Strong performances in National 5-mile Road Championships

13/6/2022

Paul E. Kelly

The highlight of the weekend was the National 5-mile road Championships, held in conjunction with the Irish Runner 5-mile race in the Phoenix Park on Sunday morning, producing strong team performances and resulting in a few medals.

We start as usual with a rundown of track events during the week, and we had several runners take part in the 4th Dublin graded track and field meet in the Morton Stadium in Santry on Wednesday evening.

Various races on the track were on offer, from 100m, 400m and 1500m distances. Roisin Dobey took on the A1 standard 100m where she placed 3rd in a time of 13.11, whilst, in the men’s B1 of the same distance, Max Doyle took 5th place in 11.53, and, in the D1, Liam Lyster made a return to the track, placing 3rd in 14.91. Meanwhile, Robert Ivers won his C1 race in a time of 11.67. We had no runners in the 400s, but we did have 3 in two grades of the men’s 1500m. Gareth Phelan ran in the C1 race, placing 13th in 5:00.51, whilst Brendan Glynn and Paul E. Kelly both ran in the D1 event, with Brendan placing 9th in 5:39.63 and Paul taking 10th place in 6:44.47. Then in the hammer, Shane Cosgrave threw 45.27m, but his position is unclear from the results.

On Sunday morning, the Irish National 5-mile championships took place in the Phoenix Park, as part of the Irish Runner race series. The course is now becoming familiar to club runners, starting as it does on Chesterfield Avenue, heading north to the top roundabout and then left down the Ordnance Survey Road and straight onto the downhill Upper Glen Road (mercifully bypassing the Furry Glen dip). From the bottom of the Upper Glen Road at Chapelizod Gate, below the hospital, runners had to climb up the hill to the Acres and past the Papal Cross for the third mile (which is where a lot of runners lost a bit of time). After the turn at the Phoenix roundabout, the runners then had to make their way in the face of a strong northwesterly headwind back up Chesterfield (again this had an impact on the splits for many runners), once more turning onto the Ordnance Survey Road with a sharp left turn onto Furze Road and the finish line.

There were 764 runners in the race, 11 of whom represented Crusaders. First home for the club was Peter O’Toole in 35th place and a time of 28:12. Peter was followed 3 seconds later by Paul Cowhie, in consistent form, who placed 36th and took silver in his M55 age category in a time of 28:15. Colm Parnell was next (47th in 28:45) and he was followed by Joe McDermott (50th and 4th M35 in 28:50). Peter, Paul and Joe were able to being home the bronze medal in the O/35 team category as a result of their excellent placing.

Gerard White ran strongly for 85th place (30:16) and he was followed by Julie McGrath, once again showing great form, placing 90th and 5th female finisher in 30:43. Dee Ni Chearbhaill finished somewhat further back in 193rd and 31st, but her performance was enough to earn her the bronze medal in the F40 category, whilst Sharon Woods placed 211th, 38th female and 5th F50 in a similarly good time of 35:37. The three women (one senior and two masters) came home in a respectable 5th place in the senior women’s competition (with not enough runners to make up a masters team). Ruadhán MacCormaic was next (218th in 35:13). The contingent was completed by Andy Deuser (296th in 37:37) and Paul E. Kelly (522nd in 47:20). Congrat to all.

Elsewhere, Isabelle Cairns reported that she placed 5th female in the Hook or by Crook triathlon (which became a duathlon with the swim suspended) in Co. Waterford. David Carter ran in the really hilly and windswept Mourne Way marathon (run on a mix of trail and road) where, in a field of 154, he placed 32nd in 4:37:40. Meanwhile, Kate Murray ran in the Portumna half marathon where, in a field of 84, she placed 20th overall and 4th female finisher in a time of 1:42:19, most likely winning her age category. Further north, Hannah Jones took on the extremely hilly Donegal Wild Atlantic Half marathon, where, in a field of 224 runners, she placed 120th and 31st in 2:03:28.

There were two races up in the mountains. The first took place last Wednesday in the Devil’s Glen in Co. Wicklow, a figure of 8 course following the Seamus Heaney and Waterfall Walks there. The terrain was relatively straightforward with a climb of 283m over 8k. Becky Quinn won the women’s race, placing 15th overall in 39:43. Warren Swords was 2nd overall in 36:36, whilst Ollie McGrath was only about 19 seconds behind Becky in 16th place (40:02). Gavan Doherty came home in 46th place in the 127-strong field in a time of 46:23, whilst Brian McGuckin ran with his son, who was racing for the first time, and placing 99th in 55:56. Berndt Heim completed the contingent in 119th place with a time of 62:43.

