 Garret Dunne and Ciaran Diviney This past weekend, it seems that, for the most part, wherever members of the club were racing, the conditions were extremely windy, whether it be in Ireland or in Lanzarote, though in Ireland it was also noticeably chillier. We start with the Dublin intermediate XC championships in which we fielded a men’s team. The 8k race took place on a familiar course in Tymon Park and was won by Tallaght athlete Brishan O’Brien in 28:02. Our 7 athletes acquitted themselves well, with Ciaran Diviney taking 6th place in a time of 28:37 and Ciaran was followed by Garret Dunne in 13th spot (28:54). In the field of 79 runners, Ciarain Kelly was our 3rd scorer to cross the line in 30:03 for 27th place and he was followed by Jan Manschot not so far behind in 31st place in a time of 30:15. They were our 4 scorers, with the team scoring 77 points, placing 5th behind Raheny on 22 points, Tallaght (35), Donore (56) and Clonliffe (73). Aaron Cashman was next to finish in 48th position with a time of 31:21 and he was followed by David McEvoy (73rd in 35:39) and Gian Piero Allerta (76th in 38:12). We next turn to road racing in Ireland (if one can call the Clontarf half marathon, a road race, given that part of the course is on the beach). The 5 miler was a little kinder on the runners, as the out-and-back course would have experienced more of a sidewind from the northwest, but those running in the half marathon had it full on for the first half (including a spell on the beach), possibly too exhausted to benefit from the return, although it was reported that the sand was quite hard this year (unlike the conditions those of us who ran a 5k beach race in Lanzarote where the sand was softer and more strength-sapping than ever). The 5-mile race was won by Cristian Vilchez Cevallos in a time of 28:17 and his partner, Esther Requena Ferri, placed 17th and 3rd in the 577-strong field in 32:44. We had 10 runners in the half, though, admittedly, 3 of them were pacing and what a great job they did in such treacherous conditions. Adam Flanagan paced the sub-90-minute runners and came home in 1:29:31, whilst Miriam Logan and Kevin Kavanagh finished alongside their sub-2-hour charges in 1:59:59. Our first runner home was Enda Clarke who ran 1:26:43 for 38th place in a substantial field of 1,378 finishers. Isabelle Cairns was next in 171st and 14th places in 1:36:44, followed by Kathryn Gibbons who ran 1:40:35 for 255th and 22nd positions. James Moran placed 539th with a time of 1:49:41 and he was followed by Maria with a time of 1:52:36 for 654th and 120th spots and by Aine Crotty who arrived 12 minutes late for the start of the race, running 1:48:17 for 787th place. Down in Co. Cork, Triona Quill joined 424 other runners in the Clonakilty Waterfront marathon where she placed 136th and 15th in a time of 3:44:50, notably also recording 3rd place in her F50 age group. Triona reported that it was freezing at the start with a biting wind and she was taken aback by the hilly challenge. Still, as she said, it was a lovely sunny morning on Saturday and stunning scenery, along with what she described as “an enticing waft of pig sh*te every few kilometres”. Further afield, Maurice Kelter took advantage of a weekend away in Italy to stumble upon the Firenze (Florence) marathon. Still in training for Malaga next month, Maurice treated it as a training run and finished in a creditable 3:23. Up in the hills on Saturday, several Crusaders took part in the Kilmac (Kilmacanogue) Running Festival. Several races were on offer, with the longest taking in both Djouce and Sugarloaf mountains down in Co. Wicklow. 61 runners embraced the 25.5k challenge, with its climb of over 1000m, and one of our clubmates won her race, whilst another also podiumed. Conor Greenan placed 3rd in a time of 2:21:21, whilst Lean NI Chiobhain won the women’s race, taking 15th place overall, in a time of 2:45:23. Slightly further back came Donatas Jocius who ran 2:50:44 for 19th spot. Then, in the shorter race, named the Paddock Lake 18km, which took in Great Sugarloaf and Sugarlump mountains, we also had 3 participants. In a field of 71 runners, on a course with a climb of 500m, John McAuley placed 3rd in 1:21:34, just one minute back from the winner, and John was followed by Brian McGuckin in 9th place in 1:28:47. John was the first M40 across the line, whilst Brian was the first M50. They were joined by