Quality racing over the weekend, both long and short distances

6/2/2023

L-R: Susan Walsh, Miriam Logan, Amy McGuinness, Rebecca Fleming, Clare Sullivan, Francesca Lee

Well over 4,000 runners took part, across two excellent 10-mile road races on Sunday, in Dungarvan and Trim, and we had competitors in both. The weekend also saw the return of the BHAA Garda XC in the Phoenix Park, with great results, and an IMRA race in the mountains with Crusaders participation.

We start, however, with another success story, that of John O’Loughlin who ran in 3 events in the National Masters Indoors Championships that took place in the TUS International Arena in Athlone on Sunday. John medalled in each of the events, placing 2nd in a photo-finish with the 3rd placed runner (given the same time) in the 8-strong field in the M55 heat of the 200m. John’s time in the 200m was 27.76 and, then, in the 400m (in another photo-finish) John placed 2nd in 63.56 in the M55 heat. The gold medallist was given the same time. Finally, John took the bronze medal in the M55 heat of the men’s 60m sprint in a time of 8.44. Many congrats to him.

On Saturday, there were two races in the southeast corner of the Acres, using the gullies below the Magazine fort. Many will be familiar with the course used for the BHAA Garda races, with its one 1500m loop, materially the same as the one on which we train on Saturday mornings. The women’s 2-mile race took in two of these loops, whilst the mixed 4-mile race added an extra kilometre to the loop by taking runners to the top of the Khyber Pass and turning just before the Acres Road at the Papal Cross. Conditions were pretty good for the events, in that the ground was relatively dry and the 20km/h SW wind would not have been too much of a hindrance, even though it would have been in the runners faces for the home straight on the Acres.

The women’s race, with a field of 44, went first and pretty quickly a group of four runners took off, including Amy McGuinness and Clare Sullivan. Tucked in with them was Aoife Byrne, a former national 800m and 1500m national champion (both indoors and outdoors), who eventually went on to win, but Amy and Clare enjoyed super strong runs behind her, with Amy finishing only 19 seconds back in a time of 13:41, and Clare a further 8 seconds back in 13:48. It was an extremely exciting performance to watch with the lead having been taken up by Clare after about 1k and then Amy and Aoife breaking away in the second half. We had at least 8 Crusaders in the field and next across the line came Rachael Yorke (7th in 14:20), followed by Miriam Logan, getting a short blowout run in before next week’s Donadea 50k (10th in 15:02), Rebecca Fleming (15th in 15:44), Kate Murray (18th and 4th F45 in 15:54), Francesca Lee (21st in 16:24) and Susan Walsh (31st and 3rd F60 in 17:37).

The mixed 4-mile race enjoyed a larger field of 128, with the vast majority being male runners. In that event we had at least 12 Crusaders, led home in 3rd place by newcomer David Fox (23:36), who was followed by John Mulvihill (6th in 24:10) and Ross Neill (9th in 24:39) just ahead of Joe McDermott (10th in 24:43). Henry Griffin came next in 14th place with a time of 25:05, followed by Michael Kiely coming back in to form (30th in 26:38). Pat Quill took 67th place in 30:16 and he was followed by Tony Hackett (73rd in 30:49), Neil Brown (75th in 31:01), Karl Walsh (79th in 31:15), Robbie Moore (82nd in 31:27) and Michael McGovern (105th in 33:46).

On the same morning, Ciarain Kelly ran in the Rathcoffey GAA 10k road race in Co. Kildare. In a field of 339, Ciarain placed 13th in 34:57, a major confidence boost after having had to pull out of the Raheny 5 a week earlier with a major stitch.

