Niamh Allen finds the key to success once more in a BHAA event

3/2/2019

Back row: Will Owens, Peter O'Toole, Rob Cross, Patrick Needham, Jason Kehoe, Gary Park, Stephen Hurley. Front row: Joe McDermott, Ciaran Diviney, Ger Forde, Eddie Nugent

In wet and muddy conditions in Dundalk we witnessed the National Intermediate XC Championships as well as the National Masters Championships. Whilst we did not field any runners this year in the two Intermediates races, we had a decent showing in both men’s and women’s masters events.

The women's event went off first on a muddy relatively flat course (with the exception of a short and muddy hill about 800m from the end of each large loop). We were experiencing light drizzle at the time and it turned heavier as the afternoon progressed. The women's race of 4k involved one short loop of about 750m, followed by two loops of 1500m and then a short 250m run-in diversion towards the finish line. The field for each of the masters races witnessed significantly larger participation than for either of the intermediate events, with the women's race involving 154 runners from O/35 through to O/75. Our team of 4 intrepid athletes came in 13th in the O/35 team category and individually they were led home by Grainne Regan (62nd overall, 23rd in category) in a time of 16:35 (the race winner being St. Finbarrs' Martina Kiely running 14:23), who enjoyed a ding-dong sprint to the line with Donore's women's captain, Florence Curley. Next came Aine Kenny, not so far behind in 65th overall, 24th O/35, in 16:35, followed by Maria Kennedy (86th and 29th in 17:23) and Lisa Shine (123rd and 34th in 18:35).

Eleven men from the club turned out for their unusual distance of 7k, involving the same short loop and finish and 4 longer loops. There was a huge field of 244 runners and they were led home by Mark McKinstry of North Belfast Harriers who was given the win in 21:19. First across the line, however, was Yared Derese of Carrick Aces, who finished in 3rd place last week in the Raheny 5 miler. However, it is possible that he was disqualified perhaps for reasons of eligibility. Both runners finished significantly ahead of the chasing group which included Rossa Hurley of Donore who was given 2nd place (21:53) in an excellent sprint finish. Our contingent was led home by Stephen Hurley who placed 28th overall (15th in his age category) in 23:39, followed by Ciaran Diviney (34th and 6th in 23:52) and Jason Kehoe who also had an excellent result (51st and 27th in 24:22). Jason was followed by the ever-dependable Peter O'Toole (60th and 31st in 24:41) and Ger Forde who worked his way through the field (63rd and 14th in his new age category in 24:45). Next came Joe McDermott who also enjoyed a stormer of a race (72nd and 35th in 25:09), not too far ahead of Rob Cross (79th and 12th in 25:20). Eddie Nugent also enjoyed a super race (127th and 15th in 26:28) ahead of a slightly under-the-weather Will Owens (130th and 45th in 26:35). Completing the picture were Gary Park (213th and 50th in 29:22) and Patrick Needham in his first outing of the year (220th and 52nd in 29:36). Stephen, Ciaran, Jason and Peter were the four scorers for the team who came in 8th out of 17 in the end.

On Saturday morning in chilly but calm conditions the traditional BHAA Garda XC races (that may have been going for more than 30 years) took place on the hills around the magazine fort in the Phoenix Park. The course route is broadly familiar to club runners, particularly those from Crusaders as we train on them regularly. The frozen grass was crunchy underfoot in several places, leading to a slight deviation from the usual route, but not enough to make any significant difference.

Once again, Niamh Allen stamped her authority on a 2-mile all women’s BHAA race, this time in a huge field of 252, the numbers swelled as usual by the Lord Mayor’s runners. The route involved 2 one mile laps and, because of the size of the field, the lead runners had to negotiate their way through a substantial number of back markers to get to the finish. Niamh had a great race, leading from early on and eventually coming home ahead of 2nd placed runner, Linda Byrne, by 12 seconds in a super time of 11:42 for the distance. Linda was herself 9 seconds ahead of the 3rd placed athlete and all 3 were nearly 2 minutes ahead of the rest of the field. All in all we had 7 runners in the race, with 3 in the top 10, including Serena Moloney who ran 14:10, followed by Sarah Lyons not so far behind in 9th (14:19). Next came Maeve Muldowney with an excellent 15th place (14:49), followed by Susan Walsh (22nd in 15:50 and 3rd F55). The contingent was completed by Mairead Cashman in her second event of the morning (following a parkrun) (47th in 18:29) and Maureen McGinley (59th in 19:32).

