Indoor success in Athlone and much kitchen restocking in Raheny

30/1/2017

Matthew Behan

It was a great weekend of athletics, both indoors and outdoors, and the Cru took home some interesting prizes.

We start with a result that was missed from last week’s report: the Munster masters indoor championships in Nenagh. Congratulations should go to Bob Lyne who won bronze in the M45 60m (9:06) and silver in the weight throwing and also to John O’Loughlin who won gold in both the M50 60m (8:28) and 200m (26:87).

Several Crusaders took part in the National Junior and U23 indoor championships held in Athlone over the weekend. In the 60m hurdles Matthew Behan stormed to gold in the U23 final, with a PB time of 8:12. In the last event of the day, Kevin Woods also ran an excellent 800m to take U23 gold in a super time of 1:57:02. Shane Keane took 5th place in the junior long jump (6.19m), whilst James Kelly took silver in the U23 shot put. It was also reported that, in the all-Ireland U20 competition, Valentinos Goularos took silver, running the 60m in a time of 8.30 whilst Rhianna McCarthy and Emily Shields also competed, Rhianna in the 60m and 200m and Emily in the 400m with a PB of 61.5s.

The major event over the weekend, as far as road-racing is concerned, was the Raheny 5 miler (now in its 33rd year) that took place on Sunday afternoon in cool, rainy conditions, but with no wind to speak of. The course remains the same as last year and is reasonably flat, giving rise to PB possibilities. It is a counter-clockwise route starting and finishing just outside of St. Anne’s Park, with a brief detour through the park at one point, allowing runners to see who is in front and behind for about 1.5k, taking in a slight climb after the initial 1K up onto the Howth Road and then turning off down towards the seafront only to break off after half way following the perimeter of the park. It’s a race with a super atmosphere and attracts a lot of interest, although so much so, there were at least 300 more runners than last year and this led to some frustrating congestion in the early stages of the race.

The club fielded more than 70 runners in the event and was rewarded with some great results. With 70 finishers in the race (the 3rd largest club contingent in the event after Raheny and Brothers Pearse) it would take too long to list everyone’s achievements, but there are several PBs to report on as well as some age category placings. It also should be noted that once again the club excelled itself in the support that was provided around the course. It was a huge lift for the runners to be cheered on by our clubmates and they were everywhere, in some cases in more than one place.

The overall race was won in a sprint finish by Mullingar’s Mark Christie in 23:45, 3 seconds ahead of defending champion and Olympian Mick Clohisey of Raheny, who with his teammates took the men’s senior team prize with 32 points. The currently indefatigable masters athlete, Barbara Cleary of Donore, won the women’s race and, likewise, helped her team to take 1st place (43 points) in the senior women’s team event. Nevertheless, Crusaders also featured on the podium in both senior team competitions, narrowly losing out on first place in the women’s event by only 2 points (43 to 45). We also podiumed in the men O/40 team competition. There were a few nice juicy cash rewards for the team winners, whilst those on the age category podiums received the usual (but unusual!) kitchen appliances for their efforts.

Our first runner home in the field exceeding 3,300 finishers (including more than 1,500 women) was men’s captain Michael Kiely, as usual leading by example, with a PB time of 26:09. Indeed it was noticeable that each of the 3 scorers in the 3rd placed men’s team produced PB performances. Michael was followed by John Mulvihill whose PB took him to 33rd place in a time of 26:39, and John was followed by a now fully-fit Bram D'hoedt who placed 36th in a PB time of 26:40. It was an excellent achievement to place third out of 62 teams in total. Top 50 positions also went to Shane Collins (40th in 26:46) and to Rob Cross (41st in 26:49) who were in a good sprint finish together. In placing 5th M40, Rob led the O/40 men’s team to third place out of 36 teams, with the other two scorers both recording PBs: Joe Walsh broke 30 minutes for the first time, placing 151st in 29:27 and Eddie Nugent also recorded a PB with a time of 29:44 (164th). Top 150 placings among the men were recorded by John McAuley (119th in 29:01), Brian Carroll (120th in 28:55), Peter O’Toole (123rd in 29:09) and Joe McDermott with a PB time of 29:27 (145th). Other notable runs among the men came from Alan Sheehy (177th in 29:54) who ran extremely well despite a recurrence of a troubling back problem, Colm Kernan who ran a blistering second half to place 240th in 30:43 and James Cottle, who, as the consequence of running through some deep puddles at the start of the race, found a shoelace undone before he had even completed a kilometre. Worrying that he might lose contact with other club-mates who would help to pull him round (as in fact was the case), James decided not to stop and ran the remaining 7k trying to avoid close contact with anyone (including the odd wheelchair) who might step on his flying shoelace. In the event, he managed to run the exact same time as last year (equalling last year’s PB in the same event) in taking 272nd place in a time of 31:06. By so doing, he also won the O/60 age category by two seconds on guntime over an adversary from Cork. Neither runner knew the other was competing for the age category win. John Fitzsimons, the more senior of our two runners with the same name, took 3rd place in his M75 age category with a time of 48:35. This is amazing, given that John will turn 80 later this year. There were also PBs for Luke Haran (398th in 32:52) and Liam O’Brien (449th in 33:21).

