Action Far and Wide

21/5/2019

Mary Horgan

Gosh ! What an action-packed weekend! It’s hard to know where to start.

On Sunday, and the day after a super evening celebrating the 77th anniversary of the club at a dinner in the Hilton, several of us headed up to the Mary Peters track outside Belfast, which is in a beautiful setting in a wooded park. The occasion was the first round of the National League, which the men have won in the recent past and in which the women, in the next division down and looking for promotion, were competing for the second year in a row. Conditions were cool and we were only affected by the odd passing shower.

The teams had solid contributions from all who participated, some doubling up on disciplines and distances which were not their norm and in which they may have been outside of their comfort zones. Great examples of this were Maria Hetherington who for a second year in a row took on the field events of hammer (where she recorded a PB!) and discus, and Fiona Shine, who stepped off the track at the end of the 1500m only to step back on (and onto blocks to boot following quick instruction) immediately to run the 400m with lactic everywhere! Fiona was the only 1900m specialist on the day!

As a result of the team’s efforts the men are lying 2nd after the 1st round (and it’s the aggregate scores of two rounds that determine which of the 8 teams will contest the final) and the women are so far 7th or 8th (some mistakes in the official scoring need to be rectified). So we need as many athletes as possible to turn out for the second round on 30th June to be held either on the track in Athlone or Santry.

Hats off to the following 21 athletes who did their bit: Shane Keane, Nick Ennis, Andrew Mellon, Fearghal O’Hare, Gary Park, Valentino Goularas, Sam Gaine, Oisin Taylor, Jonny Bell and David Heavey, whilst in the women’s team we saw Alix Hughes, Lisa Shine, Lauren Kirwan, Lara Murray, Ariana Francis, Nadine Deehan, Fiona Shine, Catherine Thornton, Rebecca Fleming, Maria Hetherington and Ines Fetahovic. We had some excellent performances with first places in the men’s relays (both 4x100 and a truly exciting 4x400 where we came from behind to take the victory), men’s discus (Sam) and shot put (Jonny), and 2nd places in the men’s 400m (Andrew), triple jump (Oisin) and 56lb weight throw (Sam). In the women’s events we had four 2nd places (1500m walk (Lisa), 3000m (Catherine, just a few seconds off a PB), 1500m (Fiona) and 200m (Alix)) and three 3rd places in the shot (Alix), 400m (Fiona) and the 4x100m relay.

Sticking to the track, we also saw some great running on Saturday afternoon in the IMC meet at Irishtown stadium, incorporating the GV Ryan event arranged by the club. In the mixed mile 1 race which included both Crusaders and Front Runners Tomas Bradley led from gun to tape in his first attempt at the distance recording 4:44.27. He was followed by Paul Reidy (5th in 5:11.95), Philip Matthews (10th in 5:34.03), Antonios Gkogkakis (13th in 5:46.05), Ciara Lynch (15th in 6:04.55), Rebecca Fleming (16th in 6:05.67), a day before taking on the 800m in the league, Fintan Lawler (17th in 6:11.17), Emer Kenny (19th in 6:23.92) and Louise Van Wiedermeersch (21st in 6:54.30). In the women’s 800m A standard, Mary Horgan ran a super 2:14.30 for 6th place in a photo finish with the 5th place runner, local rival Clare Earls of Sli Cuallan. We had 4 runners in the men’s 5000m B race: Michael Kiely placed 6th in 15:57.99, followed by Italo Giancaterina (7th in 16:03.89), Stephen Hurley (8th in 16:13.41) and Joe McDermott (9th in 17:08.25). In the mile 2 race Paul Kelly recorded a PB placing 8th in 7:25.57. Then, in the 1500m B standard, Michael O’Conor ran 4:12.39 to place in the thick of it, as did Fearghal O’Hare (another league runner the following day) who placed 5th in the 800m men’s A standard. Fearghal’s time was 1:54.38. Finally, the performance of the day went to Rachael Yorke who drove herself to the line full of lactic in the women’s 800m B race, placing 3rd in 2:27.56, quite likely a PB.

Earlier in the week, several of our club-mates took part in the 2nd graded meet, in Tallaght this time. John Healy won his 1500m D1 grade race in a time of 4:44.27, followed by Paddy Murphy (2nd in 4:53.57), Tomas Bradley (6th in 5:04.10), Brendan Glynn (8th in 5:34.83) and Paul Kelly (9th in 6:50.20). In the 5k grades A through E, Italo Giancaterina placed 3rd in 16:05.08. In the women’s 1500m grade B1 Fiona Shine placed 6th in 5:09.55, followed by Serena Moloney (8th in 5:22.36), whilst in the same distance grade C1, Emer Kenny ran 5:56.17 for 5th followed by Dorothy Maguire (6th in 6:03.52). Then, in the 1500m grade C2, Rebecca Fleming placed 5th in 5:33.79, followed by Lisa Shine (7th in 5:50.63).

