Crusaders Make their Presence Felt in the Raheny 5 and the National Masters Indoor Championships

31/1/2022

Back row: Aitor Arribas Velasco, Cian Coughlan, Phelim Murray, Gerard White, Neil Brown, Gian Piero Allerta, Kevin Fitzgibbon, Dee Lawlor, Aaron Cashman, Fiona McCormack, David O'Donnell, Brendan Glynn, Kevin Lambe, Cathal O'Hara, James Moran, Mairead Cashman, Ciara Lynch, Carina Davidson, Eugene McDonough, Barry O'Neill, Peter O'Toole, Joe Dunne. Middle row: Marta Imaz, Aine Crotty, Sarah Lyons, Emily Glenn, Olwyn Dunne, Joanne Carey, Paul E. Kelly, Emer Kenny, Adam Flanagan, Isabelle Cairns and Liz Nixon. Front row: Karl Walsh, Will Holton, Aine Kenny, James Cottle, Tanja Narancic, Alan Kavanagh, Kathryn Sweeney, Geoffrey Keating, Miriam Logan and Maria Kennedy

What a super day we had on Sunday on the northside! With the welcome return of the Raheny Shamrock-organised AXA Raheny 5, more than 100 Crusaders participated in a quality field measuring over 3000 on the day. The rain held off and although the wind was increasing and the temperature was dropping throughout the day, conditions were generally excellent for the race and, as usual, the Crusaders’ support all along the route was fantastic! Susan Walsh's great commentary, identifying nearly every Crusader who crossed the line, added icing to the cake!

More on the event below, but we start with the National Masters Indoor Championships, held in Nenagh on Sunday. We had just 3 Crusaders competing, but they all took away something to treasure. Unsurprisingly, Mary Horgan did not need to over-exert herself taking gold in the W35 800m, even though she did have some decent opposition in the field of 4. Mary ran 2:23.60. Mary also took on the 400m, winning that too in 59.93 with just one other runner in her age category to beat. On the men’s side, new member, but veteran podium placer, Paul Cowhie won his M55 age category in the 3000m. He was in a race with 4 other M55s but also including M50s and M60s and did much of the hard work at the front for most of the race, with an M50 runner who eventually won the race, tucked in behind. Paul, however, hung on for 2nd overall and taking gold in his age group in 9:56.79. Finally, John O’Loughlin, another M55 runner, took the bronze in the 200m sprint in 27.39, whilst placing 4th in the 400m in 1:04.54.

Meanwhile, in Raheny, we can forgive the contractor who added about 450m to the course, between the 3rd and 4th mile, where runners had to enter St. Anne’s Park and run up an out-and back route along the central avenue. Apparently, he had thought that the turn at the top was the same as the national walks championships that had taken place in the park recently. Most of us who have run the race before became acutely aware that we were having to put in more effort than in previous editions and that the 4-mile marker was in a different place from usual. So, we all ended up with 5.3 mile PBs! In any event, at least one of our runners, Neil Brown, who ran 35:42, was even able to claim a proper PB regardless of the extra length, as he had never achieved that time before in any previous 5 mile race, such has been his improvement in recent months (down to Saturday training in the Phoenix park no doubt!).

The field was one of high quality, everyone delighted to be back running in such an iconic event, made famous by the efforts of the late and venerable Pat Hooper, for whom a lovely tribute was paid at the start line. As always, the corral at the start was jam-packed and it was vital to be as close to the front as possible if you wanted to get a decent time and in particular a favourable gun time (indeed it is noticeable that several of our runners recorded good chiptimes, but were way back on gun). Even armed with this knowledge, many of us with that intention found ourselves squeezed back a little. Nevertheless, the race got going apparently without mishap from the narrow start and although many of us found ourselves in the thick of it for a lot of the race, it didn’t feel overly congested.

