Success in the Irish grand National

12/9/2022

Tanja Narancic, Joanne Carey, Richard Kavanagh, Emer Kenny, Maura Mahoney, Aoife Quigley, Philip Hamilton, Gareth Phelan and Kieran Martin

The highlight of this past weekend was the National Half Marathon that took place on the roads of Co. Meath, starting and finishing on Fairyhouse Racecourse. Crusaders had a decent contingent of runners and it paid off mightily in terms of medals.

Conditions were almost ideal for the race on Saturday morning, perhaps getting a bit warm towards the end with its 9:30 start in the sunshine, but no major breeze to speak of. The anti-clockwise single-loop course was generally flat and, given that it was conducted on a mix of back country and main roads with limited closure on the main roads, surprisingly uncongested. A nice touch was the finish, with roughly 2 miles of the course being conducted around the racecourse on the ambulance track before heading to the line at the grandstand.

One major aspect of the event was the revival of the tradition of clubs hosting the half marathon championships around the country. Hopefully, we’ve now seen the back of the Rock and Roll half with its challenging somewhat “Mickey Mouse” course. Ratoath AC can be commended for their organisation of the latest iteration.

Results remain to be fully verified, but it is likely that the club walked away with at least one individual gold medal, that for Aoife Quigley as an F35 behind race winner Kate Purcell, and also two team medals, senior gold for the men’s team of Ger Forde, Vinnie McGuinness and Ciaran Diviney and senior bronze for the women’s team of Maura Mahoney, Aoife and Joanne Carey. Many congrats to them.

The field measured 834 finishers, among them at least 15 Crusaders. Ger was the first clubmate home with a super PB time of 1:14:01 for 17th place behind race winner Yared Derese who developed a huge lead over Peter Somba by halfway, with a small group those chasing for third place even further back. Despite recovering from a recent bug, Vinnie managed to stay with Ger for much of the race, just falling away towards the end, and finishing in 21st place in 1:17:30. Ciaran, a week off his 50th birthday, was next, in 45th place and a time of 1:17:30. All are training for the Dublin marathon, so it will have been a great boost for them. Indeed, Kieran Martin, who was next, should also feel confident for the marathon after his 1:21:10 finish for 85th place.

Behind Kieran came Bob Cahill who placed 127th in 1:23:29 and Bob was followed by our first female competitor home, Maura. She and Aoife lay in 8th and 9th places throughout the second half of the race and were never too far apart. Maura placed 168th and 8th in 1:26:37, whilst Aoife, who’s having a super year, placed 169th in a PB time of 1:26:51, over 60 seconds of improvement from several years back. Behind Aoife came Philip Hamilton (283rd in 1:33:33), followed by Joanne, our third scorer, just ahead of Dee Ni Chearbhaill. Like Maura and Aoife, the two were never too far apart, with Joanne placing 341st and 54th in 1:37:01 and Dee just 14 seconds back in 1:37:15 for 343rd and 54th. Aoife, Joanne and Dee are also training for the Dublin marathon, as is Emer Kenny who placed 399th and 75th in 1:40:29 for a top 100 placing. Emer was followed closely by Gareth Phelan (408th in 1:40:55) and by Mary Fitzsimons (524th and 129th in 1:46:48), Tanja Narancic (543rd and 139th in 1:48:39) on the back of little sleep over the previous few days, and Nicola Maguire (784th and 262nd in 2:19:05). All, apart from Gareth, are training for the Dublin marathon, so this was a good test for the athletes. There will be further testing for our other clubmates in marathon training at this coming weekend’s Dublin Marathon Race Series Half Marathon.

Earlier in the week, Tim O’Donnell had headed down to his native Cork to participate in a 5k run in aid of St. Luke’s Home. In a field of 302, Tim placed 33rd and 10th M40 in a time of 19:33. Then, on Saturday, we had one runner in the Lakes 10k down in Blessington conducted largely on the shoreline of the Lake. In a field of 120, Fiachra O’Cionnaith ran 55:12 for 78th place.

Further afield, we had runners take part in some iconic distance events. On Saturday, Sophia Morgan achieved the not wholly unexpected time of 4:40 in the Marathon des Chateaux du Medoc. The race has been going for many years now and can involve (if you choose to indulge) in the consumption of red wine, oysters, different types of meat, cold cuts and barbecued, all the time wearing fancy dress. It is almost impossible to record a PB, even on such a flat course, as one wends one’s way in the warm sunshine through the grounds of famous chateaux, where otherwise pebble drives have been raked to the side, and through their vineyards, as well as hitting the roads between Pauillac, St. Julien and St. Estephe.

