High Standards for National Novices and a podium place for Niamh Allen

16/12/2018

Niamh Allen with Grainne Regan and Don Anderton

The weather didn’t spoil the spectacle of the National Novice cross-country races held in Navan on Saturday afternoon. Everyone had been in trepidation of what they were told to expect, what with a code orange weather warning across the country, particularly in the east, but in the event the conditions were surprisingly not so bad, certainly not as bad as earlier in the day. It was a chilly, windy day alright, but the heavy showers really only affected the spectators and not the runners who remained totally focused on the task in hand. Indeed, for the women’s race the rain held off and was only really noticeable towards the end of the men’s race. The course, too, although slippery in parts and producing some spectacular falls, particularly on some of the tighter turns, did not seem to suffer overly even for the men in the last race of 12 held on the day.

We witnessed huge fields for both the men’s (254) and women’s (151) races and the depth of quality was perhaps surprising, but then again there was a strong presence from all over the country of clubs we don’t often have to run against, although we probably fielded the largest teams in both events.

As usual, the women ran in the penultimate race of the day on the same tough 2k loop (on a golf course) that had been used for the Leinster novices, with an uphill start turning clockwise at the top, descending for a few hundred meters with a couple of bends onto the flat, then coming back in a series of tight undulating turns to an uphill finish. The race involved two laps to make it 4k. Our leading runner of the 18 women from the club who braved the elements on the day (12% of the field) was Niamh Allen who tucked in towards the front of a fairly large leading group but was careful not to make herself a target during the first lap. By the time, however, the second lap started the group had broken apart and Niamh found herself alongside two other runners heading for home, in theory well ahead of the following athletes, the lead changing frequently. Then, surprisingly, with about 800m to go, there seemed to be 4 athletes vying for the three podium spots. The general consensus at the time was that the 4th girl had caught the leading three, but as it turned out, although she looked to come home in 2nd place and deny a medal for Niamh, who appeared to have crossed the line in 4th, having witnessed a breakaway in the last 250m, in fact the newcomer had not run the full race and was in any event apparently ineligible. So, Niamh’s hard efforts were rewarded after all and she received a well-deserved bronze, her first individual medal running with the club. Further down the field there was some good bunching by her fellow team members with Kiera Roche (42nd), Niamh Corby (46th) and Katie Rogers (55th) only 13 runners apart and the leading scorers for the club could take comfort from a 4th team place among the 19 that were contesting the team competition. Everyone worked hard in the race, for one or two a baptism of fire. Rachael Yorke came home in 62nd place followed by Grainne Regan (73rd) who also had an excellent outing. Fiona Shine (99th) finished just ahead of Isabelle Cairns (102nd) and Kathryn Sweeney (109th). Further back came Maria Kennedy (117th), followed by a slightly-under-the-weather Sarah Lyons (129th), Emer Kenny (133rd) just ahead of Kate Murray in her second event of the day having run a parkrun in the morning (134th) and then came Louise Vanwildersmeersch (140th), Maria del Carmen Jimenez Campos (143rd) in her first cross country race, Anna Shine (146th ) alongside sister Lisa Shine (147th) and completed by Mairead Cashman (151st) who had also run in the same parkrun as Kate in the morning. Members will be interested to hear that Lorraine Healy of Moyne AC, who trains with us, placed 86th.

The men’s race had a substantial field and we contributed 23 runners, nearly 10%. As with the women, the quality of the race was there for everyone to see and despite our large numbers and some excellent individual efforts we missed out on a team podium result, taking 6th place, behind a Rathfarnham team that might have expected to be up there too with 2 runners in the top 11 places. It was interesting to see that the lead scorer for the winning team (Togher) was only 13th.