Michael Maughan who took 23rd position in 1:39:28. The weekend’s parkruns were relatively quiet from a club point of view and seemingly generally overall. Possibly the weather deterred larger participation. Kathryn Sweeney headed to her native Omagh where she placed 2nd behind her sister and 10th overall in a field of 73 and in a time of 20:16, whilst Toby Benham placed 2nd in a time of 19:52 in the 77-strong field in Fairview. Tomas Mahony continues to make progress in his return to running, placing 4th in 21:21 in Pobalscoil na Trionoide in a field of 55 runners. Lisa Shine was first female finisher in Mungret with a field of 59. Lisa placed 13th overall in 23:42, followed by her mother Mairin in 54th and 14th in 30:20. Darina Scully placed 52nd and 19th in 34:44 alongside 76 other runners in River Valley, whilst Colm Foley took 28th spot in 22:44 in a field of 137 in Griffeen Park. We had 3 runners in Shanganagh: in a field of 108, David Carter placed 4th in 19:13, followed by Stephen Mulligan (20th in 22:31) and Orlaith de Burca (60th and 14th in 27:18). Louise Dobbyn kept up her form in Cabinteely where she crossed the line 17th and 4th in a field of 93 and a time of 23:59 and she was followed by Barry O’Neill (26th in 24:56). Kate Murray ran in Mullingar where she placed 14th and 3rd in 23:35. The field measured 88 runners. Then in Oldbridge Paul and Aoife Kelly joined 63 other participants. Paul ran 30:06 for 45th place, whilst Aoife crossed the line in 46th and 9th in 30:26. Kevin Flynn placed 59th in a field of 79 in Porterstown with a time of 32:43, whilst the majority of our parkrunners ran in Poolbeg as usual. Michael Wycherley finished in 3rd place in 18:52, followed by Simon Kenny (9th in 20:45), David Timoney (11th in 20:58), Paul Campbell (16th in 21:59), David O’Donnell (24th in 23:08), Russell Murphy (28th in 24:01), Zlatko Kulic (53rd in 27:01), Maureen McGinley (55th and 15th in 27:11) and Mari Hansen (75th and 25th in 34:59). There were 82 participants in the event. Last weekend around 40 members of the club, with a guest runner, flew to Lanzarote for the 32nd Club la Santa International Running Challenge in the north of the island. Those familiar with the event will know that the club has been going for many years now and we usually produce some excellent results over the 4 back-to-back days of racing during the week that we are there, against opposition from runners from Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, UK, France and also clubs from Ireland. This year, although we had only a quarter of us attempting all 4 races, was no exception. It is possible also to pick and choose and so several of our members ran only one or two of the races and also one or two took part in a 4k night-run on the eve of the competition. Some of our clubmates concentrated solely on training and at least one of our runners, Grainne Regan, won the women’s race of a duathlon (200m swim in an Olympic size pool followed by a 3km road race, finishing on the track) in a thrilling sprint around the track, coming from some 50m behind the lead female runner entering the stadium. Sean Murphy, who trains with us, was also a participant in the event, placing 2nd overall. The first race of the 4 is a 10k conducted on asphalt roads on a 3.5k loop around a lagoon at the resort, with the race starting and finishing on 300m of a 400m track. We always expect wind on the island, but this year we had more severe conditions than we had experienced of late. The loop is not flat and we found ourselves on the uphill climb back to the resort heading into a really strong headwind. Drafting was essential to retain energy. Several of us were able to achieve this over the first two laps, but were left to face the gale in the third as the 297-strong field thinned out. In particular, Neil Brown’s height did him no favours as several runners took advantage of him for a good bit of the race. Ger Forde was one of our standout runners in the event, placing 5th overall in 35:23, followed by Ilona McElroy in 37th and 7th female (1st in her F35 age category) in 40:41, Karl Walsh (39th in 40:57), James Cottle (43rd and 1st M65 in 41:40), Rebecca Fleming (89th and 18th (2nd F35) in 44:54), Brendan Glynn right behind (90th in 44:56), Philip Matthews (107th (and 2nd M30) in 46:32), Margaret Foley (112th and 22nd (4th F35) in 47:04), Olwyn Dunne (114th and 24th (3rd F55) in 47:10), Dee Ni