More than a Feeling – Strong running in the Leinster 10-mile Championships and the Boston Marathon

19/4/2022

Kate Murray, Aoife Quigley, Emer Kenny (with Maeve, James, Saoirse, Sid and Ethan)

The highlights of the weekend were on Easter Monday in North Dublin with the Battle of Clontarf which incorporated the Leinster 10-mile Championships (and where we had some outstanding results) and in Boston, Massachusetts, with the 126th running of the oldest city marathon in the world.

We start locally, with the Leinster 10-mile Championships. We had 6 runners in the event that took place in loops around St. Anne’s Park and the coast road in Raheny. The field measured just over 300. Rory Goldsmith was our first athlete home on the flat course on a sunny morning with a time of 65:56 for 54th place. Rory was followed by the first of our female athletes, Aoife Quigley, who placed 74th overall and 7th woman across the line, but, more importantly, 2nd F35, picking up the silver medal in the age category in the Leinster Championships, with a solid time of 68:33. Not so far behind came Emer Kenny with a 2 minute PB improvement time of 71:49. Emer placed 98th overall, 11th female finisher and also picked up the bronze medal in the F35 age category. Together with Kate Murray, who ran 79:11 for 174th and 34th places (and 5th F45), our masters athletes picked up the team gold medal with 52 points, ahead of Sli Cualann (117) and Blackrock (141). Many congrats to our female team. Just behind Emer, and ahead of Kate, came Patrick Needham (106th in 72:50) and Robbie Moore (150th in 77:20 and for 4th place in the M60 category).

Moving on to Boston, we had at least 7 Crusaders in the iconic race (founded in 1897). The event is a point to point, from the town of Hopkinton east of the city to the city centre (and all the runners get bussed out there from Boston Common in yellow school buses at some ungodly hour of the morning). It is a net downhill, but it doesn’t feel like that and the course resembles something of a bowl, where runners descend for much of the first half (to meet the screams of students at the halfway point in the all-girls college in Wellesley) and then find they have to climb in the second half. The atmosphere is incredible from start to finish and all the runners feel somewhat special as most of the 30,000 running it will have had to qualify to participate. As a consequence, it’s unlikely that Boston will be your first marathon, more like your holy grail, but unlikely too to produce PBs, but it all depends. It’s a bit of a crapshoot as to what weather conditions will prevail on the day, from a strong tail- or headwind, from rain to warm sunshine. This year, the 50th anniversary of the first time women were officially allowed to enter the race, the weather gods were relatively kind. Although the wind on the day was technically a headwind, it did not play much of a role. It was chilly to begin with, but gradually got quite warm. However, it was the hills in the 2nd half that impacted several performances. Even so, we had some excellent results. The contingent was led home by Warren Swords who was delighted to run 2:53:00. Warren was followed by Richard Phelan who recorded 3:00:45. Next came our Chicago-based exile, Damien O’Brien, who crossed the line in 3:05:38 and he was followed by James Rea (3:13:10). Brian Scanlan was next, in 3:28:51, and he was followed by Olwyn Dunne in a time of 3:43:26, which was 4 minutes faster than she had run on the same course 10 years ago. The contingent was completed by Lydia Bigley who recorded 4:10:51. Many congrats to all those runners on a tough course! Members may also be interested to learn that Brian Keenan, who recently transferred to Dunboyne, crossed the finish line in 4:41:21. Olwyn reported some great signs out on the course, including "At least it's not Squid Games". Apparently, someone had a sign with an image of Will Smith and encouraging people to to punch it as they went by in order to avenge Chris Rock. The atmosphere would have been second to none!

Over the Easter break we had a few other runners who travelled to races outside the island. Miriam Logan took part in the BAA 5k in Boston on Easter Saturday, where she joined more than 8,000 other participants in mild and breezy conditions on a course in the city centre. Miriam found the early going congested, but still managed to record a time of 22:50 (placing 983rd overall). On Monday she was out to support the Cru in the marathon. Thom Martini ran in the Maidenhead Easter 10 miler on Good Friday where he placed 115th in a field of 916 in 68:12, whilst Thomas Vogee ran in 2 races on the Isle of Man. The first was a hill race over 4 miles in which Thomas ran 25:00, whilst the second, on Easter Sunday, was a 5k with a field of 373 runners. Thomas placed 100th overall in 17:38, in a quality field where 176 runners finished in under 20 minutes.

