 Joe McDermott, Frank Halligan and Michael Wycherley Yet again, we experienced relatively warm conditions in a Spring marathon. This time it was in Hamburg over the weekend, on a sunny and cloudless day with a gentle breeze and temperatures that climbed to about 19 degrees Celsius during the morning. Not excessively hot one might say, and nothing compared to London the week before or Paris or Rotterdam in early April. However, anything above about 14-15 degrees makes marathon running a challenge for those of us unused to such temperatures at this time of year. We fielded a major team of 19 runners among the 10,000 finishers and, with the exception of one casualty, John McAuley, who was forced to drop out after 25k, we surprisingly and gratifyingly all finished inside 4 hours and at least 7 of our number recorded PBs. The scenic city course, looping around the harbour and inner suburbs of the city, is relatively flat, although there are some noticeable drags along the way, with one in particular towards the end of the race that was not expected or welcomed! With the temperatures rising there was a constant quest for shade, although we did have the benefit at times of the breeze that kept us a bit cooler than we might have otherwise expected. Water stations every 2km were a welcome aspect of the well-organised event and we took full use of them. Indeed, quite a bit of time would have been lost by runners making use of the stations as several of us would take at least 3 cups, not just for drinking, but at least two would end up being poured over our heads and down our backs. The atmosphere was great and we had some super support around the course, not least from those who accompanied us over to the race. Paul Dempsey distinguished himself with an improvement of over 5 minutes on his previous marathon, finishing in 2:52 for a place inside the top 150, whilst John Fahy, whose wife, Ruth McEntee, also ran and marked it with a 30 minutes improvement to 3:57, recorded a PB time of 2:57. Our other sub-3 hour finisher was relative newcomer Seamus Moore who just got in under the wire with a 2:59. Brian McGuckin and Brian Leonard cajoled each other round with the former (3:02) just managing to pull away from the latter (3:03) towards the end. Pat Quill had a steady run for his 3:06, whilst Philip Hamilton came shooting past James Cottle like a runaway train in the last 3k to record a PB time of 3:09, with James finishing in less strong form in 3:13 in the heat, but still able to hang on to 2nd place in his 300-strong age category. Patrick Needham (3:16) and Rob Browne (3:29) had been running well in the first half of the race regularly changing places between the two of them and with James but were unable to sustain the pace in the second half, whilst Eugene McDonough (3:19) put in a sterling effort, having suffered from a knee injury that had severely curtailed his training in the last month, and gamely held on to finish the race. Jane Wallace and Triona Quill ran brilliantly, with Jane recording 3:27 and was only three places outside of a top 100 finish, whilst Triona equalled her PB from Dublin in October with 3:31 and was inside the top 150 female runners (and a 7th place in her age category). Gavan Doherty kept up with the 3:30 pacers for most of the race and held on for a 3:32 finish, whilst Micheal Killeen (3:37), who came over from Denmark, where he has been working for the past few months, to run, and Darran Lovely (3:37) found the going particularly tough, as did Victor Fairbrother (3:41). Indeed Darran needed some medical attention for severe dehydration at the end of the race, but has now fully recovered. Last Wednesday marked the return of the Dublin Athletics graded meets. The first of the year was held at Santry’s Morton Stadium and we had 8 athletes compete in the various disciplines on offer. John O’Loughlin took 2nd place in the men’s 100m C race in a time of 13.29, whilst Grainne Regan placed 6th in race 2 of the women’s 800m C grade in 2:45.11. In race 1 of the men’s D 800m after a slow start Brendan Glynn took 