Unexpected challenges in Race Series Half marathon and lots of PBs near and far

25/9/2017

back row (L to R): Russell Murphy, Darina Scully, Nina Hurley, Maria Kennedy, Neil Brown and Ruth Dwyer (1937). Front row: Aoife Clarke, Ciara Lehane, Celine Bonce, Gavan Doherty and Katie McElroy

It was a memorable weekend of racing for the club and we had at least 100 members involved in the different events on offer. Perhaps, the most memorable will be the somewhat controversial first holding of the Dublin Race Series half marathon outside of the Phoenix Park. One observer described it as comic opera in “Dona Baté”, but perhaps that is being a little too harsh. Nevertheless, next year’s event will take some rethinking. For health and safety reasons and cost and limitations imposed by the OPW, the organisers had sought and found an alternative venue with a course mapped out between Donabate and Lusk. Unfortunately, with the race HQ based in Newbridge House, with its limited access, they perhaps underestimated the impact on the local infrastructure at a time when there were already major diversions in place in the area for pipe laying etc. Local traffic mixed with race traffic combined to create gridlock early on in the day and it only got worse. Abandoned cars on the country lanes as race entrants tried to make the start, which ultimately was delayed by nearly 40 minutes, exacerbated the situation even more, apparently, and forced several potential competitors to give up and turn for home instead of running. There were also problems at the start line (about a 10 minutes’ walk from race HQ) in that the field gathered quite early on and there was no obvious room for warming up for club athletes in an environment where we are at risk of suffering from the cold as we hung about. Moreover, we were not allowed to cross in front of the start line to warm up on the course and it was challenging, working one’s way from the back to the front of the assembled field of the more than 6,500 competitors on such a narrow country lane, with deep ditches on either side. We were told later that this venue has been committed to for three years, so it will be important perhaps for next year, assuming the venue is retained, to have a start line in a wider space (as would have been the case in the park), perhaps actually on the grounds of Newbridge House. The organisers also dodged a couple of bullets in that parking was in potentially swampy fields that would have created problems in the rain and it was cool enough, so a missing water station (presumably because of traffic problems preventing set-up) towards the midway point (the folding tables all stacked up against hedges) was not too much of an issue.

It was a blustery day and the course was tough as there were numerous undulations with sharp climbs in the first half, particularly at about 9k before we turned off the Skerries Road. The hill that we had been warned about at the Man O’War pub where we turned for home at the half way mark was relatively benign, by comparison to the unrelenting “mountaineering” we had handled beforehand. Then, when we made the turn from the race’s highest point (about 100m of climb) to run down back to Donabate, we ran straight into a ferocious and increasing headwind (that we might have largely avoided had the race started earlier). Decisions had to be taken whether to take the racing line and be heavily exposed or hug the hedgerow and add a few more metres to the race. Most people kept to the side. So, those training for the marathon should have derived a great deal of confidence from having mastered such a tough course.

Given all the challenges, it was amazing that nearly all of our runners made it to the start line (one notable casualty, however, being Joe Dunne who had been lined up to pace), although one or two of our faster runners, Kiera Roche in particular, ended up having to weave their way through the field (Kiera had a 4 minute differential between gun and chiptime, meaning that she was likely deprived of a top 10 finish). She wasn’t the only elite runner to experience this. Mullingar’s Kevin Baker, who trained with us in the recent past, had a 15 minute gap between chip and gun times (and otherwise would have been in the top 10).

