Smooth Roads in County Meath – super running in the Bohermeen Half

13/3/2022

Julie McGrath

As each week comes along, it has been great to see yet another iconic race being reinstated following the 2-year hiatus caused by the pandemic. This weekend was particularly exciting as, although the Bohermeen Half marathon, set in Co. Meath, does not have an especially long history, it had fast become one of the events to produce PB times. This was reflected in it being sold out from quite early on. Despite the return of windy conditions, it did not disappoint.

We start, however, as usual, with track results. In midweek, the national indoor track at Abbotstown hosted the 4th meet of the NIA Live races (as previously mentioned, a sort of graded indoor evening). On a truly historic night with a thrilling outcome to the men’s indoor mile with both Olympian Andrew Coscoran and the up-and-coming Nick Griggs breaking 4 minutes for the distance, the latter setting a new national U20 record, we had 4 athletes demonstrating their strengths. There were 6 heats of the men’s 800m and in heat 4 Henry Griffin placed 6th in 2:12.41, whilst, in heat 5, Aaron Cashman placed 8th in 2:11.63. We had two runners take on the mile. In what appeared to be very much a two-horse race in a field of 7, Enda Clarke won the first heat in a time of 4:45.61, whilst in heat 2, Paul Cowhie placed 10th in 5:00.30.

Over the weekend, the junior and U23 indoor national championships were held at the indoor track at the Technical University in Athlone. The club was represented in only one event and that was the men's U23 200m. Because of the perceived advantage of the outside lane in this event it was vital that Hugo Magee ran well in his heat, the second of three, and indeed he did, recording the fastest time of the qualifiers in winning the heat in 22.60. Having secured the coveted outside lane, Hugo didn't disappoint in the final, clearly leading the 6-man field home in 22.40, both times faster than any other athlete recorded in the series. This was a super achievement for Hugo, having only begun working with coach Maria Hetherington in the last few weeks.

11 members of the club finished the Bohermeen Half. On a windy but otherwise dry morning and on a two lap relatively flat looped course mostly along country roads, but also fairly exposed in places, our contingent was led home by Ciaran Diviney in a super time of 1:16:07, for 29th place overall, in a field of 1,257 finishers, and 2nd place in his O/45 age category. Other great times were recorded by Alan Sheehy who placed 89th in 1:21:48, Kenan Furlong (98th in 1:22:08) and by Julie McGrath who took 128th place overall, 6th female finisher, in a PB time of 1:23:34. Julie had been slightly concerned about her calf coming into the race, but had no issues during it and produced what will have been a great confidence booster for her as she now tapers for the Paris marathon in early April. Next came Alma Hanevy in her longest competitive outing since becoming a mother. Alma ran a creditable 1:33:32 for 322nd place overall (31st female across the line) and she was followed by Emer Kenny who would have been delighted to have decided to put all her eggs into one basket and focus on Bohermeen rather than Malta. Emer placed 371st and 39th female finisher in a PB time of 1:35:08, a 4-minute improvement over her previous best time (despite having calf issues towards the end of the race). The 3 women actually constituted a club team and they placed 2nd out of 37 in the club competition. Many congratulations to them. The contingent was completed by Dee Ni Chearbhaill (479th and 63rd in 1:39:17), Gian Piero Allerta (550th in 1:42:43), Alan Kavanagh (577th in 1:42:41), Emily Glen (779th and 181st in 1:49:46) and Liz Nixon in a satisfying if not altogether comfortable run, given that she was just coming back from experiencing Covid (796th and 187th in 1:49:52). In a similar position, Warren Swords was not able to complete the race, also having just experienced Covid. Hopefully, it won’t have disrupted too much his preparations for the Boston marathon in mid-April. Members will be interested to hear that Sean Murphy of United Striders, who trains with us at times, placed 145th in a time of 1:24:54. He was delighted to break 1:25 in his preparation for the Limerick marathon at the beginning of May.

Earlier on in the week, on Tuesday evening, for those of us who travel to training along the Strand Road in Sandymount, we saw a significant amount of activity around Sean Moore Park and discovered that there were two races, a 5k and a 10k, scheduled for that evening with 1,300 competitors registered for the event, organised by the same team that runs the Clontarf half marathon in the Autumn. For the most part, the races took place in laps of Sean Moore Park and incorporated the beach and beach promenade on a windy night with a fairly strong southwesterly wind. We had two club members take part in the 10k, and, in a field of 426, David Willis placed 35th in a time of 44:19. He was followed closely by Will Holton who took 37th spot in a time of 44:42.

