Hill training pays off in Cross Country racing

5/2/2017

Another great weekend of racing for the Cru which produced several event winners.

We start with the BHAA races which took place in great running conditions on the hills near the Magazine fort in the Phoenix Park on Saturday morning. There was little wind, but the ground was particularly muddy after Friday’s torrential rainfall. 16 runners from the club took advantage of our local knowledge of the course as we train on it regularly, but, with all the running on it, the ground was severely churned up by the end of the 3 lap, 4-mile, mixed race, following the 2-mile women's race, and it made for slippery conditions in places, particularly on the descent of one gully and the climb up the other. Those who train with the club on Saturdays will be familar with the anti-clockwise 1 mile loop, two repeats of which made up the women's race, whilst the men ran the same 1 mile loop from the gun, followed by two one and a half mile loops that simply extended the course around the trees closer to the Papal Cross at the top of the Khyber Pass.

Niamh Boland, Orla Kennedy, Susan Walsh and Olwyn Dunne joined BHAA regulars and many Lord Mayor’s Challenge runners to take part in the women’s 2 mile event. Although suffering from some quad tightness, and below her best as a result, Niamh was able to squeeze out a 4th place finish after, at one stage, having fallen back behind Orla who was in hot pursuit and is in fine form at this minute. Neither were too far back from the runners in front, but it was something of a procession in the end, with Niamh and Orla, who finished in 5th spot, providing the excitement on the run in. Niamh was able to draw some consolation from the race by winning her age category. Susan Walsh and Olwyn Dunne also took part, with Susan taking 29th place and Olwyn a little further back with a placing yet really to be determined. We will update the report once we have a firmer handle on all the results, which are being worked on at time of writing.

The mixed 4 mile race saw more bunching upfront for a good part of the race with Michael Kiely, who is running extremely well right now, able to break free to take the lead definitively on the third lap and win the race in fine style. No times are yet available, but Karl Fahy was able to move up a place this week to 3rd, having finished several races recently in 4th spot. Among the 200 or so runners in the race, Karl was followed by John Mulvihill in 10th, pursued closely by Rob Cross, winner of his age category, in 11th spot. Next came Michael O'Conor in 14th, followed by Ger Forde in 15th. Frank Hague worked his way through the field to pick up 36th place, as did James Cottle who, after a steady start, took a few scalps over the 3 laps to place 43rd and win his age category. Niall McGeorge was not too far behind in 51st, with Tom Dunne in 54th just a little further back. The contingent was completed by Mike McGovern in 69th, Robbie Moore (77th), Tony Hackett (105th), Jocelyn Dufetel (113th), Brendan Glynn (115th) and Paul Kelly (with a place yet to be determined). Times have yet to be allocated and the race report will be updated once they are available.

On Sunday we had a significant turnout of 21 runners in Swords for the last XC race of the WM&T winter league. The 2 mile event was conducted on the relatively flat Balheary playing fields. Again, full details have yet to be provided and the report will be amended to give any further information, but the A team were able to take team bronze in the Gold division just behind Sportsworld A and Clonliffe A, whilst Crusaders B managed to take 4th place in the same division just behind and ahead of Trim A and Dunboyne A. Crusaders C were 6th in the Silver division, whilst Crusaders D were unable to provide enough results to get a place in the Bronze division. After previously placing in the runner-up positions, Fiona Shine showed how much she continues to improve and was a convincing winner of Sunday's race which comprised at least 104 club runners. Fiona was followed by the strong running of her team mates with Grainne Regan in 7th, Lisa Shine 11th, Darina Scully 16th, Emily Ferghan 20th, Kate Murray 21st, Geraldine Clements 22nd, Kris Ryan 24th, Emer Kenny 27th, Carina Davidson 31st, Helena Maier 33rd, Olwyn Dunne, in her 2nd XC 2 miler of the weekend 42nd, Maria Pertl 46th, Arwen Cusack 49th, Niamh Quinn 53rd, Rhona McGrath 58th, Orlaith de Burca 61st, Fiona Craven 70th, Sharon O'Dea 79th, Mairin Shine 87th and Lorraine Fitzsimons 101st. It has now been confirmed as well that Fiona was the overall individual winner of the winter league which probably renders her ineligible for any more WM&T events unfortunately. Many congratulations to her all the same.

