong field in Porterstown where she placed 49th and 13th in 28:13. Darina Scully warmed up for Raheny, placing 43rd and 14th in 29:09 in River Valley Park, where the field measured 98. Finally, Gillian Lyons tailwalked in Fairview with its field of 185. AXA Raheny 5-mile race (4269) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Ryan Creech 1 00:23:58 29 Shona Heaslip 1 00:26:11 Crusaders AC runners 13 Colm Parnell 00:25:14 (PB) 24 Andrea Rondina 00:25:49 (PB) 43 Luke Corcoran 00:26:41 (PB) 48 Kevin Fitzgibbon 00:26:57 58 Chris Russell 00:27:07 86 John Mulvihill 00:27:50 87 Patrick Conlon 00:27:50 91 Michael Kiely 00:27:53 110 Alex Ainsworth 00:28:23 119 Paul Cowhie 00:28:29 121 Kevin Kavanagh 00:28:27 (PB) 127 Joe McDermott 00:28:35 142 Brian Regan 00:28:45 213 Peter O’Toole 00:29:35 239 Paul O’Hara 00:29:49 (PB) 251 Rory Goldsmith 00:29:55 273 Kieran Martin 00:30:14 278 Gerard White 00:30:18 294 Alby Allan 00:30:25 (PB) 304 Oisin Corish 00:30:29 370 Aaron Farrell 00:31:16 (PB) 380 Tim O’Donnell 00:31:30 382 Kathryn Sweeney 00:31:36 (PB) (29) 409 Eddie Nugent 00:31:47 444 Sarah Lyons 00:31:58 (PB) (36) 449 Aoife Quigley 00:32:09 (38) 459 Phelim Murray 00:32:11 463 Ollie McGrath 00:32:12 467 Zlatko Kulic 00:32:33 470 Tomás Bradley 00:32:23 505 Robert Browne 00:30:32 592 Simon Kenny 00:32:40 607 James Cottle 00:33:41 610 Ciara Lynch 00:33:33 (PB) (64) 650 Rachael Yorke 00:34:04 (72) 653 Oisin Browne 00:33:42 (PB) 697 Isabelle Cairns 00:34:21 (85) 709 Gerard Moore 00:33:02 770 Ronan Dooley 00:33:13 813 Rebecca Fleming 00:35:05 (108) 824 Adrian Groarke 00:34:26 868 Luke Haran 00:35:15 911 Robbie Moore 00:35:58 918 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:35:35 (125) 920 Hannah Jones 00:35:06 (126) 966 Judy O’Connell 00:35:28 (PB) (136) 968 Emily Glen 00:36:16 (PB) (137) 1020 David O’Donnell 00:36:10 1082 Olwyn Dunne 00:37:01 (162) 1122 Anthony Hackett 00:37:06 1201 Triona Quill 00:37:11 (192) 1214 Gian Piero Allerta 00:37:22 1260 Mark Browne 00:38:14 (PB) 1285 Mauro Fiorio’Pla 00:36:52 1302 Aoife Matthews 00:37:19 (222) 1410 Tomás Dunne 00:38:42 1430 Emer Kenny 00:38:39 (259) 1544 Noel Carr 00:39:10 1587 Kevin Kenny 00:39:20 (PB) 1606 Lydia Bigley 00:40:25 (312) 1625 John Kennedy 00:38:44 1675 Darina Scully 00:40:16 (329) 1744 Elad Solomon 00:40:47 1805 Aoife Cowhie 00:41:08 (373) 1935 Martin Joyce 00:41:36 1957 Amy O’Donoghue 00:42:39 (429) 2005 Emily Quinlan 00:43:20 (443) 2153 Fanny Trébouet 00:43:35 (PB) (509) 2162 Karen McNamara 00:41:05 (517) 2192 Patrick Needham 00:42:30 2626 Carina Davidson 00:44:23 (742) 2698 Máirín Shine 00:46:31 (782) 2699 Fiona Shine 00:46:31 (783) 2787 Mairead Cashman 00:47:14 (831) 2912 Alan Martin 00:47:03 3625 Lisa Shine 00:53:20 (1345) 3920 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:57:54 (1567) 3925 Cynthia Perucca 00:54:07 (1571) 4175 Faeed Faeedi 01:05:28 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/40th_axa_raheny_5_mile_2024/4950/results Kerins O’Rahillys GAA 10k (260) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Oisin Spillane 1 00:33:00 33 Margaret Foley 1 00:43:55 Crusaders AC runner 33 Margaret Foley 00:43:55 (1) Full results here: https://myrunresults.com/events/kerins_o_rahillys_gaa_club_annual_10km__5km/5020/details?fbclid=IwAR25gFgqFmSfT_GsOzTzLEm17RuwJzN5XT0m1doB3kv-65xFany8L54-E8A Poolbeg