Street Wisdom in Galway 8k and Athboy 5k

8/8/2022

Back row: Kathryn Gibbons, Gareth Phelan, Olwyn Dunne, Joe Dunne, Phelim Murray, Maurice Kelter, Cian Coughlan, Kevin Kavanagh. Kneeling: James Cottle, Brendan Glynn, Joe McDermott

It was a busy week for the club, with members participating in several road races near and far and in the last graded meet of the Dublin Athletics series, as well as in the mountains.

We start with results from the 8th graded meet, which, last Wednesday, took place at Lucan Harriers’ relatively new track. On offer were a few sprint events, along with graded mile and 3000m races. We had just the one runner in the 400m B1 race, 16-year-old Oscar Sherry, who acquitted himself well, placing 4th in 55.27. Then, we had runners in three of the 1-mile races. In windy and chilly conditions, in the men’s B1 event Chris Russell ran 4:41.38 for 3rd place in a field of 8. Michael Wycherley, young Matthew Ryan and Joe McDermott contested the C1 edition, with Michael placing 3rd in a field of 9 in a time of 4:58.23, followed by Matthew in 4th with 5:06.95 and Joe running 5:10.18 further back in 6th place. In his first competitive start on the track, Kevin Kavanagh took on the D2 mile, where, in a field of 10, he ran 5:19.82 for 4th place. Brendan Glynn and Paul Kelly took part in the D1 race, with Brendan taking 8th place in 6:16.18, ahead of Paul who ran 7:06.39 for 9th position. Several of our runners then went on to compete in the 3000m, joined by Peter O’Toole and Paul Cowhie. Peter ran in the B1 race, placing 9th in 9:47.15, whilst Michael, Joe, Paul and Kevin joined 4 other athletes in the CD1 event. Michael won the race in 10:03.73, followed by Joe (2nd in 10:10.05), Paul (4th in 10:17.61) and Kevin (7th in 10:55.51).

On Friday evening, Alan Sheehy headed to the district of Kells in Co. Meath, where he took part in a quality 5k race, the Streets of Athboy. In a field of 340, Alan improved on his previous week’s 5k time (Night Run), then his 2nd 5k in 4 years, by more than half a minute with a PB time of 17:13 for 23rd place. The course was a fast one, largely flat with a downhill start. On Saturday morning, in her native Kerry, Margaret Foley also recorded a PB, this time in the Run Killarney 10k, where, in a field of 934, Margaret, who is currently training for the Dublin marathon, placed 66th and 8th female finisher in a PB time of 45:52. In the Run Killarney half marathon, and its field of 869 runners, Ronan Moynihan took 77th place in 1:33:58, followed by Karl Walsh (95th in 1:36:08).

On Saturday night a small group of Crusaders made their annual pilgrimage to the city of Galway to take part in the iconic Streets of Galway 8k, organised by Galway City Harriers. We were joined in the race by a few Crusaders who have not competed for a while or have moved to Galway in recent years, so it was good to see old faces. Conditions for the race were super, even though for a large part of the first half of the race we were running into a headwind. But it was great to have the wind behind us for the last 2.5k or so, along Salthill Promenade after having had to climb a decent hill for the 5th kilometre. Support along the route was brilliant and, as usual the race was a most enjoyable experience, followed by traditional celebrations enjoying the life of the city long into the night, followed by early morning long runs and a dip at Blackrock.

