Crusaders women steer their way to the podium in Cowpark in the Leinster Intermediates

15/1/2017

Dee Ni Chearhaill, Lisa Shine, Fiona Shine, Niamh Aspell, Catherine Thornton and Emer Kenny

Because of the density of the XC calendar we were able to field only a small team of 6 women for the Leinster Intermediates on Sunday and we were not alone. In a consequentially smallish overall field of 32 runners there were, nevertheless, 5 clubs competing for the 3 team medals with some quality runners, several of whom having distinguished themselves already at county, provincial and national level, among them members of the currently difficult-to-beat Sportsworld women’s team (and so it proved, with 3 of their 4 scorers finishing in the top 10 places, including 1st and 2nd individual). The other teams to beat were Dunboyne with a strong showing (ultimately with their first two scorers coming home in 4th and 7th), Tullamore with the same size team as ours and Liffey Valley with 5 runners.

In the event, Cru women brought home the team bronze in a super showing of gutsy running on a tough course.

The day started with the two masters events with substantial fields (159 men and 76 women and both producing exciting sprint finishes for gold and silver), followed by the senior women’s race. So the ground was already churned up in certain areas of the course, most notably on the turns. It took place in the appropriately named Cowpark in Dunboyne. Essentially, Cowpark is a largely flat piece of common land just outside Dunboyne, and it seems that it experiences little grooming throughout the year. The grass tends to be quite long in places on slightly spongy ground, producing a surface that is strength-sapping. It’s a really good test of XC running, despite the lack of serious hills. The organisers have also put in quite a few corners that got progressively more muddy and slippery as the afternoon progressed.

Conditions were otherwise perfect, with the air temperature around 10 degrees Celsius and little wind to concern the runners as the gun went. Catherine Thornton found herself briefly in 2nd place but the experienced athlete sensibly settled back quickly enough to put herself among the top 10 as the first of two laps in the 4k race unfolded. Niamh Aspell, running her first XC race and in borrowed spikes, took off perhaps a little too hard and found herself in the top 15 early on and throughout most of the first lap, but also settled back, generally holding a decent position, with Fiona Shine making steady inroads not too far behind. Dee Ni Chearbhaill and Lisa Shine were next, followed by Emer Kenny who found the going especially tough, but braved it out all the same. As the race unfolded, despite carrying a slight cold, Catherine reeled in several runners, including, towards the end, two athletes from Dunboyne and Liffey Valley, to finish the race in an impressive 6th place, taking a few decent scalps in the process. Our next scorer was Fiona Shine who continues to improve and who reeled in a lot of runners, including Niamh, to finish in 16th and likewise targeting those clubs who were meaningful competition in the team event. Niamh did really well to hold on in the last lap, to come home as 3rd scorer in 20th place, just ahead of a surging Lisa Shine (21st) and Dee Ni Chearbhaill (22nd), two runners who traded places throughout the race. Emer did well to hold on to take 30th place and it was noteworthy that every one of our athletes was able to come home ahead of runners representing the two clubs that were a threat for the team bronze.

Once the smoke cleared, Sportsworld unsurprisingly took gold with 30 points. Dunboyne took silver with 41 and, with our 63 points, we finished ahead of Tullamore on 70 and Liffey Valley on 87. Three of our four scorers (Fiona, Niamh and Lisa) won cross country medals for the first time, whilst Catherine also found herself included in the gold-winning Dublin county team, coming in as 3rd scorer in the 4 women team.

