 Caroline Crowley There were some standout performances over the weekend and some great races to watch. One of the best was that of Caroline Crowley who ran in the Athletics Ireland Open Cross Country 5K race held near the Magazine fort in the Phoenix Park on Sunday afternoon. On a dry, cool, but relatively calm, day, the race involved a combined start of junior women running 4K and senior and masters’ women running 5K. There was also a smattering of men in the race. The undulating course was not too complicated until towards the end and, thankfully, Caroline was able to ascertain before the event that, unlike the 4k race, the 5K ended with a turn off onto a short loop. Because of the shorter distance race within the field, initially the junior women bunched up quite a lot in the leading group, with Caroline the only senior woman to stick with them. As the race unfolded, however, the junior runner, Hope Saunders, soon opened a slight lead on the field with Caroline in pursuit, Caroline being totally aware that they were not actually competing against each other. Hope’s lead lasted until close to the 4Km finish, when Caroline decided to take over, having seen that Hope was also tiring. By now Caroline had a huge lead over the rest of the entire field, a lead which she increased during the last kilometre as she ran in complete comfort, only momentarily being thrown off slightly when the steward manning the final short loop, not realising that Caroline was leading, almost misdirected her towards continuing on the longer stretch. In the event, Caroline came home 43 seconds ahead of Kilcoole’s Una Britton (Fionnualla’s sister) in 18:11, Natasha Adams finishing 3rd in 18:58. The field included more than 90 senior and masters’ women runners. Crusaders’ Brendan Glynn also took on the 5k, finishing in a time of 24:11. For the record Hope did win the junior women’s race, also by a country mile.
 Bob Manson On Saturday we had 17 Crusaders participate in the first cross country event of the BHAA winter season, the Teachers 2 and 4 miles races that took place in Castleknock College outside Phoenix Park. A few of us were running in the 4 mile race as part of our preparation for the Dublin marathon next week. The course has not changed at all in the past few years and was as dry as a bone. Except for a bit of a headwind at times on Saturday and with a couple of steepish climbs in places, it could nevertheless be considered to be pretty fast. However, there are a number of tight turns and this seemed to catch a few runners, with one or two fallers in places. The 2 races enjoyed a combined start. Three of our number took part in the shorter of the two races, with Aoife Quigley placing 7th out of a field of 67 women who ran that race in a time of 13:43. Suzanne Martin’s time of 14:57 was good enough to place her 18th and 3rd place in her age category, whilst Sharon Woods ran 16:28 and grabbed 44th spot. In the longer race, there were only a few women, but Orla Drumm distinguished herself by placing 21st overall out of a total field of 156 (both races had an excellent showing) in a time of 23:19, only a few seconds off her time in 2014 and was awarded a special prize for her effort. The Cru contingent was led home by John Mulvihill who placed 12th in 22:44. He was followed by Jason Kehoe in 15th with 22:55, Alban Coghlan, 18th with 23:09 and, following Orla, Michael O’Conor in 26th in a time of 23:45, more than half a minute faster than he ran the race in 2013. John McAuley was close behind in 27th in 23:48 and Karl Walsh, who is preparing for the marathon next week, came home in 23:59 (30th place) a full 80 seconds better than his previous running. United Striders’ Sean Murphy was next in 34th place (24:23), followed by Peter O’Toole (42nd in 24:44). Will Owens ran a really steady race, starting out conservatively and working his way through the field. Will ran practically the same time as last year in 24:52 and 46th place and he was followed by Sebastien LeRoy (51st in 25:11) who managed to place ahead of Michael Maughan (56th in 