Crusaders build for the future

22/8/2018

Back row: Maria Hetherington, Fearghal O'Hare, Susan Walsh, Michael McGovern, John Caird, Patrick Gilceava Sam Bolger, Lauren Kirwan, NN, Orla Ni Mhuircheartaigh, Nadine Deehan Brian Murphy, Bob Lyne, Don Anderton. Front row: Katie Rose Barry, Lisa Shine, Mary Horgan and Alix Hughes

The reference in the title is not to the clubhouse, although it could have been so as this project is well underway, but to the participation of so many of our younger athletes in the National League Final in Tullamore on Sunday. Indeed, the teams were packed with new faces and also some older ones in new, less familiar, roles! Without some of our more usual performers it was always going to be a challenge, but the two teams we fielded did the club proud and under the expert leadership of Gary Park the men’s team eventually finished in 7th place in the premier division (5th club, given that 2 of the teams were county-based) and under that of Lisa Shine and Susan Walsh, the women finishing in 4th place in division one, only 3 points off 2nd place, the top 3 teams all being Ulster-based. On the women’s side there were major contributions from Lisa, Alix Hughes, Niamh Aspell, Grainne Regan, Phillipa Conway, Katie Rose Barry, Mary Horgan, Orla Ni Mhuicheartaigh, Nadine Deehan and Ines Fetahovic, with six 2nd place and two 3rd place finishes among the 12 events in which we scored. The men took part in 18 events recording one win (Matt Behan in the 110m hurdles), one 2nd place and five 3rd place finishes. It’s an excellent reflection of likely future success given there were so many new faces participating. Sam Bolger, Patrick Gilceava, John Nugent, Jonny Bell, Ciaran Donnelly, James Kelly, Fearghal O’Hare, Garret Dunne, Oisin Taylor, Matt Behan, Brian Murphy (56lb weight for distance!), Bob Hyne, all did their bit.

The previous day, Tullamore also played host to the National Masters Track and Field Championships with its record turnout. Again, we had quite a decent showing from the club. John O’Loughlin took silver in the M50 100m in 12.45, whilst Liam Lyster won gold in the same event for M60 (14.09). Donal Swift placed 6th M65 in his race in a time of 17.44. Michael Killilea won the silver medal in the 5k walk as an M45 (32:17.29), whilst Liam also went on to win silver in the 200m (M60) in a time of 29.57. Denis Murphy, in his last outing for the club before he moves to Raheny, recorded a PB of 2:27.96 in taking 4th place in the 800m (M55 category) and 5th in the 1500m in 5:21.86, whilst another M55, John Healy, won bronze in the same event in a time of 5:01.18. Both Jonathan Miller and John O’Loughlin distinguished themselves with a win in the M35 and M50 400m in 51.24 and 57.81, respectively. Finally, Joe McDermott and Michael Wycherley ran in the 5000m, with Joe placing 10th as an M35 in 17:38.21 and Michael coming across the line in 6th in the M40 race in 16:44.67.

There was at least one race in the hills last week in which Crusaders took part. In the Mountain Rescue Benefit 8k that was run around Paddock Hill near Laragh in Co. Wicklow, Warren Swords (who is in training for the upcoming UTMB in the Alps) took 7th spot in a field of 91 in a time of 34:39. On a course of moderate difficulty with a 250m climb, Gavan Doherty came home in 14th place in 37:25, followed by Anthony O’Reilly (22nd in 38:19) and Berndt Heim (81st in 54:41).

To some extent this report has been delayed whilst waiting for certain road racing results. In particular, the Longford Marathon 5k and half marathon results took a while but it can be confirmed that Rachael Yorke, our sole entrant in the 5k placed 2nd (12th overall in a field of 166) in a time of 21:27, less than 30 secs behind the winner of the women's race and in the half which saw a field in excess of 370, Pat Quill placed 44th in 1:34:12 and Miriam Logan, in training for Berlin, crossed the line in 119th place overall (18th female finisher) in a time of 1:47:10. It's not clear how the marathon relay teams fared but from the photos it is possible we may have finished with more than one team on the podium.

