Major confidence boosts for the year ahead

29/1/2019

Brian O'Kelly

Numbers have been gradually climbing for the traditional annual outing at the end of January, always at 3pm on a Sunday afternoon, the AXA Raheny 5 miler, organised by Raheny Shamrocks. Last year there were 3,500 finishers and this year close to 3,900, leading to some concern that there would still be runners at the start line when the leaders came through the finish of an initial short loop that crossed the area of the start (thankfully, though, the last runners got away just before the leaders came through). The roads around St. Anne’s Park are suffering and for about 800m from the start they can be extremely congested unless you get to the front and keep your wits about you. However, it is an iconic race and, except probably for those who accidentally tripped and fell early on, will be fondly remembered by most. It is also famous for its prizes of kitchen appliances in abundance, from toasters to coffee makers and, this year, electric foot heaters.

The reasons why it is so popular are several and varied. It’s possible that it is seen as a benchmark for runners checking out their levels of fitness after the excesses of the festive season and the resolutions that followed. It is generally considered a PB course and this year’s edition did not disappoint. The atmosphere is great and the support excellent. For Crusaders in particular it was unbelievable as usual. It is also a great confidence booster for those who run well and sets up runners for the year to come. Lastly, it is possible that there aren’t that many 5 milers out there, particularly at this time of the year. It’s quite an intense distance in many ways, almost anaerobic in its experience. All in all it’s a magical race and the conditions, although a little windy, were otherwise perfect, with the temperature around 6 degrees. One should also not forget the unforgettable commentary from Susan Walsh who greeted us all as we crossed the finish line. It was also Susan’s initiative to include the late John Fitzsimons in our thoughts at the start and runners gave much support to applauding his memory.

More than 70 Crusaders turned out on the day, a few more having signed up, but suffering from the winter chills or recent injury. Those that ran had a marvellous experience and there were as usual a good smattering of PBs, at least 17, or a quarter of the runners. It’s too challenging to describe how everyone did, the results below largely speak for themselves. But we’ll try to record a few.

In a quality field, Brian O’Kelly was our first man across the line in 21st place and a PB time of 24:59, this after having lost his chest heart rate monitor after 3km and shortly afterwards the lace on one of his shoes having come undone, to remain flapping around his ankle all the way to the finish. Frank Halligan also had a super race, placing 60th in 27:24, followed by Rob Cross (79th in 27:47), Jason Kehoe (90th in 27:59), Michael Wycherley (93rd in 28:01), Stephen O’Kennedy (97th in 28:10) and John McAuley just behind (98th in the same chip time) to complete the top 100. Sandwiched between John and Joe McDermott (103rd in 28:13) who recorded his umpteenth PB in the last 12 months, came 2 runners, one who trains with us and the other who ran briefly for the club but is now in his native Netherlands. Declan Ryan, who runs for Thurles and trains with us, and is hoping to get into the Tokyo Paralympics in the marathon, had recruited Jasper de Taeye to be his guide and had hoped to use this race for practice, before discovering that a guide has to be of the same nationality as the runner (a bizarre rule; as someone pointed out, what if you came from a small country like Malta, the chances of finding a guide capable of running 2:40 or below could be challenging). So the two ran together anyway, ultimately placing 102nd in 28:05, but not before Declan unfortunately collided with one of the cones in St. Anne’s Park on the out and back section towards the end of the race. Bloodied and bruised, he still managed a super time. He now has to resume his search, but can possibly settle on a couple of half marathoners of Irish nationality. Next over the line was Peter O’Toole (110th in 28:16), followed by Michael Kiely (119th in 28:29) and Joe Walsh in a PB time of 28:52 (145th). Rob, Michael Wycherley and Joe were able to claim second place and prizes in the O/40 men’s team event, whilst our senior men came in 7th overall. In 162nd place and a PB time of 28:59 came Daniel Lowe, who might have knocked even more off his previous best but for the fact that he started quite far back. Others to finish under 30 minutes were Karl Walsh (167th in 29:07), Peter Barry (175th in a PB time of 29:19) and Enda Currid (212th in 29:55). Further down the field there was a PB for James Cottle (285th) who won his age category in a time of 30:53, improving on his PB from last year’s race by 6 seconds. Having set out relatively conservatively, James was able to reel in two of his closest competitors before the end of the 3rd mile and with the help of seeing them behind him on the out and back section along the cones was able to keep the pace up sufficiently to see him through to the finish without further contest. Also recording PBs were Brian Scanlan (365th in 31:30), Eanna Farrell (505th in 33:16) and Cormac McGuire (523rd in 33:08) who technically was running the distance for the first time. Roland Cottle also knocked 3 minutes off his previous best by finishing in 40:41 (1523rd). It was good to see Philip Matthews running competitively again as he is coming back from injury (812th in 36:02) along with Niall O’Connell who has also had his recent ups and downs (381st in 32:01).

