Meeting the Challenge with Great Running

13/4/2025

The Marathon des Sables

Throughout the week several of us were following the progress of Áine Kenny in the 39th edition of the supremely challenging Marathon des Sables, a week-long event conducted over a distance of 250km in 6 daily stages in the Moroccan Desert. Conditions are tough for the runners as not only do they have to run over sand dunes under the desert sun, but they are also expected to carry all their own food for at least 4 days, bedding and cooking utensils whilst they do it. More below.

We start with track racing over the weekend, the first outdoor meeting of the season, with Emily Lyne, competing in the Irish Universities Championships for UCD, taking silver in the 400mH. Emily’s success was made possible by a PB in the semi-finals of 64.9, followed by 62.7 in the final. Many congrats to her. Then, Luke Timlin placed 1st in his 100m heat in a PB of 10.95, and 6th in the final, also achieving 1st place with the UCD 4x100 relay team. Meanwhile, Sean Owens placed 2nd in his 200m heat but did not start the semi-final. Katie-Rose Barry placed 8th in her 100m in her heat and Meabh Murphy placed 9th in her 100m heat, 7th in her 200m heat.

Then, on the roads we had participants in various races from 10k up to marathon distance. Members will also be interested to hear that the weekend was also marked by the performance on Sunday morning of ex-Crusader Niamh Allen, recording a time of 32:25 for 18th place, representing Ireland in the European Running Championships in Leuven in Belgium. Sean Brady was also there to take part in the event which was also open to recreational runners, but the results are yet to be published.

In the Great Ireland Run, the annual 10k race, that took place on Sunday morning in the Phoenix Park with a field of 2412, Michael Wycherley placed 7th overall in a time of 34:59, also placing 1st in the M50 age category. Michael was followed by two runners recording PBs. The first was Lorenzo Battistin (19th in 37:27), followed by Tom Gleeson (79th in 39:43). Further back came David McEvoy (184th in 43:22) and David was followed by Aoife McCarthy (394th overall and 52nd female finisher in 47:19) ahead of Eilis Keogh (438th and 59th in 48:15). Placing 686th in 51:45 and 1318th in 58:02, Grégoire Marnotte and Peter McCarthy completed the contingent.

Down in Wexford, in the half marathon there, Kenan Furlong was one of two representatives for the club, where, in a field of 1104 finishers, he placed 12th in an excellent 82:42. Kevin Kenny also ran, finishing in a time of 1:57:30. Then, in Limerick, Luke Haran joined 278 other runners in the Michal Rejmer Memorial Dooneen AC 10 miler, where he ran 76:27 for 81st place.

Another good half marathon was recorded by Raphael Crueyze, one of our exiles now in France, who competed in the Semi-marathon du Futuroscope in Poitiers, recording a finishing time of 86:05. Staying with results on the continent, Ryan Hoey ran in the Paris Marathon where he recorded a PB time of 4:19:51, whilst Charles Cartledge took on the Zurich marathon once again, recording a time of 4:18:05. Also, in Zurich, our exile there, Lukasz Batruch, ran in the Zurich 20k where he not only recorded a great time of 37:47, but also won his M45 age category. Lloyd Hamilton paced a friend in the Haarlem half marathon to a PB with a run of 2:18, whilst down in Sydney, Australia, Deirdre Kennedy, one of our exiles there, ran in the Nike Half marathon (run in the dark), finishing in a time of 2:02.

Back to Morocco, and we can report that not only did Áine survive her ordeal, but she did so with aplomb. Consistently finishing each stage around the 400th place mark, including on a stage of 82km, Áine eventually finished the event in 395th place overall, among the 847 or so to finish (there were approx. 50 runners who had to drop out along the way). She was also 54th female finisher in the field, completing the distance in just over 44 hours of running. It was a super achievement in an event where blisters from sand constantly getting inside one’s shoes, the risk of heatstroke and dehydration are part of the challenge.

Some great results appeared in this weekend’s parkruns. One or two of our athletes were using the runs as shakeouts before heading off to Boston for the marathon on Easter Monday (Patriot’s Day in Massachusetts) and they would have derived much confidence that they still have speed in their legs.

One of those, Kevin Fitzgibbon, ran in Griffeen Park where he led the entire field of 195 home in a time of 17:18. Further back in the same event, Colm Foley placed 42nd in 24:15. Then Kev Moore, Mary Donnelly and Mairead Cashman ran in Mungret down in Limerick, where Kev was first finisher in 19:41, with Mary 4th and 2nd in 21:25 and Mairead, 60th and 20th in 31:06. The field there measured 91 runners.