Chearbhaill (120th and 28th (5th F40) in 47:28), Neil (135th in 48:25), Robbie Moore (176th in 51:24), Emily Glen (177th and 51st (4th F30) in 51:25) and Mairead Cashman (241st and 83rd in 59:22). We were fielding 3 teams, 2 for the women and one for the men. The two women’s teams comprising Rebecca, Dee and guest runner Clare Sullivan of Rathfarnham, who is just returning from injury, in the A team and Margaret, Olwyn and Emily in the B team were lying 3rd and 4th after the first race. The men’s team of Karl Walsh, Philip Matthews and James Cottle were sitting in 9th place. The following day’s race was a 13k ridge run, with half of the race run uphill from sea level to a volcanic ridge 140km above over a distance of 6.5km. The same wind we had experienced for the 10k was behind us for the climb and the windsock on top of the ridge was horizontal. 2/3 of the climb is conducted on road and trail with the last part of the climb on volcanic rubble (with at times a minor sandstorm to greet us for the final 50m of the climb). The descent was mostly on sand-covered trails, quite deep in places and finished (as it had started) on the track once again. 272 runners took part in this race and our contingent was led home by Karl in 36th place in 58:20. Karl was followed by James in 48th spot (and 1st M65 again) in 60:06. Next came Brendan (83rd in 63:35), Rebecca (85th and 17th (2nd F35) in 63:43), Emer Kenny right behind (86th and 18th (3rd F35) in 63:52), Philip (103rd and 2nd M30 in 66:52), Olwyn (118th and 28th (3rd F55) in 68:00), Margaret (120th and 29th (4th F35) in 68:06), Dee (143rd and 40th in 71:27) and Emily (175th and 51st (3rd F30) in 75:51). The Crusaders A and B teams placed 3rd and 4th, following what seemed to be adjusted results. The men’s team placed 11th, although the cumulative standings were not clear until after the last race had been run on the 4th day. Tuesday morning brought us on a coach trip to Puerta del Carmen on the south side of the island for a race of approx. 5k on the beach there. Conducted over two loops, this year’s conditions were particularly difficult. By this time the wind had died down, but the sand was almost universally deep and sticky, even towards the back of the beach where normally we might have expected the consistency to be much harder than it was. The wind wasn’t really a factor except with it behind us for half of each loop, conditions became extremely hot and sweaty. 252 contestants took to the beach. Once again, our contingent was led home by Karl who placed 50th in 21:36. Karl had overtaken James towards the end of the race and James had to settle for 52nd place in 21:46. Still, he continued to win his age category. James was followed by Brendan, who decided at the last minute to go for the 4-race challenge (71st in 22:46). Philip was next, in 78th place (again 2nd M30) with a time of 23:09 and behind Philip came Rebecca (84th and 14th (1st in her age category)) and Dee (113th and 23rd in 25:16). Olwyn placed 126th and 32nd (5th in her age cat) in 25:42, with Margaret next in 26:26 for 144th and 41st spots (4th in her age cat), followed closely by Emily (146th and 43rd (3rd in her age cat) in 26:31). Mairead was next in 216th with a time of 32:59. So, when the smoke had cleared, the Crusaders women’s A team were 3rd in the race, followed by the B team in 4th, whilst the men’s team placed 7th. Stage 4 saw us back in near the resort in Tinajo, just above La Santa, for the start of the last race, a theoretical half marathon which is generally closer to 20k. The race is a net downhill with a 200m delta between start and finish. However, there are plenty of uphill elements in the descent and in places the drop is quite treacherous, somewhat like IMRA descents. The race is also conducted on a mix of asphalt and trail and quite slippery in places. By Wednesday the wind had died down a bit and so runners were treated to a more refreshing breeze, rather than a head-on gale, on the descent as they made their way to Club la Santa and the finish on the track. One element that was consistent throughout the 4 races, was the obligatory requirement to don a mask at the startline, with all runners immediately pocketing them or strapping them to their arms as the gun went off. That would actually be the only time in each event when we would be required to wear a mask, something of a futile and unnecessary gesture in many respects