Home and Away

25/4/2023

L-R: Ciara Regan, Charlotte Myers, Irene Gorman, Lorraine Healy, Maeve Lochrie, Laura Garcia Gonzalez, Faye Kearney, Coach Susan Walsh, Carmel Cooney, Danielle Hopkins and Claire Mooney

It was yet another busy weekend of racing, both in Ireland and abroad, particularly with the running of the National Road Relays on Sunday as well as a plethora of much longer distance races home and away.

We start with the National Road Relays which, as usual, took place on a well-known course in Raheny. The races, involving either 4 mixed distance legs of 1 to 3 miles for senior men or 3 legs of 1 to 2 miles for everyone else, are conducted on concrete roads around a housing estate bordering St. Anne’s Park and the event is hosted every year by Raheny Shamrocks who also conduct their own races throughout the year on the same one-mile loop.

On a sunny but cool day (12 degrees Celsius) with a light northerly wind which had little impact on the mostly east-west oriented loop, we fielded multiple teams in a couple of the races and were generally represented in all categories except the O/50s. Teams representing clubs from across the island competed. Although we didn’t come away with any medals our 25 runners certainly did us proud.

First up was the masters O/35 women’s race and we were represented by Miriam Logan (1 mile), Aoife Quigley (2 miles) and Rebecca Fleming (anchor leg one mile), with the team taking 9th place in a quality field of 16 teams. A similar depth could be found in the masters O/35 men’s race. We fielded two teams among the 22 that took part, with our A team of Peter O’Toole, Ciarain Kelly and anchor Daniel Lowe coming home in 11th place, followed by our B team of Joe McDermott, Warren Swords and Ciaran Diviney on the last leg, placing 16th.

We actually were able to put together 4 women’s teams in the senior competition, contested by 27 teams in all. Team A was comprised of Claire Mooney, Kathryn Gibbons and Charlotte Myers on the third leg and they finished in 7th place, followed by team B of Maeve Lochrie, Irene Gorman and anchor Sarah Lyons who placed 12th. Interestingly, both teams were each 2 seconds ahead of the teams that followed them home! The third of our four teams, team C, comprised Danielle Hopkins, Ciara Regan and anchor Carmel Cooney and they took 16th place overall, to be followed by team D, made up of Lorraine Healy, Faye Kearney and Laura Garcia Gonzalez on the anchor leg. The team finished in 23rd place. Several of the women and indeed several of the men were running the relays for the very first time and hopefully they will have developed a taste for it for next year!

Our senior men were involved in an 8k competition involving 23 teams in all and the team of Chris Russell (2 miles), Fearghal O’Hare (1 mile), Colm Parnell (3 miles) and Barry McCarthy (2 miles) finished in 9th place overall.

Another major event in Ireland over the weekend was the Connemarathon, with its three separate events on Sunday morning. First up was the ultra marathon covering a distance of approx. 63.5k and we had two runners in that. Both were effectively racing over the distance for the first time and they acquitted themselves well. First home was Grattan O’Brien who placed 18th in a field of 164 and a time for the distance of 5:34:28 on a hilly course that had had some changes made to it this year. In partly cloudy conditions in a light northerly breeze, which would have been behind runners for most of the second half of the race, Áine Crotty took 26th place (6th female finisher) in a time of 5:49:49. As conditions warmed up during the morning, the next race to head off was the full marathon and we also had two competitors in that race. Áine Kenny surprised herself with victory in the women’s race, running a highly respectable 3:19:10 on a challenging course, and only a few weeks after the Tokyo marathon, for 15th place overall in a field of 432. Fanny Trébouet, making her marathon debut, was our other competitor who was also joined by her father, Dominique, for the event. Dominique ran 4:55:41 for 336th place, whilst Fanny placed 396th overall in 5:23:18. The last event was the half marathon, following the final stages of both the ultra and the full marathons. We had three competitors in that event, the largest field of the three races on offer. In a field of 1,091 finishers, Sophia Morgan led the small contingent home in 74th place overall (8th female finisher and 2nd F40 of 123 entrants in that age category) in a time of 1:41:43. Joanne Carey was next (97th overall, 14th female finisher and 4th F40) in 1:43:32, followed by Carmel Higgins (141st, 26th and 7th F40) in 1:47:31. Members may be interested to learn that Catherine Thornton, long-time Crusader, now with GCH, and who trains with us from time to time, also won the women’s race, placing 9th overall in a time of 1:24:49. Having dropped her closest competitor relatively early, Catherine could have sat back but instead she decided to push the pace and, in so doing, unexpectedly set a new course record, an improvement of 3 seconds.

