A game of two halves: Tough going for Dublin marathoners

More than 10% of the club’s membership signed up this year for the 36th running of the Dublin marathon. Many had competed in the Race Series build-up for the marathon and had experienced unusually calm days pretty much for all 4 of the races.

In the days leading up to the race, we all were glued to the internet weather forecasts (YR.NO being a particular favourite, no idea why the Norwegians should normally be so reliable for this) which seemed to change on almost an hourly basis. At the start, there were high expectations of a gentle breeze from the south west, but as we got closer to the day, the wind speed prediction seemed to increase exponentially. It is unlikely that gale force was described, but “fresh” or “moderate” completely understated what was to greet us on the day. On the other hand, conditions were quite mild and the showers that occurred following an early torrential downpour before the start were never an issue. The wind was to become, however, a major player in the game.

We start the report on the day before the marathon, with the Leinster Novices Cross Country races which took place on a gently undulating dry course, without too much wind, at the Moyvalley resort in Co. Kildare. We were able to field two teams, men’s and women’s and came away with a handful of medals, individual, club and county. The men’s team comprising Pablo Sanchez, Michael Kiely, Garret Dunne, Gary Park and Philip Matthews were part of quite a large field with Pablo largely holding 2nd place for most of the 6K race, involving 65 runners. Michael came out of the pack early to hold 4th and nearly made the podium, but needed the race to be a few metres longer. Garret was our 3rd scorer, having started somewhat ambitiously, but finally holding an excellent 12th place. Gary and Philip also ran well, with Gary eventually being our 4th scorer in 46th place and Philip placing 61st.

As a consequence, the team won bronze with 64 points, only 1 point behind Sliabh Buidhe on 63. Gold went to Celbridge on 30 points. Pablo took individual silver and, also, Pablo and Michael were the first two scorers, along with Garret in 5th place, on the gold-winning Dublin county team (ahead of Kildare and Wexford). Meanwhile, the women, who ran earlier in the 56-strong 4K race, also had their say. The team, with scorers Mary Horgan (9th), Ailbhe O’Driscoll-Collins (11th), Aoife Quigley (14th) and Amy Wright (23rd) alongside Orla Kennedy (29th), Helena Walsh (running a XC race for the first time and finishing really strongly) (34th), Edel Haverty (35th), Rebecca Fleming (36th), Ailis Fagan (37th), Emer Kenny (47th) and Rhona McGrath (48th) took team bronze with 57 points, behind Dunboyne (46) and Donore (51), whilst Mary and Ailbhe were 3rd and 4th scorers on the silver-winning Dublin team behind Meath and ahead of Kilkenny.

The marathoners would have thrived in the weather conditions presented on Sunday. The first half of the race flattered to deceive and several of us were close to our goal times based on our results at the half way point. However, the wind, particularly for spells in Dolphins Barn and Crumlin, was to take its toll in sapping our strength. Even so, with such difficult conditions on the Monday, out of the 57 finishers for the club, surprisingly, more than half were able to claim PBs, although admittedly, we had a few newcomers in our midst, running a marathon for the first time. Still it was an exemplary performance, notable once again for the fact that more than 80% of our runners were inside or about 4 hours finishing, a phenomenal average, even by club standards. The other notable element on Monday was the quality and quantity of the support we received from our clubmates, some of whom appeared to be everywhere (and, moreover, there were those who supported until the last Crusader was home!). Indeed, we are all convinced that Caroline Crowley must have been cloned, she was so omni-present.

The support made such a huge difference to us all, and also made us extremely proud as Crusaders to hear repeatedly from other competitors that we had the best support on the course. Our highly visible club colours were also noticed by other clubs, who were generous of their support for us too. What was, however, amazing, was the Cru gauntlet we had to run within 2 miles of the finish in Ballsbridge, which rendered some of us temporarily deaf, but brought huge smiles to all our faces and urged us on for the final effort. It should also be noted that we also got great support from the Swiss spectators out there who would shout “Go Switzerland” whenever they saw our singlet!

First home was relative newcomer, Frank Halligan, who was one of the runners to record a PB. Frank came home in 2:41 and 56th place out of nearly 13,000 finishers in a record field. PBs to get under 3 hours were to follow from Ciaran Diviney (96th in 2:47) who may also have won silver in his age category in the Dublin championships, Ger Forde (187th in 2:53), Dave Carter (231st in 2:56), Brian McGuckin (268th in 2:57) who may have secured Dublin bronze in his age category and John Fahy (398th in 2:59), with John almost not making it after thinking he had blown the chance and practically stopping for a chat in Ballsbridge, whilst Kieran Martin (127th in 2:49) was only 10 seconds off his PB and possibly 4th in his age category in the Dublin Championships.

