 Michael Kiely, Ger Forde and James Cottle What an uplifting weekend it has been, in so many ways. For the club, we enjoyed the fact that three of its members had been selected to wear the Irish vest in a Masters North/South International cross-country challenge, followed by a super performance from other members in the Dublin 5k Novices road race held in Tallaght as part of the Tallaght AC-organised 5k. We start with the international cross-country meet. The event involved more than 70 athletes from Ireland, both men and women, in the usual masters’ 5-year age categories from 35 to over 75 competing against Northern Ireland in teams of either 6 (for those up to the age of 54) or 4, with, respectively, 4 and 3 scorers. We were competing against similar numbers from Northern Ireland, at their invitation. The results would be based on the cumulative times of the 4 or 3 scorers as appropriate. The winner of each age category received a medal and the cumulative times of all the scorers across each of the age categories were aggregated to have a final determination for both the men's and women's overall competitions. The event took place at Queen’s University’s sports ground right next to the Mary Peters track. Given that the races were held around the perimeters of several sports fields, and considering we have had little rain, one might have expected the ground to be hard and the course to be entirely flat. Not a bit of it. The organisers (who had conducted the NI masters trials there a few weeks back) had contrived to find as much undulation and mud as they could. Although the lengths of the fields on the 2000m loop were relatively hard in places, indeed there was quite a bit of mud on each of the tight turns and also there were tricky (and muddy in places) ramps between the levels. There was one short twisty climb and the final 300m of the loop was a descent through what can only be described as a bog, which saw the odd faller. One needed pretty lengthy spikes, simply for the tight corners and for the final descent. In cool but dry and calm conditions the first race involved all the female competitors along with those men over the age of 65. James Cottle was one of the team of 4 in the O/65 category and he ran a relatively steady race, but feeling the strength sapping conditions. Perhaps his only mistake was to overtake one of his team mates, Parnell’s Desie Shorten, an athlete known to have a renowned finishing sprint, on the hill climb in the middle of the first lap. After that, the two of them ran pretty much together, working their way through the women's field, with James providing the pacing duty (and not just for Desie!), there being only about 10-15m separating them. In a sense they worked together. Sure enough, with about 250m to go, James was overtaken, but was happy enough, given that they were to be measured on times and the two athletes were pretty much level in that respect. The two ended up placing 3rd and 4th men in the race, with Desie being 2nd scorer and James 3rd. The two were well ahead of the rest of the field and given that their colleague, Paul Elliott, won the age category (in a photo finish with the leading NI competitor Gerry Doherty), the team easily won the age category contest. James’ time for the race was 24:45 (the winning O/65 time being 23:39). The second race of 8k (or 4 loops) involved all the men under the age of 64 and, as a club, we were represented by Michael Kiely in the O/35 category and Ger Forde in the O/40s. The field, in excess of 70 runners, was well stretched out by the end, on a course already heavily churned up by the previous race. Michael found himself in no man’s land for part of the race but ran well to come home as 6th M35 and 2nd scorer for the team in a time of 27:21, whilst Ger led a group of runners round, placing 7th M40 and 5th in the team in 27:48. When the smoke cleared, the M40s also had won their age category, but unfortunately, with 4 of the first 5 finishers overall in the race being in the M35 category and from the north, it was too tough an ask for Mike’s team. At the end of the day, honours were even between the two countries: Ireland won the women’s contest, whilst Northern Ireland narrowly won the men’s. Still, it was a great day out and a huge honour to be representing the country, regardless of the outcome. The organisers expressed the hope that this would