Excellent performances once again on track, road and cross country

17/2/2019

Matt Behan

Something for almost everyone this week. The only thing missing was mountain running, but we had some excellent indoor track and field as well as some cross country and road racing.

The week started on Wednesday with the AIT Games on the indoor track in Athlone. On a night when Ciara Mageean set a track record and PB for the 1500m, Matt Behan also featured in what turned out to be a warm up race for the National Indoors at the weekend. Matt placed 5th (but first Irishman across the line) in the 60mH final in a time of 8.02, having run 8.06 in the heats.

Then, over the weekend we had a good representation in the National Indoors in Abbottstown. On Saturday Kevin Woods placed 3rd in the 2nd heat of the men’s 800m to qualify for Sunday’s final, whilst Mary Horgan did likewise in the women’s 800m. Mary’s race was exciting to watch. Knowing that she had to run fast to qualify, she made sure by bravely leading the field for the first lap and then being pulled in to 5th place at the end in 2:12.87. The first 5 from that heat went through to the final, with only 3 automatic places. Andrew Mellon also ran well to win his heat in the 400m in 48.26 and qualified also for his final. Although Nick Ennis placed 2nd to Andrew in the same race in 49.29, he was agonisingly a few hundredths of a second off from qualifying in one of the fastest loser spots. Interestingly one of the heats didn’t even produce a qualifier.

Sunday’s finals proved to be dramatic. Andrew came through to place 2nd in the 400m, but narrowly missing out on a European qualifying time (based on a recently changed standard) as a result of some barging at the end of the first lap which saw Thomas Barr flung from the race as Andrew tried to protect himself from another runner crossing into him. Matt won his national title with an excellent 7.96 in the men’s 60mH. Valantinos Goularos also ran in the race, his first national final, placing 6th in 8.98. Shane Keane took bronze in the men’s long jump with a leap of 6.8m, preserving, in the absence of Adam McMullen who is recovering from an operation to repair a torn Achilles, the recent tradition of Crusaders podiuming in the event. Shane also ran in the final of the men's 60m, placing 8th in a time of 7.02, having taken 2nd spot in his semi-final in 6.95 and 3rd in his initial heat in 7.02. Finally, Mary improved on her heat time in the 800m final, placing 7th in 2:12.44, whilst Kevin also placed 7th in his 800m final with a time of 1:56.51. Well done to all.

Another exciting event that took place on Thursday was the Armagh International Men’s 5k, which is pretty much an invitational race and which each year goes from strength to strength. There were 203 men in this year's event that required a qualifying standard of 16:00 to run. We ended up having just one runner in a race that saw a record number of 113 athletes break 15 minutes in mild and calm conditions, and Brian O’Kelly was one of them, recording a PB time of 14:46 on the 5 lap course and 79th place. Brian reported that the first kilometre was chaos as it was a gun-timed (rather than chip-timed) event and everyone was trying to get as close to the front as possible at the start.

On Saturday morning we has a good turnout for the BHAA ALSAA XC races, held on the usual flat course up next to the airport. As usual, the women ran their 2 mile event first and Katie Rogers came home in 3rd place in an excellent 12:14 in a modest field of 47 runners. Niamh Corby crossed the line in 6th place and 2nd in her age category in a time of 12:50, followed by Sarah Lyons (16th in 13:46), Maeve Muldowney (22nd in 14:01), Maria Kennedy (27th in 14:22) and Susan Walsh (33rd in 14:50 and 4th in her age category).

The mixed 5 mile race had an altogether much larger field and we had at least 10 athletes compete in it. First home in the field of 131 was Ger Forde in 7th place and a time of 28:58. Ger was followed by Michael Wycherley (10th in 29:35 and 2nd in his age category), Joe McDermott not too far behind (13th in 29:43), Frank Hague (18th in 30:13), Karl Walsh (29th in 31:24), Tim O’Donnell, just back from his far eastern travels (72nd in 35:33), Brendan Glynn (74th in 35:42), Robbie Moore (76th in 35:47 and 4th in his age category), Pat Quill (92nd in 37:38) and Michael McGovern (93rd in 37:40).

Also, over the weekend we had 3 runners take on the Seville marathon. In good conditions and off the back of little training Marius McNicholas ran 3:34:28, whilst Olwyn and Joe Dunne ran, respectively, 3:40:13 and 3:41:46, somehow missing each other in the final 5k(!). Meanwhile, closer to home, James Cahill, who is training for the London marathon, ran the Drumshanbo Half marathon on a “flat course” as described by Leitrim locals alongside the banks of Lough Allan, producing a PB result of 1:25:24 and placing 8th in a field of nearly 280 runners.

