Crusaders savour the fruits of success home and abroad

25/2/2018

The feat of the weekend has to be that of Brian O’Kelly who ran on Sunday morning in the Seville marathon, notching up a PB with a fantastic time of 2:30:45, the fastest by a Crusader in a while, to place 51st in the big city race on a twisty course but otherwise perfect conditions, temperature wise and no wind (and an indoor finish on a track). The result was surprising, given that Brian’s training had been interrupted during the past month or so with leg problems, but he admitted the last 7k were tough. Leo Lundy also ran, in preparation for longer challenges shortly. Leo finished in 4:39:37.

Another excellent result came from Kieran Little who competed in the Wicklow Hospice Half marathon. The course took in a mix of trail, through the Avondale Forest, and road. Kieran is also training for a Spring marathon and his winning time of 1:17:53 and a 14 second margin over the 2nd placed runner will have given him a great deal of confidence. Ciara Lynch also ran in the race, placing 40th overall and 2nd woman finisher in 1:43:28.

Indoors but outside Ireland, Adam McMullen took part on Sunday in the Grand Prix event, the Glasgow Indoor Championships (televised on the BBC), finishing in 7th place in an international field with his last jump of 7.79m.

On Sunday, in sunny but chilly conditions, Donatas Jocius and Neil Brown participated in the Adamstown Community races. Donatas placed 6th in the 5k in a time of 19:43, whilst Neil ran a PB time of 44:45 to place 17th in the 10k event. Also, on Sunday, Eanna Farrell went home to west Waterford to take part in the Kilmacthomas 4 mile race, finishing in 55th place in a time of 27:38. Further afield, Maeve Curry took part in the Richmond half marathon outside London, finishing in 1:45.

Over the weekend, Pat Quill finished the Transgrancanaria 125km race on Gran Canaria in a time of 29:11:38, but it was grim enough for him at times. Pat reported that there is a lovely start to the race on the beach of Las Palmas, on the north-east of the island, and it felt great to escape out of the Irish winter to somewhere warm and sunny. It was going well initially, but the front of Pat's ankle became inflamed (likely sprained) about 30k into the race. He managed to control the pain for a while with ibuprofen, but after he had maxed out on the recommended dose he ran out of options, and was reduced to a painful walk for the second half. The 11 pm start time meant that most of the race was covered in darkness and the end of the race was poorly marked, most of the signs not being fluorescent , so Pat ended up asking a taxi driver for directions to the finishing line. An enlightening experience!

It was otherwise quiet from a road and track racing point of view this weekend. Nevertheless, we had some solid performances in the parkruns with an unprecedented number of first finishers in the 15 events in which our club mates participated. Dominick Branigan was the fastest in Poolbeg in a time of 18:38, whilst Catherine Thornton replicated her feat of last week in Knocknacarra, taking first place overall again, in a 9 seconds faster time (and course PB again) of 19:32, and with the same margin over the same second-placed runner as last week. Olwyn Dunne was a first finisher in Shanganagh (20th overall) in a time of 23:12, whilst Darina Scully performed the same feat in Father Collins (13th overall in a time of 23:06). Lisa Shine took 3rd overall in a modest field in Darndale (22:13), but was also a first finisher, as was her sister Fiona in Hasenheide in Berlin. In a field of 74, Fiona placed 15th overall in a time of 21:13. Elsewhere, John McAuley placed 2nd in Gorey in a time of 17:56, whilst Brian Carroll placed 4th in Griffeen (19:52). Gillian Errity also took 4th place (30th overall in 25:46) in Tolka Valley, followed by Mary Dolan in 5th (31st overall in 26:24). Michelle Geoghegan was our lone representative in Brickfields (7th woman, 26th overall) in 28:43, whilst Aidan Hudner, likewise was on his own in Glasgow, placing 47th in a time of 21:52 among 319 other runners. Donal Foley was a singleton in Hartstown (15th in 22:24), as was Brian Scanlan in River Valley (5th in 21:17) and Mairead Cashman in Bushy Dublin (90th overall, 19th woman, in 27:59). In Poolbeg Dominick was followed by Anthony Owens (8th in 20:39), Zalan Kovacs (23rd in 21:45), Gillian Curran (57th overall, 9th woman, in 25:57) and Ciara McElligott (90th overall, 34th woman, in 33:02). Finally, in St Anne’s Jonathan Claridge was the first of 6 Crusaders home in a time of 18:53 (17th place), followed by Diarmuid Byrne (19th in 19:06), Tim O’Donnell (28th in 19:29), Fiona Bane (126th overall, 10th woman, in 23:25), Colm Kernan (150th in 23:55) and Aoife Quinn (248th overall, 52nd woman, in 26:56).

