Hilly Challenges

Brian O'Kelly

It was an interesting weekend of racing for the club. We had runners competing all over Ireland and abroad in some really oddball events with excellent results.
 
We start with Brian McGuckin and Michael Maughan who travelled to Susa in the Italian Alps close to the border with France and not too far from Turin. In hot conditions, the pair took part in the World Masters Mountain Running Championships and were part of a large Irish contingent who performed well, with the top Irish runners becoming M35 world champions, beating Italy by a point. Considering we don’t really have equivalent terrain, altitude or weather conditions in which to train this was a remarkable result. Both Brian and Michael were able to represent Ireland in their respective age categories, with Michael finishing the 11km race (involving a 1500m continuous and unrelenting climb) in 113th place overall (32nd M40) in 1:31:53 (23 minutes behind the winner) and Brian placing 145th overall (35th M45) in 1:38:44.
 
Taking part in a climb of a different nature, Orla Drumm won the women’s race in the Warriors run 15km trail race in Co. Sligo on Saturday. Orla joined Pat Quill and 850 or so other runners for the event which involved a significant climb in the first 6km up Knocknarea followed by a steepish descent around the coastal area to a finish along the seafront in Strandhill. The overall race was won by Freddie Sittuk in just under 53 minutes with Orla coming home in 8th place overall in 63:17. Pat got caught up in the mid-pack congestion going up the hillside and found himself trapped at times by walkers. As a consequence, his 71st position in 73:19 would not have been a true reflection of an achievable time for him.
 
That same evening, Caroline Crowley, along with United Striders’ Sean Murphy, found herself in Co. Carlow and decided to participate in the Tinryland 4 mile road race there. Again, this was a race held on a course that had its steepish aspects, albeit on the road, and Caroline, who feels she is making progress in her recovery but is still not quite there, was a convincing winner of the women’s race. It was a decent challenge and Caroline was able to finish the race in 12th place overall in a field exceeding 100 runners in a time of 22:18. Sean placed 18th in 22:57, having stopped on the finish line but initially short of the timing mat. Still, he was not overtaken during the confusion and was able to place 2nd in his age category.
 
A few of our runners took part in the Great Pink Run 10k in warm conditions in the Phoenix Park on Saturday morning. Tom Dunne ran an uncomfortable race but still achieved 22nd place out of more than 1,800 runners, in a time of 43:13. Brendan Glynn ran a PB time of 46:07 to place 45th, whilst Liam Hyland came home in 175th spot in a time of 51:33. Surprisingly, we only had one female competitor, Carina Davidson who placed 369th overall (190th woman finisher) in 50:16, having started quite far back.
 
Also, on Saturday evening, Zlatko Kulic took part in the extremely hot Grawe Night (Half) Marathon in the Croatian capital of Zagreb. Zlatko suffered a bit from stomach problems as well as the heat but, even though he was clearly tiring throughout the race, was still able to run 1:37:33 for the 21.1k distance.
 
Then, on Sunday, there was a great showing in Longford. Several of our clubmates took part in the marathon relay, with one of the teams achieving 2nd place, but the serious stuff involved the marathon, the half and the ultra, the last being a race of 63.42km. We had podium finishes in the marathon and the ultra and a PB in the half. Kris Ryan along with 15 other runners tackled the ultra and distinguished herself with the win, placing 5th overall, in a time of 6:21:59. The marathon seemed to produce times that were about 8-10 minutes off goal expectations, probably because of the heat, since the course is largely flat. Nevertheless, Brian O’Kelly, with a time of 2:46:43, was able to place 3rd behind overall race winner Gary O’Hanlon (2:28) and surprising second place finisher Freddie Sittuk (2:42) (on the back of his Warriors Run victory the day before). Not too far behind came Bob Cahill and Paul O’Meara, both with times that were slightly behind where they might otherwise have expected to be, but found the going challenging this year. Bob ran 3:02:52 to place 12th, with Paul, completing his 16th marathon, 3 places back in 15th spot with a time of 3:05:25. It can be a lonely race with lots of local lanes and high hedges! To complete the picture, Leo Lundy also took part, finishing in a time of 4:00:53 and placing 100th out of the 192 competitors. Kate Murray ran in the half producing a great PB time of 1:40:21, placing 63rd overall (13th woman) and coming 4th in her age category in a field of 384 runners.
 
Those of us who were out on Sunday in the Phoenix Park putting in the miles in our marathon training were able to witness the Dublin City Triathlon (and even benefitted from at least one water station for the competitors on a warm morning). It was surprising to be passed on the 19th mile of our run by Karl Walsh who was participating in the Olympic event. As he came by he indicated that having us run ahead of him had helped to give him a target in the 10k run and he duly produced a decent performance of 2:31:57, to finish in 62nd place out of 408 participants, 13th in his age category, in a time of 2:31:57, whilst, in the sprint version, with a 5k run, Brendan Murphy placed 7th overall and 1st in his age category in an overall time of 1:04:20. Meanwhile, Liam O’Brien placed 84th overall out of the 379 participants, 5th in his age category in a time of 1:25:56.
 