Then, on Sunday, Miriam Logan took part in another iconic event, the Great North Run, the half marathon from Newcastle upon Tyne to South Shields in the north of England. In a huge field of possibly 60,000, where there would have been much congestion at the start, Miriam still achieved a fabulous 9-minute PB improvement, finishing the race in 1:34:40 for 1,792nd overall. Member may also be interested to learn that our German exile, Johannes Frederking, ran in the Jungfrau marathon in Switzerland over the weekend, finishing the almost entirely uphill race with a climb of nearly 2000m in a time of 4:58.

A result that was missed from last week was the well-deserved F45 gold medal for Becky Quinn in the Masters World Marathon Championships that were hosted by Ireland last week in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary. Belated congratulations to her.

Moving on to the parkruns, order appears to have been restored this weekend with people returning to run in the sunny conditions of Saturday morning. We had some good performances, with Poolbeg leading the way. There, Michael Wycherley was first finisher ahead of 127 other runners, among them, 11 other Crusaders. Michael’s time was 18:08 and he was followed by Stephen Hurley (3rd in 18:43), Daniel Sheridan (6th in 19:54), David Timoney (16th in 21:48), John Lohan (20th in 22:07), Sharon Woods (25th and 2nd female finisher in 22:39), Josie Ward (39th and 5th in 23:59), Kevin Lambe (47th in 24:38), Aoife Cowhie (60th and 14th in 26:01), Tara Murphy (67th and 16th in 27:02), Paula Bradshaw (80th and 21st in 27:37) Maureen McGinley (93rd and 28th in 29:03) and Mari Hansen (116th and 35th in 33:17).

Another first finish was recorded by Alma Hanevy who ran in Mullingar. In the field of 84 runners, Alma placed 6th overall in a time of 21:35, whilst, in Corkagh, Fiona Shine also placed first female in a time of 22:27. Fiona finished in 18th spot overall in a field of 173 and she was followed by sister Lisa (24th and 2nd in 23:35) and by mother Mairin (107th and 29th in 32:09). Further afield, Ali May Hann joined 43 other runners in Mura di Lucca in Italy, where she placed 18th and 2nd in 24:07. Also travelling was Olwyn Dunne who headed to Exeter over the weekend to watch son Jack play a rugby match for the Exeter Chiefs, winning against Leicester. Olwyn ran in the Exmouth Parkrun along with 372 other participants, placing 124th and 25th in 24:31. Also, in the UK, Aidan Hudner ran once again in Pollok in Glasgow, where, in a field of 240, he placed 80th in 25:58.

Michelle Geoghegan ran in the 113-strong field in Naas, where she placed 75th and 25th in 30:51, whilst Colm Foley tried his hand in Killarney House, placing 17th in a field of 70 and a time of 22:23. Brian Scanlan also placed 17th, this time in the 89-strong field of River Valley Park. Brian’s time was 25:31. Joining 136 other runners in Castletown, Mairead Cashman took 78th and 23rd spots in a time of 32:29, whilst Paul and Aoife Kelly ran in Fairview. Paul placed 44th in a field of 91 and a time of 28:10, whilst Aoife took 63rd and 17th spots in 31:21. Stephen Mulligan ran in Cabinteely. In a field of 121, he placed 60th in 27:46, whilst, in Shanganagh, Carina Davidson took 74th and 25th places in a time of 27:56. The field there measured 145. We had 2 runners in St. Anne’s with 333 runners in total and 4 in Poppintree where the field measured 120. Michael Maughan ran 21:03 and placed 26th whilst Tim Hyland ran 27:50 for 166th place in St. Anne’s. In Poppintree, Darina Scully took 24th and 3rd spots in 23:57, followed by Diarmuid Byrne (60th in 29:10), Kevin Flynn (76th in 32:01) and Maria Pertl tailwalking.

