Hard going in Fairyhouse and success in the Spanish Mountains

15/9/2024

Back row L-R: Eoghan Corrigan, Joe McDermott, Kieran Martin, James Cottle, Kevin Fitzgibbon, Julie McGrath. Front row L-R: Deirdre Ni Chearbhaill, Joanne Carey, Triona Quill, Aoife Quigley

Crusaders, at home and away, took part in several races this week, from 5Ks to marathons, and everything in between, on the roads and in the mountains.

We start this week with the mountains. We had at least 5 Crusaders take part in the World Masters Mountain Championships which took place in Canfranc in the Pyrenees in Northern Spain, not far from Pamplona. On Friday, Becky Quinn and Clare Sullivan competed in the 6km uphill challenge. Becky placed 98th overall in a field of 363 and 11th female finisher, but, more importantly, took the F50 bronze medal in a time of 60.01, whilst Clare placed 181st and 38th in 66:44. Most importantly, Clare was a member of the Irish F40 team that won team gold. On Saturday, Donatas Jocius placed 42nd in a field of 371, representing his native Lithuania, in the 34k challenge in a time of 3:48:07. Finally, on Sunday morning, Brian McGuckin and our Scotland-based exile, Niall McGeorge, ran in the “Classic” 17km challenge with Brian placing 196th in 2:10:26 after a strong finish and Niall taking 266th in 2:30:16 (taking 57 places in the final 30 minutes) in a field of 443 finishers. Congrats to everyone!

Now on to the roads. Tuesday witnessed the running of what used to be known as the Grant Thornton 5k organised by Athletics Ireland and now with a new sponsor, A&L Goodbody. Surprisingly, the race, held on a course similar to our Docklands 5k course, but with a few more twists and turns over the Beckett Bridge and in and around the houses on the south side, took place on the same evening as a concert in the 3 Arena, an international football match at the Aviva Stadium and the visit of the British Prime Minister, usually a major problem for race scheduling, but it went off without incident. The race enjoyed a field of more than 2,600, among them at least 15 Crusaders. Daragh O’Reilly was the first of those runners across the line in a time of 16:10 for 8th place. He was followed by Rory O’Kennedy (25th in 17:06) and Ross Neill not so far behind (27th in 17:13) along with Shane Egan (30th in 17:25). A little further back came Rory Goldsmith, nursing a problematic Achilles (71st in 18:26) and then our first female finisher, Emma Rowe, who ran 19:43 for 146th overall and 8th female across the line. Jane Wallace came next, in 185th and 15th in 20:01, followed by Gary Park closely behind (195th in 20:05) and then Rebecca Fleming (244th and 19th in 20:36). Jade Murphy was our next finisher (342nd and 26th in 21:26), followed by David O’Donnell, a late draftee into his corporate team (392nd in 21:44) and they were followed by Dee Ni Chearbhaill (511th and 64th in 22:18), Cría Dowling (598th and 88th in 22:49), Tomás Dunne (602nd in 22:50) and Amy Forde (602nd and 260th in 26:19).

At least 23 members of the club, several of them preparing for upcoming marathons in Berlin, Chicago and Dublin, took part in the Ratoath Half Marathon, well organised by Ratoath AC, that started and finished at Fairyhouse in Co. Meath on Saturday morning. In contrast to last year’s race that took place in a heatwave, we experienced cool but extremely windy conditions with the supposedly south-westerly breeze swirling around us for most of the race with the final kicker of a strong headwind for two of the last three kilometres that was conducted around the racecourse itself. There were even a few metres of soft sand to plough through enroute to the finish on the home straight in front of the grandstand. There are no significant hills on the course, but, even so, with the wind, it felt difficult and there was a consensus among us that times were off by about 90 seconds as a consequence. Despite this, there were some excellent results, most notably with both our men’s and women’s teams placing 2nd in their respective competitions.

In a field of 1522 finishers Joe McDermott was first for us across the line in a time of 78:29 for 22nd place. He was followed by Kevin Fitzgibbon (24th in 79:19), Kieran Martin (76th in 82:33) and Gerard White (96th in 83:24). Between them, the 4 athletes took 2nd place in a competition involving 32 teams.

Our first female finisher was Adrienne Jordan, who treated the race as a training run for the Berlin marathon coming up in 2 weeks’ time. Adrienne ran a super 86:22 for 158th overall and 8th female finisher (and 2nd F40, given that the podium places all went to F40s) which will have given her masses of confidence for the marathon. Next came Julie McGrath (171st and 9th in 87:19) who found the second half challenging after a fast start, but who still turned in an excellent time, and then came Aoife Quigley with a stormer of a run, placing 185th and 12th (4th F40) in a time of 87:58.

