Midsummer Racing Success

2/7/2017

Kate Murray, Lisa Shine, Vinnie McGuinness, Amy Wright and Catherine Thornton

On Tuesday evening last week the BHAA held its annual 5K trail race in the Phoenix Park. It was a major undertaking as the principal sponsor had pulled out quite close to the race itself and so it was the committee that took on the organising. By all accounts, it was extremely well done and the new timing system appears to be working well. 135 runners participated in the race held on an extremely warm and dry evening and the usual anti-clockwise route near the cricket pitches was apparently reversed. We had 8 Crusaders in the race, led home by Karl Walsh in 4th place (in a PB time of 16:53). Karl was followed by Joe Walsh in 8th (18:31) and by Ilona McElroy who placed 17th overall, 3rd female finisher, in 19:04. Robbie Moore was next in 49th place (21:20), followed by Dee Ni Chearbhaill (50th overall, 8th female, and 3rd in her age category, also in 21:20) Tony Hackett (60th in 22:08), Sharon Woods (103rd overall, 26th female, in 25:31) and Mairead Cashman (121st overall, 40th woman, in 28:00).

Then, on Thursday evening Tomas Dunne participated in the Clonee 10K in wet conditions, along with nearly 300 other runners. The race was notable for the finish line video showing a super sprint for the line won by Emmett Dunleavy (30:50) over Peter Somba (30:51). Tom placed 51st in a guntime of 40:39.

A day later, Peter Somba was in action again, this time in the Kilcock 5K, organised by St. Coca’s AC. He and fellow Kenyan, Freddie Sittuk, broke away from the field early on, but were reeled in by Ian Guiden of Clonliffe, with Peter (who is actually coming back from injury) holding on for 2nd (about 35 seconds behind) and Freddie falling back to 6th. The race itself is a true gem. Given that the event, which has been going for some time, boasts, with reason, that it produces PBs, as the course, on which it is run, is pretty much as flat as a pancake (although GPS monitors produce a phantom hill in the first kilometre by virtue of a canopy of trees), surprisingly, the field comprised fewer than 450 runners, although of decent quality. We produced a women’s team of 4 runners accompanied by Vinnie McGuinness. In perfect running conditions in dry weather, Vinnie duly came in with a decent time of 16:21, for 29th place, whilst our 4 person women’s team, who came in third overall, produced 3 PBs among them. First home was Catherine Thornton, who, fresh off the back of a 10K PB last week, not unsurprisingly also produced a PB run this week for the shorter distance, coming home in 9th place in the women’s race, 102nd overall, and a time of 18:42. Amy Wright was next, just returning to fitness, placing 156th overall, 21st woman, in 20:03, having latched on to a slightly erratic pacer, followed by Lisa Shine, in 173rd place overall, 29th woman, in a PB time of 20:36. Kate Murray was our 4th scorer (as in Dunshaughlin last week) and Kate also improved on her PB, coming home in 207th spot, 40th woman finisher, in 21:27. The race itself was followed by a feast as fine as anywhere in Ireland!

On Saturday morning, a handful of our club-mates ran in the two races on offer in Clontarf, a 5 miler and a half marathon. The race was run in windy conditions, particularly for the return on the beach where there was an increasing headwind throughout the morning. We had 3 Crusaders run in the 760-strong 5 mile race. First home was Diarmuid Byrne in 9th place (31:40), followed by Niamh Aspell (21st overall, 4th woman) with, quite likely, a PB time of 33:06. Maria Pertl also continues to race and placed 301st overall in 46:57. Dominick Branigan was first home for the club in the half marathon, placing 8th in a field of more than 1,500 and a time of 1:23:56. Dominick was followed by Amy Brogan (205th overall) in 1:39:36 and by 2-hour pacers Olwyn and Joe Dunne, respectively 815th and 820th, in 1:59:24 and 1:59:36.

A lot of great track racing took place over the weekend. In the junior and U23 championships in Tullamore on Saturday, Matthew Behan was our standout performer, winning both the U23 100mH in 14.39 and the 200m in 22.36. The multi-talented Alix Hughes placed 2nd in the U23 100mH in 16:06, then came home in 5th in the 200m in 27.28, and then 4th in the long jump (4.48m). Meanwhile, Kevin Woods placed 5th in the U23 400m in a time of 49.50 and James Kelly won the junior 6 kg shot put with a throw of 15.05m. The following day, it was the turn of the masters in the same stadium. Graham Flynn won his heat of the 100m in 12.48, whilst John O’Loughlin placed 2nd in his heat (12.52) and Liam Lyster came home in his heat, also in 2nd place, with a time of 13.94 (going on to take 2nd in the 200m in 30:09 and then win his age category in the 400m in 57.76, followed by Paul Francis in 5th place in 60.15). John O’Loughlin also placed 2nd in the 200m in 25.29. Another ambidextrous athlete, Bob Lyne, placed 4th in his age category shot put with a throw of 9.41m, whilst also taking 2nd place in the 5k walk (34:49.29), 3rd in the hammer (18.80m) and 9th in the discus (21.54m). Adrienne Jordan, meanwhile, placed 3rd in the 3,000m in a time of 10:42.64, and Brian Carroll took on the 800m, placing 6th in 2:07.52. Simon Everard placed 4th in his age category heat in the 400m in a time of 53.98, whilst Niamh Boland took 2nd place in the women's 1,500m in a time of 4:46:25. Finally, Karen Conway took 2nd place in the discus (23.25m) and then going on to win the hammer with a throw of 32.26m.

