Summer cocktail: PBs on the track, a modicum of mountain running with a dash of road racing

25/7/2021

Fearghal O'Hare

Wednesday evening saw the 4th Dublin graded track & field meeting of the season, held once again in Tallaght stadium. It was, as we are now becoming used to, a warm evening, as we bask in the current heatwave.

On the track there were men’s and women’s 200m, 800m and 5000m races of all grades. In the women’s AI 200m race, Rhianna McCarthy ran well to take 2nd place in a field of 6 runners, finishing in a time of 24.72 behind national bronze medallist Catherine McManus of DCH whose winning time was 24.27. The B1 event, with a small field of 3 runners, was won by Roisin Dobey in 26.72. In the men’s AB1 event, with 7 runners, Max Doyle placed 4th in 23.13, just behind the 3rd place runner who ran 23.07.

Next, we come to the 800m races with the largest contingent of Crusaders. We had 4 runners in the women’s B1 event which featured 11 competitors. Sarah Lyons placed 4th in a massive 7 seconds improved PB time of 2:23.52, followed by Léa Braud who placed 6th in a super time of 2:25.67. Léa, in turn, was followed by Fiona Shine in 8th place who improved on her previous running to 2:30.13, with Rachael Yorke running 2:34.55 for 10th spot. The next race was the 800m C1 which was won by Ciara Lynch in 2:34.00, ahead of 8 other runners.

Onto the men’s 800m races and starting with the A2, newcomer Dermot Kenny marked a great start to his career with the club, taking 3rd place in 1:58:25, whilst Finn Boyle placed 5th in a super time of 2:02.45. We had another lone competitor in the men’s C1, where Henry Griffin ran 2:16.38 for 5th place, whilst, in the CD1 event, Paul Kelly ran 3:35.48 for 10th place and, in the D1 race, Brendan Glynn ran 2:40.31 for 11th spot and Alan Kavanagh ran 2:44.35 for 13th place.

Finally, we had 2 runners taking part in the men’s 5,000m. In a field of 16, Enda Clarke ran 17:39.46 for 5th place, followed by Luke Davis who ran 18:19.78 for 10th. Well done to all who took part!

Then on Sunday, over in Carlow IT’s stadium, we had several participants in the AAI Summer Games. Matt Behan took part in a couple of events, winning the 3-man series 1 men’s 110mH in a time of 14.28 (series 2 did not take place), following up with a 3rd place finish in the men’s 200m in a time of 22.45. Roisin Dobey and Alix Hughes were also multi-eventing on the day. Roisin ran in both series 1 and 2 of the women’s 100m, placing 3rd in both. Here first result was 13.19 and her second was 13.17. She then went on to run in the 200m where she took 2nd place in a time of 27.07. Meanwhile, Alix ran in both series of the women’s 100mH, placing 4th on each occasion in respective times of 17.91 and 17.09. Curiously, the athletes who placed 2nd and 3rd in both races were jumping lower hurdles despite being listed as seniors. Alix also took part in the women’s shot put where she placed 2nd with a throw of 9.24m (the winning throw was 9.65m. Finally, one of the highlights of the day for the club was the first heat of the men’s 800m, where Fearghal O’Hare, who has been running strongly recently, ran a PB time of 1:51.82 for 3rd place. The winning time by Ratoath’s Philip Marron was narrowly ahead at 1:51.19, whilst 2nd place went to Cian Kelly of St. Abbans in 1:51.77. All three athletes were well ahead of the rest of the field of 5 runners. Congrats to all!

Actual road races still seem to be a rarity here, but there was one this Sunday, a 5k, and it was hosted by Drogheda and District AC, the second race of their summer series. We had just the one participant, Dee Ni Chearbhaill, who was wondering if she still knew how to race before the event as it’s been so long and also particularly in the warm, clear blue sky, conditions of Sunday morning. She need not have worried, running a decent 21:19 for 44th place overall in a 99-strong field on a course about 2.2k of which took place running around playing fields. Moreover, she was the 8th female across the line behind women’s race winner Catherina McKiernan and 3rd F40.