On the roads last week we had 1 runner in the Ras Benildus 5k in Stillorgan on Friday evening. Niall Murphy joined nearly 460 other runners and placed 6th in 18:08. On Saturday, we also had runners in the Calcutta Runs (5k and 10k plus races starting and finishing in Blackhall Place after passing through the Phoenix Park). One or two of our colleagues just ran the race for training purposes and did not seek to be competitive. Those who did race were led home in the 5k by Dee Lawlor (3rd in 17:45), followed by Luke Haran (18th in 20:37) and Serena Moloney (19th overall and 3rd woman home, in 20:43). In the 10k with its field of 370 runners, Peter O’Toole was first Crusader across the line, placing 3rd in 36:36 (10k = 35:13), followed by Paul Dempsey (5th in 37:31; 10k = 36:03) and Brendan Glynn (51st in 45:39; 10k = 43:46). On Sunday Michael Wycherley took part in the Tallaght 5k. On a fast course and in a field of 384 runners Michael crossed the line in 21st place and a time of 17:04.

We also had a runner in the Riga marathon on Saturday, with Conor Parle experiencing temperatures rising to 27 degrees. Conor was delighted to finish in such circumstances and ran 4:04:19. Robbie Moore ran in Belgium in the 40th running of the Brussels 20k on Sunday morning. He experienced much better temperatures than Conor and felt the conditions were excellent and enjoyable, running negative splits (1st 10k in 47:51) for a time of 1:34:55. Pat Quill, meanwhile, took part in the Transylvania 100 where he ran the ultra in just over 20 hours.

We also had a lot of activity in the mountains. Midweek saw 7 of our athletes participate in the Bray Head 6.85k trail race, involving a 270m climb on moderately difficult terrain. Warren Swords led our contingent across the line, placing 10th in 31:34 (2nd M40), followed by Jason Kehoe (14th in 32:16), John McAuley (20th in 33:28), Donatas Jocius (35th in 35:36), Anthony O’Reilly (61st in 38:04), Brian McGuckin (76th in 39:23) and Berndt Heim (225th in 53:45). Then, on Saturday we fielded an all-women’s team in the Wicklow Way Relay. They are clearly stepping up a gear and working their way up the rankings as they managed to finish in 23rd place this year after being last the year before. The team was comprised of Mairead Cashman, Lisa Shine, Fiona Shine (both who took part in the league the following day), Anna Shine, Claudine Hughes, Kate Murray, Aine Kenny (who ran the half marathon leg 7 recording a new female record for the leg, beating the previous one by 4 minutes) and Olwyn Dunne. We also had other club-mates running for other teams. On leg one, John McAuley placed 9th, followed by Becky Quinn (15th and 1st female). Warren Swords placed 4th on leg 5, whilst Brendan Murphy of the overall winning team placed 2nd on leg 6, followed by Andrea Talpo (5th).

Not so many parkruns to record this week. Eddie Nugent was a first finisher in Cabinteely in 19:12, followed by Luke Davis came 2nd in 19:36. Kris Ryan was also a first finisher in her native Queensland. In a field of 48 in Yeppoon, Kris placed 5th overall in 22:51. In Bushy Park, Zlatko Kulic took 2nd place in 19:28, whilst Orlaith de Burca placed 5th (50th overall) in 25:09 in Shanganagh. Ronan Moynihan placed 5th in Malahide in 18:15, followed by Brian Scanlan (37th in 20:48), whilst Kieran Martin ran 19:04 for 14th place, followed by Phelim Murray (71st in 21:52) in St. Anne’s. In Marlay, Jonathan Sykes placed 49th in 21:30, followed by Barry O’Neill (79th in 22:53), Paul F. Kelly (274th in 27:18) and Aoife Kelly (285th and 63rd in 27:29). In Glasgow Aidan Hudner joined more than 400 runners to place 65th in 21:39, whilst Cormac McGuire ran 21:27 to place 4th in Tolka Valley. Finally, we had 5 runners in Poolbeg: Fiona Bane placed 50th and 6th in 23:21, followed by Mari Hansen (73rd and 9th in 24:56), Ava Rose Clarke (93rd and 17th in 25:55), Aisling O’Connor (99th and 19th in 26:23) and Maureen McGinley (136th and 37th in 29:36).