perhaps. By the time of the 4th race, each of us had an idea of what needed to be done either to hold onto a lead to win our respective age categories or to catch a runner ahead. Rebecca and Clare had an interesting challenge, with only about 40 seconds separating them, whilst James had a lead of about 15 minutes in accumulated time on his nearest competitor (who had already admitted that he didn’t do distance running!). We were also joined by Catherine Thornton for the last race and that made for an interesting dynamic in the top places for the race alone. So, as the sun shone brightly down on us, we lined up in Tinajo with the Crusader contingent spontaneously rocking at the start line to “Simply the best” blaring out, and Margaret leading the chorus. Everyone else in the race appeared to be saving their energy! It was a true Crusader moment that will remain forever in our consciousness. There were 273 participants in the race this time and, true to form, Catherine ran a super race, running side by side for much of the event with the eventual overall female winner of the 4-race challenge, Kate Kelly of Sportsworld. Having helped each other for much of the race, Kate eventually slightly upped the pace in pursuit of the ultimate winner of this last race, a Danish girl who finished 8 seconds ahead of her. Catherine placed 18th overall and 3rd in the women’s race, a further 90 seconds back, storming to a time of 1:21:28 (beating her previous time for the race by over 5 minutes). James was next, a distant 10 minutes back, but not needing to work too hard as he still finished about 15 minutes ahead of his closest adversary to enjoy an overall cushion of just shy of half an hour. James ran 1:31:10 for 65th place and winner of his age category in the race and overall. He was followed reasonably closely by Karl who took 67th spot in 1:31:35. Clare crossed the line ahead of Rebecca who was on the track behind her as she crossed the line, but the latter was able to hold on to first place overall in the age category by 23 seconds. Clare placed 82nd and 19th (1st F35 in the race) in 1:34:35, whilst Rebecca placed 85th and 20th (3rd F35 in the race) in 1:34:56. Brendan took 98th spot in 1:38:17 and he was followed by Philip (104th in 1:39:44), Emer (106th and 26th (4th F35) in 1:39:52), Olwyn (108th and 27th (3rd F55) in 1:40:03), Dee (115th and 31st in 1:41:30), Robbie (141st in 1:46:12), Margaret (142nd and 41st (6th F35) in 1:46:13) who enjoyed a brilliant sprint in a dogfight with Robbie on the track and was only pipped on the line after having overtaken Robbie with 150m to go, Neil (161st in 1:49:37) and Emily Glen (169th and 49th (3rd F30) in 1:52:15). So, the final tally of the 4 races with their cumulative times placed Rebecca 14th overall, followed by Clare (15th), Olwyn (21st), Dee (25th), Margaret (30th) and Emily (43rd) in the women’s overall rankings (the field being 83), whilst Karl placed 31st out of 133, with James in 37th, Brendan in 57th and Philip, 65th. The women’s teams came home in 3rd and 4th places, whilst the men’s team placed 10th overall. Emily retained 3rd place in her age category, whilst Rebecca took first place, as mentioned, in hers, with Margaret 4th in the same age category. Dee finished in 5th place overall in her age category, whilst Olwyn took 3rd in hers. Philip placed 2nd in his age category, although some 24 minutes behind 1st place, whilst Brendan placed 7th in his. Karl came home 9th overall as an M40, whilst James won his, as outlined above. Clontarf 5 miles (425) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Cristian Vilchez Ceballos 1 00:28:17 6 Edel Gaffney 1 00:29:49 Crusaders AC runners 1 Cristian Vilchez Ceballos 00:28:17 5 Elliott O’Beirne 00:29:45 17 Esther Requena Ferri 00:32:44 (3) Full results here: http://redtagtiming.com/results/Clontarf2021_5Mile.html Clontarf Half marathon (1378) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Andrew O’Neill 1 01:16:05 43 Leanne Butler 1 01:27:43 Crusaders AC runners 38 Enda Clarke 01:26:43 81 Adam Flanagan 01:29:31 (pacer) 171 Isabelle Cairns 01:36:44 (14) 255 Kathryn Gibbons 01:40:35 (22) 539 James Moran 01:49:41 654 Maria Kennedy 01:52 :36 (120) 787 Aine Crotty 01:48:17 (-) 917 Cian Coughlan 01:51:06 937 Miriam Logan 01:59:59 (pacer) XXX Kevin Kavanagh 01:59:47 (pacer) Full results here: http://redtagtiming.com/results/Clontarf2021_Half.html Clonakilty Waterfont marathon (425) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Alexander Wallace 1 02:32:00 30 Tara Malone 1 03:11:48 Crusaders AC runner 136 Triona Quill 03:44:19 (15) Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/clonakilty_waterfront_marathon_xi/4165/results Kilmac Running Festival Paddock Lake 18k (IMRA) (71) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Mark Stitch 1 01:20:33 13 Sarah Brady 1 01:31:27 Crusaders AC runners 3 John McAuley 01:21:34 9 Brian McGuckin 01:28:47 23 Michael Maughan 01:39:28 Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2124 Kilmac Running Festival Sugarloaf-Djouce 25.5k (IMRA) (61) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ross Reilly 1 02:20:00 15 Lean Ni Chiobhain 1 02:45:23 Crusaders AC runners 3 Conor Greenan 02:21:21 15 Lean Ni Chiobhain 02:45:23 (1) 19 Donatas Jocius 02:50:44 Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2115 Pobalscoil na Trionoide Parkrun (55) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Brendan Coleman 1 00:19:31 9 Janette O’Sullivan 1 00:22:34 Crusaders AC runner 4 Tomas Mahony 00:21:21 Fairview Parkrun (77) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Paudie Keane 1 00:19:44 10 Joyce O’Hare 1 00:22:05 Crusaders AC runner 2 Toby Benham 00:19:52 Griffeen Parkrun (137) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Gary Farrell 1 00:19:18 36 Claire Millar 1 00:23:09 Crusaders AC runner 28 Colm Foley 00:22:44 Oldbridge Parkrun (65) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Adam Canning 1 00:19:05 24 Caroline Carlin 1 00:25:49 Crusaders AC runners 45 Paul F. Kelly 00:30:06 46 Aoife Kelly 00:30:26 (9) Shanganagh Parkrun (108) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Oscar Legge 1 00:17:10 12 Aisling King 1 00:20:36 Crusaders AC runners 4 David Carter 00:19:13 20 Stephen Mulligan 00:22:31 60 Orlaith de Burca 00:27:18 (14) Cabinteely Parkrun (93) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 David Power 1 00:18:57 13 Orna O’Toole 1 00:23:06 Crusaders AC runners 17 Louise Dobbyn 00:23:59 (4) 26 Barry O’Neill 00:24:56 Mullingar Parkrun (88) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Mark Ronan 1 00:18:21 10 Susanna Buckley 1 00:22:06 Crusaders AC runner 14 Kate Murray 00:23:35 (3) River Valley Parkrun (77) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Padraig Cavanagh 1 00:20:50 13 Una O’Riordan 1 00:24:56 Crusaders AC runner 52 Darina Scully 00:34:44 (19) Porterstown Parkrun (79) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Neil Hand 1 00:18:22 6 Joan O’Callaghan 1 00:22:15 Crusaders AC runner 59 Kevin Flynn 00:32:43 Poolbeg Parkrun (82) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Damian Bourke 1 00:17:59 8 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:20:17 Crusaders AC runners 3 Michael Wycherley 00:18:52 9 Simon Kenny 00:20:45 11 David Timoney 00:20:58 16 Paul Campbell 00:21:59 28 Russell Murphy 00:24:01 53 Zlatko Kulic 00:27:01 55 Maureen McGinley 00:27:11 (15) 75 Mari Hansen 00:34:59 (25) Mungret Parkrun (59) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Mike Neville 1 00:17:18 13 Lisa Shine 1 00:23:42 Crusaders AC runners 13 Lisa Shine 00:23:42 (1) 54 Mairin Shine 00:30:20 (14) Omagh Parkrun (73) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 David Gormley 1 00:16:42 9 Michelle Sweeney 1 00:19:56 Crusaders AC runner 10 Kathryn Sweeney 00:20:16 (2)  Aaron Cashman  Ciarain Kelly  Ciaran Diviney and Garret Dunne  David McEvoy  Jan Manschot Ciarain Kelly  Adam Flanagan (15403)  Kevin Kavanagh and Miriam Logan (with balloons)  Enda Clarke  Isabelle Cairns  James Moran  Kathryn Gibbons  Miriam Logan and Kevin Kavanagh (with balloons)  Cristian Vilchez Ceballos  Esther Requena Ferri  Conor Greenan  Lean Ni Chiobhain  Donatas Jocius (258)  Brian McGuckin  John McAuley  Michael Maughan  Catherine Thornton  guest runner Clare Sullivan, James Cottle, Ilona McElroy, Margaret Foley, Emer Kenny, Rebecca Fleming, Brendan Glynn, Olwyn Dunne, Neil Brown, Ger Forde  Standing: Emily Glen, Dee Ni Chearbhaill, Olwyn Dunne, Margaret Foley, Emer Kenny, James Cottle, Catherine Thornton, Rebecca Fleming, Brendan Glynn, Clare Sullivan, Karl Walsh, Robbie Moore, Neil Brown. Lying: Philip Matthews  Philip Matthews, Dee Ni Chearbhaill, James Cottle, Emily Glen, Brendan Glynn, Karl Walsh, Rebecca Fleming, Olwyn Dunne, Margaret Foley  Comments are closed.
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