Our vast contingent, with the second highest number of club runners in the race behind Raheny Shamrocks (and almost double that of any other club), was led home by Kieran Little with a stormer of a race, finishing in 27th in 26:43 (essentially equivalent to just over 25 minutes for 5 miles). He was followed by Michael Kiely in 27:48 for 66th place and we had 4 other runners in the top 100: John Mulvihill (85th in 28:18), Daragh O’Reilly (97th in 28:21), Vinnie McGuinness (98th in 28:32) and just behind him, Kevin Fitzgibbon (99th in 28:33). A further 5 athletes broke the overall top 150: Aaron Cashman (117th in 28:56), Peter O’Toole (129th in 29:06), Ciarain Kelly (135th in 29:13), Michael O’Conor (142nd in 29:21) and Adam Flanagan (149th in 29:20), with Michael Wycherley just outside in 153rd place (29:23). A further 27 men from the club finished in the top 500, making 39 men in total (or nearly 8%). Our senior men’s team of Kieran, Michael and John took 10th place out of 79 teams, whilst our O/40 men’s team of Vinnie, Peter and Michael Wycherley came agonisingly close to a podium place, taking 4th spot out of 38 teams. There was one age category podium finisher among our number: James Cottle came 2nd in the M65 category (481st in 33:30), finishing 8 seconds on gun-time ahead of a rival for the place and otherwise achieving his goal of sub-32 minutes for 5 miles. The race is famous for its prizes of random electrical goods and James was delighted to add an electric iron to his collection!

On the women’s side, given her recent form, it was no surprise to see Catherine Thornton leading the charge, placing 232nd overall and 14th female finisher in a super time of 30:34 (equivalent to a PB time of approx. 28:50, the first time breaking 29 minutes). Catherine continues to take major scalps in these events too, finishing ahead of some of the women who finished ahead of her in the recent Dublin masters XC, in particular with a really strong last 800m. She was followed by Maura Mahoney with another excellent performance. Maura placed 411th overall and 34th woman across the line in 32:42, with Ilona McElroy slightly further back in 501st and 53rd in 33:55. The three women were scorers in the team event where they placed 5th out of more than 60 senior teams. Completing the top 100 places were Sarah Lyons (529th and 58th in 33:49), Lean Ni Chiobhain (539th and 60th in 33:53), Fiona Shine (560th and 64th in 34:13), Aoife Quigley (567th and 65th in 34:21), Rebecca Fleming (623rd and 72nd in 34:58), Joanne Carey (628th and 73rd in 35:08), Aine Crotty (630th and 74th), Kathryn Sweeney (646th and 76th) and Alma Hanevy (723rd and 94th in 35:00). Just outside were Emer Kenny (750th and 103rd in 36:08), Aine Kenny (774th and 107th in 36:19) and Suzanne Dunne (nee Martin) (797th and 115th in 36:53). Completing the top 150 were Dee Ni Chearbhaill (840th and 125th in 37:07), Ciara Lynch (841st and 126th in 36:52) and Danielle Hopkins (926th and 141st in 36:21). Two more female runners came home inside the top overall 1000. They were Isabelle Cairns (990th and 160th in 38:07) and Tanja Narancic (994th and 161st in 38:06). 35 (out of 38) of our clubmates finished among the top 500 female finishers in a field of nearly 1300 and, of the remaining 3, Mairead Cashman placed a creditable 20th in her 84-strong F55 category (1,913th and 518th in 46:40), Mairin Shine placed 6th out of 18 in her F65 category (2,305th and 733rd in 50:26) and Sophia Morgan, who was unfortunately carrying an injury into the race (2,147th and 640th in 49:25), did well to finish. Our ladies’ O/40 team of Joanne, Alma and Aine Kenny took an excellent 5th place out of 47 teams.

There was another IMRA race on Saturday on which to report. This was the Brockagh Burst in Co. Wicklow. It involved a 6k circular route, summiting the mountain over moderate terrain and a climb of 200m. Conditions would have been good for it. We had just one runner in the 154-strong field. Becky Quinn placed 30th overall, 4th female finisher and first F45 in a time of 31:38, just over a minute behind the first woman home.

