Mudfest in Cow Park for National Novices

16/12/2019

Standing: Anna Shine, Rebecca Fleming, Rachael Yorke, Grainne Regan, Sarah Lyons, Fiona Shine, Carina Davidson, Maura Mahoney and Maria Kennedy. Kneeling: Clara Costadura, Maria del Carmen Jimenez Campos, Lisa Shine and Catherine Thornton

We had a super turnout for the National Novices that took place on Sunday afternoon on a relatively flat but churned-up winding course with lots of corners in Dunboyne, on two fields in the site known aptly as Cow Park. Two large contingents of Crusader men and women competed on the day, to experience the extremely sticky mud (which was everywhere, even for the spectators) and the soft, strength-sapping, underfoot conditions that prevailed across the board. The course had received a good share of soaking at times before the event, but, mercifully, the races otherwise enjoyed dry and relatively windless conditions.

The women’s 4K race (of one 1,000m loop, followed by two 1,500m loops) enjoyed a reasonable field of 134 runners and we fielded two teams, 13 athletes in total. Our best placed runner was Clara Costadura who early on was right up with the leaders. However, the fact that Clara has run only twice in the past month since picking up a hamstring strain after the Dublin Seniors, took its toll and it was a tribute to her gutsiness that she held on to finish in 17th place and only just a minute behind the race winner. Clara’s finishing position was good enough to make her a scorer on the gold-winning Co. Dublin team, for which she had officially been declared, but at time of writing and for reasons that are unclear, her name was excluded from the county results. Right behind Clara came Catherine Thornton, clearly demonstrating her endurance. Early on in the race Catherine found herself trapped in mid-pack but as the race unfolded she was able to work her way through the field and finished only two places and 4 seconds behind Clara in 19th. 3rd scorer for Crusaders was Rachael Yorke who had a steady race for 73rd place ahead of 4th scorer Maura Mahoney who also did her fair share of picking off targets and placing 83rd. Fiona Shine was next in 97th ahead of Grainne Regan who ran extremely well for 99th place just behind Fiona, despite having experienced a stressful morning when her bag containing her spikes was stolen whilst she was out shopping in a department store. Thankfully, Grainne was actually able to buy a pair of spikes that fit from one of the running dealers who had set up a table at the entrance to Cow Park on the day. Some of the remaining runners came home in a bunch, led by Sarah Lyons in 116th and followed closely by Maria del Carmen Jimenez Campos (117th), Maria Kennedy (119th) and Lisa Shine (120th) all within 10 seconds of each other, with ladies captain Rebecca Fleming (123rd) just a little further back. Both Carina Davidson (127th) and Anna Shine (129th) ran well, despite the former having limited time to warm up before the race. Once the smoke had cleared, our A team took 8th and our B team came home in 20th.

The men’s 6k race (4 large loops) enjoyed as usual a field nearly double that of the women at 216 runners, joined by 17 Crusaders. In the increasingly tough conditions, the race was an exciting affair with a sprint for the line by the two leaders. Our first runner home was Shane Collins (29th) who managed to hold off a charge from those around him and picking up a couple of places at the end. He was followed by men’s captain, Michael Kiely, who, like Shane, enjoyed another competent outing (42nd). Our 3rd and 4th scorers were Vinnie McGuinness (46th) and Jason Kehoe (61st), who was just ahead of a storming Michael Wycherley (62nd). Vinnie ran steadily throughout, whilst Jason, who had some difficulty at times with runners slowing down around him at the corners, was able to work his way through the field somewhat. John Mulvihill was next (72nd) , followed by a strong running Brian Hyland (77th), just ahead of Paul Reidy (80th) who had enjoyed a good run alongside Brian for most of the race. Next came Ciaran Diviney (86th), followed by Michael O’Conor (92nd), John McAuley (106th) ahead of Peter O’Toole (116th), just coming back from injury. Joe McDermott found the going tough but still managed to hold on to 130th place, followed by Frank Hague (162nd) and Eddie Nugent
(181st) who managed to take 3 runners just before the line in a strong sprint finish. Patrick Needham, likewise had a good sprint finish (202nd), followed by Brendan Glynn (212th), both of whom had little company to run with for a large part of the race, making it extremely tough. So, our men’s teams came, respectively, 7th and 22nd. Hats off to all who took on the challenge. It was a great and rewarding spectacle for the supporters!

