Confidence Boosters

20/11/2016

It was hard to find any faults on Saturday morning at the Irish Life-organised BHAA 6K XC in Santry demesne. In spite of the Arctic and windy conditions it was a most enjoyable and accurately-timed race (despite the suspicion of a false start!) on a well-established course that had all the right ingredients for a good cross country race. The attendance was super too, providing some excellent competition for several runners looking to get something under their belts in preparation for next weekend’s interclub senior championships, which as usual will double up as the Irish national trials for the European Cross Country championships to be held in December in Chia in Italy.

We also had plenty of Crusaders, at least 24 in all, in the combined men’s and women’s race, covering 4 laps of the 1,500m undulating and, in places, muddy course. Thankfully, the anticlockwise race direction ensured that the strong westerly wind had little impact on us, since the valley about 800m into each lap was quite protected from the wind and then it was only in our faces as we came up off the hill beside the walled garden towards the end of each lap. The mud, quite deep in places, did, however, necessitate the use of relatively long spikes and anyone without them found the going quite treacherous in places.

Among a total field of 197 finishers (40 of whom were women) Rob Cross and Adrienne Jordan both podiumed in the race, with Rob 3rd overall in 20:16 and Adrienne 3rd woman (47th overall) in 23:19 to a strong-running Ciara Durkin (21:37), back from a long injury absence, and just behind Niamh Devlin (23:14). Newly-appointed men’s captain Michael Kiely was next in 4th in 20:26, followed by Karl Fahy (7th in 21:05) and Michael O’Conor (10th in 21:23). There were also great runs from Ger Forde (20th in 21:57) and Jim Stagg (25th in 22:13). Michael Maughan (45th in 23:16) and Brian Carroll (46th in 23:18) enjoyed an excellent dogfight and also helped Adrienne to come through strongly, whilst Joe Walsh, in his second outing in 3 days (having run in the Run in the Dark 10K on Wednesday evening) also had a surprisingly strong run to place 60th in 23:47. Joe was followed by Alan Sheehy (62nd in 23:51) and by Niamh Boland (67th overall in 24:04) who was 2nd in her age category and 5th woman home. A few seconds behind Niamh came James Cottle, also, like Joe, coming off the midweek Run in the Dark 10K, in 71st place (24:18), winning his age category, having run a significant negative split and unexpectedly having reeled in lots of runners on the way round. Tom Dunne (109th in 26:23) was next, followed by Lisa Shine (114th overall, 13th woman, in 26:37) and her sister Fiona just behind her (115th overall, 14th woman, in 26:38) and they in turn had Robbie Moore (121st in 26:49) and Jocelyn Dufetel (133rd in 27:26) behind them. A clutch of other Crusaders came in just behind Jocelyn, starting with Geraldine Clements (137th overall, 19th woman, in 27:33) and followed by Emer Kenny (138th overall, 20th woman, in 27:34), Tony Hackett (141st in 27:46) and by Dee Ni Chearbhaill who was just returning from a course of anti-biotics (142nd overall, 21st woman, in 27:49). Kate Murray, runner-up in her age category (156th overall, 24th woman, in 28:29), was next and the contingent was completed by Paul Kelly (195th in 36:05).

The week’s racing started, however, with the Run in the Dark, two races, a 5K and a 10K, in support of Mark Pollock, the blind paraplegic ex-athlete. The cause is noble and the races are fun, if a little disorganised and this has been the case every year since inception some 6 years ago. Because it’s a charity event there were no prizes for top finishers, just bragging rights. This year, runners did not have to determine until they were on the course whether to run 5 or 10K. The 5K and 10K routes shared the same course up to 4K, leaving the Customs House in Dublin’s Docklands, heading out east along the North Wall to the new Central Bank headquarters where the route worked its way northwards and then around the Point Village, only to return to the North Wall, heading back into town, runners being expected to keep to the left of the road at this time. After 3K the route then took runners over the Sam Beckett bridge, winding around the Grand Canal area and on to Macken Street (Cardiff Lane) where the respective races split and the 5k finish took place on City Quay near the Grant Thornton building, whilst the 10K runners headed out up Macken Street and left along Ringsend Road over the Grand Canal and Dodder bridges (the only real hills in the race), through Irishtown, turning left at the junction next to Sean Moore Park and back over the East link bridge to finish on the North Wall Quay just before the Custom House. The flaw in the arrangement was that at least the first 50 to 100 finishers, probably more, in the 10K had to work their way through the back markers among the more than 3,300 participants in the 5K. Because they were mostly walkers and they had to cross over to the left at around the 3K mark, they took up quite a lot of the road and the 10K runners, completing their 9th and 10th kilometres, had to weave among them to get past. Additionally, it was clear that several of the walkers and slower 5k runners decided not to cross over the Sam Beckett Bridge at all, but to keep going straight towards the 10K finish on the north side of the river, completing only a distance of perhaps 4k in total. As a consequence, and because all the published results are based on chiptimes, several of the 5K walkers ended up having what appears to be exceedingly fast 10K times, and so the results from quite early on cannot be relied on. This is why we have square bracketed several of the finishing positions below. Additionally, there were male runners wearing numbers otherwise attributed to female competitors. The combination of these issues had a dramatic impact on the outcome, particularly of the women’s race, which was probably won by Catherine Thornton who was being cheered all along the second half by spectators as the leading woman, but who was given 3rd in the results so far behind two unknown (and unlikely) runners who would have had to run extremely well in a highly congested field behind her to produce the times recorded for them. There was an intermediate electronic mat at or around the 6k mark that would have been able to separate out those who did not run the full 10K from those that did, but it appears not to have been active. However, the organisers are looking into the results and hopefully they will be amended shortly.