Further afield, in a race in Switzerland that enabled Brian Gregan to qualify for the World Championships in London in August with a time of 45.48, Brian Murphy took 6th place in 48.79.

Kris Ryan took part in the Gold Coast marathon in her native Australia on Sunday and finished in 3:37, just a few seconds off her PB.

Leo Lundy reports that the 24 Hour world championships were held over the weekend in Victoria Park in Belfast. It also included the Masters World championships and the Irish championships as well as an open race. Leo was lucky enough to have secured entry into most of the races along with 300 international athletes among whom were world champions and national champions as well as some notable record holders (from Trans-America, the Badwater 100 etc). Alongside these runners, 100 athletes took part in an open section (and the overall winner was from this element). So, the event took place around a 1 mile loop in Victoria Park in the east of the city. Unfortunately, Leo reports that he wasn’t really feeling it during the race, no doubt not fully recovered from recent exploits and pulled himself out of the race after 44.5 miles, just as light was fading and it had become clear that he wasn't going to reach his goals. Nevertheless, he felt that it was a great event for ultra-endurance runners and a super one-off experience.

Midweek, the IMRA runners had a good contest in Tibradden. On a course of 11.23km in challenging terrain (an ascent of more than 500m) and misty conditions, 140 runners took part in the race. We had 9 of our clubmates taking part. Brendan Murphy led the way home in 2nd place (46:19), just over half a minute behind the race winner, Killian Mooney (45:45). Laura Flannelly placed 42nd overall (5th woman) in 59:03, behind women’s race winner, Sonya McConnon (13th overall in 51:48). Sonya Fuhrmann wasn’t too far behind, placing 54th overall, 8th woman in 1:00:41. Brian McGuckin this week won the battle of the two Brians, taking 21st place in 54:21, just 12 seconds ahead of Brian Leonard (22nd in 54:33) and not too far ahead of John Fahy, who has both of them in his sights now(!) (25th in 55:07). Michael Maughan was next, in 45th (59:22), followed by Gavan Doherty (47th in 59:29) and Berndt Heim (132nd in 1:26:19).

16 Crusaders took part in parkruns on Saturday morning. The most notable performance came from John Mulvihill who led the 67-strong field home in his native Longford, finishing in 16:30 and well ahead of the field, which included Noel Reilly (3rd in 20:56). Other good runs came from the likes of John Fahy, who ran 18:14 to place 3rd in Marlay Park ahead of more than 400 other participants and Gillian Errity who placed 3rd woman (33rd overall) in 23:50 in a field exceeding 150 in Griffeen, Fiona Bane who also placed 3rd woman (15th overall) in the 80-strong field in Father Collins, with a time of 23:29, Frank Hague, 2nd in Porterstown in a time of 17:57 ahead of nearly 80 other runners and Darina Scully (9th overall, 3rd woman, in 23:50) among 34 participants. Other strong runs came from Niamh Quinn (62nd overall, 7th woman, in 23:42) in St. Anne’s with its field of nearly 290 runners and Niamh was followed by Lorraine Fitzsimons (212th overall, 68th woman, in 30:52. Our runners seemed to find obscure parkruns everywhere. Denis Murphy ran on the tight course in Donabate with Aoife Quinn, taking 14th place in 22:19. Aoife, meanwhile also ran well to place 43rd overall, 10th woman, in 25:20 in a field of more than 120 runners. Neil Brown returned to Shanganagh, joining nearly 100 runners and taking 45th spot in 25:12, while Orlaith de Burca and Fiona Shine decided to run Cabinteely, despite Mairin Shine not being able to run her 100th parkrun there yet because of an injury picked up midweek. Orlaith placed 74th overall, Fiona 75th, and respectively 27th and 28th women finishers, in a time of 30:37 in a field of more than 100 participants. Finally, just over 12 hours after her super run in Kilcock, Kate Murray joined Mairead Cashman in Bushy Dublin with its field of 74 runners, finishing in 29th place overall, 7th woman, in 25:35, whilst Mairead ran 27:48 to place 41st overall, 12th female finisher.

