Spring Fever

4/4/2022

Dee Lawlor

The weekend saw the main start of the marathon season in Europe with two big city events taking place in Manchester and Paris, Crusaders featuring in both. There were also some juicy half marathons available outside Ireland, as well as the first BHAA road race of the season.

We start with the BHAA DCC road race that took place in St. Anne’s Raheny on Saturday morning. Like with the Garda XC race earlier this year, the numbers were somewhat swollen with Lord Mayor’s 5-Alive runners, which made the event challenging in places. On a chilly morning with a moderate northerly wind, 237 runners took on the new course. It still has a start and finish on the main thoroughfare through the park, but also incorporates a flat 3km loop with a few tight turns to the south of that long flat straight road. The loop had to be navigated and in one, rather narrow, short stretch runners were going in both directions. We had at least 9 Crusaders in the race, with the fastest being Michael Wycherley who is in strong form at the moment and he managed to hold off Daniel Lowe who tried to stick to Michael’s tail from early on. Michael placed 6th in 21:55, followed by Daniel in 7th with a time of 22:00. Next came Joe McDermott in 10th place with a time of 22:55, followed by Karl Fitzmaurice (18th in 23:37) and Eddie Nugent (21st in 24:25). Interestingly, Michael, Karl and Eddie were 1st, 3rd and 4th M45 finishers. Dee Ni Chearbhaill was next, placing 52nd overall and 10th female finisher (and 3rd F40) in 28:32, and Dee was followed closely by 2nd-placed F50 Sharon Woods (54th and 12th in 28:36), by Robbie Moore (61st in 29:16) and by Aoife Cowhie (105th and 29th in 33:37).

On the same day, Alan Kavanagh headed to the windy and hilly Inis Oirr Wild Atlantic Island 5k run, where he placed 4th in a time of 21:02. The results have yet to be published, and the report will be updated once they are available. Also, on Saturday, Rachel Calvey took part in the Sonia O’Sullivan Cobh 10-mile race. In a field of 633, Rachel placed 296th overall (67th female across the line) in a time of 83:04. Thomas Vogee participated on Sunday in a St. Andrews University alumnae 10k in Fife in Scotland, where he finished in a time of 39:02. Other results over the weekend included a PB for our Italian exile Italo Giancaterina in the Vivicitta Pescara 10k on the east coast of Italy. Italo placed 4th in a time of 32.23. Also, Esther Requena Ferri ran in her native Spain in the El Calero Yecla 10k where she recorded a PB time of 41:50 and won the women's race.

We now move onto the half, full and ultra marathons that took place over the weekend. In fact, we should really start with a couple of results that were inadvertently missed from last week’s report. Georgina Hawkins headed to Cardiff to run in the half marathon there where she ran 1:54:56. Recent new member, Kevin Kenny, ran the Ghent marathon where he completed the distance in 4:18:27. Then, over this weekend he ran again in the Manchester marathon, finishing in a time of 4:20:46, a super achievement. Also, this weekend, Pat Quill headed to England’s Lake District where he took on the Lakeland Traverse, a race across the full width of the national park, a distance of some 60 miles (96.9k). Pat placed 113th in the field of 163, completing the challenge in a time of 22:24:00.

On Saturday morning in freezing conditions and on a course with a lot of cobblestones Brian O’Kelly ran in the Prague half marathon, where he finished in a superb 40th position in a field of 6,740 finishers and in a time of 1:11:48, to place 7th in his age category. On Sunday, Kathryn Sweeney headed to Omagh where, also in chilly conditions, with 1,429 other runners she competed in the half marathon there, earning a PB result of 1:29:47, her first time breaking 1:30 for the distance. The race was conducted on a two-loop undulating course with what Kathryn described as a few nasty climbs but otherwise not too bad, finishing on an athletics track. Also, our London-based exile, Thom Martini, ran 1:35 in the Reading half marathon.

Grattan O’Brien had put in a lot of effort into training for the Manchester marathon on Sunday and it paid off big time as he recorded a PB of 2:55:21 with a negative split of almost two minutes. In a race with some major sunshine towards the end, and where once again Tommy Hughes recorded another world record, this time for the M60 age category, of 2:30, Grattan placed 811th in a field of 14,170 finishers.

The other big race this weekend was the 47th running of the Paris marathon with a field exceeding 40,000. The event had an early start in bitterly cold conditions, so a lot of runners brought masses of warm clothing to discard at the start. Some of us kept the layers on until we were well into the race. Being in Paris, as the French say, it was a little “bordelique” or chaotic at times. Trying even to get access to the bag drop was a challenge with a narrow entrance and runners being funnelled into it (ensuring that no one who wasn’t running was turned away). A bit of “French queueing” was required (always work your way along the side edges of the scramble and ignore negative comments!). At least one of us ended up in a 15-minute queue for a portaloo (and with people barging in at the last minute) with seemingly no one available to tell us that there were no queues 200m along the road!

