Job done so far for marathoners in training

9/10/2017

Russell Murphy, Aoife Clarke and Ciara Lehane

We are now three weeks from the Dublin marathon and have a list of some 80 Crusaders registered to run in the event. For many of the runners this last weekend marks the last long run and the beginning of their taper. Several marathon runners also decided to take on some races as part of their build-up. There has been a tradition of running a ¾ length marathon at this stage and for several years it was based in Athlone. This year, however, it has moved to Longwood in County Meath on a relatively flat one loop course. Sunday’s conditions were dry and calm (following a blustery day on Saturday). Nearly 1,200 participants took on the challenge, most treating the event as a training run. No one wants to leave his or her marathon in Longwood by having gone out too hard at this stage. They were joined by at least 9 Crusaders, two of whom (Olwyn and Joe Dunne) took on pacing responsibilities in preparation for doing the same thing (once again!) in Dublin. The other 7 came out of it unscathed!

Behind the evergreen Gary O’Hanlon and Pauline Curley, inevitable race winners, our first club-mate across the line was Denis Murphy in 2:45:01 (279th), followed by Aoife Clarke (327th overall, 52nd female) in 2:49:16. Next came Ciara Lehane (371st overall, 69th female) in 2:52:22 and also under 3 hours, Russell Murphy, like Denis, another stalwart member of the Cru O/50s team for the marathon (416th in 2:55:34). Niamh Quinn took 563rd place overall (143rd female) in 3:02:17, followed by Carina Davidson just behind (574th overall, 149th female) in 3:02:38. Finally, Leslie Hughes, a newcomer to the club, took 612th place in a time of 3:05:26.

On Saturday, we had runners in 3 road races. In extremely windy conditions three of our members took on the Simon Community 5 mile run, which took place on a loop at the southern end of the Phoenix Park, starting and finishing on the Acres Road near the Papal Cross having taken in a last mile up the Khyber Pass. Marathoner Seamus MacFloinn took it steady and came home in 13th spot in a field of more than 1,340 runners. Seamus’ time was 29:31 and he was followed by John Fahy, who placed 28th in 32:21 and by Aoife Quinn, in her first serious venture since an operation to repair an injured knee, in a highly creditable 121st place overall (9th female finisher) in 38:00.

The second race was the Galway Bay half marathon. Newcomer Micheal Killeen ran on the 2 lap course out and back along the prom, a flat route, but a slight headwind on the way out. Micheal shared his number with someone running the 10K event earlier that day, so he didn’t get a recorded time in the half, but, based on his GPS result, he would have placed 48th out of a field of more than 1,100 runners, in a time of 1:29:50.

The 3rd race was the East of Ireland marathon series half marathon in Lusk, taken on by Paul O’Meara, in training for the Philadelphia marathon shortly. Paul placed second in a time of 1:27:21. Results have yet to be posted.

On Sunday Luke Haran took on a 5K in his native Limerick, The event was the St. Michael’s Rowing Club Urban Run and it attracted 175 participants. Luke distinguished himself on the slightly undulating course with 4th place in a time of 19:28 (possibly a PB).

A result from earlier in the week was from Leo Lundy who took in a 30.2 miles ultra-marathon in the Hillingdon Cyclopark in West London on Monday, placing 2nd overall.

19 Crusaders took part in 11 parkruns on Saturday morning. The biggest contingent of 5 headed to Cabinteely to join nearly 140 others there. First home for the club on the hilly course and probably windy conditions was Lisa Shine (36th overall, 6th female, in 24:44), followed by Fiona Shine (44th overall, 11th female, in 25:07), Joe Dunne (in preparation for his efforts on Sunday in Longwood) (59th in 27:06), Paul Kelly (72nd in 28:41) and Mairin Shine (102nd overall, 36th female, in 30:51). Impressively, Maria Pertl decided to continue her parkrun participation, walking the event in which partner Dairmuid Byrne took first finisher place in Poppintree. Diarmuid ran it in 18:45, whilst Maria picked up the “lanterne rouge” (111th overall, 49th female, in 1:01:30) with baby Riona (and belated congratulations to the duo!).We had another first finisher in Tralee, in his native Kerry. Michael O’Conor ran 19:24 to finish ahead of a field numbering nearly 200. There were also good results for the likes of Brian Scanlan, who placed 3rd (20:31) in the 79-strong field in River Valley, and for Katie McElroy in St. Anne’s (35th overall, 3rd female, in 20:51). Colm Kernan also took part in the 355-strong event, taking 33rd place in 20:45. Neil Brown ran well in Waterstown to take 7th place (22:21) in a field of 91 runners, whilst, a day before his birthday, Brendan Kieran placed 17th in 24:48 in the 58-strong field in Hartstown. Fiona Bane had another solid outing to take 29th spot overall (5th female) in 24:36, in Father Collins Park. Aidan Hudner took 74th place in 22:35 in a field of nearly 340 in Glasgow, whilst Kevin Flynn placed 36th (27:260 out of 75 runners in Porterstown. Finally, we had 3 members in the parkrun local to the club in Poolbeg. The event attracted 66 runners, with Russell Murphy, ahead of his run on Sunday in Longwood, taking 20th spot (23:10), followed by Kris Ryan (23rd overall, 6th female, in 23:57) and by Don Anderton (55th in 34:01).