Apart from the cross country, little if any racing took place locally over the weekend. However, the numbers surged in the Parkruns on Saturday, presumably impacted by Operation Transformation. For example, Marlay Park saw nearly 750 runners, St. Anne’s nearly 500, Malahide in excess of 400 and Shanganagh nearly 250. The stand out run for Crusaders came from Alban Coghlan who was first finisher in Marlay Park, completing the course in 17:04. Mary Noelle Rohan was our other runner, placing 572nd overall (192nd woman) in 32:59. Jonathan Claridge, Ronan Reilly and Suzanne Collins ran in Malahide, with Jonathan placing 17th in 20:06, followed by Ronan (34th in 21:33) and Suzanne (264th overall, 88th woman, in 31:18). 8 members ran in St. Anne’s, led home by Leo Lundy who placed 80th in 22:49, followed by the ever-improving Fiona Bane (94th overall, 9th female finisher, in 23:18), Colm Kernan (138th in 24:34) and Denis Murphy (139th in 24;35), both of whom generally treat the parkruns as training sessions. Lorraine Fitzsimons was next in 337th overall (116th woman) in 31:07 and Lorraine was followed by Ciara McElligottt (436th overall, 174th woman, in 36:22). Mary and John Fitzsimons also participated in the parkrun, coming in well under 30 mins, but both forgot their barcodes. John is in great shape for the Raheny 5 coming up at the end of the month. Dave Carter placed 8th in a field of nearly 90 runners in Oldbridge with a time of 20:05 and, in Shanganagh, Neil Brown took 76th spot in a time of 25:57. Finally, in Cabinteely among nearly 150 runners, Olwyn Dunne, who is in training for the upcoming Donadea 50K ultra and is the overall coordinator for the parkrun event in Cabinteely, placed 82nd overall (26th woman) in 29:54. Olwyn was followed by Mairin Shine (90th overall, 31st woman) in 31:10 and by Lisa Shine, preparing herself for her sterling effort the following day, who took 93rd place overall (34th woman) in 31:16.

A late update to the report: Warren Swords came 2nd in the Art O'Neill Challenge over the weekend. He covered the distance of over 50Km between Dublin Castle and Glenmalure Valley in 5:51, most of it in the hours of darkness.
Leinster Intermediate Women’s XC
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Sinead Tangney 1 00:15:26
Crusaders AC runners
6 Catherine Thornton 00:16:18
16 Fiona Shine 00:17:10
20 Niamh Aspell 00:17:27
21 Lisa Shine 00:17:39
22 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:17:50
30 Emer Kenny 00:19:07
Full results here: http://www.myrunresults.com/events/leinster_inter__masters__juvenile_relays_c.c_/1935/results
Malahide Parkrun #219
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Neil Callaghan 1 00:16:45
25 Erin McHugh 1 00:20:37
Crusaders AC runners
17 Jonathan Claridge 00:20:06
34 Ronan Reilly 00:21:33
264 Suzanne Collins 00:31:18
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=219
Oldbridge Parkrun #135
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Diarmuid McKeown 1 00:18:00
23 Ciara Lenihan 1 00:23:35
Crusaders AC runner
8 David Carter 00:20:05
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/oldbridge/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=135
Marlay Parkrun #192
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Alban Coghlan 1 00:17:04
10 Derval Devaney 1 00:19:05
Crusaders AC runner
1 Alban Coghlan 00:17:04
572 Mary Noelle Rohan 00:32:59
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=192
Shanganagh Parkrun #95
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Caoimhin Kelly 1 00:17:26
17 Zuleika O’Malley 1 00:21:16
Crusaders AC runner
75 Neil Brown 00:25:57
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=95
St Anne’s Parkrun #166
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Aidan Jones 1 00:17:14
32 Adrienne Atkins 1 00:20:43
Crusaders AC runners
80 Leo Lundy 00:22:49
94 Fiona Bane 00:23:18
138 Colm Kernan 00:24:34
139 Denis Murphy 00:24:35
337 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:31:07
436 Ciara McElligott 00:36:22
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=166
Cabinteely Parkrun #94
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mindaugas Igaris 1 00:19:55
5 Malika Hammani 1 00:21:20
Crusaders AC runners
82 Olwyn Dunne 00:29:54
90 Mairin Shine 00:31:10
93 Lisa Shine 00:31:16
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=94