Spring Marathon season is upon us: Tough conditions in Rotterdam

8/4/2019

Rob Browne

Another epic Crusader trip took place over the weekend, with more than 20 club members joining more than 15,000 runners for the annual Rotterdam marathon on Sunday morning. Spring marathons are notoriously difficult to prepare for as the weather in which we train can be a lot different from the weather experienced in the race. This proved to be the case on Sunday and the temperatures climbed steadily through the morning on a cloudless day with only a gentle breeze in places, with many of the later finishers experiencing temperatures well over 20 degrees Celsius (and remember that’s a shade temperature and there is little shade in Rotterdam). The race is generally well-organised but for some inexplicable reason the gun goes at 10 am, thus ensuring that everyone finishes in the afternoon and putting more of a burden on the emergency services than if the race were to start an hour earlier. As a consequence, we witnessed a lot of cramping among runners towards the end, despite there being apparently plenty of isotonic drinks available. At least the organisers had the presence of mind to provide sachets of factor 50 sun cream with the race numbers.

Despite the brutal conditions, we saw some pretty impressive performances. On a relatively flat course (though not without its bridges and underpasses), the Kenyan male winner came home in 2:04, a result not to be sneezed at, whilst the female Ethiopian winner ran under 2:23. There were also loads of Irish runners we were able to support, including two of the age category winners, Des Kennedy of Raheny, who won the M50 category in 2:37, and ex-Barcelona Olympian Tommy Hughes from Maghera in Derry who won the M55 category at the age of 59 in a time of 2:30, faster than he ran in Barcelona and posting a new world record for a 59-year old (breaking the old record by 7 minutes). Even the M60 category was won by a Portuguese runner in the impressive time of 2:45.

Jasper de Taeye, who was a member of the club whilst in Ireland last year, satisfactorily managed to repeat his previous time for the race in 2:40. Otherwise our first man home was the ever-improving Rob Browne who ran just a 2 minute positive split to come home in a PB time of 2:52, after having broken 3 hours in Dublin for the first time last October. Adam Flanagan, for a long time leading the contingent, fell back slightly towards the end, finding the heat challenging, but still managed 2:54, followed closely by Barry McGuire in a PB time of 2:55. Barry was almost missed by the supporters when he felt the need to run without a singlet for a while, only to be reminded by someone in the crowd that he might want to avoid getting fried with sunburn. We then had to wait a short while for Mick Smyth to cross the line. Mick has a distaste for warm conditions and found the going challenging, but he still managed 3:11, followed by Bob Manson in 3:15 and Tom Foley who ran 3:17, another couple of runners who could have expected a significantly lower time had the conditions been friendlier. One of the more surprising results was that of Dominick Branigan, not because his 3:20 was about 40 minutes off his best, but because he started the race at all, let alone running and finishing it in some discomfort, having suffered from plantar fasciitis throughout training and running few miles as a result in preparation. Dominick was preceded across the line by Maurice Kelter and Kiera Roche both with a PB time of 3:19, Maurice having had only a relatively short amount of training for the event whilst Kiera is another runner who can expect her times to drop in better conditions, and who not only had the heat to deal with but also a niggling problem in her knee that she was anxious to protect. It is surprising how many PBs were produced, giving our runners a lot of confidence for Dublin in October in particular (naturally, most have already signed up!). Andrew Kinneen produced a PB effort in 3:23, as did Cormac McGuire in 3:28. Darran Lovely ran a steady pace (in wave 2) to finish in a satisfying 3:29 and he was followed by Triona Quill who ran the race surrounded by tall Dutchmen with flying elbows at her head height. Nevertheless, Triona ran not much slower than her PB in Dublin, with an excellent 3:32 and 11th place in her F50 age category. Triona was followed by Katie McElroy who also achieved a super PB time, coming across the line in 3:33, following a plan that was determined over pasta the night before whilst also celebrating her birthday. Our contingent was completed by Damien Fitzgibbon (3:36), Gian Piero Allerta (3:41), Phelim Murray (3:47), Jemma Lyons (3:52), Maria del Carmen Jimenez Campos (3:59), Aifric O’Sullivan (4:05), Maria Esteban (4:16) and Mari Hansen, who was forced to walk large stretches of the race (5:27). Jemma nearly didn’t make the race and it wasn’t because of the knee injury from which she has been suffering since the Bohermeen half. She spent the night before the race in The Hague, hoping to get up early and catch a train to Rotterdam. Instead, she slept through her alarm waking up at 8:30 and forced to take an Uber taxi. En route she realised she had left her number in The Hague and that meant her boyfriend had similarly to take an Uber, arriving just before the gun went. Not exactly the best start to a marathon, but Jemma still maintained a huge smile all the way round. There were many Irish supporters at the race, so our runners had plenty of people cheering them on, including a reasonable number of Crusaders who made the trip and, because it’s so easy to get round Dutch cities on a bike, who were able to provide support at far ends of the figure of eight course with its crossing of the Erasmus bridge twice. Using this mode of transport we were able to support in 3-4 places, on one occasion using lots of ingenuity to fly the tricolour for all to see. It should be noted that Sarah Lyons ran in the “quarter marathon” but it was a bit like the WMM and by not starting close enough to the front, she had difficulties getting through walkers.