25:45) this week, despite Michael having an excellent race himself. Pat Quill (60th in 25:57) and James Cottle (64th in 26:04) were both using the race as a warm up for the marathon, with Pat having an extremely strong and fast finish and James, winning his age category with a final sprint for the line, not appreciating that the big guns in his age group were all massing for a last minute attack, three of them finishing among the 6 spots behind him. Thankfully, James ran more than 20 seconds faster than last year, which made all the difference. Robbie Moore completed the contingent, coming home in a time of 28:39 and 99th place. On Sunday, Tomas Dunne was our sole representative in the Longwood 10K in County Meath. Tom placed 34th in a field of 217 runners in a time of 42:01. Most reports gave the race a thumbs up! There were quite a few of our runners out in the parkruns on Saturday. Another prospective Dublin marathoner, John Fahy, was first finisher in Tramore Valley. John ran 17:24 and was ahead of 177 other runners. There were 9 Crusaders in St. Anne’s. John Thuiller (16th in 19:33), Kieran Martin (23rd in 20:03) and Denis Murphy (39th in a PB time of 21:13) were also all using the race as a warm up for Dublin. They were followed by Thomas O’Rourke (60th in 22:21), Emer Kenny (75th overall and 9th female in 22:51), Rhona McGrath (85th overall, 14th female, in 23:18), both women looking forward to the Leinster Novices XC next weekend, Lisa Shine (111th overall, 22nd female, in 24:16), Sorrena Megan (158th overall, 45th female, in 25:15) and Mairin Shine, on her birthday (185th overall, 59th female, in 27:10) and a week after her PB time of 2:07:58 in the Munich half marathon. The field contained 272 runners. Finally, in Marlay Park, Brian Leonard placed 13th in a time of 18:37. Redmond Murphy, another runner looking forward to the marathon next Monday, placed 24th in 19:14 and he was followed by Anthony O’Reilly who finished in 28th place out of a field of 424, in a time of 19:21. BHAA Teachers 4 mile XC race
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Ian Guiden 1 00:20:22 Crusaders AC runners 12 John Mulvihill 00:22:44 15 Jason Kehoe 00:22:55 18 Alban Coghlan 00:23:09 21 Orla Drumm 00:23:19 26 Michael O’Conor 00:23:45 27 John McAuley 00:23:48 30 Karl Walsh 00:23:59 42 Peter O’Toole 00:24:44 46 Will Owens 00:24:50 51 Sebastien Le Roy 00:25:11 56 Michael Maughan 00:25:45 60 Pat Quill 00:25:57 64 James Cottle 00:26:04 99 Robbie Moore 00:28:39 Full results here: http://bhaa.ie/events/teachers-cross-country/ BHAA Teachers 2 mile XC race Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Anna Sadowska 00:12:26 Crusaders AC runners 7 Aoife Quigley 00:13:43 18 Suzanne Martin 00:14:57 44 Sharon Woods 00:16:28 Full results here: http://bhaa.ie/events/teachers-cross-country/ Longwood 10K Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Ian Walsh 1 00:32:27 11 Olivia Coyne 1 00:37:33 Crusaders AC runner 34 Tomas Dunne 00:42:01 Full results here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6-IHXqz8e6yY0tjT3Jham5TcDg/view?pli=1 Marlay Parkrun #129 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Louis McCarthy 1 00:15:34 23 Mary Finn 1 00:19:11 Crusaders AC runners 13 Brian Leonard 00:18:37 24 Redmond Murphy 00:19:14 28 Anthony O’Reilly 00:19:21 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=129 St. Anne’s Parkrun #102 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Wesley O’Brien 1 00:16:38 3 Kate O’Neill 1 00:17:39 Crusaders AC runners 16 John Thuillier 00:19:33 23 Kieran Martin 00:20:03 39 Denis Murphy 00:21:13 (PB) 60 Thomas O’Rourke 00:22:21 75 Emer Kenny 00:22:51 85 Rhona McGrath 00:23:18 111 Lisa Shine 00:24:16 158 Sorrena Megan 00:25:15 185 Mairin Shine 00:27:10 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=102 Tramore Valley Parkrun #3 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 John Fahy 1 00:17:24 10 Eileen O’Callaghan 1 00:19:45 Crusaders AC runner 1 John Fahy 00:17:24 Full results HERE Comments are closed.
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