Christmas Cheer in Tymon Park

19/12/2016

Backrow: John Fitzsimons, Don Anderton, Lisa Shine, Maria Pertl, Emer Kenny, Olwyn Dunne, Lorraine Fitzsimons, Darina Scully, Grainne Regan; Front row: Fiona Craven, Kate Murray, Geraldine Clements, Orlaith De Burca, Fiona Shine, Kris Ryan

'Tis the season and all that and so the number of races available to be run coming up to Christmas has fallen to a trickle. Additionally, the weekend saw the annual Cru get-together late into the hours on Saturday night on a tour of Dublin pubs to celebrate the festive period. It was a super turnout and great fun, but even more impressive was the fact that several of the partygoers managed to make it to the Women’s Meet and Train 2 mile race in Tymon Park on Sunday morning with excellent results.

The report is indebted to Kris Ryan with providing all the information on the event. There was an exceptionally large turnout in Tymon Park, 134 in total, evidence of increasing popularity of the league (and competitiveness among the clubs involved) that the organisers ran out of finishers’ tokens. Unfortunately, as a consequence, Lorraine Fitzsimons’ result is yet to be clarified, and we are trying to find that out. The race was otherwise held on a sunny day in perfect conditions on a fantastic course and with a close finish. Only 1 second separated the top two, Ciara Peelo from Clonliffe and Maria Jones from Sportsworld.

The race was hosted by Sportsworld, switched at the last minute from Bushy Park, and the course was the same one recently established for the Dublin Intermediates. So, at least 3 of our runners were familiar with it. It is on the western side of Tymon Park across the M50 next to the national basketball arena and has a few hills in it.

The leading pack was really a sea of Crusaders, with staple sister scorers, Fiona and Lisa Shine, back in action. Fiona came home in 3rd place in a time of 12:27. Lisa was the next Crusader home in 10th in 13 minutes, followed by Grainne Regan in 13th with an impressive 13:07, considering her previous night’s commitment to the Cru cause. Maria Pertl then took 16th spot in a time of 13:10, followed by Darina Scully, 23rd in 13:28. Kate Murray took 33rd place in 13:45 followed one second later by Geraldine Clements in 34th. Another of our runners with demonstrable stamina, Emer Kenny, was 37th in 13:47, followed by the redoubtable Kris Ryan in 42nd with a time of 13:52. Olwyn Dunne, also a survivor of the previous night’s festivities was next in 46th place in a time of 14:02, followed by Orlaith de Burca in 87th and 15:31 and Fiona Craven, 95th and 15:55. Great encouragement and company was provided by Don Anderton, Paul Kelly, Mairead Cashman, Diarmuid Byrne, John Fitzsimons and Aoife O’Connell, whose sister in law Dee was running in her maiden WM&T for Sportsworld.

The winter league consists of 4 races and the best 3 results are what count. So, after 2 races it’s a bit too early to tell where our teams stand, but if they keep up the kind of performances shown on Sunday then both A and B could be in with a shout of podium places with the likely opposition coming from A teams representing Clonliffe, Sportsworld and Dunboyne. Crusaders C is also not too far back at this stage

Over the weekend, again in glorious weather, Leo Lundy took part in another long distance challenge in the UK. This time he was at the "Usual Suspects" festival of running in Samphire Hoe, Kent. On day 1, Leo reports that his 31 miles in the allotted time was good enough for 7th place overall out of 120 starters in perfect, nearly warm conditions. Day 2, in similar conditions with a similar sized field, his 31 miles in the allotted time was good enough for 4th spot overall.

Members will be interested to hear that Sean Murphy, who trains with us, took part in the Wexford Senior XC championships on Sunday, coming home as 4th scorer for his club, United Striders, helping the club to claim the team silver in the 10K race.

Quite a few of our members took part in parkruns on Saturday. David Long continued his rehabilitation by running in Marlay among nearly 400 runners. David placed 51st in 21:03, whilst Mary Noelle Rohan placed 320th overall (97th woman) in 31:39. Joe McDermott ran his first parkrun in St. Anne’s coming home in 7th place in 18:21, just behind Peter O’Toole who placed 2nd in 17:33, a 27 second improvement over his time in the same event last week. Among the 215 participants, we also had Colm Kernan place 17th in 19:26, followed by Matt Cranley (25th in 19:53) and Denis Murphy (78th in 23:52). Finally, Lisa and Fiona Shine joined their mother Mairin as a warm up for the WM&T. Lisa placed 194th overall (72nd woman) in 31:48, followed by Mairin (198th overall, 74th woman, in 31:57) and by Fiona (199th overall, 75th woman, in 31:58). Aidan Hudner continues to fly the Cru flag in Glasgow. He placed 57th out of nearly 250 runners in a time of 22:20. Sharon Woods placed 46th overall (15th woman) out of a field of 88 in 27:04. Diarmuid Byrne and Maria Pertl continue to take on Poppintree, placing respectively 2nd and 14th overall, in times of 18:28 and 23:17 (Maria placing 2nd female finisher). The field measured nearly 70 participants. In Hartstown Neil Brown placed 11th out of a field of 40 in 23:23 and, finally, Kate Murray, along with Maria, Lisa and Fiona, also used a parkrun as a warm up. Kate placed 42nd overall (5th woman) in a time of 23:29 in Castletown.

Tymon Parkrun #131
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Joe Flynn 1 00:18:38
6 Sharon Tighe 1 00:20:54
Crusaders AC runner
46 Sharon Woods 00:27:04
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tymon/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=131
Poppintree Parkrun #111
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Colm Delaney 00:17:13
4 Kerri Page 1 00:19:48
Crusaders AC runners
2 Diarmuid Byrne 00:18:28
14 Maria Pertl 00:23:17
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poppintree/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=111
Marlay Parkrun #188
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Unknown 1 00:16:47
19 Sarah Baryga 1 00:19:09
Crusaders AC runners
51 David Long 00:21:03
320 Mary Noelle Rohan 00:31:39
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=188
Hartstown Parkrun #110
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Sean Fox 1 00:18:00
17 Aoiffe Kerrigan 1 00:24:46
Crusaders AC runner
11 Neil Brown 00:23:23
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/hartstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=110
Castletown Parkrun #57
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Eoin McManus 1 00:17:28
23 Ellen Crean 1 00:21:36
Crusaders AC runner
42 Kate Murray 00:23:29
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/castletown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=57
St Anne’s Parkrun #161
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Unknown 1 00:17:21
8 Emma Donlon 1 00:18:41
Crusaders AC runners
2 Peter O’Toole 00:17:33
7 Joe McDermott 00:18:21
17 Colm Kernan 00:19:26
25 Matt Cranley 00:19:53
78 Denis Murphy 00:23:52
194 Lisa Shine 00:31:48
198 Mairin Shine 00:31:57
199 Fiona Shine 00:31:58
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=161

Fiona Craven, Mairead Cashman, Lorraine Fitzsimons, Fiona Shine, Orlaith de Burca, Paul Kelly, Lisa Shine, Olwyn Dunne, Geraldine Clements, Grainne Regan, Emer Kenny, Aoife O'Connell