Then, on Sunday, spread across two events, we had at least 19 club-mates take part in 10-mile challenges. The larger of the two was the John Treacy Dungarvan 10-mile road race down in Co. Waterford with a field of 2,743, and the other option was the Trim AC-organised 10-miler up in Co. Meath, involving 1,655 finishers. Both enjoyed similar sunny conditions with a wind of about 14km/h from the south, not too impacting, but noticeable in Trim particularly in the second half. It was extremely cold in Trim at 4 degrees Celsius (but with wind chill feeling closer to 1 degree) and a bit milder in Dungarvan (7 degrees, feeling like 4 degrees with the wind chill). Arguably, Dungarvan was a slightly faster course with a smaller elevation differential, but both would be considered PB opportunities, and so it proved.

Brendan Murphy led the contingent home in the Déise, placing 14th in 53:58. Ger Forde was next, getting close to a PB in 57:08 for 49th place, ahead of Toby Benham who did actually record a PB (78th in 58:20). The first three runners constituted a team, placing 10th in a team competition involving 74. They were followed by Eddie Nugent (176th in 61:23), Kevin Lambe (in a PB time of 66:24 for 407th), Gill Earley (426th and 33rd female finisher in a PB time of 66:56), Conor Macguinness (67:24 for 447th) and Dee Ni Chearbhaill who, on the back of little training, ran 79:05 for 1,232nd place overall. Members may be interested to learn that Seán Murphy, Dee’s husband who trains with us, placed 367th in 65:57.

Up in Co. Meath, we had 10 runners, three of whom acted as 80 and 100 minutes pacers, performing impeccably as always. Apart from the pacers, all of us who ran admitted that we had started off too fast. It was the kind of race that sucked people into an extremely fast start with the first few miles being generally downhill. There were hills in the race, but they came in the second half and made for a challenging finish. Joe Walsh knocked nearly 5 minutes off his PB with a superb run of 56:57 for 28th place. Joe was also 5th in the M45 age category. Next came Kieran Martin with his fastest 10 mile run in over 8 years (72nd in 59:45) and delighted to break the hour. Kieran was followed by Aoife Quigley who improved on her fastest time by nearly 2 minutes (176th and 11th female finisher in a PB time of 64:17) with a stomping performance, followed by James Cottle, just ahead of Ronan Smith. James ran 66:15 for 220th place overall and winner of the M65 category by six minutes (although only 2 seconds ahead of a PB-earning Bros Pearse runner, Michael Walsh, with whom he enjoyed a fun second half dogfight and who is due to enter the same age category in a few weeks’ time), whilst Ronan ran 66:57 for 240th spot. Alma Hanevy was next to cross the line, placing 259th and 27th in 67:40 (10th F40), and she was followed by our first pacer, Olwyn Dunne (748th and 188th in 79:26), pacing the 80 minutes runners. Emer Kenny was a late entrant into the race and chose to use it as an extension of a long run she had embarked upon the day before, finishing in a time of 84:12 for 939th and 282nd places. Finally, Joe Dunne and Miriam Logan (a glutton for punishment after the BHAA race and, like Olwyn and Joe, a week before Donadea) paced their 100 minutes charges, placing, respectively in 1,487th and 1,489th (and 661st) places in times of 99:46 and 99:47. Precision timing! It was a wonderful race conducted mostly on country lanes with great whiffs of farmyard smells in at least two places along the way. As a postscript, the men's team of Joe, Kieran, James and Ronan came home in 14th place out of 85 recorded.

There was also an IMRA race in the Wicklow mountains on Sunday, involving at least two Crusaders, Donatas Jocius, in training for the Maurice Mullins Ultra (31:17 for 26th place), and Clare Sullivan, another glutton for punishment after her podium performance the day before in the BHAA Garda race. This time, Clare went one better, taking 2nd place in the women’s race (40th and 2nd in 33:03). There were 178 runners who completed the event, a 6km circular route, with a 200m climb on moderate terrain, summiting Mount Brockagh. The overall results had been delayed because of a computer glitch but have now been published and are shown below.