Conditions, the previous day, had been altogether different. On an extremely windy and chilly Saturday morning, we had at least 4 runners in the Aware Christmas races at the northern end of the Phoenix Park. There was a 5k event with 441 participants embarking on a course that took in Chesterfield Avenue, the Ordnance Survey Road, with a turn at Knockmaroon gate and a finish on Furze Road, so relatively flat and, without the strong westerly wind, ordinarily fast. Despite the strong wind, our first Crusader home, Luke Davis, ran a marginally faster time than the Jingle Bells 5k the week before, finishing in 5th place in 18:15. Luke was followed by Tanja Narancic (98th and 31st in 26:37). The 10k involved 2 laps of the same course and enjoyed a field of nearly 800 runners. It is great to see Kieran Little back running competitively. Kieran ran 34:16 to take 4th place and he was followed by Carina Davidson (227th and 36th in 48:50).

On Sunday, we had runners perform well in foreign climes. Yvonne Macauley ran in the Dallas Half marathon, taking third place in the women’s race in a super time of 1:23:23, whilst, in Malaga, Maurice Kelter paced a friend to a sub-3 hours finish in the marathon there, with Maurice producing a 2:58 result for himself and feeling extremely comfortable with the pace.

We had one first finisher in the relatively modest participation in parkruns on Saturday morning. Where we did have the usual strong turnout, in Poolbeg, Stephen Hurley led the field home in 18:11. He was followed closely in 2nd place by Kenan Furlong in 18:17 and then by Russell Murphy (24th in 22:40), Sharon Woods (33rd and 6th in 23:31), Aine Kenny (38th and 8th in 23:57), Ava Rose Clarke (40th and 10th in 24:16), Paul Campbell (57th in 25:30), Aisling O’Riordan (78th and 25th in 27:26), Maureen McGinley (81st and 26th in 27:31), Orlaith de Burca (97th and 33rd in 29:28) and Karla Woods (101st and 37th in 29:58). The morning after her office Christmas party, Caroline Crowley came home in 2nd place (and 4th) in 21:29 to Niamh Clifford who was overall first finisher in Brickfields, whilst Sarah Lyons ran in Griffeen Park where she placed 4th and 29th in 23:41. Ronan Moynihan crossed the line in 8th place in Malahide with a time of 18:37, whilst Paul F. Kelly took 166th spot in St. Anne’s in 26:28.Anthony O’Reilly and Olwyn Dunne ran in Marlay, where they respectively took 13th and 84th (and 10th) in 20:28 and 23:48. David O’Donnell ran 22:47 for 9th place in Athlone, whilst Mairin Shine was our sole representative in Waterstown, placing 45th overall and 15th female finisher in a time that needs to be corrected. Mairead Cashman ran once again in Bushy Park where she placed 84th and 16th in 28:26, whilst Andrej Kujikis ran in Oriam Park in Scotland, where he placed 60th in a time of 26:13 and a field of 172. Finally, Kris Ryan ran in Paradise Point, Queensland once again where she placed 47th and 5th in a time of 23:35.

