Both of our teams qualify for the National T&F League Final

30/6/2019

Gary Park and Lisa Shine

The week belongs to a lot of track and field with the report covering the 5th meet of the Dublin graded series in Tallaght, the British Milers Club in Watford, where we had two runners, and the 2nd round of the National league held in the Morton Stadium in Santry. Andrew Mellon’s exploits in the mixed 4x400 relay for Ireland in the European Games in Minsk were covered in last week’s report, which neglected to point out, however, that the team registered a new Irish record in the event. Congrats to Andrew.

We start with the graded meet, held last Wednesday evening, in warm conditions. In the men’s 200m grade A1, Shane Keane placed 2nd in 21.90, followed by David Heavey (3rd in 22.91). In the women’s grade A1 800m, Katie Rogers ran a PB time of 2:21.26 for 5th spot, whilst in the C1 race of the same distance Sarah Lyons placed 4th in 2:37.42. In the men’s 800m races, Tomas Bradley finished in 2nd place in the C1 event in a time of 2:13.88, whilst, in the D standard, John Healy won in 2:23.90, followed by Brendan Glynn (5th in 2:36.04) and Paul E. Kelly (10th in 3:10.83). There were two 3,000m races on offer on the night and in the first, in which Fionnuala McCormack made an appearance (placing 8th in 9:16.09), Michael O’Conor was given 5th place in 9:11.47, followed immediately by a strong finishing Italo Giancaterina (6th in 9:16.09). In the 2nd race, the BC1 event, Eddie Nugent placed 16th in a PB time of 10:31.69. Members will be interested to learn that Lorraine Healy, who trains with the club, ran in another of the 800m races, coming home in 2:31.80.

On Friday night Pablo Sanchez, our exile in Madrid, reported that he ran 15:49.49 in a 5,000m event, where he placed 10th.

On a warm and balmy Saturday evening Fearghal O’Hare and Niamh Allen joined several other Irish athletes in the BMC meet in Watford. It was a wonderful occasion and those of us who were able to watch the more than 3 hour event were rewarded with some fantastic racing, enhanced by the international rivalry. Our two athletes both ran within about a second of their PBs, but experienced slightly different results. Fearghal, whose PB for the 800m is 1:53.31, ran a season’s best 1:54.01 for a storming 2nd place in in his 800m F grade race, with about 10 other runners. With 250m to go, Fearghal, who had been in 5th place on the first lap, took up the lead, pursued by a couple of other athletes on his shoulder. Although one of them succeeded in passing in the home straight, Fearghal managed to hold off another fast finishing runner at the line for his well-deserved 2nd place. Niamh took part in the women’s 1500m B race with a field of perhaps 16 runners, where she built up a small lead over the first 3 laps. At the bell, Niamh was lying in 2nd place, but with the eventual winner recording a time of 4:23, faster than Niamh’s PB of 4:26, it was always going to be a brave gamble and Niamh ultimately finished in 8th place and a time of 4:27.36.

On Sunday, we fielded two teams for the second round of the National track and field league, in which some athletes move out of their comfort zones, competing in events that may be foreign to them. It looks likely that the men’s team has qualified for the final with 2nd place in the group. The team recorded maximum points in 3 events (the 400m hurdles (Jason Harvey), the long jump (Adam McMullen) and high jump (Oisin Taylor!)), three second place finishes in the 4x100m relay (Shane Keane, Sean Barry, David Heavey and Adam) the 800m (Kevin Woods) and triple jump (Oisin) and four third places in the 200m (Shane), the 5,000m (Kieran Little), hammer (Killian Barry) and discus (Jonny Bell). 4th places came in the 56lb (Adam), shot (Jonny) and 4x400m (Shane, Sean, David and Kevin), with 5th places in the 400m (Sean) and 100m (David). We also picked up 2 points in the javelin (David). One of our athletes, your correspondent James Cottle, took part for the first (and last) time in the men’s 3000m walk, having been given rigorous instruction the day before by Lisa Shine, an excellent race walker and captain of the ladies team. Owing to the vagaries of the event with its esoteric and seemingly unfathomable requirements, and despite confirmation from at least one judge on the way round that the athlete’s technique was sound enough, the athlete was traumatically disqualified (not the only one in the race, the other guy having also been DQ'd in Belfast in the first round and similarly mystified as to why) beyond halfway. Thankfully, the lost points did not affect the outcome of the event! No ill feelings towards the race-walking fraternity, of course but it has nipped a potentially blossoming race walking career in the bud.

It looks also as though the women’s team has also qualified for the league final to be held in Tullamore on Saturday 20th July. The women’s team recorded maximum points amazingly in 6 events (100m hurdles (Alix Hughes), 1500m (Katie Rogers), 800m (Mary Hogan), the 4x 400m relay (Alix, Ciara Barry, Mary and Katie Barry), discus (Maria Hetherington) and shot (Alix). There were also 2nd place finishes for the 400m hurdles (Katie Barry) and 200m (Rhianna McCarthy), whilst there were 6 third place finishes in the walk (Lisa Shine), 4x100m (Alix, Ciara, Rhianna and Arianna Francis), 100m (Rhianna), long jump (Arianna) and javelin (Alice Aboud)). 4th places went in the 3,000m (Rebecca Fleming), hammer (Maria), high jump (Ines Fetahovic) and triple jump (Ines).