BHAA 5K Trail Race
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Kevin Donagher 1 00:16:45
9 Fiona Mckenna 1 00:18:36
Crusaders AC runners
4 Karl Walsh 00:16:53 (PB)
8 Joe Walsh 00:18:31
17 Ilona McElroy 00:19:04 (3)
49 Robbie Moore 00:21:20
50 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:21:20 (8)
60 Tony Hackett 00:22:08
103 Sharon Woods 00:25:31 (26)
121 Mairead Cashman 00:28:00 (40)
Full results here: https://bhaa.ie/events/5k-trail-race-2017/#tab-id-1
St Coca’s Kilcock 5K
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Ian Guiden 1 00:14:38
38 Rachael Smyth 1 00:16:37
Crusaders AC runners
29 Vinnie McGuinness 00:16:21
102 Catherine Thornton 00:18:42 (PB) (9)
156 Amy Wright 00:20:03 (21)
173 Lisa Shine 00:20:36 (PB) (29)
207 Kate Murray 00:21:27 (PB) (40)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/st_cocas_5k_kilcock/2328/results
Clontarf 5 mile
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Tom McEnery 1 00:29:00
10 Zoe Quinn 1 00:31:43
Crusaders AC runners
9 Diarmuid Byrne 00:31:40
21 Niamh Aspell 00:33:06 (4)
301 Maria Pertl 00:46:57
Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/2017ClontarfJuly_5Mile.pdf
Clontarf Half marathon
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Jesus Calle Arroyo 1 01:19:19
38 Anne Curley 1 01:29:29
Crusaders AC runners
8 Dominick Branigan 01:23:56
205 Amy Brogan 01:39:36
815 Olwyn Dunne 01:59:24
820 Joe Dunne 01:59:36
Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/2017ClontarfJuly_Half.pdf
Clonee 10K
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Emmett Dunleavy 1 00:30:50
9 Teresa Doherty 1 00:34:25
Crusaders AC runner
51 Tom Dunne 00:40:39
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/clonee_10k_road_race/2207/results
Marlay Parkrun #216
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 James Kelly 1 00:16:52
4 Ciara Hickey 1 00:17:28
Crusaders AC runner
6 John Fahy 00:18:14
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=216
Griffeen Parkrun #211
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Neil Fraser 1 00:19:17
20 Tricia Gough 1 00:22:29
Crusaders AC runner
33 Gillian Errity 00:23:50 (3)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/griffeen/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=211
Shanganagh Parkrun #119
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
Graham Bushe 1 00:18:21
5 Suzanne Foot 1 00:19:24
Crusaders AC runner
45 Neil Brown 00:25:12
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=119
St Anne’s Parkrun #189
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Terry Keogh 1 00:17:24
24 Crona Brady 1 00:20:44
Crusaders AC runners
62 Niamh Quinn 00:23:42 (7)
212 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:30:52 (68)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=189
Cabinteely Parkrun #118
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mark Molloy 1 00:16:26
18 Eimear O’Neill 1 00:23:26
Crusaders AC runners
74 Orlaith de Burca 00:30:37 (27)
75 Fiona Shine 00:30:37 (28)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=118
Father Collins Parkrun #93
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Dermot Gorman 1 00:17:16
8 Eimear Dowling 1 00:22:08
Crusaders AC runner
15 Fiona Bane 00:23:29 (3)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/fathercollins/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=93
Donabate Parkrun #89
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Karl King McDonnell 1 00:18:32
8 Alex Bell 1 00:20:52
Crusaders AC runners
14 Denis Murphy 00:22:19
43 Aoife Quinn 00:25:20 (10)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/donabate/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=89
Porterstown Parkrun #89
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Niall Sherlock 1 00:17:52
11 Bronagh O’Hara 1 00:21:52
Crusaders AC runner
2 Frank Hague 00:17:57
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/porterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=89
Longford Parkrun #60
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 John Mulvihill 1 00:16:30
8 Caoimhe Roche 1 00:23:08
Crusaders AC runners
1 John Mulvihill 00:16:30
3 Noel Reilly 00:20:56
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/longford/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=60
Templemore Parkrun #25
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Tom Lupton 1 00:19:31
5 Mary Kate Burke 1 00:22:03
Crusaders AC runner
9 Darina Scully 00:23:50 (3)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/templemore/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=25
Bushy Dublin Parkrun #19
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Niall Coppinger 1 00:18:54
9 Ciara Kinsella 1 00:21:49
Crusaders AC runners
29 Kate Murray 00:25:35 (7)
41 Mairead Cashman 00:27:48 (12)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/bushydublin/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=19