Crusaders on a roll

1/10/2018

Niamh Allen, Orla Drumm and Catherine Thornton

There were quite a few 5ks on offer during the past few days, but none of them as iconic as the annual 5k organised on Sunday morning by Rathfarnham WSAF, which event continues to churn out fast times for everyone since its inception in 1998, despite the course not being that flat (indeed there was quite a drag into the wind on the Templeogue Road). However, there aren’t too many turns and the downhills seem to come at the right time in the race.

On a day which saw an increasing blustery wind, but thankfully did not have too much of an impression at the time we were running, and otherwise dry and cool (indeed excellent conditions), we fielded a significant number of runners and came away with kudos, several PBs, even if only a few prizes.

It was a truly a race of quality with 31 male and 12 female athletes (in a field of nearly 950) breaking 16 minutes and 18 minutes respectively.

We fielded a an extremely strong women’s team which had its work cut out against Donore and Raheny in particular, but where all our members broke 25 minutes. One of our newest club-mates, Niamh Allen, led the girls home in 83rd place overall (6th woman) in a PB time of 17:05, followed by the ever-dependable Orla Drumm (96th overall, 9th woman, in 17:19). The third scorer in the team across the line was Catherine Thornton (176th overall, 22nd woman, in 19:06) running strongly and helping the three to record 2nd place in the team event, out of 18 club teams, only 2 points behind Donore. Rachael Yorke ran a PB to come home in 232nd place overall (37th woman) in a time of 20:06, followed by Emer Kenny (309th overall, 75th woman, in 21:40) after a recent break, Donna Barry (326th overall, 71st woman, in 22:05), Kate Murray (340th overall, 75th woman, 3rd in her age category, in a super 22:10), Olwyn Dunne (380th overall, 86th woman, 5th in her age category, in 23:06), Louise Van der Wildersmeerch (389th overall, 89th woman, in 23:14), running her first race for the club, Aisling Dilworth (407th overall, 94th woman, in 23:31) and Deborah Little, another runner in her first race for the club (494th overall, 127th woman, in a PB time of 24:58).

The men’s team, led home by Brendan Murphy, took 7th place out of 24, a decent showing considering that two of the 3 scorers, Rob Cross and Michael Wycherley are masters’ athletes, finishing 5th and 6th in their age category. Brendan placed 23rd in 15:43, followed by Rob in 46th in a time of 16:14, with Michael not too far behind in 52nd in a PB time of 16:23. Garret Dunne was next (56th in 16:28), followed by Ger Forde (65th in a PB time of 16:48), off the back of the Berlin marathon PB he recorded 14 days ago, demonstrating that marathoners really can benefit from residual endurance for a few weeks following a marathon and run speedy times in shorter distance races. Joe McDermott was only a few seconds off a PB in placing 75th in 16:58, and he was followed closely by Frank Hague, breaking 17 minutes for the first time (a PB of 16:59 for 76th place). John McAuley demonstrated that he is still in good form, running 17:03 for 81st place, followed by Seamus MacFloinn, in training for the Dublin marathon, who, on the back of a long run the previous day, ran 17:23 for 99th spot. Newcomer Daan Van Schie was next in 121st place and a time of 17:49, followed by Enda Currid who gave himself a boost from his Berlin experience, placing 132nd in a great time of 18:02. Enda was followed closely by another Berlin veteran, Joe Walsh (134th in 18:04), another super time. Barry McGuirk also ran a satisfying 18:16, to place 148th and further back came James Cottle, another marathoner from Berlin and in training for Dublin, who ran steadily with a strong last km to finish only a second off his PB and winning his age category in a time of 18:53 (164th place). Tim O’Donnell followed James in 213th in a time of 19:46, followed by Patrick Carthy, proudly wearing the club colours for the first time (234th in 20:06), Donal Foley (293rd in an excellent 21:17), Joe Dunne (306th in 21:28) going from strength to strength, newcomer Killian Stokes (403rd in 23:27) and Roland Cottle, just getting back into competitive running after a long lay-off (744th in 28:44).