Elsewhere, in Ireland, we had at least two Crusaders take part in the half marathon and 10k down in Wexford on Sunday. Yet another hilly out-and-back course (from Wexford to just beyond Johnstown Castle) with a couple of small loops was provided, but Alby Allan took the half marathon in his stride, placing 40th in a field of 982 and running a PB time of 1:28:37. Stephen Mulligan contested the 10k. Alongside 671 other participants, Stephen placed 126th in a time of 52:19. In the west, Donal Foley took part in the 5k option of the 5k and 10k races on offer in the Arran Islands, the Inis Oírr Wild Atlatnic Ireland Run. In a field of 167, Donal took 9th place in a time of 23:54.

Not to be outdone in the hilly stakes, the Madrid half and full marathons are also a major challenge. Ciara Lynch took on the half where she surprisingly recorded a PB time of 1:33:43, whilst, in the full, Charles-Edouard Cattier ran 3:10:29 (an improvement of over 45 minutes over his time in the same event last year), followed by Aitor Arribas Velasco who ran 4:29:11.

We had Crusaders in several other European marathons on Sunday. Olwyn and Joe Dunne, along with Darran Lovely, took part in the Hamburg marathon, which they thoroughly enjoyed. Olwyn ran a super time of 3:31:09 and in so doing placed 4th in her F55 age category, whilst Joe ran 3:44:18. Darran chose to walk the route, crossing the line in a time of 5:57:53 after the start. We had at least two competitors in Zurich, with Charles Cartledge completing the distance in 4:00:30 and Djinn (Genevieve) Von Noorden runnig 4:32:26, whilst, in Vienna, Rheanna Waters ran an excellent 3:37:43. Rheanna found the going relatively easy until the last two kilometres and, like those running in Hamburg, really enjoyed the experience. Finally, in London with its enormous field of nearly 50,000 competitors we had at least three Crusaders taking on the full distance, whilst two of our other clubmates guided Declan Ryan, a visually impaired runner, over a half marathon each. Declan completed the course in a highly creditable 2:46:32 and he was guided by Ger Forde for the first half and then by Michael Kiely for the second. Next across the line was James Cottle who at the halfway stage was on course for a 3:03 finish, but slipped back in the second half after experiencing the rare occurrence for him of a stitch and in any event finding the last 7k quite tough. James completed the race in 3:09:25, a 10-minute course improvement for him from the last time he ran it in 2014, and placing 4th out of 419 in the M65 age category. Eoghan Kerins was next. On the back of limited training, Eoghan ran a highly respectable time of 3:32:58. In wet conditions for most of the race, our New Zealander exile now based in Scotland, Andrej Kujikis, finished just behind Eoghan in 3:33:31. Members may be interested to hear that three of Caroline Crowley's brothers made the trip over to London to compete in the race. First home was David (3:36:46), followed by Greg (3:53:57) and then Conor (4:14:07).

Further afield, news came from Malaga that our Spanish exile, Esther Requena Ferri won the Carrera del Palo, a race measuring slightly over 5.5k. Esther's time was 21:59.

Last Wednesday there was an IMRA event in Co. Wicklow, the so-called Scalp race. The course involved three independent loops around Barnislingan, Carrickgalligan and Shankhill Hill, a mix of forest and open mountainside. On a fully marked moderately difficult 7.2k course, with a climb of 217m, we had at least 5 runners in the Leinster League race. The contingent was led home by Alex Ainsworth in 8th place out of a field of 170 finishers. Alex’s time was 38:14, and he was followed by Paul Flynn (22nd in 40:07), Jason Kehoe, making a rare appearance in an IMRA race in recent times (23rd in 40:23) and Gavan Doherty (103rd in 53:45).

We finish as usual with results from Saturday morning’s parkruns. By far our largest showing in a parkrun that morning was in Poolbeg, with at least 13 from the club appearing. The field of 169 was led home by Stephen Hurley who ran 17:53 and he was followed by Ross Neill (3rd in 18:28), just ahead of Michael Wycherley (4th in 18:37), Kenan Furlong (6th in 18:49), Kevin Lambe (8th in 19:29), Patrick Duffy (13th in 20:45), Sharon Woods (36th and 6th female finisher in 22:25), John Lohan (43rd in 23:03), Russell Murphy (44th in 23:33), Tara Murphy (75th and 16th in 25:09), Josie Ward (84th and 20th in 25:37), Evelyn Neary (119th and 37th in 27:54) and Mari Hansen (160th and 61st in 35:01).