The women’s race was just as exciting, with also an excellent field. Orla Drumm was our lead runner taking 8th place (148th overall) in 28:53, followed by Catherine Thornton in 27th place (295th overall) in 31:03, her second best time for the distance and for this particular event. Rachael Yorke was next in 46th (449th overall) in 32:40, having left it until late in the race to pass Aine Kenny who ran a PB of 32:47 to place 48th (463rd overall). Orla, Catherine and Rachael had initially been told that they were the third ranking team, but a Sli Cualan runner had been ignored and, once added, pushed Crusaders into 4th place by a margin of only 7 points. A noble effort all the same. There were some great runs further down the field with Niamh Aspell placing 495th overall (49th woman) in 32:57, followed by Kathryn Sweeney who ran a PB time of 34:21 to place 69th (621st overall) along with Ruth Dwyer who also ran a PB by recording 34:42 (76th woman and 651st place overall). Dee Ni Chearbhaill had a good run to place 656th overall (79th woman) in 34:38 and to complete the top 100, Sarah Lyons had a PB of 35:18 (100th woman, 753rd overall). Top 500 places went to Emer Kenny (817th overall, 114th woman, in 36:12), Olwyn Dunne (883rd overall, 137th woman, in 36:45), Aoife Kelly (1063rd overall, 185th woman, in 37:07), Mary Fitzsimons (1156th overall, 212th woman, in 38:43), Liz Nixon (1381st overall, 299th woman, in 39:36), Joanne Carey, making a welcome return to racing (1425th overall, 316th woman, in 38:48), Mari Hansen (1433rd overall, 320th woman, in 38:47), Gillian Lyons (1582nd overall, 383rd woman, in 40:12) and Carina Davidson (1844th overall, 498th woman, in 40:33). For the record, our masters O/40 team of Dee, Olwyn and Aoife came home in 7th place. Also, members will be interested to hear that Lydia Bigley of Dublin Front Runners, who trains with us, also recorded a PB in running 36:13 (118th woman and 835th overall).

We fielded a small contingent for the 2nd round of the men’s indoor league in Athlone on Saturday. However, Athletics Ireland appears to be updating its website and results are not yet available. The report will be updated once the results are out. In the indoor junior and U23 national championships, Shane Keane placed 2nd in the U23 long jump with a leap of 6.56m, Augustyn Tchorzewski came 3rd in the junior triple jump with a leap of 12.79m, Valantinos Goularas placed 5th in the final of the U23 60m with a time of 7.15 and Peter Murphy came second in his heat of the junior 400m with a time of 52.61. Unfortunately, no one from his heat progressed to the final.

There were a couple of other results of the weekend of note. On Saturday morning Seamus Moore ran in the Gran Canaria Half marathon and recorded a PB time of 1:22:12, finishing strongly, whilst on Sunday, Yvonne Macauley, our temporary Texan exile, decided to turn her LSR into a marathon by joining up to run the race on a hilly course (1,200 feet of elevation) in Waco. Taking it steadily, she recorded 3:11:34 and winning her first ever marathon, an amazing time and qualifying for Boston, in which she hopes to compete before her return to Dublin.

