Out of the Woods – super running on the boards, roads, trails and in the mud

15/2/2026

L-R: John Mulvihill, Ronan Moynihan, Michael O'Conor and Gary Park

The weekend brought a change in our weather, drier conditions which we’ll take while we can! During the past week we have had some super events on which to report. Hopefully, most, if not, all have been captured! If not, please let us know.

On Wednesday evening in the National Indoor Arena in Abbotstown, Enda Clarke ran in the Masters 1,000m race, one of the events in the NIA Live series on the night. Not only did Enda win the race, but he also recorded a new O/40 indoor record for the distance in a time of 2:42.07. Many congratulations to him. Karl Fitzmaurice also ran, in the second men's 800m where he placed 5th in an excellent 2:16.79.

Four of our members took part on Sunday afternoon, in windy but unsurprisingly muddy conditions on the Abbotstown purpose-built XC course for the 6k National Masters XC championships. In the field of 202, they were led home by John Mulvihill (27th overall and 9th M40) in 24:08, followed by Michael O'Conor (75th and 22nd M35) in 26:24, Ronan Moynihan (149th and 35th M35 in 29:24) and Gary Park (156th and 27th M50 in 29:42). The team likely placed 10th overall, but at time of writing the result is yet to be officially included.

On Thursday evening, we had two runners taking part in the Armagh International Men’s 5k and Women’s 3k races. The events are strictly limited to those runners who can achieve elite times and indeed both our athletes acquitted themselves well on the fast course.

Brian O’Kelly recorded a PB time of 14:36, but which only gave him 82nd place in the field of 206, with 140 runners breaking 15 minutes behind Nick Griggs’ winning time of 13:37. The last runner in the field came home in 16:26. Then, in the women’s 3k, with its field of 124, Annie Hughes ran a super time of 10:30, placing 70th. 40 athletes broke 10 minutes, giving an idea of the depth of that field too.

With the icy conditions early on Saturday morning, everyone running in the National 50k championships in Donadea Forest in Co. Kildare was full of trepidation. However, although conditions remained cold throughout the race, necessitating alternating changes of clothing for some throughout, conditions were actually not bad and there was no wind or rain at least!

The scene around the finish line at the end of each 5k loop in the forest is always a vision to behold. Loads of tables stacked high on each side of the course with plenty of nutrition prepared by the runners. One table in particular, that of Lakeshore Striders, with a large team, drew quite a bit of attention with two bottles of Buckmaster tonic prominently displayed at the front corner of their table. Generally, also this was where supporters congregated along with a super music playlist booming out, giving a huge boost to the runners every time they came through.

There were more than 300 finishers in the race, athough some of the walkers and slower runners were not given finishing times. Kevin Kenny, recovering from a recent operation was one of these, but remarkably got round in 6:47.

The overall winners of the event in 2:58 was a Briton, Henry Hart, who didn’t qualify to be champion, but he was followed by Wayne Waldron of Donore in 2:59, still about 10 minutes off Gary O’Hanlon’s course record of 2:49 (2020). The front of the race was exciting right up to the last loop. So was the women’s race, as the first two female athletes were separated by only two and a half minutes at the end.

Apart from Kevin, we had 7 athletes start the event, with Kabir Sala and Aitor Arribas Velasco having to pull out, respectively after 5 and 7 laps, Kabir with painful hips. The remaining 5 ran extremely well. Dee Lawlor, in training for the Transylvania 80k later in the year, ran an extremely solid pace to place 20th in 3:34:21 and he was followed by another steady runner, Áine Kenny (72nd overall and 16th female finisher in 4:10:46). Veteran Donadea runner Olwyn Dunne was next in 150th, 29th and 3rd in her age category, receiving the bronze medal for that. Many congrats to her. The final two were novices to the distance, Patricia Velasquez and Noel Carr. It was great to see them finishing strongly, particularly after quite a fast pace early on for them both. Patricia ran 4:42:10 for 184th and 37th, with Noel running 4:47:48 for 226th spot.

