Success on the Streets, on the Beach and in Calcutta

22/5/2017

Shane Collins and Caroline Crowley

Last Tuesday evening, in warm and dry conditions, the BHA held its annual running of the ESB 5k beach race. The event attracted nearly 190 runners, among them at least 11 Crusaders. Niamh Corby and Yvonne Macauley enjoyed a decent battle during the first half of the race, with Niamh finally prevailing and coming home with the win in 19:34 and 24th place overall. Yvonne’s second place was earned with a clear margin over the third placed runner, Malika Hammani (20:05), with her time of 19:52 and 28th overall. Olwyn Dunne placed 10th woman home and first in her age category in a time of 24:35 (108th overall) and Olwyn was followed by Mairead Cashman (156th overall, 27th woman, in 28:49), 3rd in her age category, and Iseult Ni Chuinneagain (163rd overall, 30th woman, in 29:56) who was 4th in her age category.

Our first man home was Karl Walsh in 6th place in a time of 18:03, followed closely behind by Tom O’Dowd (7th in 18:15). Tomas Mahony brought his brother, Padraig, into the race, with Tom taking 21st spot in 19:24 and Padraig recording a time of 19:44 to take 26th spot. Tony Owens was next, in 35th place and a time of 20:35, followed by Philip Matthews (48th in 21:18) and Robbie Moore (62nd in 21:58).

On Wednesday evening our IMRA members were down in Glasnamullen in Co. Wicklow running around Djouce in a league race in a field of nearly 200 participants. The challenging mountainous course measured just over 10k and we had at least 5 Crusaders participating. First home for the club was Warren Swords who took 8th spot in 49:40, behind race winner Michael McCarthy (47:04). Warren was followed by John McAuley (14th in 51:54), Brian Leonard (22nd in 54:40), Brian McGuckin (25th in 55:02) and Berndt Heim (165th in 1:22:10).

Then, on Thursday Brendan Glynn and Paul Kelly headed up to Drogheda to take part in the 2nd graded meet organised by Drogheda AC. In the 1 mile B race, Brendan placed 14th in 5:57:76, followed up by a 23rd placing in the 5000m A race in 21:22:17. Paul, meanwhile, also took part in the mile, this time the D race, placing 12th in 7:54:55. He then went on to run the 200m D race, coming home in 2nd place in a time of 33:34.

Two big road racing events took place over the weekend. The first was the Calcutta Run on Saturday morning, comprising both a 5k and 10k race. The second was the new Streets of Dublin 5k that took place on Sunday morning. Both attracted reasonable fields.

We start with the Calcutta Run and we had members competing in each of the two races. Criteria for entry appear to include a connection to the law and so it was generally our lawyers who competed on Saturday, with some success. On the back of little preparation and recent injury Caroline Crowley announced her return to competitive running with a clear win in the women’s 10K. Her time of 39:33, modest by Caroline’s standards, also possibly reflected that many believe the course to have been about 300m long, not the first time this has happened for this particular event. Emma O’Mahony also ran in the same race, placing 131st overall in a total field of nearly 440 runners (19th female finisher) in a time of 49:10.

On a course that started and finished in Blackhall Place and wound its way along Arbour Hill into the Phoenix Park, covering pretty much the full lengths of North Road and Chesterfield Roads in the park, Shane Collins placed a decent 4th in a time of 36:11 in the 10K, followed by Peter O’Toole, running well in 5th place in a time of 37:50. Kevin Regan ran well to place 24th in 42:24 and, finally, Brendan Glynn probably would have had a PB if the race had measured 10k. He finished in 45:55.

The 5k attracted a field nearly double in size to that of the 10K at just over 800. Luke Haran placed 11th in 20:26, whilst Louise Dobbyn, in her first race since her recent return to Ireland from London, took 31st spot overall, 6th woman, in 22:38. Kate Murray also ran, coming home in 53rd place overall, 10th woman, in 23:30.

On Sunday morning more than 1,200 took to the streets around the Docklands area in the Streets of Dublin 5K, a race that was established on the back of the successful 1916 anniversary race last year. The rather twisty and complicated course wound its way from the Custom House and along Sheriff Street, back down onto the North Wall Quay, crossing the Sam Beckett Bridge and, after taking in a few turns near the Grand Canal Plaza and Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, finished up on the City Quay. Runners were joined by Leo Varadkar who underlined his running credentials with a 26:44 finish and the race was won by Karl Fahy, coming home some 10 minutes earlier in a time of 16:06. Brian O’Kelly reinforced Cru dominance with a strong 2nd place finish in a time of 16:28, some 15 seconds ahead of 3rd place. Our only other competitor that can be discerned was Paul Daniels who has not run in an age, coming off a series of injuries, and who placed 30th in a time of 19:09.

On the same day Jason Harvey reported that he ran a 51:63 400mH to place 4th in a guest race at the Loughborough International Athletics meeting, going on with Ben Maze to place 4th also for Northern Ireland in the same meet in the men's 4x400m relay in a time of 3:11:70. Our exiles in Australia, Jerome Dupuy and Aisling Ruane, ran in the Sydney half marathon on Sunday, with Jerome placing 40th in a time of 1:18:10 and Aisling coming home in a time of 1:40:52 in tough conditions. Also on Sunday, Fiona Bane took the opportunity of a visit to Halifax, Nova Scotia to take part in the half marathon there, coming home in a PB time of 1:46:11. Fiona reported that it was sunny but not warm at 8 degrees Celsius, with a refreshing strong breeze. The course included several challenging hills in the second half.