On Friday evening, 65 runners took on the 127k challenge of the Wicklow Way. 51 completed it, including Raghnall O’Donoghue who placed 14th in 17:19:12. Unfortunately, Donatas Jocius was one of the casualties, having to pull out of the extremely challenging event after nearly 7 hours.

Saturday’s parkruns produced a few more first finishers as well as podium places. Caroline Crowley ran once again in Kilcock where her time of 20:53 was good enough to place 5th overall and first female runner across the line. In the field of 86, her partner, Eoghan Corrigan pushed a buggy around, recording a time of 23:26 for 12th place. Aoife Quigley ran in her local parkrun in Bushy Park and was first finisher there (8th overall) in a field of 112. Aoife’s time was 21:04. Our other first finisher was Stephen Hurley, once again in Poolbeg. We had at least 13 Crusaders run in a field of 146 there, led home by Stephen in 17:50. Hot on his heels came Kenan Furlong in 17:53 for 2nd place. John Healy decided to try his hand at parkrunning and his time of 19:18 gave the M60 a 3rd place finish. Pat Quill was next (19th in 21:37) and he was followed by Sharon Woods who was the 2nd female finisher (23rd overall in 21:52). Behind Sharon came Olwyn Dunne (33rd and 6th in 23:14), Tanja Narancic (40th and 11th in 23:29), Josie Ward (47th and 14th in 24:07), Kate Healy (83rd and 34th in 27:39), Maureen McGinley (98th and 44th in 28:57), Una McCullagh (101st and 45th in 29:11), Rebecca Byrne (106th and 46th in 29:27) and Mari Hansen (136 and 59th in 35:18).

Enda Currid ran once again in Brickfields where, in a field of 48, he placed 4th in 21:28, whilst Eoghan Walsh, a week after the Cork marathon, ran in the 125-strong parkrun in Fairview where he placed 5th in 20:20. Cormac McGuire ran in Tolka Valley where he took 4th place in a field of 32 and in a time of 23:21, whilst another runner to place 4th in his parkrun was Luke Haran where he ran 21:08 alongside 55 other runners in Mungret Park in Limerick. Maria Kennedy ran in her native Kilkenny where, in a field of 108, she placed 35th and 6th in 27:06, whilst Colm Foley ran in Griffeen Park in Lucan, where alongside 120 other runners, he placed 23rd in 23:04. Carina Davidson effectively tailwalked in Shanganagh, whilst, in River Valley, Brian Scanlan placed 9th in 22:54 and Darina Scully placed 49th and 16th in 31:07 in the 98-strong field. Finally, Lisa Shine enjoyed her nuptials running with friends and family in Derrynoid Forest in Magherafelt. In a field of 37, Lisa placed 26th and 6th in 32:18, followed by her niece Mia (27th and 7th in the same time), sister Fiona (28th and 8th, one second later), mother Mairin (29th and 9th , one second later), friend Emer Kenny (30th and 10th , one second later) and 2nd sister Anna (33rd and 13th , one further second back).

