Muddy Waters in Santry: Crusaders women successfully defend their Dublin senior title

3/11/2019

Clara Costadura, Niamh Allen, Adrienne Jordan, Julie McGrath and Maura Mahoney

Before we got there, we all knew that conditions in Santry demesne were likely to be bad for the Dublin Senior XC championships, following the incessant deluge that lasted from the afternoon through to late evening on the Saturday night before. Even though the day was otherwise dry, there was standing water everywhere along with liquid sunlight on the Sunday afternoon, cool conditions and dampness underfoot. Moreover, as is usual with XC events, the ground had been churned up by the numerous juvenile races that preceded the two senior events, the women’s 6k and the men’s daunting 10k. There was mud and water everywhere, so much so that the small amount of land under the tree where Crusaders usually store their kit and change into their spikes was like an island in the middle of a lake.

Anyway, the great thing about the day was that we were able to field two full teams for the occasion and they both performed admirably, with our women’s team bringing home gold for the second year in a row (with 41 points), whilst Niamh Allen and Clara Costadura took individual silver and bronze medals behind race winner Catherina Mullan of MSB and ahead of Donore’s Barbara Cleary. Detailed results have yet to be posted, and once done, this report will be updated to include the link, but we can say that the four scorers also included Adrienne Jordan (14th) and Julie McGrath (22nd), both running strongly, the latter working her way through the field in the final lap of the four 1500m loops, and particularly taking a couple of likely scoring athletes from Donore as she did so. The team also included Maura Mahoney (34th), another runner with a strong and steady performance, who had a super sprint at the finish to take a runner on the line, and Mary Horgan (33rd), who found the going extremely tough being more used to running 800m track and who held on courageously despite the really spongy and strength-sapping conditions. Silver went to Raheny (45) and bronze to Donore (67) in a field short of 50 runners. There were no individual or team medals for our 6 men in their 10k race, but several of them were well-bunched and working hard together. They were led home by John Mulvihill in 31st place and in the mix, nearly all for the first time in this event, were Italo Giancaterina (38th), Brian Hyland (39th), Michael Wycherley (40th), Dee Lawlor (46th) and Sebastien Le Roy (60th). As a team they came in 7th in a strong and large field, with this year 4 to score. Medals went to Clonliffe, DSD and Rathfarnham. Well done and congrats to both our teams.

We now have a reasonable idea of the medal haul (National, Leinster and Dublin) that Crusaders amassed in last week’s Dublin marathon (following a few tweaks in the published reports) and we came home with a decent number for our efforts in the masters categories. In short, at National level, the men’s O/35 team of Brendan Murphy, Vinnie McGuinness and Ciaran Diviney took the silver medal, whilst there was an individual silver for James Cottle in the men’s O/60 category. Then, in the Leinster Championships, the same O/35 team took gold, whilst the women’s O/35 team of Aine Kenny, Grainne Regan and Triona Quill picked up the silver medal. There were also individual medals for Aine and James, who won, respectively, O/35 and O/60 silver. Finally, in the Dublin Championships, the same men’s O/35 team won gold, whilst the same women’s O/35 team also took gold. Individually, there was a gold medal for James, silver for Aine and Triona (who won hers in the O/50 age category) and bronze for Grainne as an O/35 runner, Eugene McDonough as an M40 and Ciaran in the O/45 category. Congrats to all.

We had several runners in New York this weekend for the marathon there: Our exile in Canada, Ian Kinsella, led our contingent home in a 10 minute improvement and with negative splits to record 2:35:46, followed by Barry McGuire on a cool and cloudy day in 2:54:00, running pretty even splits on what is a pretty hilly course with all its bridges and its undulating final piece in Central Park. Barry was followed by Federico Corradini who ran 2:59:51. Next came Kate Murray who had a tough second half, finishing in 4:18:43, followed by Bob Manson (4:42:23 in his 58th marathon) and Aitor Arribas Velasco (4:43:39). Members will also be interested to read that Sean Murphy, the United Striders athlete who trains with us, ran 2:54:59, with slightly positive splits. It was also a day when Irish-born Sinead Diver placed 5th in the women's race, only 2 secs off 4th and 32 secs off 3rd, as the first non-African finisher, in 2:26:23. Staying with marathons, Leo Lundy ran his 99th in Carrickfergus on Sunday, a surprisingly hilly, but unsurprisingly muddy, challenge with a two thousand foot climb.

Although numbers in the parkruns were generally higher than last week they were still down on average, probably as marathoners recover. Although we didn’t have any first finishers this week, we did enjoy a few podium results. In a modest field in The Glen in Co. Offaly marathon pacer Olwyn Dunne placed 2nd (and 2nd overall) in 28:11, whilst Esther Requena Ferri also placed 2nd (37th overall) in St. Anne’s in 21:41. Cristian Vilchez Ceballos also ran there, placing 6th in 17:55. In Tymon Sharon Woods placed 24th and 3rd in 25:07, whilst it was good to see Brian McGuckin on his way back from injury, placing 7th in Brickfields in 22:09. Brian Scanlan, fresh from his huge marathon PB, ran well in River Valley, picking up 6th spot in 21:54, with Cormac McGuire, another of those in a state of recovery from last week, placed 7th in Tolka Valley in 21:31. Ronan Moynihan and Darina Scully ran in Malahide, where they placed, respectively, 10th in 18:25 and 83rd (and 11th female) in 23:26. Jonathan Sykes was our sole representative in Marlay where he picked up 53rd spot in 22:36, whilst in Kilkenny, another marathon survivor, Mairead Cashman, ran 31:34 for 83rd (30th) and Maria Pertl took 86th place (25th) in a time of 27:43 in Poppintree. Orlaith de Burca ran 29:41 for 75th (and 22nd) in Shanganagh, whilst Mairin and Lisa Shine crossed the line together in Vicarstown. Both had a recorded finish of 29:50 for 24th and 25th (8th and 9th). Brian Langton (46th in 26:23) came in ahead of tailwalker Kevin Flynn in Porterstown, whilst, further afield, Andrej Kujikis ran with 455 other participants in Edinburgh where he placed 138th in 23:59. Finally, in Queensland, Australia, Kris Ryan joined 250 other runners in Main Beach where she placed 35th (and 5th) in 23:55, whilst in between Australia and New Zealand, Barry O’Neill placed 12th in a field of 42 in 24:17 on the idyllic Hamilton Island.