Parkrun (210) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Kenan Furlong 1 00:17:24 23 Niamh Cotter 1 00:20:52 Crusaders AC runners 1 Kenan Furlong 00:17:24 4 Ross Neill 00:18:07 8 Stephen Hurley 00:18:42 30 Redmond Murphy 00:21:49 45 John Lohan 00:22:56 61 Fiona Bane 00:23:53 (7) 71 Josie Ward 00:24:13 (9) 79 Kate Healy 00:24:47 (13) 86 Paul Campbell 00:25:02 106 Tara Murphy 00:26:08 (23) 140 Maureen McGinley 00:28:21 (40) 143 John McQuaid 00:28:31 188 Niamh Trihy 00:34:55 (75) 204 Mari Hansen 00:48:50 Shanganagh Parkrun (250) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Adam O’Gorman 1 00:16:16 20 Muirna Twomey 1 00:21:11 Crusaders AC runners 5 Derek Lawlor 00:18:04 151 Jill Nason 00:28:24 (37) 221 Lisa Shine 00:34:51 (82) 222 Máirín Shine 00:34:52 (83) 236 Carina Davidson 00:38:29 (92) St. Anne’s Parkrun (460) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Marcus O’Sullivan 1 00:15:42 7 Lauren O’Sullivan 1 00:18:31 Crusaders AC runners 23 Ciara Regan 00:20:02 (3) 42 Kieran Martin 00:21:27 Fairview Parkrun (185) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Marcus Bishop 1 00:17:35 28 Emma Gillam 1 00:23:41 Crusaders AC runner 185 Gillian Lyons 01:01:26 Griffeen Parkrun (214) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Gary Farrell 1 00:19:38 15 Anne Whelan 1 00:22:40 Crusaders AC runner 33 Colm Foley 00:23:49 River Valley Parkrun (98) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Nicholas Ruiter 1 00:18:56 8 Sarah Rossiter 1 00:22:50 Crusaders AC runner 43 Darina Scully 00:29:09 (14) Porterstown Parkrun (119) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Niall Sherlock 1 00:18:25 4 Caroline McCarthy 1 00:19:53 Crusaders AC runner 49 Martina White 00:28:13 (13) Marlay Parkrun (646) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Paul Fleming 1 00:17:08 19 Ilona McElroy 1 00:20:25 Crusaders AC runners 6 Killian Barry 00:19:15 19 Ilona McElroy 00:20:25 (1) 120 Clare Sullivan 00:24:17 (20) 133 Aoife Quigley 00:24:38 (22) 160 James Cottle 00:25:30 212 Eoghan Corrigan 00:26:39 304 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:28:17 (68) 313 Miriam Logan 00:28:28 (74) 323 Tanja Narancic 00:28:39 (76) 348 Olwyn Dunne 00:29:17 (92) 379 Irene Gorman 00:30:01 (105) 629 Caroline Crowley 00:47:11 (221) There was understandably little racing on the roads in Ireland this weekend, and none which involved the club, but we did have some runners in Madeira for the half and mini marathons there. There was also quite a bit of action on the indoor track in Athlone at the TUS International Arena and abroad. On Saturday morning, we had at least 3 athletes take part in the U20 and U23 national indoor championships. Sean Owens excelled in taking first place in the U20 60mH in a time of 8.38, whilst, although Luke Timlin placed 2nd in his heat 4 of the U20 400m in a time of 51.21, he was unfortunately unable to progress to the final, being the 10th fastest over 6 heats with only the 6 fastest progressing. Finally, Mark Inuwa contested the U23 triple jump, where he placed 4th with a leap of 11.96m. Meanwhile, on Sunday, Mary Horgan ran in a British Milers Club meet in the indoor arena in Cardiff, where she ran in a heat of the 1500m, recording yet another PB for the masters athlete of 4:29.32, placing her 2nd in her race. We had 4 athletes take part