Finally, we show as usual a record of the parkrun results. We had several running abroad again. Maureen McGinley took in Fartalle in Italy, placing 18th overall (6th female) in a field of 40 in a time of 28:25. In Wanaka, New Zealand, Aoife Kelly placed 8th overall, 4th female, in a time of 24:33, whilst husband Paul placed 9th just behind in 24:34. There were 33 runners in the event. In Paradise Point, Australia, Kris Ryan ran 23:31 in a field of 266 to place 41st overall, 5th female, whilst once again Aidan Hudner ran with 483 others in Glasgow, placing 69th in 21:59.

There were podium finishes for Stephen Hurley who came home as first finisher in Poolbeg in 16:59 and Luke Davis who came home in 3rd place in Cabinteely in 18:58. In the same event, Luke was followed by Dave Carter who ran 19:32 for 4th and Roland Cottle who recorded a PB in placing 66th in 26:33. Meanwhile, in Poolbeg, Stephen was followed by Kenan Furlong (4th in 18:55), Dave Tilly (12th in 19:41), Kieran Finucane (28th in 20:50), Luke Haran (33rd in 21:10), Ava Rose Clarke (74th overall, 7th female, in 23:46), Mari Hansen (78th and 9th in 24:00), Mary Dolan (101st and 16th in 24:49), Cliodhna O’Reilly (110th and 31st in 25:29), Aisling O’Riordan (138th and 31st in 27:25) and Ali May Hann (164th and 47th in 28:41). Neil Brown placed 4th in 22:56 in Tyrrelstown, whilst Cormac McGuire placed 33rd in 22:11 in Tolka Valley. Liam Lyster also placed 33rd in Strokestown in a time of 28:10. We had a few runners descending on Tramore where Diarmuid Byrne took 6th place in 20:06, followed by Fiona Bane (60th and 16th in 26:56), Darina Scully (111th and 45th in 33:48), Aoife Clarke, just behind (112th and 46th in 33:49) and Maria Pertl (113th and 47th in the same time). Leo Lundy took on Oranmure where he placed 68th in 29:24, whilst in Malahide Brian Scanlan finished in 14th in 19:34, followed by Ronan Moynihan (23rd in 19:49). Kate Murray was our lone representative in Marlay Park where she placed 98th and 10th in a time of 22:52, whilst Brian Carroll ran in Griffeen Park, taking 9th spot in 19:53. Brian Kelleher ran 21:07 to take 54th place in St. Anne’s, whilst Declan Connor came home in 10th place in Ballina in a time of 21:38. Mike Stewart and Orlaith de Burca took on Shanganagh, placing, respectively, 24th and 83rd (12th female) in 21:53 and 26:14, whilst Kevin Flynn finished in 153rd in 39:10 in Porterstown. Lastly, Mairead Cashman found another venue to run. This time it was the setting of Stormont, where she placed 154th (47th female) in 30:09.

Thanks to Sportfile for the Abbottstown photos.