be the first of many meets between the two countries and that it might become an annual affair. The second significant highlight came on Sunday in the Tallaght 5k, which incorporated the Dublin Novices. Not only did we see several PBs on the relatively flat single looped course around the leafy suburbs of Tallaght, held also in dry and calm conditions, but several of those PBs helped to produce medals for the club. Our standout among the 21 runners who took part in the race, with its field in excess of 300 athletes, was Maura Mahony who not only placed 8th in the women’s race (104th overall) with a PB time of 18:42, shattering her previous best time, but she also placed 2nd in the Novices and lead scorer for the women’s team which also won silver in the contest. Maura was joined by Aoife Quigley who has only recently returned to competitive running after a hiatus of more than 4 years (16th and 145th in the overall race, 7th in the novices, in 20:00), Joanne Carey (19th and 156th in the overall race, 9th in the novices and 4th F40 in a PB time of 20:20) and, coming back from a heavy cold, Sarah Lyons (25th and 175th overall, 12th in the novices in 21:07). The gold medal was won by DCH (17 points), with bronze going to Brothers Pearse (41 points), whose Ciara Hickey actually won the women’s race in 16:42. The Cru team managed 36 points for their silver medal. Sarah was followed by Dee Ni Chearbhaill who placed 29th and 181st (16th in the novices), and by Emer Kenny (31st, 185th and 18th), Tanja Narancic whose PB time of 21:51 (a 1 second improvement) might have been even faster had she not been obstructed by a car trying to leave the car park through which the athletes had to run to get onto the finish on the Tallaght track (35th, 195th and 20th), Margaret Foley in 21:54 (196th, 36th and 21st) and Olwyn Dunne in 22:37 (207th, 42nd and 25th whilst also placing 3rd F55). This was a pretty solid performance by all in a field of 47 in the Novices race. In a race where the victory overall went unsurprisingly to Hiko Tonosa in a super time of 14:03, our men were led across the line by Garret Dunne who placed 25th in a time of 16:43. Recent new father Joe Walsh recorded a PB (apparently on the back of little sleep) in placing 33rd and 4th M45 in 16:50 and he was followed closely by Peter O’Toole (34th in 16:49) and then by Aaron Cashman, new to this kind of competition, who placed 39th in a his first 5k with a time of 16:58. The 4 were scorers on the silver medal-winning team, with 61 points, behind Tallaght on 18 and ahead of Donore on 69. Garret was 10th, Joe 15th, Peter 16th and Aaron 20th in a field of 99 in the novices event. They were followed by Michael Wycherley (52nd in 17:22 and 5th M45, together with placing 28th in the novices), John McAuley in 18:00 (74th and 36th), Barry McGuire in 18:21 (86th and 41st) Luke Haran in 20:55 (166th), Brendan Glynn in 21:02 (170th and 90th), Richard Kavanagh in 21:19 (183rd), Alan Kavanagh in 22:43 (209th) and Aitor Arribas Velasco in 22:56 (215th). We also had athletes running long distances over the weekend. Dee Lawlor ran in the Mullingar Mind marathon associated with Bressie in Co. Westmeath. In a field of 481, we had just the one competitor. Dee Lawlor ran a highly respectable 3:00:16 for 8th place on what was a course he described as extremely flat. Dee would have broken 3 hours but for taking a wrong turn along with another runner towards the end of the race. Members will be interested to learn that Tipp athlete, Declan Ryan, a visually-impaired runner who has trained with the club from time to time, also took part in the race, placing 18th in 3:13:10. Further afield, Joe Dunne headed to Athens to run in the marathon there. In what was a well-organised event in manageable temperatures, Joe embarked on the challenging course with its two significant sharp climbs, the first of 100m and the second of 250m. It is not a PB course, but, given its iconic finish in the Panathenaic stadium, it was apparently really enjoyable. Joe ran 3:38. Also on the roads on Saturday, Fearghal O'Hare helped out his alma mater in the University Road Relays Championships. The event took place on the South Campus of NUI Maynooth and, on the men's side, involved 29 teams. The format was 1-2-3-2-1 mile legs and Fearghal took on the first leg for TCD's A team. They placed 5th overall, with Fearghal's mile time