in the various race offers on Sunday morning in Funchal on the Portuguese island of Madeira. Thankfully, they were able to avoid the ravages of Storm Isha! Conditions were quite warm, starting at 15 degrees and rising throughout the morning (in fact the races were all brought forward because of the heat). On a hilly but scenic course and in a field of just under 500 runners, newcomer to the club Gary Mills came home in 14th place in the half marathon in a time of 1:19:39. He was followed across the line by Enda Currid who placed 86th overall in 1:38:26 and then by Mairead Cashman who ran 2:20:43. Philip Matthews also made the trip and ran in the 10k (mini marathon), where, in a field of 440, he ran 50:08, placing 311th. Then, in Italy on Sunday, our exile there, Italo Giancaterina, ran in the Corsa de Miguel in Rome, where he finished the 9.8k relatively flat course along the banks of the River Tiber in a time of 30:30, possibly placing 2nd overall. Parkrun numbers remained generally high this week and, possibly because there was no racing otherwise, we had quite a decent participation from the club, running in windy-ish conditions, but nothing like the gale that we experienced on Sunday! Top of the list came St. Anne’s Raheny with 567 runners. However, we had only one participant, Michael Maughan, who placed 120th in 24:39. Next came Marlay Park with 508 runners, joined there by Phil Sykes (118th in 24:13). If we were to look for really big numbers we would have to go to the UK. In Brockwell, Herne Hill, London, Richard Morrissey, our UK-base exile, joined 603 other participants. Richard placed 6th in 18:11. Colm Foley ran in the 272-strong field in Griffeen Park, where he placed 55th in 24:26, whilst we had 6 athletes take part in the 229-strong field in Shanganagh. Once more, David Carter led the contingent home, placing 8th in 19:15. Dave was followed by Orlaith de Burca (130th overall and 32nd female finisher in 28:56), Fiona Shine (141st and 37th in 29:13), Emer Kenny (142nd and 38th in the same time), Máirín Shine (144th and 40th in 29:30), Lisa Shine (196th and 72nd in 34:12) and Carina Davidson (204th and 78th in 37:21). Our only first finisher this weekend was Luke Corcoran who led the field of 213 home in a time of 17:30. Luke was followed by Kenan Furlong (2nd in 17:44), Stephen Hurley (13th in 20:35), Franky Keane (53rd in 24:26), Tanja Narancic (55th and 6th in 24:35), Olwyn Dunne, just behind (56th and 7th in 24:37), Russell Murphy (57th in 24:41) not so far back, Kate Healy (83rd and 19th in 26:21), Maureen McGinley (124th and 38th in 29:01), John McQuaid (126th in 29:05), Paul Campbell (145th in 30:18), Louise O’Riordan (148th and 55th in 30:21), Josie Ward (153rd and 58th in 30:27) and Cynthia Perucca (182nd and 77th in 33:40). Rory Goldsmith joined 184 other runners in Cabinteely, where he placed 3rd in 19:39, whilst John Lohan placed 8th in 21:57 in the field of 53 in Athlone. Darina Scully took 28th and 5th places in River Valley Park in a time of 25:14 and in a field of 117, whilst Kelly Brown ran alongside 209 other participants in Bushy Park, where she placed 55th and 11th in a time of 25:09. Down in Australia, Marta Imaz ran in the Centennial parkrun in Sydney where she placed 352nd overall in a field of 721 in a time of 28:31, whilst Kris Ryan ran in