It was a fine weekend, weather wise, and the Cru profited from super, dry, windless and at times sunny, racing conditions around the country. On Saturday morning at least 27 of us registered for the first BHAA XC races of the season, a combined start 2 miles for women and 4 mile mixed event, its seventh running, held in the grounds of Castleknock College outside the northwest corner of Phoenix Park. There is considerable new building work taking place at the college at present and so the course had to be slightly modified, which made it marginally longer than previous years, and we missed leaping through the long jump sand pit that had been a feature of the past. Still, apart from a bit of running on tarmac in places, which would have dented the spikes that some of us were wearing (not out of great necessity it should be added, but there’s something about authentic XC that encourages it!), the course is essentially grass and trail around several rugby pitches, with a little climb in places. The bottom end of the course was also quite narrow and conducted through long grass under trees to prevent runners from interfering with the touch line of a match in progress, but it didn’t really affect us too much and was as usual a fast race for most. We had 25 finishers, with a couple of casualties, including Niall O’Connell who had enjoyed an early start the night before to his birthday celebrations on the day of the race. Niall did run strongly and felt surprisingly good until he developed a stitch on the 2nd lap (of the 4 we had to run in the 4 mile race) and had to pull out. This actually relieved his pursuer, James Cottle, who had been getting slowly intoxicated from taking in the fumes from Niall’s breathing. The women’s race involved 45 runners and Niamh Corby was, as expected after her solid performance in the Dublin novices last week, our lead athlete home. Niamh finished extremely strongly in 7th place overall, 2nd in her age category, in a time of 13:59. Fiona Shine was not too far behind in 9th place in a time of 14:21. Edel Haverty was next in 13th place (15:01) and Edel was followed by Dee Ni Chearbhaill (19th in 15:29 and 3rd in her age category), Geraldine Clements (21st and 2nd in her masters category in 15:43) and by Emer Kenny (22nd in 15:45), all 4 being equally veterans of last week’s Dublin novices. Mention should also be made of coach Susan Walsh who won her age category in 16:49 (30th overall). The 4 mile mixed race was graced by the presence of Maria McCambridge, which gave the event added stature. Our Niamh Boland was otherwise the only other female in the race. Both ran strongly. The Cru contingent, making up nearly 17% of the 127-person field, ran well and left its mark. First across the line for the club was Alban Coghlan, in his second outing of the season. Alban finished in 8th place in a time of 22:26. Michael Kiely was not too far behind in 11th (22:41) and Ciaran Diviney, only 10 seconds further back (14th overall, winner of his category, in 22:51). Ciaran was followed by John Mulvihill (18th in 23:15) and by Rob Cross, running well as he emerges from injury (21st overall, 2nd in his masters category, in 23:27). Michael O’Conor and Garret Dunne were not too far behind either, coming home in 24th and 26th places (23:39 and 23:46). There was then a little gap before Neil Monahan came across the line in 43rd place (25:56), followed in reasonably rapid succession by Alan Sheehy (45th in 26:08) and James Cottle (46th overall, 1st in his age category, in 26:16). Eamonn McWalter, in his first race in a while, placed 52nd in 26:50 and he was followed closely by Niamh Boland, bravely taking on the extended distance, (55th in 27:01). Marius McNicholas is working his way back to form and he ran well to place 69th in 28:41, followed closely by Tomas Dunne (71st in 28:43). Men’s captain, Mike McGovern, in his first race in a while, placed 77th in 29:26 and he was likely preceded by Michael Maughan whose result appears to have gone astray. Michael had some difficult moments in the race and did well to cross the finish line after a bout of nausea