The winner and runner up of the Longford marathon were the old, but friendly, protagonists, Gary O’Hanlon and Freddy Sittuk. For a while, one of our runners, Niall Murphy, was lying in 4th place until he began to suffer a bit in the legs after 20k or so, eventually coming across the line in 20th place in a field of 180, but at least with a major PB improvement to 3:03:54 and a qualifying time for Boston, which had been his principal aim. Our other runner, Gian Piero Allerta, also went through a tough patch in the 2nd half, eventually placing 90th in 3:53:16.

Also, over the weekend we had runners in the St Coca’s 10 mile race in Kilcock. In a field of nearly 500 Bob Manson placed 108th in 68:53, followed home by Kate Murray in 192nd spot (32nd female) in 77:21. Another of our members, possibly a newcomer, Kevin Lambe, ran 23:43 for 131st place in the 317-strong field in the Castlepollard 5k held in Co. Westmeath. We had at least one participant in the Dun Laoghaire Half Ironman on Sunday. Kiera Roche took part in the relay, participating in the run with family members.

Elsewhere, there was news from Denmark, the UK, Switzerland and Canada. In Copenhagen Andrea Talpo took part in the full Ironman there, placing 286th in a field of 2,654. Of note was Andrea’s marathon which took him only 3:15:25 and helped him to an overall excellent total of 10:05:50. In Hampshire in the UK over the weekend Leo Lundy ran in a 54k ultra (the Hangman), but he got lost so ended up running 57k in total. Even this week he’s found time to put in another ultra effort, this time in Kent. It’s also great to report that Ian Kinsella is continuing his successful running ways with a 2nd place finish in the Iroquois Trail Test 34k in the Crawford Lake conservation area outside Toronto. Lastly, in Lausanne, Donnacha McCarthy and his guide Dave Tilly came home in 6th place in the World Cup triathlon there at the weekend.

As usual, there were some good results emerging from Saturday’s parkruns. In Poolbeg we had both first finishers, with Andrej Kujikis producing an excellent time of 18:11 and Fiona Bane, equally on good form, running 23:16 to place 33rd overall. They were joined by John Thuillier whose times will continue to drop as he gets back into running (4th in 19:08), Marius McNicholas (17th in 21:28), Russell Murphy (20th in 21:41), newcomer John McQuaid (55th in 24:45) and Jennifer Armstrong (93rd overall, 22nd woman, in 30:20). Elsewhere, Luke Davis took 7th spot in Marlay in 19:07, followed by Ailsa Berkeley (192nd overall, 28th woman, in 26:15), whilst Emma O’Mahony also came in 7th (37th overall) in Enniskillen in 26:42. In St. Anne’s Jonathan Claridge came across the line in 8th place (18:09), followed by Peter O’Toole (20th in 19:42), Matt Cranley and daughter (22nd in 19:45), Ronan Reilly (29th in 20:06) and Lorraine Fitzsimons (289th overall, 88th woman, in 29:04). Further afield, Kris Ryan ran 22:29 in the 147-strong field in Paradise Point, Australia to take 4th place (20th overall), whilst Aidan Hudner ran 22:56 to place 83rd in the 346-strong field in Victoria Park, Glasgow. Darina Scully took 160th spot overall (29th woman) in 27:31 in Malahide, whilst Aoife Quinn placed 4th in Fairview (24th overall) with a time of 26:46. Neil Brown also placed 4th in Tolka Valley (21:58), followed by Diarmuid Byrne (16th in 26:13) and Maria Pertl (17th overall, 7th woman, in 26:14). Lisa Shine placed 110th overall (37th woman) in 33:50 in Longford, just behind Orlaith de Burca (109th overall, 36th woman, in 33:48) and, finally, David Carter crossed the finishing line in 6th place in Cabinteely (21:14), followed by Olwyn Dunne (94th overall, 25th female finisher, in 30:05), Mairin Shine (130th overall, 43rd female, in 36:01) and Fiona Shine (131st overall, 44th female, in 36:02).

