Not yet gone with the wind. Continuing road racing challenges over the long weekend

18/3/2019

Back row: Joe Dunne, Eddie Nugent, Sharon Woods, Neil Brown, Paul E. Kelly, Olwyn Dunne, Mairead Cashman, Maria Kennedy, Isabelle Cairns, Rebecca Fleming. Front row: Luke Davis, Brendan Glynn, Maria del Carmen Jimenez Campos, Lisa Shine, Tim O'Donnell and Fiona Bane

Conditions remained tough around the country on another weekend of road racing, the highlight of which was the excellent Crusader turnout at the MSB-organised St Patrick’s Festival 5k on bank holiday Monday, in which we had at least 44 participants.

Many will recall that this race was cancelled last year because of snowy conditions. This year, mercifully, runners had only the blustery conditions to contend with on an otherwise reasonably mild day. Indeed, the wind behaved strangely around the winding Dublin city centre course, with its many turns, and on occasions runners were encountering the wind from different directions on the same street. It was an exciting race, won by Hiko Tonosa in 14:52 (having placed 2nd the day before in 14:34 in the Streets of Portlaoise 5k, the opening race of the KIA race series, where John Travers took a course record with the win) in a sprint with Efrem Gidey, the two quite far ahead of the field, whilst it was great to see Fionnuala McCormack making a strong and impactful return to local racing after the recent birth of her first child, and placing 10th overall in a field of nearly 1300 finishers.

As with previous editions of this race, several of the runners reported that the course measured a little long (perhaps by as much as 80m), but GPS can play strange tricks on city courses with buildings blocking signals and there were also results reported which were closer to the mark. On balance, it was likely to be close enough to a true 5k, but the debate is endless! Because many of the runners had entries deferred from last year, it is also possible that some of the age category information may not have been updated and a few runners eligible for prizes may have missed out as a result. So, everyone should check their details on the MRR website to ensure that they were recorded correctly.

First across the line for the club and running extremely strongly was Italo Giancaterina in 12th place in a time of 16:17, followed not too far behind by Ciaran Diviney in 21st (16:39) and winner of his M45 age category. Michael Kiely also had an excellent run to place 28th in 16:53, followed by other great performances from Joe O'Donohue (35th in 17:05), Joe McDermott (47th in 17:30) and Barry McGuire (50th in 17:33) to finish in the top 50. Indeed, Italo, Ciaran, Michael and Joe McDermott were our 4 scorers in the men’s team and they took 2nd place overall out of 22 entries. For once on the flat, Warren Swords was next in 53rd (17:36), followed by Michael Wycherley in his first race for a while (61st in 17:46) after lots of easy running over the past month or so. Top 100 or so places also went to John McAuley (67th in 17:56), Luke Davis (82nd in 18:26), Vinnie McGuinness (83rd in 18:26), Eddie Nugent (93rd in 18:39), Ronan Moynihan (96th in 18:42) and Karl Walsh (101st in 18:54). Top 150 places went to Zlatko Kulic (113th in 19:10), Michael Fitzsimons (115th in 19:21), Patrick Needham (119th in 19:27) and Tim O'Donnell (139th in 19:52).

Crusader women also ran well with at least 14 in the race. They were led home by Isabelle Cairns (225th overall and 42nd female finisher) in a time of 21:34 and Isabelle was followed by Maria Kennedy (242nd and 47th and winner of her F35 age category in 21:58), Rebecca Fleming just behind (243rd and 48th in 21:54), and Olwyn Dunne (257th, 53rd and 3rd F50 in 22:14), with the four women scoring for the club and taking a respectable 7th place out of the 21 team entries. Also among the top 100 women, Emer Kenny was next (265th and 55th in 22:17), followed by Aoife Kelly (268th and 58th in the same time), Kate Murray (269th and 59th in 22:22), Lisa Shine (290th and 69th in 22:39) and Maria del Carmen Jimenez Campos (296th and 72nd in 22:50). A little further back came Fiona Bane who placed 419th and 122nd in 25:08. Well done to all our runners, whose results are listed below, as usual. Not so many, if any, PBs on the day, but the course is a tight one and the wind would not have helped. Also, one result that members may be interested in is that of Sean Murphy who trains with us and who placed 57th in 17:41 and whose RunHub team took the corporate team prize.