that probably added a couple of minutes to his time. Brendan Glynn ran steadily to place 87th in exactly 30 minutes and he was followed by the recovering Robbie Moore (94th in 31:05) and finally by Paul Kelly who took 122nd spot in a time of 40:23. In other races over the weekend, there was an age-group win for Kate Murray in the Donadea 10K. Kate is training for the Dublin marathon at the end of the month. In a field of more than 200 runners she placed 42nd overall (7th female finisher) in 46:28, just behind Kris Ryan (another Dublin marathoner) who placed 40th overall, 6th woman home, in 46:01. Further afield, Johannes Frederking carved out a 45 second PB improvement by running 34:46 to place 82nd out of more than 6,500 runners in the Great Berlin 10K. Closer to home, Luke Haran was our only competitor in the SMRC Urban Run 5K in Limerick on Sunday. On a hilly course, that took in parts of the course we competed on earlier in the year, Luke also got a PB, a 1 second improvement, by finishing in a time of 19:57 and placing 7th in a field exceeding 200 competitors. Of much interest was the fact that Olympic rower and sister of Caitriona, Sinead Jennings, ran in the 10K pushing a stroller containing 2 of her children. She broke 41 minutes! Leo Lundy reported that he had an odd challenge this weekend. This was the "It’s a numbers game" marathon double, the prize being one of the biggest marathon medals in the world and at 1.25kg the heaviest that is also personalised. Around 50 runners took part in day 1 between Walton on Thames and Hampton Court along the Thames Tow Path. As in Ireland, it was beautiful running weather. Leo managed a 4:17 for 19th out of 50 finishers on that day. Day 2, in similar conditions, went the other way along the Tow Path towards Walton village. Again, 50 took part with around 30 doing both days. A rather painful 4:50 was good enough for 21st out of 50. The medal was something else! Donnacha McCarthy, one of our visually impaired athletes, with Darina Scully to guide him, took part on Sunday in the Run for Tony 5k event in St. Anne’s Raheny. In the chiptimed race, Donnacha crossed the line in 25th place out of more than 300 runners, in a time of 22:27. Finally, it was the weekend for the Irish ¾ marathon, more recently known as the Athlone ¾ marathon, customarily held just before the Dublin marathon. Runners scheduled to participate in the marathon have to be careful not to race this event too strongly as there is always a danger of leaving your Dublin marathon in Athlone. The usual suspects, Gary O’Hanlon and Pauline Curley, unsurprisingly won their respective events and we had a smattering of Crusaders in the race, all of whom are down to run in Dublin at the end of the month. On an undulating course and in a field of nearly 1,000 runners, Joe Walsh, whose Donore Harriers wife, Alma Hanevy, came home in 3rd place, placed 33rd overall in a great time of 2:16:46. Likewise gaining a good deal of confidence, Aoife Clarke ran 2:55:45 to place 381st overall, 73rd woman. Aoife was followed by Fiona Bane, also with an eye on a sub-4 hour marathon, who placed 416th overall (84th woman) in 2:58:42. In advance of their marathon duties on 30th October, Olwyn and Joe Dunne were there to help pace and duly (and as usual) completed their task with satisfaction, coming home in 578th and 580th places respectively in times of 3:09:09 and 3:09:12, Olwyn being the 84th woman home. The report finishes as usual with a round-up of action in the parkruns on Saturday morning. Darina Scully, in advance of her assistance to Donnacha McCarthy on Sunday, participated in the event in Poppintree along with Diarmuid Byrne and Maria Pertl. Diarmuid took great satisfaction in pacing Darina in the run, encouraging her across the line in a huge PB improved time of 21:16, to be first female finisher and 6th overall in a field of 69 runners. Diarmuid himself placed 7th in 21:17, followed by Maria who was 20th overall, 2nd female finisher, in 24:11. In Marlay Francis Furey placed 142nd in 24;19. In the 465-strong field, Mary Noelle Rohan placed 356th overall, 118th