The parkruns on Saturday were getting back to some decent numbers following last week’s deluge which seemed to put everyone off.  Dublin marathon-bound Diarmuid Byrne had been hoping to run in Malahide as part of a long run which he was having to do on Saturday as he had to travel Sunday. However, because of pressure of time he ended up running in the Father Collins event with Darina Scully and both came home as first finishers, with Darina placing15th overall. ln a field of 66 runners Diarmuid ran 18:59 and Darina, 22:21. Meanwhile, in Aberdeen, Maria Pertl placed 53rd overall (8th woman) in a field exceeding 230 participants, in a time of 22:28. In Marlay Park, in a field of more than 500 participants, Killian Barry placed 22nd in 19:04 and Kate Murray, in a warm up for Longford the following day, ran 27:09 to place 281st overall (63rd woman) in 27:09.  Olwyn Dunne ran an easy training run in Cabinteely along with Mairin Shine. Olwyn placed 85th (32nd woman) in 300:08 and Mairin, 92nd (36th woman) in 32:23, in a field of 110 runners. In Longford Fiona and Lisa Shine took on the parkrun there before the relay the following day, with Fiona placing 15th overall (4th woman) in 25:50 and Lisa, 23rd overall (10th woman) in 29:57. The field was 50-strong. Finally, in St. Anne’s Colm Kernan came home in 56th spot in 22:11, followed by Sharon Woods (92nd overall, 13th woman in 23:28) and Denis Murphy (156th in 27:02). They were running alongside 283 other participants in the parkrun.
 
Warriors Run
Overall Place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Freddie Sittuk 1 00:52:57
8 Orla Drumm 1 01:03:17
Crusaders AC runners
8 Orla Drumm 01:03:17
71 Pat Quill 01:13:29
Full results here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6-IHXqz8e6yWHJpVGNXZXJYeWc/view?pref=2&pli=1
 
Tinryland 4 mile road race
Overall Place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Paddy Hamilton 1 00:19:54
12 Caroline Crowley 1 00:22:18
Crusaders AC runner
12 Caroline Crowley 00:22:18
Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/raceresult/tinryland-4-mile-road-race-2016/#.V8Ma5jWyptI
 
Longford Marathon
Overall Place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Gary O’Hanlon 1 02:28:49
7 Pauline Curley 1 02:56:27
Crusaders AC runners
3 Brian O’Kelly 02:46:43
12 Bob Cahill 03:02:52
15 Paul O’Meara 03:05:25
100 Leo Lundy 04:00:53
Full results here: http://www.longfordmarathon.com/Longford_Marathon/2016/results-male.htm
 
Longford Ultra
Overall Place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Andy D’Arcy 1 05:25:41
5 Kris Ryan 1 06:21:59
Crusaders AC runner
5 Kris Ryan 06:21:59
Full results here: http://www.longfordmarathon.com/Longford_Marathon/2016/Ultra-Marathon-results.htm
 
Longford Half marathon
Overall Place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Richard Gorman 1 01:11:26
11 Adele Walsh 1 01:23:54
Crusaders AC runner
63 Kate Murray 01:40:21 (PB)
Full results here: http://www.longfordmarathon.com/Longford_Marathon/2016/Half-marathon-results-female.htm
 
Great Pink Run
Overall Place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 David Barron 1 00:36:42
8 Clare Sullivan 1 00:39:44
Crusaders AC runners
22 Tomas Dunne 00:43:13
45 Brendan Glynn 00:46:07 (PB)
175 Liam Hyland 00:51:33
369 Carina Davidson 00:50:16
Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/GreatPinkRun2016_Provisional_10km.pdf
 
Longford Parkrun #15
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Eddie McHugh 1 00:22:23
9 Anne Brady 1 00:24:23
Crusaders AC runners
15 Fiona Shine 00:25:50
23 Lisa Shine 00:29:57
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/longford/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=15
 
Cabinteely Parkrun #74
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Angus Tyner 1 00:19:17
6 Sharon Cahill 1 00:20:49
Crusaders AC runners
85 Olwyn Dunne 00:30:08
92 Mairin Shine 00:32:23
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=74
 
Father Collins Parkrun #48
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Diarmuid Byrne 1 00:18:59
15 Darina Scully 1 00:22:21
Crusaders AC runners
1 Diarmuid Byrne 00:18:59
15 Darina Scully 00:22:21
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/fathercollins/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=48
 
St Annes’s Parkrun #145
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Aidan Jones 1 00:16:54
23 Lucy Barrett 1 00:20:01
Crusaders AC runners
56 Colm Kernan 00:22:11
92 Sharon Woods 00:23:28
156 Denis Murphy 00:27:02
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=145
 
Marlay Parkrun #172
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 David Kirwin 1 00:16:52
44 Bryony Treston 1 00:20:13
Crusaders AC runners
22 Killian Barry 00:19:04
281 Kate Murray 00:27:09
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=172