Mudgeeraba, where, in a field of 213, she placed 109th and 33rd in 30:38. Finally, Diarmuid Byrne ran with 56 other runners in Tolka Valley Park, where he placed 10th in a time of 22:14, whilst Eoghan Corrigan ran in the 110-strong field in Brickfields, where he placed 41st in a time of 26:59. As usual, if we have missed any results, or results need correcting, please let us know! Thanks. Poolbeg Parkrun (213) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Luke Corcoran 1 00:17:30 21 Laura Pether 1 00:20:54 Crusaders AC runners 1 Luke Corcoran 00:17:30 2 Kenan Furlong 00:17:44 13 Stephen Hurley 00:20:35 53 Franky Keane 00:24:26 55 Tanja Narancic 00:24:35 (6) 56 Olwyn Dunne 00:24:37 (7) 57 Russell Murphy 00:24:41 83 Kate Healy 00:26:21 (19) 124 Maureen McGinley 00:29:01 (38) 126 John McQuaid 00:29:05 145 Paul Campbell 00:30:18 148 Louise O’Riordan 00:30:21 (55) 153 Josie Ward 00:30:27 (58) 182 Cynthia Perucca 00:33:40 (77) Shanganagh Parkrun (229) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Oscar Durston 1 00:16:56 23 Eleanor Walsh 1 00:22:01 Crusaders AC runners 8 David Carter 00:19:15 130 Orlaith de Burca 00:28:56 (32) 141 Fiona Shine 00:29:13 (37) 142 Emer Kenny 00:29:13 (38) 144 Máirín Shine 00:29:30 (40) 196 Lisa Shine 00:34:12 (72) 204 Carina Davidson 00:37:21 (78) St. Anne’s Parkrun (567) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Dermot Coffey 1 00:18:18 8 Helen Marshall 1 00:19:02 Crusaders AC runners 120 Michael Maughan 00:24:39 Athlone Parkrun (53) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Stephen Moore 1 00:19:35 6 Olivia McCartin 1 00:21:24 Crusaders AC runner 8 John Lohan 00:21:57 Griffeen Parkrun (272) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Oliver Warren 1 00:18:27 10 Blathnaid Patton 1 00:20:57 Crusaders AC runner 55 Colm Foley 00:24:26 River Valley Parkrun (117) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Viktoras Kuzminas 1 00:19:15 5 Cecile Ollagnier 1 00:22:23 Crusaders AC runner 28 Darina Scully 00:25:14 (5) Bushy Parkrun (210) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Joe Warne 1 00:16:45 3 Lydia Callan 1 00:19:05 Crusaders AC runner 55 Kelly Brown 00:25:09 (11) Cabinteely Parkrun (185) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Killian Mooney 1 00:16:33 4 Robyn Kennedy 1 00:20:05 Crusaders AC runner 3 Rory Goldsmith 00:19:39 Tolka Valley Parkrun (57) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Aaron Mullan 1 00:18:19 7 Niamh McDaid 1 00:21:56 Crusaders AC runner 10 Diarmuid Byrne 00:22:14 Marlay Parkrun (508) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Daniel Doran 1 00:18:22 12 Lynne Hennessy 1 00:20:01 Crusaders AC runner 118 Phil Sykes 00:24:13 Brickfields Parkrun (110) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Tom O’Dwyer 1 00:18:45 8 Stephanie Bergin 1 00:22:49 Crusaders AC runner 41 Eoghan Corrigan 00:26:59 Despite the cold weather that we are currently experiencing, the year is truly now beginning to heat up in terms of racing activity. We start with the National Masters’ Indoors (or is it now “Short Track”?) races, held in Athlone throughout Saturday. Enda Clarke distinguished himself by winning the M40 gold medal in the 1500m, where he recorded a time of 4:20.21. Medals also went to Donal Swift in the 200m sprint (2nd M70 in a time of 41.15) and Liam Lyster