We also had a runner in the Vienna marathon on the same day. Seamus Moore ran it in an excellent time of 2:55:12. He described conditions as extremely windy on an otherwise flat and boring course (which can hardly be said for Rotterdam with its fascinating modern architecture and busy harbour), not one he would choose to return to. We had heard about the wind before, as apparently Vienna can be like a wind tunnel.

Closer to home, we had runners in the UCD Ras 5k on Saturday on a chilly but sunny day. There were a few unfamiliar names among the Crusader runners, so it’s good to see we have more club-mates racing. In a field of 283, Luke Davis crossed the line in 31st place in a time of 18:10, and he was followed by Patrick Needham in 43rd for a time of 18:48 and who felt the course measured short (by as much as 180m).. It’s been a common thread this year. Brendan Glynn in 71st place in 20:42, followed by Paula Bradshaw (87th overall, 19th female) in 21:36, Aoife Cowhie (127th and 30th) in 23:45 and Cindy MacConnie (144th and 37th) in 24:56. Three days earlier, TCD had held its own 5k, a race between students and staff around the campus. Michael Wycherley from the club took part, coming home in 8th place and the first member of staff in a field of 154.

In the University indoor athletics championships last week, Matt Behan ran 14:38 to win the 110m hurdles for his alma mater, DCU.

Finally, we come to the parkruns. Numbers generally seem to have been lower this week, but we still have a few events on which to report. One parkrun, however, that seems to attract huge numbers is Bushy Park in London, where Olwyn Dunne joined 1300 other participants to place 624th overall, 144th female, in 26:31. The first woman across the line was Olympian Mara Yamauchi (18:12) of marathon fame. Also, outside Dublin we had Kris Ryan run in Main Beach in Australia where she placed 65th and 10th in 24:00 in a field of 371, whilst Aidan Hudner ran again in Glasgow alongside 350 plus runners, placing 55th in 21:54.

We had one first finisher this week. Kieran Little ran in Westport where he ran 16:44. The only other podium place went to Niamh Corby who placed 2nd (11th overall) in Poolbeg in a time of 20:11, 3 seconds behind Sportsworld’s Maura Ginty. There was quite a contingent in Poolbeg, at least 17 in total including Niamh. A week before the Connemara Ultra, Zlatko Kulic took 5th spot in 19:24, followed by Niamh, Diarmuid Byrne (14th in 20:29), David Timoney (18th in 21:12), Louise Dobbyn (31st and 4th) in 22:39, Lisa Shine (38th and 7th) in 23:03, Russell Murphy (41st in 23:10), Sharon Woods (44th and 11th) in 23:31, Aoife Clarke (51st and 13th) in 24:15, Ali May Hann (68th and 19th) in 24:57, Ava Rose Clarke (89th and 27th) in 26:11, Cathal Murphy (118th in 28:00), Ciara McElligott (144th and 55th in 30:46) , Mairin Shine (171st and 70th) in 49:23 and then the tailwalkers of Darina Scully, Maria Pertl and Fiona Bane. Dave Carter placed 7th in 20:15 in Cabinteely, whilst Mairead Cashman ran 28:12 for 114th and 25th in Bushy Park (Dublin!). Aoife Kelly was our sole representative in St Anne’s (90th and 10th in 23:02), whilst Francis Furey was also a singleton in Knocknacarra where he ran 25:20 for 44th spot. We had a good turnout in Marlay Park where John McAuley took 9th place in 18:15, followed by Anthony O’Reilly (31st in 19:55) and Jonathan Sykes (57th in 21:27). Lastly, Ronan Moynihan ran in Malahide again, placing 7th in 18:23.