There have been quite a few IMRA races on which to report, all of which have taken place during the heatwave.

On Wednesday 14 July we had 3 participants in a race that took runners to the top of Djouce and back. The race, known as the Ayling Abyss, took place in Wicklow over a distance of 10.64km and an ascent of 607m on moderate terrain, was won by Karol Cronin of Sportsworld in 52:28. Winning the M40 category was some consolation for Warren Swords who otherwise placed 13th in 57:46. Warren was followed by Donatas Jocius who placed 22nd in 59:55 and by Gavan Doherty (130th in 83:32). The following weekend Becky Quinn took part in and won the women’s race that took place on Mount Leinster in Co. Wexford as part of the Leinster Championships. The race was run on a mixture of forest road, mountain trail and open mountain and involved a climb of 635m and a distance of 13.8km on difficult terrain. The race, with its field of 39, was won overall by Enda Cloake in 63:51. Becky placed 8th overall in 72:19. The following day IMRA organised the Carrauntoohill Classic as part of the Munster Championship. There were 85 finishers from the 90 who started the 15km out-and-back race, described as being of extreme difficulty in really hot conditions, with its climb of 1100m, among them Jason Kehoe, who took 23rd place in a time of 2:18.28. The winning time by Sean Quirke was 1:47:34.

On Wednesday of the week past, the usual midweek race took place, this time it was the Glen of the Downs down in Co. Wicklow. It involved a climb of 200m in a race of 7.15km and was run on relatively easy terrain on a single loop course. There were 156 finishers from the 160 who started and they included Kevin Darcy who placed 18th (and 3rd M40) in 35:26, Brian McGuckin (40th and 3rd M50) in 38:30, Donatas Jocius, who was taking it easy before this weekend’s Ballyhoura ultra (70th in 42:16) and Geraldine Clements (139th overall, 24th female and 4th F50) in 55:52.

As mentioned above, on Saturday Donatas Jocius took part in the Ballyhoura Ultra, which was a 60k race in Co. Limerick with a climb of 1,850m and conducted in really warm conditions on a mixture of hiking trails, forest roads, forest trails and a bit of road. It involved one small loop and one large one in the mountains near Ardpatrick. In a field of 37 intrepid mountaineers, Donatas surprised himself by taking 3rd place in 6:14:40, whilst Becky Quinn, who also ran, came home in 12th place overall, 2nd female athlete across the line (only about 15 minutes behind the winner of the women’s race) in a time of exactly 7 hours. Well done to everyone.

Drogheda and District AC Summer 5k (99)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Colin Leonard 1 00:15:54
10 Catherina McKiernan 1 00:17:35
Crusaders AC runner
44 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:21:19 (8)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/drogheda__district_ac_summer_5k/4151/results
Djouce – The Ayling Abyss (IMRA race) (180)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Karol Cronin 1 00:52:28
44 Sarah Brady 1 01:05:23
Crusaders AC runners
13 Warren Swords 00:57:46
22 Donatas Jocius 00:59:55
130 Gavan Doherty 01:23:32
Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2056
Mount Leinster (IMRA race) (39)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Enda Cloake 1 01:03:51
8 Becky Quinn 1 01:12:19
Crusaders AC runner
8 Becky Quinn 01:12:19 (1)
Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2057
Carrauntoohill Classic (IMRA race) (90)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Sean Quirke 1 01:47:34
4 Isobel Oakes 01:56:34
Crusaders AC runner
23 Jason Kehoe 02:18:28
Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2059
Glen of the Downs (IMRA race) (160)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Karol Cronin 1 00:30:10
13 Sarah Mulligan 1 00:34:16
Crusaders AC runners
18 Kevin Darcy 00:35:26
40 Brian McGuckin 00:38:30
70 Donatas Jocius 00:42:16
139 Geraldine Clements 00:55:52 (24)
Ballyhoura Ultra (IMRA race) (37)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 John McKeogh 1 05:18:03
8 Mairead O’Keeffe 1 06:44:14
Crusaders AC runners
3 Donatas Jocius 06:14:40
12 Becky Quinn 07:00:00 (2)
Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2064