We had 53 finishers behind the surprising race winner (in just under 67 minutes), Bereket Gebraslase, an Ethiopian 61-minute half marathoner who himself started out 10 seconds after the gun and had to work his way through the masses early on, having not heard the starting siren. Among the men, we had 14 runners place among the first 250, led home by our first finisher, Ger Forde, with yet another PB. Ger placed 20th in a great time of 1:17:33. Another super run came from James Moran (31st in 1:19:24) and then also from Paul Dempsey who recorded a huge PB to place 62nd in 1:21:23. At one point in the race Paul was able to see ahead of him the bike leading the female race winner, Maria McCambridge. So he set her as a target and managed to come home in front of her, a major scalp for him. Seamus MacFloinn was next (99th in 1:23:10), followed by Karl Walsh (101st in 1:22:28) who started from quite far back, as did Joe Walsh and Brian Leonard (128th in a PB time of 1:24:31 and 146th in 1:25:05, respectively). Andrea Talpo flew through the race to record a PB of 1:26:18 and 165th place, whilst Will Owens also ran a sensible pace in the first half to take 191st spot in 1:26:47. The remaining runners in the top 250 were Pat Quill (200th in 1:27:43), Brian Scanlan (205th in a PB time of 1:27:33), Philip Hamilton, who ran brilliantly in his first half marathon by tucking into a 5 man group for the 2nd half of the race (217th in a time of 1:27:15), Zlatko Kulic, who found significant energy in the second half (242nd in 1:28:37), Dave Cuddy (244th in 1:28:37) and, just behind him, James Cottle (245th in 1:28:51). James found the first half particularly tough and then the long rather boring pieces in the latter stages of the race took their toll, but he was pleased to have kept Zlatko in sight after having met up with him at the halfway point. In the end James was able to take the age category win for the 2nd year in a row, having overtaken his rivals early on in the race and having given himself a margin of nearly 2 minutes by the finish. Top 500 places also went to Aido Doyle (464th in 1:32:44), Dave Tuohy (436th in 1:32:44) and Andrew Kinneen (450th in 1:33:48).

We had at least 17 female Crusaders in the race, led home by Adrienne Jordan in 4th place (143rd overall, in 1:25:41) who found the last 3 miles a challenge. Next came Kiera Roche, whose difficulties are documented above. Kiera placed 30th woman, 452nd overall, in 1:29:50. What is more remarkable about Kiera’s effort is that it was her birthday and she had a flight to catch at 1:30, so that the race starting at nearly 10:10 must have significantly increased her stress levels. Thankfully, she made the flight! We had at least 11 women make the top 250 in their gender. Kate Murray placed 72nd (909th overall) in 1:40:24, followed by Triona Quill (1,012th overall, 86th woman, in 1:40:57), Ruth Dwyer (1,136th overall, 107th woman, in 1:42:50), Katie McElroy (1,137th overall, 108th woman, in a PB time of 1:42:49), Aoife Clarke (1,193rd overall, 120th woman, in 1:43:31), Ciara Lehane (1,270th overall, 141st woman, in 1:44:37), Darina Scully (1,422nd overall, 181st woman, in 1:46:55), Celine Bonce (1,652nd overall, 229th woman, in a PB time of 1:50:12), Ela Szkamruk (2,057th overall, 327th woman, in 1:55:58), Nina Hurley (2,152nd overall, 346th woman, in 1:55:40) and Maria Kennedy (2,212th overall, 358th woman, in 1:56:32).