The mixed 4-mile race also produced excellent results for the club. We had at least 20 runners in the event, with two taking podium spots. Surprisingly, perhaps, at 183 the field was smaller than that of the women’s two miler. The course involved 1 initial one mile lap (the same as the women’s and a route with which we are familiar), followed by two laps where the loop was extended to take it almost to the Acres Road before turning back onto to the flat and past the start line. At the end of the first lap Fearghal O’Hare was running alongside Eoin Healy, the eventual winner at the front of the race pursued by Michael Kiely, who was able to make up some ground on them through the second and briefly take the lead, only to have to settle for 2nd place (21:37) as Healy broke away towards the end and finishing with only a 6 second margin in 21:31. Fearghal came home a little further back in 3rd (22:01). Michael had clearly put behind him the difficulties he faced in the Raheny road race last week, whilst so did Michael O’Conor who had not enjoyed the BHAA Cherryfield XC a week earlier. Always in touch with a group of 3-4 runners, he stormed through in the last lap to finish in 7th place (23:03) ahead of Frank Halligan (9th in 23:13) and John Mulvihill (10th in 23:19) who both had excellent races all the same. Michael Wycherley also enjoyed the success of a good race, placing 14th and 2nd M45 in a time of 23:54, followed closely by Frank Hague (16th in 23:59) and by Joe Walsh, following his PB exploit in Raheny with a super 22nd place (2nd M40) in 24:26. Enda Currid was next (31st and 3rd M45 in 24:52), followed by Karl Walsh (36th in 25:28), Brian Carroll (58th in 27:27) and Tom Dunne (62nd in 27:42). Further down the field came David Timoney (71st in 28:30), followed by Brendan Glynn (75th in 28:43), Robbie Moore (85th in 29:38), Tony Hackett (92nd in 29:58), Michael McGovern (97th in 30:31), Karl Gohery (104th in 31:25) and Paul E. Kelly (166th in 40:47).

We had some great results in the Athletics Ireland Indoor Games on Saturday. In the 60mH series one and two, Matt Behan won both heats in 7.97 and 8.02, whilst Shane Keane placed 1st in 7.08 in heat 4 of the first series of the 60m and 6th in 7.05 in heat 1 of the second series, whilst also going on to jump 6.69m and take 4th place in the men’s long jump. Andrew Mellon placed 2nd in the 400m, whilst placing 6th in 7.19 in heat 1 of the first series of the 60m and 1st in 7:06 in heat 2 of the second series, ahead of Nick Ennis who placed 2nd in 7.09. Nick also took 2nd place in heat 2 of the first series in a time of 7.21. He also placed 1st in the 200m in 22:47. Valentinos Goularas ran in heat 4 of the first series of the 60m, placing 5th in a time of 7.23. In the longer distance events Mary Horgan ran an excellent 2:13.09 to place 3rd in the 800m, whilst Kevin Woods also ran well to place 5th in the men's 800m in a time of 1:53.04.

Then on Sunday there were two 10-mile races on offer, one in Dungarvan in Co. Waterford and the other in Trim. Whilst no Crusaders were detectable in Trim, we had at least 5 running in Dungarvan. Alban Coghlan was our first runner home in 25th place in a field of 2378 finishers. Alban ran the distance in an excellent 55:57, followed home by a delighted Dee Ni Chearbhaill (629th overall, 70th female finisher) in 73:54. Dee’s husband Sean of United Striders also ran the distance, with a slight stomach bug, and despite that, placing 94th in 60:23. Further down the field came Barry O'Neill (940th in 1:20:24), Ian Hennessy (2105th in 01:40:08) and Fiona Lane (2353rd overall, 1022nd female, in 01:58:35). Conditions on the largely flat one loop course would have been slightly warmer than on the previous day, and as dry, which reportedly made it almost perfect.