Meanwhile, there is news of one of our exiles in Italy, Clara Costadura who ran for her Italian club in the European Club Cross country Championships in Oropesa del Mar in Spain on Saturday. The team, one of two clubs representing Italy, placed 16th overall, with Clara being 3rd scorer of a 4-woman team. There were two Irish teams in the championship, Letterkenny (10th) and DCH (12th).

There was plenty of participation in the parkruns on Saturday morning and, once again, we recorded podium places. Adam Flanagan returned to his native county and in the Monaghan Parkrun he led home the field of 120 in 18:13. Maureen McGinley placed 7th and 2nd in the modest field of 19 in Borrisokane, whilst Kathryn Gibbons also took 2nd place (10th overall) in Donabate, running 20:40 in a field of 186. Stephen Hurley was once again a first finisher in Poolbeg, leading home a field of 149, including 11 other Crusaders2, in a time of 17:29. Stephen was followed by Sam Carvill (6th in 18:57), Patrick Duffy (11th in 20:31), Dale Whelehan (16th in 20:57), Joanne Carey (26th and 4th in 21:42), Paul Campbell (31st in 22:12), Josie Ward (51st and 8th in 23:44), Sharon Woods (68th and 10th in 24:38), Franky Keane (75th in 25:06), Kenan Furlong (99th in 27:53), Louise O’Riordan (115th and 30th in 29:37), Niamh Trihy (132nd and 41st in 32:16) and Kevin Kenny (133rd in 32:19). Orla Kennedy, who is expecting her second child, took 3rd place (58th overall) in 22:05 in Marlay Park with its field of 513. Just behind came Eoghan Corrigan (59th in 22:13) and further back, pushing a buggy, came Irene Gorman (406th and 126th in 32:19). Sarah Lyons also secured a podium place in running Tolka Valley. In a field of 50, Andy Deuser led our contingent across the line in 6th place (21:57), followed by Sarah (19th and 3rd in 25:26) and by Phelim Murray (20th in 25:27) just behind.

Isabelle Cairns took time off from a hen party to run in Kilkenny where she placed 18th and 4th in a field of 195 and in a time of 22:01, whilst we had 3 runners in Dodder Valley. John Lohan placed 12th in 21:23, whilst Stephen Mulligan took 29th spot in 24:39 just ahead, in the field of 135, of Tara Murphy who placed 30th and 4th in 24:43. Olwyn Dunne joined 125 other runners in Avondale Forest where she placed 31st and 5th in 25:36, whilst Paul F. Kelly ran 27;34 for 36th spot in the 141-strong field in Fairview. In River Valley, with its field of 119, Darina Scully crossed the line in 34th and 7th places in a time of 25:55 and she was followed by Brian Scanlan, pacing the 30 minutes runners, in 64th and a time of 30:01.

Carina Davidson joined 213 other participants in Shanganagh where she took 77th and 11th spots in 25:24, whilst Colm Foley placed 36th in 23:28 in the 182-strong field in Griffeen Park. Meanwhile, Mary Noelle Rohan took 37th and 16th spots in Waterstown alongside 66 other runners, whilst John Rooney ran in Sligo where, in a field of 112, he placed 31st in 24:52. William Ralph and Michael Maughan took on St. Anne’s Raheny, where, in a field of 395, William placed 50th in 21:49, whilst Michael crossed the line in 57th spot in a time of 22:00. We had 5 runners in Bushy Park on Saturday morning. Lisa Shine ran 24:48 for 38th and 7th spots, whilst Mairead Cashman ran 32:18 for 118th and 46th places. Máirín Shine placed 120th and 47th in 32:48, whilst Kate Murray and Emma O’Mahony finished side-by-side in 32:49 for 121st and 48th and 122nd and 49th places, respectively. The field measured 164. Finally, Hector Jimenez joined 421 other runners in Southwark in London, where he placed 278th in 28:24.