Nina Holmes was a first finisher in Brickfields, placing 5th overall in 21:39 in a field of 79, whilst Sarah Lyons placed 16th and 4th in Tolka Valley in a time of 26:11. In a field of 50, Phelim Murray also ran there, taking 14th spot in a time of 25:09. We had 4 runners in Shanganagh, alongside 195 other participants. The contingent was led home by David Carter (6th in 19:07) and David was followed by Tanja Narancic (50th and 8th in 24:03), Ciarán Smyth (77th in 25:55) and Carina Davidson (177th and 74th in 34:28). Kate Murray was our sole entrant in Bushy Park where she placed 52nd and 10th in a field of 281 and in a time of 24:12, whilst Andy Deuser ran in Fairview alongside 155 other runners. Andy placed 20th in 23:07. Maureen McGinley joined 54 runners in Clonbur Woods in Co. Galway where she ran 28:42 for 20th and 6th places, whilst Colm Foley ran in Griffeen Park where, in a field of 113, he placed 27th in 23:14. We had three runners in St. Anne’s and two in Naas. In St. Anne’s Michael Maughan placed 46th in a time of 21:57 and he was followed in the field of 448 by Paul F. Kelly (96th in 23:54) and Tim Hyland (101st in 24:00). Meanwhile, Kevin Kenny and Mairead Cashman ran in Naas alongside 100 other runners, with Kevin placing 28th in 25:21 and Mairead, 63rd and 18th in 29:43.

Phil Sykes ran in Cabinteely. In a field of 154, Phil placed 28th in 24:20, whilst, in Porterstown, Diarmuid Byrne placed 29th in 23:16 in a field of 171. Three members of the Shine family ran in Ballina on Saturday morning. In a field of 59, Fiona and Lisa came home side by side in 30th and 31st (10th and 11th) in the same time of 28:03, with Máirín a little further back in 34th and 12th in 29:19. Kevin Flynn placed placed 60th in a field of 70 in Porterstown in a time of 37:40, whilst further afield, Eoghan Corrigan, in Southwark in London to watch his future brothers-in-law (Caroline’s siblings) run in the following day’s marathon, ran 21:00 to place 59th in a field of 540. Aidan Hudner continues to run in Pollok in Glasgow, where he placed 50th in a field of 258 and in a time of 23:56, whilst Kris Ryan ran once again in Surfers Paradise in Queensland, Australia. In a field of 147, Kris ran 29:20 for 44th and 19th places. Finally, Toby Benham ran in Tramore Valley, Cork, where, in a field of 173, he placed 6th in 18:50.

Wexford Half marathon (982)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Sean Hehir 1 01:10:31
9 Sally Forristal 1 01:22:17
Crusaders AC runner
40 Alby Allan 01:28:37 (PB)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/pettitts_supervalu_wexford_half_marathon__10km/4664/results
Wexford 10k (672)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Dmytro Musiiatchenko 1 00:32:00
15 Claire Earls 1 00:41:03
Crusaders AC runner
126 Stephen Mulligan 00:52:19
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/pettitts_supervalu_wexford_half_marathon__10km/4664/results
Wexford 10k (672)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Dmytro Musiiatchenko 1 00:32:00
15 Claire Earls 1 00:41:03
Crusaders AC runner
126 Stephen Mulligan 00:52:19
Full results here:

