The ladies novice race consisted of 4 x 1k loops of the largely flat and dry course in Avondale. Rhona Duane was first home for the team in 21^st

place. Karla Doran made her cross country debut for Donore and was a solid 28^th . Ashling Swaine was 35^th and Medbh Peavoy is racing her way back to fitness to finish 41^st. The team finished 5^th overall, a solid result considering that all of the novice team wasn’t represented.

The Masters race was an identical course to the novice route. Anne Curley led it out for some time, she was overhauled by eventual winner Jackie Carty (Kilmore) and there was also a battle with 2^nd placed Paula Grant (Portlaoise) but this was a commanding run just a month after the Berlin marathon and improved markedly on her Autumn cross country open the week before, Anne was 3^rd overall and silver W40 with a Dublin team gold also. Karen Behan had her trademark sprint finish to come over the line in 17^th place with Eva Campion finishing 39th. The team just missed the bronze by 5 points, 4^th of 10 teams was a fine result.

 

Donore Harriers novice men stepped up to the mark in Leinster, after achieving gold in Dublin they set their sights on medalling in the Leinster novice and they didn’t disappoint. In the beautiful setting of Avondale House on a challenging course all team members put in solid performances to take the deserved team silver medal. The team was lead home by Caoimhin Kelly who ran an excellent race slotted into a nice group on lap one and put himself into medal contention on lap two but finished out and excellent fourth place well clear of fifth. Next home was Darren Hand in 17^th, after starting well back on lap 1 he work through the field well particularly on the downhill sections. Darragh Fitzgibbon had a very solid race to finish just inside the top 20 and Luke Boland completed the team scorers with an excellent 36^th. Darren Hughes had a good race to come in at 52^nd with Bernard Byrne not far behind in 58^th and Killian O’Hora in 63^rd.

 

In the masters race Niall Lynch took the lead at the first corner and threw himself down the first downhill section to open up a gap on the field behind and managed to hold onto the lead for the 3 lap course and take the win in a good follow up to his M40 win at the Autumn Open Cross the previous week. Will Morris and Emmet O’Brian followed in 12^th and 15^th respectively in a big improvement on their outing for the Dublin Novice. Will took bronze in the M35 category. Final scorer on the team was Phill Hennessey in his first cross country race of the season and only a few weeks after his run in the Berlin marathon, this was enough to get Donore the silver medal well ahead of Raheny in 3^rd and only 3 points behind Liffey Valley in gold. Hugh Brosnan ran a solid race to finish 32^nd and Tom Fagan completed the Donore team coming in a commendable 58^th out of 113 runners.

 

Results in brief: –

Women’s Leinster Novice XC 4km

21^st Rhona Duane (15.47); 28^th Karla Doran (16.35); 35^th Ashling Swaine (16.47); 40^th Medbh Peavoy (16.58)

Team: 1^st Dublin City Harriers (20); 5^th Donore Harriers (124)

Men’s Leinster Novice XC 6km

4^th Caoimhin Kelly (20.51); 17^th Darren Hand (22.10); 19^th Daragh Fitzgibbon (22.20); 36^th Luke Boland (23.05); 52^nd Darren Hughes (24.09); 58^th Bernard Byrne (24.54); 63^rd Killian O’Hora (25.24)

Team: 1^st Liffey Valley AC (59); 2^nd Donore Harriers <Kelly, Hand, Fitzgibbon & Boland> (76); 3^rd Tullamore Harriers (87)

Women’s Leinster Masters XC 4km

3^rd Ann Curley (14.26); 17^th Karen Behan (15.43); 39^th Eva Campion (17.02)

Team: 1^st Rathfarnham WSAF (36); 4^th Donore Harriers (59)

Men’s Leinster Masters XC 6km

1^st Niall Lynch (21.07); 12^th Will Morris (22.35); 15^th Emmet O’Briain (22.39); 23^rd Phil Hennessy (23.01); 32^nd Hugh Brosnan (23.37); 58^th Tom Fagan (24.52)

Team: 1^st Liffey Valley (48); 2^nd Donore Harriers <Lynch, Morris, O’Briain, Hennessy> (51); 3^rd Raheny Shamrocks AC (120)

 

Other results: –

Amsterdam Marathon (19/10/14): – Ian Redican (3.27.45)

Tymon Parkrun 5km (25/10/14): – 12^th / 3^rd woman Samantha Conroy (21.00)

Marlay Parkrun 5km (25/10/14): – 6^th Paul Cummins (18.25)

Frankfurt Marathon (26/10/14): – 147^th / 29^th woman Claire Morrissey (3.22.00)

 

Leinster Schools Combined Championships at Athlone IT (22/10/14)
One gold (Max Carey), 2 silver (Alex Clarkin and Rolus Olosa) and a bronze (Lara O’Byrne) made it a successful day for Donore Harriers athletes at the Leinster Schools Combined championship at Athlone on Wednesday.

Results in brief: –   

MINOR GIRLS: 3^rd Lara O’Byrne; 18^th Tanisha Bissett
JUNIOR GIRLS: 9^th Martina Hughes
INTERMEMEDIATE GIRLS: 4^th Roisin Rynn-Cahill; 9^th Lauren Kennedy; 14^th Albhe Healy
MINOR BOYS: 1^st Max Carey; 11^th Jack Raftery
JUNIOR BOYS: 2^nd Alex Clarkin
INTERMEDIATE BOYS: 10^th Zak Higgins
SENIOR BOYS: 2^nd Rolus Olosa

 

Salestian College Road Race (4.2km) at Celbridge (23/10/14)

Oisin Fitzgibbon’s win in the 34^th running of the Salesian College road race means that Donore Harriers athletes have won the Fr. Charlie Archer Cup on each of the last 8 occasions.

Results in brief: –

1^st Oisin Fitzgibbon; 2^nd Stephen Gavin; 42^nd Ruairi Fitzgibbon; 66^th Tadgh Fitzgibbon

 

Make-A-Wish Witches & Wizards 5km Run at Phoenix Park (25/10/14)

Good results from Donore athletes in the inaugural Make-A-Wish run on Saturday. This novelty race will hopefully become a regular event and target more young athletes to take part.

Results in brief: –

2^nd Michael Gibbs (18.57); 3^rd Lucy McCann (19.51); 5^th Daniel Brady (21.06); 14^th Roisin Brady (25.59)