A Perfect Storm for Niamh Allen and the Crusaders Women’s team in the National Intermediates

9/2/2020

Maura Mahoney, Niamh Corby, Niamh Allen, Rachael Yorke and Catherine Thornton

In some ways we were so lucky this weekend, with nearly all the outdoor racing taking place on the day before Storm Ciara hit our shores. Nevertheless, although we were treated to relatively dry conditions, there was a strong wind everywhere, so much so that it took its toll on parkrun attendance at least, with several (among them Cabinteely and Marlay Park) being cancelled. There was a fear that the same could happen to the National Masters and Intermediates Cross country races down in Avondale Forest in Co Wicklow on Saturday afternoon, because of the potential risk of falling trees. Mercifully, and happily (!), they went ahead and, although Avondale looks to be well protected by tall trees, there was still a strong wind to contend with, with several barriers being blown over, advertising hoardings flying across the course near the finish line and billowing barrier tape getting in the way of runners. The course itself was extremely challenging for all the competitors.

Along with the blustery conditions, runners also had to deal with a diabolical hill, on an otherwise net uphill and narrow course with little flat ground, which posed a challenge as much for the descent as well as the ascent. Each race, apart from the men’s intermediates 8k race and the masters women’s 4k race, involved a short 1km lap followed by either 2 (intermediate women’s 5k) or 3 (masters men’s 7k) 2km loops. Each 2km loop involved the tough hill which was sticky with mud along with some exposed brambles on the descent and then strength-sapping on the return climb. Long spikes were the order of the day!

We had 4 runners in the men’s masters race, the minimum for a team result. The field was huge with 258 participants and we had little chance of getting anywhere near the podium. The ageless Brian Maher won the event, having run alongside Peter Arthur for most of it. Peter did go ahead on the last lap and Brian was prepared to settle in behind because the race commentator confusingly called out that there was still a lap to go. Thankfully, Brian’s coach, Emmett Dunleavy, hurled appropriately-timed advice that there was only 500m to go and that Brian needed to get back into the race, which he did, winning by 3 seconds in the end. Our first runner across the line was Michael Wycherley who ran a patient and steady race in a large pack, not being put off by others pulling ahead of him early on and then reeling them in later. Michael placed 49th in the field and he was followed by Peter O’Toole just over 20 seconds later in 66th place. Peter’s successful run, where from a conservative start he worked his way steadily through the field, was nearly derailed when he found himself caught up in some windblown barrier tape on the descent of the hill, coming to a grinding halt as he untangled himself. Joe McDermott was next in 70th place, just 7 seconds behind Peter, having found the pacing of the undulating course challenging. Finally, the intrepid Patrick Needham crossed the line in 216th place, also having enjoyed a decent workout.

The next race was the women’s intermediates 5k. 4 years after having won the title in Dundalk, the club was feeling reasonably confident of a podium finish, particularly as the field, although not the smallest of recent years, was relatively modest at 50 runners, with Crusaders representing 10% of this. It was also a field of reasonable quality, despite its size.

From the gun, Niamh Allen established herself at the front in a group of 3 athletes, including a girl from Inishowen and another runner from Craughwell. Neither of these other runners were supported by scoring teams, so they were going for individual glory. As each kilometre went by, however, Niamh was able to build a lead. Initially the runner from Craughwell tried to stick with her, leaving Inishowen behind, but by the end of the first lap, Niamh had a 30m+ lead. This became over 100m by the end of the second, with Niamh mastering the hill extremely well and, by the time she had completed the ascent on the third lap with about 600m to go to the finish, the lead had grown to over 150m, such was Niamh’s dominance. It was an extremely well deserved victory for her. There was, however, more to come. We had a team of 5 athletes in the race and our second runner across the line, Catherine Thornton, who is enjoying a super spell of competitive running, finished in 10th place. Catherine ran in a small bunch trading places throughout the race, and at one point fell back a couple of spots when she took a tumble at the bottom of the hill. Nevertheless, she was able to recover and finish just ahead of an athlete, the second scorer from the team that ultimately took the silver medal, Sportsworld. This was especially important given that Sportsworld’s leading runner had been able to snatch 4th place in the dying moments from an athlete from Dunboyne. Despite feeling slightly under the weather, Rachael Yorke was next across the line in 21st place, another runner with extremely consistent pacing, followed by Maura Mahoney and Niamh Corby in 31st and 32nd places, who pushed and pulled each other throughout the race. It was a super exciting race and although it took some time to work out the final team results, we were pretty confident of at least a silver medal. In the event, it turned out that the girls had won gold, with 63 points, 7 points ahead of Sportsworld, and Raheny further back in 3rd place. It also transpired that our Cork and Galway natives, Niamh and Catherine, were scorers on the gold medal-winning Co. Dublin team. Cork won bronze and could have perhaps done better if the county had selected both our Niamhs, who would have been 1st and 4th scorers if they had been included. Winning club and county medals can be a mixed blessing some times because an intermediate gold removes eligibility in national novices races, which, in the case of county, is particularly an issue if the runner is not from the county in question and sometimes is not even aware that he or she has been included in such county team. However, in this case, the extra medal was just a bit of icing on the cake as the club victory had already determined that the 4 scorers would no longer be eligible for future national novices (and Niamh Allen had already been on the national novices podium anyway).

