Sunny but chilly conditions for both Jingle Bells and National Novices

6/12/2021

Kathryn Sweeney, Aine Crotty, Niamh Corby, Lisa Shine, Sarah Lyons, Rebecca Fleming, Kathryn Gibbons

Sunny but cold was the order of the day. However, Sunday’s National Novices XC championships was spared the wintry draught that those 50 or so Crusaders, who turned out for the 30th edition of the Jingle Bells 5k on Saturday morning, experienced.

The National Novices was held this year in Gowran Park just outside Kilkenny. Some of our runners were familiar with the course which is not too testing. Essentially, each of the seniors’ races, men’s and women’s, had to negotiate a loop of 2k around a couple of fields with a bit of a drag in places, but no severe hills. The ground was somewhat heavy with some mud, but mulch had been placed in odd spots, particularly on one or two of the tight turns that were a feature of the course. The standard of the races continues to be extremely high with new stars appearing every year and this year’s races were no exception, with strong quality fields of veterans and newcomers alike.

As usual, it was the women to run first, in a 4k race, thus two loops. The field was reasonably substantial at 143 runners with at least 13 clubs represented. The winner, Sligo’s Eavan McLoughlin, led for most of the race but found herself in a dogfight with Letterkenny’s Christine Russell at the last sharp left-hand turn before a downhill 300m sprint around a wide right-hand turn to the finish. The strong Sligo runner recorded a time of 14:09 ahead of the Donegal woman who just managed to fend off a furious finishing teammate, Noeleen Scanlan. Both women were given the same time of 14:14. The 4th-placed runner from GCH, Ellen Moran, had been in the leading group of 3 with about 80om to go, but had to concede the podium to the Sligo and Letterkenny runners.

We fielded a small team of 7 in the race and they were led home by Niamh Corby, who professed to be out of condition, but who ran a blinder, reeling in lots of runners to place 47th in 15:59. Aine Crotty had a similar experience in moving through the field to finish as second scorer for the club in 85th place with a time of 16:35, followed by Kathryn Sweeney (90th in 16:46) and Sarah Lyons (95th in 16:55). These were our 4 scorers, placing the club in 9th place out of the 14 teams. Our “spoilers” were led home by ladies’ captain Rebecca Fleming (107th on 17:21), followed by Kathryn Gibbons (115th in 17:38) and Lisa Shine (135th in 18:50).

The men’s race, held as the sun was beginning to disappear, was a 6k affair, run over 3 laps. The field measured 221 and again had some strong representatives in its ranks. There were at least 20 clubs represented in the race, with 22 teams organised (Crusaders and Clonliffe each having 2). The winner of the race, Liam Harris of Togher, recorded a time of 18:43, some 10 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.

Having suffered from a severe stomach bug only a few days ago, it was surprising that Michael Kiely ran such a strong race, holding his position and leading our 15 men home in 72nd place in a time of 21:02. He was followed by Daragh O’Reilly who worked his way through the field to 80th spot in 21:11 and by men's captain Ciaran Diviney, our third scorer, who placed 85th just behind in 21:13. Our 4th scorer was Garret Dunne who came home in 88th position in a time of 21:19, so that our first 4 runners were reasonably well bunched, enabling the A team to take 11th place, a mid-pack position reflecting this. Next came John Mulvihill (114th in 21:50) and Peter O’Toole (135th in 22:15), our A team “spoilers” and they were followed by Aaron Cashman (146th in 22:28), our first scorer for the B team. Eddie Nugent and Cathal O’Hara enjoyed an exchange of positions throughout the race, with Eddie finally prevailing (187th in 23:50), followed by Cathal (192nd in 23:53) and the 4th scorer on the team, Kevin Kavanagh (199th in 24:19), who, like Cathal, had competed in the previous day’s Jingle Bells 5k. The B team placed 20th. The contingent was then completed by Cian Coughlan (202nd in 24:35), Phelim Murray (210th in 25:37), David McEvoy (211th in 25:39), Gian Piero Allerta (218th in 28:33) and by new member Ivor Barry (221st in 29:52). Many congrats to our intrepid Novices! Members may also be interested to hear that Shane Collins, who recently transferred to Leevale as he is now living in Cork, and who had also been in the medal winning team in the National Seniors a couple of weeks back (but still eligible to run in the Novices in the same year), placed 15th in 19:33 and the Leevale team took the gold medal.

