Great Results Assured in BHAA Irish Life XC

20/11/2017

Backrow: Don Anderton, Karl Fahy, Neil Brown, Gillian Errity, John McAuley, Michael O'Conor, Phelim Murray, Paul Kelly, John Mulvihill. Middle row: Jason Kehoe, Niamh Boland, Adrienne Jordan, Rob Cross, Niamh Corby, Kris Ryan, Mary Dolan, Aisling O'Connor, Carina Davidson, Louise Dobbyn, Marius McNicholas, Grainne Regan. front row: Mairin Shine, Fiona Shine, Caroline Crowley, Sarah Lyons, Lisa Shine, Rachel Yorke, Katie McElroy, James Cottle, Emer Kenny, Ruth Dwyer, Amy Brogan, Darina Scully.

Every now and again Crusaders turn out en masse for a particular race and it’s impressive how well we do on such occasions. Saturday was no different for the BHAA Irish Life mixed 6k cross country. Report is below.

But first, we start with recording that on Saturday Ciaran Diviney ran in the British and Irish Masters cross country International up in Derry. In a 4-lap 8k race for the M45 category, Ciaran came home as 5th scorer and 17th overall to help the Irish team take the silver medal behind England.

On Saturday morning at least 37 club members took part in the BHAA XC race held in Santry Demesne in dry and relatively calm but chilly conditions. The ground was, however, wet underfoot because of overnight rain and there was indeed a lot of mud and a bit of standing water on the course in parts. The 1,500m lap was not too dissimilar from the course used for the recent Dublin Senior championships and had all the ups and downs of that particular event. One downhill corner especially got churned up and had to be negotiated with care. Sometimes, however, it was easier just to plough through the mud in order to maintain the racing line.

The field measured just shy of 200 runners and so we represented nearly 20% of the participation. A lot of Cru women turned out (well outnumbering Cru men in a field where the men generally outnumbered the women), looking for an alternative to the now-defunct Women’s Meet and Train League, and they weren’t disappointed. It was an excellent event, well-organised and the new barcode and manual timing seemed to work well generally (although a couple of names appear twice and one or two runners not at all, as the bibs were perhaps confused by the spotters: so that some of our women's results from approx. overall finishing position 100 may not be entirely accurate). The results (both individual and team) came out speedily enough too. We were, as usually, brilliantly well supported in the event.

Karl Fahy won the race in an impressive 20:09, 23s ahead of his nearest rival. Rob Cross was next Crusader, in 5th place in a time of 21:07 and 1st in his O/40 age category. Top 50 spots also went to John Mulvihill (11th in 21;34), Jason Kehoe (14th in 21:57), Michael O’Conor (29th in 22:53), John McAuley (30th in 22:56) and Karl Walsh (38th in 23:54). James Cottle ran negative splits to record a time of 25:06 (62nd place and 1st O/60), having reeled in his age category rivals, followed by Brendan Glynn (79th in 26:09), running a super race. It was good to see Marius McNicholas working his way back to form (86th in 26:18) and he was followed by Phelim Murray (87th in 26:18), David Long (91st in 26:27), beginning his preparations for the Dublin masters XC in January, and by Tom Dunne (97th in 26:40), to complete those in the top 100 places.

In the women’s race within the race, Linda Byrne was unstoppable in 25th place overall (22:31), but Caroline Crowley (40th overall, 2nd woman home in 23:59) and Adrienne Jordan, not too behind her (45th overall, 3rd woman, in 24:07) ran well, considering they’re working their way into form. Niamh Corby was next across the line, feeling slightly under the weather (72nd overall, 9th woman, in 25:51), but still able to win her age category. Then came Katie McElroy (88th overall, 13th woman, in 26:19), Rachel Yorke (89th overall, 14th female finisher, in 26:23), Grainne Regan (108th overall, 16th woman, in 27:03 and 2nd in her age category) and Ruth Dwyer, hard on her heels (109th overall, 17th female, in 27:05). Another top 20 position went to new ladies’ captain Lisa Shine (116th overall, 18th female, in 27:27). Similarly, a notable result came from Kris Ryan, who came 3rd in her age category with 145th place overall, 27th woman home, in 29:06. Team prizes went to Amy Brogan, Katie McElroy and possibly Ruth Dwyer, along with Fiona Shine, Michael O’Conor, Marius McNicholas, Karl Walsh, Niamh Corby and Robbie Moore.

Most agreed that it was a most enjoyable cross country race and we’re now well into the XC season. Great preparation for next year’s track and road racing.

Paul O’Meara tackled the Philadelphia marathon over the weekend, placing 233rd in a field of 8,000 runners and in windy conditions once again delivering a sub-3 hour performance. In fact there was a strong headwind for a lot of the race, only really turning into a tailwind for the last few kilometres. Paul ran with even splits to record 2:59:55!