At the weekend, we saw a succession of half marathon races starting off on Saturday with the Tralee Half. We had just one runner in the Co. Kerry race with its field of 277 participants. Maurice Kelter, in training for Rotterdam, placed 19th in a time of 1:28:04. Then, on Sunday we had participants in Balbriggan and Mullingar. The former, with its field of 145 runners, is likely to become notorious as a result of a video recording runners coming off the wrong exit of a roundabout in the early stages of the race. Indeed, the race winner, our Adam Flanagan who is also preparing for the Rotterdam marathon, was sent the wrong way twice on his journey to complete what turned out to be a 21.8km half! Another Rotterdam-bound runner, Rob Browne, who placed 7th, also experienced the same difficulty so that their respective times of 1:19:21 and 1:29:25 are potentially somewhat dodgy. Dee Ni Chearbhaill also ran in Balbriggan the same morning, competing in the more than 300-strong 10k. Dee nearly failed to make the start not realising the gun would go 15 minutes ahead of what she was expecting and still in the middle of her warm-up, but managed to take an excellent 2nd place (25th overall) in a time of 44:20 on an undulating and windy course. The next half took place in Mullingar, also on Sunday, where we saw some more spring marathoners compete. In a race where the top male finishers were Tomas Fitzpatrick and Sean Hehir, 5 seconds apart) and where the top 3 female finishers were only 24 seconds apart, there was a strong field of more than 1400. Rory Goldsmith, preparing for Paris, was our first Crusader home, running at marathon pace for the most part, and placing 77th in 1:28:39. He was followed by Kevin Lambe (170th in 1:35:14) and by John Lohan (210th in 1:37:09), who with his wife Tara Murphy (706th overall and 167th woman, in 1:53:40) is preparing for Connemara in mid-April too. Carina Davidson was next (575th and 115thin 1:50:24), followed by another Rotterdammer, Mari Hansen (712th and 171st in 1:53:59). The remaining participants were Cliodhna O’Reilly (1051st and 339 in 2:06:02), Katie McElroy, yet another bound for Rotterdam and who combined the race with her long run (1204th and 435th in 2:13:50), Maureen McGinley (1,313th and 510th in 2:23:43), Ciara McElligott (1,320th and 514th in 2:24:32) running together with Brian Langton (1,321st in 2:24:31).

To compete the half marathon picture, we also had two runners in New York on Sunday. On a hilly course around Central Park Joe Walsh ran a PB time of 1:19:46 (the first time he has broken 1:20), whilst his wife Alma ran a strong 1:28:51, coming back from recent injury.

Further afield, Kris Ryan ran a 23-mile PB when she came home 4th female at the Australian National 48hr championships in Canberra, covering a staggering 160 miles around a 400 metre track in truly hot conditions. Not only that, but Kris competed with a broken arm in a sling! Hats off to her.

We had runners in 9 parkruns on Saturday and clearly the best results came in Poolbeg, where Sharon Woods was not only celebrating a milestone birthday and a new masters age category, but was also participating in her 100th parkrun. Lisa Shine was also taking part in her 150th. So, we had at least 14 Crusaders in the event, where the two first finishers were also Crusaders. Stephen Hurley took top spot in 18:25, whilst Fiona Shine finished in 13th place overall in a time of 21:40. Russell Murphy also joined in the fun, placing 29th in 24:10, followed by Ali May Hann (34th and 5th in 24:43), Ava Rose Clarke (38th and 6th in 25:43), Sharon Woods (61st and 15th in 27:22), Donna Barry (62nd and 16th in 27:23), Olwyn Dunne (81st and 27th in 28:43), Lisa Shine (82nd and 28th in 29:03), Paul E. Kelly (83rd in 29:14), Mari Hansen (88th and 33rd in 30:00), Don Anderton (105th in 32:48) and Aisling O’Connor (106th and 40th in 32:49). Ronan Moynihan placed 4th in 18:42 and Aoife Cowhie took 98th spot overall (20th female) in 24:52 in Malahide, whilst Colm Foley placed 33rd in 23:20 in Griffeen Park. Brian Scanlan took 6th place in 22:00 in River Valley, whilst Kevin Flynn placed 109th in 42:35 in Porterstown. Aoife and Paul F. Kelly ran together in Fairview, with Aoife taking 40th (and 11th) in 29:25, followed by Paul (44th in 29:31). Liam Lyster was our sole representative in Strokestown where he placed 8th in 28:11, whilst further afield Orlaith de Burca took part in a field of 71 in Jamaica Pond, Boston, Massachusetts, where she ran 29:03 to place 46th (and 12th). Finally, Sarah Lyons took the long break to head home to Aylesbury where she ran in Wendover Woods among 84 other participants. Sarah placed 28th overall, 5th woman, in 25:56.