IMRA Devil’s Glen 8k (127)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Matthew McConnell 1 00:34:15
15 Becky Quinn 1 00:39:43
Crusaders AC runners
2 Warren Swords 00:36:36
15 Becky Quinn 00:39:43 (1)
16 Ollie McGrath 00:40:02
46 Gavan Doherty 00:46:23
99 Brian McGuckin 00:55:56
119 Berndt Heim 01:02:43
Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2173/
IMRA Wicklow Way Race (65)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Mickie Brennan 1 13:45:13
20 Ivana Kolaric 1 17:50:54
Crusaders AC runner
14 Raghnall O’Donoghue 17:19:12
Full results here: https://live.primaltracking.com/wicklowwayrace22/
Irish Runner (National Championships) 5-miler (764)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Ian Guiden 1 00:23:44
44 Kate Purcell 1 00:28:30
Crusaders AC runners
35 Peter O’Toole 00:28:12
36 Paul Cowhie 00:28:15
47 Colm Parnell 00:28:45
50 Joe McDermott 00:28:50
85 Gerard White 00:30:16
90 Julie McGrath 00:30:43 (5)
193 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:35:13 (31)
211 Sharon Woods 00:35:37 (38)
218 Ruadhán McCormaic 00:35:13
296 Andreas Deuser 00:37:37
522 Paul E. Kelly 00:47:20
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/irish_runner_5_mile_/4421/results
Portumna Forest Half Marathon (84)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Connell Swords 1 01:22:34
4 Maeve Flannery 1 01:32:42
Crusaders AC runner
20 Kate Murray 01:42:19 (4)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/portumna_forest_marathon/4400/results
Doneraile 10k (136)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Donal Coakley 1 00:34:24
10 Annette O’Reilly 1 00:41:20
Crusaders AC runner
15 David McEvoy 00:43:13
Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/doneraile-10k-2022/
Donegal Wild Atlantic Half Marathon (224)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Shane O’Donnell 1 01:17:05
15 Ciara Cunningham 1 01:33:37
Crusaders AC runner
120 Hannah Jones 02:03:28 (31)
Full results here: https://www.facebook.com/DonegalWildAtlanticMarathon/photos/pcb.1744464992567853/1744464619234557
Mourne Way Marathon (154)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Michael Beattie 1 03:51:58
7 Esther Dickson 1 04:03:20
Crusaders AC runner
32 David Carter 04:37:40
Full results here: https://www.26extreme.com/results/mourne-way-marathon-ultra-trail-mourne-way/
Brickfields Parkrun (48)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Louis Guillou 1 00:20:12
11 Ruth Kelly 1 00:23:34
Crusaders AC runner
4 Enda Currid 00:21:28
River Valley Parkrun (98)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Sean McGrath 1 00:17:39
4 Cecile Ollagnier 1 00:21:14
Crusaders AC runners
9 Brian Scanlan 00:22:54
49 Darina Scully 00:31:07 (16)
Kilkenny Parkrun (108)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 David Lawlor 1 00:20:08
21 Katie Dillon Keane 1 00:24:54
Crusaders AC runner
35 Maria Kennedy 00:27:06 (6)
Royal Canal Kilcock Parkrun (86)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Leroy Graham 1 00:17:18
5 Caroline Crowley 1 00:20:53
Crusaders AC runners
5 Caroline Crowley 00:20:53 (1)
12 Eoghan Corrigan 00:23:26
Griffeen Parkrun (121)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Cillian Whelan 1 00:19:07
12 Niamh Murphy 1 00:21:23
Crusaders AC runner
23 Colm Foley 00:23:04
Bushy Parkrun (112)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Christopher Quaid 1 00:18:45
8 Aoife Quigley 1 00:21:04
Crusaders AC runner
8 Aoife Quigley 00:21:04 (1)
Poolbeg Parkrun (146)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Stephen Hurley 1 00:17:50
18 Pamela McMahon 1 00:21:33
Crusaders AC runners
1 Stephen Hurley 00:17:50
2 Kenan Furlong 00:17:53
3 John Healy 00:19:18
19 Pat Quill 00:21:37
23 Sharon Woods 00:21:52 (2)
33 Olwyn Dunne 00:23:14 (6)
40 Tanja Narancic 00:23:29 (11)
47 Josie Ward 00:24:07 (14)
83 Kate Healy 00:27:39 (34)
98 Maureen McGinley 00:28:17 (44)
101 Una McCullagh 00:29:11 (45)
106 Rebecca Byrne 00:29:27 (46)
136 Mari Hansen 00:35:18 (59)
Shanganagh Parkrun (121)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Liam Blackburn 1 00:18:36
10 Emily Kane 1 00:21:07
Crusaders AC runner
116 Carina Davidson 00:45:13 (52)
Mungret Parkrun (56)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Cian Aherne 1 00:18:05
7 Niamh Carey 1 00:21:28
Crusaders AC runner
4 Luke Haran 00:21:08
Fairview Parkrun (125)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
2 Keith Geoghegan 1 00:17:44
37 Lisa Grimm 1 00:25:34
Crusaders AC runner
5 Eoghan Walsh 00:20:20
Tolka Valley Parkrun (32)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Scott Clark 1 00:19:23
9 Oonagh Good 1 00:26:01
Crusaders AC runner
4 Cormac McGuire 00:23:21
Derrynoid Forest Parkrun (37)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Bliadhan Glass 1 00:17:54
20 Mairead McCann 1 00:28:18
Crusaders AC runners
26 Lisa Shine 00:32:18 (6)
27 Mia Shine 00:32:18 (7)
28 Fiona Shine 00:32:19 (8)
29 Mairin Shine 00:32:20 (9)
30 Emer Kenny 00:32:21 (10)
33 Anna Shine 00:32:22 (13)