Finally, several of us used Saturday parkruns to warm up for the race on Sunday and we also had quite a decent number of first finishers in any event.

Newcomer Thomas Vogee finished ahead of the field of 96 in Fairview in a time of 19:06. Gillian Lyons also ran there, placing 66th and 19th in 30:37. In Poolbeg Kenan Furlong was first to finish in 18:12 ahead of a field of 129. He was followed by Simon Everard (10th in 20:28), Andrea Talpo (19th in 21:12), Richard Kavanagh (28th in 22:18), Sharon Woods (33rd and 4th in 22:38), Josie Ward (51st and 9th in 24:12), Fiona Bane (55th and 10th in 24:24), Maureen McGinley (75th and 16th in 27:09), Una McCullagh (86th and 21st in 28:14) and Mari Hansen (106th and 35th in 31:14). New member Clare Sullivan joined 12 other Crusaders in the 71-strong field in Waterstown Park, where she placed 3rd overall and 1st woman home in 20:35. Clare was followed by James Cottle (5th in 23:33) and by a bunch coming in together of Sarah Lyons, Catherine Thornton, Rebecca Fleming, Phelim Murray and Cian Coughlan all between 25:32 and 25:35 for 10th through 14th overall (3rd, 4th and 5th women across the line). Next came Fiona Shine (24th and 7th in 30:09), followed by Lisa Shine (25th and 8th in the same time), Emer Kenny (26th and 9th in 30:10), Miriam Logan (27th and 10th in the same time), Mairin Shine (37th and 15th in 32:15) and Paul E. Kelly (38th in 32:16). We had a great result in Cabinteely where Dave Carter and Louise Dobbyn were both first finishers. Dave finished in 20:00 ahead of a field of 140, whilst Louise ran 23:33 for 14th place overall. Will Owens also ran, probably placing 13th in under 24 minutes. Kate Murray placed 24th overall in a field of 109 in Mullingar as first woman home in 23:38. Mairead Cashman ran in the Sport Ireland Campus where in a field of 54 she placed 28th and 11th in 29:29, whilst Aine Crotty headed down to her native Cork, where, in Ballincollig and its field of 372, she placed 118th overall and 19th in 25:36. Olwyn Dunne joined 373 other participants in Marlay Park where she placed 123rd and 17th in 25:37, whilst Colm Foley was our sole runner in Griffeen where he placed 26th in a field of 153 and a time of 23:18. We had 4 runners in Shanganagh. In a field of 174, Stephen Mulligan ran 24:04 for 42nd place, followed by Orlaith de Burca (96th and 21st in 27:32), Carina Davidson (100th and 23rd in 27:42) and Jill Nason (135th and 44th in 31:43). Lastly, it is appropriate to end in St. Anne’s where Brian Kelleher ran 20:06 for 18th spot, Toby Benham followed in 35th in 21:34, with Paul F. Kelly (139th in 25:43) and Aoife Kelly (286th and 106th in 31:59), further back. The field measured 357.