So the men had to run 3 laps of the same course in worsening conditions. Michael Kiely was first home in 21st place having come past our long-time leader Kieran Little (28th) towards the end, Kieran falling on one of the last corners, his second fall of the day, but getting up remarkably fast all the same. Brendan Murphy was our 3rd scorer, having worked his way through the field to come home in 56th just ahead of Michael O’Conor (57th) who also finished strongly. Next across the line was Fearghal O’Hare in 63rd place, wearing a shoe that had been ripped along its length by someone else’s spikes in the melee of the first lap. Shane Collins made a special trip from Cork to run in the race and was rewarded with 70th place, followed by Ciaran Diviney (78th), Frank Halligan (89th) and John Mulvihill (106th). Peter O’Toole followed John home in 113th with Jason Kehoe not too far behind in 118th and Diarmuid O’Foghlu in 120th. Joe McDermott, suffering from a slight chest infection, was next in 158th, followed by Vinnie McGuinness (161st), Daan Van Schie (168th), Will Owens (176th), Daniel Lowe (190th), Eddie Nugent (211th), Garret Dunne (216th), Gary Park (234th), Phelim Murray (244th) and Brendan Glynn (249th).

Leo Lundy was out again, running in a wet and wild dawn to dusk ultra (50k) on a challenging 1.125 mile urban loop in North East London on Sunday.

Members will be interested to hear that on Sunday Sean Murphy of United Striders, who trains with the club, placed 10th in the nearly 700-strong field of the Drogheda and District AC-organised Beko 5k. Sean’s time of 17:40 was good enough to get him 3rd M40.

Parkrun attendance was largely down on Saturday, with times slower because of the tough conditions. In addition, all the parks run by Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown council were closed so that parkruns there had to be cancelled. As usual, we had some notable results. In Poolbeg, Stephen Hurley once again placed first finisher in a time of 18:21, whilst Ellen Caulfield placed 12th overall, 3rd woman home, in 23:36 in Porterstown, Brian Scanlan was 2nd in River Valley in a time of 22:03 and newcomer Tom Conlon was first finisher in a modest field in Sligo in a time of 20:32.

In Porterstown, Stephen was followed home by Tim O’Donnell (11th in 20:39), Fiona Bane (31st overall, 4th female finisher, in 24:17), Sharon Woods (48th overall, 8th woman, in 25:47), Olwyn Dunne (48th overall, 11th woman, in 26:05), Cliodhna O’Reilly (52nd overall, 14th woman, in 26:49), Gillian Curran (53rd overall, 15th woman, in 26:55), Mary Noelle Rohan (63rd overall, 20th woman, in 28:52) and Ciara McElligott (80th overall, 26th woman, in 34:43). In River Valley, Brian was accompanied by Darina Scully who placed 25th overall, 10th female, in 31:24. As mentioned above, Kate Murray and Mairead Cashman ran in Bushy Park on Saturday morning, placing 66th and 75th respectively overall, 16th and 22nd female finishers, in respective times of 28:12 and 28:58. Ronan Moynihan was our only representative in Malahide, placing 26th in 22:34, whilst Colm Foley placed 30th in Griffeen in 23:29. Cormac McGuire came home in 6th spot in Tolka Valley in a time of 21:53, whilst Maria Pertl placed 48th overall, 8th woman, in 29:59 in Tymon, accompanied by her partner, Diarmuid Byrne, who took 49th spot 30:00. Paul and Aoife Kelly ran close together in St. Anne’s, with Paul taking 48th place in 24:2 and his wife coming home in 61st overall right behind in a time 24:03 and 6th woman finisher. Finally, Kris Ryan would have seen quite different conditions in Paradise Point in Australia to place 26th overall, 2nd woman home, in 23:01, in a field of 168.