Also on Sunday there were two classy 10 mile road races, one in Trim in Co.Meath and the other in Dungarvan, Co Waterford. Both races were conducted on relatively fast flat courses and attracted large quality fields. Dungarvan, which always sells out quickly, had nearly 2,000 competitors for its 26th edition, whilst Trim, in only its 3rd year, involved nearly 1,300.

Dee Ni Chearbhaill was our lone representative in Dungarvan and she placed 499th overall, 45th woman, in a time of 1:12:24, a great time considering Dee has done little long distance running since giving birth last year. Meanwhile, in Trim, Joe Walsh was capitalising on his recent strong form to place 77th in a PB time of 1:01:41 (his wife Alma also got a PB in the same race). Joe was followed by Brian Leonard in 177th place (1:06:50), who is training for the London marathon, John McAuley who ran 1:07:31 to place 189th and Fiona Bane who placed 682nd overall (171st woman) in 1:24:13.

We had several athletes help to christen the new indoor track in Abbotstown over the weekend. Mary Horgan ran 2:14:76 to place 8th in the 800m. Mathew Behan continues his great run of form when he competed in 2 series races in the 60mH. In the first race he placed 3rd in a time of 8:15 and he won the second in a time of 8:25. Jason Harvey placed 2nd to an athlete from a London club in what looked to be an A race in the 400m in a time of 49:16, whilst Nick Ennis also placed 2nd in what looked to be the B race in 50:47 and masters athlete, John O’Loughlin, finished 3rd in the F race with a time of 59:43.

Clubmates participated in 7 parkruns on Saturday morning. David Carter came home as first finisher in the event in Navan, in a time of 19:39, ahead of more than 160 other runners, whilst Emma Flynn finished 2nd female (19th overall) in Cabinteely in a time of 22:19 with similar numbers involved. Emma was followed by Leo Lundy (32nd in 23:24), and then 3 runners preparing for the following day’s WM&T: Kris Ryan (135th overall, 61st female, in 33:18), Mairin Shine (136th overall, 62nd female, in 33:19) and Lisa Shine (137th overall, 63rd female, in the same time). A similar warm-up for a race the following day was undertaken by Fiona Bane who ran with 5 other Crusaders in St. Anne’s. Fiona was preparing for the Trim 10 miler and placed 90th overall in the parkrun, 8th female finisher, in another super time of 23:18. Also running in a field of nearly 450 were Diarmuid Byrne, who is preparing for the Donadea 50k next week and who placed 20th in St. Anne’s in 20:03, Marius McNicholas, on his way back (22nd in 20:09), Colm Kernan who generally uses the parkrun as part of a longish training run (77th in 22:45) and 79 year old John Fitzsimons (308th in 29:54). In Poppintree Aoife Quinn was delighted with her first outing since a major knee operation (90th overall, 35th female, in 30:22) in a field of nearly 160 participants whilst David Long (105th in 22:38) and Tom O’Rourke (125th in 23:18) ran with nearly 600 others in Marlay Park.

One result we missed from last week involved Lorraine Healy who is a member of Moyne AC in Co. Tipperary and who trains with Crusaders. Along with over 100 other runners, Lorraine took part in Moyne’s New Year 5k last weekend and, in extremely rainy conditions, won the women’s race in an excellent time of 19:10.

Finally, many congratulations should go to Aoife (nee Quigley) and Paul O’Connell (of Sportsworld) on the birth of their daughter Maeve at the start of the weekend. Hopefully, Maeve will prove in the future to be another member of the increasingly successful Crusader women’s team!