BHAA Garda women’s 2-mile XC (44)
Overall place Name Guntime
1 Aoife Byrne 00:13:22
Crusaders AC runners
2 Amy McGuinness 00:13:41
3 Clare Sullivan 00:13:48
7 Rachael Yorke 00:14:20
10 Miriam Logan 00:15:02
15 Rebecca Fleming 00:15:44
18 Kate Murray 00:15:54
21 Francesca Lee 00:16:24
31 Susan Walsh 00:17:37
Full results here: https://irp.cdn-website.com/15e8030f/files/uploaded/Garda%202%20mile%20CC%202023.pdf
BHAA Garda mixed 4-mile XC (128)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 George Snee 1 00:23:01
104 Anne Sweeney 1 00:33:44
Crusaders AC runners
3 David Fox 00:23:36
6 John Mulvihill 00:24:10
9 Ross Neill 00:24:39
10 Joe McDermott 00:24:43
14 Henry Griffin 00:25:05
30 Michael Kiely 00:26:38
67 Pat Quill 00:30:16
73 Anthony Hackett 00:30:49
75 Neil Brown 00:31:01
79 Karl Walsh 00:31:15
82 Robbie Moore 00:31:27
105 Michael McGovern 00:33:46
Full results here: https://irp.cdn-website.com/15e8030f/files/uploaded/Garda%204%20mile%20CC%202023.pdf
Rathcoffey GAA 10k (339)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Brian Conroy 1 00:31:29
26 Sharon Rynne 00:37:21
Crusaders AC runner
13 Ciarain Kelly 00:34:57
Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/rathcoffey-gaa-10k-5k-2023/#2_9D70EA
John Treacy Dungarvan 10-mile road race (2742)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 William Maunsell 1 00:49:52
34 Mary Mulhare 1 00:55:46
Crusaders AC runners
14 Brendan Murphy 00:53:58
49 Ger Forde 00:57:08
78 Toby Benham 00:58:20 (PB)
176 Eddie Nugent 01:01:23
407 Kevin Lambe 01:06:24 (PB)
426 Gillian Earley 01:06:56 (PB) (33)
447 Conor Macguinness 01:07:24
478 Rob Glascott 01:07:12
1232 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 01:19:05 (210)
Full results here: https://myrunresults.com/events/jt_teams/4760/club-team-results?runnerClass=10%20mile&type=Team&category=F
Trim AC 10-mile road race (1655)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Yared Derese 1 00:49:04
31 Ciara Hickey 1 00:57:25
Crusaders AC runners
28 Joe Walsh 00:56:57 (PB)
72 Kieran Martin 00:59:45
176 Aoife Quigley 01:04:17 (PB) (11)
220 James Cottle 01:06:15
240 Ronan Smith 01:06:57
259 Alma Hanevy 01:07:40
748 Olwyn Dunne 01:19:26 (188) (PACER)
939 Emer Kenny 01:24:12 (282)
1487 Joe Dunne 01:39:46 (PACER)
1489 Miriam Logan 01:39:47 (661) (PACER)
Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/trim-10-mile-road-race-2023/#1_88F07A
IMRA Brockagh Burst 6k (178)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Derek Crammond 1 00:25:10
35 Emily Ryan 1 00:31:53
Crusaders AC runners
26 Donata Jocius 00:31:17
40 Clare Sullivan 00:33:03 (2)
Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2288
Donabate Parkrun (186)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Fintan Counihan 1 00:18:45
6 Sheila Bourke 1 00:20:10
Crusaders AC runner
10 Kathryn Gibbons 00:20:40 (2)
Avondale Forest Parkrun (126)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Martin Cullen 1 00:19:11
18 Abbey Wolohan 1 00:23:05
Crusaders AC runner
31 Olwyn Dunne 00:25:36 (5)
Kilkenny Parkrun (195)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Paul Deegan 1 00:18:28
3 Louise Fogarty 1 00:20:09
Crusaders AC runner
18 Isabelle Cairns 00:22:01 (4)
Shanganagh Parkrun (214)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Joe Hastings 1 00:15:17