A significant participation of Crusaders in parkruns on Saturday morning yielded considerable success. In a field of nearly 40 runners Denis Murphy was first finisher in Sligo in a time of 20:53, whilst Diarmuid Byrne equally finished ahead of the field in Dungloe in a modest field of under 20 runners. Diarmuid ran 19:55 and Maria Pertl placed 9th overall, 2nd woman, in 25:37. In Marlay Park, Dominick Branigan placed 5th out of more than 500 participants in a time of 17:58. Alex Romano also ran, placing 229th in 26:24, followed by Mairead Cashman (302nd overall, 95th woman, in 28:43). Ciaran Smyth took on Shrewsbury, placing 14th out of a 526-strong field, in 19:46, whilst, in Waterstown, Marius McNicholas placed 14th in a field of 85, and a time of 20:37. We had 5 runners participating alongside nearly 400 other runners in St. Anne’s. Michael Wycherley was first home for us, in 10th place (18:43), followed by Colm Kernan (20th in 19:18), Berndt Heim (131st in 25:00), Ciara McElligott (279th overall, 97th female, in 29:47) and Lorraine Fitzsimons (328th overall, 123rd female, in 31:49). Neil Brown joined 80 or so other runners in Hartstown to place 22nd in 22:59, whilst Orlaith de Burca and Lisa Shine participated in Longford in a field exceeding 180 runners. Orlaith came home in 63rd place overall, 25th female finisher, in a time of 27:52, whilst Lisa ran 28:51 to place 77th overall, 32nd female finisher. Lastly, in Cabinteely, Tomas Dunne took 14th place in 21:36 and Leo Lundy swept the field as the “lantern rouge” in 41:05. The field measured 124 participants.

BHAA ESB 5K Beach race
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Kevin Donagher 1 00:17:14
24 Niamh Corby 1 00:19:34
Crusaders AC runners
6 Karl Walsh 00:18:03
7 Tom O’Dowd 00:18:15
21 Tomas Mahony 00:19:24
24 Niamh Corby 00:19:34 (1)
28 Yvonne Macauley 00:19:52 (2)
35 Anthony Owens 00:20:35
48 Philip Matthews 00:21:18
62 Robbie Moore 00:21:58
108 Olwyn Dunne 00:24:35 (10)
156 Mairead Cashman 00:28:49 (27)
163 Iseult Ni Chuinneagain 00:29:56 (30)
Full results here: https://bhaa.ie/events/esb-2017/
Calcutta Run 5K
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Fintan Kerins 1 00:17:19
3 Annette Kealy 1 00:18:51
Crusaders AC runners
11 Luke Haran 00:20:26
31 Louise Dobbyn 00:22:38 (6)
53 Kate Murray 00:23:30 (10)
Full results here: http://www.titansports.ie/race-results/
Calcutta Run 10K
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Louis McCarthy 1 00:32:48
12 Caroline Crowley 1 00:39:33
Crusaders AC runners
4 Shane Collins 00:36:11
5 Peter O’Toole 00:37:50
12 Caroline Crowley 00:39:33 (1)
24 Kevin Regan 00:42:24
63 Brendan Glynn 00:45:55
131 Emma O’Mahony 00:49:10 (19)
Full results here: http://www.titansports.ie/race-results/
Streets of Dublin 5K
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Karl Fahy 1 00:16:06
28 Tara Kennedy 1 00:18:56
Crusaders AC runners
1 Karl Fahy 00:16:06
2 Brian O’Kelly 00:16:28
30 Paul Daniels 00:19:09
Full results here: http://www.titansports.ie/race-results/
Hartstown Parkrun #131
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Niall Sherlock 1 00:18:01
14 Breda Harris 1 00:21:38
Crusaders AC runner
22 Neil Brown 00:22:59
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/hartstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=131
Marlay Parkrun #210
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 James Kelly 1 00:17:01
10 Paula Grant 1 00:18:52
Crusaders AC runners
5 Dominick Branigan 00:17:58
229 Alex Romano 00:26:24
302 Mairead Cashman 00:28:43 (95)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/marlay/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=210
Cabinteely Parkrun #112
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Barry Thornton 1 00:18:29
7 Malika Hammani 1 00:20:23
Crusaders AC runners
14 Tomas Dunne 00:21:36
124 Leo Lundy 00:41:05
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/cabinteely/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=112
St Anne’s Parkrun #183
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 unknown 1 00:16:40
29 Juliette Dowd 1 00:20:06
Crusaders AC runners
20 Colm Kernan 00:19:18
131 Berndt Heim 00:25:00
279 Ciara McElligott 00:29:47 (97)
328 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:31:49 (123)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=183
Waterstown Parkrun #151
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Eoin Brennan 1 00:18:29
10 Aisling Smith 1 00:21:11
Crusaders AC runner
7 Marius McNicholas 00:20:37
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/waterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=151
Dungloe Parkrun #64
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Diarmuid Byrne 1 00:19:55
8 Helen Coll 1 00:25:35
Crusaders AC runners
1 Diarmuid Byrne 00:19:55
9 Maria Pertl 00:25:37 (2)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/dungloe/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=64
Longford Parkrun #54
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Fiona Gettings 1 00:19:38
2 Tom Birmingham 1 00:20:34
Crusaders AC runners
63 Orlaith de Burca 00:27:52 (25)
77 Lisa Shine 00:28:51 (32)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/longford/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=54
Sligo Parkrun #119
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Denis Murphy 1 00:20:53
10 Kasia Gniado 1 00:24:44
Crusaders AC runner
1 Denis Murphy 00:24:44
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/sligo/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=119