There were no first finishers for the club this week in the parkrun round-up, partly, perhaps because we had so many running in the BHAA race. We did, however, have participation in 9 parkruns around Ireland, with the heaviest concentration in Poolbeg and Cabinteely. In the latter, with a field of 120 runners, Dave Carter continued his improving form with a 2nd place finish in 19:09. Dave was followed by Colm Foley (27th in 23:52) and Olwyn Dunne (30th overall, 4th female, in 24:10). Meanwhile, in Poolbeg, David Timoney took 11th place out of more than 80 runners, in a time of 20:08. David was followed by Zalan Kovacs (21st in 21:21) and Edwina Quinlan (43rd overall, 7th female, in 25:35). Another good run came from Aoife Quinn who placed 21st overall, 2nd woman, in a time of 24:02 in Fairview. The field measured more than 50 runners. Diarmuid Byrne and Maria Pertl participated alongside 108 others in Poppintree, with Diarmuid placing 5th in 20:05 and Maria taking it easily. Matt Cranley continues to improve on his buggy times in St. Anne’s, with 58th place in 21:28. Matt was followed in the field of 380 runners by Lorraine Fitzsimons who came home in 283rd place overall, 82nd female, in 29:56. Eddie Nugent was our lone representative in Marlay. Among 460 runners, Eddie placed 13th in 19:46, as he comes back from recent injury. Likewise, Orlaith de Burca was our singleton Crusader in Shanganagh. Orlaith placed 79th overall, 18th female, in 27:34. The field was 131 strong. In 2 other parkruns we had just one runner too. In Porterstown, Kevin Flynn placed 52nd out of 91 runners, in a time of 27:26. Finally, Mairead Cashman took 81st spot overall (24th woman) in Bushy Dublin in a time of 29:08.

BHAA Irish Life XC
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Karl Fahy 1 00:20:09
25 Linda Byrne 1 00:22:31
Crusaders AC runners
1 Karl Fahy 00:20:09
5 Rob Cross 00:21:07
11 John Mulvihill 00:21:34
14 Jason Kehoe 00:21:57
29 Michael O’Conor 00:22:53
30 John McAuley 00:22:56
38 Karl Walsh 00:23:54
40 Caroline Crowley 00:23:59 (2)
45 Adrienne Jordan 00:24:07 (3)
62 James Cottle 00:25:06
72 Niamh Corby 00:25:51 (9)
79 Brendan Glynn 00:26:09
86 Marius McNicholas 00:26:18
87 Phelim Murray 00:26:18
88 Katie McElroy 00:26:19 (13)
89 Rachel Yorke 00:26:23 (14)
91 David Long 00:26:27
97 Tomas Dunne 00:26:40
108 Grainne Regan 00:27:03 (16)
109 Ruth Dwyer 00:27:05 (17)
111 Robbie Moore 00:27:12
112 Neil Brown 00:27:13
116 Lisa Shine 00:27:27 (18)
131 Amy Brogan 00:28:11 (21)
133 Kate Murray 00:28:23 (22)
137 Fiona Shine 00:28:41 (24)
140 Darina Scully 00:28:53 (26)
145 Kris Ryan 00:29:06 (27)
152 Louise Dobbyn 00:29:27 (29)
161 Sarah Lyons 00:30:02 (34)
175 Carina Davidson 00:31:05 (38)
180 Gillian Errity 00:32:40 (41)
186 Aisling O’Connor 00:33:20 (44)
190 Paul Kelly 00:34:50
192 Mary Dolan 00:36:18 (46)
Full results here: https://bhaa.ie/2017-irish-life-cc/
Marlay Parkrun #233
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Charlie McGovern 1 00:17:21
9 Derval Devaney 1 00:19:24
Crusaders AC runner
13 Eddie Nugent 00:19:46
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=233
Cabinteely Parkrun #137
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Niall Bourke 1 00:18:51
6 Malika Hammani 1 00:20:41
Crusaders AC runners
2 David Carter 00:19:09
27 Colm Foley 00:23:52
30 Olwyn Dunne 00:24:10 (4)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=137
Bushy Dublin Parkrun #38
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Michael McCarthy 1 00:16:54
9 Laura McDonnell 1 00:19:38
Crusaders AC runner
81 Mairead Cashman 00:29:08 (24)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/bushydublin/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=38
Poppintree Parkrun #159
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Matthew Taylor 1 00:17:30
18 Kate Cleary 1 00:22:41
Crusaders AC runners
5 Diarmuid Byrne 00:20:05
108 Maria Pertl 00:56:17 (42)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poppintree/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=159
Shanganagh Parkrun #138
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Joseph O’Shea 1 00:17:57
22 Hanna Kissane 1 00:22:22
Crusaders AC runner
79 Orlaith de Burca 00:27:34 (18)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=138
St Anne’s Parkrun #208
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Feidhlim Kelly 1 00:16:00
10 Fiona Stack 1 00:18:32
Crusaders AC runners
58 Matt Cranley 00:21:28
283 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:29:56 (82)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=208
Poolbeg Parkrun #13
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Derek Lawlor 1 00:18:05
6 Lynne Hennessy 1 00:19:16
Crusaders AC runners
11 David Timoney 00:20:08
21 Zalan Kovacs 00:21:21
43 Edwina Quinlan 00:25:35 (7)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=13
Porterstown Parkrun #109
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Alan Kenny 1 00:17:43
12 Ann Foran 1 00:22:14
Crusaders AC runner
52 Kevin Flynn 00:27:26
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/porterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=109
Fairview Parkrun #19
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Samuel Blake 1 00:16:39
20 Emer Buckley 1 00:23:52
Crusaders AC runner
21 Aoife Quinn 00:24:02 (2)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/fairview/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=19