in the shot put (3rd M65 with a throw of 9.80m (his last of 4 efforts). Liam also competed in the long jump, taking the gold medal with a leap of 3.19m, a win by 2 cm. Mick McDermott recorded a time of 9.88 for 9th place in the M45 60m sprints despite tearing his calf coming out of the blocks, whilst Karl Fitzmaurice placed 8th in the M45 3k in a time of 10:30.58. Members may also be interested to learn that Catherine Thornton, a GCH athlete who trains with us from time to time, won the gold medal in the F35 3,000m, leading the entire field across the line in a time of 10:18. Then, on Sunday, we had several athletes running as guests in the 123.ie indoor league at the National Arena. Charlie Bastow won his 400m guest heat in a time of 51.71, whilst Valentinos Goularas and Sean Owens were the only contestants in the men’s guest 60mH. Valentinos took the honours in a time of 8.18, followed by Sean in 8.25. Leo Gormley placed 3rd in his guest 200m heat (the 3rd) in a time of 24.87, whilst Sean ran in the 5th heat, placing 2nd in 23.14. The first BHAA cross-country meet of the year took place in Tymon Park on Saturday morning, enjoying a field of 134, 10% of them Crusaders. In benign but cold conditions and on a course that would have been muddy in parts through grassy fields on the eastern side of the M50, the 6k mixed race, involving 3.75 undulating loops, saw Clare Sullivan come home in first place in the women’s field and 28th overall in a time of 25:02. Ahead of Clare came men's captain Joe McDermott (12th in 23:26), followed by Joe Walsh (17th in 23:58). Clare was then followed across the line by Gary Park (34th in 25:49), just ahead of Eoghan Kerins (35th in 25:51), and they were followed by Neil Brown (52nd and 2nd M55 in 27:33), Rachael Yorke (62nd and 6th in 28:03), Robbie Moore (74th in 29:01), David O’Donnell (84th in 29:39), Tony Hackett (86th in 29:46), Tomás Dunne (97th in 30:33) making is way back from long-term injury, and then by Susan Walsh who managed to pip husband Mike McGovern to the post in the dying moments. Building on her success in the Goal Mile on Christmas Day, Susan placed 110th, 16th female finisher and 1st F60, whilst Mike placed 111th in 32:52. Members may be interested to learn that Sean Murphy who trains with us from time to time placed 39th in 26:21. On Sunday morning in Seán Moore Park, Fiona and Lisa Shine and a bunch of Crusaders, who volunteered to stand in the cold and marshall, hosted the latest round, the second event, of the Women’s Meet & Train Winter League. The event employed much of the Poolbeg Parkrun course, although with a slight deviation regarding the hills in the Irishtown Nature Reserve to create a loop. The race measured about 3.6k. Results are now out and we had at least 27 runners in a field of 162 finishers. Team results are difficult to determine at this stage, but individually the results were as follows, and it is likely that our teams are still holding their own. The winner of the race was Donore's Caroline McCarthy who completed the distance in 14:25. Our first runner home, unsurprisingly, was Jeanie Watson (13th in 15:18) and Jeanie was followed by ladies' captain Rebecca Fleming (23rd in 15:47), Joanna Carey (25th in 15:48) right behind and just ahead of Sophia Morgan (26th in 15:49). Then came Tanja Narancic (30th in 