Run Rabbit, Run

2/4/2018

Kiera Roche

Another great weekend for club participation. Two major events dominate. The first was the BHAA K club 10K, always a good opportunity potentially for getting a PB, and the second was Easter Monday’s running of the Battle of Clontarf in St. Anne’s Raheny, which incorporated the Leinster 10 mile championships.

We start with the latter race, which was held on a twisty course on the paths of the park in cold and unfortunately wet conditions. We had at least 7 intrepid participants among the 381 finishers, with the women’s team coming home in 5th place and Olwyn Dunne winning a bronze medal in her age category. Unsurprisingly, the race was won by Peter Somba getting into his racing groove. The first Crusader across the line was Kieran Little in 14th place (58:03) who will have derived significant confidence from what was really a training run (and his training has suffered recently) as he tapers for the Boston marathon, in which he is planning to compete during his upcoming honeymoon(!). John Keogh was next in 112th place (70:53), followed by Dee Ni Chearbhaill (119th overall, 11th woman home and 6th in her age category, in 71:43) and Kate Murray (196th overall, 39th woman, in 78:58). Olwyn followed not too far behind (208th overall, 45th woman) and these were the three scorers for the women’s team. Carina Davidson placed 221st overall, 52nd female finisher, in 81:22 and our final competitor was Robbie Moore (285th in 89:16) having run in the BHAA 10k two days earlier.

We had a super turnout in the BHAA race, which as usual likely produced a reasonable number of PBs, although for some reason may have measured slightly long this year as a result of a few tweaks to the route. It was a mixed race in dry and not too windy conditions and on the women’s side our top performer was Adrienne Jordan who took 4th spot in the women’s race, behind winner Linda Byrne. Adrienne ran it in 38:57 (66th overall) and likely podiumed in her age category. Niamh Corby was next (106th overall, 10th woman) in 41:24 and just behind theoretically race-rusty husband Grattan O’Brien, but who clearly has been doing some decent training on the sly (104th in 41:07). Our next female competitor home was Emer Kenny (183rd overall, 20th woman, in 45:07) and Emer was followed by Sarah Lyons (208th overall, 29th woman, in 46:43). We had at least 14 men in the race in a total field of nearly 370. Michael Wycherley continues to improve with age and recorded a PB time of 35:17 (16th place), 33 seconds faster than his previous 10k result. In addition, Michael took 3rd spot in his age category. He and two others, Frank Halligan (19th in 35:24) and Peter O’Toole (22nd in 35:47), ran together for much of the race, with Michael finally pulling away towards the end. There were good results too from Andrea Talpo (56th in a likely PB of 38:21), Joe Walsh, who has the Paris marathon next weekend (73rd in 39:28) and Brian Scanlan (93rd in 40:36). Just behind Brendan Glynn (115th in 42:00) came Denis Murphy in a PB time of 43:19 (14th) and Denis was followed by Phelim Murray (148th in 43:49), Tom Dunne (152nd in 44:04), just recovering from a stomach bug the day before, Tony Hackett (188th in 45:18), Robbie Moore (236th in 48:01) and Paul Kelly (359th in 62:47). The usual feast at the K Club followed the race.

Other notable events of the weekend included Leo Lundy’s mammoth run from Belfast to Dublin starting at noon on Good Friday. There were various cut-off times along what turned out to be quite a treacherous busy open road and Leo negotiated them all, finally coming home well inside the 36 hour limit in a time of 28:18. Of the 71 starters and only 37 finishers in this inaugural event, Leo’s 107 mile effort (the furthest he’s ever run) rewarded him with 21st place overall.

Kiera Roche also had a rewarding weekend, taking 1st place (16th overall in a field of nearly 350 runners) in the Ballyliffin 10 mile Coastal Challenge in Co. Donegal. Kiera ran the distance in an excellent 1:04:35.

We also had another race winner over the Easter break. Becky Quinn won the women’s race in an IMRA event. The overall winner among the 49 competitors (Tom Hogan) recorded a time of 48:07 and Becky took 10th spot overall in a time of 57:22. The course was challenging involving a distance of 10km and a climb in excess of 500m on difficult terrain.

There was also quite a turnout in the parkruns on Easter Saturday. We also had some podium finishes. One of the largest Cru participations took place in Poolbeg where men’s club captain Michael Kiely came home as first finisher in a time of 16:20. He was followed by John Mulvihill in 2nd (17:04) and Michael O’Conor (4th in 17:32) who fell just as he was about to make his move for a podium place, so he reliably informs. David Timoney was next (7th in 20:13), Zalan Kovacs (13th in 21:40) and Colm Foley (16th in 22:52). There were also first finishers elsewhere. Irene Gorman shares an identical course PB of 19:32 with Catherine Thornton in Knocknacarra, another Crusader woman to beat the entire field, whilst Olwyn Dunne, a couple of days before her Leinster 10 mile exploit, took 2nd place in Cabinteely (28th overall, in 24:09). Kieran Little did likewise, and placed 2nd in Shanganagh in 17:16 and another podium place went also to Susanne English in Oldbridge (3rd female, 41st overall, in 26:38). We had a significant turnout in St. Anne’s. Darina Scully was first home for the club in 67th place overall, 6th woman, in 22:50. Darina was followed by Colm Kernan, who paced (146th in 25:03), Amy Brogan (187th overall, 32nd woman, in 26:35), Aoife Quinn, another pacer (243rd overall, 61st woman, in 28:24), Maria Pertl (250th overall, 67th woman, in 28:43), Diarmuid Byrne (251st in 28:44) and Kevin Flynn (330th in 32:14). Brian Carroll ran in Griffeen, placing 7th in 19:06, whilst Ronan Moynihan took part in Malahide (23rd in 21:44). Once again, Aidan Hudner ran in Victoria Park, Glasgow, placing 60th out of a field of nearly 280 in 22:54, whilst Sharon Woods ran in Tymon, taking 36th spot overall, 9th woman, in 24:30.