Celebrating Ciara Regan’s hen weekend, which had started with gusto the night before, Maeve Lochrie nonetheless was able to shake off any hangover, placing 5th and 1st female finisher in a time of 20:49 in the 176-strong field in Kilkenny. Maeve was followed by Ciara herself who placed 7th and 2nd in 21:12, with Mags Foley 8th and 3rd, making it a clean sweep of the women’s podium. Mags’ time was 21:16. Further back came Kathryn Gibbons (23rd and 8th in 23:31).

In St. Anne’s Raheny, three of our members joined a field of 558 runners on the day. Mikel Crisostomo placed 2nd in 18:18, followed by Eugene O’Neill (3rd in 18:35) and Chris Bannon (97th in 23:48).

Elsewhere, we had some super turnouts, especially, as usual, in Poolbeg. In a field of 261, Adrian Groarke placed 9th in 20:03, followed by Liam O’Brien, another runner preparing for Boston and who was extremely happy with his form (15th in 21:04), Aoife McCarthy (36th and 4th in 23:15), Kevin Kenny (57th in 24:08), Ambrose Carr (63rd in 24:28), Gerard Moore (64th in 24:29), Kenan Furlong (65th in 24:30), Fiona Bane (68th and 12th in 24:38), Bo Chicoine (94th in 26:12), Olwyn Dunne (116th and 34th in 27:19), Carmel Higgins (119th in 27:22), Louise O’Riordan (122ndand 38th in 27:32), Aisling O’Riordan (143rd and 51st in 28:31), Cliodhna O’Reilly (144th and 52nd in 28:33), Lorraine McMahon (177th and 74th in 30:11), Cynthia Perucca (182nd and 77th in 30:35), Mari Hansen (183rd and 78th in 30:37) and Maureen McGinley (188th and 83rd in 31:07).

Sarah Lyons took on Tolka Valley, joining 52 other runners in the process, where she placed 14th and 4th in 24:38, whilst, in Ormeau Park, Ross Neill took 6th spot in a field of 661 and in a time of 18:42. Peter O’Toole and Garret Connolly ran in the 191-strong field in Fairview, where Peter placed 5th in 19:34, followed by Garret (129th in 31:49). Meanwhile, it was super to see Daniel Lowe back in action in Bushy Park, where he ran 22:13 for 18th place alongside 216 other runners.

We had 6 of our clubmates in Shanganagh with its field of 263. David Carter placed 20th in 19:37, followed by Fiona Shine (68th and 16th in 23:52), Darina Scully (85th and 21st in 24:34), Jill Nason (190th and 70th in 30:44), Máirín Shine (215th and 89th in 33:32), just ahead of Lisa Shine (216th and 90th in 33:34). Kevin Flynn joined 118 other participants in Porterstown where he placed 97th in 39:09, whilst in Tymon Park, Sharon Woods took 46th and 12th spots in 26:09 in a field measuring 129.

Following their epic run in the Two Oceans Ultra marathon in Cape Town a week earlier, John Lohan and Tara Murphy capped off their trip to South Africa with a run in the 85-strong Rickety Bridge Parkrun in Franschhoek near Cape Town. John placed 9th in 22:37, with Tara following in 22nd and 6th places in 27:23.

Finally, in London, our exiles Jeanie Watson, Rob Glascott and Eva Kennedy took part, respectively, in parkruns on Highbury Fields and Clapham Common. In the former, Jeanie joined 591 other runners, placing 119th and 16th in 22:40, whilst, in the latter, in a field of 908, Rob ran 20:46 for 48th spot and Eva came home in 477th and 141st in 28:12.