MSB St. Patrick’s Festival 5k (1279)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Hiko Tonosa 1 00:14:52
10 Fionnuala McCormack 1 00:16:02
Crusaders AC runners
12 Italo Giancaterina 00:16:17
21 Ciaran Diviney 00:16:39
28 Michael Kiely 00:16:53
35 Joe O'Donoghue 00:17:05
47 Joe McDermott 00:17:30
50 Barry McGuire 00:17:33
51 Warren Swords 00:17:36
61 Michael Wycherley 00:17:46
67 John McAuley 00:17:56
82 Luke Davis 00:18:26
83 Vinnie McGuinness 00:18:26
93 Eddie Nugent 00:18:39
96 Ronan Moynihan 00:18:42
101 Karl Walsh 00:18:54
113 Zlatko Kulic 00:19:10
115 Michael Fitzsimons 00:19:21
120 Patrick Needham 00:19:27
140 Tim O’Donnell 00:19:52
157 Tomas Dunne 00:20:18
173 Phelim Murray 00:20:38
179 Brendan Glynn 00:20:45
203 Paul F. Kelly 00:21:09
203 Robbie Moore 00:21:17
222 Tony Hackett 00:21:34
225 Isabelle Cairns 00:21:34 (42)
236 Tim Hyland 00:21:49
242 Maria Kennedy 00:21:58 (47)
243 Rebecca Fleming 00:21:54 (48)
248 Anthony Owens 00:21:57
249 Joe Dunne 00:22:05
254 Neil Brown 00:22:10
257 Olwyn Dunne 00:22:14 (53)
265 Emer Kenny 00:22:17 (55)
268 Aoife Kelly 00:22:17 (58)
269 Kate Murray 00:22:22 (59)
290 Lisa Shine 00:22:39 (69)
296 Maria del Carmen Jimenez Campos 00:22:50 (72)
420 Fiona Bane 00:25:08 (122)
453 Sharon Woods 00:25:40 (141)
504 Mairead Cashman 00:26:40 (169)
523 Paul E. Kelly 00:26:36
1020 Mary Fitzsimons 00:33:28 (538)
1021 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:33:29 (539)

Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/msb_st._patricks_festival_5k_2019/2948/results
Balbriggan Half Marathon (145)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Adam Flanagan 1 01:19:21
13 Aoife Parrella 1 01:34:13
Crusaders AC runners
1 Adam Flanagan 01:19:21
7 Robert Browne 01:29:25
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/balbriggan_cancer_support_half_marathon__10k/2897/results
Balbriggan 10k (311)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Simon Ryan 1 00:34:57
12 Fiona Diskin 1 00:41:03
Crusaders AC runner
25 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:44:20 (2)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/balbriggan_cancer_support_half_marathon__10k/2897/results
Tralee Half marathon (277)
Overall place Name Cat Place Chiptime
1 Derek Griffin 1 01:15:29
20 Sorcha Loughnane 1 01:28:22
Crusaders AC runner
19 Maurice Kelter 01:28:04
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/tralee_harriers_half_marathon__10k/2980/results
Mullingar Half marathon (1402)
Overall place Name Cat Place Chiptime
1 Tom Fitzpatrick 1 01:08:01
33 Adrianna Mulligan 1 01:22:44
Crusaders AC runners
77 Rory Goldsmith 01:28:39
170 Kevin Lambe 01:35:14
210 John Lohan 01:37:09
575 Carina Davidson 01:50:24 (115)
706 Tara Murphy 01:53:40 (167)
712 Mari Hansen 01:53:59 (171)
1051 Cliodhna O’Reilly 02:06:02 (339)
1204 Katie McElroy 02:13:50 (435)
1313 Maureen McGinley 02:23:43 (510)
1320 Ciara McElligott 02:24:32 (514)
1321 Brian Langton 02:24:31
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/aon_mullingar_half_marathon_2019/2965/results
Malahide Parkrun #332 (319)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Robert Frewen 1 00:18:07
2 Sinead Lambe 1 00:18:38
Crusaders AC runners
4 Ronan Moynihan 00:18:42
98 Aoife Cowhie 00:24:52 (20)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.org.uk/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=332
Griffeen Parkrun #301 (182)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Ciaran O’Raghallaigh 1 00:18:09
18 Breda Smyth 1 00:21:33
Crusaders AC runner
33 Colm Foley 00:23:20
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/griffeen/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=301
Fairview Parkrun #85 (88)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Rory Hearne 1 00:20:29
13 Gillian McMahon 1 00:25:08
Crusaders AC runners
40 Aoife Kelly 00:29:25 (11)
44 Paul F. Kelly 00:29:31
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/fairview/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=85
River Valley Parkrun #137 (79)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Luke Murphy 1 00:19:58
5 Cecile Ollagnier 1 00:21:50
Crusaders AC runner
6 Brian Scanlan 00:22:00
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/rivervalley/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=137
Poolbeg Parkrun #82 (121)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Stephen Hurley 1 00:18:25
13 Fiona Shine 1 00:21:40
Crusaders AC runners
1 Stephen Hurley 00:18:25
13 Fiona Shine 00:21:40 (1)
29 Russell Murphy 00:24:10
32 Neil Brown 00:24:25
38 Ava Rose Clarke 00:25:43 (5)
61 Sharon Woods 00:27:22 (15)
62 Donna Barry 00:27:23 (16)
81 Olwyn Dunne 00:28:43 (27)
82 Lisa Shine 00:29:03 (28)
83 Paul E. Kelly 00:29:14
88 Mari Hansen 00:30:00 (33)
105 Don Anderton 00:32:48
106 Aisling O’Connor 00:32:49 (40)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=82
Strokestown Parkrun #27 (35)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Patrick Diffley 1 00:22:56
3 Louise Brennan 1 00:25:58
Crusaders AC runner
8 Liam Lyster 00:28:11
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/strokestown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=27
Porterstown Parkrun #179 (119)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Niall Sherlock 1 00:19:42
3 Laura Cullen 1 00:20:27
Crusaders AC runner
109 Kevin Flynn 00:42:35
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/porterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=179

Joe McDermott, Barry McGuire and Patrick Needham

Brian Langton, Cliodhna O'Reilly and Ciara McElligott

Aoife Kelly

Barry McGuire

Brendan Glynn

Ciaran Diviney

Eddie Nugent

Emer Kenny

Fiona Bane

Isabelle Cairns

Joe McDermott and Barry McGuire

Joe Dunne

John McAuley

Karl Walsh

Kate Murray and Emer Kenny

Lisa Shine

Lorraine Fitzsimons (1977) and Mary Fitzsimons (1978)

Mairead Cashman

Emer Kenny and Rebecca Fleming

Maria del Carmen Jimenez Campos

Maria Kennedy, Joe Dunne and Rebecca Fleming

Michael Fitzsimons

Michael Kiely

Michael Wycherley and John McAuley

Neil Brown

Neil Brown, Kate Murray, Olwyn Dunne and Tony Owens (1994)

Olwyn Dunne

Patrick Needham

Paul E. Kelly

Paul F. Kelly

Robbie Moore

Tim O'Donnell

Tim Hyland, Olwyn Dunne, Rebecca Fleming and Kate Murray

Tony Hackett