Let the Sunshine in

9/3/2026

L-R: Kevin Fitzgibbon, Brian Regan, Sarah-Grace Breen and Conor Kilkenny

What a wonderful weekend of racing! For most the sun appeared to shine and conditions were kind for this time of year.

This year’s Bohermeen Half was a revelation for the sheer number of PBs recorded, although admittedly, it has always been a good confidence builder as half marathons go.
On a chilly, but sunny morning with a breeze of around 16kph from the SSE on the two-loop course in Co. Meath, we had at least 24 Crusaders set out on their quest for fast times, as well as confidence for upcoming marathons, and most were not disappointed.

In a field of 1641 finishers, Brian O’Kelly distinguished himself by placing 2nd in the race in a great PB time of 67:01, with Marc Geraghty (9th in a PB time of 70:35) not too far behind. Indeed, the first seven of our contingent to cross the line, all recorded PBs. Marc was followed by Conor Kilkenny (29th in 72:39), Kevin Fitzgibbon (31st in 72:53), Rory O’Kennedy (48th in 74:08 with a PB improvement of 3 minutes), Michael Wycherley (69th and 3rd M50 in a 2-minute PB improvement of 75:29) and Aoife Cleary, preparing for the Milan marathon (118th overall and 4th female finisher in a PB time of 78:07).

Ashley Hayes was next (143rd in 78:58) and he was followed by James Sherry (191st in a PB time of 81:05), Sarah-Grace Breen (205th and 11th in 81:39) paced by Brian Regan (206th in 81:40), Gerard White (282nd in 84:36), John O’Donnell (291st in 84:38) and Donal O’Malley (318th in a PB time of 85:22.

In 517th and 4th places came Aisling Harrington in 91:38, alongside Killian Lynskey (518th in 91:37), followed by Louise O’Riordan (642nd and 68th in a PB of 95:32), Ryan Preston (834th in 1:40:18), Chris Bannon (1008th in 1:45:52), Aoife McCarthy (1043rd and 174th in 1:48:53) and Kevin Kenny (1485th in 2:09:16). Spare a thought for Emily Glen, Kathryn Gibbons and David Carter who were unable to finish, the last recovering from recent illness.

In the team competitions, the ladies’ team of Aoife, Sarah-Grace, Aisling and Louise placed 2nd out of 24 in the Delaney Cup, whilst the men’s team of Conor, Kevin, Rory, Michael, Brian and Gerard placed 5th out of 33 in the Rennicks Cup.

Over in Kinvara on Saturday morning, Áine Kenny took part in the ¾ marathon there alongside 247 other runners, placing 61st overall, 5th female finisher and likely 2nd F40 in a time of 2:32:58, whilst we had runners in the Bundoran 10-mile road race in Co. Donegal on the same day. In a field of 1488, Sarah Bradley placed 555th and 129th in 81:46, followed by Daniel Gleeson (739th in 86:36) and Kathryn Tomkins (871st and 272nd in 88:59).

Then, up in Dundalk, Emma Rowe and Gavan Doherty took part in the Carlingford half marathon on Saturday morning. The results are shown below but there is some confusion as there was also a 10k race at the same time and some of the 10k results appear as half marathon results. Emma ran a great 85:59 for 74th place overall and 2nd female finisher, whilst Gavan ran a solid 1:43:01 for 325th place. The results indicate that there were 1035 half marathon finishers. However, there may be some 10k results included.

Earlier in the week, we had runners take part in the Bear Races-organised Sandymount Night 10k and 5k Runs. These are races that combine a mixture of narrow path and open beach running and can be a shock to many running the events for the first time. The large fields often provide a fair amount of congestion too. In the 10k, with a field of 845, Tim Bowen placed 13th in 38:27, followed by Steven Michel (15th in 39:00), Brian O’Regan (40th in 41:41), Ciara Regan (43rd and 4th in 42:22), Imogen Guinness (201st and 35th in 49:10) and Conor MacGuinness (376th in 57:20). Then, in the 5k race with its field of 707, Paul Kilgarriff placed 46th in 20:58 followed by Kevin Kenny (273rd in 29:16).

