Touch and Go

Standing L-R: Kabir Sala, Laura O'Malley, Felipe De Sousa, Luz Estevan, Alan Martin, Kelly Brown, Tilde Martinsen, Ellen Walsh, Lisa Branigan, Lieze Verberght, Fanny Trébouet, Kieran Martin, Emer Kenny, Aoife Quigley, Emily Glen, Carina Davidson, Olwyn Dunne, Paul O'Hara, Neil Brown, David O'Donnell. Kneeling L-R: Bo Chicoine, Brendan Glynn, Paul E. Kelly, Alby Allan

It nearly didn’t happen. In the wake of Storm Éowyn, DCC had closed all its parks over the weekend, affecting not only parkruns on Saturday morning but also part of the route of the Raheny 5 miler, scheduled for Sunday afternoon. It wouldn’t be January without this iconic race, in its 41st running this year, always used as a benchmark of fitness for runners for the coming year. However, there was a risk of falling trees, and after much  sucking in of teeth, the race was allowed to go ahead at the 11th hour, but with a change of course.

In fact, the course as it was run materially resembled that which had been used for the race until relatively recently. The principal difference lay with the continuation of the route all the way down Mt. Prospect Ave (alongside the XC course used for the masters and intermediates earlier in the month) to the Clontarf coast road, instead of a turn into the park halfway down, and then turning at around 4 miles at the sculpted tree at Watermill Road to go up the relatively steep hill towards another left turn on to All Saints Road and a turn to the right to the finish line. The counter-clockwise race in one loop was run in wet and windy conditions. Moreover, the temperature at 8 degrees Celsius felt more like 2 degrees because of the windchill effect of the wind coming from the southeast at 23kph. Thankfully, the wind would only have been a headwind between the first and second mile marks and then a little before 3 miles. So, a few of our runners were still able to record a PB.

At least 84 Crusaders joined the field of over 3,700 who ran on the day, numbers slightly down on previous years perhaps because of the weather conditions, but still impressive. All of them were looking forward to the celebrated goody bag full of totally inappropriate products (for runners at least), but so welcome!

If anyone obtained a PB and it is not recorded below please let us know and the report can be updated. So far, we had five: Brian Regan who placed 88th overall in 27:45, Neil Brown who took 629th place in 34:33 and Fanny Trébouet and Lieze Verberght, respectively 1880th and 439th female finisher in 42:19 and 1881st and 440th in 42:20. Also, Alby Allan recorded a 30s improvement, placing 175th in 29:27. Other notable results were those of Michael Wycherley who, in placing 101st in 28:04, also placed 3rd in the M50 age category. Olwyn Dunne also took 3rd place as an F55 in a time of 37:15 for 952nd place overall, 151st female finisher. Then Martin Joyce was 4th in the M70 age category, placing 2422nd in 45:29. Major kudos should go to Aoife Hoare, who, despite recovering from a broken kneecap sustained in the recent cold snap at the beginning of the month, nevertheless turned out to complete the event (3347th and 1262nd in 52:18).

It is great to see that so many new names are recorded below and hopefully, the experience will have encouraged those newcomers to continue to race for Crusaders!

There were no team prizes this year. However, our teams did perform extremely well. The senior ladies team of Julie McGrath (234th and 20th in 30:20), Annie Hughes (296th and 24th in 30:48) and Emma Rowe (413th and 41st in 31:56) placed 5th in a competition involving 60 teams. Then, the women’s O/40 team of Aoife Quigley (429th and 43rd in 32:12), Dee Ni Chearbhaill (733rd and 98th in 35:30) and Olwyn Dunne placed 4th in a competition of 43 teams. Likewise, the men’s senior team of Sean O’Connor (35th in 26:27), Kevin Fitzgibbon (61st in 27:13) and Conor Kilkenny (85th in 27:35), our first three runners across the line, placed 6th in a competition involving 74 club teams. Finally, Michael Wycherley, John Mulvihill (108th in 28:15) and Alby Allan (175th in 29:27) placed 5th out of 54 in the male O/40 team competition. All the results are recorded below. Well done to all!

