Cross Country Season starts with a Bang at the Dublin Novices

2/10/2017

Back row: Brendan Glynn, Joe O'Flaherty, Frank Hague, Brian Carroll, Joe McDermott, Michael Wycherley, Jim Stagg, Peter O'Toole, Rob Cross. Front row: John McAuley, John Thuillier, John Mannion, Brian O'Kelly, Vinnie McGuinness, Ciaran Diviney, Karl Fahy

The “bang” in the title to this report refers to the crackers that someone thoughtfully provided at our celebratory dinner after the twin triumphs of the club’s participation on Sunday at the Dublin Novices, but it could equally apply to the impact the club made at the event . We fielded two impressive teams of 15 runners in each team and ran away convincingly with some serious metal.

It was a day which saw an increasingly strong westerly wind develop on the familiar course around the Munich Mile at the Magazine in the Phoenix Park. At least it was dry and the most exposed area on the 15 Acres provided a bit of a tailwind. Even so, conditions were not easy. There were also large fields for both men’s (98) and women’s (71) races, but with significant participation in particular in the women’s race from both ourselves and, nearly matching us, Clonliffe.

We start with the women’s race, which was run over 4k (one small 1k loop followed by 2 x 1.5k). With 4 runners in the top 11, Raheny were clear winners of the team gold (26 points), but it was not until the awards ceremony that it became clear that Crusaders (55 points) had pipped Clonliffe (66 points) for silver, more convincingly in the final analysis than we had at the time realised. Indeed, it was extremely helpful that our first two non-scorers, or “spoilers”, Fiona Shine and newcomer Mairead Roche, came in ahead of the 4th Clonliffe scorer. Nevertheless, our four scorers put in a super performance in any event. Niamh Corby had a strong finish to come home in 6th place, whilst Orla Kennedy who had run alongside Niamh for most of the race was able to take a clear 8th place. Another pair to run close together were our third and fourth scorers, Lesley Ann Doughan (19th) in possibly her first cross country race (certainly for the club in any event) and Grainne Regan (22nd), with her first major medal, well-earned after a determined outing. Behind Fiona and Mairead (another runner enjoying a baptism of fire) came a resurgent Dee Ni Chearbhaill (30th), a runner who featured in the Cru’s first ever women’s cross country team, Gill Earley (35th) and Lisa Shine (37th). They were followed by Helena Walsh (40th) in her second race in 4 days, newcomer Serena Maloney (42nd) who was carrying a slight hamstring injury, stalwart Emer Kenny (50th), Rachel Yorke (52nd), Sarah Lyons (59th), another runner to enjoy a super effort in her first cross country and by Adrienne O’Driscoll (65th), yet another newcomer and a welcome addition to the team.

As a club Raheny did not have its own way in the same sense in the last event of the day, the men’s 6k Novices race. The club did produce a dominant winner in Eoin Strutt, who finished over a minute ahead of the field, but overall the team came third. Our team had a super showing and was totally unbeatable with a fabulous 23 points and a commanding lead over Donore (54) and Raheny (55). This was because Ciaran Diviney(4th), a man who turned 45 last week, and Brian O’Kelly (5th), a runner who ran in the Berlin marathon last Sunday, kept close contact with the runner from DSD in 2nd place throughout the race, with Ciaran narrowly ceding the bronze position to a Clonliffe athlete close to the line. Karl Fahy had an enormous surge throughout the race to take 6th place and our 4th scorer was Vinnie McGuinness (8th) back from injury. Never has a team gold medal been so well deserved. As they say, every position counts, and our non-scorers did their bit to push the other clubs back down the field. As with the Cru women, there were great determined runs from everyone. John Mannion, another runner recently returned from long term injury, did superbly to take 12th place and he was followed by Peter O’Toole (20th) on excellent form. Next came Michael Wycherley (30th) reversing positions from Rathfarnham the week before with John McAuley (33rd) and they were followed by Frank Hague (42nd), Joe McDermott (45th) Jim Stagg (53rd) and Brian Carroll (57th), who ran closely with John Thuillier (59th) throughout much of the race until the end. Mention must be given to Joe O’Flaherty (62nd) returning to the cross country after a 5-year lay-off and Brendan Glynn (89th) who had a steady outing, working his way through the field.