The race produced its fair share of PBs too. Our contingent was led home by Galway native Daragh O’Reilly who produced a PB performance in placing 20th in the field of 2,026, in a great time of 27:06. Daragh was followed by Joe McDermott, coming back into form, who ran 28:35 for 40th, and not far behind Joe came Maurice Kelter who surprised himself with his PB run of 28:43 for 44th place. Maurice was followed by Patrick Conlon (57th in 29:38) and by Cian Coughlan who also ran a PB in achieving 63rd place in a time of 29:56. Kevin Kavanagh was next, with yet another PB performance from the club, running 30:07 for 68th place. Then came Phelim Murray, another runner with a PB, who took 104th place in 31:49. Phelim had a strong finish, having overtaken James Cottle in the 7th kilometre, who himself ran a decent race to place 110th in a time of 32:01, finishing 1st in his M65 age category, 23s ahead of the second placed runner in the age group, an athlete based in the UK who has shared age category wins with James over the years in this race, with many close battles. Both runners beat the age category immediately below them as well as all but 5 of the M55s, so it was a satisfying performance, James’ result having been motivated by the fear of being caught by his rival and also not wanting to be beaten by another runner, a Scotsman wearing a kilt! Gareth Phelan was next, placing 144th in 33:13, followed by Kathryn Gibbons, running her first 8k, and running an excellent 34:56, for 144th and 30th places. Recent new member Ian Weldon was next (238th in 35:21), followed by Brendan Glynn (271st in 36:02). Olwyn and Joe Dunne decided to add the race onto the back of a long run and met their target of finishing under 40 minutes, with Olwyn running 39:14 for 511th and 102nd places, and Joe one second behind in 514th place. Paul E. Kelly completed the contingent who headed over, placing 1,086th in a time of 44:39. Members might be interested to know that we were joined in the race by ex-Crusader, now running for Tuam, Michael Costello (64th in 29:55), by Spiddal’s Tomás Ó Dubhda (67th in 30:03) and by Paráic Gallagher (302nd in 36:17). The race was as usual brilliantly organised by GCH and we can have nothing but praise for it as an event with its city street route, even though the town-crier in full regalia, the race’s seemingly self-appointed starter, found that he started the countdown 4 seconds too late for the gun which went off exactly at 7pm, catching everyone by surprise!

On Sunday, Tim O’Donnell and Ciarain Kelly joined 180 other runners in the Kilbeggan 10-mile road race in Co. Westmeath. On an undulating one-loop anti-clockwise course that also took in Horseleap, Ciarain suffered a stitch 3 miles from the end, but still put in a decent performance, placing 19th in 59:22, followed by Tim who ran 70:41 for 64th spot. Further afield, Italo Giancaterina, our Italian exile, ran 34:09 for the win in the 25th edition of the Stramaforno in central Italy.

There were at least two races in the mountains with Cru participation. On Wednesday, IMRA organised a race involving a circuit and climb of Sugarloaf in Co. Wicklow, known as the Sugar Bowl. The Leinster League race required runners to climb 450m in a race over 7.5k. 166 runners competed, among them Warren Swords who placed 10th in 38:54 (2nd M40), Paul McNamara (41st in 44:16), Donatas Jocius (43rd in 45:19) and Karl Walsh (53rd in 47:59). Then, on Sunday, Áine Kenny headed down from Galway to run in the Nagles Mountain half marathon in Cork. The challenging trail run in the Munster half marathon League, involved a climb of 750m in warm and sunny conditions. Áine placed 28th and 6th in a time of 2:13:16 and probably also won the prize for 1st F40. The field measured 70 runners.

The parkruns had lots of different first finishers this week and one suspects this might be a reflection of an influx of tourists joining the ranks of parkrunners in Ireland whilst otherwise on holiday.

We had a decent smattering of first finishers. Peter O’Toole ran in St. Annes’ where, in a field of 331, he placed first in a time of 17:48. Peter was followed by Brian Kelleher who placed 20th in 20:25. Michael Wycherley travelled to Bognor Regis where he took first place in a field of 231 in a time of 18:18. Meanwhile, Rachael Yorke took 6th place and first woman finisher in Longford. Rachel ran 23:18 in a field of 57. Another first finisher was Joanne Carey down in Gorey. Joanne ran 20:42 in a field of 96 to place 10th overall. She was joined by Darina Scully who took 40th and 12th places in 26:49. Other podium places were earned by Aoife Kelly who joined husband Paul in Tolka Valley. Aoife placed 16th and 2nd in 30:06 just behind Paul (15th in 30:05). The field measured 29. On the Sports Ireland Campus, John Lohan placed 5th in a field of 40 and a time of 21:47, followed by Tara Murphy (11th and 2nd in 25:25). In Cabinteely, Louise Dobbyn placed 20th and 2nd in a field of 156. Louise’s time was 23:17 and she was followed by Lisa Shine (42nd and 8th in 25:23), Fiona Shine (43rd and 9th in the same time), Mairead Cashman (100th and 29th in 30:34), Mairin Shine (101st and 30th in 30:51) and Anna Shine (113th and 37th in 32:41).

