In for the Long Haul

31/10/2016

What a fantastic weekend of running! On Saturday afternoon several of our clubmates descended on Tyrrelstown in Co. Westmeath to take part in the Leinster Novices. We were able to field two complete teams. Then on Sunday we were able to enjoy the spectacle of the largest ever Dublin City marathon, being held for the first time on a Bank Holiday weekend Sunday, and in which we fielded at least 60 runners, the largest ever assembled by Crusaders.

We start with the cross country. As often is the case with Leinster fixtures there was some uncertainty over the timing of the races and this was the case on Saturday, when the women’s race started ahead of a schedule which had never been fully outlined. Two of our runners in the race, Niamh Corby and Grainne Regan, arrived just as the gun was about to go off but were relieved to have got there just in the nick of time and although it was an inconvenience not to be able to warm up, they acquitted themselves well in the event. Apart from Niamh who ran extremely well in the circumstances to place 27th in a time of 14:23 in the 4k race, the two stand out runners in the Cru showing were Orla Kennedy who had an extremely strong run to place 24th (14:14) in a field of 100 women and Lisa Shine who placed 53rd (15:07) following a blistering finish. Everyone ran well in calm, dry conditions (the sun appearing from time to time) on an undulating grassy course which had no mud really in evidence, but which presented a few challenges. Indeed one runner from another club holding a top 10 position at the time did a nasty somersault on a tricky downward turn, landing on her head, lucky enough not to be concussed on the quite hard surface. When the smoke had cleared the team had placed 6th out of 11, only 8 points off the Dunboyne team in 5th place, certainly giving us a lot of hope for the future with the likes of Grainne, Darina Scully, Lisa and Sinead Keane running the event for the first time, joining such stalwarts as Dee Ni Chearbhaill and Emer Kenny.

The men gave us a lot to cheer about, coming home with the gold medal in the club event and two of our runners, Alban Coghlan and Rob Cross, also scoring in the gold winning Dublin county team. The race was won in a dogfight by a young Kilkenny athlete from his clubmate and there was no one to touch the pair (the women’s race was also dominated by a single athlete from Mullingar). Alban, however, ran extremely strongly, at one stage climbing up into 5th position, only to fall back slightly at the end to 7th. Rob also clung on bravely for a 9th place finish, demonstrating that he is clearly well on the road back to his old form. Behind them Michael Kiely (25th) and Michael O’Conor (27th) were running in a largish group together for most of the race, with John Mulvihill (41st) slightly further back and finding the going tough. Alban, Rob, and the two Michaels, Kiely and O'Conor, were our 4 scorers. Michael Maughan (100th) had an excellent race and was unexpectedly well ahead at the finish of his teammates Alan Sheehy (128th), Brian McGuckin (129th) and Will Owens (133rd) who all, nevertheless, had decent showings in the strong field of 151 seniors and masters athletes in the 6k race.

So we come to Sunday and the running of the Dublin marathon. Because of the change of day, a record field of 19,500 had registered, but then as a rule there is always an attrition in races of about 12-13% and this event was no different. We saw 16,833 finishers, which in itself was probably a record for the race. We were blessed with little wind and a dry but slightly humid day. The starting temperature was actually quite high at about 13 degrees and because what little wind there was came from the south, some of us were sweating quite profusely in the early stages of the race as we headed north into Phoenix Park. The descent down the Upper Glen Road into the wind gave us our first respite in fact.

Some of us have run the Dublin marathon on several occasions and this was the second running on the new course with its straight-line finish along the Merrion Road into Mount Street Lower, but still it was a shock to some of us to meet the first quite severe hill just before Christchurch and inside the first mile. Indeed, it only dawns on you as you progress through the race that Dublin really is quite challenging as marathons go and apart from some short sharp downhills like at just after Christchurch down onto the quays (burning quads like no man’s business), the descent from the climb at Castleknock down back into Phoenix Park and the descent on the Upper Glen Road, one has the impression that the first half of the race is one hard uphill slog (particularly just after Chapelizod in several places). The second half of the race with its climb at Milltown and the exaggerated claims of the hill’s severity on Roebuck Road is pretty tame by comparison, but by that time everyone is just clinging on after the huge effort of the first half.

