Good Cru showing on new dedicated XC course in Abbotstown

17/10/2016

Niamh Boland, Ilona McElroy, Caroline Crowley, Niamh Corby, Fiona Shine, Lisa Shine and Orla Drumm

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There was a super Cru participation in the effective inauguration of a purpose-built XC course up in Abbotstown at the new National Sports Campus on Sunday afternoon. The course looks likely to be the one to be used by Athletics Ireland going forward so it was good to have an outing on it. It has to be said that for a relatively flat course on an otherwise dry day, it’s tough, maybe because of the soaking it has received over the past few days, which made the grass surface fairly soft, but also it’s quite muddy and sandy in places. There is one drag of a hill but it’s not particularly daunting (and nothing like the course used for the same race in previous years in the Phoenix Park). The event was the renamed Gerry Farnan and since last year it has been known as the Autumn Open XC Festival. More accurately, it can be described, despite the presence of overseas runners (including Welsh, Belgian and Polish senior athletes), as the Irish trials for the 5-nations masters competition scheduled to take place in mid-November in Perth in Scotland.

As usual, the women’s race took place first and, in a quality field numbering 105 athletes, Fionnuala McCormack was, naturally, able to establish a clear lead from the gun. In the early stages of the 6k race Caroline Crowley found herself in a small group several metres behind an initial posse of 3 or 4 runners who themselves were about 100m behind Fionnuala and Caroline gradually reeled them in to come home in a strong 3rd place, just pipped in a sprint finish by a Polish athlete, Paulina Kaczynska for second place and taking some decent scalps in the process, a clear indication that she’s back to fighting form. Fionnuala inevitably finished in first place in 20:30, with Caroline’s 20:08, just 2 seconds back from Paulina’s 21:06, enough to confirm her as 2nd Irish woman home. Ann-Marie Glynn, winning the masters’ race, was 4th in 21:14, with Laura Shaughnessy (21:16), Rio Olympian Kerry O’Flaherty (21:22) and Siobhan O’Doherty (21:38) further back. Orla Drumm ran well to place 16th in 22:33 and Orla was followed by women’s captain Ilona McElroy who placed 38th in 24:09. Niamh Boland and Niamh Corby ran together from the early stages until the former was able to break away and establish a 15 second advantage by the end. Niamh Boland placed 51st in 25:00 (10th in her age category), whilst Niamh Corby came home in 55th place (8th in her age category) in a time of 25:15. The contingent was completed with the strong presence of Lisa and Fiona Shine, with both running creditably. Fiona placed 72nd in 26:43 and Lisa, 80th in 27:40.

The men’s 8K race, with 174 finishers, was equally as exciting, with a strong run from the winner, Mullingar’s Mark Christie, who came in 5 seconds ahead of Adam Nowicki of Poland in 24:59, followed by Freddie Sittuk of Raheny Shamrocks in 3rd, a further 4 seconds back, in 25:08. They had all been part of a 4-man leading group that only broke apart towards the end. We had 11 finishers in the race, led home by Alban Coghlan who finished in 47th place (27:55). After making sure he had his shorts on, there was another strong showing from Ciaran Diviney who took 53rd spot overall (28:10) and 5th in his age category, followed closely by Vinnie McGuinness (57th in 28:15). John Mulvihill was not too far behind (71st in 28:52), with Rob Cross on his tail (72nd overall in 28:55 and 20th in his age category). Members will be interested to hear that United Striders’ Sean Murphy, who trains with the club, placed 120th (18th in his age category) in 30:35 and he was followed closely by Garret Dunne (122nd in 30:39). Newcomer Jim Stagg was next in 133rd place (31:07), followed by Michael Maughan (146th in 32:29 and 22nd in his age category). Brendan Glynn completed the contingent with a 40:40 finish to place 174th.

The incorrigible pair of long distance runners, Leo Lundy and Kris Ryan, took part in an AA Milne-themed running event over the weekend in Ashdown forest (inspiration behind 100 acre wood) in East Sussex. There was a tough trail 6 hour challenge (involving a climb of over 3,500 feet over a marathon distance and hugely technical). About 150 runners took part each day. On Day 1 ("Winnie the Pooh wander") saw perfect conditions and Leo completing 31.6 miles for 6th overall but Kris’ 36.8 miles saw her take 2nd place overall and 1st woman finisher. A big storm came in overnight and conditions on day 2 (the "Bounceathon") were muddy and treacherous on the steep downhills. The race started off in lashing rain and Leo finished at marathon distance for what he called a mid-pack finish (34th) but Kris' 31.6 miles was again good enough for 3rd place overall and 1st woman home. Naturally, everything was in fancy dress!