The same day witnessed the national 50k championships in Donadea Forest. The field of nearly 250 runners had to negotiate 10 x 5k undulating laps on forest trail. Once again, Gary O’Hanlon took away the winner’s trophy, yet again breaking 2:50 in the event. We had 3 runners, each of whom ran really well. Brian Scanlan ran 3:52 for 24th place, followed by the evergreen Olwyn Dunne, a past champion 7 years ago, who placed 83rd overall, 12th woman across the line and winner of her O/50 age category. Joe Dunne also ran in the event, his first time back in 7 years, as a 5 hour pacer, finishing in 4:59 as required of him, for 189th place. A highly satisfactory outing for the Dunne family!

Sunday was a day for running indoors and we had several participants in the AI National Indoor Games, a warm up event for the national senior indoors. In winning his heat in 48.11, Andrew Mellon easily ran the fastest 400m of the 5 heats staged. Our masters runner, John O'Loughlin, ran in the 5th heat, placing 4th in a time of 58.32. Valantinos Goularas ran in 2 series of the 60mH, winning the first in 8.39 and placing runner-up in the second in 8.41. Whilst below his best as he returns from injury, Adam McMullen still managed to win the long jump with a leap of 7.38m (on his 2nd jump of 6). Fearghal O'Hare also won in his heat of the 800m in an impressive time of 1:55.17. Finally, Peter Murphy ran in the final heat of 8 in the 200m, where he placed 3rd in 23.96.

Given the cancellations, it is not surprising that attendance at parkruns was somewhat down on Saturday morning. Still, those that went ahead showed a good turnout, particularly in Poolbeg, Crusaders’ local event. We had no first finishers in the 8 events in which our athletes participated, but we had a couple on the podium all the same. Poolbeg always produces excellent results for our runners and this weekend was no exception. Cristian Vilchez Ceballos placed 2nd in 17:45, just ahead of Kenan Furlong who placed 4th in 17:50. Esther Requena Ferri also found herself in 2nd place (26th overall) with a time of 21:18. Elsewhere, Rory Goldsmith took 4th spot in Bushy Park in a time of 19:00, whilst Ronan Moynihan finished in the same position in Malahide in 18:19. Ronan was followed by Darina Scully (412th and 170th in 45:56). Louise O’Riordan placed 56th and 8th in 22:39 in Ballincollig, whilst Mairead Cashman crossed the line in 81st and 23rd in 31:06 in Glen River. Emer Kenny ran in St. Anne’s where she placed 130th and 15th in 24:08, whilst Kevin Flynn ran 33:20 for 119th in Porterstown. Mairin and Lisa Shine ran in Dundalk where they placed respectively 61st (and 11th) and 75th (and 18th) in 29:09 and 30:34. Paul and Aoife Kelly ran in River Valley Park near Swords where they placed 11th in 23:21 and 60th (and 17th) in 28:18. Finally, in Poolbeg, we had at least 13 other runners. Paul Campbell, in training for the Manchester marathon, ran 20:43 for 20th place, followed by David O’Donnell (20th in 20:57), Russell Murphy (52nd in 22:39), Aine Kenny, in training for the Tokyo marathon (60th and 6th in 23:14), Tanja Narancic (78th and 11th in 24:14), Tara Murphy, another marathoner (Seville) in training (114th and 23rd in 25:54), Gillian Curran (125th and 29th in 26:18), Cliodhna O’Reilly (140th and 36th in 27:02), Mary Dolan (143rd and 37th in 27:12), Maureen McGinley (155th and 41st in 27:40), Roland Cottle (158th in 27:54), Mari Hansen (198th and 60th in 29:58) and Ciara McElligott (238th and 79th in 33:47).