The race started at a frantic pace as one would expect (but should try to avoid!). However, no one anticipated meeting an abandoned large motorcycle parked at right angles to the course in the middle of Fitzwilliam Street and within 300 metres of the gun going off. Thankfully, we were able to negotiate it well enough. The race settled down somewhat after that and one had the usual impression of going backwards as runners shot past. Clearly some were going off at a crazy pace and would be reeled in over time, as proved the case. Indeed, towards the front of the field, the likes of Joe Walsh, Tom O’Dowd and Paul Dempsey were able to overtake 400 runners in the second half. Amy Brogan and Aoife Clarke reeled in about 1,500 runners and most impressively, first timers Ciara Lehane and Maria Kennedy took nearly 3,000 competitors after the halfway point. Others had similar experiences.

It is hard to mention all our runners but a few come to mind, particularly if they had PBs (of which we had at least 29 amongst the 60 we’ve recorded) or were first timers. Brian O’Kelly led our contingent home with a 20 second improvement in his PB (74th place in 2:41:46), followed by James Moran (101st in 2:45:41), possibly running for the first time. Seamus MacFloinn was able to extricate himself from the 4th wave (along with Bob Cahill, Mick Blighe and Matt Cranley) and start in the 1st to help the scoring efforts of the Cru senior team, duly recording a PB time of 2:48:01 (130th), followed by Ian Kinsella (207th in 2:51:31), a few weeks after his 2:46 effort in Berlin. John Thuillier was next with a massive PB improvement (263rd in 2:54:44) having run alongside Ian until the 22nd mile, at which point Ian took off. There were other sub-3 results for Pat Quill (333rd in 2:57:16), Bob Cahill (348th in 2:57:37) and Warren Swords (389th in 2:58:19). They were followed by two runners who also recorded PBs to get below 3 hours: Joe Walsh, who knocked 7 minutes off his previous best to hit 2:59:15 (438th) and newcomer Tom O’Dowd (448th in 2:59:30). First timer Eugene McDonough got agonisingly close to the sub-3 objective, but nevertheless will be extremely happy to have made 3:00:56 (508th place). James Cottle gave up on his sub-3 attempt early on as he realised the difficulty of holding onto the 3 hour pacing group that caught up with him on Chesterfield Avenue in the Phoenix Park. All the same, he was able to focus on another objective, a national title for his age category, as one of the principal competitors in his age group came up alongside him just on the descent down the outside of the park after Castleknock. James latched onto the runner, admittedly allowing a gap to emerge after 9 miles which at times measured about 100m, but still within sight. When he saw the Civil Service Harrier runner ahead starting to come back to him at about 17 miles he took his chance and surged past him, never to look back. In fact at the half way stage, although he did not realise it, James was in 5th place in the age group and among the 200 runners he reeled in during the second half he was able to bag the first 4, ending up winning County and National Championships with a 22 seconds cushion on guntime. It’s possible that he also led the O/50 Crusader men’s team to a podium finish in the county championships (yet to be confirmed). James finished in 590th place in a time of 3:04:21, a course PB improvement of about 3 minutes on last year and just under a minute behind his PB in Rotterdam in the spring. Behind James came PBs for Tom Clarke (642nd in 3:05:08), Paul Dempsey (699th in 3:07:04), Adrienne Jordan, who found the second half extremely tough after being on for a sub-3 finish at the halfway stage (828th overall, 42nd woman and 9th in her age category, in a time of 3:09:42) in her first marathon and Phelim Murray, who also experienced a bit of difficulty in the second half (970th in 3:12:10). Sub 3:30 places went to the visually impaired Donncha Walsh (3:15:55), noting that Declan Ryan, another visually impaired runner who trained with us in the winter, ran 2:51:24, Mick Blighe (3:16:20), Kevin Lynch (in 3:16:30), Diarmuid Byrne ( 3:17:38), Matt Cranley (3:21:13), Sean Smith (3:23:02), Andrew Kinneen (3:24:27), Victor Fairbrother (3:24:22), Ger White (3:24:45) and Denis Murphy (3:28:28), a member of the M50 team along with Russell Murphy (3:57:47) and Leo Lundy (3:57:21). Additionally, Gavan Doherty ran a creditable 3:36:40 in his first marathon. Mention should also be made of Niall Farrell, whose training had been severely disrupted by recent injury, but who recorded an excellent PB time of 4:14:53.

