Cold Wind Blows in the Great Ireland Run National 10k and elsewhere

Sarah Lyons and Ciara Lynch

This was another weekend for marathons, with another to come on Monday, in Boston, and we had some great results in Brighton, Paris and Connemara.

It was also the weekend for the National 10k road race held in conjunction with the Great Ireland Run. Once again, it took place in the Phoenix Park, but this year on a new course and with a combined start. In Baltic conditions, a low temperature of about 6 degrees Celsius and a biting easterly wind, the start was as usual on the Chesterfield Road heading north to the roundabout at the Ordnance Survey Road where runners turned left into the wind, but were saved having to run too far by a turn down into the Furry Glen, then past the lake on the left, up one of only two hills on the course on to the Upper Glen road with its descent to the Chapelizod gate. A left-hand turn at St. Mary’s Hospital brought runners up the second hill onto the Acres Road which they followed across past the Phoenix Monument roundabout at 6k and up onto the gently climbing North Road, which again took runners into the wind and for the second time onto the Ordnance Survey Road. A sharp left turn then had the field finishing on the Furze Road with the wind at their backs. The men’s national champion this year is DSD’s Hiko Tonosa who tucked in behind Raheny’s Kevin Dooney from the gun and the two more or less left the field behind, with Tonosa finally getting the better of his adversary in the closing stages.  The women’s champion is MSB’s Catherina Mullen who finished ahead of the improving Barbara Cleary of Donore.

We had at least 18 runners in the field of nearly 3,250. Although, no one was in contention for any honours we did surprisingly achieve some PBs on what may prove to be a faster course than before. Italo Giancaterina found the windy conditions tough, but still managed a top 50 place, coming across the line in 46th place in an excellent time of 33:54. He was followed by Joe O’Donoghue (84th in 35:25) and by Brian Scanlan (188th in a PB time of 38:25). Luke Haran was our fourth runner over the finish line, placing 329th in 41:24 and Luke was followed almost immediately by Brian Carroll (332nd in 41:04). Ciara Lynch was the first woman home for the club, placing 493rd overall (85th female) in 44:23 and she was followed by a new name for the report, Maura Mahoney, who took 546th spot overall (96th) in 45:24, with Sarah Lyons not too far behind in 556th (96th) in a PB time of 45:25. Paul F. Kelly also registered a PB by taking 648th spot in 43:19 and he was followed by Thomas Clarke (870th in 46:25), Carina Davidson (872nd and 197th in 49:42), Louise Van Wildermeersch (880th and 199th in 48:15) and Aoife Kelly just behind (883rd and 201st in 46:56). Further back came Maria del Carmen Jimenez Campos, with the Rotterdam marathon still in her legs (993rd and 230th in 48:41), followed by another newcomer to the report, Pauline McParland (1372nd and 369th in 52:48), Aisling O’Connor (1758th and 543rd in 55:48), Michelle Geoghegan (2072nd and 705th in 54:36) and Iseult Ni Chuinneagain (2204th overall, 779th female, in 58:44).

The most inspirational results of the day came from two of the marathons. Brian O’Kelly firmly cemented himself into the status of our fastest current marathoner with a significant improvement in his PB to smash through the 2:30 barrier with a 2:25:43 finish and 7th place in the Brighton marathon. In cold and windy conditions (similar to conditions in Dublin with an easterly wind) and on a course that had several climbs in the first half and several out-and-back diversions, Brian ran super splits, with a second half just one minute slower than his first. Then, in Paris on Sunday, we had at least two runners in the marathon. Again, the race was run in cool (probably perfect) conditions and Rory Goldsmith took full advantage, storming to a new PB and breaking 3 hours for the first time, recording 2:58:41, an improvement of 18 minutes on his previous best.  Christophe Marsan also ran well, registering 3:24:38, which may well also have been a PB for him.