Ballyliffin 10 mile Coastal Challenge (349)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Greg Roberts 1 00:54:26
16 Kiera Roche 1 01:04:35
Crusaders AC runner
16 Kiera Roche 01:04:35 (1)
Full results here: http://www.donegaldaily.com/2018/03/31/ballyliffin-coastal-challenge-results-where-did-you-come/
BHAA K Club 10K (369)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Rossa Hurley 1 00:32:30
27 Linda Byrne 1 00:35:56
Crusaders AC runners
16 Michael Wycherley 00:35:17 (PB)
19 Frank Halligan 00:35:24
22 Peter O’Toole 00:35:47
56 Andrea Talpo 00:38:21 (PB)
66 Adrienne Jordan 00:38:57 (4)
73 Joe Walsh 00:39:28
93 Brian Scanlan 00:40:36
104 Grattan O’Brien 00:41:07
106 Niamh Corby 00:41:24 (10)
115 Brendan Glynn 00:42:00
140 Denis Murphy 00:43:19 (PB)
148 Phelim Murray 00:43:49
152 Tomas Dunne 00:44:04
183 Emer Kenny 00:45:07 (20)
188 Anthony Hackett 00:45:18
208 Sarah Lyons 00:46:43 (29)
236 Robbie Moore 00:48:01
359 Paul Kelly 01:02:47
Full results here: https://bhaa.ie/april-1st-2018-provisional-kclub-results/
Battle of Clontarf (Leinster 10 mile Championships) (381)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Peter Somba 1 00:52:31
41 Sally Forristal 1 01:02:25
Crusaders AC runners
14 Kieran Little 00:58:03
112 John Keogh 01:10:53
119 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 01:11:43 (11)
196 Kate Murray 01:18:58 (390
208 Olwyn Dunne 01:19:33 (45)
221 Carina Davidson 01:21:22 (10)
285 Robbie Moore 01:29:16
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/battle_of_clontarf_10_mile_(leinster_championship)/2582/results
Malahide Parkrun #281 (272)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Paul Gleeson 1 00:18:15
10 Rachel Eustace 1 00:19:56
Crusaders AC runner
23 Ronan Moynihan 00:21:44
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=281
Griffeen Parkrun #250 (176)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mark Ryan 1 00:15:30
9 Niamh Fitzgerald 1 00:19:49
Crusaders AC runner
7 Brian Carroll 00:19:06
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/griffeen/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=250
Poolbeg Parkrun #30 (53)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Michael Kiely 1 00:16:20
22 Hannah Coleman 1 00:23:46
Crusaders AC runners
2 John Mulvihill 00:17:04
4 Michael O’Conor 00:17:32
7 David Timoney 00:20:13
13 Zalan Kovacs 00:21:40
16 Colm Foley 00:22:52
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=31
St. Anne’s Parkrun #227 (393)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Peter Fitzsimons 1 00:17:07
28 Adrienne Atkins 1 00:21:04
Crusaders AC runners
67 Darina Scully 00:22:50 (6)
146 Colm Kernan 00:25:03
187 Amy Brogan 00:26:35 (32)
243 Aoife Quinn 00:28:24 (61)
250 Maria Pertl 00:28:43 (67)
251 Diarmuid Byrne 00:28:44
330 Kevin Flynn 00:32:14
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=227
Knocknacarra Parkrun #196 (92)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Irene Gorman 1 00:19:32
2 Kieran Tierney 1 00:19:44
Crusaders AC runner
1 Irene Gorman 00:19:32 (1)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/knocknacarra/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=196
Tymon Parkrun #197 (166)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Anthony O’Rourke 1 00:18:34
5 Sinead Tighe 1 00:20:42
Crusaders AC runner
36 Sharon Woods 00:24:30 (9)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tymon/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=197
Cabinteely Parkrun #156 (176)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Barry Thornton 1 00:19:02
24 Erica Calder 1 00:23:57
Crusaders AC runner
28 Olwyn Dunne 00:24:09 (2)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=156
Shanganagh Parkrun #156 (176)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Peter Mathews 1 00:16:49
10 Richael Browne 1 00:20:28
Crusaders AC runner
2 Kieran Little 00:17:16
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/shanganagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=156
Oldbridge Parkrun #195 (86)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Mark Leacy 1 00:19:00
31 Hazel Murphy 1 00:25:19
Crusaders AC runner
41 Susanne English 00:26:38 (3)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/oldbridge/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=195