National Novices Women’s 4k XC (134)
Overall place Name Guntime
1 Cliona Murphy 00:15:37
Crusaders AC runners
17 Clara Costadura 00:16:42
19 Catherine Thornton 00:16:46
73 Rachael Yorke 00:18:23
83 Maura Mahoney 00:18:37
97 Fiona Shine 00:18:58
99 Grainne Regan 00:19:01
116 Sarah Lyons 00:19:47
117 Maria del Carmen Jimenez Campos 00:19:52
119 Maria Kennedy 00:19:54
120 Lisa Shine 00:19:57
123 Rebecca Fleming 00:20:19
127 Carina Davidson 00:21:32
129 Anna Shine 00:21:41 Full results here: https://www.athleticsireland.ie/downloads/results/Novive_Women.pdf
National Novices Men’s 6k XC (216)
Overall place Name Guntime
1 Donal Devane 00:21:02
Crusaders AC runners
29 Shane Collins 00:22:21
42 Michael Kiely 00:22:44
46 Vinnie McGuinness 00:22:51
61 Jason Kehoe 00:23:13
62 Michael Wycherley 00:23:18
72 John Mulvihill 00:23:30
77 Brian Hyland 00:23:35
80 Paul Reidy 00:23:36
86 Ciaran Diviney 00:23:40
92 Michael O’Conor 00:23:48
106 John McAuley 00:24:06
116 Peter O’Toole 00:24:22
130 Joe McDermott 00:24:35
162 Frank Hague 00:25:41
181 Eddie Nugent 00:26:24
202 Patrick Needham 00:28:08
212 Brendan Glynn 00:30:32
Full results here: https://www.athleticsireland.ie/downloads/results/Novice_Men.pdf
Aware 5k (441)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Eoghan Murphy 1 00:16:35
10 Sadhbh Byrne 1 00:20:28
Crusaders AC runners
5 Luke Davis 00:18:15
98 Tanja Narancic 00:26:37 (31)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/aware_christmas_5k__10k/3473/results
Aware 10k (777)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Pauric Ennis 1 00:33:10
35 Edel Gaffney 1 00:39:31
Crusaders AC runners
4 Kieran Little 00:34:16
227 Carina Davidson 00:48:50 (36)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/aware_christmas_5k__10k/3473/results
Malahide Parkrun #371 (236)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Thomas Collins 1 00:16:46
12 Lexi Hopping 1 00:19:18
Crusaders AC runner
8 Ronan Moynihan 00:18:37
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=371
St Anne’s Parkrun #312 (362)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Rossa Hurley 1 00:16:14
21 Emma Harding 1 00:20:32
Crusaders AC runner
166 Paul F. Kelly 00:26:28
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=312
Waterstown Parkrun #286 (71)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Shane Whelan 1 00:20:41
9 Finola Fitzsimons 1 xxx
Crusaders AC runner
45 Mairin Shine xxx (15)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/waterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=286
Marlay Parkrun #332 (391)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Damian Bourke 1 00:17:41
12 Carole Bray 1 00:20:12
Crusaders AC runners
13 Anthony O’Reilly 00:20:28
84 Olwyn Dunne 00:23:48 (10)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=332
Poolbeg Parkrun #121 (119)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Stephen Hurley 1 00:18:11
11 Michelle McDonald 1 00:20:56
Crusaders AC runners
1 Stephen Hurley 00:18:11
2 Kenan Furlong 00:18:17
24 Russell Murphy 00:22:40
33 Sharon Woods 00:23:31 (6)
38 Aine Kenny 00:23:57 (8)
40 Ava Rose Clarke 00:24:16 (10)
57 Paul Campbell 00:25:30
78 Aisling O’Riordan 00:27:26 (25)
81 Maureen McGinley 00:27:31 (26)
97 Orlaith de Burca 00:29:28 (33)
101 Karla Woods 00:29:58 (37)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=121
Athlone Parkrun #220 (43)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Vernon Walsh 1 00:19:16
16 Rosarii Dunne 1 00:25:45
Crusaders AC runner
9 David O’Donnell 00:22:47
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/athlone/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=220
Griffeen Parkrun #340 (121)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Liam Fitzgerald 1 00:19:21
21 Amanda Bruce 1 00:22:59
Crusaders AC runner
29 Sarah Lyons 00:23:41 (4)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/griffeen/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=340
Bushy Parkrun #147 (147)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Richard Murphy 1 00:19:09
13 Christine Kinsella 1 00:21:28
Crusaders AC runner
84 Mairead Cashman 00:28:26 (16)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/bushydublin/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=147
Brickfields Parkrun #100 (67)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Niamh Clifford 1 00:20:03
2 Eoghan O’Scanaill 1 00:21:06
Crusaders AC runner
4 Caroline Crowley 00:21:29 (2) Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/brickfields/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=100

Standing: Peter O'Toole, Michael Wycherley, Vinnie McGuinness, Ciaran Diviney, Frank Hague, Joe McDermott, Brendan Glynn, Michael Kiely and John Mulvihill. Kneeling: Shane Collins, John McAuley, Jason Kehoe, Brian Hyland, Michael O'Conor, Eddie Nugent, Patrick Needham and Paul Reidy.