Halfway to Paradise

18/9/2017

Colm Kernan

There are a lot of half marathon races right now available to those preparing for the Dublin marathon to see where they stand in their training and to help predict where they might finish in the event itself. The big one coming up for most of our runners will be next Saturday in the Dublin Race Series to be run for the first time around the Donabate area (Lusk etc). In the meantime, several of our club-mates took part in three half marathons on offer this weekend: Charleville, Danesfort and Belfast.

We must start, however, in congratulating Donnacha McCarthy and his guide Dave Tilly on their superb 4th place finish in rainy and slippery conditions in the World Paratriathlon championships held in Rotterdam on Saturday. They have come so far in such a short timeframe. It’s a brilliant result.

On Saturday morning, Dominick Branigan warmed up for the following day’s Danesfort half marathon in the same county, Kilkenny, by winning the Medieval marathon 10K event (ahead of more than 180 other runners) in rainy conditions in a time of 36:08. He then went on to join nearly 340 other competitors in Danesfort on Sunday, placing 5th in a super time of 1:19:26 (just behind Sean Murphy of United Striders who placed 4th in 1:18:41), a highly creditable achievement, and one that will have given him a lot confidence. Dominick was joined in the 10K by Tom Dunne, who placed 6th in 41:59 and by Kris Ryan who ran the marathon along with nearly 150 other competitors. Despite some tampering of direction markers, Kris was able to finish the race in 65th place overall (9th woman finisher) in a time of 4:05:26.

Then, on Sunday, we had 4 runners in the well-organised fast and flat Charleville Half, which was run in perfect conditions by all accounts, with, as a consequence, loads of PBs, including for our runers. In a field measuring more than 1,130, Colm Kernan was first Crusader home, in 145th place (in a PB time of 1:25:40), followed by a PB-likely run from Damien O’Brien (180th in 1:27:11) and then Rob Browne (261st in 1:31:15) and Denis Murphy, who confirmed he did record a PB with his time of 1:34:17 (325th). Of note was the fact that 66 runners broke 88 minutes, whilst nearly 250 broke 90 minutes. On the same day, Kevin Regan, who, like several of the others already mentioned, is training for the Dublin marathon, ran in the Belfast Half marathon with its substantial field. Kevin ran well to record a PB in coming home in 1:26:40, 237th place, behind overall race winner Gideon Kipsang (1:04:36) and women’s race winner, Olympian Caitriona Jennings (18th overall, in a new women’s course record of 1:15:37).

There are a couple other road racing results to report. Over the weekend Donal Foley took part in the St. Brigid’s 5K (Blanchardstown and Castleknock), placing 45th in a gun time of 23:08 in a field of 145 competitors. Further afield, Gian Piero Allerta, in a training warm-up for the Dublin marathon, ran 4:09 in a marathon in the scenic port of Cesenatico near Rimini in Italy. Rebecca Fleming, who currently resides in Malta, helped her local team to come third in the Attard 5K in Malta. Rebecca actually took 3rd place individually in the women's race (101st overall out of more than 500 competitors) in a time of 21:09.

As usual, we finish with a round-up of the weekend’s action in the parkruns. A few performances stand out. Mick Blighe took on the tough Cabinteely a week before running in the Berlin marathon (it’s standard practice to look to sharpen up speed the weekend before a marathon), placing 3rd in 18:49 in a field of 104 runners. He will have derived considerable confidence that his speed hasn’t deserted him. In the same event, Orlaith de Burca came home in 67th overall (19th female) in 29:20. Meanwhile, in Porterstown, Diarmuid Byrne and Darina Scully, also in marathon training for Dublin, took, respectively, 2nd and 12th (overall) places (2nd female) in, respectively, 18:42 and 21:41. In a field of 107, they were joined by Kevin Flynn (48th in 27:20) and by Maria Pertl (admirably continuing to pound out the miles) (100th overall, 47th female, in 35:01). In Marlay Park, among more than 400 runners, John McAuley and Alex Romano, both preparing for Rathfarnham next week, placed respectively 4th (17:48) and 65th (22:44), whilst, in St. Anne’s, Colm Kernan prepared for the following day’s half marathon by placing 22nd out of nearly 380 runners, in a time of 20:07. Colm was followed by Ciara Bolger (116th overall, 18th female, in 24:30) and Lorraine Fitzsimons (262nd overall, 92nd female, in 30:14). Neil Brown and Leo Lundy ran well in their respective parkruns. Neil ran with more than 100 other runners in Johnstown, Co. Wexford, placing 14th in a super-fast time of 21:48, whilst Leo joined a field of 54 runners in Clonmel, taking 13th place in 24:08, rebuilding his speed after his marathon and ultramarathon efforts. Brian Scanlan, a relative newcomer to the club, took on Malahide and its field exceeding 250, placing 10th in 19:09, and, finally, our largest showing was in Poolbeg. We had no fewer than 7 participants in the 82-strong field. Tony Owens was our first runner home in 17th spot (20:04). Tony was followed by Russell Murphy (17th in 22:23), Fiona Shine (27th overall, 3rd woman, in 23:35), her sister Lisa Shine (28th overall, 4th woman, in 23:47) just behind. Next came Gillian Errity (35th overall, 8th woman, in 24:26), Olwyn Dunne (43rd overall, 12th woman, in 25:17) and Mairin Shine (73rd overall, 31st woman, in 32:31).