Longford Marathon (180)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Gary O’Hanlon 1 02:20:59
8 Florence O’Donoghue 1 02:57:36
Crusaders AC runners
20 Niall Murphy 03:03:54 (PB)
90 Gian Piero Allerta 03:53:16
Full results here: http://longfordmarathon.com/results
Longford Half marathon (371)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Paddy O'Toole 1 01:14:06
14 Adele Walsh 1 01:24:52
Crusaders AC runners
44 Pat Quill 01:34:12
119 Miriam Logan 01:47:10 (18)
Full results here: http://longfordmarathon.com/results/?year=2018&marathon=half&gender=&category=
IMRA Mountain Rescue Benefit 8k (91)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Peter O’Farrell 1 00:32:03
29 Tanya Sheridan 1 00:39:44
Crusaders AC runners
7 Warren Swords 00:34:39
14 Gavan Doherty 00:37:25
22 Anthony O’Reilly 00:38:19
81 Berndt Heim 00:54:41
Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/1610/
Longford 5k (166)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Wesley Harrison 1 00:17:57
9 Eileen Donohoe 1 00:20:59
Crusaders AC runner
12 Rachael Yorke 00:21:27 (2)
Full results here: http://longfordmarathon.com/results/?year=2018&marathon=5k&gender=&category=
Castlepollard 5k (317)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Sean Doran 1 00:15:49
18 Michelle Cox 1 00:17:49
Crusaders AC runner
131 Kevin Lambe 00:23:43
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/castlepollard_5k/2737/results
St. Coca’s 10 Mile Kilcock (499)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Thomas Hayes 1 00:51:05
42 Jane Bandila 1 01:02:40
Crusaders AC runners
108 Bob Manson 01:08:53
192 Kate Murray 01:17:21 (32)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/st._cocas_(kilcock)_10_mile_(mrr)/2596/results
St. Anne’s Parkrun #245 (445)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 unknown 1 00:17:11
2 Deirdre Byrne 1 00:17:27
Crusaders AC runners
8 Jonathan Claridge 00:18:09
20 Peter O’Toole 00:19:42
22 Matt Cranley 00:19:45
29 Ronan Reilly 00:20:06
289 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:29:04 (88)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=245
Poolbeg Parkrun #51 (110)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Andrej Kujikis 1 00:18:11
33 Fiona Bane 1 00:23:16
Crusaders AC runners
1 Andrej Kujikis 00:18:11
4 John Thuillier 00:19:08
17 Marius McNicholas 00:21:28
20 Russell Murphy 00:21:41
33 Fiona Bane 00:23:16 (1)
55 John McQuaid 00:24:45
93 Jennifer Armstrong 00:30:20 (22)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=51
Cabinteely Parkrun #176 (143)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Igor Pashchenko 1 00:17:53
8 Joanne Ryan 1 00:22:01
Crusaders AC runners
6 David Carter 00:21:14
94 Olwyn Dunne 00:30:05 (25)
130 Mairin Shine 00:36:01 (43)
131 Fiona Shine 00:36:02 (44)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=176
Longford Parkrun #117 (161)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Richard Gibson 1 00:20:20
6 Clodagh McGroary 1 00:21:35
Crusaders AC runners
109 Orlaith de Burca 00:33:48 (36)
110 Lisa Shine 00:33:50 (37)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/castlehaven/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=135
Enniskillen Parkrun #266 (89)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Barry McAleer 1 00:20:47
18 Claire Rigg 1 00:24:28
Crusaders AC runner
37 Emma O’Mahony 00:26:42 (7)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/enniskillen/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=266
Tolka Valley Parkrun #26 (51)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mick Bermingham 1 00:19:40
5 Celine Gavin 1 00:22:10
Crusaders AC runners
4 Neil Brown 00:21:58
16 Diarmuid Byrne 00:26:13
17 Maria Pertl 00:26:14 (7)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tolkavalley/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=26
Malahide Parkrun #301 (299)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Feidhlim Kelly 1 00:16:58
39 Ciara Kilroy 1 00:22:09
Crusaders AC runner
160 Darina Scully 00:27:31 (29)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=301
Marlay Parkrun #268 (486)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Damian Bourke 1 00:17:55
23 Paula Prendergast 1 00:20:35
Crusaders AC runners
7 Luke Davis 00:19:07
192 Ailsa Berkeley 00:26:15 (28)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=268
Fairview Parkrun #57 (62)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Aaron Mullan 1 00:20:07
11 Charlene Carty 1 00:24:21
Crusaders AC runner
24 Aoife Quinn 00:26:46 (4)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/fairview/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=57