Off to a Flying Start

2/1/2017

Dee Ni Chearbhaill

A new year, but, thankfully, more of the same. There has been some excellent running over the Christmas period and this has continued into the races that took place on New Year’s Day and since.

There were two 5k races of note to start the New Year and both experienced a return of windy conditions. The first took place in the Phoenix Park on a two loop course taking in the Furze Road, Ordnance Survey Road and Chesterfield Avenue. It was the annual running of the Tom Brennan Memorial 5k, organized by Liffey Valley AC and this year including the first race in the Lord Mayor’s 5-Alive Challenge, which ensured that the numbers remained high with nearly 600 finishers. By all accounts it was a windy day with the wind behind the runners on Chesterfield Avenue but strongly in one’s face on the Furze Road. We had a decent turnout with at least 8 runners in the race, some taking part in the Lord Mayor’s Challenge.

After her 4th place on Wednesday in the Christmas Cracker 5k in Santry, Niamh Boland produced a spirited effort to come home in 2nd place behind Donore’s Barbara Cleary in the women’s race in the Phoenix Park, shaving off a few more seconds to finish in 18:25 (a significant improvement over her 19:15 running in last year’s event) and 43rd overall, 1st in her age category. Just behind Niamh in 48th place came Eddie Nugent who ran the course in 18:43 (a 5 seconds improvement on last year) and Eddie was followed by our visually-impaired clubmate, Donnacha McCarthy, together with his running guide, who finished in 83rd position in a PB time of 20:37 after taking a tumble at one point. Dee Ni Chearbhaill was next, again with a slightly faster time than Santry but in tougher conditions, in 92nd place overall, 14th woman and 3rd in her age category. Together with Olwyn Dunne, who was running on the back of a Christmas marathon and who placed 134th overall, 24th woman, 2nd in her age category, Dee and Niamh took 2nd team prize in the club race behind Liffey Valley and ahead of Raheny. Our other runners in the race were Suzanne Collins (291st overall, 99th woman, in 28:29), John Fitzsimons (324th in 28:44), who was accompanied by Mary Fitzsimons around the course, and Sharon Woods (553rd overall, 311th woman, in 41:01).

The second 5k of the day featuring club representation was the Allianz Resolution Run which was held at midday in windy conditions on a clockwise single loop in Galway City. Catherine Thornton, in her third race of the holidays, was our sole runner in the race (although members will be interested to know that ex-Crusader Michael Costello who now runs for Tuam also took part (as he had in Athenry earlier in the period) and he placed 14th in 18:31). In a race involving nearly 300 runners, Catherine acquitted herself well, with a 2nd place finish in the women’s race behind Kathryn Casserly, a well-known local runner with GCH. Catherine’s lack of familiarity with the course may have added a few seconds to her time as the finish was in a different place from the start. Nevertheless, the Spiddal native produced a decent 19:29 run to place 24th overall.

Naturally, the inveterate long distance runner, Leo Lundy, has already found the time to run a marathon in the New Year. This time it was the Winchelsea Chase in East Sussex on bank holiday Monday on an extremely cold seaside course. His 32.6 miles in the allotted time (despite starting 20 mins late) made him 3rd overall out of around 80 finishers. Looking back to the end of the year, Leo also took part on Thursday in the Frozen Phoenix Ultra along the Thames from Walton-Upon-Thames. The temperature was minus 4 degrees Celsius at the start and didn’t warm up for the entire race. Leo’s 29.65 miles was good enough for 3rd overall out of some 80 finishers and for exactly 3000 total miles of running in 2016. He also indicated that his completion of 26 Ultras in 2016 is off being verified as an Irish record. Fingers crossed!

On New Year’s Eve Kris Ryan took on, as a training run, the traditional "lock up the year" Marathon organised by the East of Ireland on the tow path along the Grand Canal near Le Cheile AC in Leixlip and Lucan. However, no results have yet been posted.

Other races included the participation of one or two of our clubmates. Our London exile Maeve Curry took part in the Fanore Burren 10K in Co. Clare on Friday. No results have been published yet but, in a relatively modest field, Maeve reported that she came home in 2nd place in the women’s race after a tough first half involving a climb of 400 feet. Johannes Frederking, who has recently left Dublin for Hamburg, reported that he ran in the "Silvesterlauf Werl-Soest", thought to be Europe's largest New Year's Eve race, from the city of Werl to the city of Soest. Johannes finished the 15k in a PB time of 54:21 and 22nd place out of nearly 3,700 runners. Katie Eisenhauer, one of our Austalian exiles, reported that she ran in the Geelong Country Club Dawnbuster 5K on New Year's eve, completing the distance in 20:19.

