On Track

12/6/2017

Michael O'Conor

On Saturday, Crusaders hosted an exciting track meet, the annual GV Ryan, at the Irishtown stadium, on the same day that we celebrated the club’s 75th anniversary at the Hilton Hotel, a fitting combination, with both the meet and dinner being graced by the presence of club icons Ronnie Delaney and Caroline O’Shea. There was a super Cru turnout for both occasions, both of which ran like clockwork thanks to the efforts of Susan Walsh and Michael McGovern, ably supported by club volunteers led by another stalwart, Jim O’Neill. Club president Niall O’Connell gave a wonderful speech too, followed by some words of inspiration from Ronnie. No one will forget Ronnie’s parting comment about the importance of winning! Belatedly, but deservedly, John O’Connor received a lifetime achievement award, and also demonstrated that not only do we have excellent athletes in the club, but we also have some great visionaries too. To cap a long day, several of us saw the dawn, before making the effort of a long run on Sunday morning!

We start with racing that took place earlier in the week. On Wednesday evening, a few of our members headed up to Santry to participate in Dublin Athletics’ 4th graded meet. It was at times wet and windy, but in spite of that there were some excellent races. Our only female competitor on the night, Fiona Shine, took part in the women’s 1500m C race and won a sprint for the line to take 2nd place in 5:00.66 (likely a PB). Abbas Bowen ran in race 2 of the men’s 100m B event, placing 5th in 12.14, whilst John O’Loughlin, in search of a qualifying standard, ran 57.8 also to place 5th in the men’s 400m C race. Kevin Woods, who has been racing abroad recently, most notably in Belgium, with some excellent times and results, distinguished himself with a super win in the men’s 400m A race and a time of 49.64. Finally, we had 3 runners in the men’s 1500m C race. Alan Sheehy led the way home in 3rd place and a time of 4:32.10, followed by Frank Halligan (6th in 4:38.05) and John Thuillier (9th in 4:50.32) on his return to racing after a hiatus whilst he studies for an MBA.

Also, on Wednesday, as usual, IMRA held another league race, this time on Sorrel Hill. The course was approx. 9.45km, with a climb of some 400m and described as of moderate difficulty. The race having been won by Croghan AC’s Pat Foley in 44:39, as a club we had some excellent results further down the field. Warren Swords took 8th place in 46:56, followed by Jim Stagg, not exactly a household name in mountain running, who ran well to place 15th in 49:26. In a field exceeding 140 runners, Brian McGuckin was next in 21st in a time of 50:08, followed by Laura Flannelly (52nd overall in 56:49 and 6th female). Ali Onur Uyar was next in 70th place (1:00:23) and he was followed by the final member of our contingent, Berndt Heim, who placed 121st in 1:17:43.

We had 2 podium placings on Thursday evening in the 2nd 5k race of the Born to Run Series. Last week’s events had taken place in the grounds of Malahide Castle and this week the event moved on to St. Anne’s Raheny. Conditions were calm, but with a couple of heavy showers. Darina Scully took 1st place in the women’s race, beating 30 other women in the process. In a total field of 66 runners, Darina placed 13th overall in a time of 22:40, whilst Diarmuid Byrne demonstrated that he is nearly over a recent injury with a 3rd place finish in a time of 19:10.

We now come to the blue riband event of the week, the IMC-organised, Crusader-hosted, GV Ryan meet on Saturday afternoon. With a strong headwind down the home straight (officially gale force strength) it was always going to be difficult to record PBs, particularly in the sprint events, but PBs there were during the day. We had participants in several events. Kevin Woods capped his excellent week with a PB in the men’s 800m A race, taking 5th place in 1:50.80, whilst there was an inspirational run from Michael O’Conor in the men’s 800m D race. Michael managed to hold onto the pacer in a group of 3 or 4 runners that separated itself from the rest of the field early on and lying for much of the race in 3rd or 4th place, finally coming through to win in a sprint for the line with a 3 second PB improvement (2:01.64). Brian Carroll and Alan Sheehy also took part, with Brian placing 6th in a PB time of 2:07.50 and Alan, 9th in 2:10.80. Michael Kiely ran in the 1500m B race, placing 12th in 4:28:84 and finding the going tough, whilst Niamh Boland Orla Kennedy also found conditions challenging in the women’s 1500m. Niamh eventually placed 5th in 4:45.89, whilst Orla took 7th spot in a time of 4:59.84. In the women’s 800m B race, Fiona Shine returned to the track after her midweek exploits, but, because of the conditions, both she and Lisa, who ran in the same race, produced runs which were a couple of seconds off their PBs. Fiona took 6th place in 2:29.83, with Lisa in 7th in 2:40.48 and the multi-talented Alix Hughes, one place behind in 8th in a time of 2:55.74. There were other good spectacles in the two races run by the 110m hurdlers. Matthew Behan won both in respective times of 14.79 and 14.67, whilst Valantinos Goularas, running as a junior alongside, took 2nd in both races in respective times of 14.91 and 15.12. Alix Hughes demonstrated her versatility with a 2nd place in the women’s 100m in a time of 13.46, with Rhianna McCarthy right on her tail in 3rd in 13.54. In fact, Alix also took part in the long jump, but results are yet to be published. Like her, John O’Loughlin took on multiple events during the meet. He placed 5th in the 200m in 26.24 and 6th in the 400m in 58.60. Finally, in a race of only two competitors unfortunately, Ciara Barry followed the winner home in a time 1:03.61. It was a tough environment to run in and Ciara acquitted herself well. Brian O'Kelly ran in the 3000m, but his result is yet to appear and will be added once it is published.