On Saturday we had a super turnout from the club for the Donore Harriers-hosted Jingle Bells 5k, its 30th running and possibly the first race allowed in the Phoenix Park since the start of the pandemic. On a bright sunny but windy and chilly morning at the earlier time than usual of 9:30, at least 53 Crusaders joined the field of over a thousand runners to take part in this iconic event with its net downhill feature (the finish being at the bottom of the Glen Road below the hospital) and its Christmas-themed mug instead of a medal (memories of the now-defunct Ballycotton 10 that used to provide the same souvenir). The race starts on the Acres, heading east to the Phoenix roundabout, then north up Chesterfield to make a turn onto the Ordnance Road at the next roundabout. This was where runners on Saturday hit the strong westerly wind which stayed with them until they hit roughly the 4km mark at the top of the Upper Glen Road. Despite the wind, it was as usual a fast and furious race, contested at the front by a group of at least 5 athletes, including John Travers of Donore, the eventual winner in 14:22. Lizzie Lee won the women’s race, but not before she had a scare in the last kilometre from another Donore athlete, Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill, who eventually had to settle for second place, 4 seconds back.

The race generally rewards runners with PBs and we had a few, not least starting with our first athlete home, Kieran Little, who placed 17th in 15:10. Another PB time was recorded by Tim O’Donnell (289th in 19:15), by Tanja Narancic who produced yet another one (464th and 107th female finisher in 21:33) and by Donna Barry (647th and 209th in 24:42). There were probably more.

It was great also to see a couple of the mums who had recently given birth out racing, with one at least making her comeback (Ciara Lehane who placed 645th and 208th in 24:36) and those accompanying siblings, spouses or children (including Brian Keenan who is coming back from injury and who placed 509th in 22:05, Joanne Carey (728th and 259th in 26:44) and Brian O’Kelly (864th in 29:55).

We had 5 runners in the first 100 men’s places. Besides Kieran, Brendan Murphy placed 27th in 15:42, followed by Vinnie McGuinness (54th in 16:28), Michael Wycherley (92nd in 16:57) and Toby Benham (97th in 17:02). The team of Kieran, Brendan and Vinnie placed 4th out of 31 in the team results just 4 points behind Sli Cualann and 3 points ahead of Celbridge. At least 16 of our male runners ran under 20 minutes in the race, including our visually-impaired runner, Donnacha McCarthy, who was guided to a great time of 17:11 for 105th spot. Brian Hyland was next, in 116th with a time of 17:13, followed by John Fahy (183rd in 17:56), Henry Griffin (187th in 18:11), Dee Lawlor (212th in 18:23), Kieran Martin (245th in 18:42) and Kevin Kavanagh (259th in 18:49), who, together with housemate Cathal O’Hara (275th in 19:01), were to run in the following day’s National Novices. Tim was next, followed by Sam Carvill (296th in 19:12) and Michael Maughan (344th in 19:41). It was also good to see Michael Fitzsimons, coming back from injury, run 27:43 for 768th place.

In the women’s race, first across the line for the club was, unsurprisingly, Niamh Allen, just back from a week’s holiday in the sun, who placed 103rd and 11th in 17:09. Naimh was followed by team scorers Adrienne Jordan and Maura Mahoney who crossed the line together and were given the same time of 18:30, for 225th and 33rd and 226th and 34th places, respectively. The team also placed 4th, 6 points off 3rd place MSB in a field of 29 teams. Other super results were recorded by Miriam Logan (445th and 99th in 21:13), Mairead De Faoite (469th and 109th in 21:43), Kathryn Gibbons (another National Novices runner) who ran 21:46 for 492nd and 119th places, returning runners from the week’s 4 races in Lanzarote: Margaret Foley (527th and 136th in 22:35) and Olwyn Dunne (535th and 138th in 22:40), Amy McGuinness (one of the recent new mums with her second baby) who ran 23:24 for 566th and 155th, Emily Glen (another runner who ran all 4 races last week) who ran 23:24 for 575th and 159th places, Gillian Curran (589th and 169th in 23:46) and Maria Kennedy (612th and 187th in 24:00). It was really great to see such strong participation from everyone.