27 Emily Kane 1 00:21:46
Crusaders AC runner
77 Carina Davidson 00:25:24 (11)
Fairview Parkrun (141)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Luke Watts 1 00:17:38
31 Rachael Kelly 1 00:26:18
Crusaders AC runner
36 Paul F. Kelly 00:27:34
Strokestown Parkrun (52)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Michael Devine 1 00:22:22
12 Martina O’Connor 1 00:27:27
Crusaders AC runner
18 Liam Lyster 00:27:48
Monaghan Parkrun (120)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Adam Flanagan 1 00:18:13
27 Paula Treanor 1 00:24:59
Crusaders AC runner
1 Adam Flanagan 00:18:13
Bushy Parkrun (164)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Luke Corcoran 1 00:18:16
7 Bernadette Crowley 1 00:21:04
Crusaders AC runners
38 Lisa Shine 00:24:48
118 Mairead Cashman 00:32:18 (46)
120 Máirín Shine 00:32:48 (47)
121 Kate Murray 00:32:49 (48)
122 Emma O’Mahony 00:32:49 (49)
River Valley Parkrun (119)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Mark O’Shea 1 00:17:25
6 Cecile Ollagnier 1 00:21:42
Crusaders AC runners
34 Darina Scully 00:25:55 (7)
64 Brian Scanlan 00:30:01
Poolbeg Parkrun (149)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Stephen Hurley 1 00:17:29
10 Ciara Regan 1 00:19:56
Crusaders AC runners
1 Stephen Hurley 00:17:29
6 Sam Carvill 00:18:57
11 Patrick Duffy 00:20:31
16 Dale Whelehan 00:20:57
26 Joanne Carey 00:21:42 (4)
31 Paul Campbell 00:22:12
51 Josie Ward 00:23:44 (8)
68 Sharon Woods 00:24:38 (10)
75 Franky Keane 00:25:06
99 Kenan Furlong 00:27:53
115 Louise O’Riordan 00:29:37 (30)
132 Niamh Trihy 00:32:16 (41)
133 Kevin Kenny 00:32:19
St. Anne’s Parkrun (395)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Anthony Brady 1 00:16:49
18 Annie Hughes 1 00:20:03
Crusaders AC runners
50 William Ralph 00:21:49
57 Michael Maughan 00:22:00
Marlay Parkrun (513)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Ben O’Mahony 1 00:17:27
45 Clara Geraghty 1 00:21:32
Crusaders AC runners
58 Orla Kennedy 00:22:05 (3)
59 Eoghan Corrigan 00:22:13
406 Irene Gorman 00:32:19 (126)
Griffeen Parkrun (182)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Greg Devereux 1 00:17:48
11 Poppy Lyons Kennedy 1 00:20:56
Crusaders AC runner
36 Colm Foley 00:23:28
Waterstown Parkrun (67)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Dylan McKenna 1 00:19:36
8 Bronagh O’Hara 1 00:24:23
Crusaders AC runner
37 Mary Noelle Rohan 00:32:06 (16)
Sligo Parkrun (112)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Wes McGowan 1 00:19:10
6 Caroline Coulter 1 00:20:38
Crusaders AC runner
31 John Rooney 00:24:52
Borrisokane Parkrun (19)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Ronan Daly 1 00:21:38
3 Christina Carroll 1 00:26:09
Crusaders AC runner
7 Maureen McGinley 00:28:38 (2)
Tolka Valley Parkrun (50)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Richard Bartlett 1 00:19:46
4 Aoife Donaghy 1 00:21:09
Crusaders AC runners
6 Andy Deuser 00:21:57
19 Sarah Lyons 00:25:26 (3)
20 Phelim Murray 00:25:27
Dodder Valley Parkrun (135)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Martin Tyrrell 1 00:17:58
5 Teresa O’Reilly 1 00:19:58
Crusaders AC runners
12 John Lohan 00:21:23
29 Stephen Mulligan 00:24:39
30 Tara Murphy 00:24:43 (4)