16:07), followed by Cría Dowling (32nd in 16:11), Hannah Jones (35th in 16:17), Laura Gobbi (37th in 16:25), Darina Scully (45th in 16:44), Carmel Higgins (58th in 17:15), Beatriz Novoa (71st in 17:27), Patricia Velasques (74th in 17:36), Lydia Bigley (75th in 17:38), Emer Kenny (80th in 17:42), Kelly Brown (95th in 18:15), Amy Forde (117th in 18:50), Carina Davidson (123rd in 18:57), Laura O'Malley (131st in 19:16), Emma O'Mahony (133rd in 19:25), Anna Shine (139th in 19:48), Caitlin Ni Mhurchu (141st in 20:11), Mairead Cashman (149th in 21:12), Máirín Shine (154th in 23:15), Niamh Trihy (157th in 24:53), accompanied by race organisers Lisa Shine (158th) and Fiona Shine (159th) in the same time. Paula Gonzalez (161st in 28:38) and Ann Arma (162nd in 28:39) completed the picture. Congrats to all on a super event and well done to Fiona and Lisa and all the Cru volunteers! Further afield over the weekend, one of our exiles in France, Clément Rincé, ran in his Championnat Départemental d’Yvelines de Cross in Verneuil-sur-Seine, where over a distance of just over 8.2k he placed 3rd individually in the cross-country race in a time of 27:53 and was a scorer on the third-placed team. Lukasz Batruch ran in the Valencia 10k, recording a time in the streets race of 40:10. Finally, Italo Giancaterina, one of our Italian exiles, ran in 10k XC race in Pineto. Italo placed 6th overall and 1st M35 in a time of 33:14. Finally, Aitor Arribas Velasco ran in a 15k in La Vuelta Pedestre a Tres Cantos near Madrid. On a hilly course in cool and rainy conditions Aitor recorded a time of 1:24:57. For the time being, numbers of participants remain high in parkruns. That New Year’s resolution is holding so far! Maybe this year we will be surprised and see it continuing over the coming months. As usual, Poolbeg had a significant turnout of Crusaders, in a field that itself was quite decent for its 250th running. Indeed, its field almost matched, at 251, its milestone. We had 18 runners in total and the two first finishers in this memorable event were Crusaders. John Mulvihill led the 18-strong contingent and the overall field across the line in a time of 17:22, whilst Annie Hughes was the first female athlete home in 12th place overall and a time of 19:47. In between came Kenan Furlong in 3rd place overall in a PB time of 17:34 and he was followed by Ross Neill (5th in 18:26). After Annie came Adrian Groarke (15th in 20:07) and he was followed by Ciara Regan (19th overall and 2nd female finisher in 20:16), John Lohan (35th in 21:52), Lisa Branigan (38th and 4th in 22:44), Fiona Bane (66th and 8th in 23:42), Franky Keane (81st in 24:36), just ahead of Paul Campbell (83rd in 24:41). Behind Paul came Josie Ward (93rd and 18th in 25:09) and she was followed by Kate Healy (108th and 25th in 25:54), Tara Murphy (116th and 29th in 26:25), Joanne Carey, pacing one of her children (129th and 36th in 27:10), alongside Tanja Narancic keeping her company (130th and 37th in 27:11) and ahead of Maureen McGinley (161st and 53rd in 29:01) and Anna Hernick (164th and 55th in 29:11). Kate Murray was another first finisher, placing 3rd overall in the 57-strong field in Strokestown in a time of 24:12, whilst Toby Benham placed 3rd in the field of 22 in Castlehaven, recording a time of 23:15. Rory Goldsmith also placed 3rd in