In terms of road running, we had at least 4 Crusaders take part in the DSD-organised Twilight challenge in Sandyford on Thursday evening. The course was quite twisty and conditions were blustery. Ollie McGrath led our contingent home in 19th place out of 400 competitors. Ollie ran 18:59 on the 5K course. He was followed by marathon-training Phelim Murray (45th in 20:01) whose team came third in the challenge, Helena Walsh (101st overall, 15th woman, in 21:37) and by Jocelyn Dufetel (135th in 22:51).

Leo Lundy took part over the weekend in what he calls “Bling Sunday”. It involved the Battle of Britain Challenge on a monster course in Samphire Hoe in Kent on a wild day. Unusually, quite a bit of the course was underground via one of the access tunnels through the Kentish cliffs, and, for the marathon, one had to climb the White Cliffs of Dover no fewer than 4 times from sea level, giving more than 2500ft to the course. Leo was fairly certain that there were lovely views at the top but with the ever-present low sea mist and at times driving rain and gale force winds he saw nothing. He did, however, get to see snakes on the course, a first for him and of course he would not have encountered them in Ireland. He also received his 50 Ultras medal at the event.

On Saturday, we had another decent representation in parkruns. The morning was relatively calm and dry and good for running. In terms of results, the best came from two runners. Seamus MacFloinn, a runner training for the Dublin marathon, was first finisher in Poolbeg in 18:11. In a field of more than 80 participants Seamus was followed by Iseult Ni Chuinneagain (56th overall, 20th female, in 27:36) and Ciara McEligott (67th overall, 29th female, in 30:56). Another first finisher was Katie McElroy, who placed 4th overall in a 110-strong field in Sligo. Katie ran 21:26. Neil Brown was our lone participant in Shanganagh, placing 12th in 22:11 among a field comprising 113 runners. Likewise, Mick Blighe, another Crusader who ran the Berlin marathon last week and is now preparing for Dublin, ran solo in Cabinteely, taking 35th spot out of 130 in a time of 24:30. Mairead Cashman, getting over injury, appeared to walk around Bushy Dublin, whilst we had a large turnout in two other runs. In St. Anne’s we had no fewer than 9 participants in a field of more than 380. Denis Murphy was first Crusader home in 37th (20:51), followed by Russell Murphy (48th in 21:25) and by Darina Scully (57th overall, 5th woman, in 21:49). All four are training for the Dublin marathon. Darina was followed by Sarah Lyons in a warm-up for the cross-country the following day (122nd overall, 16th woman, in 24:22), and by Fiona Bane (144th overall, 24th woman, in 25:11), Kevin Flynn (206th in 27:04), Aoife Quinn (251st overall, 72nd woman, in 28:28), Lorraine Fitzsimons (302nd overall, 105th woman, in 30:22) and by Don Anderton (342nd in 34:05). Finally, we had a few clubmates take on the first running of the Darndale parkrun, on a 3 loop relatively flat and fast course up near the airport and the M50. There were 62 participants, including 5 Crusaders and by all accounts several of the runners in the field were generally there to tick off a new parkrun, so that it remains to be seen how much local support it will attract going forward. The area is home to several apparently urban horses as at least one photograph revealed. In any event, the race was tackled by the Shine family and by Orlaith de Burca. Mairin Shine was our lead runner, placing 30th overall (6th woman) in 31:24. Thereafter, came Orlaith (31st overall, 7th woman, in 31:29), Fiona Shine (32nd overall, 8th woman, in the same time) and by Lisa Shine (34th overall, 10th woman, in 31:30). Both Fiona and Lisa were preparing themselves for the following day’s Dublin novices.
Dublin Novices Women’s XC (4K)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Ashley Ryan 00:14:32
Crusaders AC runners
6 Niamh Corby 00:15:22
8 Orla Kennedy 00:15:27
19 Lesley Ann Doughan 00:16:16
22 Grainne Regan 00:16:20
26 Fiona Shine 00:16:28
28 Mairead Roche 00:16:44
30 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:16:45
35 Gill Earley 00:16:58
37 Lisa Shine 00:17:04