AXA Raheny 5-mile (3086)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Efrem Gidey 1 00:24:41
49 Fionnuala McCormack 1 00:27:32
Crusaders AC runners
27 Kieran Little 00:26:43
66 Michael Kiely 00:27:58
85 John Mulvihill 00:28:18
97 Daragh O’Reilly 00:28:21
98 Vinnie McGuinness 00:28:32
99 Kevin Fitzgibbon 00:28:33
117 Aaron Cashman 00:28:56
129 Peter O’Toole 00:29:06
135 Ciarain Kelly 00:29:13
142 Michael O’Conor 00:29:21
149 Adam Flanagan 00:29:20
153 Michael Wycherley 00:29:23
163 Warren Swords 00:29:40
176 Jan Manschot 00:29:52
178 David Willis 00:29:52
181 Toby Benham 00:29:31
187 Daniel Lowe 00:29:59
197 Ruben Vega 00:30:17
205 Frank Hague 00:30:19
210 Dee Lawlor 00:30:11
212 John Fahy 00:30:22
228 Stephen Hurley 00:30:29
232 Catherine Thornton 00:30:34 (14)
242 Grattan O’Brien 00:30:54
265 Joe McDermott 00:31:01
270 John McAuley 00:31:06
273 Eugene McDonough 00:31:05
316 Gerard White 00:31:32
325 Robert Browne 00:31:36
359 Cian Coughlan 00:31:33
372 Kieran Martin 00:31:55
383 Cathal O’Hara 00:32:21
389 Eoghan Kerins 00:32:12
391 Paul O’Meara 00:32:23
406 Jonathan Claridge 00:32:27
411 Maura Mahoney 00:32:42 (34)
413 Conor Macguinness 00:32:18
448 Rory Goldsmith 00:33:05
457 Phelim Murray 00:33:14
481 James Cottle 00:33:30
495 Ronan Moynihan 00:32:58
501 Ilona McElroy 00:33:55 (53)
506 Tim O’Donnell 00:33:35
518 Zlatko Kulic 00:33:58
529 Sarah Lyons 00:33:49 (58)
534 Karl Walsh 00:33:46
539 Lean Ni Chiobhain 00:33:53 (60)
560 Fiona Shine 00:34:13 (64)
567 Aoife Quigley 00:34:21 (65)
592 Diarmuid Sheehan 00:33:42
597 Brian McGuckin 00:34:30
618 Will Holton 00:34:42
623 Rebecca Fleming 00:34:58 (72)
628 Joanne Carey 00:35:08 (73)
630 Aine Crotty 00:34:41 (74)
646 Kathryn Sweeney 00:35:04 (76)
676 Brian Scanlan 00:35:18
693 Neil Brown 00:35:42 (PB)
723 Alma Hanevy 00:35:00 (94)
746 Enda Currid 00:36:21
750 Emer Kenny 00:36:08 (103)
774 Aine Kenny 00:36:19 (107)
790 Eoghan Walsh 00:35:31
797 Suzanne Martin 00:36:53 (115)
799 Gavan Doherty 00:36:56
803 Luke Haran 00:37:02
814 Joe Dunne 00:37:01
831 Gian Piero Allerta 00:37:04
840 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:37:07 (125)
841 Ciara Lynch 00:36:52 (126)
889 Conor Parle 00:37:17
926 Danielle Hopkins 00:36:21 (141)
952 Brendan Glynn 00:38:27
990 Isabelle Cairns 00:38:07 (160)
994 Tanja Narancic 00:38:06 (161)
1033 David O’Donnell 00:38:36
1048 Robbie Moore 00:38:20
1049 Anthony Owens 00:37:56
1056 Olwyn Dunne 00:38:39 (179)
1115 Triona Quill 00:39:09 (194)
1120 Amy McGuinness 00:39:11 (196)
1138 Emily Quinlan 00:36:52 (201)
1150 Lisa Shine 00:39:48 (206)
1164 Martin Jones 00:38:38
1196 Miriam Logan 00:39:36 (218)
1203 Alan Kavanagh 00:38:08
1210 James Moran 00:40:19
1229 Mary Fitzsimons 00:40:23 (229)
1298 Rachel Calvey 00:39:28 (256)
1334 Grainne Regan 00:40:14 (266)
1340 Geoffrey Keating 00:41:14
1376 Fiona McCormack 00:41:42 (281)
1397 Liz Nixon 00:41:20 (288)
1424 Barry O’Neill 00:40:44
1537 Marta Imaz 00:41:14 (341)
1542 Maria Kennedy 00:42:42 (342)
1686 Carina Davidson 00:44:15 (407)
1729 Emily Glen 00:44:50 (424)
1835 John Gallagher 00:44:10
1863 Kevin Lambe 00:45:12
1913 Mairead Cashman 00:46:40 (518)
2147 Sophia Morgan 00:49:25 (640)
