Awesome weekend

30/10/2017

Backrow: Gian Piera Allerta, Mick Blighe, Miriam Logan Keira Gleeson, Lucy Collender, Philip Hamilton, Russell Murphy, Paraic Gallagher, Barry O'Neill. 2nd row: Eugene mcDonough, Gavan Doherty, Kate Murray, Kris Ryan, Micheal Killeen. 3rd row: Ge Forde, Diarmuid Byrne, Ciara Lehane, Celine Bonce, Victor Fairbrother, Noel Reilly. 4th row: Will Owens, Pat Quill, Dominick Branigan. Front row: Leo Lundy, James Cottle, Dave Cuddy, Brian Scanlan, Seamus MacFloinn

It was a weekend to remember! Saturday saw the club taking team gold in both men’s and women’s Leinster Novice cross country races with substantial participation, followed on Sunday by the largest turn-out ever from the club with at least 74 starters in the 38th edition of the Dublin City Marathon.

We start with the cross country which took place on an overcast and breezy Saturday afternoon on an undulating and twisting course located on a golf course next to Navan racecourse. The women ran 4k and the men, 6k.

The women’s race comprised 92 runners, 14 of them from the club and everyone put in a spirited performance, both as scorers and spoilers. The finishing positions proved vital as at least 3 of our non-scoring members finished ahead of the 4th scorer from Sportsworld, the second-placed of 9 teams in the competition. Orla Kennedy was the first runner home of our gold-medalling team in 13th place, earning herself a Dublin county silver medal as 4th scorer in the process. Orla was followed by Lesley Ann Doughan (17th) and by Rachel Yorke (26th) who ran a storming race to work her way impressively through the field. Our 4th scorer was Amy Wright (32nd) and Amy was followed by Gill Earley (39th), Edel Haverty (54th) and Lisa Shine (59th). The contingent was completed by Dee Ni Chearbhaill (63rd) and Sarah Lyons (66th).

The men’s race took place on the same course extended by 2k and was won in spectacular fashion with a fall across the line by Fionn Buttner of DSD ahead of Kilkenny’s James Ledingham. In a field of 100 runners, Karl Fahy took 4th place, having led the field for most of the race but just missing out on an individual medal in the home sprint. However, in addition to team gold, Karl, the evergreen Ciaran Diviney (6th) and men’s captain Michael Kiely (8th) also took home a gold medal as scoring members of the Dublin county team. The 4th scorer on the club team, John Mannion (15th), just missed out by one place to score on the Dublin team, but it marks a continuing great return for him after long-term injury. John was followed by Rob Cross (17th), Vinnie McGuinness (24th), John Mulvihill (26th) and Jason Kehoe, who collectively it was observed, would have taken Leinster bronze if they had been running in a separate team. The large 14-strong contingent was completed by Michael Wycherley (41st), Garret Dunne (58th), Jim Stagg (64th), Michael O’Conor (65th), Joe McDermott (72nd) and Michael Maughan, and at least 3 of our non-scorers finished ahead of the 3rd and 4th scorers on the second-placed Mullingar team.

The next big event for the club was its participation in the Dublin marathon. There were some phenomenal performances among those 69 finishers (from nearly 16,000 in the field at the end) that we have managed to record. As usual, our runners enjoyed the most fabulous support around the course and it went a long way to ensuring some great results. We also had a super start to the day with changing and bag drop facilities for us in Fitzwilliam Square, once again, courtesy of the generosity of Bob Manson.

The day started slightly windy and mild and the wind continued to decline in strength throughout the day. It was only really in our faces early on as we wended our way from the start in Fitzwilliam Square towards the quays after Christchurch and across the James Joyce Bridge and then later going up Chesterfield Avenue in the Phoenix Park, but really we didn’t feel it again until the home stretch on the N11 and the Merrion Road. With the wind mostly at our backs conditions were quite warm as a consequence and, as the sun made its appearance late morning, it gave rise to some difficulties for runners. The Dublin marathon is not regarded as an easy one to run. It has hills everywhere, starting in the first mile with the climb to Christchurch from Patrick Street and then up Blackhall Place to the North Circular. The climb continues through Phoenix Park and then once we have descended to Chapelizod there are some notable climbs through Inchicore and Dolphins Barn. There is some respite until Milltown, but then you have Roebuck Road...or heartbreak hill, before the descent on Fosters and Nutley to bring us down to the long finish through Ballsbridge on Merrion Road, It's not really a PB course, but what gives rise to so many PBs is the support that is provided everywhere.