The following day we also had a super turnout in two events. The winner of the previous day’s half marathon decided to try his luck in the Rathfarnham 5K, but hadn’t reckoned on the local talent of Kilkenny farmer, Brian Maher (and who recently turned 40) and Raheny’s Conor Dooney (national track 5,000m champion), who both managed to finish ahead of him. The race took place on a fast and flat single loop course that has remained unaltered for many years and it was great to see that all the Crusaders who ran broke 23 minutes. We had marvellous runs from Karl Fahy and his partner, Niamh Boland, both of whom recorded PBs on the day. In a field of nearly 760 competitors, Karl took 12th spot in a time of 15:23, whilst Niamh was 7th woman home (97th overall) in a time of 17:42. They were part of a contingent of 22 runners from the club. Niamh, Ilona McElroy (120th overall, 14th female finisher, in 18:18) and Orla Kennedy (132nd overall, 15th female, in a time close to her PB of 18:35) achieved 2nd place in the team event, whilst Niamh Corby (140th overall, 17th female, in 18:55) managed, despite some heavy celebrating a night or two earlier, to take 2nd spot in her age category. Other notable performances came from John McAuley and Michael Wycherley, in his first race after a long time injury, who worked together to record PBs for each of them. John finished 2nd Crusader in 60th place in a time of 16:46, whilst Michael was one place and one second behind John at the finish. Paul Flynn found it tough but still recorded a PB time to come home in 90th place in 17:29, followed by John Thuillier (94th in 17:37). Michael Maughan paced himself well to take 121st spot in 18:19, ahead of Brian McGuckin, a sparring partner (126th in a PB time of 18:26) whom he hauled in over the later stages. There were also PBs for Lesley Ann Doughan (158th overall, 20th woman, in 19:25) and Brendan Glynn (171st in 19:41) and good runs from everyone else: Dee Ni Chearbhaill (204th overall, 33rd woman, in 20:34), Hugh Larkin (207th in 20:23) who paced Nina Holmes (208th overall, 35th woman, in the same time). Emer Kenny continues to improve, running 21:34 (247th overall, 53rd woman) and Emer was followed by Alex Romano (248th in 21:29). Ruth O’Connor was next (272nd overall, 61st female, in 21:59), followed by Aisling Dilworth (323rd overall, 78th female, in 22:54). The contingent was completed by Bob Lyne who race-walked the course in a (walk) PB time of 32:53. Members will be interested to hear that Tipperary’s Lorraine Healy, who trains with us, placed 193rd overall, 30th female, in a time of 20:11.

On the same day, we fielded 7 athletes in the Berlin marathon. We had high hopes for them and our confidence was well-rewarded. In tough rainy conditions Brian O’Kelly ran one of the fastest times for a Crusader in recent history and by running negative splits. Brian recorded a PB of 2:32:58 and he was followed by Rob Cross who, having missed a slug of training through injury and illness, still recorded a time close to his best of 2:37:46. Tim Francony was next in a PB time of 2:47:49 having run even splits and he was followed by Mick Blighe who, like Wilson Kipsang, suffered from stomach cramps towards the latter stages and, having been on for a time close to 3 hours had to settle for 3:11:54. Next came Fin Lawler in 4:37:26. Finally, Lucy Collender came home in 4:55:47. Most, if not all, of those finishers, will also take on Dublin at the end of October. A thought should be spared for Johannes Frederking, our Hamburg exile, who had to pull out after 35k with stomach problems and a slight hip injury.

Leo Lundy and Kris Ryan travelled to Kerry over the weekend for the Listowel Endurance festival. 24hr, 12hr, 6hr events and an obscure cumulative (3 x 7K) race were all timed to finish at 6pm on Saturday. Leo and Kris chose the 6hr event which, with the other races, were run on a challenging 1,200m loop in the park in the centre of Listowel (the course gave 1900ft of climb over marathon distance). The weather was wild and extremely wet. Leo's 53k earned him second male while Kris' 59k was good enough for second female overtaking the 3rd spot competitor in the dying seconds. This was Kris' second podium of the day after being 3rd overall and 1st woman in the Newcastle West parkrun that morning enroute to the main event.