Down in Cork on Sunday, Orla Drumm joined a field of 282 in the Tommy Ryan Memorial 5-mile road race in Carrigaline, where she placed 17th and 3rd in a guntime of 30:13. Our Kilkenny native, Maria Kennedy, took part in the Tramore Duathlon (Run/Bike/Run), completing the 1st run of just under 5k in 25:04, and the 2nd run measuring just over 3.5k in 18:54.

Further afield over the weekend, several of our members headed down to Spain to compete in the Seville Marathon and also the Barcelona Half marathon.

Margaret Foley and Brian McGuckin were our representatives in Seville. In perfect running conditions, a temperature of around 10 degrees Celsius and brilliant sunshine, Mags ran a PB time of 3:08:25 with perfectly even splits. Unfortunately, Brian’s arthritic knees got the better of him on the day and he had to pull out after 14km. Meanwhile, in Barcelona, in similar weather conditions, Louise O’Riordan recorded a PB time of 1:41:50. Louise was accompanied by Cliodhna O’Reilly who ran 1:58, Donna Barry (2:12), Brandon Lai (1:24) and our UK exile, Toby Benham (a PB time of 77 minutes).

There was one race in the Wicklow mountains this weekend. As part of the Leinster Winter League IMRA organised the Carrick Winter 8.4k race, with a climb of 352m on moderate terrain. We had one runner in the field of 151, with Gavan Doherty placing 70th in 69:57.

It was perhaps not surprising that many parkruns in the Dublin area were cancelled on Saturday morning. A combination of ice on otherwise flooded footpaths led several directors to take the decision to abandon. This included Poolbeg, forcing several of our runners to look elsewhere.

Even though there were fewer events on offer, we still recorded a few podium results and some of the events had larger numbers than usual. Gill Earley and Rebecca Fleming, along with Karl Walsh, ran in Naas. In a field of 202, Gill paced 11th and 1st in 20:40, followed by Bex who placed 19th and 2nd in 21:34. Just ahead of them came Karl in 7th place in a time of 19:43.

Rob Cross led the field of 242 across the line in Father Collins Park. Rob’s time was 17:44 and he was followed by Fiona Bane (69th and 12th in 23:56). Meanwhile, Carmel Higgins placed 37th and 2nd in 26:44 in the field of 167 in Cabinteely, whilst Emma Flynn also placed 11th and 2nd in 20:56 in the 267-strong field in Shanganagh. Emma was followed by Aoife McCarthy (49th and 8th in 23:35), Neil Brown (58th in 24:10), Orlaith de Burca (150th and 35th in 28:34), Carina Davidson (158th and 38th in 29:07), Lisa Shine (229th and 82nd in 35:02), Máirín Shine (230th and 83rd in the same time) and Ailish Hassett (257th and 101st in 45:38).

Ellen Walsh ran in her native Sligo where she placed 54th and 14th in a field of 109 in a time of 28:55, whilst Michael O’Shea ran in Corkagh park, where he placed 22nd in 22:07. Helena O’Keeffe ran once again in Ballincollig, where, in a field of 244, she took 128th and 31st spots in 28:13, whilst, in Listowel, Alan Martin joined 40 other participants, where he ran 25:48 for 16th place.