It’s hard to single out all our runners, but it was great to see so many new faces running for the club and there were several PBs. Our first runner home was Dominick Branigan (2:43), with a PB improvement of more than 5 mins, who ran most of the race with Brian O’Kelly (2:44), who recently ran in Berlin, and Ger Forde, who improved by 9 minutes (2:44). Eugene McDonough (2:57) and Paul Dempsey (2:57) also recorded PBs and we had 9 finishers under 3 hours. Andrea Talpo improved his time by 6 minutes (3:05), whilst Philip Hamilton (3:13) and Diarmuid Byrne (3:13) knocked off 8 and 4 mins, respectively. Leslie Hughes (3:20), Denis Murphy (3:22), Noel Reilly (3:24), Diarmuid Fahey (3:28 with a 32 minutes improvement) and Gian Piero Allerta (3:29) were also runners to mark PBs and enabled us to record 32 results under 3:30. Of note, Kevin Regan (3:17) and Niall Dunne (3:57) were running their first marathon. James Cottle (3:06) was confirmed as silver medal winner in his O/60 age category in the national championships (along with Leinster and county Dublin gold), having had a fun duel over 15 miles with the 4th placed finisher in the championships.We appear to have won M50 national team silver (Pat, James and Denis) and Leinster and Dublin team gold or silver in the same category. We did have a few casualties, but, mercifully, only 5 of our club-mates failed to finish. Members will be interested to learn that Sean Murphy, who trains with the club, ran 2:50:31.

The women were led home by Triona Quill (3:31) with a 16 minutes improvement. There were also PBs for Kate Murray (3:36), Aoife Clarke (3:37), Ciara Lehane (3:47), Carina Davidson (3:58), Niamh Quinn (3:59), Celine Bonce (4:00), Darina Scully (4:03), Ela Szkamruk (4:13), Jean Devlin (4:15), Keira Gleeson (4:18) and Miriam Logan (4:18).

The report will be updated if any medals are awarded to any of our other club members.

At least 25 club members took part in parkruns over the bank holiday weekend, some of them in Cabinteely running their 50th, a cause for celebration and participation in numbers. The first finisher there was Dave Carter in 19:40 and among the other 130 participants featured Fiona Bane (29th overall, 5th woman, in 24:41), Paul Kelly (73rd in 29:13), Mairead Cashman (91st overall, 37th woman, in 30:33), Geraldine Clements (102nd overall, 45th woman, in 31:50), Emma O’Mahony (106th overall, 48th woman, in 32:17), Kris Ryan (107th overall, 49th woman, in 32;18), Mairin Shine (110th overall, 52nd woman, in 32:41), Neil Brown (115th in 32;54), Stephen Mulligan (122nd in 35:48), Don Anderton (124th in 36:00) and Leo Lundy, sweeping up with 131st place in 46:52. Catherine Thornton returned to her native Galway for the weekend and ran in the hilly and twisty Knocknacarra, placing 1st woman finisher (7th overall out of a field of over 100 runners) in 20:05. Away in Donegal for the weekend, Fiona Shine tackled Letterkenny, placing 15th overall out of 70 runners, 3rd woman finisher, in 25:01.Maria Kennedy ran in Kilkenny on her own among a field of 162 runners, placing 36th overall, 6th woman, in 24:40. Then in St. Anne’s, Tony Owens (14th in 19:25), Colm Kernan (training for the NY marathon next week) (66th in 22:44) and Lorraine Fitzsimons (313th overall, 107th woman, in 30:57) joined nearly 390 other runners. Brian Carroll recorded 19:22 and 7th place of nearly 250 other runners in Ballincollig in Cork, whilst we had 4 runners in Poolbeg along with more than 85 other participants. David Timoney placed 7th in 20:56, followed by Louise Dobbyn (20th overall, 3rd woman, in 22:43), Ciara McElligott (82nd overall, 31st woman, in 32:54) and Avril Barry (89th overall, 37th woman, in 35:21). Fiona Lane ran in Shanganagh with 119 other runners, placing 101st overall (40th woman) in 30:39 and, finally, Kevin Lynch placed 50th in 28:01 in the106-strong field in Porterstown.