of 5:22 representing the 10th fastest first leg on the day. The fastest first leg was recorded by UCD's Mark Milner who ran 4:57, the only runner to break 5 minutes for the first leg, leading his team to overall victory. Meanwhile, Karl Walsh headed down to Kerry where he ran alongside 624 other runners in the Run Killarney half marathon, placing 182nd in 1:46:46. In the mountains, the IMRA circus travelled to Tipperary to run in the hills around Clonmel. In a race of 10.33k with a climb of 643m on moderate terrain, the course started with a steep uphill climb followed by undulating, winding trails and fire roads overlooking the town of Clonmel. The finish was at a cross placed on top of Scrouthea Hill. In a field of 46, and returning to competitive running after a long spell, the race was won by Crusaders’ Alban Coghlan in 56:37. Brian McGuckin also took part, placing 11th in a time of 65:15 and coming home as 1st M50. Turning finally to parkruns, numbers were down this weekend, both in terms of runs in which our members participated and also the numbers in each parkrun generally. In a time of 23:28, Sharon Woods placed 3rd (and 28th) in Tymon in a field of 128, whilst Brian Scanlan placed 13th in 22:15 in Gorey in a field of 87, where the first finisher was Sean Hehir. Elite athletes were also in evidence in Malahide where the two first finishers in a field of 269 were Sean Tobin and Iseult O’Donnell. They were followed by Deirdre Kennedy (111th and 22nd in 26:05). Tom Conlon placed 5th in 19:59 in Sligo with its field of 95, whilst Toby Benham took 7th spot in 18:13 in Ballincollig alongside 269 other runners. Maria Pertl ran 32:04 for 35th and 9th in a field of 45 in Tolka Valley, whilst, in Brickfields, Eoghan Corrigan joined 68 other runners, placing 33rd in 26:06. Paul and Aoife Kelly ran in Donabate where they placed respectively 22nd in 22:44 and 63rd (and 13th) in 26:45 in a field of 170, whilst, in Shanganagh, we had 3 runners in the field of 137. Stephen Mulligan placed 23rd in 22:39, followed by Carina Davidson (67th and 15th in 27:02) and Jill Nason (109th and 35th in 32:42). We had 9 runners in Poolbeg this week in a field of 103 and 8 in the field of 141 in Cabinteely. In Poolbeg our contingent was led home by Kenan Furlong (3rd in a super 18:23), followed by David Timoney (13th in 20:47), Paul Campbell (16th in 21:16), Kieran Finucane (32nd in 22:28), Josie Ward (38th and 5th in 22:56), Fin Goulding just behind (39th in 22:59), Maureen McGinley (71st and 17th in 27:18), Gillian Curran (72nd and 18th in 27:19) and Aisling O’Riordan (74th and 20th in 28:07). Lastly, several of the athletes who ran in Tallaght prepared themselves with a warm up run the day before. Barry O’Mahony led the contingent home in 21st place in 22:55. He was followed by Mairead Cashman (73rd and 16th in 29:15), Emer Kenny (75th and 17th in 29:20), Tanja Narancic (76th and 18th in 29:21), Lisa Shine (82nd and 23rd in 30:06), Olwyn Dunne (83rd and 24th in 30:10), Mairin Shine (90th and 28th in 30:49) and Fiona Shine (106th and 40th in 33:38). Tallaght 5k road race (303) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Hiko Tonosa 1 00:14:03 24 Ciara Hickey 1 00:16:42 Crusaders AC runners 25 Garret Dunne 00:16:43 33 Joe Walsh 00:16:50 (PB) 34 Peter O’Toole 00:16:49 39 Aaron Cashman 00:16:58 (PB) 52 Michael Wycherley 00:17:22 74 John McAuley 00:18:00 86 Barry McGuire 00:18:21 104 Maura Mahoney 00:18:42 (PB) (8) 145 Aoife Quigley 00:20:00 (16) 156 Joanne Carey 00:20:20 (PB) (19) 166 Luke Haran 00:20:55 170 Brendan Glynn 00:21:02 175 Sarah Lyons 00:21:07 (25) 181 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:21:14 (29) 183 Richard Kavanagh 00:21:19 185 Emer Kenny 00:21:19 (31) 195 Tanja Narancic 00:21:51 (PB) (35) 196 Margaret Foley 00:21:54 (36) 207 Olwyn Dunne 00:22:37 (42) 209 Alan Kavanagh 00:22:43 215 Aitor Arribas Velasco 00:22:56 Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/tallaght-ac-5k-road-race-2021/ Mullingar Mind marathon (481) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 David Griffin 1 02:50:01 26 Anne Marie Halpin 1 03:20:04 Crusaders AC runner 8 Dee Lawlor 03:00:16 Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/marathon_mind/4167/results Clonmel (IMRA) (46) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Alban Coghlan 1 00:56:37 5 Kealey Tideswell 1 01:01:00 Crusaders AC runners 1 Alban