Further back came James Cottle. The M65 runner placed 4th O/60 (the age categories were in 10-year increments) in a time of 91:19 and 279th place, after almost having lost the will to live at around halfway when the 1:30 pacers came barrelling by, but who clung on until recording a strong finish in the last 4 kilometres. A little further behind, Michael Fitzsimons ran 92:56 for 314th place, followed by David Carter who also found the second half challenging (368th in 95:06) and by Eoghan Corrigan (410th in 97:06) who produced a PB. Like James, Triona Quill, might have podiumed in her usual F55 category, placing 6th O/50 in a time of 98:05 for 441st and 49th spots, and she was followed by Joanne Carey (469th and 55th in 98:54). Julie, Aoife, Triona and Joanne made up the women’s team, placing 2nd in a competition involving 28 clubs.

Behind Joanne came Dee Ni Chearbhaill (560th and 84th in 1:41:58), Robbie Moore (597th in 1:43:05), Carmel Higgins (605th in 1:43:13) and Jessica Norris (615th and 100th in 1:43:20). Olwyn Dunne ran a 32k long run, incorporating the Ratoath half, placing 662nd and 113th in 1:45:03, and she was followed by Suzanne Martin, coming back from injury (908th and 195th in 1:53:17), Neil Brown (1019th in 1:57:27), Ciara Black (1154th and 300th in 2:03:25), Evelyn Neary (1164th and 306th in 2:04:56) and Alan Martin (1331st in 2:12:13).

On the same morning, Dee Lawlor and Jade Murphy took part in the Lakes 10k, one of two races (the other being a 5k) in Blessington, Co. Wicklow. Dee described the course as lovely and the fast race was well-supported too. Both he and Jade ran well, with Dee placing 3rd in yet another PB time of 34:53 (indeed, he recorded a 5k PB within the race too). In a field of 263 finishers, Jade placed 35th and 4th in 45:28.

The National Half Marathon championships this year were incorporated into the North Cork AC-organised Charleville half marathon that also counted as the 9th race in the Peugeot Race Series. Although, we did not manage any medals, with only 3 athletes from the club in the race, we did record some super times. In a field of 1559 finishers, Ger Forde placed 59th in a PB time of 73:54, followed by Robert Browne (184th in 82:26) and Ronan Moynihan (357th in 89:00). The race, on an out-and-back east-west route with a loop at the far end, probably enjoyed slightly better conditions than Ratoath, with the windspeed a third of what it had been the day before (at 11kph) and coming from a north-westerly direction, meaning it likely had little impact on the runners. It was, however, damp under foot.

Further afield on Sunday, we had at least two of our exiles in Australia run in the Sydney marathon. Inveterate marathoner Maurice Kelter ran 2:37:27 for 69th place in a field of more than 20,000 finishers, with Eoghan Walsh finishing in 3:12:35 for 1,547th spot. Our London exile, Thom Martini, ran in the Kew Gardens 10k on Sunday morning, where he finished in 23rd place (3rd in his age category) in a time of 43:52.

As usual, we had a decent turnout of Crusaders in parkruns on Saturday morning, with Poolbeg leading the way once more, with at least 19 runners from the club. Ciara Regan was the first female finisher, in completing a much longer training run. Ciara placed 29th overall in a field of 240 in a time of 22:08 and she was preceded by Stephen Hurley this week reversing finishing spots with Kenan Furlong, with Stephen placing 3rd in 17:43 and Kenan finishing in 5th place in 17:53. Ross Neill was next (6th in 18:01), followed by Ryan Preston (15th in 20:58), Kabir Sala (17th in 21:08) and Piarais Neary (18th in 21:12).

Further back came John Lohan (42nd in 23:03), followed by Fiona Bane (48th and 5th in 23:22), Josie Ward (49th and 6th in the same time), Bo Chicoine (51st in 23:34) and then by Sharon Woods (81st and 14th in 25:42), Tanja Narancic (91st and 18th in 26:07), Sophia Morgan, improving all the time (110th and 28th in 27:11), Tara Murphy (112th and 29th in 27:19), Maureen McGinley (135th and 44th in 28:52), Franky Keane (159th in 29:38), Cynthia Perucca (171st and 65th in 30:39) and Mari Hansen (201st and 80th in 33:29).

