Great Runs Over the Weekend

Brian O'Kelly

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​You will have to forgive the brevity of the race report which is being written the night before a long distance trip.
 
It was an excellent weekend of running for club members, mostly in sunshine, in Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands.  We start with the results of the national 10K championships which were run as usual in conjunction with the great Ireland Run. Numbers were vast (mention of 15,000 participants across the various races) and this year the organisers had included a 5k race and a junior event. Parking and traffic were, therefore, disrupted on Sunday for the whole morning.
 
In a race which didn’t see this year an influx of East Africans, but instead was graced by the traditional competition between teams from England and Ireland, we saw Mark Christie win the men’s race (with Mick Clohisey behind an Englishman in 3rd) and Gemma Steel of England winning the separate women’s race (which went off 20 minutes before the elite men and the “masses”). We had hoped to see Fionnualla McCormack run, but, unfortunately, she developed a last minute injury and so we were deprived of a dual Irish individual victory  (although it appears that Ireland enjoyed team victories for both men and women). At this stage club team results have yet to appear and, when they do, we will update the report.
 
In the women’s race, Caitriona Joyce, making a rare competitive foray, led the Cru home, taking 30th place (399th overall) in a time of 42:09. Caitriona was followed, on what is an extremely challenging course (and quite windy at times) with all the hills of the Phoenix Park (the Snake, the Upper Glen Road and the Furry Glen), concentrated in the second half following a descent of the Khyber Pass, by Nina Holmes (78th woman, 618th overall) in 44:45. Next came Olwyn Dunne (120th woman, 6th in her age category and  786th overall) in 46:22, followed by Rachel Yorke (160th woman, 939th overall, in 47:37), Carina Davidson (167th woman, 954th overall, in 47:64), Louise Yorke (505th woman, 1,893rd overall, in 53:56) and Mairead Cashman (694th woman, 3,034th overall, in 56:30).
 
Along with the 7 Cru women in the race, we had 15 men, at least 3 of whom surprisingly recorded PBs. Also, Rob Cross and James Cottle ended up with gold medals in their respective age categories.
 
Rob, in fact, was the first Crusader home, finishing in 19th place in a super time of 32:30. He was followed by Ciaran Diviney in 46th (6th in the same age group) in his 3rd fastest 10K (33:53) and by Ian Kinsella, the 3rd Crusader in the top 100 (94th in 35:40). Peter O’Toole was next in 106th with a PB time of 36:10, followed by Jim Stagg who also recorded a PB (128th in 36:40). James was next in 225th place in a time of 39:12, exploiting residual aerobic endurance after last week’s marathon. James spotted nearly all his competition for the age category early on and enjoyed some leap frogging with Eugene Doherty of SBH in the first 3K, before managing to break away and finishing with a decent 40 second margin over the second-placed runner, Martin Kearney of GCH. Tom Clarke came next in 251st place (39:50), followed by David Long (262nd in 39:56), who, together with both Robbie Moore (604th in 44:33) and James, was a member of the Cru M50 team. Luke Haran came next (379th in 41:52), followed by Philip Matthews (431st in 42:31) and Tony Owens (449th in 42:48), celebrating a tremendous backing of the winner of Saturday’s Grand National (One for Arthur) which carried the name of Tony’s late son. Stephen Mulligan was next home in 770th place (46:14), followed by Brendan Glynn (879th in 47:04) and, finally, the contingent was completed by Paul Kelly with yet another PB for him (2,332nd in 56:35).
 
Zlatko Kulic was our only participant in the Great Ireland 5K, placing 19th in a time of 19:58. As usual, there was magnificent Cru support out on the race course making that difference for us all!
 
We had 3 runners in the Rotterdam marathon on Sunday, each coming home in under 3 hours. First was Brian O’Kelly who had enjoyed little running recently owing to a calf injury. So, his result of 2:43:52 (121st place) was especially surprising and welcome.  In increasingly warm conditions on a relatively flat course (with a few bridges and underpasses, however), Frank Halligan was next, placing 184th in an excellent 2:48:14, despite clearly finding the 2nd half tough, and finally we saw Barry O’Mahony breaking 3 hours for the first time, taking 451st place in a PB time of 2:57:37. Barry’s 5 kilometer splits were truly good, rarely separated by more than 5-10 seconds all the way through.