There was a slightly lower turnout across the board this weekend in the parkruns, possibly because of the Raheny 5 on Sunday and the numbers swelled in that race from the Lord Mayor’s fit for life initiative. Abroad, Aidan Hudner placed 84th in a time of 22:23 and a field of nearly 400 runners in Victoria park, Glasgow, whilst Kris Ryan ran again in Paradise Point, Australia, taking 37th place overall, 7th female, in 23:11 in a field of 258. As usual, we had good performances in Poolbeg where Stephen Hurley was first finisher again in 17:18. Other results there included Kenan Furlong who placed 6th in 18:58, with Fiona Bane, who is currently running in some physical discomfort, 61st overall, 6th female, in 23:01 and Sharon Woods, 74th overall, 9th female, in 23:53. Karl Gohery is also running well, placing 41st in 21:50, followed by Russell Murphy (59th in 22:56), Emma O’Mahony (86th overall, 15th woman, in 24:49), Ava Rose Clarke (88th overall, 16th woman, in 24:52) and Cliodhna O’Reilly (94th overall, 20th woman, in 25:11). Joe Walsh, warming up for the following day's 5 miler, placed 3rd in Brickfields in 19:28, ahead of Lisa Shine (50th overall, 9th woman, in 26:57). Cormac McGuire (17th in 25:17) ran solo in Tolka Valley, whilst so did Luke Haran (8th in 21:36) in Mungret, along with Orlaith de Burca (89th overall, 24th woman, in 27:56) in Shanganagh, Aisling O’Riordan (102nd overall, 23rd woman, in 27:43) in Castletown, Dominick Branigan (4th in 19:06) in Bushy Park and Grainne Regan (41st overall, 4th woman, in 21:45) in Ormeau Park, Belfast. We had 3 runners in Marlay. Luke Davis placed 7th in 18:41, followed by Olwyn Dunne (115th overall, 13th female, in 23:31) and Kate Murray (139th overall, 18th woman, in 24:07), whilst in St. Anne’s we had 4 athletes take part. Gillian Lyons ran 24:48 for 135th place overall (18th woman), followed by Aoife Kelly (304th overall, 97th woman, in 29:16), Lorraine Fitzsimons (375th overall, 139th woman, in 31:27) and Paul F. Kelly (378th in 31:33). Finally, in Porterstown, Amy Brogan ran 26:08 for 51st place overall, 11th female finisher, whilst Kevin Flynn completed the course in 37:39 for 163rd place.