Cabinteely. Alongside 198 other runners Rory ran 19:36, whilst, Serena Moloney placed 18th and 4th in Templemore in a time of 25:31. In the field of 92, Serena was followed by Lisa Shine (64th and 28th in 35:09) and Máirín Shine (85th and 43rd in 48:21). Dave Carter took eighth place in Shanganagh in a time of 19:01 and, in the field of 229, he was followed across the line by Jill Nason (146th and 46th in 29:38) and Carina Davidson (194th and 74th in 32:59). In Malahide, Darina Scully finished in 85th and 9th places in 23:20 alongside 390 other participants, whilst Phil Sykes ran in Marlay Park where, in a field of 621, he placed 69th in 22:21. Helena O’Keeffe ran once again in Tramore Valley in Cork, where, in a field of 235, she placed 64th and 12th in 25:09, whilst Brendan Glynn ran in Donabate, where, in a field of 248, he ran 23:58 for 55th spot. Once again, St. Anne’s boasted a huge field of 603 where Michael Maughan placed 106th in 23:24, followed by Irene Gorman, who is 4 months pregnant and who ran 26:31 for 210th and 50th places. Our lone runner in Tymon, Enda Currid, placed 11th in 21:27 alongside 145 other runners, whilst Orlaith de Burca joined 78 other participants in Illanmanagh in Co. Clare, where she placed 41st and 13th in 29:52. In Porterstown Martina White ran 28:03 where, in a field of 163, she placed 84th and 20th, whilst Mairead Cashman took 108th and 29th spots in a field of 138 in Brickfields where she recorded a time of 34:40. Meanwhile, in Fairview, we had two runners, Hannah Jones and Gillian Lyons. In a field of 232, Hannah placed 127th and 26th in 28:38, whilst Gillian finished in a time of 32:08 for 172nd and 48th spots. BHAA BoI mixed XC 6k (134) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Sean Doran 1 00:21:35 28 Clare Sullivan 1 00:25:02 Crusaders AC runners 12 Joe McDermott 00:23:26 17 Joe Walsh 00:23:58 28 Clare Sullivan 00:25:02 (1) 34 Gary Park 00:25:49 35 Eoghan Kerins 00:25:51 52 Neil Brown 00:27:33 62 Rachael Yorke 00:28:03 (6) 74 Robbie Moore 00:29:01 84 David O’Donnell 00:29:39 86 Anthony Hackett 00:29:46 97 Tomás Dunne 00:30:33 110 Susan Walsh 00:32:44 (16) 111 Michael McGovern 00:32:52 Full results here: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:EU:05568ad1-1456-428b-aad8-691d4a295c35?fbclid=IwAR1-Ta1mX2KzGC9Tf_sCa1bmFQQw3oSfnzG9H8Ec2Nx6j-vCodq9etQESFk Women’s Meet & Train (162) Overall place Name Guntime 1 Caroline McCarthy 00:14:25 Crusaders AC runners 13 Jeanie Watson 00:15:18 23 Rebecca Fleming 00:15:47 25 Sophia Morgan 00:15:49 30 Tanja Narancic 00:16:07 32 Cría Dowling 00:16:11 35 Hannah Jones 00:16:17 37 Laura Gobbi 00:16:25 45 Darina Scully 00:16:44 58 Carmel Higgins 00:17:15 71 Beatriz Novoa 00:17:27 74 Patricia Velasques 00:17:36 75 Lydia Bigley 00:17:38 80 Emer Kenny 00:17:42 95 Kelly Brown 00:18:15 117 Amy Forde 00:18:50 123 Carina Davidson 00:18:57 131 Laura O'Malley 00:19:16 133 Emma O'Mahony 00:19:25 139 Anna Shine 00:19:48 141 Caitlin Ni Mhurchu 00:20:11 149 Mairead Cashman 00:21:12 154 Máirín Shine 00:23:15 157 Niamh Trihy 00:24:53 158 Lisa Shine 00:24:53 159 Fiona Shine 00:24:53 161 Paula Gonzalez 00:28:38 162 Ann Arma 00:28:39 Poolbeg Parkrun (251) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 John Mulvihill 1 00:17:22 12 Annie Hughes 1 00:19:47 Crusaders AC runners 1 John Mulvihill 00:17:22 