Perfect conditions for the Autumn Open XC and Amsterdam marathon

22/10/2018

Brendan Murphy

The club saw some success on Sunday in the Abbottstown Men’s Open XC, which doubled up as the Irish trials for the 5 Nations International in November for masters athletes. When the smoke had cleared, we continued the success of recent years in getting athletes into the team with at least two runners representing us in Swansea as members of the Irish team along with the possibilities of a third who is currently a second reserve.

We fielded 10 athletes in the men’s race which was contested on the Abbottstown purpose-built XC course within the National Sports Campus near Tyrrelstown. The first half of the counter-clockwise 1.5k loop is a mix of downhill and flat, but with quantities of sand and potentially mud to negotiate. The second half is more undulating with a couple of noticeable climbs, one short and sharp and the other more gradual. The finish itself is on an uphill. The men’s race was a duel over 7.5k and featured more than 170 starters from seniors through to the M60 age category and the course was in pristine condition, with no impact from the overnight and morning rain, and the sand and churned up area alongside a wall under trees (about halfway round the loop) was no bother at all to the runners.

Brendan Murphy was our first man home in 25:13 (59th overall), followed by Italo Giancaterina (63rd in 25:28) and Michael O’Conor (70th in 25:45). Rob Cross was next (78th in 25:58), taking automatic 6th place in the M45 team to head to Wales. Slightly further back came John Mulvihill (92nd in 26:28), followed by Michael Wycherley (98th in 26:44), who, by virtue of his 8th place in the M45 trials, is second reserve for the Irish team. One never knows. After Michael came Ger Forde (99th in 26:50) who will be running in the Dublin marathon next weekend after his Berlin exploits. Peter O’Toole (104th in 27:01) followed Ger, ahead of James Cottle (147th in 29:58 and 4th in the M60 age category). Like Rob, James qualified for the Irish team (with 4 to go from the age group), this his first time and a week before embarking on the Dublin marathon too. It was interesting in that James started out at the back and worked his way through the field, almost making it to 3rd place after a dogfight on the last lap. 2nd through 6th places were separated by only 12 seconds, so a really tight and tough race. A couple of us had talked before the race and decided that to qualify we had to run sub-30 minutes and so it proved. James improved his time over last year by over a minute to do so. Just slightly behind James came David Long (150th in 30:13), having another excellent outing as an M55 following his Dublin novices race, and to complete the contingent came Tim O’Donnell (164th in 32:01).

It was also a great day for our colleagues in Amsterdam, where conditions were also friendly for marathoners. Mick Smyth ran a blinder with almost even splits to finish in 2:55:04. Mick was followed by the stalwart Bob Manson (3:08:14), Lydia Bigley (3:53:03), a Front Runner who trains with us, with a 4 minute PB improvement, Mary Dolan (4:19:37) and Joe O’Reilly (4:38:42) who both perhaps suffered a little in the second half. Leo Lundy also ran a long distance race over the weekend. This time it was the Achill to Westport ultra-marathon along the Greenway, which Leo described as right up there. Jon Lawrence in the UK ran in the Great South Run around Portsmouth. He completed the 10-miler in just over 1:09. Further afield, our exile in Canada, Ian Kinsella, ran in the Toronto marathon, coming home, after a difficult second half, in 2:48. We had one Crusader in a much shorter race closer to home. Jim Stagg took part in the Longwood Village 5k with its 170 competitors, placing 5th in a time of 19:29.

Numbers participating in the parkruns on Saturday were back to normal levels after runners having been put off last week by the deluge. As usual, we had some excellent results. Kieran Little set a new course record in Poolbeg with his 16:05 finish, whilst we had both men’s and women’s first finishers in Avondale Forest near Rathdrum in Co. Wicklow. Donatas Jocius, in preparation for the Dublin marathon on Sunday, ran 19:29, whilst Sarah Lyons ran 22:17, placing 9th overall. Another of our first finishers was Catherine Thornton in Knocknacarra in Galway. Catherine ran at tempo pace but still managed an overall 6th placing and a time of 20:31. A podium place went to Serena Moloney who ran in Templemore, Co. Tipperary, taking 7th spot overall and 2nd woman home in a time of 21:47, whilst Maria Pertl was just outside a podium position when she placed 4th woman (19th overall) in Brickfields in 26:46. Diamruid byrne ran with Maria, finishing in 21st place in 26:55, whilst Phelim Murray also ran in Avondale Forest, taking 8th spot in 22:12.There was large crowd from the club in Poolbeg this week. Behind Kieran came Luke Davis (9th in 19:13), Zlatko Kulic (12th in 19:29), Pat Quill, another Dublin marathoner in preparation (13th in 19:49), Eoin McQuaid (21st in 20:27), Antonios Gkogkakis (34th in 21:39), Russell Murphy (again an athlete preparing himself for the marathon) (42nd in 22:30), John McQuaid (55th in 23:59), Fiona Bane (56th overall, 4th female, in 24:05) and Mari Hansen (11th overall, 34th woman, in 30:03). Solo athletes from the club ran in Ballincollig (Lisa Shine, 129th overall, 25th woman, in 26:25), Bushy Park (Mairead Cashman, 101st overall, 22nd woman, in 28:22), Marlay (Killian Barry, 16th in 19:38), Griffeen (Colm Foley, 25th in 22:14) and in Victoria Park, Glasgow (Aidan Hudner, 61st overall, in 22:13, in a field of 370). In St. Anne’s Matt Cranley, another runner due to run next Sunday) took it easy and placed 63rd in 22:13 (without the buggy), whilst Brian Carroll (not running in the marathon) did likewise and placed 64th in 22:15. Finally, we had 3 participants in Porterstown. Donal Foley was our first runner across the line, 16th place, in a time of 22:16. He was followed by Darina Scully (77th overall, 18th female, in 26:52) and Kevin Flynn who walked (172nd in 39:10).