One event that didn't take place over the weekend was Saturday's IMRA 8.7k race in Glencullen above Stepaside in the Dublin mountains. The presence of snow and ice on the course led to postponement of the challenging event with its 300m climb. In seeing this, we realise that we missed reporting on an event held by IMRA on 19 January in Howth. In a field of 136 runners on a relatively easy course of 6.2k and a climb of approx. 160m, Becky Quinn came home in 20th place overall in a time of 33:33 behind race winner Ruairi Long (30:06). Becky was 2nd female overall and 1st in her age category.

There was a reasonable number of Crusaders in the parkruns on Saturday morning. As usual, we had some good results, particularly from some of our female athletes. On her birthday Rachael Yorke recorded a PB in placing 18th overall, first finisher in a time of 19:35 in St Anne’s. Rachael was joined in the race by Leo Lundy (245th in 26:54), whilst Katie Rogers ran 19:19 (another possible PB) in coming across the line in Poolbeg in 10th place overall, first female finisher. In the same event Tim Francony placed 3rd in 17:29, whilst Aine Kenny took 32nd place overall, 2nd female finisher in 21:18. The trio were followed by Luke Haran (37th in 21:34), Russell Murphy (62nd in 23:37), Sharon Woods (76th overall, 13th woman, in 24:20), Donna Barry (92nd overall, 17th woman, in 25:21), Ava Rose Clarke (96th overall, 20th woman, in 25:31), Neil Brown, coming back from injury (138th in 28:35), Ciara McElligott (159th overall, 48th female, in 30:56) and Don Anderton, tailwalking (188th in 45:31). Amy Brogan was also a first finisher this week in Porterstown. Amy ran 22:18 and placed 11th overall, followed by Donal Foley (41st in 24:57) and Kevin Flynn (168th in 38:31). Dominick Branigan, otherwise in training for the Rotterdam marathon, placed 4th in Bushy Park in a time of 19:38, whilst Luke Davis also placed 4th in Marlay in 18:40. Luke was followed home by Killian Barry (27th in 20:10) and Aisling O’Connor (499th overall, 164th woman, in 45:21). In Cabinteely, Fiona Shine made it onto the podium in 3rd place (40th overall) in a time of 23:35, followed by Gemma Nagle (98th overall, 21st woman, in 27:06), Joe Dunne (139th in 29:54) and Olwyn Dunne (142nd overall, 41st woman, in 29:58), both pacing the 30 minute runners, and Lisa Shine (153rd overall, 48th female finisher, in 31:07). Maria Pertl and Diarmuid Byrne ran in Poppintree with Maria placing 42nd overall (7th female) in 25:53 and Diarmuid 43rd in 25:54. On his travels to the Far East Tim O’Donnell took the time to run in New Zealand. In Queenstown in a field of 89 he took 9th place in 21:35. Mairead Cashman ran 29:37 in Brickfields to place 50th overall (14th female) before running in the BHAA XC, whilst Brian Scanlan placed 10th in 22:13 in Porterstown.