AXA Raheny 5 mile (3879)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mick Clohisey 1 00:23:26
32 Ann-Marie McGlynn 1 00:25:59
Crusaders AC runners
21 Brian O’Kelly 00:24:59 (PB)
60 Frank Halligan 00:27:24
79 Rob Cross 00:27:47
90 Jason Kehoe 00:27:59
93 Michael Wycherley 00:28:01
97 Stephen O’Kennedy 00:28:10
98 John McAuley 00:28:10 (PB)
103 Joe McDermott 00:28:13 (PB)
110 Peter O’Toole 00:28:16
119 Michael Kiely 00:28:29
145 Joe Walsh 00:28:52 (PB)
148 Orla Drumm 00:28:53 (8)
162 Daniel Lowe 00:28:59 (PB)
167 Karl Walsh 00:29:07
175 Peter Barry 00:29:19 (PB)
212 Enda Currid 00:29:55
231 Paul O’Meara 00:30:18
253 Eddie Nugent 00:30:27
285 James Cottle 00:30:53 (PB)
295 Catherine Thornton 00:31:03 (27)
304 Ollie McGrath 00:30:56
320 Rory Goldsmith 00:31:00
365 Brian Scanlan 00:31:30 (PB)
381 Niall O’Connell 00:32:01
391 Barry McGuirk 00:31:53
394 Sean Smith 00:32:03
406 Michael Fitzsimons 00:32:14
433 Diarmuid Byrne 00:32:20
449 Rachael Yorke 00:32:40 (46) (PB)
463 Aine Kenny 00:32:47 (48) (PB)
465 Bob Manson 00:32:27
488 Tomas Dunne 00:33:04
495 Niamh Aspell 00:32:57 (49)
505 Eanna Farrell 0:33:16 (PB)
523 Cormac McGuire 00:33:08 (PB)
545 David Tuohy 00:33:26
590 Brendan Glynn 00:34:07
621 Phelim Murray 00:34:25
621 Kathryn Sweeney 00:34:21 (69) (PB)
627 Gian Piero Allerta 00:34:22
651 Ruth Dwyer 00:34:42 (76) (PB)
656 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:34:38 (79)
753 Sarah Lyons 00:35:18 (100) (PB)
778 Mark Swan 00:35:33 (PB)
812 Philip Matthews 00:36:02
817 Emer Kenny 00:36:12 (114)
841 Aidan Flynn 00:33:46
860 Robbie Moore 00:36:22
883 Olwyn Dunne 00:36:45 (137)
915 Leslie Lluyd Hughes 00:35:23
1063 Aoife Kelly 00:37:07 (185)
1156 Mary Fitzsimons 00:38:43 (212)
1315 Colm Foley 00:37:15
1359 Colin McGuire 00:40:24
1381 Liz Nixon 00:39:36 (299)
1387 Tim Hyland 00:39:15
1425 Joanne Carey 00:38:48 (316)
1433 Mari Hansen 00:38:47 (320)
1523 Roland Cottle 00:40:41 (PB)
1582 Gillian Lyons 00:40:12 (383)
165X Triona Quill 00:XX:XX
1844 Carina Davidson 00:40:33 (498)
1877 Paul F. Kelly 00:42:12
1903 Russell Murphy 00:41:16
1927 Mairead Cashman 00:43:17 (530)
1987 Aisling O’Connor 00:41:46 (553)
2231 Lisa Shine 00:44:19 (672)
2232 Orlaith de Burca 00:44:20 (673)
2464 John Fitzsimons 00:46:15
2516 Paul E. Kelly 00:47:23
2599 Michelle Geoghegan 00:44:02 (892)
2975 Iseult Ni Chuinneagain 00:47:53 (1138)
3129 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:51:53 (1254)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/_axa_raheny_5_mile_2019/2807/results
Ormeau Parkrun #287 (465)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Dan Trimble 1 00:18:27
5 Leann Gibson 1 00:18:52
Crusaders AC runner
41 Grainne Regan 00:21:45 (4)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/ormeau/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=287
Marlay Parkrun #290 (619)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Karl Chatterton 1 00:17:35
3 Barbara Cleary 1 00:17:44
Crusaders AC runners
7 Luke Davis 00:18:41
115 Olwyn Dunne 00:23:31 (13)
139 Kate Murray 00:24:07 (18)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=290
Bushy Parkrun #101 (265)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Adam Moss 1 00:18:08
17 Bernadette Crowley 1 00:21:08
Crusaders AC runners
4 Dominick Branigan 00:19:06
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/bushydublin/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=101
Castletown Parkrun #160 (280)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Anthony Dowling 1 00:19:09
11 Ruby Kelly 1 00:21:31
Crusaders AC runner
102 Aisling O’Riordan 00:27:43 (23)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/castletown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=160
Porterstown Parkrun #172 (222)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Thomas Sherlock 1 00:17:03
18 Lorraine O’Connor 1 00:23:50
Crusaders AC runners
51 Amy Brogan 00:26:08 (11)
163 Kevin Flynn 00:37:39
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/porterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=172
St. Anne’s Parkrun #269 (490)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 unknown 1 00:18:33
11 Sarah Kelly 1 00:20:03
Crusaders AC runners
135 Gillian Lyons 00:24:48 (18)
304 Aoife Kelly 00:29:16 (97)
371 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:31:27 (139)
378 Paul F. Kelly 00:31:33
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=269
Tolka Valley Parkrun #49 (101)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Aaron Mullan 1 00:19:14
6 Aoife Donaghy 1 00:22:50
Crusaders AC runner
17 Cormac McGuire 00:25:17
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tolkavalley/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=49
Brickfields Parkrun #54 (129)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Matthieu Proffit 1 00:17:53
4 Niamh Clifford 1 00:19:35
Crusaders AC runners
3 Joe Walsh 00:19:28
50 Lisa Shine 00:26:57(9)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/brickfields/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=54
Poolbeg Parkrun #75 (213)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Stephen Hurley 1 00:17:18
37 Amy-Jane O’Reilly 1 00:21:36
Crusaders AC runners
1 Stephen Hurley 00:17:18
6 Kenan Furlong 00:18:58
41 Karl Gohery 00:21:50
59 Russell Murphy 00:22:56
61 Fiona Bane 00:23:01 (6)
74 Sharon Woods 00:23:53 (9)
86 Emma O’Mahony 00:24:49 (15)
88 Ava Rose Clarke 00:24:52 (16)
94 Cliodhna O’Reilly 00:25:11 (20)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=75
Shanganagh Parkrun #198 (191)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Joe Cawley 1 00:17:36
10 Suzanne Foot 1 00:20:47
Crusaders AC runner
89 Orlaith de Burca 00:27:56 (24)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=198
Mungret Parkrun #21 (97)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Shane O’Sullivan 1 00:18:19
20 Mairead Clancy 1 00:23:47
Crusaders AC runner
8 Luke Haran 00:21:36
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/mungret/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=21