Weekend of Extremes in every way

6/4/2025

L-R: Darina Scully, Chris Bannon, Brendan Glynn

Racing abounded this weekend, with virtually every distance possible covered.

The report starts on Saturday morning with the latest BHAA event, the annual 4-mile road race in St. Anne’s Raheny, sponsored by DCC, involving the usual suspects, and more, plus runners from the Lord Mayor’s running initiative. There were 215 competitors, including at least 9 from the club.

Our contingent on the flat and slightly twisty park course were led home by Joe Walsh in 9th place with a time of 23:13. Kieran Martin, running in possibly his first BHAA event, was next, in 16th spot with a time of 24:16. He was followed by Clare Sullivan (17th overall and 4th female finisher in 24:24), Irene Gorman (23rd and 5th in 25:28), Sean Murphy (27th in 26:07), David O’Donnell (36th in 27:54), Robbie Moore (54th in 29:14), Tony Hackett (58th in 29:31) and Cynthia Perucca (138th in 39:43).

On the same morning we had runners in two of the events held in Westport. Because he was carrying an Achilles injury into the race, Ross Neill decided to turn the half marathon into a training run, placing 61st in a field of 1342 in 90:41. Ross was followed across the line in the warm and hilly race by Alan Martin (972nd in 2:10:49). Then, in the 10k, Annie Hughes was our lone competitor. Annie placed a creditable 27th and 3rd in 42:01 in the field of 1402 finishers, despite adding 600m to the distance when she took a wrong turn at the 9th kilometre.

There were several races in Ireland on Sunday. We had at least 4 runners in the Windmill 10k Run in Garristown, Co. Dublin, incorporating the Co. Dublin Road Championships. In a field of 528, Alan Sheehy placed 29th in 39:10, followed by Chris Bannon (233rd in 50:05), Brendan Glynn (264th in 51:44) and Darina Scully (271st and 72nd in 51:45).

Another runner managing a possible injury, Sarah Bradley, ran in the Omagh half marathon, which she completed thankfully without too much difficulty in 1:56:40 for 1452nd and 400th places in a field of 2896 finishers. Aoife Matthews ran in the Sonia O’Sullivan Cobh 10-miler, with its field of 903 finishers. Aoife placed 221st and 35th in 76:08. Then, in West Cork, Charles Cartledge took on the Sheep’s Head Ultra, a 62km trail race. In extremely windy conditions (an easterly 37.5kph headwind for the second half), Charles completed the challenge in 9:13. Lastly, Isabelle Cairns took part in a duathlon (bike and run) race in Co. Kilkenny. In the 3k run element, she recorded a time of 12:58.

Further afield, we had long distance runners racing all over Europe as well as in the US and in the Southern Hemisphere. Over in Australia, one of our exiles there, Maurice Kelter, came home in 2nd place in the 725-strong field in the Run2Cure half marathon in Sydney. Maurice recorded an excellent time of 77:56. John Lohan and Tara Murphy fulfilled a bucket-list ambition of Tara's to run in the Two Oceans Ultra Marathon, a race in Cape Town of 56km. In sweltering conditions, alleviated slightly by a a 5:15 start, John completed the distance in 5:31:52, with Tara running 6:52:12. Meanwhile, in Europe, Cliodhna O’Reilly participated in the Ibiza half marathon where she ran a time of 2:07:24. Anna Hoesl and Michael Tung Le ran in the Berlin Half marathon, with Anna running 91 minutes and Michael finishing in 2:32. Then, in the Prague half marathon, John Corish ran 1:53:25. Over in Washington DC, one of our NY exiles ran in the Cherry Blossom 10-miler, a lovely flat run taking in Rock Creek Park, several monuments and East Potomac Park. Damien O'Brien completed the distance in 61:27, quite possibly a PB.

Elsewhere, Brian McGuckin was our sole representative in the warm and hilly Zaragoza Marathon in Spain, which he completed in a great time of 3:07:09. Similar conditions reigned in Milan, where the race temperature reached 19 degrees. We had 4 runners, two of them pacing, in the event. They were led home by Liam Nagle, who, despite a stitch at 30k, still managed an excellent time of 3:18:59. Liam was followed by 3:50 pacer Olwyn Dunne (3:49:47) and by GianPiero Allerta (4:02:49). Joe Dunne was also pacing but, not feeling great, had to walk after 35k. He completed the event but he had removed his chiptimer before the finish.

Completely opposite conditions were to be found in Vienna and Bratislava on the same day. Both marathons were run in chilly and quite windy conditions. The temperature at the start for both races was 1 degree Celsius, with a wind chill effect of -6 degrees and both events experienced strong winds. Kevin Kenny ran in Vienna, where he recorded a time of 4:22:22, whilst James Moran ran in Slovakia, where he produced a time of 3:43:30.