Looking at some of the other 5k races last week, we had participants in the Age Action Sunset 5k in Sandymount on Thursday. The event started and finished in Sean Moore Park and also took in a significant swathe of Sandymount beach. In an event where the winner of the women’s race was Aisling Dilworth’s sister, Orna Dignam, in a total field of 225, Philip Matthews ran well to place 12th in 21:27. Earlier on in the week, we had at least 4 runners in the Sandyford 5k with its field of nearly 600 participants. Luke Davis was first Crusader across the line, placing 17th in 18:53, followed by Leslie Hughes (93rd in 21:22) and Stephen Mulligan (116th in 22:07). Olwyn Dunne also ran, in a team of parkrunners, coming home in 23:30 (164th overall and 22nd female finisher).

Further afield, Jon Lawrence ran in the Windsor Half marathon over the weekend, finishing in a time of 1:35, whilst in Birstonas, Lithuania, Donatas Jocius ran in a 10k, finishing in a time of 41:24.

Up in his native Monaghan on Sunday Adam Flanagan took part in the Phoenix marathon and winning the event with its field of 67 runners in a great time of 2:51:39.

Perhaps because of all the 5ks around, there was less enthusiasm this week around the club for the parkruns, and participation was slightly down from the usual. We had one podium placing, but not in Ireland. Sarah Lyons ran in Milton Keynes with more than 450 other runners, placing 3rd woman finisher (44th overall) in 22:06. Elsewhere, we had 5 participants in Cabinteely. Emma O’Mahony placed 64th overall, 15th woman, in 26:33 and Emma was followed by Fiona Shine (100th overall, 29th woman, in 29:11), Olwyn Dunne (106th overall, 32nd woman, in 29:30), Dee Lawlor, taking it easy (109th in 29:45) and Mairead Cashman was the tail marker (153rd overall, 57th woman, in 48:12). Another packed parkrun was in Poolbeg where Zlatko Kulic led four of our number home. Zlatko ran 19:14 to place 4th, followed by Sharon Woods (36th overall, 5th woman, in 23:34), Ali May Hannigan (45th overall, 9th woman, in 24:47) and Donna Barry (55th overall, 14th woman, in 26:05). Fiona Bane ran in Lees Road, placing 22nd overall, 5th woman, in 23:53, whilst Emer Kenny took part in Castletown taking 167th place overall, 73rd woman, in 34:52. Equally, Colm Foley ran on his own in Griffeen, placing 30th in 23:18. Finally, in St. Anne’s Raheny we had 7 participants. Russell Murphy crossed the line in 73rd place in a time of 21:36, ahead of Colm Kernan (142nd in 23:57), Maria Pertl (185th overall, 32nd woman, in 25:07), Diarmuid Byrne (186th in 25:09), Cliodhna O’Reilly (213th, 42nd woman, in 26:07), Aoife Quinn (335th overall, 89th woman, in 28:55) and Kevin Flynn, another mopper-upper (467th in 37:15).