In terms of road racing at the weekend, we were treated to a super spectacle in the Valencia marathon with Olympian athlete Fionnuala McCormack placing 5th in the women’s race in a brilliant time of 2:23:58, following an exciting sprint for the line from quite far out to get under 2:24. Our own Paul Dempsey also did well in truly windy conditions on a twisty course. His super 2:40:52 was a 3-minute PB improvement. Further afield, one of our exiles in Australia, Katie Rogers, participated in the Sydney Harbour 10k where she ran negative splits to finish in 40:39, placing 39th female finisher and 324th overall in a field of nearly 2,500 runners.

Alan Sheehy headed north on Saturday to take part in the Seeley Cup 10k in Belfast’s Ormeau Park. The race, with a field of 764, was won by Eoin Everard in 30:17, with Ann-Marie Glynn (33:32) taking the women’s title. Alan ran an excellent 36:59 to place 191st. Then, on Sunday, Enda Clarke ran in the Belleek 10k in Ballina, Co. Mayo. In a field of 208 and on a relatively flat course, Enda placed 16th in a similarly super time of 36:48.

The parkruns on Saturday morning did not appear to be particularly well attended this week, possibly because of the chilly weather and also the running of the Jingle Bells 5k. After knocking on the door over the past few weeks, recent new mum Louise Dobbyn finally took first place in Cabinteely where she ran 23:48 for 26th overall in a field of 145. Mairin Shine also ran, placing 109th and 39th in 32:05. In Mallow Castle Ronan Moynihan placed 3rd in a field of 100 and a time of 18:52, whilst, in Marlay Park, Luke Davis ran 19:04 for 4th place in a field of 297. David Long followed soon after in 5th place (19:27), with Killian Barry (15th in 20:29) completing the contingent. Deirdre Kennedy took 136th and 35th spots in Malahide among 246 runners, with a time of 27:32, whilst in St. Anne’s, with 329 participating, David Willis ran 18:55 for 6th place, followed by Phelim Murray (45th in 21:50) and Sarah Lyons (199th and 58th in 28:57), both of whom were preparing themselves for the cross country the following day. In a field of 85 in Porterstown, Brian Langton placed 40th in 27:27, followed by Maria Pertl (51st and 14th in 28:32), whilst in Poolbeg we saw Kenan Furlong take 5th position in a field of 113 in a time of 18:24. Kenan was followed by Daniel Sheridan (7th in 19:25), John |Lohan (17th in 20:43), David Timoney (33rd in 21:51), Kieran Finucane (37th in 22:12), Josie Ward (51st and 5th in 24:06), Fiona Bane (59th and 8th in 25:20) and Mari Hansen (110th and 31st in 35:02). Finally, further afield, Aidan Hudner ran in Pollok Park in Glasgow where he placed 32nd in 23:34, whilst in Highbury Fields in London, Kate O’Malley joined 271 other runners, placing 27th and 2nd in 20:08.