Over the weekend, one of our exiles in Switzerland, Lukasz Batruch, ran in the Dubendorf 10k, which he completed in 38:49, whilst two of our Spanish exiles, Esther Requena Ferri and Cristian Vilchez Ceballos, ran once again in Malaga. In a street race of approx. 4.75k, Esther ran 17:49, whilst Cristian ran 15:47. Sunday also marked the first stage of the 39th edition of the Marathon des Sables in Morocco, covering 32km. We have one runner this year in the week-long, 6-stage, event covering a cumulative distance of approx. 250km. At the end of the first stage, Áine Kenny is lying 430th overall and 58th female finisher out of a starting field in excess of 1000 runners. She completed the gruelling 32km stage in 5:18:18.

There appeared to be no first finishers from the club recorded this week in Saturday morning’s parkruns, although we did come close. Susanne English placed 12th and 2nd in the 61-strong Laytown Beach parkrun. Her time was 26:12. Meanwhile, Sarah Lyons placed 6th and 2nd in 24:12 in Tolka Valley Park. Sarah was joined in the 45-strong field by Maria Pertl who placed 21st and 8th in 29:00. Emma Rowe placed 19th and 2nd (possibly behind a member of her family who took the first finisher honours) in a time of 21:01 in Poolbeg. In the field of 244, Kenan Furlong placed 3rd in 18:07, and he was followed by James Sherry (9th in 19:14), Kabir Sala (15th in 20:16) and Mikel Crisostomo (17th in 20:50). Then, following Emma, came Louise Dobbyn (40th and 4th in 22:14) and she was followed by Fiona Bane (67th and 10th in 24:23) and Bo Chicoine (78th in 24:49).

Further back came Tanja Narancic (128th and 39th in 27:18), Aitor Arribas Velasco (129th in 27:19) just behind, Fanny Trébouet (157th and 52nd in 29:24) just ahead of Lisa Branigan (158th and 53rd in 29:26), Siobhan Russell (161st and 55th in 29:30) and Lorraine McMahon (166th and 58th in 29:53). Rebecca Kelly completed the contingent (206th and 87th in 33:20).

We had 4 runners in Shanganagh with its field of 261. Dee Lawlor placed 5th in 18:32, followed by David Carter, incorporating a long run (11th in 19:49), Máirín Shine (175th and 46th in 29:28) and Lisa Shine (187th and 53rd in 30:20). Oisin Corish placed 12th in 22:12 alongside 103 other runners in Sligo, whilst Dale Whelehan took 8th spot running with 96 other participants in Glengarriff. Dale’s time was 24:01. Gary Park took up parkrunning this weekend in Marlay, where he placed 17th in 19:49, followed, in the field of 564, by Phil Sykes (62nd in 22:35) and Aoife McCarthy (86th and 11th in 23:15), whilst, in Malahide, Aoife Cowhie ran 25:56 for 128th and 26th places in a field of 347.

Colm Foley ran once again in Griffeen Park where, in afield of 262, he recorded a time of 25:01 to place 61st, whilst Darina Scully joined 128 other runners in River Valley Park where she placed 65th and 18th in 29:16. Paul F. Kelly ran 25:57 for 73rd place in the 219-strong field in Poppintree, whilst Mairead Cashman joined 228 other runners in Fairview where she placed 155th and 57th in 31:33.

Finally, outside of Ireland, Olwyn Dunne ran in the Milano Nord parkrun. In a field of 233, Olwyn ran 26:42, taking 100th and 16th places, whilst in Donaupark in Vienna, Kevin Kenny placed 197th in 28:26 in a field of 403. In England, Mary Noelle Rohan ran in Cassiobury in Watford, where, in a field of 558, she placed 400th and 135 in 33:07, whilst Rob Glascott and Eva Kennedy, two oof our exiles in London, joined a field of 1124 in Battersea Park, where Rob placed 140th in 20:12 and Eva took 343rd spot in 23:57. Meanwhile, one of our other London exiles, Jeanie Watson, ran in Crathes Castle on Deeside in Scotland where, in a field of 101, she placed 22nd and 3rd in 25:08.

