Ilona McElroy wins new race on the BHAA calendar

Ciaran Diviney

We start by reporting the results of a race that was accidentally omitted from last week’s report. This year’s Lakes 10K in Blessington, Co. Wicklow that takes place on the lake shores down there and is relatively flat as a consequence, saw fewer Crusaders than in previous years.  We had just the two runners. In wet conditions, John McAuley ran a great time of 36:45 to place 13th in a field of 265, whilst Emma O’Mahony, another runner training for the Dublin marathon, placed 93rd overall, 22nd woman finisher, in a super time of 45:27 (possibly a PB).
 
Runners will have got something of an uplift participating in the latest event on the BHAA calendar, a 5K race sponsored by Pfizer that took place on the company’s campus in Newbridge, Co. Kildare. By all accounts it was well-organised on a flat course on road, that required a half loop of 1k and 2 full ones of 2k. It may have been marginally long by about 50-60m but that can be corrected if necessary going forward. Most importantly, the pharmaceutical company laid on a super spread, which included a fry-up, afterwards.
 
124 runners made the trip, among them Ilona McElroy, Marius McNicholas, a Pfizer employee  making a welcome comeback to racing after 2 years slaving over an MBA, the club’s president Dee Ni Chearbhaill and her husband Sean Murphy. All ran well, with Ilona winning the women’s race by just under 30 seconds in a time of 18:23 and placing 13th overall.  Sean had preceded her with a 9th place finish and 3rd in his age category in a time of 17:29, whilst Marius came home in 6th place in the same age category in 27th place (20:30). Dee completed the picture by winning her age category and recording a faster time by over a minute on her previous 5k as she returns to competitive running following her pregnancy. Dee placed 52nd overall, 7th woman, in a time of 22:22.
 
Ciaran Diviney excelled himself once again, by placing 6th out of more than 750 runners in the 5th running of the Athlone Flatline Half marathon on Saturday morning in great weather. The race is what it says on the tin, although there are some roughish roads that have to be navigated. Still, it’s a popular event and it was, as usual, sold out. Ciaran recorded a great time of 1:14:58 to win his age category. Also participating were Brian MacAlister, who came home in 76th spot in a time of 1:28:50, relative newcomer and Dublin marathon-bound Sean Smith, who placed 107th in 1:31:54 and also by Olwyn Dunne who was treating the event as a training run and who came home in 432nd place, 14th in her age category and 121st woman finisher, in a time of 1:55:26. The women’s race was won by ex-Olympian Pauline Curley in 1:19:48, well ahead of Norah Newcombe-Pieterse in 2nd place (1:20:54), but the top 4 women finished within a 60 second span, with Michelle McGee placing 3rd, 3 seconds behind Norah. An exciting race!
 
Olwyn’s husband Joe helped to pace the Fionualla McCormack Wicklow Hospice Kilomarathon on Saturday morning. As the title suggested, Fionnualla and her family were involved, with the recent Olympian winning the women’s event, which is measured at 26.2km on a hilly course in Co. Wicklow near Brittas Bay. Joe paced those runners hoping to achieve a 4 hour marathon proper, therefore needing to finish in 2:34 (allowing for a 5 minute cushion on a half marathon time). Joe duly delivered with a 2:33:26 finish (138th place out of a field nearly 190-strong).
 
In Hamburg over the weekend Johannes Frederking took part in the Alsterlauf 10k, which had a field of some 4,300 runners. On a flat course Johannes ran an excellent time of 35:35, but incredibly this was only good enough to put him in 268th place overall. 239 male and 28 female athletes ran a faster time than his, which might almost be unheard of here in Ireland. In fact, of the field more than 12.5% (541 runners, 20% of them female athletes) broke 40 minutes.

Ger Forde recorded an excellent PB over the weekend, competing in the John Buckley Sports Cork City 10 mile race. In a race won by Freddie Sittuk in 53:45 (who is preparing himself for the Dublin marathon) and in a total field exceeding 500 runners, Ger ran 59:02 to place 12th.
 