We had a decent number of runners in the Saturday morning parkruns and a few top finishers. Frank Hague placed first finisher in the more than 100-strong field in Porterstown. Frank ran 18:16, followed by Kevin Flynn (47th in 27:42). As mentioned Kris Ryan was first female finisher in Newcastle west. In a field of 23 runners, Kris placed 3rd overall in 24:32, with Leo Lundy taking 6th place in 26:59. Lisa Shine was also first female finisher in River Valley, taking 4th place overall, in a time of 22:52. Sister Fiona placed 4th (13th overall) in 26:09, followed by Orlaith de Burca (17th overall, 7th woman, in 26:31) and mother Mairin took 48th spot overall (20th female) in 31:32. The field measured 80. Tom Dunne travelled to join 310 other runners in Woking, placing 11th in 20:28. Aoife Quinn was in Tramore, taking 7th place overall, 2nd female, in 23:12 among a field of 72. Brian Carroll also managed a podium finish in Griffeen, placing 3rd in 19:05, whilst in St. Anne’s Diarmuid Byrne placed 57th in 22:48, followed by Mary Dolan (128th overall, 23rd woman, in 26:43), Lorraine Fitzsimons (260th overall, 94th female, in 31:37), the indefatigable Maria Pertl (289th overall, 114th woman, in 33:46) alongside Fiona Bane for company (290th overall, 115th female, in 33:47). The field measured more than 330. Denis Murphy ran in Corkag’s first park run, placing 24th in 22:00 in a field of nearly 280 runners. Finally, in the 5th running of Poolbeg and a field of 75 runners, Zalan Kovacs was our first Crusader home, in 11th place (21:47), followed by Pauline McParland (59th overall, 19th woman, in 29:10) and by Ciara McElligott (67th overall, 23rd woman, in 31:50).

