Crusaders give a good account of themselves in the Grant Thornton 5k

Bob Cahill

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​As a club we had a super outing on Tuesday evening. Not only were we able to produce a good number of stewards raising much needed funding for the club and providing excellent marshalling for what was a logistically challenging race but we also contributed some great competition with at least 18 of our clubmates participating as competitors in the event. The occasion was the running of the Grant Thornton 5k challenge, principally involving corporate teams (no age category awards) on a course that takes in a large portion of the Docklands 5k, but also includes 2 crossings of the Samuel Beckett Bridge and a few twists and turns around the Grand Canal area.
 
The organisers were lucky in several respects. Firstly, they had Crusaders to marshall the race, secondly, the weather was kind and, although some runners felt conditions were quite warm, it was a largely windless evening and, thirdly, the 4,500+ runners who participated in the event (out of more than 5000 who signed up)were probably the limit that the course can handle without running into problems of leading runners colliding with back-markers. In fact at the end there was only about 10 seconds in it and about 10 of the leaders actually had to be directed slightly offline coming round the Matt Talbot Bridge in order to ensure there was no calamity with runners in the 4th wave. Those of us stewarding on the north side of the Beckett Bridge also had to contend with a band of drummers who parked themselves there for the entire duration of the race. They were a great motivation for the athletes, but made it difficult for the stewards to communicate. As a result it made it harder to deal with a significant number of residents and cyclists who were determined to cross the course on what was a blind bend on the home stretch.
 
In coming home in 35th place overall Caroline Crowley won the women’s race by nearly 2 minutes in 16:39 and was unchallenged, at least by any female competitor. However, she did have to contend with an amazing run from clubmate John Thuillier who stuck like glue to her in the second half of the race and came home to record a 65s PB improvement in 16:44 and 40th place. An unbelievable effort which had many of us talking about in the days to follow. Helena Walsh came home in 509th place overall (19th female finisher) in 20:02, an excellent run for her and Helena was followed by Sharon Woods (999th overall, 152nd woman, in 22:57), Mairead Cashman (2,045th overall, 352nd woman, in 25:02) and Grainne Regan who, despite being in one of the later waves and having to contend with more weaving than others, produced a PB performance in coming home 53rd woman finisher but 3,812th overall in 21:21.
 
On the men’s side Brendan Murphy ran strongly and was always up with a second group of leading runners, finally finishing in 12th place in a time of 15:23. Michael O’Conor, Vinnie McGuinness and John Mulvihill were all part of a large group for much of the race and helped each other to place respectively 22nd, 23rd and 24th, Michael recording a PB time (by one second) of 15:59 and Vinnie and John respectively running 16:01 and 16:02. After John Thuillier came a flying Peter O’Toole (74th in 17:16), Joe Walsh (85th with a super 17:27), Andrew Kineen (119th also with a great time of 17:50), Des O’Brien, just behind Andrew (123rd in 17:51), Lukasz Batruch (305th in 19:14), Luke Haran (487th in 19:58), Joe O’Reilly (1,714th in 23:24) and Liam Lyster (2,389th in 25:21).
 
A highly enjoyable evening in the Vintage Inn followed!
 
There were reports that the course may have been short by about 100m, but a lot of this can be accounted for by high buildings around the course throwing off the GPS fixings. Perhaps next year, though, it would be a good idea, in order to avoid controversy, to have the course recertified.
 
Saturday saw the inaugural running of several races in Kilkenny (under the collective title of Medieval Marathon) and this was definitely a bit controversial. There were reports that authorities were not keen to see the races start because the shared course involved, among other things, mounting pavements in places and running along a busy road. Nevertheless, the events did go ahead, in warm conditions. We had possibly 3 runners participate. Along with 150 other runners, Bob Cahill took part in the marathon distance, placing 5th with an excellent time of 2:56:15, not the first time he has broken 3 hours, but a definite improvement over his most recent outing in Longford. Weather conditions were a lot kinder.
 
Pat Quill and possibly our Brian Carroll took part in one of the other events, the 30k, along with 116 other competitors. Pat was able to claim a podium place (3rd) with his 2:09:38, whilst Brian placed 27th in a time of 2:35:01.
 