BHAA Garda XC women’s 2 mile
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Niamh Kearney 1 00:12:47
Crusaders AC runners
4 Niamh Boland 00:13:20
5 Orla Kennedy 00:13:29
29 Susan Walsh 00:16:14
XX Olwyn Dunne
Full results here: https://bhaa.ie/events/garda-cc-2017/
BHAA Garda XC mixed 4 mile
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1Michael Kiely 00:22:19
Crusaders AC runners
1 Michael Kiely 00:22:19
3 Karl Fahy 00:22:35
10 John Mulvihill 00:23:12
11 Rob Cross 00:23:40
14 Michael O'Conor 00:23:55
15 Ger Forde 00:24:16
36 Frank Hague 00:26:23
43 James Cottle 00:26:43
51 Niall McGeorge 00:27:39
54 Tom Dunne 00:27:55
69 Michael McGovern 00:28:43
77 Robbie Moore 00:29:11
105 Tony Hackett 00:30:53
113 Jocelyn Dufetel 00:31:46
115 Brendan Glynn 00:31:56
XX Paul Kelly
Full results here: https://bhaa.ie/events/garda-cc-2017/
Trim AC 10 mile race
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Valdas Dopolskas 1 00:51:30
28 Breege Connolly 1 00:58:25
Crusaders AC runners
77 Joe Walsh 01:01:41(PB)
177 Brian Leonard 01:06:50
189 John McAuley 01:07:31
682 Fiona Bane 01:24:13 (171)
Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/raceresult/trim-ac-10-mile-road-race/#.WJdbH3-HhtI
John Treacy Dungarvan 10 mile race
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Alan O’Shea 1 00:50:54
26 Siobhan O’Doherty 1 00:57:31
Crusaders AC runner
499 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 01:12:24 (45)
Full results here: http://www.myrunresults.com/events/john_treacy_dungarvan_10/1863/results
Navan Parkrun #68
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 David Carter 1 00:19:39
4 Breda Harris 1 00:21:09
Crusaders AC runner
1 David Carter 00:19:39
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/navan/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=68
Poppintree Parkrun #118
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Aidan McGrath 1 00:18:42
10 Ciara McGrath 1 00:21:04
Crusaders AC runner
90 Aoife Quinn 00:30:22 (35)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poppintree/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=118
Marlay Parkrun #195
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Brian Byrne 1 00:17:32
14 Lynne Hennessy 1 00:19:07
Crusaders AC runners
105 David Long 00:22:38
125 Thomas O’Rourke 00:23:18
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=195
Cabinteely Parkrun #97
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Paul O’Connor 1 00:18:54
7 Malika Hammani 1 00:20:59
Crusaders AC runners
19 Emma Flynn 00:22:19 (2)
32 Leo Lundy 00:23:24
135 Kris Ryan 00:33:18 (61)
136 Mairin Shine 00:33:19 (62)
137 Lisa Shine 00:33:19 (63)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=97
St Anne’s Parkrun #169
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 David Dorran 1 00:17:46
16 Fiona Victory 1 00:19:57
Crusaders AC runners
20 Diarmuid Byrne 00:20:03
22 Marius McNicholas 00:20:09
77 Colm Kernan 00:22:45
90 Fiona Bane 00:23:18 (8)
308 John Fitzsimons 00:29:54
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=169
Athlone Parkrun #76
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 David Gibson 1 00:20:14
11 Eabha Crehan 1 00:24:12
Crusaders AC runner
4 David Cuddy 00:20:59
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/athlone/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=76

Brian Leonard

John McAuley

Backrow: Niamh Quinn, Carina Davidson, Don Anderton, Sharon O'Dea, Helena Maier, Fiona Craven, Orlaith de Burca, Emily Ferghin, Maria Pertl, Arwen Cusack, Mairin Shine, Mary Fitzsimons, Lorraine Fitzsimons, Darina Scully, Rhona McGrath, John Fitzsimons. Front row: Geraldine Clements, Kris Ryan, Kate Murray, Grainne Regan, Lisa Shine, Fiona Shine and Emer Kenny