Abbottstown Open Men’s XC Senior-M60 7.5k (169)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Sean Tobin 1 00:21:45
2 Kevin Dooney 2 00:22:21
Crusaders AC runners
59 Brendan Murphy 00:25:13
63 Italo Giancaterina 00:25:28
70 Michael O’Conor 00:25:45
78 Rob Cross 00:25:58
98 Michael Wycherley 00:26:44
99 Ger Forde 00:26:50
104 Peter O’Toole 00:27:01
147 James Cottle 00:29:58
150 David Long 00:30:13
164 Tim O’Donnell 00:32:01
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/athletics_ireland_autumn_open_cross_country_/2794/results
Longwood Village 5k (170)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Bernard Healy 1 00:18:22
10 Mary Hanley 1 00:20:28
Crusaders AC runner
5 Jim Stagg 00:19:29
Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/longwood-village-10k-5k-race-fun-run-2018/#1_7336A4
Griffeen Parkrun #279 (177)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Gary Farrell 1 00:17:23
5 Mairead Diver 1 00:20:09
Crusaders AC runner
25 Colm Foley 00:22:14
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/griffeen/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=279
Marlay Parkrun #277 (481)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Valter Valente 1 00:16:57
13 Ciara Brady 1 00:19:34
Crusaders AC runner
16 Killian Barry 00:19:38
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=277
Poolbeg Parkrun #60 (128)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Kieran Little 1 00:16:05 (CR)
20 Jackie O’Neill 1 00:20:25
Crusaders AC runners
1 Kieran Little 00:16:05
9 Luke Davis 00:19:13
12 Zlatko Kulic 00:19:28
13 Pat Quill 00:19:49
21 Eoin McQuaid 00:20:27
34 Antonios Gkogkakis 00:21:39
42 Russell Murphy 00:22:30
55 John McQuaid 00:23:59
56 Fiona Bane 00:24:05 (4)
111 Mari Hansen 00:30:03 (34)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=60
St Annes’s Parkrun #254 (376)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 John Clarke 1 00:17:20
47 Jean Murphy 1 00:21:23
Crusaders AC runners
63 Matt Cranley 00:22:13
64 Brian Carroll 00:22:15
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=254
Knocknacarra Parkrun #225 (97)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Cillian Jordan 1 00:19:38
6 Catherine Thornton 1 00:20:31
Crusaders AC runner
6 Catherine Thornton 00:20:31 (1)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/knocknacarra/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=225
Porterstown Parkrun #157 (186)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Alan Bernie 1 00:18:20
11 Aislinn Ahern1 0:21:19
Crusaders AC runners
16 Donal Foley 00:22:16
77 Darina Scully 0:26:52 (18)
172 Kevin Flynn 00:39:10
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/porterstownt/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=157
Ballincollig Parkrun #121 (316)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Unknown 1 00:17:45
24 Rebecca McEvoy 1 00:21:48
Crusaders AC runner
129 Lisa Shine 00:26:25 (25)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/ballincollig/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=121
Bushy Parkrun #86 (163)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Gary Crossan 1 00:16:59
24 Christine Kinsella 1 00:21:54
Crusaders AC runner
101 Mairead Cashman 00:28:22 (22)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/bushydublin/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=86
Templemore Parkrun #91 (60)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Larry Stapleton 1 00:19:46
3 Ciara Cummins 1 00:20:24
Crusaders AC runner
7 Serena Moloney 00:21:47 (2)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/templemore/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=91
Brickfields Parkrun #40 (69)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Karl Chatterton 1 00:18:34
6 Jennifer O’Malley 1 00:22:03
Crusaders AC runners
19 Maria Pertl 00:26:46 (4)
21 Diarmuid Byrne 00:26:55
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/brickfields/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=40
Avondale ForestParkrun #24 (58)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Donatas Jocius 1 00:19:29
9 Sarah Lyons 1 00:22:17
Crusaders AC runners
1 Donatas Jocius 00:19:29
8 Phelim Murray 00:22:12
9 Sarah Lyons 00:22:17 (1)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/avondaleforest/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=24