Little else was happening over the weekend in terms of racing, but we did have two runners take part in IMRA races. One took place down in Co. Cork on Sunday. Ciaran Diviney joined 93 other runners in the Rahan Woods 9.2k mountain race near Mallow. Ciaran placed 3rd in 40:51 on a course which had a climb of 250m on marked trails. The other was the Carrick Winter race in Co. Wicklow involving 152 runners taking on a 9k race with a 324m climb. Richie Phelan took part, placing 71st in 64:06.

As mentioned, there was also little activity on the parkrun front. However, in the few that took place we did record a first finisher. Luke Clarke led the field of 128 home in Tymon Park, in a time of 19:47. Meanwhile, in Naas, Gill Earley placed 22nd and 3rd in a field of 242 and in a time of 20:59. Gill was followed by Fiona Shine (117th and 41st in 28:09), and Lisa and Máirín Shine (respectively, 172nd and 74th in 31:38, and 173rd and 75th in 31:56). Colm Foley and Chris Bannon ran in Griffeen Park, where, in a field of 288, Colm placed 66th in 24:17, followed by Chris (87th in 25:08).

In a field of 31, Kev Moore and Mary Donnelly ran in Clarisford, where Kev placed 14th in 29:25 and Mary, 15th and 4th in 29:30. Lorraine McMahon joined 152 other runners on the Sports Ireland Campus, where she placed 100th and 32nd in 31:29, whilst Mairead Cashman placed 166th and 56th in 31:03 in the 261-strong field in Dodder Valley Park. Further afield, Toby Benham ran once again in Worthing where he placed 31st in 19:50 in a field of 646, whilst Thom Martini joined 1099 other runners in Battersea Park, placing 236th in 22:25.
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AXA Raheny 5 miler (3739)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Efrem Gidey 1 00:22:47
39 Hannah Gilliland 1 00:26:34
Crusaders AC runners
35 Sean O’Connor 00:26:27
61 Kevin Fitzgibbon 00:27:13
85 Conor Kilkenny 00:27:35
88 Brian Regan 00:27:45 (PB)
92 Barry McCarthy 00:27:53
101 Michael Wycherley 00:28:04
108 John Mulvihill 00:28:15
116 Henry Griffin 00:28:25
175 Alby Allan 00:29:27 (PB)
195 Kevin (Billy) O’Sullivan 00:29:51
211 Jan Manschot 00:30:01
215 Paul O’Hara 00:29:58
228 Lorenzo Battistin 00:30:06
229 Peter O’Toole 00:30:17
234 Julie McGrath 00:30:20 (20)
242 Thomas Vogée 00:30:20
289 Cian Coughlan 00:30:39
296 Annie Hughes 00:30:48 (24)
302 Michael Fitzsimons 00:31:00
310 Simon Kenny 00:30:46
331 Felipe De Sousa 00:30:52
333 Kieran Martin 00:31:10
348 Ollie McGrath 00:31:27
412 James Sherry 00:31:48
413 Emma Rowe 00:31:56 (41)
429 Aoife Quigley 00:32:12 (43)
434 Thomas Donohoe 00:32:04
499 Irene Gorman 00:32:53 (55)
514 Brian Horgan 00:32:27
524 Zlatko Kulic 00:33:25
541 Isabelle Cairns 00:33:23 (64)
605 Rebecca Fleming 00:34:12 (71)
629 Neil Brown 00:34:33 (PB)
631 Oisin Browne 00:34:28
636 Kabir Sala 00:33:08
716 Phelim Murray 00:35:09
722 Piarais Neary 00:34:58
733 Deirdre Ni Chearbhaill 00:35:30 (98)
746 Emily Glen 00:35;29 (102)
750 Luz Estevan 00:34:11 (103)
809 GianPiero Allerta 00:36:02
879 Luke Haran 00:36:02
886 Killian Lynskey 00:36:04
903 Derek Boland 00:30:53
906 David O’Donnell 00:36:08
946 Damiano Silvestri 00:36:23
952 Olwyn Dunne 00:37:15 (151)
957 Lisa Branigan 00:36:07 (153)
998 Louise O’Riordan 00:37:31 (165)