Further afield, Thom Martini, our London-based exile, ran 1:33 in the Battersea Park Half marathon, whilst members will be interested to hear that Katie Eisenhauer, who spent some time in the club when she travelled to Ireland a few years back, has been going great guns in her native Australia, having started a family not so long ago. Katie has placed 1st woman home in her two most recent events. In February she ran in the Snowies Trail Half marathon and then this week she ran in the Australian Alpine Ascent, the highest race in Australia.

Sunday saw another race in the IMRA winter league series. This time it was held on Annagh Hill in Co. Wexford. The 10.5k race, on an out-and-back route with a small loop at each end and with an ascent of nearly 500m, was described as challenging and not one for novices, given the amount of mud on the course and the generally difficult terrain. When this report was initially published only provisional results had been posted. At that time it was reported that there had been only 67 finishers in the race, with Will Holton, who probably finished mid-pack, not being recorded as one of them. One of IMRA's rules is for runners to carry a jacket at all times and Will may not have been aware of this. The organisers then reflected on their original decision to disqualify and rescinded it, since they felt that their pre-race briefing had fallen short of making it clear. However, in a new development, they have changed their minds and restored the DQ, so that Will's result did not appear along with two other Crusader finishers who were Becky Quinn who placed 12th overall and 3rd-placed female finisher (and winner of her F45 age category) together with Cian Coughlan who placed 20th overall. Becky's time was 66:02, whilst Cian ran 70:00.

Numbers of participants in parkruns on Saturday morning were generally lower than usual, as was the participation of Crusaders in them. Nevertheless, we had some success amongst our runners. In Poolbeg, both Stephen Hurley and Sarah Lyons were first finishers there. In a field of 116, Stephen ran 18:41, with Sarah running 21:19 for 13th place overall. They were joined by 9 other Crusaders. John Lohan came in 9th in 21:04, followed by Toby Benham (12th in 21:17), Phelim Murray (19th in 22:17), Josie Ward (34th and 4th in 23:30), Gillian Curran (40th and 6th in 24:10), Kenan Furlong, pacing the 25-minute runners (46th in 24:51), Emma O’Mahony (74th and 23rd in 28:33), Liann Leech (100th and 36th in 32:09), with Fiona Bane tailwalking. Then, in Cabinteely, Aoife Quigley placed 7th overall and first female finisher in a time of 21:38, ahead of Louise Dobbyn (9th and 2nd in 23:03), club president Will Owens (10th in 23:05), Olwyn Dunne (38th and 5th in 26:43) and Mairin Shine (59th and 16th in 29:49). The field measured 114. Cristian Vilchez Ceballos and Esther Requena Ferri maintained their winning ways, this time in Brickfields. Cristian led the field of 76 home in 18:57, with Esther placing 5th and 1st in 20:56. We also had a first finisher in Mullingar this weekend. Kate Murray ran with 86 other participants, placing 12th and 1st in 22:54. Podium results were achieved in Kilcock, where recently returned mothers, Caroline Crowley and Orla Kennedy, placed respectively 2nd and 3rd (8th and 12th overall) in a field of 87. Their times were, respectively, 21:30 and 22:11. Another podium place went to Garret Dunne over in Portland Oregon. In a field of 47, Garret placed 2nd in a time of 19:14. Darina Sully tailwalked in River Valley Par, whilst Luke Haran placed 7th in the 75-strong field in Mungret Park in Limerick. Luke’s time was 21:07. Aoife Cowhie was our sole representative in Malahide among 215 runners, where she placed 75th and 19th in 26:08, whilst Mairead Cashman ran in Porterstown with 149 other runners. Mairead ran 31:21 for 108th and 42nd places. David O’Donnell travelled to Oxford where he placed 73rd in a field of 359 and a time of 22:36, whilst in St. Anne’s, Raheny, Aitor Arribas Velasco placed 79th in 23:35 and Cian Coughlan (running with his dog) placed 84th in a time of 23:53. The field measured 377. Finally, in Shanganagh we had 4 participants. They were led home by Stephen Mulligan (55th in 26:14), followed by Carina Davidson (67th and 21st in 26:55), Orlaith de Burca (78th and 30th in 28:04) and Jill Nason (84th and 35th in 28:43). There were 137 runners in the event.