The start of the race was interesting using a system that has been in use continuously over the years, but only in Paris perhaps. There are side by side corrals for any specific time objective, but the left side departed well ahead of the corrals on the right. So that it was difficult to spot clubmates if you weren’t in the same corral even if you were essentially targeting a similar time.

Having said all that, it is a marvellous race, passing close by lots of monuments like the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and the Chateau de Vincennes, as well as taking in two forests, that of Vincennes and the Bois de Boulogne, along with a run along the Seine on the homeward side. The course is not too challenging, although there are hills, particularly in the second half, consisting of underpasses (one of which goes through the tunnel under Place d’Alma where Princess Diana died and there is a stencil image of her on the pillar that her car hit which you would only really notice if you were running), but we were surprised by a nasty hill at about 35km as we entered the Bois de Boulogne and also a lot of rough cobblestones in the forest as we approached the finishing kilometres.

9 Crusaders braved the conditions which didn’t really warm up from start to finish (it had snowed two days earlier, but thankfully the snow hadn’t settled) and we were led home by Dee Lawlor with a super time of 2:53:56. He had experienced Covid only a couple of weeks earlier, so this was an extremely impressive run in the circumstances. Dee was followed by Julie McGrath running her first marathon. Despite the conditions she enjoyed almost every minute of it, finishing in an amazing 2:58:26 (49th female finisher). James Cottle was next and, like Dee, recovering from a recent bout of Covid (indeed, the waves of fatigue that seem to accompany and follow the virus had really only stopped for him the day before). James decided to take it as steadily as possible and paid no attention to his watch for the entire race. In fact, he was so nervous at the end, it took him 5 minutes after he crossed the line before he dared to look to see what time he had achieved. In the end he was happy with the outcome, with a course PB and 3rd in his M64+ age category (the French do age categories differently from everyone else!) and a time of 3:11:20. Michael Judge was next with an excellent 3:18:52, followed by Ger Moore in his first marathon with a satisfying 3:35:15. Daniel O’Mahony was next, in 3:38:47, followed by our French exile, living now in London, Louise Vanwildermeersch, who ran 3:47:54. The contingent was completed by Daniel Gleeson (4:03:21) and another recent Covid-recoverer, Barry Smith, who ran 4:17:30, still feeling the effects.

There were two races in the mountains over the weekend. The first was close to Killarney in Co. Kerry, the Tomies and Purple Mountain race, and the second was around Tinahely in Co. Wicklow. Both took place on Sunday.

Becky Quinn won the women’s race in Killarney, which was part of the Munster Championships. It was listed as 12.5k race with a climb of 867m on difficult terrain and was intended only for experienced mountain runners since the out and back course was unmarked and was taking place in an area with multiple steep cliffs. Becky placed 14th overall in a field of 36 and in a time of 1:48:44, nearly an hour ahead of her closest rival.

The Tinahely race enjoyed a field of 57 and we were represented by Donatas Jocius who placed 9th in a time of 1:22:53. The event involved a climb of 13.5k on a loop with two ascents on relatively easy terrain.

Attendance at the parkruns was lower than usual everywhere for some reason. Maybe the pandemic has now hit the parkruns as well as the airports. Nevertheless, we had some excellent results as usual. Aine Crotty found herself in Ashford in Kent where, in a field of 140, she placed 12th overall and first female finisher in a time of 20:47. Louise Dobbyn was also a first finisher again, in Cabinteely where she placed 20th overall (and a time of 24:04) in a field of 132. In the same event, Emiliano Sanchez took 4th place in 19:26, followed by Ronan Moynihan just behind in 5th with 19:30. Stephen Mulligan also took part, placing 32nd in 25:34. Another first finisher was Toby Benham who led the 38-strong field in Waterstown home in a time of 19:38. Kate Murray ran well in Mullingar where, in a field of 65, she placed 17th overall and 2nd in 24:12, whilst Tony Owens placed 9th in Fairview alongside 89 other participants. Tony’s time was 21:21. Miriam Logan took the opportunity to run in Templemore, placing 42nd and 16th in 34:46 in a field of 47, whilst Maureen McGinley went further afield to Amsterdam, where, in a field of 83, she placed 48th and 13th in a time of 29:21. Colm Foley finished in 19th place in a time of 22:37 in Killarney House parkrun, whilst Brian Scanlan took 16th spot in River Valley in 21:32. Darina Scully tailwalked in the same event with its field of 121. As usual we had a number of runners in Poolbeg. They were led home, in the field of 84, by Paul Campbell (15th in 21:19), followed by Kenan Furlong (19th in 21:35), Neil Brown (36th in 23:47), Tanja Narancic (42nd and 6th in 24:26), Olwyn Dunne (44th and 7th in 24:28), Tara Murphy (49th and 9th in 25:11) and by Russell Murphy (52nd in 25:14). We also had 5 runners in Shanganagh. Lisa Shine was first home for the club in 53rd and 9th in a time of 24:31. Lisa was followed by her sister Fiona (54th and 10th in the same time), Orlaith de Burca (89th and 31st in 28:36), Mairin Shine (97th and 37th in 29:31) and by Carina Davidson (106th and 41st in 30:31). The field measured 134. Finally, Deirdre Kennedy ran in Malahide. In a field of 238, Deirdre placed 147th and 38th in a time of 27:50.