Connemarathon Ultra (164)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Lukasz Wróbel 1 04:11:28
11 Simone Durry 1 05:21:30
Crusaders AC runners
18 Grattan O’Brien 05:34:28 (PB)
26 Áine Crotty 05:49:49 (PB)
Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/CNM2023_UltraMarathon.html
Connemarathon (full) (432)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 George Snee 1 02:36:21
15 Áine Kenny 1 03:19:10
Crusaders AC runners
15 Áine Kenny 03:19:10 (1)
396 Fanny Trébouet 05:23:18 (PB)
Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/CNM2023_FullMarathon.html
Connemarathon (half) (1091)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 John Lee 1 01:16:39
9 Catherine Thornton 1 01:24:49 (CR)
Crusaders AC runners
74 Sophia Morgan 01:41:43 (8)
97 Joanne Carey 01:43:32 (14)
141 Carmel Higgins 01:47:31 (26)
Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/CNM2023_HalfMarathon.html
IMRA Scalp 7.2k (170)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Killian Mooney 1 00:32:15
21 Jan Corcoran 1 00:40:00
Crusaders AC runners
8 Alex Ainsworth 00:38:14
22 Paul Flynn 00:40:07
23 Jason Kehoe 00:40:23
103 Gavan Doherty 00:53:45
Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2304/
Ballina Parkrun (59)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Andrew Conway 1 00:19:32
11 Erin McLoughlin 1 00:23:22
Crusaders AC runners
30 Fiona Shine 00:28:03 (10)
31 Lisa Shine 00:28:03 (11)
34 Máirín Shine 00:29:19 (12)
Griffeen Parkrun (113)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Greg Devereux 1 00:17:44
15 Jiaojiao Wang 1 00:21:45
Crusaders AC runner
27 Colm Foley 00:23:14
Clonbur Woods Parkrun (55)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Wojciech Nadolski 1 00:20:13
7 Olivia Darcy 1 00:24:21
Crusaders AC runner
20 Maureen McGinley 00:28:42 (6)
Shanganagh Parkrun (199)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 David Power 1 00:16:40
14 Layla Dixon 1 00:21:04
Crusaders AC runners
6 David Carter 00:19:07
50 Tanja Narancic 00:24:03 (8)
77 Ciarán Smyth 00:25:55
177 Carina Davidson 00:34:28 (74)
Brickfields Parkrun (79)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Ciaran Aylward 1 00:18:40
5 Nina Holmes 1 00:21:39
Crusaders AC runner
5 Nina Holmes 00:21:39 (1)
Tolka Valley Parkrun (50)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Paul Fleming 1 00:17:42
7 Miriam Kearney 1 00:23:22
Crusaders AC runners
14 Phelim Murray 00:25:09
16 Sarah Lyons 00:26:11 (4)
Poolbeg Parkrun (169)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Stephen Hurley 1 00:17:53
16 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:20:54
Crusaders AC runners
1 Stephen Hurley 00:17:53
3 Ross Neill 00:18:28
4 Michael Wycherley 00:18:37
6 Kenan Furlong 00:18:49
8 Kevin Lambe 00:19:29
13 Patrick Duffy 00:20:45
36 Sharon Woods 00:22:25 (6)
43 John Lohan 00:23:03
44 Russell Murphy 00:23:33
75 Tara Murphy 00:26:25:09 (16)
84 Josie Ward 00:25:37 (20)
119 Evelyn Neary 00:27:54 (37)
160 Mari Hansen 00:35:01 (61)
Tramore Valley Parkrun (173)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Ciaran Doherty 1 00:17:06
8 Naomi Maini 1 00:19:04
Crusaders AC runner
6 Toby Benham 00:18:50
Poppintree Parkrun (171)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Sean Fox 1 00:17:24
26 Nessa Smith 00:22:22
Crusaders AC runner
29 Diarmuid Byrne 00:23:16
Cabinteely Parkrun (154)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Ruben Bartelink 1 00:17:24
8 Derval Devaney 1 00:21:37
Crusaders AC runner
28 Phil Sykes 00:24:20
Porterstown Parkrun (70)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Timothée Laurent 1 00:19:53
13 Andrea Brennan 1 00:25:46
Crusaders AC runner
60 Kevin Flynn 00:37:40
St. Anne’s Parkrun (448)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Marcus O’Sullivan 1 00:16:55
15 Vivien Nesbitt 1 00:20:15
Crusaders AC runners
46 Michael Maughan 00:21:57
96 Paul F. Kelly 00:23:54
101 Tim Hyland 00:24:00
Naas Parkrun (102)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Gavin Kelly 1 00:17:40
18 Laragh Macdermott 1 00:24:35
Crusaders AC runners
28 Kevin Kenny 00:25:21
63 Mairead Cashman 00:29:43 (18)
Bushy Parkrun (281)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Mark Griffin 1 00:19:10
5 Clara Kinsella 1 00:19:57
Crusaders AC runner
52 Kate Murray 00:24:12 (10)
Fairview Parkrun (156)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Joshua Smith 1 00:19:36
28 Catriona Kennedy 1 00:24:22
Crusaders AC runner
20 Andy Deuser 00:23:07

Standing L-R: Irene Gorman, Laura Garcia Gonzalez, Lorraine Healy, Carmel Cooney, Faye Kearney, Ciara Regan, Claire Mooney, Sarah Lyons. Kneeling L-R: Kathryn Gibbons, Danielle Hopkins, Charlotte Myers