​Also on Sunday, Leo Lundy took part in a 30.5 mile mini-ultra, Rachel's Ranscombe ramble in the UK. Despite falling badly after 800m from the start, Leo was able to continue and complete the course. The whole event took place in 25 degrees of glorious sunshine, but it did have a climb of more than 4,000 feet and leo duly completed the event in 7:21:50.
 
On Saturday, once again Myrunresults supported the chiptiming of the fields in the two DCC road races in St. Anne’s Park, Raheny. There were more than 280 runners in the women’s 2 mile race (numbers bolstered by the Lord Mayor’s initiative). Orla Kennedy distinguished herself with a fine time of 11:33 and 5th place and Orla was followed some 20 seconds later by Irene Gorman (6th in 11:55). Niamh Aspell also demonstrated and reinforced the current depth of Cru women’s running by placing 8th in 12:06. Then came the ever-reliable runners: Lisa Shine (17th in 12:41), Dee Ni Chearbhaill (19th in 12:50 and 2nd in her age category), Geraldine Clements (24th in 13:19 and 4th in her age category), Emer Kenny (29th in 13:46) and Susan Walsh (35th in 14:12) and they were followed by Suzanne Collins making a welcome return (77th in 17:06).
 
In the mixed 4 mile race we had surprisingly few participants (although perhaps understandable given the following day’s 10K). In a smallish field of 143 runners, Karl Walsh placed 11th in 22:24, followed by Robbie Moore, warming up for the 10K (50th in 27:09) and by Neil Brown with what he describes as a rare PB (78th in 29:33).

​A recent result which passed by with little attention, but all the same was something special, was the 9th place (first top 10 finish) for visually-impaired Donnacha McCarthy and his guide Dave Tilly, in only their 4th triathlon. Many of us will have seen them training together in Irishtown and it's great to see how well they have gelled. 
 
Finally, a decent smattering of Crusaders took to the parkruns on Saturday. The standout run came from Ilona McElroy, returning from injury, who placed first female finisher in Tymon. In a field of nearly 100 runners, Ilona ran 19:06 and she was 3rd overall. In similar sized fields in Poppintree and Cabinteely, Darina Scully placed respectively 8th overall (2nd female) in 21:52 and Emma Flynn also placed 2nd female (6th overall) in 21:50. Also, in Cabinteely, Mairin Shine placed 81st overall (40th female) in 31:16. Lorraine Fitzsimons was our sole runner in Father Collins (66th overall in a field of nearly 140, 22nd female, in 30:30), whilst Fiona Bane represented the club in Bushy Dublin, placing 39th among nearly 160 runners (5th female) in a time of 23:34. In preparation for his mini-ultra the following day, Leo Lundy placed 121st out of nearly 560 runners in Basingstoke. His time was 24:24, whilst Aidan Hudner placed 75th out of 285 runners in Glasgow, with a time of 22:04. Mary Noelle Rohan came home in 362nd place overall (127th female) in 31:00 in Marlay (the field was nearly 490). Finally, Colm Kernan, in his build up to the London marathon, ran 21:18 in Malahide, placing 44th in a field of more than 370 participants.
 