Ras UCD 5k (283)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Rory O’Connell 1 00:15:00
17 Linda Byrne 1 00:17:03
Crusaders AC runners
31 Luke Davis 00:18:10
42 Patrick Needham 00:18:48
71 Brendan Glynn 00:20:42
87 Paula Bradshaw 00:21:36 (19)
127 Aoife Cowhie 00:23:45 (30)
144 Cindy MacConnie 00:24:56 (37)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/ras_ucd_2019/3038/results
Rotterdam Marathon (14537 finishers)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Marius Kipserem 1 02:04:11
31 Ashete Bekere 1 02:22:52
Crusaders AC runners
Jasper de Taeye 02:40:06
Rob Browne 02:52:37 (PB)
Adam Flanagan 02:54:53
Barry McGuire 02:55:03 (PB)
Mick Smyth 03:11:28
Bob Manson 03:15:01
Tom Foley 03:17:55
Maurice Kelter 03:19:00 (PB)
Kiera Roche 03:19:46 (PB)
Dominick Branigan 03:20:53
Andrew Kinneen 03:23:15 (PB)
Cormac McGuire 03:28:45 (PB)
Darran Lovely 03:29:17
Triona Quill 03:32:38
Katie McElroy 03:33:48 (PB)
Damien Fitzgibbon 03:36:54
Gian Piero Allerta 03:41:49
Phelim Murray 03:47:13
Jemma Lyons 03:52:57
Maria del Carmen Jimenez Campos 03:59:35
Aifric O’Sullivan 04:05:07
Maria Esteban 04:16:36
Mari Hansen 05:27:05
TCD 5k (154)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Ciaran Quinn 1 00:16:58
25 Lucy Deegan 1 00:20:11
Crusaders AC runner
8 Michael Wycherley 00:18:46
Full results here: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/TCD5km_2019.pdf
Malahide Parkrun #335 (339)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 David Mullen 1 00:17:11
4 Sinead Lambe 1 00:18:03
Crusaders AC runner
7 Ronan Moynihan 00:18:23
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.org.uk/malahide/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=335
Marlay Parkrun #300 (511)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Louis McCarthy 1 00:15:38
9 Lynne Hennessy 1 00:18:39
Crusaders AC runners
7 John McAuley 00:18:15
31 Anthony O’Reilly 00:19:55
57 Jonathan Sykes 00:21:27
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=300
St. Anne’s Parkrun #278 (421)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Unknown 1 00:17:27
23 Hannah Craddock 1 00:19:47
Crusaders AC runner
90 Aoife Kelly 00:23:02 (10)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=278
Westport Parkrun #282 (91)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Kieran Little 1 00:16:44
12 Laura Coy 1 00:21:54
Crusaders AC runner
1 Kieran Little 00:16:44
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/westport/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=282
Poolbeg Parkrun #85 (175)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Christopher O’Reilly 1 00:18:21
10 Maura Ginty 1 00:20:08
Crusaders AC runners
5 Zlatko Kulic 00:19:24
11 Niamh Corby 00:20:11 (2)
14 Diarmuid Byrne 00:20:29
18 David Timoney 00:21:12
31 Louise Dobbyn 00:22:39 (4)
38 Lisa Shine 00:23:03 (7)
41 Russell Murphy 00:23:10
44 Sharon Woods 00:23:31 (11)
51 Aoife Clarke 00:24:15 (13)
68 Ali May Hann 00:24:57 (19)
89 Ava Rose Clarke 00:26:11 (27)
118 Cathal Murphy 00:28:00
144 Ciara McElligott 00:30:46 (55)
171 Mairin Shine 00:49:23 (68)
173 Darina Scully 00:58:33 (70)
174 Maria Pertl 00:58:34 (71)
175 Fiona Bane 00:58:35 (72)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=85
Knocknacarra Parkrun #249 (131)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Kieran Tierney 1 00:18:59
25 Ailbhe Ni Golla Chomhaill 1 00:22:37
Crusaders AC runner
44 Francis Furey 00:25:20
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/knocknacarra/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=249
Cabinteely Parkrun #209 (164)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Killian Mooney 1 00:17:46
8 Orna Dilworth 1 00:20:21
Crusaders AC runner
7 David Carter 00:20:15
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=209
Bushy Parkrun #111 (202)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Pierre-Antoine Lengrais 1 00:17:51
12 Margaret Galvin 1 00:21:04
Crusaders AC runners
51 Kate Murray 00:24:33 (6)
114 Mairead Cashman 00:28:32 (25)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/bushydublin/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=111