Many congrats to team organisers Gary Park and Lisa Shine, whose dedication to duty was well rewarded!

Over the weekend, we also heard that, in California, Olympian Colin Quirke has extended his Crusaders discus record to 60.09m.

There were a few road races to report on last week. On Thursday evening, we had 4 athletes take part in the Clonee 10k, organised by Dunboyne AC. 50 of the nearly 400 runners in the field finished inside of 40 minutes and 3 of our club-mates were among them. John McAuley placed 16th in 36:35, followed by Frank Hague (20th in 36:42) and Padraig Sheehan (32nd in 38:36). They were also joined by Katie McElroy who ran a PB time of 43:28 (a 1 minute improvement) for 97th place overall and 8th woman across the line. The following day we had an even bigger showing in the most enjoyable St. Coca’s-organised Kilcock 5k. Nine Crusaders took part in that in that Kildare race, held in warm and humid conditions on a relatively flat and fast course. The event attracted 556 runners and the overall race was won by Conor Dooney of Raheny, just coming back from injury, in an extremely fast 14:13, with Peter Somba, winner of the previous night’s race in Clonee, in 3rd place. Unsurprisingly, Catherina Mullen of MSB won the women’s race in 16:29. Rob Cross led the club home in 24th place and 2nd in his age category in a time of 16:19. Ollie McGrath was next (122nd in 18:33), followed by Adrienne Jordan (130th overall, 11th woman and 3rd in her age category) in 18:52. Next across the line came James Cottle, recovering from injury and testing himself out (and nearly being taken out just after the start when 2 runners collided with each other and went down immediately in front of him). James ran negative splits in 20:10 for 211th place overall and 4th in his fiercely competitive age category (six M60s finished inside 21 minutes). Behind James came Gian Piero Allerta (257th in 20:58), followed by Dee Ni Chearbhaill (274th and 44th in 21:23), Amy McGuinness (325th and 64th in a highly satisfying 22:18), Emer Kenny (335th and 65th just behind in 22:29) and Miriam Logan (353rd and 75th in 23:00). There was a fine feast afterwards, in keeping with country road racing.

Over the weekend, Olwyn Dunne reported that she took part in the Wexford Hospice festival of Running, where she ran 53km, with no ill effects, in celebration of her birthday.

In the mountains on Wednesday, we had 4 Crusaders take part in a 9.45km attack on Sorrell Hill in Co. Wicklow. The race, an out-and-back on moderate to tricky terrain, started on decent forest trails, ascending on open mountain to the top with a swift return over the same route. Warren Swords, crossing the line in 7th place in a field of 187, and a finishing time of 45:30, was joined by Gavan Doherty (60th in 56:48) and Pat Quill (64th in 57:25). Brian McGuckin slightly turned an ankle in the race and was unable to finish. However, he has recovered since. Then, on Sunday, Becky Quinn took part in the Connaught Championships in Co. Mayo, running up and down Nephin Mountain, a distance of 5.3km and a climb of 736m on difficult terrain. As a result of her efforts, Becky is now the O/40 Connaught champion, having finished in 8th place overall, one place behind the overall winner of the women's race.

There were no first finishers among our members this week in the parkruns, but a lot of near misses. In Shanganagh Rob Browne placed 2nd in 18:44. He was joined there by Janet McManus (76th overall and 16th female, in 26:27). Then, in St Anne’s, where Paul and Aoife Kelly respectively placed 268th and 305th (90th female) in 26:49 and 28:00, Peter O’Toole took 2nd place in 17:24. Fiona Bane also crossed the line in 2nd place (33rd overall) in 22:50, whilst Ronan Moynihan rounded off the podium positions with 2nd place in Mallow Town in a time of 18:59. A near podium miss came from Cormac McGuire in Tolka Valley where he placed 4th in 20:59. Further afield, Sarah Lyons ran in Uckfield in Sussex, placing 139th (and 51st) out of a field of 228 in 35:17, whilst Andrej Kujikis can 19:24 for 15th in a field of 339 in Southwark. Aidan Hudner once again ran in Glasgow where he placed 56th out of 398 in a time of 21:48, whilst, even further away, Kris Ryan ran in Paradise Point in Queensland Australia, taking 5th place (49th overall) in 23:05. Back at home, Brian Scanlan was our sole representative in Malahide where he placed 8th in 18:54, whilst, in Griffeen Park, Colm Foley ran 23:21 for 35th place. Tom Dunne was first Crusader in Cabinteely, placing 13th in 22:01, followed by Barry O’Mahony (20th in 22:57) and Niamh Quinn (65th and 15th in 26:43). Zlatko Kulic and Kate Murray ran in Bushy Park, where Zlatko took 9th place in 20:27 and Kate came across the line in 65th overall (7th) in 25:03. Mairead Cashman was singleton in Gorey where she ran 30:03 for 34th and 12th, whilst Liam Lyster was also on his own in Strokestown, where he ran 27:33 for 9th place. Finally, we had quite a decent turnout as usual in Poolbeg besides Fiona. David Timony ran 21:04 for 17th place and he was followed by David O’Donnell (22nd in 21:43), Antonios Gkogkakis (27th in 22:15), Russell Murphy (31st in 22:40), Aoife Cowhie (70th and 14th in 25:26), Cliodhna O’Reilly (84th and 20th in 26:20) and Mari Hansen (86th and 21st in 26:23).