The women’s race was even more exciting, with our top 3 senior runners all recording PBs and taking an excellent second place (as mentioned above, narrowly missing out on first place) in the women’s team competition among a field of 43 teams The first of these was Irene Gorman, who only decided at the last minute to enter the race. Irene placed 228th overall (15th woman) in 30:39. 22 seconds later came Orla Kennedy, who’s flying right now, in 261st overall (16th woman) in 31:01, closely followed by an ever-improving Catherine Thornton (272nd overall, 16th woman, in 31:07), enjoying a sprint for the line with James Cottle and initially being given the same time. Grainne Regan was next, placing 500th overall (43rd woman) in a PB time of 34:02, followed closely behind by Niamh Aspell who also ran a PB and who started from further back (505th overall, 44th woman, in 33:23) and then by Dee Ni Chearbhaill (515th overall, 47th woman) in 34:05. Top 150 placings in the women's race also went to Edwina Quinlan (718th overall, 90th woman in 35:15), Amy Brogan (727th overall, 93rd woman, in 34:45), Kris Ryan (770th overall, 103rd woman, in 36:04), Olwyn Dunne (773rd overall, 105th woman and 6th in her age category, in 36:13), Emer Kenny (774th overall, 106th woman, in 36:17) (they all ran together!) and Kate Murray (823rd overall, 125th woman, in 36:13). There were other good efforts from Mary Fitzsimons (955th overall, 160th woman in 37:56), being paced by brother Michael, and both Darina Scully and Orlaith Burke recorded PBs for the event. Darina placed (967th overall, 162nd woman, in 37:58), whilst Orlaith ran 39:25 to place 1,221st overall, 269th woman. Lisa Shine (2109th overall, 693rd woman, in 46:07), who ran with her mother Mairin (2,111th overall, 694th woman and 8th in her age category, in 46:06), deserves an honourable mention having driven up from Cork during the morning, only to experience a tyre blow out which took forever to deal with. After having found some aid at a service station en route, Lisa eventually made it to the start line with less than 10 minutes to go.

As can be expected, with a large contingent running Raheny on Sunday we had fewer participants in the parkruns on Saturday morning. Nevertheless, Kate Murray prepared for Raheny by running with nearly 700 other runners in Marlay park, placing 170th overall (20th female finisher) in 24:34. Kate was preceded by Padraig Walsh who placed 57th in 21:45. Aidan Hudner ran 21:12 to place 49th out of 336 runners in Glasgow. Orlaith Burke also prepared for Raheny by running 27:49 in Shanganagh. Orlaith placed 91st overall (26th female) among a field of nearly 200 runners. Meanwhile, in Cabinteely Tom Dunne placed 46th in 26:17 and Gemma Nagel came home in 48th spot overall (8th female) in a time of 26:36. The field measured nearly 170. In St Anne’s Denis murphy and Kris Ryan also prepared for raheny. Kris placed 56th overall (5th female) in 22:30, whilst Denis was 141st in 25:46. Lorriane Fitzsimons also ran with the more than 400 runners there. Lorraine placed 280th overall (100th female) in a time of 29:54. Finally, in Ballincollig in Cork, Lisa Shine warmed up for Raheny among 420 participants with a 22:54 finish to place 63rd overall, 5th female finisher.