Finally, a round-up of the last parkruns of 2016: Paul O’Meara recorded a course PB time of 18:43, and that with a heavy cold, placing 10th out of 262 runners in Malahide. Suzanne Collins, preparing for the following day’s Tom Brennan 5k, also took part, coming home in 170th place overall, 48th woman, in 28:50. David Long ran in Marlay Park. In a field of more than 460 runners, David took it easily, placing 308th in a time of 29:09. In St. Anne’s Matt Cranley took 15th spot in a time of 19:55. Matt was followed by Peter O’Toole among the nearly 250 participants, placing 22nd in 20:16. Colm Kernan also took part, placing 96th in 24:22. Maria Pertl took 8th place overall, 2nd female finisher, in Poppintree. Among the 65 contestants, Maria ran a time of 21:44, whilst Orlaith Burke placed 63rd overall, 11th woman, in a time of 26:48, among a field of 124 runners in Shanganagh. Fiona Bane continued her parkrunning in Tramore, improving by 17 seconds on her previous time there the previous weekend, coming home in 24:43 and 16th overall (4th female finisher) out of 65 runners. Brian Carroll finished just behind Lizzie Lee in Cork’s Ballincollig parkrun. Brian took 5th spot in a field of nearly 230 runners, in a time of 18:47. In Cabinteely, the Shine and Dunne families represented the club. Lisa and Mairin placed, respectively, 32nd and 65th overall (9th and 29th female finishers) in times of 25:13 and 29:54, whilst Max placed 41st, Olwyn, 66th overall (30th woman), with respective times of 27:05 and 29:59. The field comprised 82 runners. Finally, we had runners in UK parkruns. Leo Lundy found the time to participate in the Basingstoke edition. In a field of more than 400, Leo came home in 113th position, in a time of 25:22, whilst Rebecca Fleming, on holiday in South London from her new home in Malta, ran in the Brockwell parkrun, finishing 5th woman, 48th overall (in a field of more than 200 runners) in a time of 22:08.

Next up will be the BHAA XC 2 and 4 mile races in Tymon Park on Saturday morning, followed by the Dublin Masters XC championships in St. Anne’s Raheny on Sunday afternoon.

Tom Brennan Memorial 5k
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Daire Bermingham 1 00:15:23
31 Barbara Cleary 1 00:17:20
Crusaders AC runners
43 Niamh Boland 00:18:25
48 Eddie Nugent 00:18:43
83 Donnacha McCarthy 00:20:37 (PB)
92 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:21:01
134 Olwyn Dunne 00:22:35
291 Suzanne Collins 00:28:29
324 John Fitzsimons 00:28:44
553 Sharon Woods 00:41:01
Full results here: http://www.myrunresults.com/events/tom_brennan_5k_road_race/1931/results
Allianz Resolution Run 5k
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Keith Fallon 1 00:16:06
16 Kathryn Casserly 1 00:18:50
Crusaders AC runner
24 Catherine Thornton 00:19:29
Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/ResolutionRun5km_2017.pdf
MalahideParkrun #217
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Unknown 1 00:16:24
5 Catherina McKiernan 1 00:17:36
Crusaders AC runners
10 Paul O’Meara 00:18:43
170 Suzanne Collins 00:28:50
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=217
Poppintree Parkrun #113
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Anthony Dorran 1 00:18:53
7 Hilary McGee 1 00:21:14
Crusaders AC runner
8 Maria Pertl 00:21:44
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poppintree/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=113
Marlay Parkrun #190
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Unknown 1 00:15:52
19 Bryony Treston 1 00:19:43
Crusaders AC runner
308 David Long 00:29:09
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=190
Shanganagh Parkrun #93
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Michael Nalty 1 00:18:37
28 Ciara Carter 1 00:23:03
Crusaders AC runner
63 Orlaith Burke 00:26:48
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=93
Cabinteely Parkrun #92
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Aidan Twomey 1 00:19:08
5 Malika Hammani 1 00:20:51
Crusaders AC runners
32 Lisa Shine 00:25:13
41 Max Dunne 00:27:05
65 Mairin Shine 00:29:54
66 Olwyn Dunne 00:29:59
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=92
St Anne’s Parkrun #163
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Colum O’Leary 1 00:16:59
7 Jenny Mulryq 1 00:18:57
Crusaders AC runners
15 Matt Cranley 00:19:55
22 Peter O’Toole 00:20:16
96 Colm Kernan 00:24:22
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=163
Tramore Parkrun #52
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Peter Francis 1 00:17:21
11 Sarah O’Donnell 1 00:24:18
Crusaders AC runner
16 Fiona Bane 00:24:43
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tramore/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=52
Ballincollig Parkrun #29
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Conor Dolan 1 00:17:04
4 Lizzie Lee 1 00:18:47
Crusaders AC runner
5 Brian Carroll 00:18:47
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/ballincollig/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=29