Wicklow Hospice half marathon (109)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Kieran Little 1 01:17:53
9 Catherine O’Connor 1 01:27:51
Crusaders AC runners
1 Kieran Little 01:17:53
40 Ciara Lynch 01:43:28 (2)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/wicklow_hospice_half_10k__5k_trail/2626/results
Adamstown Community 5k (92)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Gavin Keogh 1 00:17:00
7 Katie Maher 1 00:20:08
Crusaders AC runner
6 Donatas Jocius 00:19:43
Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race-results/
Adamstown Community 10k (85)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Graham O’Dwyer 1 00:34:43
6 Crego Franco 1 00:38:42
Crusaders AC runner
17 Neil Brown 00:44:45 (PB)
Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race-results/
Kilmacthomas 4 mile race (195)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Sean McGrath 1 00:20:35
29 Lorna Davy Fitzgerald 1 00:25:18
Crusaders AC runner
55 Eanna Farrell 00:27:38
Full results here: http://www.westwaterfordathletics.org/images/pdfs/2018/Kilmac_2018_Results.pdf
Griffeen Parkrun #246 (198)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Tommy Grealy 1 00:19:05
8 Breda Smyth 1 00:21:22
Crusaders AC runner
4 Brian Carroll 00:19:52
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=276
Knocknacarra Parkrun #192 (88)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Catherine Thornton 1 00:19:32
2 Aonghus Fahy 1 00:19:51
Crusaders AC runner
1 Catherine Thornton 00:19:32 (1)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/knocknacarra/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=192
St. Anne’s Parkrun #223 (451)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Colin Griffin 1 00:16:08
21 Fiona Stack 1 00:19:16
Crusaders AC runners
17 Jonathan Claridge 00:18:53
19 Diarmuid Byrne 00:19:06
28 Tim O’Donnell 00:19:29
126 Fiona Bane 00:23:25 (10)
150 Colm Kernan 00:23:55
248 Aoife Quinn 00:26:56 (52)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=223
Hartstown Parkrun #172 (75)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Owen Fletcher 1 00:18:21
12 Eilis Quinn 1 00:21:27
Crusaders AC runner
15 Donal Foley 00:22:24
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/hartstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=172
Shanganagh Parkrun #152 (129)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Liam Blackburn 1 00:18:07
20 Olwyn Dunne 1 00:23:12
Crusaders AC runner
20 Olwyn Dunne 00:2312 (1)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=152
Poolbeg Parkrun #27 (120)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Dominick Branigan 1 00:18:38
14 Deirdre Nally 1 00:21:08
Crusaders AC runners
1 Dominick Branigan 00:18:38
8 Anthony Owens 00:20:39
23 Zalan Kovacs 00:21:45
57 Gillian Curran 00:25:57 (9)
109 Ciara McElligott 00:33:02 (34)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=27
Father Collins Parkrun #128 (94)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Declan Connolly 1 00:19:40
13 Darina Scully 1 00:23:06
Crusaders AC runner
13 Darina Scully 00:23:06 (1)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/fathercollins/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=128
Bushy Dublin Parkrun #53 (176)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Valter Valente 1 00:18:12
23 Niamh Daly 1 00:22:24
Crusaders AC runner
90 Mairead Cashman 00:27:59 (19)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/bushydublin/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=53
River Valley Parkrun #83 (91)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Eoin O’Mahony 1 00:19:35
4 Cecile Ollagnier 1 00:20:30
Crusaders AC runner
5 Brian Scanlan 00:21:17
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/rivervalley/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=83
Gorey Parkrun #65 (74)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Paul Brophy 1 00:17:51
10 Deirdre Whitmore 1 00:23:30
Crusaders AC runner
2 John McAuley 00:17:56
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/gorey/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=65
Darndale Parkrun #12 (16)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Wes Kenny 1 00:21:45
3 Lisa Shine 1 00:22:13
Crusaders AC runner
3 Lisa Shine 00:22:13 (1)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/darndale/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=12
Tolka Valley Parkrun #2 (69)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 TJ Scally 1 00:18:56
27 Helena McManus 1 00:25:18
Crusaders AC runners
30 Gillian Errity 00:25:46 (4)
31 Mary Dolan 00:26:24 (5)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tolkavalley/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=2
Brickfields Parkrun #8 (73)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Eoin Brennan 1 00:19:46
15 Alys Griffiths 1 00:25:52
Crusaders AC runner
26 Michelle Geoghegan 00:28:43 (7)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/brickfields/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=8