Martina White made a return to competitive running, placing 15th and 5th in 27:01 in the 56-strong field in Porterstown, whilst Eoghan Corrigan also placed 5th in Donabate alongside 121 other runners. Eoghan’s time was 21:18. Maria Pertl tailwalked in Poppintree, as did Carina Davidson in Shanganagh. In the field there of 175, Orlaith de Burca placed 127th and 31st in 28:58. Maria Kennedy ran in her native Kilkenny, where she placed 46th and 10th in 27:22 in a field of 107. Sharon Woods travelled to Roma Pineto in Italy where, in a field of 34, she placed 12th and 4th in 24:06. Emma O’Mahony ran alongside 96 other participants in Enniskillen, where she placed 42nd and 8th in 27:41, whilst Toby Benham joined 122 other runners in Tramore Valley, Cork, where he placed 7th in 19:19. Finally, among 113 other runners in Poolbeg, Josie Ward placed 40th and 4th in 23:34, followed by Maureen McGinley (80th and 21st in 28:47), whilst, in Malahide, Deirdre Kennedy joined 217 other runners and took 141st and 33rd places in a time of 28:43.

IMRA Sugar Bowl 7.5k (166)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Derek Crammond 1 00:33:57
31 Breda McDonald 1 00:42:16
Crusaders AC runners
10 Warren Swords 00:38:54
41 Paul McNamara 00:44:16
43 Donatas Jocius 00:45:19
53 Karl Walsh 00:47:59
Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2182/
IMRA Nagles Half marathon (70)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Nick Hogan 1 01:40:40
15 Michelle Nolan 1 02:01:59
Crusaders AC runner
28 Áine Kenny 02:13:16 (6)
Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2183/
Streets of Galway 8k (2026)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Andrew Annett 1 00:24:10
15 Íde Nic Dhomhnaill 1 00:26:50
Crusaders AC runners
20 Daragh O’Reilly 00:27:06 (PB)
40 Joe McDermott 00:28:35
44 Maurice Kelter 00:28:43 (PB)
57 Patrick Conlon 00:29:38
63 Cian Coughlan 00:29:56 (PB)
67 Tomás Ó Dubhda 00:30:03
68 Kevin Kavanagh 00:30:07 (PB)
104 Phelim Murray 00:31:49 (PB)
110 James Cottle 00:32:01
144 Gareth Phelan 00:33:13
211 Kathryn Gibbons 00:34:56 (PB) (30)
238 Ian Weldon 00:35:21
271 Brendan Glynn 00:36:02
302 Paráic Gallagher 00:36:17
511 Olwyn Dunne 00:39:14 (102)
514 Joe Dunne 00:39:15
1086 Paul E. Kelly 00:44:39
Full results here: http://redtagtiming.com/results/SOG2022.html
Streets of Athboy 5k (340)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Eoin Flynn 1 00:15:22
11 Laura McDonnell 1 00:16:44
Crusaders AC runner
23 Alan Sheehy 00:17:13 (PB)
Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/streets-of-athboy-5k-2022/
Kilbeggan 10-mile (181)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Conor Duffy 1 00:49:48
10 Ciara Hickey 1 00:56:35
Crusaders AC runners
19 Ciarain Kelly 00:59:22
64 Tim O’Donnell 01:10:41
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/event/kilbeggan_10_mile_2022/4320/results
Run Killarney Half Marathon (869)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Peter Somba 1 01:10:27
16 Niamh Clifford 1 01:20:01
Crusaders AC runners
77 Ronan Moynihan 01:33:58
95 Karl Walsh 01:36:08
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/event/run_killarney_half_marathon__and_10k/4496/results
Run Killarney 10k (934)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Vinny Connolly 1 00:33:33
15 Siobhán Hoare 1 00:38:34
Crusaders AC runner