Over the weekend, Kris Ryan and Leo Lundy took part in the Endure 24 in Aldermaston in Berkshire. It’s known as the Glastonbury of running due to everyone camping for the weekend and having the craic. Over 3,000 runners took part, mostly in 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8-person relay teams over the hilly 5 mile trail (around 2000ft of climb per marathon). Kris and Leo took part with 238 others in the blue riband 24hr solo. The temperature was mid 20's during the day and there was constant rain over night, when the trails became slippery. Leo squeezed in 20 laps for 100 miles exactly and a top 30 finish. Kris ran a really strong 23 laps for 115 miles and 3rd overall and 1st woman (2nd all-time overall female distance holder in the 6 editions of the event). Both were inaugurated into the Endure 24 100 mile club.

Joe Walsh reported that he was in San Sebastian in Spain at the weekend and took part in a 10k night race. The race took place on a picturesque course along the seafront which kicked off just as the sun was setting on the bay but it was a bit of a surprise to have to descend a flight of about 40 steps in the last km. He’s not sure if his time of 39:24 (20th in a field of just under 300) was more down to the warm conditions or a week of over-indulging on holiday!

Paul O’Meara ran in the Mourne Way marathon on Saturday, his 17th. Conditions were tough. Following a deluge overnight, the trails were knee deep in mud, although the day was sunny enough. Paul recorded a time of 4:02:45, reflecting how difficult the conditions were, and placed 9th out of 189 runners.

Dave Tilly reported that he and visually-impaired athlete Donnacha McCarthy took part in the Wicklow 100K mountain cycle, the toughest in Ireland, that was followed by a run at the finish of the cycle. They were the first tandem home.

More podium places were recorded for our clubmates over the weekend, notably in some of the parkruns. In a field of 200 runners, our Malta exile, Rebecca Fleming took advantage of a brief trip home to run in Castletown and took 8th place overall, first female finisher, in a time of 21:26, whilst, in Poppintree, Darina Scully also placed first female finisher (her second win in a week!) and 14th overall in a field of nearly 100 runners. Darina’s time was 22:34. Our third 1st finisher was Fiona Bane, who ran in Enniskillen with nearly 90 other runners. Fiona ran 23:50 and placed 5th overall. In a field of nearly 460 runners in Marlay, Dominick Branigan, took 2nd place in 17:42. He was followed by Lesley-Ann Doughan in 41st place overall, 3rd female finisher, in 21:34. Next came Alex Romano, 50th in 21:34 followed by a returning racer, Barry O’Neill, who took 78th spot in 22:47 and Kate Murray (97th overall, 16th female, in 23:20). Whilst going through pregnancy, Maria Pertl is still keeping her running up. She and partner Diarmuid Byrne ran side by side in Navan on Saturday morning, placing 40th and 41st in the same time of 28:44 in a field of 68 runners. Gillian Errity took 4th place in 23:54 in the women’s event, and 41st overall, in Griffeen with a field of more than 200 participants. Other solo participants included Sharon Woods who took 23rd place overall, 4th placed woman, in a time of 24:55 in the 103-strong Tymon parkrun and Mairead Cashman (84th overall, 36th female finisher, in 49:09) among nearly 90 runners in Bushy Dublin. Finally, we had 6 runners in the nearly 400-strong field in St. Anne’s Raheny. Michael Maughan led the contingent home in 22nd place in a time of 20:04, followed by Zlatko Kulic (48th in 21:38) and Denis Murphy (121st in 24:28). It was great to see that Martina White has returned to racing after a long break, placing 170th overall, 39th female, in 26:22. The remaining runners were John and Lorraine Fitzsimons, with John placing 249th in 29:14 and Lorraine, 316th overall, 119th female, in 31:36.