40 Helena Walsh 00:17:08
42 Serena Maloney 00:17:15
50 Emer Kenny 00:17:42
52 Rachel Yorke 00:17:49
59 Sarah Lyons 00:18:12
65 Adrienne O’Driscoll 00:18:26
Full results here: https://www.dublinathletics.com/attachments/article/483/Novice%20Cross%20Country%20Men%20and%20Women%20Results%202017.pdf
Dublin Novices Men’s XC (6K)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Eoin Strutt 00:19:04
Crusaders AC runners
4 Ciaran Diviney 00:20:10
5 Brian O’Kelly 00:20:18
6 Karl Fahy 00:20:20
8 Vinnie McGuinness 00:20:36
12 John Mannion 00:21:10
20 Peter O’Toole 00:21:29
30 Michael Wycherley 00:21:53
33 John McAuley 00:22:04
42 Frank Hague 00:22:21
45 Joe McDermott 00:22:25
53 Jim Stagg 00:22:56
57 Brian Carroll 00:23:07
59 John Thuillier 00:23:09
62 Joe O’Flaherty 00:23:26
89 Brendan Glynn 00:26:05
Full results here: https://www.dublinathletics.com/attachments/article/483/Novice%20Cross%20Country%20Men%20and%20Women%20Results%202017.pdf
Twilight Run 5k
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Robert Corbally 1 00:16:05
10 Meghan Ryan 1 00:17:48
Crusaders AC runners
19 Ollie McGrath 00:18:59
45 Phelim Murray 00:20:01
101 Helena Walsh 00:21:37 (15)
135 Jocelyn Dufetel 00:22:51
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/spirit_motor_group_twilight_5kteam_challenge_/2365/results
Sligo Parkrun #138
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Cathal O’Hara 1 00:20:19
4 Katie McElroy 1 00:21:26
Crusaders AC runner
4 Katie McElroy 00:21:26 (1)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/sligo/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=138
Darndale Parkrun #1
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Aidan McGrath 1 00:19:25
12 Emer Buckley 1 00:23:11
Crusaders AC runners
30 Mairin Shine 00:31:24 (6)
31 Orlaith de Burca 00:31:29 (7)
32 Fiona Shine 00:31:29 (8)
34 Lisa Shine 00:31:30 (10)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/darndale/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=1
Shanganagh Parkrun #132
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Michael Nalty 1 00:17:56
15 Hanna Kissane 1 00:22:41
Crusaders AC runner
12 Neil Brown 00:22:11
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=132
St Anne’s Parkrun #201
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Paul Cowhie 1 00:17:15
7 Ailis Murtagh 1 00:18:35
Crusaders AC runners
37 Denis Murphy 00:20:51
48 Russell Murphy 00:21:25
57 Darina Scully 00:21:49 (5)
122 Sarah Lyons 00:24:22 (16)
144 Fiona Bane 00:25:11 (24)
206 Kevin Flynn 00:27:04
251 Aoife Quinn 00:28:28 (72)
302 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:30:22 (105)
342 Don Anderton 00:34:05
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=201
Cabinteely Parkrun #131
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Derek Lawlor 1 00:18:38
18 Joanne Ryan 1 00:22:18
Crusaders AC runner
35 Mick Blighe 00:24:30
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=131
Bushy Dublin Parkrun #32
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Tom Dunne 1 00:17:27
5 Breda McDonald 1 00:20:11
Crusaders AC runner
129 Mairead Cashman 01:09:02 (49)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/bushydublin/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=32
Poolbeg Parkrun #6
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Seamus MacFloinn 1 00:18:11
18 Mary McInerney 1 00:21:47
Crusaders AC runners
1 Seamus MacFloinn 00:18:11
56 Iseult Ni Chuinneagain 00:27:36 (20)
67 Ciara McElligott 00:30:56 (29)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=6

Grainne Regan, Orla Kennedy and Niamh Corby

Back row: Serena Maloney, Grainne Regan, Emer Kenny, Orla Kennedy, Lesley Ann Doughan, Fiona Shine, Adrienne O'Driscoll, Michael McGovern. Front row: Niamh Corby, Dee Ni Chearbhaill, Lisa Shine, Helena Walsh, Gill Earley and Mairead Roche

Vinnie McGuinness and Pablo Sanchez

John Mannion, Michael O'Conor and Pablo Sanchez

Ciaran Diviney

Brian O'Kelly, Michael O'Conor and Pablo Sanchez

Brian O'Kelly, Vinnie McGuinness, Ciaran Diviney and Karl Fahy

From front to back: Orla Kennedy, lesley Ann Doughan, Grainne regan, Sarah Lyons, Fiona Shine, Gillian Earley, Dee Ni Chearbhaill, Adrienne O'Driscoll, Lisa Shine, Emer Kenny