Further afield, one of our London exiles, Kate O’Malley ran 82 minutes in the Cambridge half marathon, whilst in the Leith Hill Trail half in the Mole Valley, two others, Rob Glascott and Conor Parle took part. Rob recorded a time of 1:57, with Conor running 2:12. Charles-Edouard Cattier ran in the Recife Half marathon in Brazil, where he recorded a time of 98:00, whilst in the Victoria Park half marathon in London, Olwyn Dunne ran 1:48:55. Finally, another of our runners to take part in a half marathon abroad over the weekend was Lorenzo Battistin who ran 86 minutes in the Semi de Paris. Other distances were also covered. Two of our Spanish exiles, Esther Requena Ferri and Cristian Vilchez Ceballos, ran in the Torre Del Mar 10k, with Esther placing 2nd in the women’s race in 39:50 and Cristian finishing as 3rd M35 in 34:38.

There was at least one race organised by IMRA in the Wicklow mountains over the weekend. On Saturday morning we had a couple of Crusaders take part in the Askenagap Hill 9.6k down in Baltinglass with its climb of 528m. In a field of 98, Warren Swords placed 10th in 55:33, followed by Becky Quinn (20th, 4th and 1st F50 in 58:34).

The sun brought out plenty of parkrunners on Saturday morning. Karl Walsh ran once again in Naas, where, in a field of 195, he led everyone home in a time of 18:35. Meanwhile, in JFK Park in New Ross, Isabelle Cairns finished in 23:36 in 9th and 1st places in a field of 102, whilst, in Tolka Valley Park, Felipe De Sousa led the field of 54 across the line in 19:40. He was followed by Enda Currid (3rd in 21:00). Mary Donnelly placed 23rd and 2nd in Bushy Park in a time of 22:13, preceded, in the field of 221, by Kev Moore (9th in 20:25). Aoife McCarthy also placed 2nd female finisher (18th overall) in 24:00 in the field of 136 on Wexford Racecourse, followed by Carina Davidson (47th and 11th in 27:54). Meanwhile, in Shanganagh, Miriam Logan joined a field of 331, where she placed 26th and 3rd in 21:44, followed by Lisa Shine (252nd and 91st in 32:54) and by Máirín Shine (266th and 102nd in 34:16).

In Lough Key, with its field of 160 Kate Murray finished in a time of 25:36 for 28th and 4th spots, whilst Mairead Cashman tailwalked in the field of 48 on the Grand Canal Way in Tullamore. Paul Cowhie made a welcome return to competitive running, placing 9th in 18:32 in the field of 519 in St. Anne’s, followed by Jens Segewiss (10th in 18:39) and Michael Maughan (77th in 23:18), whilst, in Donabate, Ryan Hoey joined with 229 other participants, where he ran 23:51 for 43rd spot, followed by Brendan Glynn (66th in 25:19).

As usual, our largest contingent ran in Poolbeg with its field of 252. Jan Manschot ran 18:01 for 4th place, followed by Darragh Jones (12th in 19:250, Sam Osborne (20th in 20:58), ahead of Sean Brady (21st in 21:09), Kabir Sala (35th in 21:42), David Timoney (45th in 22:25), Sharon Woods (60th and 7th in 23:46), Josie Ward (67th and 10th in 24:01), Ciara Regan (71st and 12th in 24:16), Mark McGovern (74th in 24:26), Andres Mino (101st in 25:56), Neil Brown (102nd in 26:09), Djinn Von Noorden (108th and 23rd in 26:26), Conor Kilkenny (154th in 28:35) alongside Lorraine McMahon (155th and 47th in the same time), Mari Hansen (179th and 60th in 29:38), Kevin Kenny (182nd in 29:41) and Ellen Walsh (185th and 65th in 29:52).