The night was extremely chilly and windy, with the run up Macken Street and along the North Wall Quay heading towards town (which the 10k runners had to experience twice) suffering from the strong headwind. Additionally, the early part of the race was congested for several of our runners, particularly heading towards and around the Point. Nevertheless, those runners from the club that we have been able to identify, 5 in the 5K and 11 in the 10K, acquitted themselves well. Vinnie McGuinness ran a super 5k to place 3rd in 16:47, followed by David Timoney (16th in 19:10), Matt Cranley (52nd in 20:13), Luke Haran (66th in 20:26) and by Zlatko Kulic (90th in 20:54). In the 10K, with its nearly 3,700 competitors, Brian O’Kelly, in the first race of two that he ran in 3 days, came home in 5th place in a great time of 34:33. Also in the top 10 was Johannes Frederking who placed 10th in 36:08. After that the finishing positions become a little more questionable, although the chiptimes (if they were recorded) were fine. Peter O’Toole was next with a PB of 37:30 and a likely sub-20th place, but his chip appears to have failed and we await amendment of the results. Joe Walsh, who went on to run in the BHAA XC on Saturday, also ran a super race to finish with a time of 38:00 (given 20th place), followed by Neil Monahan who was a few seconds off his PB with a time of 38:49 (given 28th place). Luca Marchesotti finished about 50m behind James Cottle, after they both ran alongside each other from the 1K mark up to 7k, but his chiptime was 1 second faster as he started further back. Luca was given 73rd place in 40:30, whilst James, who ran a strong negative split and who also went on to run in the BHAA XC on Saturday, came home in 40:31 (given 74th spot). As mentioned, Catherine Thornton, another runner to compete again at the weekend, likely won the women’s race, but, currently the results show her as in 3rd place and she was also given 91st place overall with a time of 41:01. Simon Kenny, making a welcome return to competitive running, was next (given 142nd in 42:00), followed by Matthew Morrow, just recovered from his marathon ordeal (given 403rd in 45:24). The contingent was completed by Suzanne Martin, who, despite her sore calves, was able to run 46:12 and was given 487th place overall.

As mentioned, after his exploits in the Run in the Dark 5K on Wednesday night, on Saturday morning Brian O’Kelly turned out again, this time in the Clontarf half marathon, and, competing with more than 1,600 other runners, went on to win the event easily in an excellent time of 1:17:32. Roisin Harkin and Carina Davidson were our only other clubmates identifiable in the race. Roisin placed 197th overall, 20th woman finisher, in 1:38:32, whilst Carina placed 750th overall, 138th finisher, in 1:55:54. Phelim Murray took part in the 5 mile edition, placing 12th out of 670 runners, in a super time of 32:27.

Also on Saturday, in her second race in 3 days, Catherine Thornton took on an 8k challenge in Killannin in Co. Galway, the 3rd annual running of the event hosted by Corrib AC. In a field of nearly 50 participants on a particularly hilly and challenging one loop course that took place on roads and through a forest, Catherine won the women’s race, placing 5th overall in a strong time of 32:45.

On Friday morning Leo Lundy took on another ultra marathon, the 34.5 mile Battle of the Somme commemoration in Hampshire. Leo had already run the same course earlier in the year to mark the beginning of the battle. The latest running was to commemorate its end. In any event, Leo ran a commendable 6:29:36 and placed 4th out of 152 finishers.

Paul O'Meara took on the undulating and cold EOI Balbriggan half marathon on Saturday morning, finishing 21st out of 56 participants with a great time of 1:27.

Further afield, over the weekend Pat Quill took on the JFK 50 miler, the USA’s oldest ultramarathon, held in the Appalachian Mountains in Maryland near the famous Civil War battlefield of Antietam. The weather conditions were relatively benign but Pat suffered from the different surfaces presented in the race, is it moved from technical trail to road and, without a change of footwear (he ran in trail shoes), had to deal with extremely painful knees towards the end. Even so, among the 800 or so starters, Pat placed a creditable 106th in 8:29:04.