2305 Mairin Shine 00:50:26 (733)
2448 Paul E. Kelly 00:50:09
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/38th_axa_raheny_5_mile/4232/results
IMRA Brockagh Burst 6k race (154)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Barry McEvoy 1 00:24:04
15 Sophie Daly 1 00:29:29
Crusaders AC runner
30 Becky Quinn 00:31:38 (4)
Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2207/
Sport Ireland Campus Parkrun (54)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 David Carolan 1 00:21:12
10 Sinead Edgely 1 00:25:41
Crusaders AC runner
28 Mairead Cashman 00:29:29 (11)
Waterstown Parkrun (71)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Dylan McKenna 1 00:20:13
3 Clare Sullivan 1 00:20:35
Crusaders AC runners
3 Clare Sullivan 00:20:35 (1)
5 James Cottle 00:23:33
10 Sarah Lyons 00:25:32 (3)
11 Catherine Thornton 00:25:32 (4)
12 Rebecca Fleming 00:25:32 (5)
13 Phelim Murray 00:25:35
14 Cian Coughlan 00:25:35
24 Fiona Shine 00:30:09 (7)
25 Lisa Shine 00:30:10 (8)
26 Emer Kenny 00:30:10 (9)
27 Miriam Logan 00:30:10 (10)
37 Mairin Shine 00:32:15 (15)
38 Paul E. Kelly 00:32:16
Mullingar Parkrun (109)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Mark Ronan 1 00:18:03
24 Kate Murray 1 00:23:38
Crusaders AC runner
24 Kate Murray 00:23:38 (1)
Ballincollig Parkrun (372)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Darren McCann 1 00:17:51
19 Deirdre Casey 1 00:20:36
Crusaders AC runner
118 Aine Crotty 00:25:36 (19)
Fairview Parkrun (96)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Thomas Vogee 1 00:19:06
13 Jessica Deely 1 00:23:28
Crusaders AC runners
1 Thomas Vogee 00:19:06
66 Gillian Lyons 00:30:37 (19)
Marlay Parkrun (374)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Ruben Bartelink 1 00:17:29
7 Amy Moran 1 00:19:17
Crusaders AC runner
123 Olwyn Dunne 00:25:37 (17)
St. Anne’s Parkrun (357)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Karl Nolan 1 00:16:23
13 Ciara Peelo 1 00:19:33
Crusaders AC runners
18 Brian Kelleher 00:20:06
35 Toby Benham 00:21:34
139 Paul F. Kelly 00:25:43
286 Aoife Kelly 00:31:59 (106)
Cabinteely Parkrun (141)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 David Carter 1 00:20:00
14 Louise Dobbyn 1 00:23:33
Crusaders AC runners
1 David Carter 00:20:00
13 Will Owens 00:23:XX
14 Louise Dobbyn 00:23:33 (1)
Poolbeg Parkrun (129)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Kenan Furlong 1 00:18:12
7 Miranda Spencer 1 00:20:04
Crusaders AC runners
1 Kenan Furlong 00:18:12
10 Simon Everard 00:20:28
19 Andrea Talpo 00:21:12
28 Richard Kavanagh 00:22:18
33 Sharon Woods 00:22:38 (4)
51 Josie Ward 00:24:12 (9)
55 Fiona Bane 00:24:24 (10)
75 Maureen McGinley 00:27:09 (16)
86 Una McCullagh 00:28:14 (21)
106 Mari Hansen 00:31:14 (35)
Griffeen Parkrun (153)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Eamon Ryan 1 00:18:57
24 Anne Whelan 1 00:23:02
Crusaders AC runner
26 Colm Foley 00:23:18
Shanganagh Parkrun (174)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Oscar Legge 1 00:17:25
4 Sarah Baryga 1 00:18:52
Crusaders AC runners
42 Stephen Mulligan 00:24:04
96 Orlaith de Burca 00:27:32 (21)
100 Carina Davidson 00:27:42 (23)
135 Jill Nason 00:31:43 (44)