Great Ireland Run (National 10K championships)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mark Christie 1 00:29:30
X Gemma Steel 1 00:34:15
Crusaders AC runners
19 Rob Cross 00:32:30
46 Ciaran Diviney 00:33:43
94 Ian Kinsella 00:35:40
106 Peter O’Toole 00:36:10 (PB)
128 Jim Stagg 00:36:40 (PB)
225 James Cottle 00:39:12
251 Tom Clarke 00:39:50
262 David Long 00:39:56
320 David Killion 00:40:56
379 Luke Haran 00:41:52
399 Caitriona Joyce 00:42:09 (30)
431 Philip Matthews 00:42:31
449 Tony Owens 00:42:48
604 Robbie Moore 00:44:33
618 Nina Holmes 00:44:45 (78)
770 Stephen Mulligan 00:46:14
786 Olwyn Dunne 00:46:22 (120)
879 Brendan Glynn 00:47:04
939 Rachel Yorke 00:47:37 (160)
954 Carina Davidson 00:47:44 (167)
1893 Louise Yorke 00:53:56 (505)
2332 Paul Kelly 00:56:35 (PB)
3034 Mairead Cashman 00:56:30 (694)
Full results here: http://www.greatrun.org/myresults/full-search
Great Ireland 5K
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Emmet O’Briain 1 00:16:49
30 Fiona Nelson 1 00:21:29
Crusaders AC runner
19 Zlatko Kulic 00:19:58
Full results here: http://www.greatrun.org/myresults/full-search
Rotterdam marathon
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Marius Kimutai 1 02:06:04
25 Meskerem Assefa 1 02:24:18
Crusaders AC runners
121 Brian O’Kelly 02:43:52
184 Frank Halligan 02:48:14
451 Barry O’Mahony 02:57:37 (PB)
Full results here: http://www.nnmarathonrotterdam.org/2017/race-results/
BHAA DCC 2 mile road race
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mary Leech 1 00:11:14
Crusaders AC runners
5 Orla Kennedy 00:11:33
6 Irene Gorman 00:11:55
8 Niamh Aspell 00:12:06
17 Lisa Shine 00:12:41
19 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:12:50
24 Geraldine Clements 00:13:19
29 Emer Kenny 00:13:46
35 Susan Walsh 00:14:12
77 Suzanne Collins 00:17:06
Full results here: http://www.myrunresults.com/events/bhaa%2c_2__4_mile_road_race_st.annes_park_dublin__/2078/results
BHAA DCC 4 mile road race
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Rory Kavanagh 1 00:21:14
Crusaders AC runners
11 Karl Walsh 00:22:24
50 Robbie Moore 00:27:09
78 Neil Brown 00:29:33 (PB)
Full results here: http://www.myrunresults.com/events/bhaa%2c_2__4_mile_road_race_st.annes_park_dublin__/2078/results
Marlay Parkrun #204
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Brian Lenihan 1 00:17:00
11 Derval Delaney 1 00:18:48
Crusaders AC runner
362 Mary Noelle Rohan 00:31:00 (127)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=204
Cabinteely Parkrun #106
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Michael Carty 1 00:18:20
5 Brenda Gartland 1 00:21:30
Crusaders AC runners
6 Emma Flynn 00:21:50
81 Mairin Shine 00:31:16 (40)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=106
Bushy Dublin Parkrun #7
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Sam Lloyd-Perks 1 00:16:44
18 Christine Kinsella 1 00:21:04
Crusaders AC runner
39 Fiona Bane 00:23:34 (5)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/bushydublin/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=7
Tymon Parkrun #146
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Paul Fleming 1 00:17:11
3 Ilona McElroy 1 00:19:06
Crusaders AC runner
3 Ilona McElroy 00:19:06 (1)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/Tymon/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=146
Poppintree Parkrun #127
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Bobby Bedford 1 00:17:17
6 Kerri Page 1 00:20:35
Crusaders AC runner
8 Darina Scully 00:21:52 (2)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poppintree/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=127
Father Collins  Parkrun #81
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Matthew Collins 1 00:18:52
8 Aine Ni Ghloinn 1 00:22:16
Crusaders AC runner
66 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:30:30 (22)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/fathercollins/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=81
Malahide Parkrun #231
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Kenneth Nolan 1 00:17:12
7 Sarah Quigley 1 00:18:41
Crusaders AC runner
44 Colm Kernan 00:21:18
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=231

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Ciaran Diviney

Frank Halligan

Dave Tilly and Donnacha McCarthy

Leo Lundy (on left)