Great Ireland Run 10k (2412)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Colin Leonard 1 00:33:25
36 Mollie O’Donnell 1 00:38:31
Crusaders AC runners
7 Michael Wycherley 00:34:59
19 Lorenzo Battistin 00:37:27 (PB)
79 Tom Gleeson 00:39:43 (PB)
184 David McEvoy 00:43:22
394 Aoife McCarthy 00:47:19 (52)
438 Eilis Keogh 00:48:15 (59)
686 Grégoire Marnotte 00:51:45
1317 Peter McCarthy 00:58:02
Full results here: https://myrunresults.com/events/great_ireland_run_2025/5354/results
Wexford Half Marathon (1104)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Guillaume Mekrouda 1 01:09:42
15 Nicola McGrath 1 01:23:08
Crusaders AC runners
12 Kenan Furlong 01:22:42
XXX Kevin Kenny 01:57:30
Full results here: https://myrunresults.com/events/pettitts_supervalu_wexford_half_marathon__10km_2025/5554/results
Michal Rejmer Memorial Dooneen AC 10-miler (279)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Karl Fitzmaurice 1 00:51:58
10 Dee Grady 1 01:02:12
Crusaders AC runner
81 Luke Haran 01:16:27
Full results here: https://myrunresults.com/events/michal_rejmer_dooneen_10_mile_2025/5515/results
Kilkenny Parkrun (176)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Graham Bourne 1 00:19:07
5 Maeve Lochrie 1 00:20:49
Crusaders AC runners
5 Maeve Lochrie 00:20:49 (1)
7 Ciara Regan 00:21:12 (2)
8 Margaret Foley 00:21:16 (3)
23 Kathryn Gibbons 00:23:31 (8)
Tolka Valley Parkrun (53)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Jacob McElwee 1 00:18:42
10 Elizabeth Daly 1 00:23:40
Crusaders AC runner
14 Sarah Lyons 00:24:38 (4)
Mungret Parkrun (91)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Kev Moore 1 00:19:41
3 Muireann O’Donnell 1 00:21:12
Crusaders AC runners
1 Kev Moore 00:19:41
4 Mary Donnelly 00:21:25 (2)
60 Mairead Cashman 00:31:06 (20)
Fairview Parkrun (191)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Francesco Hua Huang 1 00:18:50
10 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:20:57
Crusaders AC runners
5 Peter O’Toole 00:19:34
129 Garret Connolly 00:31:49
Poolbeg Parkrun (261)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Sebastian Hansen 1 00:17:47
20 Emma Patterson 1 00:21:33
Crusaders AC runners
9 Adrian Groarke 00:20:03
15 Liam O’Brien 00:21:04
36 Aoife McCarthy 00:23:15 (4)
57 Kevin Kenny 00:24:08
63 Ambrose Carr 00:24:28
64 Gerard Moore 00:24:29
65 Kenan Furlong 00:24:30
68 Fiona Bane 00:24:38 (12)
94 Bo Chicoine 00:26:12
116 Olwyn Dunne 00:27:19 (34)
119 Carmel Higgins 00:27:22 (XX)
122 Louise O’Riordan 00:27:32 (38)
143 Aisling O’Riordan 00:28:31 (51)
144 Cliodhna O’Reilly 00:28:33 (52)
177 Lorraine McMahon 00:30:11 (74)
182 Cynthia Perucca 00:30:35 (77)
183 Mari Hansen 00:30:37 (78)
188 Maureen McGinley 00:31:07 (83)
Tymon Parkrun (129)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 David Reidy 1 00:18:24
7 Sinead Tighe 1 00:20:43
Crusaders AC runner
46 Sharon Woods 00:26:09 (12)
Porterstown Parkrun (119)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Nickolas Colyn 1 00:14:59
11 Joan O’Callaghan 1 00:21:54
Crusaders AC runner
97 Kevin Flynn 00:39:09
Bushy Parkrun (217)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Patrick McElroy 1 00:19:28
3 Rachel Calvey 1 00:20:15
Crusaders AC runner
18 Daniel Lowe 00:22:13
St. Anne’s Parkrun (558)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Tadhg Cowley 1 00:16:54
9 Laura White 1 00:19:29
Crusaders AC runners
2 Mikel Crisostomo 00:18:18
3 Eugene O’Neill 00:18:35
97 Chris Bannon 00:23:48
Shanganagh Parkrun (263)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Alex Twomey 1 00:15;52
9 Megan Brunt 1 00:17:31
Crusaders AC runners
20 David Carter 00:19:37
68 Fiona Shine 00:23:52 (16)
85 Darina Scully 00:24:34 (21)
190 Jill Nason 00:30:44 (70)
215 Máirín Shine 00:33:32 (89)
216 Lisa Shine 00:33:34 (90
Griffeen Parkrun (195)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Kevin Fitzgibbon 1 00:17:18
14 Breda Smyth 1 00:21:13
Crusaders AC runners
1 Kevin Fitzgibbon 00:17:18
42 Colm Foley 00:24:15
Ormeau Parkrun (661)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
2 Nathan McAleese 1 00:16:41
17 Shileen O’Kane 1 00:19:52
Crusaders AC runner
6 Ross Neill 00:18:42