3 Kenan Furlong 00:17:34 (PB) 5 Ross Neill 00:18:26 12 Annie Hughes 00:19:47 (1) 15 Adrian Groarke 00:20:07 19 Ciara Regan 00:20:16 (2) 35 John Lohan 00:21:52 38 Lisa Branigan 00:22:44 (4) 66 Fiona Bane 00:23:42 (8) 81 Franky Keane 00:24:36 93 Josie Ward 00:25:09 (18) 108 Kate Healy 00:25:54 (25) 116 Tara Murphy 00:26:25 (29) 129 Joanne Carey 00:27:10 (36) 130 Tanja Narancic 00:27:11 (37) 161 Maureen McGinley 00:29:01 (53) 164 Anna Hernick 00:29:11 (55) Shanganagh Parkrun (229) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 August Benedicto 1 00:17:41 13 Hannah Craddock 1 00:20:04 Crusaders AC runners 8 David Carter 00:19:01 146 Jill Nason 00:29:38 (46) 194 Carina Davidson 00:32:59 (74) St. Anne’s Parkrun (603) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Cormac Brennan 1 00:17:52 12 Helen Marshall 1 00:18:57 Crusaders AC runners 106 Michael Maughan 00:23:24 210 Irene Gorman 00:26:31 (50) Illanmanagh Parkrun (79) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Noel Marshall 1 00:20:14 8 Katie Downes 1 00:22:37 Crusaders AC runner 41 Orlaith de Burca 00:29:52 (13) Templemore Parkrun (92) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Denis McCullagh 1 00:20:35 7 Mairead Butler 1 00:23:32 Crusaders AC runners 18 Serena Moloney 25:31 (4) 64 Lisa Shine 00:35:09 (28) 85 Máirín Shine 00:48:21 (43) Donabate Parkrun (248) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Samuel Mulhare 1 00:18:12 8 Sheila Bourke 1 00:20:09 Crusaders AC runner 55 Brendan Glynn 00:23:58 Malahide Parkrun (391) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Jackson Rendall 1 00:16:58 28 Maura Matthews 1 00:20:53 Crusaders AC runner 85 Darina Scully 00:23:20 (9) Cabinteely Parkrun (192) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Alan McAndrew 1 00:19:24 13 Robyn Kennedy 1 00:21:31 Crusaders AC runner 3 Rory Goldsmith 00:19:36 Castlehaven Parkrun (22) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ciarán Bouse 1 00:21:10 11 Sharon Poulter 1 00:30:48 Crusaders AC runner 3 Toby Benham 00:23:15 Marlay Parkrun (621) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ruben Bartelink 1 00:17:23 16 Jennifer O’Sullivan 1 00:19:29 Crusaders AC runner 69 Phil Sykes 00:22:21 Brickfields Parkrun (138) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ciaran Aylward 1 00:18:19 17 Catriona Darroch 1 00:22:58 Crusaders AC runner 108 Mairead Cashman 00:34:40 (29) Porterstown Parkrun (163) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Sean Og MacSeoin 1 00:17:33 7 Laura Behan 1 00:19:59 Crusaders AC runner 84 Martina White 00:28:03 (20) Tramore Valley, Cork Parkrun (235) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Briain Madden 1 00:17:37 23 Amy Goggin 1 00:22:30 Crusaders AC runner 64 Helena O’Keeffe 00:25:09 (12) Strokestown Parkrun (57) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Patrick Holmes 1 00:22:31 3 Kate Murray 1 00:24:12 Crusaders AC runner 3 Kate Murray 00:24:12 (1) Fairview Parkrun (232) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Aaron Mullan 1 00:17:52 12 Aoife O’Sullivan 1 00:25:11 Crusaders AC runners 127 Hannah Jones 00:28:38 (26) 172 Gillian Lyons 00:32:08 (48) Tymon Parkrun (146) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 David Kelly 1 00:19:16 17 Christine Kinsella 1 00:22:23 Crusaders AC runner 11 Enda Currid 00:21:27 |