Coghlan 00:56:37 11 Brian McGuckin 01:05:15 Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2122 Run Killarney Half marathon (625) Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime 1 Vivian Foley 1 01:12:08 9 Hannah Steeds 1 01:20:40 Crusaders AC runner 182 Karl Walsh 01:46:46 Full results here: https://www.sportsplits.com/races/run-killarney-2021/events/2?page=1 Tymon Parkrun (128) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Damian Kelly 1 00:18:53 18 Sharon Tighe 1 00:22:35 Crusaders AC runner 28 Sharon Woods 00:23:28 (3) Donabate Parkrun (170) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Mark Dunne 1 00:18:27 11 Iveta Adanova 1 00:20:55 Crusaders AC runners 22 Paul F. Kelly 00:22:44 63 Aoife Kelly 00:26:45 (13) Malahide Parkrun (269) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Sean Tobin 1 00:14:39 6 Iseult O’Donnell 1 00:16:49 Crusaders AC runner 111 Deirdre Kennedy 00:26:05 (22) Gorey Parkrun (87) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Sean Hehir 1 00:16:00 4 Eilidh Dallas1 00:19:16 Crusaders AC runner 13 Brian Scanlan 00:22:15 Shanganagh Parkrun (137) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Oscar Legge 1 00:16:50 5 Sarah Baryga 1 00:19:15 Crusaders AC runners 23 Stephen Mulligan 00:22:39 67 Carina Davidson 00:27:02 (15) 109 Jill Nason 00:32:42 (35) Cabinteely Parkrun (141) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ted Burke 1 00:18:33 13 Joanne Ryan 1 00:21:49 Crusaders AC runners 21 Barry O’Mahony 00:22:55 73 Mairead Cashman 00:29:15 (16) 75 Emer Kenny 00:29:20 (17) 76 Tanja Narancic 00:29:21 (18) 82 Lisa Shine 00:30:06 (23) 83 Olwyn Dunne 00:30:10 (24) 90 Mairin Shine 00:30:49 (28) 106 Fiona Shine 00:33:38 (40) Ballincollig Parkrun (270) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Joe Cunningham 1 00:16:36 31 Josephine Kelleher 1 00:21:29 Crusaders AC runner 7 Toby Benham 00:18:13 Tolka Valley Parkrun (45) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Brian Maguire 1 00:19:40 13 Shauna Dunne 1 00:23:12 Crusaders AC runner 35 Maria Pertl 00:32:04 (9) Sligo Parkrun (95) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Martin Brennan 1 00:16:35 11 Susanne O’Beirne 1 00:21:48 Crusaders AC runner 5 Tom Conlon 00:19:59 Poolbeg Parkrun (103) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Christopher O’Reilly 1 00:17:22 11 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:20:25 Crusaders AC runners 3 Kenan Furlong 00:18:23 13 David Timoney 00:20:47 16 Paul Campbell 00:21:16 32 Kieran Finucane 00:22:28 38 Josie Ward 00:22:56 (5) 39 Fin Goulding 00:22:59 71 Maureen McGinley 00:27:18 (17) 72 Gillian Curran 00:27:19 (18) 74 Aisling O’Riordan 00:28:07 (20) Brickfields Parkrun (69) Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime 1 Ciaran Aylward 1 00:18:07 17 Gabrielle O’Gara 1 00:23:05 Crusaders AC runner 33 Eoghan Corrigan 00:26:06  Irish M65 team: Desie Shorten, Terry Clarke, James Cottle and Paul Elliott  Margaret Foley, Barry McGuire, Aitor Arribas Velasco, Alan Kavanagh, Richard Kavanagh, Michael Wycherley, John McAuley, Garret Dunne, Olwyn Dunne, Maura Mahoney, Peter O'Toole, Aaron Cashman, Joanne Carey, Sarah Lyons, James Cottle, Dee Ni Chearbhaill and Saoirse  Olwyn Dunne, Emer Kenny, Tanja Narancic, Aoife Quigley, Dee Ni Chearbhaill, Joanne Carey and friend Sophia Morgan  Aaron Cashman  Aitor Arribas Velasco  Alan Kavanagh  Aoife Quigley  Barry McGuire  Brendan Glynn  Dee Ni Chearbhaill and Richard Kavanagh  Emer Kenny  Richard Kavanagh, friend Sophia Morgan, Olwyn Dunne and Joanne Carey  Garret Dunne  Joanne Carey  Joe Walsh  John McAuley  Luke Haran  Margaret Foley  Maura Mahoney  Michael Wycherley  Olwyn Dunne  Peter O'Toole  Dee Ni Chearbhaill and Richard Kavanagh  Sarah Lyons (with Dee Ni Chearbhaill and Richard Kavanagh)  Aitor Arribas Velasco and Margaret Foley  Aoife Quigley  Margaret Foley  Olwyn Dunne and Alan Kavanagh  Peter O'Toole and Joe Walsh  Tanja Narancic  John McAuley  Aoife Quigley  Olwyn Dunne and Aitor Arribas Velasco  Sarah Lyons  Standing: Peter Clinton, Orla Kennedy, Rebecca Fleming, Aoife Quigley, Alma Hanevy, Olwyn Dunne, Joanne Carey. Kneeling: Emer Kenny and Tanja Narancic. With the next generation of Crusaders: Ollie, James, Maeve and Iarla (+ Sid the greyhound)  Declan Ryan  Alban Coghlan  Brian McGuckin  Alban Coghlan Comments are closed.
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