On Sunday Leo Lundy took part in England in what he described as a top notch event: the Kent Coyote Marathon, which is the sister race to the Kent Roadrunner (KRR) and suitably themed. It was on the reverse course to the KRR so it meant 20.5 reverse laps of the Cyclopark in Kent. Around 400 took part with lots of lapping and being lapped (as Leo says, thank goodness for chip timing). A solid 1:49 half and a focused 3:56:54 finish on the surprisingly hilly and 0.5 mile long course was a steady day out in pretty good conditions.
 
We had a few runners in the parkruns on Saturday. With a time of 19:52, Niall Morris, who is shortly to head over to Germany next week to run in the Berlin marathon, placed 14th in Malahide in a field of 234 runners. Despite suffering from a stress fracture picked up after the recent Lakes 10k, John McAuley ran a good race, just pipping Eddie Nugent to 9th place in Marlay Park. John ran 18:09 and Eddie’s time of 18:11 took him to 10th spot. Mary Noelle Rohan also participated, placing 392nd overall, 140th female finisher, in 31:07.  Aidan Hudner once again tackled the Victoria Park run in Glasgow, placing 90th in a time of 22:54 in a field of 333 runners. Sharon Woods took on Shanganagh, placing 25th overall, 6th woman, in a time of 23:17. There were 162 runners in the event. In Cabinteely, Suzanne Martin placed 22nd overall, 4th woman, in a time of 23:27, followed home by Lisa Shine who placed 27th overall, 5th woman, in 24:14. The field had 88 runners. Finally in Ballincollig in a field of more than 300 runners, Mairead Cashman placed 98th overall, 24th woman finisher, in a time of 27:42.
 
Grant Thornton 5K
Overall Place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mark Kirwan 1 00:14:30
35 Caroline Crowley 1 00:16:39
Crusaders AC runners
12 Brendan Murphy 00:15:23
22 Michael O’Conor 00:15:59 (PB)
23 Vinnie McGuinness 00:16:01
24 John Mulvihill 00:16:02
35 Caroline Crowley 00:16:39
49 John Thuillier 00:16:44 (PB)
74 Peter O’Toole 00:17:16
85 Joe Walsh 00:17:27
119 Andrew Kineen 00:17:50
123 Des O’Brien 00:17:51
305 Lukasz Batruch 00:19:14
487 Luke Haran 00:19:58
509 Helena Walsh 00:20:02
999 Sharon Woods 00:22:57
1714 Joe O’Reilly 00:23:24
2045 Mairead Cashman 00:25:02
2389 Liam Lyster 00:25:21
3812 Grainne Regan 00:21:21 (PB) 
Full results here: http://www.myrunresults.com/events/grant_thornton_corporate_5k_team_challenge/1740/results
 
Kilkenny Medieval Marathon
Overall Place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Alex O’Shea 1 02:33:31
29 Anita Barry 1 03:44:12
Crusaders AC runner
5 Bob Cahill 02:56:15
Full results here: http://www.myrunresults.com/events/medieval_marathon%2c_kilkenny/1662/results
 
Kilkenny Medieval Marathon (30k)
Overall Place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Brian Byrne 1 01:57:48
2 Dee Grady 1 02:04:04
Crusaders AC runners
3 Pat Quill 1 02:09:38
27 Brian Carroll 02:35:01
Full results here:  http://www.myrunresults.com/events/medieval_marathon%2c_kilkenny/1662/results
 
Malahide Parkrun #202
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Paul Cowhie 1 00:17:03
4 Annette Kealy 1 00:18:36
Crusaders AC runner
14 Niall Morris 00:19:52
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=202
 
Cabinteely Parkrun #77
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mindaugas Igaris 1 00:19:17
6 Joanne Ryan 1 00:21:13
Crusaders AC runners
22 Suzanne Martin 00:23:27
27 Lisa Shine 00:24:14
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=77
 
Shanganagh Parkrun #78
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Michael Dunne 1 00:18:09
11 Zuleika O’Malley 1 00:21:33
Crusaders AC runner
25 Sharon Woods 00:23:17
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=78
 
Ballincollig Parkrun #14
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Ben McGuire 1 00:18:37
18 Geraldine O’Shea 1 00:21:27
Crusaders AC runner
98 Mairead Cashman 00:27:42
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/ballincollig/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=14
 
Marlay Parkrun #175
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 John Campbell 1 00:17:22
20 Rachel Riordan 1 00:19:30
Crusaders AC runners
9 John McAuley 00:18:09
10 Eddie Nugent 00:18:11
392 Mary Noelle Rohan 0:31:07
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=175

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Leo Lundy

Caroline Crowley

Grainne Regan