On the women’s side, behind Adrienne, there were great finishes for a lot of runners despite some injuries during the event. Emma O’Mahony had a recurrence of a back problem and had to walk a bit (but found running fast the best antidote). After being on for a 3:45 finish before her back gave way, Emma still was able to run a PB of 3:54:35. Aoife Clarke also had a scare but was able to finish in a PB time of 3:42:03. Fiona Bane also had some issues (principally stomach) on the way round which slowed her down a lot. Still, Fiona was able to finish in a decent time of 4:24:00. Maria Pertl experienced some difficulty towards the end of the race and was tended to by medical staff, but was still able to re-emerge and finish the race. All credit to her. Maria finished the race in 4:44:24, having been on for a sub-4 hour finish. There were some great results among our female teammates. Amy Brogan ran a PB of 3:41:31, as did Kate Murray in her first marathon, with a 3:44:22 finish. Other debutantes, Katie McElroy and Ruth Dwyer, ran side by side for the entire race, coming home with the same super time of 3:45:23.There were also excellent results for first timers Ciara Lehane (3:57:52), Maria Kennedy (3:58:21) and Celine Bonce (4:14:09).

Tribute should be paid to the wonderful support all the runners received from other members of the club. At times our clubmates’ ubiquitous presence was manic and most welcome. It got many of us round and as usual was second to none!

Several of our members took advantage of the parkruns on Sturday morning. Paul O’Meara took on Malahide and placed 4th in a field of 242 participants in a time of 18:55. Killian Barry was our sole representative in Marlay among 465 runners, placing 18th in a time of 19:03. Aidan Hudner, our Glaswegian exile, ran in Victoria Park with 285 other souls, finishing in 80th spot in a time of 22:53. Brendan Kieran ran in Hartstown, coming home in a time of 22:53 and 19th place out of nearly 50 runners. Fiona Lane made a rare foray in Shanganagh, taking 103rd place overall, 43rd woman finisher, in 30:49 and in an event where Niall O’Connell paced the 25 minute finishers, Mairin Shine ran 29:31 to place 69th overall, 21st woman finisher, in Cabinteely. Finally, Donal Foley ran an excellent 22:04 to place 6th in the 73-strong field in Porterstown.