Numbers appeared generally to be down in the parkruns on Saturday, probably influenced by the foul weather that started off the day. In Marlay, Eddie Nugent joined 263 other participants and came home in 7th place in a time of 18:34. David Timoney and upcoming Dublin marathoner Kate Murray also ran, with David placing 19th in 19:50 and Kate, 104th overall, 17th woman, in 24:23. Several other Dublin marathoners were in action elsewhere. In St. Anne’s, in a field of 187 runners, Matt Cranley placed 13th in a time of 20:13, whilst Denis Murphy tagged on the parkrun to a much longer session and placed 52nd in 23:44. Meanwhile, Maria Pertl placed 19th overall (5th woman) in the 43-strong Poppintree parkrun. Then, Mairead Cashman placed 98th overall (23rd woman) in 27:44 in the same size field as St. Anne’s (187) in Ballincollig in Cork. In terms of our other runners, Suzanne Martin is making her way back to form with a 22:48 time (15th overall, 3rd woman) in the 52-strong field in Cabinteely. Dave Cuddy was 2nd in Athlone out of 31 finishers. Dave’s time was 20:35. Finally, Neil Brown ran 25:19 to place 32nd out of 75 runners in Shanganagh on Saturday morning.

Autumn Open XC Festival Women’s 6K
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Fionnuala McCormack 1 00:20:30
Crusaders AC runners
3 Caroline Crowley 00:21:08
16 Orla Drumm 00:22:33
38 Ilona McElroy 00:24:09
51 Niamh Boland 00:25:00
55 Niamh Corby 00:25:15
72 Fiona Shine 00:26:43
80 Lisa Shine 00:27:40
Full results here: http://www.myrunresults.com/events/autumn_open_cross_country_festival/1877/results
Autumn Open XC Festival Men’s 8K
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mark Christie 1 00:24:59
47 Alban Coghlan 00:27:55
53 Ciaran Diviney 00:28:10
57 Vinnie McGuinness 00:28:15
71 John Mulvihill 00:28:52
72 Rob Cross 00:28:55
111 Richie MacLiam 00:30:16
122 Garret Dunne 00:30:39
133 Jim Stagg 00:31:07
146 Michael Maughan 00:33:29
174 Brendan Glynn 00:40:40
Crusaders AC runners
Full results here: http://www.myrunresults.com/events/autumn_open_cross_country_festival/1877/results
Athlone Parkrun #62
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Artur Kasperski 1 00:19:36
10 Maeve O’Reilly 1 00:24:02
Crusaders AC runner
2 Dave Cuddy 00:20:35
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/athlone/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=62
Ballincollig Parkrun #18
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Alan Lehane 1 00:17:34
33 Maeve Cotter 1 00:22:40
Crusaders AC runner
98 Mairead Cashman 00:27:44
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/ballincollig/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=18
Marlay Parkrun #179
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Brian Lenihan 1 00:17:14
16 Sarah Hade 1 00:19:46
Crusaders AC runners
7 Eddie Nugent 00:18:34
19 David Timoney 00:19:50
104 Kate Murray 00:24:23
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=179
Cabinteely Parkrun #81
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Angus Tyner 1 00:18:55
7 Malika Hammani 1 00:21:56
Crusaders AC runner
15 Suzanne Martin 00:22:48
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=81
Poppintree Parkrun #102
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Aidan McGrath 1 00:18:53
4 Aisling Andrews 1 00:20:28
Crusaders AC runner
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poppintree/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=102
St Annes’s Parkrun #152
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Anthony Doyle 00:17:31
14 Mairead O’Shaughnessy 1 00:20:18
Crusaders AC runners
13 Matt Cranley 00:20:13
52 Denis Murphy 00:23:44
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=152
Shanganagh Parkrun #82
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mark Walsh 1 00:19:06
16 Siobhan Butler 1 00:22:51
Crusaders AC runner
32 Neil Brown 00:25:19
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=82