2nd spot in a time of 2:31.47, followed by Denis Murphy who placed 4th in 2:33.29. In race 2 of the same grade, Frank Halligan placed 3rd in 2:21.52, followed by Paul Kelly in 8th with a time of 3:18.81. Finally, in the men’s combined C&D 3000m, Michael Wycherley too 4th place in 9:47.84, followed by Frank in 9th in 10:04.87 and Joe McDermott in 10th in 10:11.28. There was a bit of racing in the mountains last week among the IMRA crowd. On Wednesday night 165 turned out for the 7.15k Glen of the Downs run, involving a 200m climb on relatively easy terrain. Once again, the unbeaten Becky Quinn took top honours among the women in the field, placing 27th overall (34:07) behind race winner Des Kennedy (28:28). Becky was followed by Anthony O’Reilly (40th in 35:56), Laura Flannelly (46th overall, 5th woman home, in 36:40), Gavan Doherty, in a gentle outing before Hamburg (124th in 44:59) and Berndt Heim, making a return to the competitive environment (162nd in 55:29). Leo Lundy reported that he ran yet another ultra on Saturday. This was the 12 hour Bad Cow Frolic set in Dorset, southern England. Leo decided to run for 50K which he completed in 6:49:30, rather than go for the full 12 hours. Still, a noteworthy feat on a hilly course. Significant numbers marked the park runs at the weekend, not the least because of the presence of Sonia O’Sullivan in Cabinteely for her 100th parkrun. Podium places in the parkruns went to Joe O’Donoghue who was first finisher in St Anne’s in a great time of 15:48, whilst Kieran Little was also first finisher in Poolbeg in 18:00 and Frank Hague also headed the field in Porterstown with a time of 17:55. Matt Cranley took 3rd place in Father Collins in 20:33, whilst Miriam Logan took 4th (16th overall) in Templemore in a time of 23:00. Back to Cabinteely, where we saw a major Cru turnout in a huge field exceeding 400 for the first time, with 12 of our number participating. First home was Dave Carter (12th in 19:29), followed by Niamh Corby (33rd overall, 6th woman, in 21:02), Helena Walsh (53rd overall, 9th woman, in 22:19), Fiona Shine (68th overall, 12th woman, in 23:06), Niamh Quinn (135th overall, 30th woman, in 25;04), Orlaith de Burca (165th overall, 45th woman, in 26:25), Lisa Shine (173rd overall, 50th woman, in 26:37), Mairead Cashman (244th overall, 90th woman, in 29:33), Joe Dunne pacing (249th in 29:40), Paul Kelly (281st in 31:44), Don Anderton (326th in 34:29) and Harp Bhambra (368th overall, 159th woman, in 39:06). In St. Anne’s, Joe was followed by Sharon Woods (113th overall, 17th woman, in 23:28), Denis Murphy (133rd in 24:01), Colm Kernan (166th in 24:58) and Aoife Quinn (271st overall, 77th woman, in 28:09).Brian Scanlan placed 21st in a time of 19:58 in Malahide, whilst Brendan Kieran came home in 36th spot in 24:59 in Hartstown. Kris Ryan selected a different Australian parkrun this week, placing 43rd overall, 8th woman, in 23:28 in Main Beach. In Porterstown, Frank was followed by Diarmuid Byrne (13th in 22:14), Maria Pertl who ran with Darina Scully, both getting the same time of 26:41 and finishing respectively 11th and 12th women and 40th and 41st overall and by Kevin Flynn (67th in 29:39). Finally, in Poolbeg, Kieran was followed by Tony Owens (8th in 19:52), Kieran Finucane (10th in 24:10), Fiona Bane (56th overall, 4th woman, in 24:10), Aisling O’Connor (56th overall, 8th woman, in 25:31) and by Donna Barry (74th overall, 15th woman, in 27:03). Hamburg Marathon Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Solomon Deksisa 1 02:06:34 11 Shitaye Eshete 1 02:24:51 Crusaders AC runners Paul Dempsey 02:52:02 (PB) John Fahy 02:57:29 (PB) Seamus Moore 02:59:27 (PB) Brian McGuckin 03:02:50 Brian Leonard 03:03:46 Pat Quill 03:06:50 Philip Hamilton 3:09:59 (PB) James Cottle 03:13:03 Patrick Needham 03:16:16 Eugene McDonough 03:19:44 Jane Wallace 03:27:09 Rob Browne 03:29:31 Triona Quill 03:31:28 (=PB) Gavan Doherty 03:32:09 (PB) Micheal Killeen 03:37:02 Darran Lovely 03:37:27 Victor Fairbrother 03:41:44 Ruth McEntee 03:57:06 (PB) Full results here: http://hamburg.r.mikatiming.de/2018/?pid=search IMRA Glen of the Downs race (165) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Des Kennedy 1 00:28:28 27 Becky Quinn 1 00:34:07 Crusaders AC runners 27 Becky Quinn 00:34:07 (1) 40 Anthony O’Reilly 00:35:56 46 Laura Flannelly 00:36:40 (5) 124 Gavan Doherty 00:44:59 162 Berndt Heim 00:55:29 Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/view/id/1581 Marlay Parkrun #255 (538) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 unknown 1 00:16:55 17 Sharon Grant 1 00:19:05 Crusaders AC runner 81 Kate Murray 00:23:12 (9) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=255 St Anne’s Parkrun #230 (452) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Joe O’Donoghue 1 00:15:48 5 Fiona Stack 1 00:18:18 Crusaders AC runners 1 Joe O’Donoghue 00:15:48 113 Sharon Woods 00:23:28 (17) 133 Denis Murphy 00:24:01 166 Col Kernan 00:24:58 271 Aoife Quinn 00:28:09 (77) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=230 Poolbeg Parkrun #35 (138) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Kieran Little 1 00:18:00 22 Grace Cullen 1 00:22:04 Crusaders AC runners 1 Kieran Little 00:18:00 8 Anthony Owens 00:19:52 10 Kieran Finucane 00:20:12 43 Fiona Bane 00:24:10 (4) 56 Aisling O’Connor 00:25:31 (8) 64 Donna Barry 00:27:03 (15) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=35 Malahide Parkrun #285 (334) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Robert Frewen 1 00:17:10 12 Rose McGahan 1 00:19:34 Crusaders AC runner 21 Brian Scanlan 00:19:58 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=285 Hartstown Parkrun #180 (101) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Rebecca Burns 1 00:17:43 2 Paul Kelly 1 00:17:51 Crusaders AC runner 36 Brendan Kieran 00:24:59 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/hartstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=180 Father Collins Parkrun #136 (68) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Ger Redmond 1 00:16:45 5 Grainne Quinn 1 00:21:39 Crusaders AC runner 3 Matt Cranley 00:20:33 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/fathercollins/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=136 Cabinteely Parkrun #160 (402) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 unknown 1 00:18:06 10 Sarah Baryga 1 00:19:19 Crusaders AC runner 12 David Carter 00:19:29 33 Niamh Corby 00:21:02 (6) 53 Helena Walsh 00:22:19 (9) 68 Fiona Shine 00:23:06 (12) 135 Niamh Quinn 00:25:04 (30) 165 Orlaith de Burca 00:26:25 (45) 173 Lisa Shine 00:26:37 (50) 244 Mairead Cashman 00:29:33 (90) 249 Joe Dunne 00:29:40 281 Paul Kelly 00:31:44 326 Don Anderton 00:34:29 368 Harp Bhambra 00:39:06 (159) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=160 Templemore Parkrun #66 (72) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 John Fitzgibbon 1 00:16:39 7 Sharon Kiely 1 00:20:46 Crusaders AC runner 16 Miriam Logan 00:23;00 (4) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/templemore/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=66 Porterstown Parkrun #131 (140) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Frank Hague 1 00:17:55 15 Marian Finnerty 1 00:22:38 Crusaders AC runners 1 Frank Hague 00:17:55 13 Diarmuid Byrne 00:22:14 40 Maria Pertl 00:26:41 (11) 41 Darina Scully 00:26:41 (12) 67 Kevin Flynn 00:29:39 Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/porterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=131  Brendan Glynn  Denis Murphy and Brendan Glynn  Frank Halligan  Grainne Regan  Joe McDermott  Michael Wycherley  Paul Kelly and Frank Halligan  Brendan Glynn  Denis Murphy  Grainne Regan  Paul Kelly  Brian McGuckin, James Cottle, Paul Dempsey, Brian Leonard and Philip Hamilton  Eugene McDonough  James Cottle  John McAuley  Brian McGuckin   Brian Leonard  Seamus Moore  clockwise from left: John Fahy, Ruth McEntee, James Cottle, Una McAuley, Philip Hamilton, Paul Dempsey, John McAuley, Brian Leonard, Brian McGuckin and Gavan Doherty  Joe Dunne, Sonia O'Sullivan and Olwyn Dunne Comments are closed.
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