Leinster Novices XC (women’s 4k)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Elizabeth Carr 1 00:12:59
Crusaders AC runners
24 Orla Kennedy 00:14:14
27 Niamh Corby 00:14:23
53 Lisa Shine 00:15:07
55 Sinead Keane 00:15:13
59 Darina Scully 00:15:20
63 Grainne Regan 00:15:26
67 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 15:28
73 Emer Kenny 00:15:41
83 Geraldine Clements 00:16:25
Full results here: http://www.athleticsleinster.org/images/results/Novice%20Men%20&%20Women%20Cross%20Country%20Results%20Day%202.pdf
Leinster Novices XC (men’s 6k)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Peter Lynch 1 00:16:34
Crusaders AC runners
7 Alban Coghlan 00:17:27
9 Rob Cross 00:17:34
25 Michael Kiely 00:18:02
27 Michael O’Conor 00:18:04
41 John Mulvihill 00:18:22
100 Michael Maughan 00:19:39
128 Alan Sheehy 00:20:45
129 Brian McGuckin 00:20:47
133 Will Owens 00:20:59
Full results here: http://www.athleticsleinster.org/images/results/Novice%20Men%20&%20Women%20Cross%20Country%20Results%20Day%202.pdf
Dublin City Marathon
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Dereje Debele Tulu 1 02:12:18
24 Helalia Johannes 1 02:32:32
Crusaders AC runners
74 Brian O’Kelly 02:41:46 (PB)
101 James Moran 02:45:41 (PB)
130 Seamus MacFloinn 02:48:01 (PB)
207 Ian Kinsella 02:51:31
263 John Thuillier 02:54:44 (PB)
333 Pat Quill 02:57:16
348 Bob Cahill 02:57:37
389 Warren Swords 02:58:19
438 Joe Walsh 02:59:15 (PB)
448 Tom O’Dowd 02:59:30 (PB)
508 Eugene McDonough 03:00:56 (PB)
590 James Cottle 03:04:21
642 Tom Clarke 03:05:08 (PB)
699 Paul Dempsey 03:07:04 (PB)
828 Adrienne Jordan 03:09:42 (PB)
970 Phelim Murray 03:12:10 (PB)
1218 Donncha Walsh 03:15:55
1219 Mick Blighe 03:16:20
1251 Kevin Lynch 03:16:30 (PB)
1324 Diarmuid Byrne 03:17:38 (PB)
1586 Matt Cranley 03:21:13 (PB)
1708 Sean Smith 03:23:02 (PB)
1845 Andrew Kinneen 03:24:27
1846 Victor Fairbrother 03:24:22 (PB)
1870 Ger White 03:24:45
2206 Aido Doyle 03:26:38
2248 Denis Murphy 03:28:28 (PB)
3408 Gavan Doherty 03:36:40 (PB)
3537 Des O’Brien 03:40:30
3809 Amy Brogan 03:41:31 (PB)
3879 Aoife Clarke 03:42:03 (PB)
3912 Kris Ryan 03:41:53
4064 Paul Campbell 03:44:21 (pacer)
4219 Kate Murray 03:44:22 (PB)
4233 Ruth Dwyer 03:45:23 (PB)
4234 Katie McElroy 03:45:23 (PB)
4518 Mike Stewart 03:47:12
5236 Liam O’Brien 03:51:16
5254 Philip Horan 03:48:22
6002 Emma O’Mahony 03:54:35 (PB)
6093 Matthew Morrow 03:55:20
6180 Tim Madigan 03:56:28 (PB)
6285 Russell Murphy 03:57:47
6422 Ciara Lehane 03:57:52 (PB)
6527 Maria Kennedy 03:58:21 (PB)
6551 Leo Lundy 03:57:21
6878 Olwyn Dunne 03:59:39 (pacer)
6891 Joe Dunne 03:59:39 (pacer)
6957 Alan Tierney 03:58:58
6962 Niamh Quinn 04:00:27
7846 Carina Davidson 04:06:43
8483 David Heneghan 04:11:18
8711 Niall Farrell 04:14:53 (PB)
8782 Celine Bonce 04:14:09 (PB)
XXXX Fiona Bane 04:24:00
10371 Mary Fitzsimons 04:25:02
10388 Aisling O’Connor 04:25:38
12019 Aisling Muldowney 04:38:45
12445 Maria Pertl 04:44:24
12996 Richard Harpur 04:50:38
Full results here: http://tdleventservices.co.uk/race-results.php
Malahide #208
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Paul Cowhie 1 00:16:59
2 Annette Kealy 1 00:18:06
Crusaders AC runner
4 Paul O’Meara 00:18:55
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=208
Hartstown Parkrun #103
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Niall Sherlock 1 00:18:36
7 Laura Cullen 1 00:20:16
Crusaders AC runner
16 Brendan Kieran 00:23:53
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/hartstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=103
Marlay Parkrun #181
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Arnaud Malinconi 1 00:17:50
13 Paula Grant 1 00:18:38
Crusaders AC runner
18 Killian Barry 00:19:03
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=181
Cabinteely Parkrun #83
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Unknown 1 00:19:10
11 Malika Hammani 00:21:17
Crusaders AC runner
69 Mairin Shine 00:29:31
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=83
Porterstown #54
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Damien Carbury 1 00:18:27
15 Joanne Bruen 1 00:23:49
Crusaders AC runner
6 Donal Foley 00:22:04
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/porterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=54
Shanganagh Parkrun #84
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Ben Paviour 1 00:16:30
8 Zuleika O’Malley 1 00:20:51
Crusaders AC runner
103 Fiona Lane 00:30:49
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=84