Westport 10k (1402)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Bryan Renton 1 00:34:55
8 Ciara Conway 1 00:38:58
Crusaders AC runner
27 Annie Hughes 00:42:01 (3)
Full results here: https://sportmaniacs.com/en/races/westport-marathon-2025/67f13e57-4604-40d2-b018-49dcac1f2682/rankings
Westport Half Marathon (1342)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 James Moran 1 01:15:40
16 Leah Lawler 1 01:24:26
Crusaders AC runners
61 Ross Neill 01:30:41
972 Alan Martin 02:10:49
Full results here: https://sportmaniacs.com/en/races/westport-marathon-2025/67f13e57-4604-40d2-b018-49dcac1f2682/rankings
BHAA DCC 4k road race (215)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Sean Doran 1 00:20:54
8 Laura McDonnell 1 00:23:09
Crusaders AC runners
9 Joe Walsh 00:23:13
16 Kieran Martin 00:24:16
17 Clare Sullivan 00:24:24 (4)
23 Irene Gorman 00:25:28 (5)
27 Sean Murphy 00:26:07
36 David O’Donnell 00:27:54
54 Robbie Moore 00:29:14
58 Anthony Hackett 00:29:31
138 Cynthia Perucca 00:39:43
Full results here: https://members.bhaa.ie/results/race/529
Omagh Half Marathon (2896)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Eoin Mullan 1 01:07:16
32 Victoria Atkinson 1 01:18:28
Crusaders AC runner
1452 Sarah Bradley 01:56:40 (400)
Full results here: https://myrunresults.com/events/35th_spar_omagh_half_marathon__5k/5518/results
Windmill Run 10k (Dublin Championships) (528)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Jamie Kavanagh Shiels 1 00:32:57
21 Ciara Brady 1 00:38:01
Crusaders AC runners
29 Alan Sheehy 00:39:10
233 Chris Bannon 00:51:44
264 Brendan Glynn 00:51:44
271 Darina Scully 00:51:45 (72)
Full results here: https://myrunresults.com/events/the_windmill_run_5k__10k_dublin_champs/5603/results
Sonia O’Sullivan Cobh 10-miler (903)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Chiptime
1 Ben Connor 1 00:48:15
8 Lily Partridge 1 00:54:44
Crusaders AC runner
221 Aoife Matthews 01:16:08 (35)
Full results here: https://myrunresults.com/events/sonia_osullivan_cobh_10/5517/results
Laytown Beach Parkrun (61)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Eadaoin Moore 1 00:22:15
2 Brian Murphy 1 00:22:24
Crusaders AC runner
12 Susanne English 00:26:12 (2)
Tolka Valley Parkrun (45)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 John Foley 1 00:21:49
4 Aleksandra Sobota 1 00:23:35
Crusaders AC runners
6 Sarah Lyons 00:24:12 (2)
21 Maria Pertl 00:29:00 (8)
Glengarriff Parkrun (97)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Shane O’Brien 1 00:21:22
6 Lorraine O’Sullivan 1 00:22:59
Crusaders AC runner
8 Dale Whelehan 00:24:01
Fairview Parkrun (229)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Daniel Toal 1 00:18:06
12 Ava Rose Clarke 1 00:20:51
Crusaders AC runner
155 Mairead Cashman 00:31:33 (57)
Poolbeg Parkrun (244)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Sebastian Hansen 1 00:17:40
18 Eimear Rowe 1 00:21:00
Crusaders AC runners
3 Kenan Furlong 00:18:07
9 James Sherry 00:19:14
15 Kabir Sala 00:20:16
17 Mikel Crisostomo 00:20:50
19 Emma Rowe 00:21:01 (2)
40 Louise Dobbyn 00:22:14 (4)
41 Josie Ward 00:22:17 (5)
67 Fiona Bane 00:24:23 (10)
78 Bo Chicoine 00:24:49
128 Tanja Narancic 00:27:18 (39)
129 Aitor Arribas Velasco 00:217:19
157 Fanny Trébouet 00:29:24 (52)
158 Lisa Branigan 00:29:26 (53)
161 Siobhan Russell 00:29:30 (55)
206 Rebecca Kelly 00:33:20 (87)
Sligo Parkrun (104)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Brian Kinsella 1 00:19:00
5 Fiona Stapleton 1 00:21:14
Crusaders AC runner
12 Oisin Corish 00:22:12
Poppintree Parkrun (219)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Ryan Wheeler 1 00:17:55
17 Nessa Byrne 1 00:21:51
Crusaders AC runner
73 Paul F. Kelly 00:25:57
Malahide Parkrun (347)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Robert Frewen 1 00:16:17
7 Annette Kealy 1 00:18:55
Crusaders AC runner
128 Aoife Cowhie 00:25:56 (26)
Marlay Parkrun (564)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Fionn Neville 1 00:17:08
31 Niamh Keegan 1 00:21:01
Crusaders AC runners
17 Gary Park 00:19:49
62 Phil Sykes 00:22:35
86 Aoife McCarthy 00:23:15 (11)
Shanganagh Parkrun (261)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Kieran Little 1 00:16:29
17 Emily Kane 1 00:20:44
Crusaders AC runners
5 Derek Lawlor 00:18:32
11 David Carter 00:19:49
175 Máirín Shine 00:29:28 (46)
187 Lisa Shine 00:30:20 (53)
Griffeen Parkrun (262)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Michael Comer 1 00:18:14
19 Maia Hannon 1 00:21:25
Crusaders AC runner
61 Colm Foley 00:25:01
River Valley Parkrun (129)
Overall place Name Cat. Place Guntime
1 Viktoras Kuzminas 1 00:18:26
17 Aliyah Riyad 1 00:23:08
Crusaders AC runner
65 Darina Scully 00:29:16 (18)