Ratoath AC Half Marathon (National Championships) (834)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Yared Derese 1 01:05:29
54 Kate Purcell 1 01:18:00
Crusaders AC runners
17 Ger Forde 01:14:01 (PB)
21 Vinnie McGuinness 01:14:46
45 Ciaran Diviney 01:17:30
5 Kieran Martin 01:21:10
127 Bob Cahill 01:23:29
168 Maura Mahoney 01:26:37 (8)
169 Aoife Quigley 01:26:51 (PB) (9)
283 Philip Hamilton 01:33:33
341 Joanne Carey 01:37:01 (53)
343 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 01:37:15 (54)
399 Emer Kenny 01:40:29 (75)
408 Gareth Phelan 01:40:55
524 Mary Fitzsimons 01:46:48 (129)
543 Tanja Narancic 01:48:39 (139)
784 Nicola Maguire 02:19:05 (262)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/ratoath_ac_half_marathon_inc_national_champs/4338/club-team-results?runnerClass=half%20marathon&type=Team3&category=M
St. Luke’s Home 5k (302)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Gavin O’Rourke 1 00:15:21
8 Sinead O’Connor 1 00:16:32
Crusaders AC runner
33 Tim O’Donnell 00:19:33
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/st_lukes_home_5k_run_cork/4527/results
The Lakes 10k (120)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Killian Mooney 1 00:31:57
14 Gillian Clyne 1 00:40:19
Crusaders AC runner
78 Fiachra O’ Cionnaith 00:55:12
Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/the-lakes-10km-5km-2022/#2_9D70EA
Naas Parkrun (113)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Maura Kearns 1 00:18:53
2 Fergus Aspell 1 00:19:43
Crusaders AC runner
75 Michelle Geoghegan 00:30:51 (25)
Poppintree Parkrun (120)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Sean McGrath 1 00:16:45
10 Elizabeth Daly 1 00:21:33
Crusaders AC runners
24 Darina Scully 00:23:57 (3)
60 Diarmuid Byrne 00:29:10
76 Kevin Flynn 00:32:01
112 Maria Pertl 00:40:26
St. Anne’s Parkrun (333)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Lorcan Benjacar 1 00:17:12
5 Lucy Barrett 1 00:18:25
Crusaders AC runners
26 Michael Maughan 00:21:03
166 Tim Hyland 00:27:50
Poolbeg Parkrun (128)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Michael Wycherley 1 00:18:08
11 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:20:59
Crusaders AC runners
1 Michael Wycherley 00:18:08
3 Stephen Hurley 00:18:43
6 Daniel Sheridan 00:19:54
16 David Timoney 00:21:48
20 John Lohan 00:22:07
25 Sharon Woods 00:22:39 (2)
39 Josie Ward 00:23:59 (5)
47 Kevin Lambe 00:24:38
60 Aoife Cowhie 00:26:01 (14)
67 Tara Murphy 00:27:02 (16)
80 Paula Bradshaw 00:27:37
93 Maureen McGinley 00:29:03 (28)
116 Mari Hansen 00:33:17 (35)
Killarney House Parkrun (70)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Tim Long 1 00:17:47
3 Carol Finn 1 00:19:05
Crusaders AC runner
17 Colm Foley 00:22:23
River Valley Parkrun (89)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Jack Audrain 1 00:19:14
14 Sofia Rivadossi 1 00:25:20
Crusaders AC runner
17 Brian Scanlan 00:25:31
Cabinteely Parkrun (121)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 John Golden 1 00:18:48
17 Elaine Lee 1 00:23:20
Crusaders AC runner
60 Stephen Mulligan 00:27:46
Mullingar Parkrun (84)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Griffin Kearney 1 00:18:05
6 Alma Hanevy 1 00:21:35
Crusaders AC runner
6 Alma Hanevy 00:21:35 (1)
Corkagh Parkrun (173)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Barry Whelan 1 00:17:08
18 Fiona Shine 1 00:22:27
Crusaders AC runners
18 Fiona Shine 00:22:27 (1)
24 Lisa Shine 00:23:35 (2)
107 Mairin Shine 00:32:09 (29)
Castletown Parkrun (137)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Keely Hogan 1 00:19:05
15 Laura Murray 1 00:23:35
Crusaders AC runner
78 Mairead Cashman 00:32:29 (23)
Shanganagh Parkrun (145)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Matthew Meagan 1 00:18:54
9 Emily Kane 1 00:20:47
Crusaders AC runner
74 Carina Davidson 00:27:56 (25)
Fairview Parkrun (91)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Mark MacSweeney 1 00:19:37
22 Susan Rae 1 00:24:54
Crusaders AC runners
44 Paul F. Kelly 00:28:10
63 Aoife Kelly 00:31:21 (17)