66 Margaret Foley 00:45:52 (PB) (8)
Full results here:
https://www.myrunresults.com/event/run_killarney_half_marathon__and_10k/4496/results
Sports Ireland Campus Parkrun (40)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Jer O’Sullivan 1 00:18:16
3 Cecile Ollagnier 1 00:21:10
Crusaders AC runners
5 John Lohan 00:21:47
11 Tara Murphy 00:25:25 (3)
Enniskillen Parkrun (97)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Lewis Buckworth 1 00:18:08
23 Rachel Armstrong 1 00:23:43
Crusaders AC runner
42 Emma O’Mahony 00:27:41
St. Anne’s Parkrun (331)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Peter O’Toole 1 00:17:48
22 Hannah Craddock 1 00:20:35
Crusaders AC runners
1 Peter O’Toole 00:17:48
20 Brian Kelleher 00:20:25
Poolbeg Parkrun (113)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Ashley Hayes 1 00:18:37
22 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:21:41
Crusaders AC runners
40 Josie Ward 00:23:34 (4)
80 Maureen McGinley 00:28:47 (21)
Kilkenny Parkrun (107)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Graham Bourne 1 00:18:56
13 Nicky Chapman 1 00:23:04
Crusaders AC runner
46 Maria Kennedy 00:27:22
Poppintree Parkrun (128)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Ciaran Healy 1 00:19:07
13 Elizabeth Daly 1 00:21:48
Crusaders AC runner
127 Maria Pertl 00:52:01 (51)
Cabinteely Parkrun (156)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 James Gaynor 1 00:19:06
5 Eilish Moloney 1 00:20:03
Crusaders AC runners
20 Louise Dobbyn 00:23:17 (2)
42 Lisa Shine 00:25:23 (8)
43 Fiona Shine 00:25:23 (9)
100 Mairead Cashman 00:30:34 (29)
101 Mairin Shine 00:30:51 (30)
113 Anna Shine 00:32:41 (37)
Malahide Parkrun (218)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Sean McGrath 1 00:16:28
5 Aine Crimin 1 00:19:08
Crusaders AC runner
141 Deirdre Kennedy 00:28:43 (33)
Tramore Valley, Cork Parkrun (123)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Christopher O’Reilly 1 00:17:14
14 Kath Carty 1 00:20:00
Crusaders AC runner
7 Toby Benham 00:19:19
Longford Parkrun (57)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Adrian Wrobel 1 00:18:26
6 Rachael Yorke 1 00:23:18
Crusaders AC runner
6 Rachael Yorke 00:23:18 (1)
Tolka Valley Parkrun (29)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Anthony Delaney 1 00:19:33
10 Oonagh Good 1 00:25:07
Crusaders AC runners
15 Paul F. Kelly 00:30:05
16 Aoife Kelly 00:30:06 (2)
Shanganagh Parkrun (175)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Risteard MacEoin 1 00:18:00
17 Katherine Duff 1 00:20:54
Crusaders AC runners
127 Orlaith de Burca 00:28:58 (31)
175 Carina Davidson 00:52:53
Gorey Parkrun (96)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Brian Besanson 1 00:18:44
10 Joanne Carey 1 00:20:42
Crusaders AC runners
10 Joanne Carey 00:20:42 (1)
40 Darina Scully 00:26:49 (12)
Donabate Parkrun (122)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Al O’Dowd 1 00:19:05
2 Sheila Bourke 1 00:20:18
Crusaders AC runner
5 Eoghan Corrigan 00:21:18
Porterstown Parkrun (56)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Niall Sherlock 1 00:19:17
8 Andrea Brennan 1 00:25:24
Crusaders AC runner
15 Martina White 00:27:01 (5)

Cian Coughlan, Daragh O'Reilly, James Cottle, Phelim Murray, Joe McDermott, Gareth Phelan, Kevin Kavanagh, Maurice Kelter, Kathryn Gibbons, Catherine Thornton (now GCH), Brendan Glynn