As usual please let us know of any errors or omissions. Many thanks!

BHAA DCC 4-mile road race (237)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Sean Doran 1 00:20:09
12 Laura McDonnell 1 00:22:59
Crusaders AC runners
6 Michael Wycherley 00:21:55
7 Daniel Lowe 00:22:00
10 Joe McDermott 00:22:55
18 Karl Fitzmaurice 00:23:37
21 Eddie Nugent 00:24:25
52 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:28:32 (10)
54 Sharon Woods 00:28:36 (12)
61 Robbie Moore 00:29:16
105 Aoife Cowhie 00:33:37 (29)
Full results here: https://irp.cdn-website.com/15e8030f/files/uploaded/BHAA%20-%20%20DCC%204%20Mile.pdf
Sonia O’Sullivan Cobh 10-mile (633)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Ger Forde 1 00:50:37
8 Aoife Kilgannon 1 00:56:18
Crusaders AC runner
296 Rachel Calvey 01:23:04 (67
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/sonia_o'sullivan_cobh_10/4223/results
Spar Omagh Half Marathon (1430)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Sergiu Ciobanu 1 01:07:17
54 Ann-Marie McGlynn 1 01:22:41
Crusaders AC runner
148 Kathryn Sweeney 01:29:47 (PB) (10)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/spar_omagh_half_marathon/4228/results
IMRA Tomies/Purple Mountain 12.5k (36)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Ruairi Long 1 01:19:15
14 Becky Quinn 1 01:48:44
Crusaders AC runner
14 Becky Quinn 01:48:44 (1)
Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2218
IMRA Tinahely 13.5k (57)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Matthew McConnell 1 01:06:46
6 Caroline Harney 1 01:20:19
Crusaders AC runner
9 Donatas Jocius 01:22:53
Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2219
Mullingar Parkrun (65)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Evan McCormack 1 00:17:13
14 Caroline Mullen 1 00:22:49
Crusaders AC runner
17 Kate Murray 00:24:12 (2)
Killarney House Parkrun (78)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Conor Lucey 1 00:18:03
2 Martine Kiely 1 00:18:05
Crusaders AC runner
19 Colm Foley 00:22:37
River Valley Parkrun (121)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Anthony Dorran 1 00:17:40
11 Cecile Ollagnier 1 00:21:30
Crusaders AC runners
16 Brian Scanlan 00:21:32
121 Darina Scully 00:54:50
Templemore Parkrun (47)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Alex Crowley 1 00:18:03
7 Maria Maher 1 00:20:14
Crusaders AC runner
42 Miriam Logan 00:34:46 (16)
Waterstown Parkrun (38)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Toby Benham 1 00:19:38
17 Ciara Blanch 1 00:29:38
Crusaders AC runner
1 Toby Benham 00:19:38
Fairview Parkrun (90)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Marcus Bishop 1 00:18:16
15 Maria Manzocco 1 00:23:06
Crusaders AC runner
9 Anthony Owens 00:21:21
Malahide Parkrun (403)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Stephen Fay 1 00:15:44
5 Annette Kealy 1 00:18:11
Crusaders AC runner
147 Deirdre Kennedy 00:27:50 (38)
Poolbeg Parkrun (84)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Hugh McDonnell 1 00:18:12
11 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:20:56
Crusaders AC runners
15 Paul Campbell 00:21:19
19 Kenan Furlong 00:21:35
36 Neil Brown 00:23:47
42 Tanja Narancic 00:24:26 (6)
44 Olwyn Dunne 00:24:28 (7)
49 Tara Murphy 00:25:11 (9)
52 Russell Murphy 00:25:14
Shanganagh Parkrun (134)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Stephen McGuinn 1 00:17:49
3 Catherine O’Connor 1 00:18:13
Crusaders AC runners
53 Lisa Shine 00:24:31 (9)
54 Fiona Shine 00:24:31 (10)
89 Orlaith de Burca 00:28:36 (31)
97 Mairin Shine 00:29:31 (37)
106 Carina Davidson 00:30:31 (41)
Cabinteely Parkrun (132)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 John Golden 1 00:19:07
20 Louise Dobbyn 1 00:24:04
Crusaders AC runners
4 Emiliano Sanchez 00:19:26
5 Ronan Moynihan 00:19:30
20 Louise Dobbyn 00:24:04 (1)
32 Stephen Mulligan 00:25:34