Thanks to Peter Mooney for some of the photos.

Simon Community 5 mile run
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Peter Arthur 1 00:25:36
26 Fiona Stack 1 00:31:56
Crusaders AC runners
13 Seamus MacFloinn 00:29:31
28 John Fahy 00:32:21
121 Aoife Quinn 00:38:00 (9)
Full results here:http://myrunresults.com/events/dublin_simon_fun_run_2017/2394/results
Galway Bay Half marathon
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Brendan McDonnell 1 01:10:20
12 Adrianna Melia 1 01:22:24
Crusaders AC runner
[48] Micheal Killeen 01:29:50
Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/RunGalwaybay2017_21km.pdf
Irish 3/4 Marathon
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Gary O’Hanlon 1 01:49:15
17 Pauline Curley 1 02:06:34
Crusaders AC runners
279 Denis Murphy 02:45:01
327 Aoife Clarke 02:49:16 (52)
371 Ciara Lehane 02:52:22 (69)
416 Russell Murphy 02:55:34
563 Niamh Quinn 03:02:17 (143)
574 Carina Davidson 03:02:38 (149)
612 Leslie Hughes 03:05:26
715 Joe Dunne 03:10:05 (Pacer)
718 Olwyn Dunne 03:10:14 (Pacer)
Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/Irish3Quarter2017.pdf
SMRC 5K
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Kevin O’Grady 1 00:16:42
7 Sarah Butler 1 00:20:30
Crusaders AC runner
4 Luke Haran 00:19:28
Full results here: http://racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=19671&RId=2037
Waterstown Parkrun #171
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Barry Finn 1 00:19:13
8 Aisling Smith 1 00:22:29
Crusaders AC runner
7 Neil Brown 00:22:21
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/waterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=171
Poppintree Parkrun #153
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Diarmuid Byrne 1 00:18:45
3 Ciara Wilson 1 00:19:22
Crusaders AC runners
1 Diarmuid Byrne 00:18:45
111 Maria Pertl 001:01:30 (49)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poppintree/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=153
Hartstown Parkrun #151
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Owen Fletcher 1 00:18:57
10 Grace Martin 1 00:23:59
Crusaders AC runner
17 Brendan Kieran 00:24:48
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/hartstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=151
St Anne’s Parkrun #202
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Joseph O’Donoghue 1 00:16:17
19 Deirdre Ni Canna 1 00:20:04
Crusaders AC runners
33 Colm Kernan 00:20:45
35 Katie McElroy 00:20:51 (3)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=202
Cabinteely Parkrun #132
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Gary Mason 1 00:19:33
9 Clare McCarthy 1 00:21:23
Crusaders AC runners
36 Lisa Shine 00:24:44 (6)
44 Fiona Shine 00:25:07 (11)
59 Joe Dunne 00:27:06
72 Paul Kelly 00:28:41
102 Mairin Shine 00:30:51 (36)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=132
Tralee Parkrun #140
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Michael O’Conor 1 00:19:24
19 Sinead Healy 1 00:21:56
Crusaders AC runner
1 Michael O’Conor 00:19:24
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tralee/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=140
Poolbeg Parkrun #7
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Andrew Herring 1 00:18:34
15 Margot Penney 1 00:22:33
Crusaders AC runners
20 Russell Murphy 00:23:10
23 Kris Ryan 00:23:57 (6)
55 Don Anderton 00:34:01
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=7
Father Collins Parkrun #107
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Allessandro Porazzini 1 00:17:44
13 Carmel Ward 1 00:21:44
Crusaders AC runner
29 Fiona Bane 00:24:36 (5)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/fathercollins/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=107
Porterstown Parkrun #103
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Thomas Sherlock 1 00:17:03
11 Anne McGarr 1 00:23:33
Crusaders AC runner
36 Kevin Flynn 00:27:26
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/porterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=103
River Valley Parkrun #63
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Aidan McGrath 1 00:19:26
10 Kerri Page 1 00:23:01
Crusaders AC runners
3 Brian Scanlan 00:20:31
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/rivervalley/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=63