Louise Dobbyn and Felipe De Sousa placed 3rd in their respective parkruns. Louise was our sole runner this week in Cabinteely. In a field of 158, she placed 15th overall in 23:19, whilst, in Tolka Valley Park, Felipe ran 21:31. In the field of 59, Phelim Murray also ran, placing 12th in 26:31, followed by Sarah Lyons (29th and 9th in 31:32).

Kate Murray ran 25:12, alongside 187 other participants in Bushy Park, where she placed 39th and 5th, whilst Martina White joined 104 other runners in Porterstown, where she placed 70th and 26th in 32:14. There was a good turnout for Darina Scully’s 300th parkrun in River Valley Park. In a field of 111, Mairead Cashman placed 63rd and 16th in 31:23, followed by Darina (77th and 25th in 34:34), Maria Pertl (80th and 27th in 34:44) and Diarmuid Byrne (81st in 34:50). Orlaith de Burca and Jill Nason ran once again in Shanganagh, where, in a field of 212, Orlaith placed 128th and 34th in 28:44 and Jill took 139th and 39th spots in 29:04.

Paul and Aoife Kelly ran in Poppintree with its field of 152. Aoife placed 53rd and 5th in 26:45, whilst Paul came in just behind in 54th with a time of 26:49. Down on Wexford racecourse, members of the Shine family joined 76 other participants. Máirín took 45th and 14th spots in 29:46, followed by Lisa and Fiona, tailwalking. Luke Haran placed 8th in Mungret Parkrun down in Limerick in a time of 22:14, in a field of 111, whilst Áine Crotty and Cian Coughlan joined 449 other runners in St. Anne’s Raheny. Áine placed 156th and 34th in 26:38, followed immediately across the line by Cian who placed 157th in 26:39.

Finally, our exiles were out in force on Saturday morning. Aidan Hudner ran with 366 other participants in Pollok in Glasgow where he placed 45th in 23:46, whilst Jeanie Watson placed 148th and 17th in the 719-strong field in Finsbury Park. Jeanie’s time was 23:26, whilst on Clapham Common, Rob Glascott ran 20:02 for 56th place in the 972-strong field there.