Born to Run 2nd 5K race
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Brian Sexton 1 00:18:02
13 Darina Scully 1 00:22:40
Crusaders AC runners
3 Diarmuid Byrne 00:19:10
13 Darina Scully 00:22:40 (1)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/born_2_run_run_dublin_run_series/2308/results
Mourne Way Marathon
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Patrick Higgins 1 03:19:51
36 Rita Devlin 1 04:36;10
Crusaders AC runner
9 Paul O’Meara 04:02:45
Full results here: http://www.26extreme.com/DataEditorUploads/Mourne%20Way%20Marathon%20Results%203rd%20Render.pdf
Navan Parkrun #86
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Paul Gleeson 1 00:18:30
5 Breda Harris 1 00:21:12
Crusaders AC runners
40 Maria Pertl 00:28:44 (9)
41 Diarmuid Byrne 00:28;44
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/navan/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=86
Marlay Parkrun #213
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Ronan O’Flynn 1 00:17:25
20 Sarah Baryga 1 00:20:04
Crusaders AC runners
2 Dominick Branigan 00:17:42
41 Lesley-Ann Doughan 00:21:07 (3)
50 Alex Romano 00:21:34
78 Barry O’Neill 00:22:47
97 Kate Murray 00:23:20 (16)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=213
Griffeen Parkrun #208
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mark O’Connor 1 00:19:12
25 Che McGann 1 00:22:25
Crusaders AC runner
41 Gillian Errity 00:23:54 (4)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/griffeen/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=208
St Anne’s Parkrun #186
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Simon Devenney 1 00:17:03
33 Adrienne Atkins 1 00:20:44
Crusaders AC runners
Michael Maughan 00:20:04
48 Zlatko Kulic 00:21:38
121 Denis Murphy 00:24:28
10 Martina White 00:26:22 (39)
249 John Fitzsimons 00:29:14
328 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:31:49 (123)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=186
Enniskillen Parkrun #211
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Peter Cassidy 1 00:22:47
5 Fiona Bane 1 00:23:50
Crusaders AC runner
5 Fiona Bane 00:23:50 (1)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/enniskillen/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=211
Tymon Parkrun #103
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Sean MacFhearraigh 1 00:19:45
5 Ruth Kelly 1 00:20:47
Crusaders AC runner
23 Sharon Woods 00:24:55 (4)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tymon/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=103
Poppintree Parkrun #136
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Bobby Bedford 1 00:17:32
14 Darina Scully 1 00:22:34
Crusaders AC runner
14 Darina Scully 00:22:34 (1)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poppintree/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=136
Castletown Parkrun #79
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Stephen Coller 1 00:19:03
8 Rebecca Fleming 00:21:26
Crusaders AC runner
8 Rebecca Fleming 00:21:26 (1)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/castletown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=79
Bushy Dublin Parkrun #16
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Derval Devaney 1 00:20:38
2 Tim Delaney 1 00:20:51
Crusaders AC runner
84 Mairead Cashman 00:49:09 (36)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/bushydublin/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=16

Ciara Barry and Rhianna McCarthy

Alix Hughes

Alan Sheehy

Brian Carroll

Fiona Shine

John O'Loughlin

Ciara Barry

Kevin Woods

Alix Hughes and Lisa Shine

Alix Hughes

Valantinos Goularas and Matthew Behan

Michael Kiely

Niamh Boland

Ciara Barry

Back row: Michael Kiely, Vinnie McGuinness, Michael McGovern, Jim O'Neill, Olwyn Dunne, Susan Walsh, James Cottle, Brian Murphy, Gary Park, Eddie Nugent, John Thuillier, John Mulvihill, Caroline O'Shea, Ciaran Diviney, Will Owens, Niall O'Connell, Michael O'Conor, Richie MacLiam, Brian Carroll, Russell Murphy, Gian Piero Allerta, Niall McGeorge, Gillian Earley, Yvonne Macauley. Front row: Rebcca Fleming, Lisa Shine, Emer Kenny, Paul Kelly, Fiona Shine, Mairin Shine, Michael Maughan, Anna King, Philip Matthews, Alan Sheehy