Clonee 10K (398)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Peter Somba 1 00:32:47
24 Courtney Lewis 1 00:37:40
Crusaders AC runners
16 John McAuley 00:36:35
20 Frank Hague 00:36:42
32 Padraig Sheehan 00:38:36
97 Katie McElroy 00:43:28 (PB) (8)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/clonee_10k_2019/3018/results
St. Coca’s Kilcock 5K (398)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Conor Dooney 1 00:14:13
30 Catherina Mullen 1 00:16:29
Crusaders AC runners
24 Rob Cross 00:16:19
122 Ollie McGrath 00:18:33
130 Adrienne Jordan 00:18:52 (11)
211 James Cottle 00:20:10
257 Gian Piero Allerta 00:20:58
274 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:21:23 (44)
325 Amy McGuinness 00:22:18 (64)
335 Emer Kenny 00:22:29 (65)
353 Miriam Logan 00:23:00 (75)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/st._cocas_5k_2019_(kilcock)/3019/results
IMRA Sorrell Hill (187)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Ruairi Long 1 00:41:35
25 Niamh Corbett 1 00:50:51
Crusaders AC runners
7 Warren Swords 00:45:30
60 Gavan Doherty 00:56:48
64 Pat Quill 00:57:25
Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/1726/category/O/
Malahide Parkrun #347 (354)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 David Rooney 1 00:16:44
18 Aoife Purewal 1 00:19:40
Crusaders AC runner
8 Brian Scanlan 00:18:54
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=347
Gorey Parkrun #133 (58)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 William Keogh 1 00:19:22
7 Aoife O’Callaghan 1 00:21:32
Crusaders AC runner
34 Mairead Cashman 00:30:03 (12)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/gorey/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=133
Bushy Dublin Parkrun #123 (267)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Adam Moss 1 00:18:26
13 Margaret Galvin 1 00:20:53
Crusaders AC runners
9 Zlatko Kulic 00:20:27
65 Kate Murray 00:25:03 (7)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/bushydublin/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=123
Griffeen Parkrun #316 (196)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Karl Fitzgerald 1 00:17:46
24 Helen Ryan 1 00:22:14
Crusaders AC runner
35 Colm Foley 00:23:21
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/griffeen/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=316
Poolbeg Parkrun #97 (171)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Damian Bourke 1 00:17:53
6 Sorcha Loughnane 1 00:19:12
Crusaders AC runners
17 David Timony 00:21:04
22 David O’Donnell 00:21:43
27 Antonios Gkogkakis 00:22:15
31 Russell Murphy 00:22:40
33 Fiona Bane 00:22:50 (2)
70 Aoife Cowhie 00:25:26 (14)
84 Cliodhna O’Reilly 00:26:20 (20)
86 Mari Hansen 00:26:23 (21)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=97
Cabinteely Parkrun #220 (168)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Valter Valente 1 00:18:32
10 Rachel Riordan 1 00:21:40
Crusaders AC runner
13 Tomas Dunne 00:22:01
20 Barry O’Mahony 00:22:57
65 Niamh Quinn 00:26:43 (15)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=220
Tolka Valley Parkrun #71 (36)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mick Bermingham 1 00:19:11
8 Miriam Kearney 1 00:22:45
Crusaders AC runner
4 Cormac McGuire 00:20:59
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tolkavalley/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=71
Strokestown Parkrun #41 (57)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Stuart Feely 1 00:20:05
8 Clodagh Fallon 1 00:27:31
Crusaders AC runner
9 Liam Lyster 00:27:33
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/strokestown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=41
Mallow Town Parkrun #22 (78)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Shane Simcox 1 00:17:04
10 Eimear Lavery 1 00:22:01
Crusaders AC runner
2 Ronan Moynihan 00:18:59
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/mallowtown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=22
Shanganagh Parkrun #219 (197)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Colin Morrissey 1 00:18:15
28 Zuleika O’Malley 1 00:21:56
Crusaders AC runners
2 Robert Browne 00:18:44
76 Janet McManus 00:26:27 (16)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=219
St. Annes’s Parkrun #289 (546)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Donncha Hughes 1 00:16:59
35 Adrienne Atkins 1 00:20:43
Crusaders AC runners
2 Peter O’Toole 00:17:24
268 Paul F. Kelly 00:26:49
305 Aoife Kelly 00:28:00 (90)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=289

Gian Piero Allerta, James Cottle, Ollie McGrath, Amy McGuinness, Vinny McGuinness, Dee Ni Chearbhaill, Emer Kenny, Miriam Logan and Rob Cross. Front row: Matthew McGuinness