We had 3 runners at least in Marlay Park with its field of 473. Cormac Fenton ran 20:37 for 18th spot, followed by Barry O’Neill (250th in 29:14) and Lorraine McMahon (340th and 118th in 31:28). Finally, on a trip to New Zealand, Michelle English ran in the Western Springs parkrun in Auckland on the north island, where she placed 173rd and 56th in 32:05 in a field of 294, whilst one of our London exiles, Jeanie Watson, joined 1225 other parkrunners in Battersea, where she placed 204th and 14th in 19:44.
National Masters Men's 6k XC (202)
Overall place Name Guntime
1 Colm Rooney 00:21:20
Crusaders AC runners
27 John Mulvihill 00:24:08 (9)
75 Michael O'Conor 00:26:24 (22)
149 Ronan Moynihan 00:29:24 (35)
156 Gary Park 00:29:42 (27)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/123.ie_national_inter__masters_xc_championships./6051/club-team-results?runnerClass=masters%20men&type=Team&category=OVER_ALL
Armagh International Men’s 5k (318)
Overall place Name Chiptime
1 Nick Griggs 00:13:37
Crusaders AC runner
82 Brian O’Kelly 00:14:36 (PB)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/armagh_international_road_race_5k_2026/5975/results
Armagh International Women’s 3k (124)
Overall place Name Chiptime
1 Emily Haggard Kearney 00:09:07
Crusaders AC runner
70 Annie Hughes 00:10:30
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/armagh_international_road_race_5k_2026/5975/results
Donadea 50k national championships (318)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Henry Hart 1 02:58:48
22 Laura O’Driscoll 1 03:38:10
Crusaders AC runners
20 Derek Lawlor 03:34:21
72 Áine Kenny 04:10:46 (16)
150 Olwyn Dunne 04:33:17 (29)
184 Patricia Velasquez 04:42:10 (PB) (37)
226 Noel Carr 04:47:48 (PB)
XXX Kevin Kenny 06:47;00
Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/donadea-50k-2026/
Tommy Ryan Memorial Carrigaline 5-miler (282)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Nathan O’Leary 1 00:25:31
9 Michelle Finn 1 00:27:47
Crusaders AC runner
17 Orla Drumm 00:30:13 (3)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/tommy_ryan_memorial_carrigaline_5_mile_/6052/results
IMRA Carrick Winter (151)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Jude Wechjert 1 00:48:21
14 Nicola Soraghan 1 00:56:19
Crusaders AC runner
70 Gavan Doherty 01:09:57
Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2766/category/O/
Sligo Parkrun (109)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Graham Bourne 1 00:18:40
13 Emily McGettrick 1 00:22:29
Crusaders AC runner
54 Ellen Walsh 00:28:55 (14)
Corkagh Parkrun (327)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Evan Ryan 1 00:18:18
23 Paula McArdle 1 00:22:08
Crusaders AC runner
22 Michael O’Shea 00:22:07
Father Collins Parkrun (242)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Rob Cross 1 00:17:44
28 Natalia Lungu 1 00:21:34
Crusaders AC runners
1 Rob Cross 00:17:44
69 Fiona Bane 00:23:56 (12)
Listowel Parkrun (41)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 James Dillon 1 00:17:17
15 Ellen Hynes 1 00:25:26
Crusaders AC runner
16 Alan Martin 00:25:48
Naas Parkrun (202)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Oliver Warren 1 00:17:31
11 Gillian Earley 1 00:20:40
Crusaders AC runners
7 Karl Walsh 00:19:43
11 Gillian Earley 00:20:40 (1)
19 Rebecca Fleming 00:21:34 (2)
Ballincollig Parkrun (244)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Alan O’Sullivan 1 00:18:21
24 Lorraine O’Sullivan 1 00:22:02
Crusaders AC runner
128 Helena O’Keeffe 00:28:13 (31)
Shanganagh Parkrun (267)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Luke Weldon 1 00:16:43
8 Liadh Fitzmaurice 1 00:20:28
Crusaders AC runners
11 Emma Flynn 00:20:56 (2)
49 Aoife McCarthy 00:23:35 (8)
58 Neil Brown 00:24:10
150 Orlaith de Burca 00:28:34 (35)
158 Carina Davidson 00:29:07 (38)
229 Lisa Shine 00:35:02 (82)
230 Máirín Shine 00:35:02 (83)
257 Ailish Hassett 00:45:38 (101)
Cabinteely Parkrun (167)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 David O’Connell 1 00:19:58
9 Ciara Brady 1 00:22:54
Crusaders AC runner
37 Carmel Higgins 00:26:44 (2)
Marlay Parkrun (473)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Glen Burke 1 00:18:19
21 Lorraine Nolan 1 00:20:58
Crusaders AC runners
18 Cormac Fenton 00:20:37
250 Barry O’Neill 00:29:14
340 Lorraine McMahon 00:31:28 (118)