Back in Ireland, Diarmuid Fahey ran in the half marathon on Valentia Island off Co. Kerry where, on a highly scenic route, challenging in the first half, he ran 1:49:02 for 35th place in a field of 94 finishers. Meanwhile, on Easter Monday, Lisa and Fiona Shine joined 231 other runners on the 2-loop course of the Rosslare 10k where they placed, respectively, 150th and 151st (38th and 39th) in 56:56 and 56:58.

There was a reasonable attendance at the parkruns on Saturday morning and, as usual, we had some first finishers. We even had a runner in a parkrun in Boston. Maureen McGinley, whose husband apparently was running the marathon, took part in the Jamaica Pond parkrun with a field of 363, placed 290th and 89th in 31:29. In Marlay Park, Clare Sullivan joined 304 other participants placing 17th overall and first female runner across the line in 19:33, whilst Darina Scully tailwalked in the same event. Alma Hanevy placed 6th and 1st in Brickfields in a time of 21:40, with Brian McGuckin just behind in 7th place in 21:48 in a field of 48, whilst Esther Requena Ferri was a first finisher in St. Anne’s. Esther ran a PB time of 19:01 to take 7th place overall in a field of 297, whilst Cristian Vilchez Ceballos placed 2nd in 17:13. They were joined by Peter O’Toole in 3rd place with a time of 17:55 and Tim Hyland (112th in 25:26). David Carter ran in Sligo where, in a field of 100, he placed 6th in a time of 19:11, whilst Sean Smith ran 19:56, to place 8th, in Malahide. Deirdre Kennedy also ran there, placing 125th and 31st in 27:57 in a field of 214 runners. Tim O’Donnell took 3rd spot in the field of 42 in Clonakilty in 20:15, whilst Colm Foley ran once again in Griffeen where he placed 31st in 22:46. He was joined by 156 other runners in the field. Karl Walsh ran in Naas on Saturday morning in a field of 96, where he took 4th spot again in 19:16, whilst Mairead Cashman ran in Glen River, placing 38th in 10th in 29:22. Stephen Hurley joined 394 other runners on Wimbledon Common where he placed 6th in 18:39, whilst Carina Davidson was our lone runner in Shanganagh where, in a field of 183, she placed 92nd and 27th in 26:33. In Knocknacarra, Aoife Kelly ran 32:47 for 60th and 12th places in a field of 70, whilst, Fiona and Lisa Shine headed to Wexford Racecourse, where they respectively ran 26:08 and 26:09 for 35th and 8th and 36th and 9th places in a field of 81. We had fewer participants than usual in Poolbeg and Cabinteely. 104 participants took part in Pooolbeg, among them 3 Crusaders. Gian Piero Allerta was first across the line in 27th in a time of 22:29 and he was followed by Josie Ward (35th and 6th in 23:31) and by Russell Murphy (39th in 24:10). Finally, Luke Davis placed 3rd in Cabinteely in 19:27, followed by Barry O’Neill (15th in 23:34) and by Stephen Mulligan (16th in 23:35) who is otherwise in training for the Waterford marathon in June. The field measured 87.