Dublin Race Series Half Marathon
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Bereket Gebraslase 1 01:06:45
77 Maria McCambridge 1 01:22:25
Crusaders AC runners
20 Ger Forde 01:17:33 (PB)
31 James Moran 01:19:24
62 Paul Dempsey 01:21:23 (PB)
99 Seamus MacFloinn 01:23:10
101 Karl Walsh 01:22:28
128 Joe Walsh 01:24:31
143 Adrienne Jordan 01:25:41 (4)
146 Brian Leonard 01:25:05
165 Andrea Talpo 01:26:18 (PB)
191 Will Owens 01:26:47
200 Pat Quill 01:27:43
205 Brian Scanlan 01:27:33 (PB)
217 Philip Hamilton 01:27:15 (PB)
242 Zlatko Kulic 01:28:27
244 Dave Cuddy 01:28:37
245 James Cottle 01:28:51
464 Aidan Doyle 01:32:03
436 Dave Tuohy 01:32:44
450 Andrew Kinneen 01:33:48
452 Kiera Roche 01:29:56 (30)
549 Leslie Hughes 01:34:40
580 Sean Smith 01:35:23
584 Gian Piero Allerta 01:36:28
633 Matthew Cranley 01:36:44
705 Phelim Murray 01:35:24
850 Gavan Doherty 01:38:49
909 Kate Murray 01:40:24 (72)
1012 Triona Quill 01:40:57 (86)
1094 Diarmuid Fahy 01:34:00
1109 Anthony Owens 01:44:27
1136 Ruth Dwyer 01:42:50 (107)
1137 Katie McElroy 01:42:49 (PB)(108)
1193 Aoife Clarke 01:43:31 (120)
1270 Ciara Lehane 01:44:37 (141)
1340 Niall Kelly 01:46:27
1344 Robbie Moore 01:45:04
1379 Stephen Mulligan 01:48:40
1422 Darina Scully 01:46:55 (181)
1531 Russell Murphy 01:48:37
1652 Celine Bonce 01:50:12 (PB) (229)
1863 Neil Brown 01:52:50
2043 Gerald Hoare 01:46:04
2057 Ela Szkamruk 01:55:58 (327)
2152 Nina Hurley 01:55:40 (346)
2212 Maria Kennedy 01:56:32 (358)
2746 Mike Fong 01:52:35
3635 Olwyn Dunne 01:59:36 (903) (PACER)
3912 Sarah Lyons 02:05:08 (1024)
3979 Marek Kodes 01:56:04
4425 James Kershaw 02:01:13
5022 Jean Devlin 02:16:05 (1631)
5487 Siobhan Russell 02:24:01 (1909)
5597 Paul Kelly 02:19:40
Full results here: http://tdleventservices.co.uk/race-results.php
Rathfarnham 5k
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Brian Maher 1 00:14:40
58 Ciara Durkan 1 00:16:46
Crusaders AC runners
12 Karl Fahy 00:15:23 (PB)
60 John McAuley 00:16:46 (PB)
61 Michael Wycherley 00:16:47 (PB)
90 Paul Flynn 00:17:29 (PB)
94 John Thuillier 00:17:37
97 Niamh Boland 00:17:42 (PB) (6)
104 Barry McGuire 00:17:55 (PB)
120 Ilona McElroy 00:18:18 (14)
121 Michael Maughan 00:18:19
126 Brian McGuckin 00:18:26 (PB)
132 Orla Kennedy 00:18:35 (15)
140 Niamh Corby 00:18:55 (17)
158 LesleyAnn Doughan 00:19:25 (PB) (20)
171 Brendan Glynn 00:19:41 (PB)
204 Dee Ni Chearbhaill 00:20:34 (33)
207 Hugh Larkin 00:20:23
208 Nina Holmes 00:20:23 (35)
247 Emer Kenny 00:21:34 (53)
248 Alex Romano 00:21:29
272 Ruth O’Connor 00:21:59 (61)
323 Aisling Dilworth 00:22:54 (78)
675 Bob Lyne 00:32:53 (PB – race walker)
Full results here: https://www.myrunresults.com/events/rathfarnham_5k/2384/results
Berlin Marathon
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Eliud Kipchoge 1 02:03:32
Crusaders AC runners
146 Brian O’Kelly 02:32:58 (PB)
264 Rob Cross 02:37:46
622 Tim Francony 02:47:49 (PB)
2954 Mick Blighe 03:11:54
21997 Fintan Lawler 04:37:26
W8053 Lucy Collender 04:55:47
Full results here: http://results.scc-events.com/2017/
Griffeen Parkrun #223
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 David Keogh 1 00:17:34
22 Ana Barbu 1 00:22:40
Crusaders AC runner
3 Brian Carroll 00:19:05
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/griffeen/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=223
Corkagh Parkrun #1
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Shane Coffey 1 00:16:54
17 Sharon Tighe 1 00:21:02
Crusaders AC runner
24 Denis Murphy 00:22:00
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/corkagh/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=1
Tramore Parkrun #90
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Paul Farrelly 1 00:20:20
5 Roisin Jones 1 00:21:54
Crusaders AC runner
7 Aoife Quinn 00:23:12 (2)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/tramore/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=90
St Anne’s Parkrun #200
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Dave Woods 1 00:18:23
12 Caitriona Costello 1 00:20:24
Crusaders AC runners
57 Diarmuid Byrne 00:22:48
128 Mary Dolan 00:26:43 (23)
260 Lorraine Fitzsimons 00:31:37 (94)
289 Maria Pertl 00:33:46 (114)
290 Fiona Bane 00:33:47 (115)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/stannes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=200
Newcastle West Parkrun #74
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Johnny Morrissey 1 00:21:51
3 Kris Ryan 1 00:24:32
Crusaders AC runners
3 Kris Ryan 00:24:32 (1)
6 Leo Lundy 00:26:59
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/newcastlewest/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=74
River Valley Parkrun #61
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Nathan Pearce 1 00:21:48
4 Lisa Shine 1 00:22:52
Crusaders AC runners
4 Lisa Shine 00:22:52 (1)
13 Fiona Shine 00:26:09 (4)
17 Orlaith de Burca 00:26:31 (7)
48 Mairin Shine 00:31:32 (20)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/rivervalley/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=61
Porterstown Parkrun #101
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Frank Hague 1 00:18:16
15 Sharon Lawlor 1 00:23:05
Crusaders AC runners
1 Frank Hague 00:18:16
47 Kevin Flynn 00:27:42
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/porterstown/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=101
Poolbeg Parkrun #5
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Brendan Hennessy 1 00:19:43
19 Margot Penney 1 00:22:50
Crusaders AC runners
11 Zalan Kovacs 00:21:47
59 Pauline McParland 00:29:10 (19)
67 Ciara McElligott 00:31:50 (23)
Full results here: http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=5