Kieran should also get a special mention for having perfected the art of answering the call of nature on the fly so to speak (no wonder he was so quick to get back to the changing facilities afterwards), unlike James Cottle, who, afraid to stop and lose contact with the 3 hour pacer,s decided to grin and bear it for 20 miles and finished in much discomfort! Kieran also had the pleasure of helping to pace Pauline Curley, the eventual winner of the Irish women’s title. There were other great runs to break 3 hours from Bob Cahill (267th in 2:57) and an injured Ian Kinsella (329th in 2:58), so that more than 16% of our runners came home inside 3 hours.

Other notable PB performances from the men to finish in under 3:30 came from John Thuillier with a time of 3:05 (546th), James Cottle (3:07 and 614th), who came 8th overall in his age category and snatched individual bronze at National and probable gold at Dublin county levels, Conor Fahy, returning like John Thuillier from recent injury, Joe McDermott (954th in 3:15) another runner carrying a slight injury, Dave Tuohy (971st in 3:15) who must be on the shortlist for one of the most improved runners of the year, and Phelim Murray, who celebrated his birthday two days earlier with the Cru at a tapering supper (1,826th in 3:28). Pat Quill (567th in 3:05), Ger White (811th in 3:12), Mick Blighe (835th in 3:13) and newcomer, Australian Brenton Systermans (987th in 3:15) all ran well but suffered in their own ways, with Brenton picking up the prize for the most chaffed nipples (the organisers presented him with a spare shirt at the finish, it was so painful to look at!).

There were also PBs for the likes of Ronan Reilly (2,538th in 3:35), Jason Crosbie (3,036th in 3:41) who knocked over 40 minutes off his previous best, Aido Doyle (3,311th in 3:43), Diarmuid Byrne (4,906th in 3:57) and for Tim Madigan (4,939th in 3:58), breaking 4 hours for the first time. Special mentions should go to Jeff Martin who finished in 3:54, having been in difficulty for a good part of the race coming off the back of a virus he picked up during the week before and persevering to the end, to Leo Lundy, who was running his 111th marathon, 3rd in less than a week and his 2nd in 3 days, having run on an extremely hilly course in Snowdonia  in terrible rainy and cold conditions and recorded a time of 4:24 and, finally, to Bob Manson, who having run Amsterdam last week is now also set for New York next Sunday.

Despite sore quads, Leo ran 4:02 and Bob, 4:23. Bob should also be mentioned for his usual generosity in providing us with great changing facilities and bag storage during the race right near the start line. This year, thanks to Richie MacLiam and Bob, we even had the benefit of Penny, a masseuse, who came in at the finish to ease our aching limbs.

Newcomer to the club, Katie Eisenhauer, hailing from Australia, was our first Cru lady across the line, coming home in a PB time of 3:25 (1,611th overall and 110th female finisher). Katie was followed by Jane Wallace, running her first marathon, who placed 168th female finisher (2,112th overall) in 3:30 and by Edwina Quinlan who ran 3:43 (3,284th overall, 349th female). It is possible, subject to verification, that the ladies senior team won Dublin bronze, having finished 4th in the National Championships.

There were some super results to follow for marathon debutantes Nuala Murphy (3,588th overall, 429th female in 3:48), Aoife Clarke (4,130th overall, 551st female in 3:52), Sandra O’Neill (4,482nd, 630th female in 3:54), Hazel Greene (4,580th overall, 654th female in 3:55), Maria Pertl (4,907th overall, 737th female in 3:57) and Karen McCormack (5,036th overall, 777th female in 3:58), all who finished under 4 hours, a major achievement! Kris Ryan followed her Saturday morning parkrun with a 3:48 finish (4,078th overall, 539th female).

Fiona Bane was on track for a potential sub-4 result but had the incredible misfortune of passing a kidney stone after 15 miles and had to walk a good bit of the way towards the end. Fiona finished in 4:36. Lastly, our pacers Olwyn and Joe Dunne and Denis Murphy, did us proud once again, bringing in their charges bang on the required times.

So at the end of the day (and allowing for some inaccuracies) in the national Championships our men’s senior teams came home in 5th, 26th, 38th and 104th places out of 150 teams entered. Our men’s O/35s came home 14th, 23rd, 52nd, 73rd, 117th, 178th, 225th and 281st out of 308 teams entered. Our men’s O/50 team came home in 9th place out 19. On the women’s side, our senior women were 4th, 25th, 31st and 85th out of 114 teams and our women’s O/35 team came home in 24th place out of 122 teams entered.
We had several runners in the parkruns on Saturday. Darina Scully ran 24:33 to place 95th overall (18th female) in Brockwell Park in London. The field exceeded 200 runners. In St Anne’s in a field of 226 runners, Michael Maughan placed 8th in a time of 19:00 and he was followed by Ailsa Berkeley who placed 31st overall (5th female) in 21:36. Anthony O’Reilly ran in Knocknacarra, coming home in 3rd place out of 67 runners in 19:33. In Ballina Peter Jackson placed 2nd out of 27 runners in a time of 19:20. Finally, in Cabinteely, Suzanne Martin was first woman finisher. In a field of 57 runners, Suzanne ran 22:00. She was followed by Kate Murray (16th overall, 4th female) in 23:48, Kris Ryan (17th overall, 5th female) in 23:50, Lisa Shine (23rd overall and 7th female) in 25:05 and Mairin Shine (40th overall, 17th female) in 28:55.