Rathfarnham 5K (946)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Kevin Dooney 1 00:14:29
55 Catherine Mullen 1 00:16:27
Crusaders AC runners
23 Brendan Murphy 00:15:43
46 Rob Cross 00:16:47
52 Michael Wycherley 00:16:23 (PB)
56 Garret Dunne 00:16:28
65 Ger Forde 00:16:48 (PB)
75 Joe McDermott 00:16:58
76 Frank Hague 00:16:59 (PB)
81 John McAuley 00:17:03
83 Niamh Allen 00:17:05 (PB) (6)
96 Orla Drumm 00:17:19 (9)
99 Seamus MacFloinn 00:17:23
121 Daan Van Schie 00:17:49
132 Enda Currid 00:18:02
134 Joe Walsh 00:18:04
148 Barry McGuirk 00:18:16
164 James Cottle 00:18:53
176 Catherine Thornton 00:19:06 (22)
213 Tim O’Donnell 00:19:46
217 Eanna Farrell 00:19:49 (PB)
232 Rachael Yorke 00:20:06 (PB) (37)
234 Patrick Carthy 00:20:06
293 Donal Foley 00:21:17
306 Joe Dunne 00:21:28
309 Emer Kenny 00:21:40 (62)
326 Donna Barry 00:22:05 (71)
340 Kate Murray 00:22:10 (75)
380 Olwyn Dunne 00:23:06 (86)
389 Louise Van der Wildersmeerch 00:23:14 (89)
403 Killian Stokes 00:23:27
407 Aisling Dilworth 00:23:31 (94)
494 Deborah Little 00:24:58 (PB) (127)
744 Roland Cottle 00:28:44
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/rathfarnham_5k_2018/2754/results
Monaghan Phoenix Marathon (67 )
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Adam Flanagan 1 02:51:39
3 Louise Smith 1 02:59:11
Crusaders AC runner
1 Adam Flanagan 02:51:39
Full results here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sbHk2mgEOG0Uztx3AffFsdUfiN3iNF6-1tzeJLkx5Gs/edit#gid=850612018
Age Action Sunset 5k (225)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Paul O’Neill 1 00:18:18
10 Orna Dignam 1 00:20:44
Crusaders AC runner
12 Philip Matthews 00:21:27
Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/AgeAction5km_2018.pdf
Sandyford 5k (594)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Robert Corbally 1 00:15:31
28 Aileen Gittens 1 00:19:22
Crusaders AC runners
17 Luke Davis 00:18:53
93 Leslie Hughes 00:21:22
116 Stephen Mulligan 00:22:07
164 Olwyn Dunne 00:23:30 (22)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/sandyford_5k/2738/results
Griffeen Parkrun #276 (147)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Stephen Lawlor 1 00:17:57
27 Amanda Bruce 1 00:23:10
Crusaders AC runner
30 Colm Foley 00:23:18
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/griffeen/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=276
Lees Road Parkrun #176 (80)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Alexiy Budovskiy 1 00:19:33
7 Mary Cahill 1 00:20:48
Crusaders AC runner
22 Fiona Bane 00:23:53 (5)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/leesroad/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=176
Poolbeg Parkrun #57 (93)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Stephen Hurley 1 00:17:05
3 Shona Ni Fhloinn 1 00:19:12
Crusaders AC runners
4 Zlatko Kulic 00:19:14
36 Sharon Woods 00:23:34 (5)
45 Ali May Hannigan 00:24:47 (9)
55 Donna Barry 00:26:05 (14)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=57
St. Annes Parkrun #251 (482)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 James Gillanders 1 00:16:49
15 Lucy Barrett 1 00:18:33
Crusaders AC runners
73 Russell Murphy 00:21:36
142 Colm Kernan 00:23:57
185 Maria Pertl 00:25:07 (32)
186 Diarmuid Byrne 00:25:09
213 Cliodhna O’Reilly 00:26:07 (42)
335 Aoife Quinn 00:28:55 (89)
467 Kevin Flynn 00:37:15
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=251
Cabinteely Parkrun #182 (153)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Ted Burke 1 00:19:17
8 Jean Murphy 1 00:21:52
Crusaders AC runners
64 Emma O’Mahony 00:26:33 (15)
100 Fiona Shine 00:29:11 (29)
106 Olwyn Dunne 00:29:30 (32)
109 Derek Lawlor 00:29:45
153 Mairead Cashman 00:48:12 (57)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=181
Castletown Parkrun #144 (232)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Gavin Kelly 1 00:18:40
25 Cliodhna Carthy 1 00:22:52
Crusaders AC runner
167 Emer Kenny 00:34:50 (73)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/castletown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=144