Armagh International Men’s 5k road race (203)
Overall place Name Guntime
1 Topi Raitonen 00:13:43
Crusaders AC runner
79 Brian O’Kelly 00:14:46 (PB)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/brooks_armagh_5k_international_road_race/2924/results
BHAA ALSAA women’s 2 mile race (47)
Overall place Name Guntime
1 Sinead Lambe 00:11:40
Crusaders AC runners
3 Katie Rogers 00:12:14
6 Niamh Corby 00:12:50
16 Sarah Lyons 00:13:46
22 Maeve Muldowney 00:14:01
27 Maria Kennedy 00:14:22
33 Susan Walsh 00:14:50
Full results here: https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3Ad116b4b0-0d79-47d7-aa8a-ae3fbc17c2b9&fbclid=IwAR15DuKL8M7BEFErCFUljhrzAuJfQXjqTZyQiwqp08Murlxj4or40q6SdKE
BHAA ALSAA mixed 5 mile race (131)
Overall place Name Guntime
1 Sean Doran 00:27:35
Crusaders AC runners
7 Ger Forde 00:28:58
10 Michael Wycherley 00:29:35
13 Joe McDermott 00:29:43
18 Frank Hague 00:30:13
29 Karl Walsh 00:31:24
72 Tim O’Donnell 00:35:33
74 Brendan Glynn 00:35:42
76 Robbie Moore 00:35:47
92 Pat Quill 00:37:38
93 Michael McGovern 00:37:40
Full results here: https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3Aa358c654-363a-40ec-a548-fe4f1b7d124e&fbclid=IwAR3Wqkh-ybhy5fBKa8C9QfU-wG6PkDaUVSAOHSbY-cMVyKE6W8gsgyryvik
Drumshanbo AC (Tony McGowan) Half marathon (279)
Overall place Name Cat Place Chiptime
1 Rikki Wynne 1 01:19:40
5 Emma Kenny 1 01:22:45
Crusaders AC runner
8 James Cahill 00:1:25:24 (PB)
Full results here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WaK2PyMdM7NBA2kHoOVV99MTczt10Pz_/view
Griffeen Parkrun #297 (205)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Ciaran O’Raghallaigh 1 00:17:39
32 Tricia Gough 1 00:22:29
Crusaders AC runner
9 Brian Carroll 00:19:53
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/griffeen/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=297
Marlay Parkrun #293 (625)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Jafer Abdulshekur 1 00:16:43
3 Barbara Cleary 1 00:17:32
Crusaders AC runner
98 Kate Murray 00:22:52 (10)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=293
Ballina Parkrun #215 (83)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Tomas Cawley 1 00:19:21
2 Serena Tuffy 1 00:20:05
Crusaders AC runner
10 Declan Connor 00:21:38
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/ballina/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=215
Cabinteely Parkrun #202 (143)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Bryan O’Connor 1 00:18:32
16 Joanne Ryan 1 00:22:06
Crusaders AC runners
3 Luke Davis 00:18:58
4 David Carter 00:19:32
66 Roland Cottle 00:26:33 (PB)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=202
Porterstown Parkrun #175 (175)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Micheal Gaffey 1 00:19:52
6 Clodagh Dunphy 1 00:20:57
Crusaders AC runner
153 kevin Flynn 00:39:10
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/porterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=175
St. Anne’s Parkrun #272 (547)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Colin Griffin 1 00:16:19
52 Elaine McNulty 1 00:21:06
Crusaders AC runner
54 Brian Kelleher 00:21:07
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=272
Stormont Parkrun #182 (244)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Matthew Carville 1 00:18:42
3 Emer McKee 1 00:19:10
Crusaders AC runner
154 Mairead Cashman 00:30:09 (47)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stormont/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=182
Poolbeg Parkrun #78 (244)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Stephen Hurley 1 00:16:59
10 Blaithin Sheil 1 00:19:36
Crusaders AC runners
1 Stephen Hurley 00:16:59
4 Kenan Furlong 00:18:55
12 Dave Tilly 00:19:41
28 Kevin Finucane 00:20:50
33 Luke Haran 00:21:10
74 Ava Rose Clarke 00:23:46 (7)
78 Mari Hansen 00:24:00 (9)
101 Mary Dolan 00:24:49 (16)
110 Cliodhna O’Reilly 00:25:29 (20)
138 Aisling O’Riordan 00:27:25 (31)
164 Ali May Hann 00:28:41 (47)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=78
Tolka Valley Parkrun #52 (111)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Aaron Mullan 1 00:18:21
18 Eimear Griffin 1 00:20:43
Crusaders AC runner
33 Cormac McGuire 00:22:11
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tolkavalley/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=52
Tyrrelstown Parkrun #23 (55)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Peter Fenyvesi 1 00:18:23
7 Ana Quigley 1 00:24:53
Crusaders AC runner
4 Neil Brown 00:22:56
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tyrrelstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=23
Strokestown Parkrun #23 (112)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Emma Donlon 1 00:19:11
2 Kevin Deery 1 00:19:34
Crusaders AC runner
33 Liam Lyster 00:28:10
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/strokestown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=23
Tramore Parkrun #161 (131)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 unknown 1 00:17:27
5 Orla Tuohy 1 00:19:45
Crusaders AC runners
6 Diarmuid Byrne 00:20:06
60 Fiona Bane 00:26:56 (16)
111 Darina Scully 00:33:48 (45)
112 Aoife Clarke 00:33:49 (46)
113 Maria Pertl 00:33:49 (47)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tramore/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=161
Oranmore Parkrun #130 (123)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Conor Dolan 1 00:17:23
8 Edel Kelly 1 00:21:26
Crusaders AC runner
68 Leo Lundy 00:29:24
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/oranmore/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=130
Malahide Parkrun #328 (436)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 William Walsh 1 00:17:04
5 Annette Kealy 1 00:18:29
Crusaders AC runners
14 Brian Scanlan 00:19:34
23 Ronan Moynihan 00:19:49
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=328
Shanganagh Parkrun #201 (198)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Damien Byrne 1 00:18:13
12 Maeve O’Grady 1 00:20:21
Crusaders AC runners
24 Mike Stewart 00:21:53
83 Orlaith de Burca 00:26:14 (12)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=201