Kris Ryan and Leo Lundy headed to a new marathon event this weekend in and around Dundalk and the Cooley peninsula. About 120 runners took part. Leo paced Kris through the first 10k at her PB pace in sub 50 mins before she headed off into the distance. The course was hilly and the wind was up but overall the conditions were great. Kris came through half way in 1:48 but slowed with the hills and wind in the second half to be first woman home in 3:43:45. Leo managed a 1:52 first half and paced a perfect sub 4 for a 3:58:08 finish. Leo is convinced that this event is certain to become more popular in the years to come.
 
Only 7 of our clubmates took part in parkruns on Saturday morning. In Marlay Eddie Nugent ran with 482 other participants, placing 12th in a time of 18:45, whilst Mary Noelle Rohan placed 421st overall, 142nd woman finisher, in 33:09. In Cabinteely, Killian Barry and Suzanne Martin joined a field that was just shy of 120 runners. On the hilly course Killian placed 3rd in a time of 19:42,with Suzanne taking 16th spot (2nd woman home) in 23:15. Finally, Diarmuid Byrne and Maria Pertl used the St. Anne’s parkrun as part of a marathon training session of 3 x 5K. Whilst the rest of us were tackling the session on the 2.5k loops of the Fifteen Acres at the Magazine, Diarmuid was running a 20:08 parkrun as one of his 3 sets (finishing 22nd out of 283 runners) and Maria ran 24:23 to place 88th overall (13th woman). Darina Scully joined the couple and placed 55th overall, 4th woman, in 22:20.
 
The Lakes 10K
Overall Place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mark Kirwan 1 00:31:14
Laura Shaughnessy 1 00:35:05
Crusaders AC runners
13 John McAuley 00:36:45
93 Emma O’Mahony 00:45:27
Full results here: http://www.totaltiming.ie/results/2016/the_lakes_10k_2016_fullresults.htm
 
Athlone Flatline Half marathon
Overall Place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Niall Sheehan 1 01:10:55
16 Pauline Curley 1 01:19:48
Crusaders AC runners
6 Ciaran Diviney 01:14:58
76 Brian MacAlister 01:28:50
107 Sean Smith 01:31:54
432 Olwyn Dunne 01:55:26
Full results here: http://www.myrunresults.com/events/athlone_flatline_half_marathon_2016/525/results
 
BHAA Pfizer 5K
Overall Place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Sam Allen 1 00:16:30
13 Ilona McElroy 1 00:18:23
Crusaders AC runners
13 Ilona McElroy 00:18:23
27 Marius McNicholas 00:20:30
52 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:22:22
Full results here: https://bhaa.ie/events/pfizer-5k/
 
Wicklow Hospice Kilomarathon
Overall Place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Gary Condon 1 01:34:16
6 Fionnuala McCormack 1 01:39:34
Crusaders AC runner
138 Joe Dunne 02:33:26 (PACER)
Full results here: athleticstiming.com
 
Cork City 10 miler
Overall Place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Freddie Sittuk 1 00:53:45
17 Jill Hodgins 1 00:59:43
Crusaders AC runner
12 Ger Forde 00:59:02 (PB)
Full results here: http://www.corkathletics.org/latest-results/36-september/187-john-buckley-sports-cork-city-10-miler-results-september-2016.html 
 
Cabinteely Parkrun #76
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Michael Carty 1 00:18:37
13 Jenny Kinch 1 00:23:03
Crusaders AC runners
3 Killian Barry 00:19:42
16 Suzanne Martin 00:23:15
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=76
 
St Annes’s Parkrun #147
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Simon Devenny 1 00:17:00
25 Caitriona Costello 1 00:20:24
Crusaders AC runners
22 Diarmuid Byrne 00:20:08
55 Darina Scully 00:22:20
88 Maria Pertl 00:24:23
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=147
 
Marlay Parkrun #174
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Karl Chatterton 1 00:17:42
19 Bryony Treston 1 00:19:16
Crusaders AC runners
12 Eddie Nugent 00:18:45
421 Mary Noelle Rohan 00:33:09
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=17