AXA Raheny 5 mile race
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mark Christie 1 00:23:44
56 Barbara Cleary 1 00:27:34
Crusaders AC runners
22 Michael Kiely 00:26:09 (PB)
33 John Mulvihill 00:26:39 (PB)
36 Bram D'hoedt 00:26:40 (PB)
40 Shane Collins 00:26:46
41 Rob Cross 00:26:49
119 John McAuley 00:29:01
120 Brian Carroll 00:28:55
123 Peter O’Toole 00:29:09
145 Joe McDermott 00:29:27 (PB)
151 Joe Walsh 00:29:40 (PB)
164 Eddie Nugent 00:29:44 (PB)
177 Alan Sheehy 00:29:54
225 Pat Quill 00:30:33
228 Irene Gorman 00:30:39 (PB) (14)
240 Colm Kernan 00:30:43
249 Karl Walsh 00:29:46
252 Dave Carter 00:30:49
261 Orla Kennedy 00:31:01 (PB) (15)
271 James Cottle 00:31:06 (=PB)
272 Catherine Thornton 00:31:07 (PB) (16)
290 Luca Marchesotti 00:31:28
296 Brian Leonard 00:31:37
303 Philip Matthews 00:31:44
322 Phelim Murray 00:31:59
331 David Long 00:31:59
333 Alan Bermingham 00:31:34
333 Paul Flynn 00:31:53
378 David Killion 00:32:39
384 Sean Smith 00:32:40
394 Tom Clarke 00:32:03
398 Luke Haran 00:32:52 (PB)
411 Matt Cranley 00:33:00
421 Simon Kenny 00:32:50
422 Zlatko Kulic 00:33:16
449 Liam O’Brien 00:33:21 (PB)
500 Grainne Regan 00:34:02 (PB) (43)
505 Niamh Aspell 00:33:23 (PB) (44)
515 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:34:05 (47)
522 Gearoid Grogan 00:34:11
527 Denis Murphy 00:33:53
672 Robbie Moore 00:35:33
718 Edwina Quinlan 00:35:15 (90)
727 Amy Brogan 00:34:45 (93)
770 Kris Ryan 00:36:04 (103)
773 Olwyn Dunne 00:36:13 (105)
774 Emer Kenny 00:36:17 (106)
823 Kate Murray 00:36:13 (125)
826 Gerry Galligan 00:36:14
835 Brendan Glynn 00:37:03
953 Michael Fitzsimons 00:37:56
955 Mary Fitzsimons 00:37:57 (160)
967 Darina Scully 00:37:58 (PB) (162)
1016 Barry O’Neill 00:38:00
1049 Fiona Bane 00:38:23 (194)
1092 Triona Quill 00:37:05 (214)
1204 Geraldine Clements 00:39:14 (259)
1221 Orlaith Burke 00:39:25 (PB) (269)
1235 James Cahill 00:38:14
1246 Olan Callanan 00:37:48
1269 Carina Davidson 00:37:55 (288)
1315 Russell Murphy 00:38:02
1386 Niamh Quinn 00:38:54
1670 Deirdre McMahon 00:41:13 (455)
1763 Joanne Carey 00:42:01 (499)
1800 John Fitzsimons 00:43:01
1963 Rhona McGrath 00:43:16 (614)
2109 Lisa Shine 00:46:07 (693)
2111 Mairin Shine 00:46:06 (694)
2394 John Fitzsimons 00:48:35
2619 Derbhla Hynes 00:48:39 (1028)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/axa_raheny_5mile_road_race/1884/results
Marlay Parkrun #194
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Unknown 1 00:17:02
9 Una O’Farrell 1 00:21:45
Crusaders AC runners
57 Padraig Walsh 00:21:45
170 Kate Murray 00:24:34
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=194
Shanganagh Parkrun #97
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Liam Blackburn 1 00:18:22
3 Suzanne Foot 1 00:19:09
Crusaders AC runner
91 Orlaith Burke 00:27:49
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=96
Ballincollig Parkrun #33
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Shane Fitzgerald Foley 1 00:18:08
27 Mary Sweeney 1 00:20:57
Crusaders AC runner
63 Lisa Shine 00:22:54
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/ballincollig/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=33
St Anne’s Parkrun #168
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Unknown 1 00:18:25
46 Grainne Murphy 1 00:22:00
Crusaders AC runners
56 Kris Ryan 00:22:30
141 Denis Murphy 00:25:46
280 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:29:54
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=168
Cabinteely Parkrun #96
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Paul O’Brien 1 00:18:40
11 Ciara Brady 1 00:21:07
Crusaders AC runners
46 Tom Dunne 00:26:17
48 Gemma Nagle 00:26:36
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=96