1000 Fiona Shine 00:37:08 (166)
1010 Ricky Lane 00:36:49
1059 Aoife McCarthy 00:37:39 (177)
1066 Gregoire Marnotte 00:37:07
1114 Sean Brady 00:37:11
1199 Laura O’Malley 00:37:52 (209)
1221 Brendan Glynn 00:39:24
1231 Florian Bonkhoff 00:37:41
1307 Kelly Brown 00:40:08 (233)
1313 Kevin Kenny 00:39:42
1363 Emer Kenny 00:39:40 (247)
1377 John Kennedy 00:37:56
1407 Ellen Walsh 00:40:06 (263)
1505 Darina Scully 00:40:42 (290)
1514 Alan Martin 00:40:17
1524 Bo Chicoine 00:40:21
1600 Patrick Needham 00:40:44
1628 Ryan Hoey 00:39:54
1730 Aoife Cowhie 00:42:55 (378)
1880 Fanny Trébouet 00:42:19 (PB) (439)
1881 Lieze Verberght 00:42:20 (PB) (440)
2102 Carina Davidson 00:44:18 (526)
2236 Jessica Higgins 00:43:17 (599)
2289 Evelyn Neary 00:45:31 (625)
2422 Martin Joyce 00:45:29
2448 Lisa Shine 00:46:19 (718)
2514 Áine Crotty 00:46:24 (760)
2713 Lorraine McMahon 00:47:13 (872)
2721 Máirín Shine 00:48:13 (876)
2788 Paul E. Kelly 00:48:29
3122 Michelle English 00:50:13 (1115)
3182 Cynthia Perucca 00:50:54 (1155)
3241 Niamh Trihy 00:55:36 (1188)
3347 Aoife Hoare 00:52:18 (1262)
3410 Marie-Claire Daly 00:53:44 (1299)
Full results here: https://myrunresults.com/events/axa_raheny_5_mile_2025/5529/results
IMRA Carrick Winter 9k (152)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Ben Mangan 1 00:43:47
18 Nicola Soraghan 1 00:51:42
Crusaders AC runner
71 Richard Phelan 01:04:06
Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2646/category/O/
IMRA Rahan Woods 9.2k (94)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Barry Hartnett 1 00:38:27
6 Kealey Tideswell 1 00:41:58
Crusaders AC runner
3 Ciaran Diviney 00:40:51
Full results here: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2594/category/O/
Naas Parkrun (242)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 David Browne 1 00:18:00
19 Michelle Guiney 1 00:20:15
Crusaders AC runners
22 Gillian Earley 00:20:59 (3)
117 Fiona Shine 00:28:09 (41)
172 Lisa Shine 00:31:38 (74)
173 Máirín Shine 00:31:56 (75)
Clarisford Parkrun (31)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Evan O’Rourke 1 00:17:19
3 Ann MacPhail 1 00:22:09
Crusaders AC runners
14 Kev Moore 00:29:25
15 Mary Donnelly 00:29:30 (4)
Sport Ireland Campus Parkrun (153)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Niall Sherlock 1 00:19:08
5 Clodagh Dunphy 1 00:21:25
Crusaders AC runner
100 Lorraine McMahon 00:31:29 (32)
Griffeen Parkrun (288)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Niamh Markham 1 00:18:03
2 Brian Kelly 1 00:18:03
Crusaders AC runners
66 Colm Foley 00:24:17
87 Chris Bannon 00:25:08
Tymon Parkrun (128)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Luke Clarke 1 00:19:47
4 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:20:26
Crusaders AC runner
1 Luke Clarke 00:19:47
Dodder Valley Parkrun (261)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Risteard MacEoin 1 00:19:02
12 Dee McCourt 1 00:21:41
Crusaders AC runner
166 Mairead Cashman 00:31:03 (56)

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L-R: Darina Scully, Fiona Shine, Lisa Shine, Ellen Walsh, Carina Davidson, Fanny Trébouet, Máirín Shine, Lieze Verberght, Lorraine McMahon, Marie-Claire Daly, Paul E.Kelly, Alan Martin, Lisa Branigan, Bo Chicoine, Sean Brady