Dublin Seniors Women’s 6k (39)
Overall place Name Guntime
1 Catherina Mullen 00:23:01
Crusaders AC runners
2 Niamh Allen 00:23:13
3 Clara Costadura 00:23:41
14 Adrienne Jordan 00:25:11
22 Julie McGrath 00:26:35
33 Mary Horgan 00:27:40
34 Maura Mahoney 00:27:42
Dublin Seniors Men’s 10k (64)
Overall place Name Guntime
1Efrem Guidey 00:32:28
Crusaders AC runners
31 John Mulvihill 00:38:02
38 Italo Giancaterina 00:38:42
39 Brian Hyland 00:38:49
40 Michael Wycherley 00:38:55
46 Dee Lawlor 00:39:51
60 Sebastien Le Roy 00:43:14
Malahide Parkrun #365 (340)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Kenneth Nolan 1 00:17:14
2 Annette Kealy 1 00:17:15
Crusaders AC runners
10 Ronan Moynihan 00:18:25
83 Darina Scully 00:23:26 (11)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=365
Tymon Parkrun #279 (154)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 John Longan 1 00:18:49
5 Fiona Fitzgerald 1 00:21:41
Crusaders AC runner
24 Sharon Woods 00:25:07 (3)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tymon/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=279
Kilkenny Parkrun #260 (134)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Pat Hennessy 1 00:17:30
17 Muireann O’Sullivan 1 00:22:38
Crusaders AC runner
83 Mairead Cashman 00:31:34 (30)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/kilkenny/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=260
Marlay Parkrun #326 (415)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Patrick Ryan 1 00:18:05
2 Meghan Ryan 1 00:18:17
Crusaders AC runner
53 Jonathan Sykes 00:22:36
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=326
Poolbeg Parkrun #115 (112)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Shane Clifford 1 00:19:16
9 Sheila Doyle 1 00:21:29
Crusaders AC runners
14 Neil Brown 00:22:52
26 Josie Ward 00:24:30 (8)
28 Tara Murphy 00:24:42 (10)
42 Ava Rose Clarke 00:25:25 (18)
52 Mari Hansen 00:26:08 (22)
78 Maureen McGinley 00:28:34 (33)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=115
St. Annes Parkrun #306 (491)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Paul Cowhie 1 00:16:32
27 Maebh O’Shaughnessy 1 00:21:08
Crusaders AC runners
6 Cristian Vilchez Ceballos 00:17:55
37 Esther Requena Ferri 00:21:41 (2)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=306
Poppintree Parkrun #259 (179)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mick Bermingham 1 00:18:46
2 Sorcha Loughnane 1 00:18:57
Crusaders AC runner
86 Maria Pertl 00:27:43 (25)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poppintree/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=259
Shanganagh Parkrun #237 (134)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Ben Paviour 1 00:17:20
16 Rebecca Lee 1 00:22:40
Crusaders AC runner
75 Orlaith de Burca 00:29:41 (22)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=237
Brickfields Parkrun #94 (75)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Colin Lavelle 1 00:20:12
14 Susan Gannon 1 00:24:25
Crusaders AC runner
7 Brian McGuckin 00:22:09
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/brickfields/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=94
Tolka Valley Parkrun #89 (67)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Aidan Hogan 1 00:19:17
12 Hannah Howard 1 00:23:37
Crusaders AC runner
7 Cormac McGuire 00:21:31
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tolkavalley/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=89
Porterstown Parkrun #212 (119)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Peter Gaffney 1 00:18:36
6 Patricia McLoughlin 1 00:21:18
Crusaders AC runners
46 Brian Langton 00:26:23
115 Kevin Flynn 00:44:28
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/porterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=212
Vicarstown Parkrun #263 (60)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Brian Hogan 1 00:20:16
6 Karen Kavanagh 1 00:24:11
Crusaders AC runners
24 Mairin Shine 00:29:50 (8)
25 Lisa Shine 00:29:50 (9)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/vicarstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=263
River Valley Parkrun #170 (111)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Callum Gray 1 00:19:20
2 Orla Tuohy 1 00:19:22
Crusaders AC runner
6 Brian Scanlan 00:21:54
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/rivervalley/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=170
The Glen Parkrun #65 (10)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Darragh Bangor 1 00:26:24
3 Jonathan Derry 1 00:28:40
Crusaders AC runner
2 Olwyn Dunne 00:28:11 (2)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/theglen/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=65