There’ll be quite a bit of racing this coming weekend. Apart from the Race Series half marathon on Saturday, featuring several marathoners in training, there will be the Rathfarnham 5k on Sunday with probably at least 25 club-mates running in that, as well as the Berlin Marathon, with perhaps half a dozen in that event too.

Medieval Marathon 10K
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Dominick Branigan 1 00:36:08
9 Eithna Sourke 1 00:43:45
Crusaders AC runners
1 Dominick Branigan 00:36:08
6 Tomas Dunne 00:41:59
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/medieval_marathon_kilkenny_/2070/results
Medieval Marathon
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Alex O’Shea 1 02:42:24
22 Michele Fruitger 1 03:37:50
Crusaders AC runner
65 Kris Ryan 04:05:26 (9)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/medieval_marathon_kilkenny_/2070/results
Charleville Half marathon
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 John Travers 1 01:07:40
17 Laura Shaughnessy 1 01:13:59
Crusaders AC runners
145 Colm Kernan 01:25:40 (PB)
180 Damien O’Brien 01:27:11 (PB)
261 Rob Browne 01:31:15
325 Denis Murphy 01:34:17 (PB)
Full results here: https://www.sportsplits.com/home/results?c=74&r=338&e=1&cul=en-US
St. Brigids 5K
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Kevin Nolan 1 00:16:45
6 Catherina McKiernan 1 00:17:49
Crusaders AC runner
45 Donal Foley 00:23:08
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/st_brigids_5k_blanchardstowncastleknock/2371/results
Danesfort Half marathon
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Brian Kirwan 1 01:14:07
44 Donna Dunne 1 01:32:31
Crusaders AC runner
5 Dominick Branigan 01:19:26
Full results here: http://www.totaltiming.ie/event/jj-reddy-danesfort-co-kilkenny-half-marathon-10k-run-5k-fun-run-2017/
Belfast Half marathon
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Gideon Kipsang 1 01:04:36
18 Caitriona Jennings 1 01:15:37 (CR)
Crusaders AC runner
237 Kevin Regan 01:26:40 (PB)
Full results here: http://www.belfastlive.co.uk/sport/other-sport/gallery/belfast-city-half-marathon-2017-13632578
Marlay Parkrun #225
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mark Kirwan 1 00:15:30
10 Paula Grant 1 00:18:43
Crusaders AC runners
4 John McAuley 00:17:48
65 Alex Romano 00:22:44
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=225
Malahide Parkrun #254
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Robert Frewen 1 00:17:39
2 Annette Kealy 1 00:17:49
Crusaders AC runner
10 Brian Scanlan 00:19:09
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=254
Johnstown Parkrun #133
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Sean Hehir 1 00:14:58
16 Clodagh Kelly 1 00:21:55
Crusaders AC runner
14 Neil Brown 00:21:48
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/johnstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=133
St Anne’s Parkrun #199
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Graham O’Dwyer 1 00:16:37
20 Caitriona Costello 1 00:20:03
Crusaders AC runners
22 Colm Kernan 00:20:07
116 Ciara Bolger 00:24:30 (18)
262 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:30:14 (92)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=199
Clonmel Parkrun #18
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Anthony Bowen 1 00:17:08
10 Ailshe Meagher 1 00:23:16
Crusaders AC runner
13 Leo Lundy 00:24:08
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/clonmel/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=18
Cabinteely Parkrun #129
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Paul O’Brien 1 00:18:13
9 Malika Hammani 1 00:20:41
Crusaders AC runners
3 Michael Blighe 00:18:49
67 Orlaith de Burca 00:29:20 (19)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=129
Porterstown Parkrun #100
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Niall Sherlock 1 00:18:38
11 Bronagh O’Hara 1 00:21:31
Crusaders AC runners
2 Diarmuid Byrne 00:18:42
12 Darina Scully 00:21:41
48 Kevin Flynn 00:27:20
100 Maria Pertl 00:35:01 (47)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/porterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=100
Poolbeg Parkrun #4
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Martin Askins 1 00:17:03
12 Deirdre Nally 1 00:20:55
Crusaders AC runners
7 Anthony Owens 00:20:04
17 Russell Murphy 00:22:33
27 Fiona Shine 00:23:35 (3)
28 Lisa Shine 00:23:47 (4)
35 Gillian Errity 00:24:26 (8)
43 Olwyn Dunne 00:25:17 (12)
73 Mairin Shine 0:32:31 (31)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=4
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