Airtricity Dublin marathon
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Alemu Gemechu 1 02:14:01
16 Nataliya Lehonkova 1 02:31:08
Crusaders AC runners
56 Frank Halligan 02:41:36 (PB)
96 Ciaran Diviney 02:47:13 (PB)
127 Kieran Martin 02:49:26
187 Ger Forde 02:53:44 (PB)
231 David Carter 02:56:09 (PB)
267 Bob Cahill 02:57:27
268 Brian McGuckin 02:57:14 (PB)
329 Ian Kinsella 02:58:05
398 John Fahy 02:59:49 (PB)
546 John Thuillier 03:05:04 (PB)
567 Pat Quill 03:05:42
614 James Cottle 03:07:03 (PB)
669 Conor Fahy 03:07:57 (PB)
703 Jonathan Claridge 03:08:58
811 Ger White 03:12:23
835 Mick Blighe 03:13:05
954 Joe McDermott 03:15:44 (PB)
971 David Tuohy 03:15:31 (PB)
987 Brenton Systermans 03:15:59
1012 Andrea Talpo 03:16:26
1014 Liam Fergus 03:16:48
1025 Karl Walsh 03:15:19
1611 Katie Eisenhauer 03:25:55 (PB)
1826 Phelim Murray 03:28:33 (PB)
1878 David Long 03:29:21
1906 Justin Keatinge 03:29:24
2112 Jane Wallace 03:30:43 (PB)
2538 Ronan Reilly 03:35:56 (PB)
3036 Jason Crosbie 03:41:11 (PB)
3284 Edwina Quinlan 03:43:20
3311 Aidan Doyle 03:43:30 (PB)
3459 Brian Lacey 03:46:30
3588 Nuala Murphy 03:48:04 (PB)
4078 Kris Ryan 03:48:49
4130 Aoife Clarke 03:52:19 (PB)
4305 Jeff Martin 03:54:54
4308 Anthony Owens 03:52:29
4430 Vivienne Lawless 03:54:15
4482 Sandra O’Neill 03:54:49 (PB)
4580 Hazel Greene 03:55:54 (PB)
4906 Diarmuid Byrne 03:57:46 (PB)
4907 Maria Pertl 03:57:47 (PB)
4939 Tim Madigan 03:58:02 (PB)
5036 Karen McCormack 03:58:47 (PB)
5317 Olwyn Dunne 03:59:37 (pacer)
5318 Joe Dunne 03:59:40 (pacer)
5573 Liam Diskin 04:01:11 (PB)
5608 Liam O’Brien 04:00:25
5615 Tony Hackett 04:01:25
5639 Leo Lundy 04:02:25
6380 Mike Stewart 04:08:20
8467 Denis Murphy 04:29:32 (pacer)
8508 Bob Manson 04: 27:43
9316 Fiona Bane 04:36:57 (PB)
9624 Donna Barry 04:40:17
10821 Clara Conneely 04:58:06 (PB)
12608 Paul Kelly 06:24:00 (PB)
Full details here: http://www.tdl.ltd.uk/race-results.php

St. Anne’s Parkrun #103
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Aidan Jones 1 00:17:24
13 Lucy Barrett 1 00:19:30
Crusaders AC runners
8 Michael Maughan 00:19:00
31 Ailsa Berkeley 00:21:36
Full details here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=103

Knocknacarra Parkrun #76
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Dan Fisher 1 00:17:49
10 Esther Flaherty 1 00:21:18
Crusaders AC runner
3 Anthony O’Reilly 00:19:33
Full details here: http://www.parkrun.ie/knocknacarra/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=76

Ballina Parkrun #46
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Enda Jordan 1 00:18:55
9 Fiona Kelly 1 00:23:01
Crusaders AC runner
2 Peter Jackson 00:19:20
Full details here: http://www.parkrun.ie/ballina/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=46

Cabinteely Parkrun #31
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Paul O’Brien 00:19:25
7 Suzanne Martin 1 00:22:00
Crusaders AC runners
7 Suzanne Martin 00:22:00
16 Kate Murray 00:23:48
17 Kris Ryan 00:23:50
23 Lisa Shine 00:25:05
40 Mairin Shine 00:28:55
Full details here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=31