ALG 5k (2634)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Eoghan McElhinney 1 00:15:29
44 Maisy O’Sullivan 1 00:17:50
Crusaders AC runners
8 Daragh O’Reilly 00:16:10
25 Rory O’Kennedy 00:17:06
27 Ross Neill 00:17:13
30 Shane Egan 00:17:25
71 Rory Goldsmith 00:18:26
146 Emma Rowe 00:19:43 (8)
185 Jane Wallace 00:20:01 (15)
195 Gary Park 00:20:05
244 Rebecca Fleming 00:20:36 (19)
342 Jade Murphy 00:21:26 (26)
392 David O’Donnell 00:21:44
511 Deirdre Ni Chearbhaill 00:22:18 (64)
598 Cría Dowling 00:22:49 (88)
602 Tomás Dunne 00:22:50
1304 Amy Forde 00:26:19 (260)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/alg_5k_corporate_team_challenge_2024/5194/results
The Lakes 10k (263)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Colm Turner 1 00:33:12
14 Grace Reilly 1 00:39:45
Crusaders AC runners
3 Derek Lawlor 00:34:53 (PB)
35 Jade Murphy 00:45:28 (4)
Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/the-lakes-5-10k-2024/#2_9D70EA
Ratoath Half Marathon (1522)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Peter Somba 1 01:10:05
28 Fiona Stack 1 01:19:39
Crusaders AC runners
22 Joe McDermott 01:18:29
24 Kevin Fitzgibbon 01:19:19
76 Kieran Martin 01:22:33
96 Gerard White 01:23:24
158 Adrienne Jordan 01:26:22 (8)
171 Julie McGrath 01:27:19 (9)
185 Aoife Quigley 01:27:58 (12)
279 James Cottle 01:31:19
314 Michael Fitzsimons 01:32:56
368 David Carter 01:35:06
410 Eoghan Corrigan 01:37:06 (PB)
441 Triona Quill 01:38:05 (49)
469 Joanne Carey 01:38:54 (55)
560 Deirdre Ni Chearbhaill 01:41:58 (84)
597 Robbie Moore 01:43:05
605 Carmel Higgins 01:43:13 (98)
615 Jessica Norris 01:43:20 (100)
662 Olwyn Dunne 01:45:03 (113)
908 Suzanne Martin 01:53:17 (195)
1019 Neil Brown 01:57:27
1154 Ciara Black 02:03:25 (300)
1164 Evelyn Neary 02:04:56 (306)
1331 Alan Martin 02:12:13
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/ratoath_ac_half_marathon/5171/results
Charleville Half Marathon (National Half marathon championships) (1559)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Hugh Armstrong 1 01:04:35
28 Shona Heaslip 1 01:10:57
Crusaders AC runners
59 Ger Forde 01:13:54 (PB)
184 Robert Browne 01:22:26
357 Ronan Moynihan 01:29:00
Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/charleville-international-half-marathon-2024/#1_7336A4
Wexford Racecourse Parkrun (79)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Anthony Dowd 1 00:18:14
18 Hazel Doyle 1 00:25:03
Crusaders AC runners
45 Máirín Shine 00:29:46 (14)
76 Lisa Shine 00:50:23 (35)
78 Fiona Shine 00:50:31 (37)
Shanganagh Parkrun (212)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 James Foot 1 00:17:15
28 Sharon Ryan 1 00:21:30
Crusaders AC runners
128 Orlaith de Burca 00:28:44 (34)
139 Jill Nason 00:29:04 (39)
Porterstown Parkrun (105)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Niall Sherlock 1 00:18:16
8 Caroline McCarthy 1 00:20:51
Crusaders AC runner
70 Martina White 00:32:14 (26)
Poolbeg Parkrun (240)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 August Benedicto 1 00:17:04
29 Ciara Regan 1 00:22:08
Crusaders AC runners
3 Stephen Hurley 00:17:43
5 Kenan Furlong 00:17:53
6 Ross Neill 00:18:01
15 Ryan Preston 00:20:58
17 Kabir Sala 00:21:08
18 Piarais Neary 00:21:12
29 Ciara Regan 00:22:08 (1)
42 John Lohan 00:23:03
48 Fiona Bane 00:23:22 (5)
49 Josie Ward 00:23:22 (6)
51 Bo Chicoine 00:23:34
81 Sharon Woods 00:25:42 (14)
91 Tanja Narancic 00:26:07 (18)
110 Sophia Morgan 00:27:11 (28)
112 Tara Murphy 00:27:19 (29)
135 Maureen McGinley 00:28:52 (44)
159 Franky Keane 00:29:38
171 Cynthia Perucca 00:30:39 (65)
201 Mari Hansen 00:33:29 (80)
St. Anne’s Parkrun (451)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
2 Conor Tyndall 1 00:18:39
37 Grainne Egan 1 00:21:25
Crusaders AC runners
156 Áine Crotty 00:26:38 (34)
157 Cian Coughlan 00:26:39
Bushy Parkrun (188)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Adam Baker 1 00:19:34
10 Fiona Kavanagh 1 00:22:07
Crusaders AC runner
39 Kate Murray 00:25:12 (5)
River Valley Parkrun (111)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Viktoras Kuzminas 1 00:17:59
13 Daire McCutcheon 1 00:22:55
Crusaders AC runners
63 Mairead Cashman 00:31:23 (16)
77 Darina Scully 00:34:34 (25)
80 Maria Pertl 00:34:44 (27)
81 Diarmuid Byrne 00:34:50 (52)
Cabinteely Parkrun (158)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 George Callery 1 00:18:37
7 Rachel McArdle 1 00:22:09
Crusaders AC runner
15 Louise Dobbyn 00:23:19 (3)
Mungret Parkrun (111)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Michael Griffin 1 00:19:41
33 Fionnuala Keogh 1 00:25:25
Crusaders AC runner
8 Luke Haran 00:22:14
Tolka Valley Parkrun (59)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Richard Bartlett 1 00:19:57
6 Claire Gilligan 1 00:24:56
Crusaders AC runners
3 Felipe De Sousa 00:21:31
12 Phelim Murray 00:26:31
29 Sarah Lyons 00:31:32 (9)
Poppintree Parkrun (152)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 David Branock 1 00:18:11
22 Aoife Begley 1 00:23:19
Crusaders AC runners
53 Aoife Kelly 00:26:45 (5)
54 Paul F. Kelly 00:26:49

L-R: Robbie Moore, Joe McDermott, James Cottle, Deirdre Ni Chearbhaill, Kieran Martin, Olwyn Dunne, Triona Quill, Jessica Norris, Aoife Quigley, Julie McGrath