BHAA Garda XC women’s 2 mile (252)
Overall place Name Guntime
1 Niamh Allen 00:11:42
Crusaders AC runners
1 Niamh Allen 00:11:42
7 Serena Moloney 00:14:10
9 Sarah Lyons 00:14:19
15 Maeve Muldowney 00:14:49
22 Susan Walsh 00:15:50
47 Mairead Cashman 00:18:29
59 Maureen McGinley 00:19:32
Full results here: https://bhaa.ie/race/garda-2m-2019/?fbclid=IwAR2Zv8_oUPlEI6KYoQ8q_77ccVPtohjsHBO4egoDd8Hi1MjI-kfpTfKXAvg
BHAA Garda XC mixed 4 mile (183)
Overall place Name Guntime
1 Eoin Healy 00:21:31
Crusaders AC runners
2 Michael Kiely 00:21:37
3 Fearghal O’Hare 00:22:01
7 Michael O’Conor 00:23:03
9 Frank Halligan 00:23:13
10 John Mulvihill 00:23:19
14 Michael Wycherley 00:23:54
16 Frank Hague 00:23:59
22 Joe Walsh 00:24:26
31 Enda Currid 00:24:52
36 Karl Walsh 00:25:28
58 Brian Carroll 00:27:27
62 Tomas Dunne 00:27:42
71 David Timoney 00:28:30
75 Brendan Glynn 00:28:43
85 Robbie Moore 00:29:38
92 Tony Hackett 00:29:58
97 Michael McGovern 00:30:31
104 Karl Gohery 00:31:25
166 Paul E. Kelly 00:40:47
Full results here: https://bhaa.ie/race/garda-4m-2019/?fbclid=IwAR2r3SP_86zh7tXS8T0uL59dgxhzXKaIJUk-EOmj4ojpB31yQg57t78fTxE
John Treacy Dungarvan 10 mile race (2378)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Kevin Maunsell 1 00:49:36
44 Grace Lynch 1 00:58:00
Crusaders AC runners
25 Alban Coghlan 00:55:57
629 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 01:13:54 (70)
940 Barry O'Neill 01:20:24
2105 Ian Hennessy 01:40:08
2353 Fiona Lane 01:58:35 (1022)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/john_treacy_dungarvan_10/2909/results#gs.6WL3LvOA
River Valley Parkrun #131 (146)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Luke Murphy 1 00:19:52
9 Maeve O’Mahony 1 00:22:07
Crusaders AC runner
10 Brian Scanlan 00:22:13
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/rivervalley/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=131
Marlay Parkrun #291 (508)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Arnaud Malinconi 1 00:18:01
28 Paula Prendergast 1 00:20:12
Crusaders AC runners
4 Luke Davis 00:18:40
27 Killian Barry 00:20:10
499 Aisling O’Connor 00:45:21 (164)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=291
Bushy Parkrun #102 (239)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Adam Moss 1 00:18:56
25 Christine Kinsella 1 00:21:37
Crusaders AC runner
4 Dominick Branigan 00:19:38
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/bushydublin/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=102
Poppintree Parkrun #220 (144)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Marcus Bishop 1 00:17:51
15 Kate Cleary 1 00:22:10
Crusaders AC runners
42 Maria Pertl 00:25:53 (7)
43 Diarmuid Byrne 00:25:54
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poppintree/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=220
Porterstown Parkrun #173 (211)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Philip O’Leary 1 00:18:56
11 Amy Brogan 1 00:22:18
Crusaders AC runners
11Amy Brogan 00:22:18 (1)
41 Donal Foley 00:24:57
168 Kevin Flynn 00:38:31
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/porterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=173
St. Anne’s Parkrun #270 (507)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Martin McKenna 1 00:17:26
18 Rachael Yorke 1 00:19:35
Crusaders AC runners
18 Rachael Yorke 00:19:35 (1) (PB)
245 Leo Lundy 00:26:54
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=270
Brickfields Parkrun #55 (117)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Conor McHugh 1 00:20:34
18 Sandra Telford 1 00:25:07
Crusaders AC runner
50 Mairead Cashman 00:29:37 (14)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/brickfields/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=55
Poolbeg Parkrun #76 (188)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Jafer Abdulshekur 1 00:16:51
10 Katie Rogers 1 00:19:19
Crusaders AC runners
3 Tim Francony 00:17:29
10 Katie Rogers 00:19:19 (1)
32 Aine Kenny 00:21:18 (2)
37 Luke Haran 00:21:34
62 Russell Murphy 00:23:37
76 Sharon Woods 00:23:53 (9)
92 Donna Barry 00:25:21 (17)
96 Ava Rose Clarke 00:25:31 (20)
138 Neil Brown 00:28:35
159 Ciara McElligott 00:30:56 (48)
188 Don Anderton 00:45:31
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=76
Cabinteely Parkrun #200 (227)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Ted Burke 1 00:18:44
12 Malika Hammani 1 00:20:51
Crusaders AC runners
40 Fiona Shine 00:23:35 (3)
98 Gemma Nagle 00:27:06 (21)
139 Joe Dunne 00:29:54
142 Olwyn Dunne 00:29:58 (41)
153 Lisa Shine 00:31:07 (48)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=20