Battle of Clontarf Leinster 10-mile Championships (311)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mick Clohisey 1 00:50:43
31 Catherine O’Connor 1 01:02:06
Crusaders AC runners
54 Rory Goldsmith 01:05:56
74 Aoife Quigley 01:08:33 (7)
98 Emer Kenny 01:11:49 (PB) (11)
106 Patrick Needham 01:12:50
150 Robbie Moore 01:17:20
174 Kate Murray 01:19:11 (34)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/battle_of_clontarf_10_mile_leinster_championship/3515/results
Valentia Island Half Marathon (94)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Brian Murphy 1 01:14:37
10 Mary O'Shea 1 01:35:57
Crusaders AC runner
35 Diarmuid Fahey 01:49:02
Full results here: https://www.sportsplits.com/races/run-valentia-half-marathon-and-10k-2022/events/1?page=1
Rosslare 10k (233)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Paul Doran 1 00:33:39
12 Ciara Brady 1 00:39:54
Crusaders AC runners
150 Lisa Shine 00:56:56 (38)
151 Fiona Shine 00:56:57 (39)
Full results here: http://redtagtiming.com/results/Rosslare10km_2022.pdf
Brickfields Parkrun (48)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Michael Bagnall 1 00:18:49
6 Alma Hanevy 1 00:21:40
Crusaders AC runners
6 Alma Hanevy 00:21:40 (1)
7 Brian McGuckin 00:21:48
Griffeen Parkrun (157)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Sean Kavanagh 1 00:18:37
12 Niamh Murphy 1 00:20:30
Crusaders AC runner
31 Colm Foley 00:22:46
Glen River Parkrun (70)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Barry Twohig 1 00:18:19
6 Helen Walsh 1 00:22:35
Crusaders AC runner
38 Mairead Cashman 00:29:22 (10)
83 Darina Scully 00:55:39
Naas Parkrun (96)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Niall McLoughlin 1 00:17:40
9 Louise Long 1 00:20:31
Crusaders AC runner
4 Karl Walsh 00:19:16
Sligo Parkrun (100)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Vignesh Eswara Murthy 1 00:17:41
13 Maeve Haigney 1 00:21:33
Crusaders AC runner
6 David Carter 00:19:11
St Anne’s Parkrun (297)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Daniel De Palol 1 00:16:37
7 Esther Requena Ferri 1 00:19:01
Crusaders AC runners
2 Cristian Vilchez Ceballos 00:17:13
3 Peter O’Toole 00:17:55
7 Esther Requena Ferri 00:19:01 (PB) (1)
112 Tim Hyland 00:25:26
Malahide Parkrun (214)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Claudio Rivelli 1 00:17:33
9 Amanda Maher Owen 1 00:20:02
Crusaders AC runners
8 Sean Smith 00:19:56
125 Deirdre Kennedy 00:27:57 (31)
Poolbeg Parkrun (104)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Matthew Hill 1 00:18:49
10 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:20:45
Crusaders AC runners
27 Gian Piero Allerta 00:22:29
35 Josie Ward 00:23:31 (6)
39 Russell Murphy 00:24:10
Shanganagh Parkrun (183)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Alex Gray 1 00:16:45
26 Emily Kane 1 00:20:55
Crusaders AC runner
92 Carina Davidson 00:26:33 (27)
Cabinteely Parkrun (87)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 George Callery 1 00:19:17
10 Caiomhe McGrath 1 00:22:04
Crusaders AC runners
3 Luke Davis 00:19:27
15 Barry O’Neill 00:23:34
16 Stephen Mulligan 00:23:35
Wexford Racecourse Parkrun (81)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Padraig Coone 1 00:18:06
7 Gara Williams 1 00:21:07
Crusaders AC runners
35 Fiona Shine 00:26:08 (8)
36 Lisa Shine 00:26:09 (9)
Marlay Parkrun (305)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Ruben Bartelink 1 00:16:35
17 Clare Sullivan 1 00:19:33
Crusaders AC runners
17 Clare Sullivan 00:19:33 (1)
296 Darina Scully 00:43:54 (107)
Clonakilty Parkrun (42)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Ciaran Waters 1 00:19:53
6 Titilayo Florence Folowosele 1 00:21:56
Crusaders AC runner
3 Tim O’Donnell 00:20:15
Knocknacarra Parkrun (70)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Brian O’Connor 1 00:18:58
25 Emma Boggis 1 00:24:38
Crusaders AC runner
60 Aoife Kelly 00:32:47 (12)