The Connemarathon (Ultra, full and half marathons) took place in wet and windy conditions on Sunday, making the already challenging event even more difficult, with a strong headwind in places. We had three participants in the full marathon, with John Lohan leading our contingent home in a field of 535 in 3:33:47 and 7th M50, Dee Lawlor coming across the line in 100th place and a time of 3:49:40 and Tara Murphy taking 290th place overall, 40th female and 4th F50, in a time of 4:27:12. We also had a runner in the ultra. Zlatko Kulic managed to take 25th place in a field of 168 and a time of 5:41:18 for the 63km (39m) race. Impressively, Zlatko  ran the marathon element in under 3h20m.

The 123rd Boston marathon took place on Monday in much better conditions than last year, although there was a lot of rain before the start. A prevailing westerly wind may have helped runners on the west to east point to point hilly course, although it retained its toughness, particularly as temperatures rose during the morning. The race was marked by a spectacular sprint finish between the Kenyan winner (Lawrence Cherono in 2:07:57) and his Ethiopian competitor (Lelisa Desisa), whilst Ireland's Fionnuala McCormack continues to impress, following her recent pregnancy, with a 2:30:38 finish, only 7 minutes off the winning Ethiopian's  (Worknesh Degefa) time of 2:23:31. we had at least 3 runners in the race, with Paul O'Meara (in his 22nd marathon and 5th in Boston) and Niall Murphy finishing only 21 seconds apart in respectively 3:04:16 and 3:04:37. Indeed, both were exactly side by side at the 40k mark, with Paul having a slightly faster second half overall. Our third runner was TJ Bourke, who found the second half tough going, but still managed a great time of 3:12:29, highly respectable on such a challenging course.
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We had some good podium finishes in the parkruns at the weekend.  Luke Davis was a first finisher in Cabinteely in 19:07, whilst Eddie Nugent also placed first in his native Clonmel in 18:51. To complete the picture, Stephen Hurley did likewise in Poolbeg in a time of 17:22.  Our other podium placer was Maurice Kelter, fresh from the Rotterdam marathon last week, who placed 3rd in 19:45, followed by Brian Scanlan before his great run in the national 10k on Sunday (5th in 20:47). Joining Luke in Cabinteely were Helena Walsh who placed 19th overall, 4th female, in 23:00 and Helena was followed by Lisa Shine (45th and 15th in 26:16), Emma O’Mahony (66th and 26th in 27:38) and Mairin Shine  as a tailwalker. Meanwhile, in Poolbeg, Stephen was accompanied by Kenan Furlong (9th in 20:04), Kieran Finucane (11th in 20:22), Russell Murphy (50th in 23:45), Ava Rose Clarke (74th and 8th in 25:05), Gillian Curran (81st and 11th in 25:30), Ciara McElligott (130th  and 37th in 30:57), Mari Hansen, another Rotterdammer, (131st and 38th in 30:57) with, as tailwalkers, Aoife Clarke and Fiona Bane. We had two runners in Malahide, with Ronan Moynihan placing 4th in 18:27, followed by Gillian Lyons (142nd and 36th in 25:48), whilst Kate Murray was our sole representative in Marlay Park (94th and 10th in 23:18). Sarah Lyons and Phelim Murray participated in St. Anne’s, with both recording the same time of 25:01 (156th and 157th) with Sarah finishing 25th female. Paul and Aoife Kelly ran in the sizeable inaugural Royal Canal parkrun in Kilcock, with Paul placing 121st in 28:29 and Aoife, 124th (43rd) in 28:33. Mairead Cashman ran in Glen River, finishing in 43rd (10th) in 28:43, whilst Aidan Hudner placed 75th in Victoria Park in Glasgow in a time of 22:04 and a field of 415.
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Great Ireland 10k (3246)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Hiko Tonosa 1 00:30:41
66 Catherina Mullen 1 00:34:52
Crusaders AC runners
46 Italo Giancaterina 00:33:54
84 Joe O’Donoghue 00:35:25
188 Brian Scanlan 00:38:25 (PB)
329 Luke Haran 00:41:24
332 Brian Carroll 00:41:04
493 Ciara Lynch 00:44:23 (85)
546 Maura Mahoney 00:45:24 (962)