In keeping with our podium finishes this weekend, the club had considerable success in the parkruns on Saturday morning, with only a few of our clubmates actually taking part. Our newly elected club President, Niall O’Connell, took 18 seconds off his previous time for the course by coming home as first finisher in Cabinteely. In a field of nearly 70 runners on the hilly course, Niall finished in a time of 19:18. Gemma Nagle also improved on her recent time (a 2 minutes improvement over last week) by running 26:40 and placing 41st overall (14th woman). Likewise, in Marlay, Alban Coghlan led home a field of 465 finishers in a time of 16:24. Maria Pertl was our sole representative in St. Anne’s, placing 108th overall out of nearly 250 runners, and 20th woman finisher, in a time of 25:35. In Malahide Colm Kernan continues on the comeback trail, placing 12th out of more than 200 participants in a time of 19:55. Finally, Suzanne Collins placed 158th overall, 54th woman, in Malahide, in a time of 30:17.

BHAA Irish Life Combined 6K XC
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Cillian O’Leary 1 00:19:53
15 Ciara Durkin 1 00:21:37
Crusaders AC runners
3 Rob Cross 00:20:16
4 Michael Kiely 00:20:26
7 Karl Fahy 00:21:05
9 Michael O’Conor 00:21:23
20 Ger Forde 00:21:57
25 Jim Stagg 00:22:13
45 Michael Maughan 00:23:16
46 Brian Carroll 00:23:18
47 Adrienne Jordan 00:23:19
60 Joe Walsh 00:23:47
62 Alan Sheehy 00:23:51
67 Niamh Boland 00:24:04
71 James Cottle 00:24:18
109 Tom Dunne 00:26:23
114 Lisa Shine 00:26:37
115 Fiona Shine 00:26:38
121 Robbie Moore 00:26:49
133 Jocelyn Dufetel 00:27:26
137 Geraldine Clements 00:27:33
138 Emer Kenny 00:27:34
141 Tony Hackett 00:27:46
142 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:27:49
156 Kate Murray 00:28:29
195 Paul Kelly 00:36:05
Full results here: https://bhaa.ie/events/irish-life-cc-2016/
Run in the Dark Dublin 5K
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Richard Owens 1 00:16:04
35 Jennifer Dillon-Murphy 1 00:19:45
Crusaders AC runners
3 Vinnie McGuinness 00:16:47
16 David Timoney 00:19:10
52 Matt Cranley 00:20:13
66 Luke Haran 00:20:26
90 Zlatko Kulic 00:20:54
Full results here: http://results.runinthedark.ie/?event_id=41
Run in the Dark 10K
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Donal Foley 00:34:07
[[91] Catherine Thornton 1 00:41:01]
Crusaders AC runners
5 Brian O’Kelly 00:34:33
10 Johannes Frederking 00:36:08
00 Peter O’Toole 00:37:30 (PB)
[20] Joe Walsh 00:38:00
[28] Neil Monahan 00:38:49
[73] Luca Marchesotti 00:40:30
[74] James Cottle 00:40:31
[91] Catherine Thornton 00:41:01
[142] Simon Kenny 00:42:00
[403] Matthew Morrow 00:42:54
[487] Suzanne Martin 00:46:12
Full results here: http://results.runinthedark.ie/?event_id=41
Clontarf Half marathon
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Brian O’Kelly 1 01:17:32
21 Natalie Wangler 01:26:54
Crusaders AC runners
1 Brian O’Kelly 01:17:32
197 Roisin Harkin 01:38:32
750 Carina Davidson 01:55:54
Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/
Clontarf 5 mile
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Conor Healy 1 00:27:02
15 Grace Kennedy 1 00:32:49
Crusaders AC runner
12 Phelim Murray 00:32:27
Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/
Killannin 8K
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Neil O’Leary 1 00:30:09
5 Catherine Thornton 1 00:32:45
Crusaders AC runner
5 Catherine Thornton 00:32:54
Full results here: https://www.facebook.com/corribathleticclub/?fref=ts
Malahide Parkrun #211
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Annette Kealy 1 00:18:27
2 Chris Downey 1 00:18:37
Crusaders AC runners
12 Colm Kernan 00:19:55
158 Suzanne Collins 00:30:17
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=211
Marlay Parkrun #184
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Alban Coghlan 1 00:16:24
16 Eimer Fitzmaurice 1 00:19:33
Crusaders AC runner
1 Alban Coghlan 00:16:24
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=184
Cabinteely Parkrun #86
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Niall O’Connell 1 00:19:18
6 Malika Hammani 1 00:21:18
Crusaders AC runner
41 Gemma Nagle 00:26:40
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=86
St Anne’s Parkrun #157
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Ian Christopher Conroy 1 00:15:39
17 Jenny Mulryq 1 00:19:29
Crusaders AC runner
108 Maria Pertl 00:25:35
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=157