woman, in 30:39. Hugh Larkin continues to work his way back to fitness, placing 74th in 22:33, followed by Denis Murphy (133rd in 25:01) in the 323-strong field in St. Anne’s. Aidan Hudner continues to plug way in Glasgow, taking 102nd place out of 323 runners in a time of 22:49. In Shanganagh Neil Brown ran 26:09 to place 73rd in a field of 155 participants. Lastly, Lisa and Mairin Shine took on the hilly Cabinteely again. Lisa placed 25th overall, 5th female finisher, in 24:48, whilst Mairin came home in 52nd place overall, 17th female finisher, in a time of 28:48. BHAA Teachers 2 mile XC Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Ide Nic Dhomnaill 1 00:12:42 Crusaders AC runners 7 Niamh Corby 00:13:59 9 Fiona Shine 00:14:21 13 Edel Haverty 00:15:01 19 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:15:29 21 Geraldine Clements 00:15:43 22 Emer Kenny 00:15:45 Full results here: https://bhaa.ie/events/teachers-cross-country-2016/ BHAA Teachers 4 mile XC Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Eric Keogh 1 00:21:20 29 Maria McCambridge 1 00:24:06 Crusaders AC runners 8 Alban Coghlan 00:22:26 11 Michael Kiely 00:22:41 14 Ciaran Diviney 00:22:51 18 John Mulvihill 00:23:15 21 Rob Cross 00:23:27 24 Michael O’Conor 00:23:39 26 Garret Dunne 00:23:46 43 Neil Monahan 00:25:56 45 Alan Sheehy 00:26:08 46 James Cottle 00:26:16 52 Eamonn McWalter 00:26:50 55 Niamh Boland 00:27:01 69 Marius McNicholas 00:28:41 71 Tomas Dunne 00:28:43 XX Michael Maughan 00:29:06 77 Michael McGovern 00:29:26 87 Brendan Glynn 00:30:00 94 Robbie Moore 00:31:05 122 Paul Kelly 00:40:23 Full results here: https://bhaa.ie/events/teachers-cross-country-2016/ Donadea 10K Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Freddie Sittuk 1 00:32:29 14 Michelle Cox 1 00:38:44 Crusaders AC runners 40 Kris Ryan 00:46:01 42 Kate Murray 00:46:28 Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/raceresult/donadea-10k/#.V_rErCSyptI SMRC Urban Run 5k Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Paul Minogue 1 00:17:57 12 Verena Tarpey 1 00:20:59 Crusaders AC runner 7 Luke Haran 00:19:57 (PB) Full results here: http://www.titansports.ie/race-results/ Irish ¾ marathon Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Gary O’Hanlon 1 01:45:54 15 Pauline Curely 1 02:06:33 Crusaders AC runners 33 Joe Walsh 02:16:46 381 Aoife Clarke 02:55:45 416 Fiona Bane 02:58:42 578 Olwyn Dunne 03:09:09 (Pacer) 580 Joe Dunne 03:09:12 (Pacer) Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/ Run for Tony 5K Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Robert Frewen 1 00:17:33 36 Aoife Cotter 1 00:23:19 Crusaders AC runner 25 Donnacha McCarthy 00:22:27 Full results here: http://www.myrunresults.com/events/run_for_tony/1861/results Marlay Parkrun #178 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Mark Conway 1 00:17:29 11 Ciara Hickey 1 00:18:14 Crusaders AC runners 142 Francis Furey 00:24:19 356 Mary Noelle Rohan Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=178 Cabinteely Parkrun #80 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Mindaugas Igaris 1 00:19:03 9 Malika Hammani 1 00:21:52 Crusaders AC runners 25 Lisa Shine 00:24:48 52 mairin Shine 00:28:48 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=80 Poppintree Parkrun #101 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Adam Bruce-Smith 1 00:18:13 6 Darina Scully 1 00:21:16 Crusaders AC runners 6 Darina Scully 00:21:16 (PB) 7 Diarmuid Byrne 00:21:17 20 Maria Pertl 00:24:11 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poppintree/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=101 St Annes’s Parkrun #151 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Aidan Jones 1 00:16:21 21 Aine Crimin 1 00:20:24 Crusaders AC runners 74 Hugh Larkin 00:22:33 133 Denis Murphy 00:25:01 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=151 Shanganagh Parkrun #81 Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 William McCann 1 00:18:40 28 Ciara Carter 1 00:22:15 Crusaders AC runner 73 Neil Brown 00:26:09 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=81 Comments are closed.
|