In a field of 123 in Sligo, Ross Neill placed 44th in 27:47, whilst, in Ballincollig, with its field of 391, Helena O’Keeffe ran 28:38 for 182nd and 48th spots. Finally, Olwyn Dunne took advantage of her time in London to run in Richmond, where she placed 123rd and 21st in 25:01 in a field of 549, whilst Kris Ryan, one of our Australian exiles, ran in Paradise Point where she placed 117th and also 21st in a time of 25:56.

Bohermeen Half marathon (1642)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Hugh Armstrong 1 01:04:23
15 Alice Wright 1 01:10:50
Crusaders AC runners
2 Brian O’Kelly 01:07:01 (PB)
9 Marc Geraghty 01:10:35 (PB)
29 Conor Kilkenny 01:12:39 (PB)
31 Kevin Fitzgibbon 01:12:53 (PB)
48 Rory O’Kennedy 01:14:08 (PB)
69 Michael Wycherley 01:15:29 (PB)
118 Aoife Cleary 01:18:07 (PB) (4)
143 Ashley Hayes 01:18:07
191 James Sherry 01:21:05 (PB)
205 Sarah-Grace Breen 01:21:39 (11)
206 Brian Regan 01:21:40
282 Gerard White 01:24:36
291 John O’Donnell 01:24:38
318 Donal O’Malley 01:25:22 (PB)
517 Aisling Harrington 01:31:38 (40)
518 Killian Lynskey 01:31:27
642 Louise O’Riordan 01:35:32 (PB) (68)
834 Ryan Preston 01:40:18
1008 Chris Bannon 01:45:52
1043 Aoife McCarthy 01:48:53 (174)
1485 Kevin Kenny 02:09:16
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/bohermeen_ac_half_marathon/5948/results
Sandymount Night Run 10k (845)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Greg Devereux 1 00:35:13
8 Cliona Murphy 1 00:37:30
Crusaders AC runners
13 Tim Bowen 00:38:27
15 Steven Michel 00:39:00
40 Brian Regan 00:41:41
43 Ciara Regan 00:42:22 (4)
201 Imogen Guinness 00:49:10 (35)
376 Conor MacGuinness 00:57:20
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/savills_sandymount_dublin_night_run_5km__10km/5840/results
Sandymount Night Run 5k (707)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 John Durcan 1 00:16:08
34 Eimear Fitzmaurice 1 00:20:24
Crusaders AC runners
46 Paul Kilgarriff 00:20:58
273 Kevin Kenny 00:29:16
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/savills_sandymount_dublin_night_run_5km__10km/5840/results
Kinvara ¾ marathon (248)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Andreas Lundegard 1 01:50:20
29 Sarah Flanagan 1 02:19:26
Crusaders AC runner
61 Áine Kenny 02:32:58 (5)
Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/rockandroad2026_32km.html
IMRA Askenagap Hill 9.6k (98)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Titouan Savignoni 1 00:45:00
5 Caroline Harney Ayton 1 00:53:34
Crusaders AC runners
10 Warren Swords 00:55:33
20 Becky Quinn 00:58:34 (4)
Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2776/category/O/
Bundoran 10 miler (1488)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 David Gormley 1 00:54:55
21 Maria McGee 1 00:58:12
Crusaders AC runners
555 Sarah Bradley 01:21:46 (129)
739 Daniel Gleeson 01:26:36
871 Kathryn Tomkins 01:28:59 (272)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/bundoran_10_2026/5686/results
Carlingford Half marathon (1035)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Michael Brady 1 01:08:48
33 Harriet Buswell 1 01:21:56
Crusaders AC runners
74 Emma Rowe 01:25:59 (2)
325 Gavan Doherty 01:43:01
Full results here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1FzcQqYmwed8vwgbHt5BE-pxAmCRf3zzKo6pfvWjf1_8/htmlview
New Ross Parkrun (102)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Luke Kelly 1 00:20:15
9 Isabelle Cairns 1 00:23:26