Dublin City Marathon
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Bernard Rotich 1 02:15:52
20 Nataliya Lehonkova 1 02:28:57
Crusaders AC runners
75 Dominick Branigan 02:43:32 (PB)
87 Brian O’Kelly 02:44:33
88 Ger Forde 02:44:35 (PB)
118 Seamus MacFloinn 02:47:18
224 James Moran 02:53:18
327 Tim Francony 02:56:28
342 Eugene McDonough 02:57:13 (PB)
356 Paul Dempsey 02:57:43 (PB)
358 Will Owens 02:57:40
648 Pat Quill 03:05:05
650 Mick Blighe 03:05:04
677 Andrea Talpo 03:05:39 (PB)
715 James Cottle 03:06:39
1015 Patrick Needham 03:12:44
1035 Philip Hamilton 03:13:01 (PB)
1045 Diarmuid Byrne 03:13:23 (PB)
1128 Brian Scanlan 03:14:11 (PB)
1323 Paraic Gallagher 03:17:09
1343 Kevin Regan 03:17.41 (PB)
1462 Aidan Doyle 03:19:10
1501 Robert Healy 03:19:41
1521 Bob Cahill 03:20:24
1569 Leslie Hughes 03:20:40 (PB)
1655 Tommy Faherty 03:22:34
1676 Denis Murphy 03:22:11 (PB)
1705 Kevin Lynch 03:21:20
1712 David Tuohy 03:22:54
1823 Ali Uyar 03:22:47
1913 Noel Reilly 03:24:43 (PB)
1928 Des O'Brien 03:25:27
2278 Donatas Jocius 03:29:13
2361 Diarmuid Fahey 03:28:26 (PB)
2370 Micheal Killeen 03:30:05
2435 Gian Piero Allerta 03:29:44 (PB)
2558 Triona Quill 03:31:27 (PB) (226)
3037 Kate Murray 03:36:58 (PB) (302)
3425 Aoife Clarke 03:37:30 (PB) (365)
3580 Fin Lawler 03:40:16 (PB)
3786 Kris Ryan 03:43:15
3875 Victor Fairbrother 03:43:31
3928 Sean Smith 03:43:33
4264 Ciara Lehane 03:47:02 (PB) (542)
4275 Barry O’Neill 03:45:20
4680 Liam O’Brien 03:47:32
4900 Mary Fitzsimons 03:50:47 (679)
5216 Stephen Mulligan 03:51:51
5669 Russell Murphy 03:55:59
5949 Fergal Condron 03:56:26
6279 Niall Dunne 03:57:38 (PB)
6314 Olwyn Dunne 03:59:42 (1047) PACER
6321 Joe Dunne 03:59:45 PACER
6362 Carina Davidson 03:58:59 (PB) (1062)
6495 Niamh Quinn 03:59:50 (PB) (1099)
6575 Celine Bonce 04:00:57 (PB) (1115)
7035 Darina Scully 04:03:41 (PB) (1248)
7377 Mike Stewart 04:04:58
7454 Siobhan Campion 04:07:21 (1382)
7599 Gavan Doherty 04:05:23
8428 Ela Szkamruk 04:13:32 (PB) (1721)
8681 Jean Devlin 04:15:08 (PB) (1809)
8858 Keira Gleeson 04:18:17 (PB) (1876)
8980 Miriam Logan 04:18:59 (PB) (1923)
9111 James Kershaw 04:20:00
9641 Niall Kelly 04:21:22
10176 Mike Fong 04:24:08
10254 Lucy Collender 04:28:46 (2435)
11500 Bob Manson 04:38:07
11567 Leo Lundy 04:39:47
13253 Alan Tierney 05:01:04
Full results here: http://tdleventservices.co.uk/race-results.php
Leinster Novices XC (women: 4k)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Ashley Pia Ryan 1 00:15:06
Crusaders AC runners
13 Orla Kennedy 00:16:11
17 Lesley Ann Doughan 00:16:33
26 Rachel Yorke 00:16:55
32 Amy Wright 00:17:03
39 Gillian Earley 00:17:09
54 Edel Haverty 00:17:40
59 Lisa Shine 00:17:52
63 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:18:04
66 Sarah Lyons 00:18:08
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/novice_leinster_cross_country/2422/results
Leinster Novices XC (men: 6k)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Fionn Buttner 1 00:20:22
Crusaders AC runners
Full results here:
4 Karl Fahy 00:20:32
6 Ciaran Diviney 00:20:37
8 Michael Kiely 00:20:42
15 John Mannion 00:21:03
17 Rob Cross 00:21:13
24 Vinnie McGuinness 00:21:23
26 John Mulvihill 00:21:25
34 Jason Kehoe 00:21:55
41 Michael Wycherley 00:22:10