Ras Benildus (459)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Colin Wendell 1 00:16:33
41 Anna Neary 1 00:21:23
Crusaders AC runner
6 Niall Murphy 00:18:08
Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/ras-benildus-2019/
Calcutta Run 5k (642)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Maurice Walsh 1 00:17:30
7 Annette Kealy 1 00:18:54
Crusaders AC runners
3 Derek Lawlor 00:17:45
18 Luke Haran 00:20:37
19 Serena Moloney 00:20:43 (3)
Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/calcutta-run-2019/#1_1C46F5
Calcutta Run 10k (370)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Louis McCarthy 1 00:32:08 and 00:33:32
12 Karla Doran 1 00:38:20 and 00:39:49
Crusaders AC runners
3 Peter O’Toole 00:35:13 and 00:36:36
5 Paul Dempsey 00:36:03 and 00:37:31
51 Brendan Glynn 00:43:46 and 00:45:39
Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/calcutta-run-2019/#2_5DAC60
Tallaght 5k (384)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Peter Somba 1 00:14:50
37 Laura McDonnell 1 00:17:48
Crusaders AC runner
21 Michael Wycherley 00:17:04
Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/tallaght-ac-road-race-2019/
IMRA Bray Head (249)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Luke McMullan 1 00:29:25
24 Kate Cronin 1 00:34:29
Crusaders AC runners
10 Warren Swords 00:31:34
14 Jason Kehoe 00:32:16
20 John McAuley 00:33:28
35 Donatas jocius 00:35:36
61 Anthony O’Reilly 00:38:04
76 Brian McGuckin 00:39:23
225 Berndt Heim 00:53:45
Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/1720/
Malahide Parkrun #341(386)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Wesley Grant 1 00:17:01
45 Charlotte Davis 1 00:21:42
Crusaders AC runners
5 Ronan Moynihan 00:18:15
37 Brian Scanlan 00:20:48
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.org.uk/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=341
Marlay Parkrun #305 (534)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 unknown 1 00:17:25
20 Rachel Riordan 1 00:19:53
Crusaders AC runners
49 Jonathan Sykes 00:21:30
79 Barry O’Neill 00:22:53
274 Paul F. Kelly 00:27:18
285 Aoife Kelly 00:27:29 (63)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=305
St. Anne’s Parkrun #284 (557)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Maurin Broquier 1 00:16:53
46 Adrienne Atkins 1 00:20:54
Crusaders AC runners
14 Kieran Martin 00:19:04
71 Phelim Murray 00:21:52
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=284
Shanganagh Parkrun #213 (175)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Liam Blackburn 1 00:17:31
25 Sheelagh Jones 1 00:22:40
Crusaders AC runner
50 Orlaith de Burca 00:25:09 (5)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=213
Poolbeg Parkrun #91 (170)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Dan Morris 1 00:17:16
26 Doireann O’Daly 1 00:22:11
Crusaders AC runners
50 Fiona Bane 00:23:31 (6)
73 Mari Hansen 00:24:56 (9)
93 Ava Rose Clarke 00:25:55 (17)
99 Aisling O’Connor 00:26:23 (19)
136Maureen McGinley 00:29:36 (37))
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=91
Cabinteely Parkrun #214 (168)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Eddie Nugent 1 00:19:12
21 Ciara Drew 1 00:23:22
Crusaders AC runner
1 Eddie Nugent 00:19:12
3 Luke Davis 00:19:36
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=214T
Tolka Valley Parkrun #65 (35)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Bobby Bedford 1 00:17:55
8 Claire Gilligan 1 00:23:57
Crusaders AC runner
4 Cormac McGuire 00:21:27
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tolkavalley/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=65
Bushy Parkrun #117 (213)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Thomas Grall 1 00:19:13
3 Sarah Fitzpatrick 1 00:19:29
Crusaders AC runner
2 Zlatko Kulic 00:19:28
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/bushydublin/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=117

Paul Dempsey (purple) and Dee Lawlor (sunglasses)

Dee Lawlor and friends

Brendan Glynn

Fiona Shine, Serena Moloney, Paddy Murphy, Paul E. Kelly, Lisa Shine, John Healy, Tomas Bradley, Brendan Glynn

Dorothy Maguire and Emer Kenny

Italo Giancaterina

John Healy and Paul E. Kelly

Rebecca Fleming and Lisa Shine

Serena Moloney and Fiona Shine with Lorraine Healy (205)

Tomas Bradley

Pat Quill

Anna Shine and Claudine Hughes

Aine Kenny, Kate Murray, Lisa Shine, Anna Shine and Mairin Shine

Anna Shine, Lisa Shine, Kate Murray, Olwyn Dunne, Claudine Hughes, Aine Kenny and Fiona Shine

Fiona Shine

Kate Murray

Lisa Shine

Mairead Cashman

Olwyn Dunne

Antonios Gkogkakis

Emer Kenny

Fearghal O'Hare

Fintan Lawler, Louise Van Wildermeersch, Antonios Gkogkakis, Rebecca Fleming and Ciara Lynch

Italo Giancaterina, Stephen Hurley and Joe McDermott

Louise Van Wildermeersch and Tomas Bradley

Mary Horgan

Michael Kiely

Michael O'Conor

Paul Reidy

Philip Matthews

Rachael Yorke

Tomas Bradley

Philip Matthews, Rebecca Fleming, Antonios Gkogkakis, Tomas Bradley, Paul Reidy, Ciara lynch, Fintan Lawler, Emer Kenny, Louise Van Wiedermeersch, Paul E. Kelly