556 Sarah Lyons 00:45:25 (PB) (94)
648 Paul F. Kelly 00:43:19 (PB)
870 Thomas Clarke 00:46:25
872 Carina Davidson 00:49:42 (197)
880 Louise Van Wildermeersch 00:48:15 (199)
883 Aoife Kelly 00:46:56 (201)
993 Maria del Carmen Jimenez Campos 00:48:41 (230)
1372 Pauline McParland 00:52:48 (369)
1758 Aisling O’Connor 00:55:48 (543)
2072 Michelle Geoghegan 00:54:36 (705)
2204 Iseult Ni Chuinneagain 00:58:44 (779)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/great_ireland_run_2019/3012/results
Connemarathon Full (535)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Brian Gurnin 1 02:57:19
21 Jaskirin Buttar 1 03:24:58
Crusaders AC runners
54 John Lohan  03:33:47
100 Derek Lawlor 03:49:40
290 Tara Murphy 04:27:12 (40)
Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/CNM2019_FullMarathon.html
Connemarathon Ultra (168)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Stephen Connon 1 04:35:13
10 Jasmin Wonik 1 05:21:23
Crusaders AC runner
 25 Zlatko Kulic 05:41:18
Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/CNM2019_UltraMarathon.html
Malahide Parkrun #336 (346)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Sinead Lambe 1 00:18:25
2 Michael Hayes 1 00:18:26
Crusaders AC runners
4 Ronan Moynihan 00:18:27
142 Gillian Lyons 00:25:48 (36)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.org.uk/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=336
Marlay Parkrun #301 (522)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Valter Valente 1 00:17:19
6 Kelly Butler 1 00:18:41
Crusaders AC runner
94 Kate Murray 00:23:18 (10)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=301
St. Anne’s Parkrun #279 (465)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Emmet O’Briain 1 00:16:48
21 Brianne Mulvihill 1 00:20:00
Crusaders AC runners
156 Sarah Lyons 00:25:01 (25)
157 Phelim Murray 00:25:01
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=279
Clonmel Parkrun #99 (63)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Eddie Nugent 1 00:18:51
14 Christina Ryan 1 00:25:46
Crusaders AC runner
1 Eddie Nugent 00:18:51
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/clonmel/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=99
Poolbeg Parkrun #86 (158)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Stephen Hurley 1 00:17:22
18 Niamh Sherry 1 00:21:12
Crusaders AC runners
1 Stephen Hurley 00:17:22
9 Kenan Furlong 00:20:04
11 Kieran Finucane 00:20:22
50 Russell Murphy 00:23:45
74 Ava Rose Clarke 00:25:05 (8)
81 Gillian Curran 00:25:30 (11)
130 Ciara McElligott 00:30:57 (37)
131 Mari Hansen 00:30:57 (38)
157 Aoife Clarke 00:43:26 (55)
158 Fiona Bane 00:43:26 (56)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=86
River Valley Parkrun #141 (129)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Bradley Scholtz 1 00:18:43
8 Sigita Zonberga 1 00:21:38
Crusaders AC runners
3 Maurice Kelter 00:19:45
5 Brian Scanlan 00:20:47
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/rivervalley/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=141
Cabinteely Parkrun #210 (181)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Luke Davis 1 00:19:07
15 Jennifer MacLoughlin 1 00:22:45
Crusaders AC runners
19 Helena Walsh 00:23:00 (4)
45 Lisa Shine 00:26:16 (15)
66 Emma O’Mahony 00:27:38 (26)
173 Mairin Shine 00:43:05 (87)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=210
Glen River Parkrun #21 (72)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Aidan Noone 1 00:18:48
5 Anna Hogan 1 00:21:48
Crusaders AC runner
43 Mairead Cashman 00:28:43 (10)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/glenriver/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=21
Royal Canal Kilcock Parkrun #1 (288)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Pawel Kaim 1 00:18:38
17 Aoife McNerney 1 00:20:40
Crusaders AC runners
121 Paul F. Kelly 00:28:29
124 Aoife Kelly 00:28:33 (43)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/royalcanalkilcock/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=1

Paul O'Meara

Niall Murphy

TJ Bourke (in green)