Dublin Night Run 10k (426)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Shane Fitzgerald 1 00:35:27
70 Judy O’Connell 1 00:47:45
Crusaders AC runners
35 David Willis 00:44:19
37 Will Holton 00:44:42
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/dublin_night_run/4308/results
Bohermeen Half marathon (1257)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Jake O’Regan 1 01:04:52
24 Michelle Finn 1 01:15:14
Crusaders AC runners
29 Ciaran Diviney 01:16:07
89 Alan Sheehy 01:21:48
98 Kenan Furlong 01:22:08
128 Julie McGrath 01:23:34 (PB) (6)
322 Alma Hanevy 01:33:32 (31)
371 Emer Kenny 01:35:08 (PB) (39)
479 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 01:39:17 (63)
550 Gian Piero Allerta 01:42:43
577 Alan Kavanagh 01:42:41
779 Emily Glen 01:49:46 (181)
796 Liz Nixon 01:49:52 (187)
Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/rockandroad2022_42km.html
IMRA Annagh Hill 10.5k race (67)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Enda Cloake 1 00:53:55
6 Lisa Hegarty 1 01:01:52
Crusaders AC runners
12 Becky Quinn 01:06:02
20 Cian Coughlan 01:10:00
Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2140
Brickfields Parkrun (76)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Cristian Vilchez Ceballos 1 00:18:57
5 Esther Requena Ferri 1 00:20:56
Crusaders AC runners
1 Cristian Vilchez Ceballos 00:18:57
5 Esther Requena Ferri 00:20:56 (1)
Malahide Parkrun (215)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Darren Keane 1 00:17:52
3 Annette Kealy 1 00:18:29
Crusaders AC runner
75 Aoife Cowhie 00:26:08 (19)
Royal Canal Kilcock Parkrun (87)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Cathal Ennis 1 00:19:12
5 Louise Reilly 1 00:20:44
Crusaders AC runners
8 Caroline Crowley 00:21:30 (2)
12 Orla Kennedy 00:22:11 (3)
Mungret Parkrun (75)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Keith Daly 1 00:17:22
11 Yvonne Deegan 1 00:22:05
Crusaders AC runner
7 Luke Haran 00:21:07
River Valley Parkrun (85)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Michal Kowalski 1 00:21:07
12 Teresa Carroll 1 00:25:23
Crusaders AC runner
79 Darina Scully 00:54:37 (36)
Porterstown Parkrun (150)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Niall Sherlock 1 00:17:08
2 Jennifer O’Sullivan 1 00:19:38
Crusaders AC runner
108 Mairead Cashman 00:31:21 (42)
St. Anne’s Parkrun (377)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Kevin Loftus 1 00:18:10
26 Ciara Sullivan 1 00:21:03
Crusaders AC runners
79 Aitor Arribas Velasco 00:23:38
84 Cian Coughlan 00:23:53
Mullingar Parkrun (87)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Eddie Newman 1 00:17:59
12 Kate Murray 1 00:22:54
Crusaders AC runner
12 Kate Murray 00:22:54 (1)
Poolbeg Parkrun (116)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Stephen Hurley 1 00:18:41
13 Sarah Lyons 1 00:21:19
Crusaders AC runners
1 Stephen Hurley 00:18:41
9 John Lohan 00:21:04
12 Toby Benham 00:21:17
13 Sarah Lyons 00:21:19 (1)
19 Phelim Murray 00:22:17
34 Josie Ward 00:23:30 (4)
40 Gillian Curran 00:24:10 (6)
46 Kenan Furlong 00:24:51
74 Emma O’Mahony 00:28:33 (23)
100 Liann Leech 00:32:09 (36)
116 Fiona Bane 00:40:59
Shanganagh Parkrun (137)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Liam Blackburn 1 00:17:33
12 Ruby Dowd 1 00:21:18
Crusaders AC runners
55 Stephen Mulligan 00:26:14
67 Carina Davidson 00:26:55 (21)
78 Orlaith de Burca 00:28:04 (30)
84 Jill Nason 00:28:43 (35)
Cabinteely Parkrun (114)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Reuben Whelan 1 00:18:49
7 Aoife Quigley 1 00:21:38
Crusaders AC runners
7 Aoife Quigley 00:21:38 (1)
9 Louise Dobbyn 00:23:03 (2)
10 Will Owens 00:23:05
38 Olwyn Dunne 00:26:43 (5)
59 Mairin Shine 00:29:49 (16)