Crusaders AC runner
9 Isabelle Cairns 00:23:26 (1)
Tolka Valley Parkrun (54)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Felipe De Sousa 1 00:19:40
2 Caroline Monk 1 00:20:56
Crusaders AC runners
1 Felipe De Sousa 00:19:40
3 Enda Currid 00:21:00
Wexford Racecourse Parkrun (136)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Eoin O’Malley 1 00:16:59
14 Annemarie Doyle 1 00:22:51
Crusaders AC runners
18 Aoife McCarthy 00:24:00 (2)
47 Carina Davidson 00:27:54 (11)
Lough Key Parkrun (160)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Luke Taheny 1 00:20:11
5 Bonnie McFeat 00:21:09
Crusaders AC runner
28 Kate Murray 00:25:36 (4)
The Grand Canal Way, Tullamore Parkrun (48)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Oisin Moran 1 00:23:24
8 Anne Marie Sullivan 1 00:27:39
Crusaders AC runner
46 Mairead Cashman 00:49:50 (28)
Ballincollig Parkrun (391)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Trevor Woods 1 00:19:24
11 Kathleen Ryan 1 00:20:27
Crusaders AC runner
182 Helena O’Keeffe 00:28:38 (46)
Shanganagh Parkrun (331)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Cian Whelan 1 00:18:05
7 Sarah Baryga 1 00:19:49
Crusaders AC runners
26 Miriam Logan 00:21:44 (3)
252 Lisa Shine 00:32:54 (91)
266 Máirín Shine 00:34:16 (102)
Donabate Parkrun (230)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Sean English 1 00:17:59
6 Molly Rickard 1 00:19:55
Crusaders AC runners
43 Ryan Hoey 00:23:51
66 Brendan Glynn 00:25:19
Marlay Parkrun (582)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Ciaran Connolly 1 00:16:46
22 Paula Grant 1 00:20:58
Crusaders AC runners
3 Paul Flynn 00:17:43
136 Kate Murray 00:24:44 (22)
228 Ellen Walsh 00:27:20 (49)
383 Carina Davidson 00:30:49 (127)
Brickfields Parkrun (126)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Luke Higgins 1 00:18:08
12 Narangarav Gankhuyag 1 00:21:39
Crusaders AC runners
24 Aoife McCarthy 00:23:21 (2)
98 Mairead Cashman 00:34:00
Bushy Parkrun (221)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Steven Crowe 1 00:18:14
5 Maddie Craig 1 00:19:30
Crusaders AC runners
9 Kev Moore 00:20:25
23 Mary Donnelly 00:22:13 (2)
Naas Parkrun (195)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Karl Walsh 1 00:18:35
14 Vanessa Sallier 1 00:21:15
Crusaders AC runner
1 Karl Walsh 00:18:35
St. Anne’s Parkrun (519)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Anthony Sharkey 1 00:17:10
29 Ailish Malone 1 00:20:05
Crusaders AC runners
9 Paul Cowhie 00:18:32
10 Jens Segewiss 00:18:39
77 Michael Maughan 00:23:18
Poolbeg Parkrun (252)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
2 James McGuirk 1 00:17:36
31 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:21:33
Crusaders AC runners
4 Jan Manschot 00:18:01
12 Darragh Jones 00:19:25
20 Sam Osborne 00:20:58
21 Sean Brady 00:21:09
35 Kabir Sala 00:21:42
45 David Timoney 00:22:25
60 Sharon Woods 00:23:46 (7)
67 Josie Ward 00:24:01 (10)
71 Ciara Regan 00:24:16 (12)
74 Mark McGovern 00:24:26
101 Andres Mino 00:25:56
102 Neil Brown 00:26:09
108 Djinn Von Noorden 00:26:26 (23)
154 Conor Kilkenny 00:28:35
155 Lorraine McMahon 00:28:35 (47)
179 Mari Hansen 00:29:38 (60)
169 Una McCullagh 00:30:11 (69)
182 Kevin Kenny 00:29:41
186 Ellen Walsh 00:29:52 (65)
Sligo Parkrun (123)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Micheal Quirke 1 00:19:36
11 Myrtle Bamber 1 00:22:42
Crusaders AC runner
44 Ross Neill 00:27:47