58 Garret Dunne 00:22:47
64 Jim Stagg 00:22:55
65 Michael O’Conor 00:22:57
72 Joe McDermott 00:23:10
91 Michael Maughan 00:23:36
Ballincollig Parkrun #71
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Barry O’Shea 1 00:17:33
29 Rachel O’Callaghan 1 00:21:58
Crusaders AC runner
7 Brian Carroll 00:19:22
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/ballincollig/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=71
Knocknacarra Parkrun #176
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 unknown 1 00:18:11
7 Catherine Thornton 1 00:20:05
Crusaders AC runner
7 Catherine Thornton 00:20:05 (1)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/knocknacarra/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=176
Letterkenny Parkrun #91
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Aaron Nepgen 1 00:21:28
3 Tara Carron 1 00:22:09
Crusaders AC runner
15 Fiona Shine 00:25:01 (3)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/letterkenny/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=3
St Anne’s Parkrun #205
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Joseph O’Donoghue 1 00:16:25
6 Fiona Stack 1 00:19:00
Crusaders AC runners
14 Anthony Owens 00:19:25
66 Colm Kernan 00:22:44
313 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:30:57 (107)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=205
Cabinteely Parkrun #134
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 David Carter 1 00:19:40
15 Clare Nash 1 00:22:50
Crusaders AC runners
1 David Carter 00:19:40
29 Fiona Bane 00:24:41 (5)
73 Paul Kelly 00:29:13
91 Mairead Cashman 00:30:33 (37)
102 Geraldine Clements 00:31:50 (45)
106 Emma O’Mahony 00:32:17 (48)
107 Kris Ryan 00:32:18 (49)
110 Mairin Shine 00:32:41 (52)
115 Neil Brown 00:32:54 (61)
122 Stephen Mulligan 00:35:48
124 Don Anderton 00:36:00 (65)
131 Leo Lundy 00:46:52 (66)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=134
Shanganagh Parkrun #135
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Andrew Lawless 1 00:17:38
3 Amy Moran 1 00:18:58
Crusaders AC runner
101 Fiona Lane 00:30:39 (40)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=135
Porterstown Parkrun #106
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Jason Harte 1 00:19:13
16 Hazel Kelly 1 00:24:05
Crusaders AC runners
50 Kevin Flynn 00:28:01
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/porterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=106
Poolbeg Parkrun #10
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Andy Norman 1 00:16:12
5 Shona Ni Fhloinn 1 00:20:20
Crusaders AC runners
7 David Timoney 00:20:56
20 Louise Dobbyn 00:22:43 (3)
82 Ciara McElligott 00:32:54 (31)
89 Avril Barry 00:35:21 (37)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=10

Back row: Emma O'Mahony, Geraldine Clements, Olwyn Dunne, Orlaith de Burca, Kris Ryan, Mairin Shine, Neil Brown, Aisling O'Connor, Fiona Bane. Front row: Kate Murray, Mairead Cashman and Paul Kelly

Back row: Michael McGovern, Vinnie McGuinness, Karl Fahy, John Mulvihill, Joe McDermott, John Mannion, Michael Maughan, Jim Stagg. Front row: Ciaran Diviney, Michael Wycherley, Rob Cross, Michael O'Conor, Jason Kehoe, Garret Dunne, Michael Kiely