National Novices Women’s 4k XC (151)
Overall place Name
1 Cheryl Nolan
Crusaders AC runners
3 Niamh Allen
42 Kiera Roche
46 Niamh Corby
55 Katie Rogers
62 Rachael Yorke
73 Grainne Regan
99 Fiona Shine
102 Isabelle Cairns
109 Kathryn Sweeney
117 Maria Kennedy
129 Sarah Lyons
133 Emer Kenny
134 Kate Murray
140 Louise Vanwildermeersch
143 Maria del Carmen Jimenez Campos
146 Anna Shine
147 Lisa Shine
151 Mairead Cashman
Full results here: http://www.athleticsireland.ie/downloads/results/Results_Novice_Women.pdf
National Novices Men’s 6k XC (254)
Overall place Name
1 Zak Hanna
Crusaders AC runners
21 Michael Kiely
28 Kieran Little
56 Brendan Murphy
57 Michael O’Conor
63 Fearghal O’Hare
70 Shane Collins
78 Ciaran Diviney
89 Frank Halligan
106 John Mulvihill
113 Peter O’Toole
118 Jason Kehoe
120 Diarmuid O’Foghlu
158 Joe McDermott
161 Vinnie McGuinness
164 John McAuley
168 Daan Van Schie
176 Will Owens
190 Daniel Lowe
211 Eddie Nugent
216 Garret Dunne
234 Gary Park
244 Phelim Murray
249 Brendan Glynn
Full results here: http://www.athleticsireland.ie/downloads/results/Results_Novice_Men.pdf
Malahide Parkrun #318 (149)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Conor Fitzpatrick 1 00:18:08
19 Helen Carr 1 00:21:31
Crusaders AC runner
26 Ronan Moynihan 00:22:34
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=318
Bushy Dublin Parkrun #94 (117)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Kevin Donagher 1 00:17:58
10 Siobhan McNamara 1 00:22:03
Crusaders AC runners
66 Kate Murray 00:28:12 (16)
75 Mairead Cashman 00:28:58 (22)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/bushydublin/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=94
Tymon Parkrun #234 (76)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 unknown 1 00:19:33
2 Sarah Fitzpatrick 1 00:20:34
Crusaders AC runners
48 Maria Pertl 00:29:59 (8)
49 Diarmuid Byrne 00:30:00
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tymon/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=234
Poolbeg Parkrun #68 (83)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Stephen Hurley 1 00:18:21
20 Monique Raaijmakers 1 00:22:48
Crusaders AC runners
1 Stephen Hurley 00:18:21
11 Tim O’Donnell 00:20:39
31 Fiona Bane 00:24:17 (4)
42 Sharon Woods 00:25:47 (8)
48 Olwyn Dunne 00:26:05 (11)
52 Cliodhna O’Reilly 00:26:49 (14)
53 Gillian Curran 00:26:55 (15)
63 Mary Noelle Rohan 00:28:52 (20)
80 Ciara McElligott 00:34:43
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=68
St Annes’s Parkrun #262 (194)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Martin McKenna 1 00:17:48
7 Blaithin Sheil 1 00:19:05
Crusaders AC runners
60 Paul Kelly 00:24:02
61 Aoife Kelly 00:24:03 (6)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=262
River Valley Parkrun #124 (42)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Cecile Ollagnier 1 00:21:04
2 Brian Scanlan 1 00:22:03
Crusaders AC runners
2 Brian Scanlan 00:22:03
25 Darina Scully 00:31:24 (10)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/rivervalley/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=124
Porterstown Parkrun #165 (40)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Neilus Healy 1 00:17:49
6 Ann Horan 1 00:21:35
Crusaders AC runner
12 Ellen Caulfield 00:23:36 (3)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/porterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=165
Tolka Valley Parkrun #43 (76)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mick Bermingham 1 00:20:04
9 Miriam Kearney 1 00:24:11
Crusaders AC runner
6 Cormac McGuire 00:21:53
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tolkavalley/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=43
Sligo Parkrun #200 (23)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Tom Conlon 1 00:20:32
10 Rebecca Langrish 1 00:25:09
Crusaders AC runner
1 Tom Conlon 00:20:32
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/sligo/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=200
Griffeen Parkrun #287 (137)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Gary Farrell 1 00:19:03
31 Fiona McHugh 00:23:41
Crusaders AC runner
30 Colm Foley 00:23:29
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/griffeen/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=287

Back row: Kiera Roche, Don Anderton, Grainne Regan, Isabelle Cairns, Fiona Shine, Maria Kennedy, Kate Murray, Niamh Allen, Kathryn Sweeney, Maria del Carmen Jimenez Campos, Mairead Cashman, Susan Walsh. Front row: Rachael Yorke, Katie Rogers, Anna Shine, Lisa Shine, Emer Kenny, Sarah Lyons and Louise Vanwildermeersch