National Intermediates women’s 5k XC (50)
Overall place Name Guntime
1 Niamh Allen 00:18:58
Crusaders AC runners
1 Niamh Allen 00:18:58
10 Catherine Thornton 00:21:07
21 Rachael Yorke 00:21:57
31 Maura Mahoney 00:22:51
32 Niamh Corby 00:23:04
Full results here: https://www.athleticsireland.ie/downloads/results/Intermediate_Women_final_results_Avondale.pdf
National Masters Men’s 7k XC (258)
Overall place Name Guntime
1 Brian Maher 00:23:43
Crusaders AC runners
49 Michael Wycherley 00:26:54
66 Peter O’Toole 00:27:15
70 Joe McDermott 00:27:22
216 Patrick Needham 00:32:09
Full results here: https://www.athleticsireland.ie/downloads/results/Masters_Mens_results.pdf
National 50k Championships in Donadea (249)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Gary O’Hanlon 1 02:49:13
8 Laura O’Driscoll 1 03:32:17
Crusaders AC runners
24 Brian Scanlan 03:52:42
83 Olwyn Dunne 04:27:23 (12)
189 Joe Dunne 04:59:35 (pacer)
Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/irish-national-50k-championships-2020/
Malahide Parkrun #380 (430)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Unknown xxx
50 Lara McEvoy 1 00:21:29
Crusaders AC runners
4 Ronan Moynihan 00:18:19
412 Darina Scully 00:45:56 (170)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=380
St. Anne’s Parkrun #321 (543)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Arnaud Benjacar 1 00:17:44
42 Joyce O’Hare 1 00:21:13
Crusaders AC runner
130 Emer Kenny 00:24:08 (15)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=321
Porterstown Parkrun #227 (172)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Thomas Sherlock 1 00:17:44
25 Maria Murphy 1 00:23:34
Crusaders AC runner
119 Kevin Flynn 00:33:20
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/porterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=227
Dundalk Parkrun #242 (122)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Niall Fergus 1 00:18:31
20 Maeve Kenny 1 00:23:35
Crusaders AC runners
61 Mairin Shine 00:29:09 (11)
75 Lisa Shine 00:30:34 (18)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/dundalk/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=242
Poolbeg Parkrun #130 (256)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 James Bartram 1 00:16:40
7 Sarah Baryga 1 00:19:22
Crusaders AC runners
2 Cristian Vilchez Ceballos 00:17:45
4 Kenan Furlong 00:17:50
20 Paul Campbell 00:20:43
25 David O’Donnell 00:20:57
26 Esther Requena Ferri 00:21:18 (2)
52 Russell Murphy 00:22:39
60 Aine Kenny 00:23:14 (6)
78 Tanja Narancic 00:24:14 (11)
114 Tara Murphy 00:25:54 (23)
125 Gillian Curran 00:26:18 (29)
140 Cliodhna O’Reilly 00:27:02 (36)
143 Mary Dolan 00:27:12 (37)
155 Maureen McGinley 00:27:40 (41)
158 Roland Cottle 00:27:54
198 Mari Hansen 00:29:58 (60)
238 Ciara McElligott 00:33:47 (79)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=130
Ballincollig Parkrun #192 (570)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mike O’Brien 1 00:18:32
10 Lily Edwards 1 0:19:50
Crusaders AC runner
56 Louise O’Riordan 00:22:39 (8)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/ballincollig/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=192
Bushy Parkrun #156 (440)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Karl Ennis 1 00:18:19
10 Sarah Fitzpatrick 1 00:19:56
Crusaders AC runner
4 Rory Goldsmith 00:19:00
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/bushydublin/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=156
Glen River Parkrun #65 (127)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Aidan Noone 1 00:18:37
20 Sandra Walsh 1 00:23:37
Crusaders AC runner
81 Mairead Cashman 00:31:06 (23)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/glenriver/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=65
River Valley Parkrun #185 (128)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Cecile Ollagnier 1 00:21:07
2 Paul Gilligan 1 00:21:36
Crusaders AC runners
11 Paul F. Kelly 00:23:21
60 Aoife Kelly 00:28:18 (17)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/rivervalley/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=185