Jingle Bells 5k (1041)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 John Travers 1 00:14:22
43 Lizzie Lee 1 00:16:14
Crusaders AC runners
17 Kieran Little 00:15:10 (PB)
27 Brendan Murphy 00:15:42
54 Vinnie McGuinness 00:16:28
92 Michael Wycherley 00:16:57
97 Toby Benham 00:17:02
103 Niamh Allen 00:17:09 (11)
105 Donnacha McCarthy 00:17:11
116 Brian Hyland 00:17:13
183 John Fahy 00:17:56
187 Henry Griffin 00:18:11
212 Dee Lawlor 00:18:23
225 Adrienne Jordan 00:18:30 (33)
226 Maura Mahoney 00:18:30 (34)
245 Kieran Martin 00:18:42
259 Kevin Kavanagh 00:18:49
275 Cathal O’Hara 00:19:01
289 Tim O’Donnell 00:19:15 (PB)
296 Sam Carvill 00:19:12
344 Michael Maughan 00:19:41
400 Paul F. Kelly 00:20:25
421 Brendan Glynn 00:21:00
445 Miriam Logan 00:21:13 (99)
460 Andy Deuser 00:21:16
464 Tanja Narancic 00:21:33 (PB) (107)
469 Mairead De Faoite 00:21:43 (109)
492 Kathryn Gibbons 00:21:46 (119)
494 Joe Dunne 00:21:36
507 Anthony Hackett 00:22:01
509 Brian Keenan 00:22:05
527 Margaret Foley 00:22:35 (136)
535 Olwyn Dunne 00:22:40 (138)
545 James Moran 00:22:53
558 Alan Kavanagh 00:23:06
565 Eoghan Corrigan 00:23:22
566 Amy McGuinness 00:23:24 (155)
568 Aitor Arribas Velasco 00:23:09
575 Emily Glen 00:23:24 (159)
589 Gillian Curran 00:23:46 (169)
612 Maria Kennedy 00:24:00 (187)
645 Ciara Lehane 00:24:36 (208)
647 Donna Barry 00:24:42 (PB) (209)
662 Aoife Kelly 00:24:56 (218)
728 Joanne Carey 00:26:44 (259)
752 Maureen McGinley 00:27:14 (274)
768 Michael Fitzsimons 00:27:43
775 Paul E. Kelly 00:27:32
804 Evelyn Neary 00:28:29 (306)
819 Michelle Geoghegan 00:28:10 (319)
820 Iseult Ni Chuinneagain 00:28:49 (320)
843 Kate Murray 00:30:01 (335)
864 Brian O’Kelly 00:29:55
880 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:31:03 (361)
923 Carina Davidson 00:26:49 (393)
Full results here: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/jingle-bells-5k-2021/#1_AC8A88y
Seeley Cup 10K (764)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Eoin Everard 1 00:30:17
53 Ann-Marie McGlynn 1 00:33:32
Crusaders AC runner
191 Alan Sheehy 00:36:59
Full results here: https://athleticsni.org/Results/Seeley-Cup-10K-Road-Race
Belleek 10K (208)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Luke Johnston 1 00:32:17
19 Eimear O’Brien 37:02
Crusaders AC runner
16 Enda Clarke 00:36:48
Full results here: https://my.raceresult.com/187917/live?fbclid=IwAR1mi_EdTniVNH6UqYBQJEkwW4WCaGHbu-eYR1LuFhSyTKADn-OO0ogxrCQ
Malahide Parkrun (246)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Robert Frewen 1 00:18:05
15 Cindy Hickey 1 00:20:32
Crusaders AC runner
136 Deirdre Kennedy 00:27:32 (35)
Marlay Parkrun (297)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Ruben Bartelink 1 00:17:49
14 Nollaig Blake 1 00:20:26
Crusaders AC runners
4 Luke Davis 00:19:04
5 David Long 00:19:27
15 Killian Barry 00:20:29
St. Anne’s Parkrun (329)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Cristian Vilchez Ceballos 1 00:17:14
16 Maura Ginty 1 00:19:52
Crusaders AC runners
1 Cristian Vilchez Ceballos 00:17:14
45 Phelim Murray 00:21:50
199 Sarah Lyons 00:28:57 (58)
Mallow Castle Parkrun (100)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 David Reynolds 1 00:17:46
17 Norah McGlynn 1 00:22:48
Crusaders AC runner
3 Ronan Moynihan 00:18:52
Cabinteely Parkrun (145)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Ted Burke 1 00:19:38
26 Louise Dobbyn 1 00:23:48
Crusaders AC runners
26 Louise Dobbyn 00:23:48 (1)
109 Mairin Shine 00:32:05 (39)
Porterstown Parkrun (85)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Thomas O’Neill 1 00:19:55
15 Julie Dowd 1 00:23:41
Crusaders AC runners
40 Brian Langton 00:27:27
51 Maria Pertl 00:28:32 (14)
Poolbeg Parkrun (113)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Oscar Legge 1 00:17:23
13 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:20:27
Crusaders AC runners
5 Kenan Furlong 00:18:24
7 Daniel Sheridan 00:19:25
17 John Lohan 00:20:43
33 David Timoney 00:21:51
37 Kieran Finucane 00:22:12
51 Josie Ward 00:24:06 (5)
59 Fiona Bane 00:25:20 (8)
110 Mari Hansen 00:35:02 (31)

Gian Piero Allerta, Eddie Nugent, Cian Coughlan, Phelim Murray, Michael Kiely, Daragh O'Reilly, Garret Dunne, Aaron Cashman, Peter O'Toole, John Mulvihill, Ivor Barry, Cathal O'Hara, David McEvoy, Ciaran Diviney, Kevin Kavanagh