National Novice XC Dundalk Report

It was another incredibly competitive day at this year’s National Novice championships in Dundalk IT – this race attracts one of the biggest fields in the cross country calendar and has grown over the years.

The women’s race consisted of 2 x 2k laps and had 136 finishers- a fair course with some steep hills nonetheless and underfoot conditions were quite good. Alma Hanevy made her customary steady start working her way up through the field to finish in 39th which was an excellent placing in a field of 136 – she finished around runners who were top 10 in last year’s national masters giving an idea of the standard here. Barbara Murray was next in 67th though only 38 seconds separated her and Alma such was the volume of runners coming over the line. Bronagh Elliott was next 8 seconds later in 70th, Amy Dodd is growing in stature with every race and finished in 84th position. Julia Hackett is delighted to be running championship cross country again and finished in 107th and Medbh Peavoy also made a comeback in 120th. The team finished 10th out of 18th and will build on this for the races coming up in 2017.

The men’s teams were missing a few key people on the day unfortunately but we still had 10 runners out. Niall Lynch was delighted with his 31st placing in a 176 strong field in the 6k race – and he had been on site from early on supporting at the juvenile races. Rossa Hurley 2nd in the Dublin Intermediate last week was feeling the effects of a cold so took a while to find his feet but he still battled well and had a very fast finish in 33rd, in next were Eoin Hannon 75th and Des Tremble 87th (Fergal Swaine was forced to retire). The Donore A team finished 9th out of 19 teams. Donore B team featured a mix of experience and some new runners in their first cross country season for Donore: Andrew Wilson 116th, Alan Farrell 121st, Fergal Roche 132nd, Rob Clougher 169th and Des Gill 176th were 17th. The full complement of the team will be back for the Masters and Intermediate races in January and February.

Thanks to the supporters who travelled down (and tent builders who now have it down to a fine art!)

Road Round-Up

It’s not just all cross country racing at this time of the year…Donore runners have recorded some fine runs on the road in the past few weeks.

At the Waterford Half marathon, Eric Keogh followed up his impressive showing at the National Senior cross country by breaking the 70 minute barrier at this sold-out fixture in Waterford town. He finished in 5th place in a time of 69.30. Four other Donore runners were there – suffering the effects of a cold Breda Mahony still finished in 98.40, Nicola Dowdall ran 1.40.25, not far off her lifetime best, Marianne Dunlevy had to stop mid-race but finished in 1.41.57 and Elaine Verdon was delighted with a PB of 1.42.30 – reaping the benefits of her Dublin marathon at the end of October. Later that day the ladies even got to meet Waterford’s own athletic legend Thomas Barr so a great finish to the weekend.
Rhona McHugh is coming back into good form with two 10 mile races lately – she finished in 73.04 at the Stook 10 mile in Kilkenny a testing race with a notorious hill in the middle. She followed this up with a PB in the Ballyroan Abbeyleix 10 mile in 69.30.
Meanwhile back in Dublin, Shane McAuley recorded an impressive 36.38 at the Aware 10k and Peter Nugent 39.56 in the same race.

Captain’s Race

This “cake race” club tradition usually happens on the last Saturday before Christmas after all the championship fixtures have finished for the year. A chance for various endurance groups to come together and race including the youngest runner 16year old Zak Ahmed – it is held over a three lap course which starts close to the army training grounds, up the horse gallop and back down at the stone bridge, 5k in all (and slightly more) Willie Smith marked the course, President Iain Morrison started the runners and captains Florence Curley and Rossa Hurley were there – injury prevented Rossa from running. First home was Eoin Hannon and first lady home was Barbara Cleary – Zak our youngest runner was 2nd overall. Afterwards, the runners gathered for mince pies and tea/coffee back at the clubhouse. Each runner brings a prize so everyone got to take home a festive gift. Results as follows:

1 Eoin Hannon 18.42
2 Zakariya Ahmed 19.08
3 Barbara Cleary 19.35
4 Neil McGettigan 19.41
5 George Brady 19.50
6 Andrew Wilson 19.52
7 Neil Hand 20.22
8 Donal Iremonger 21.44
9 Stephen Dawson 21.45
10 Des Tremble 22.39
11 Karen Behan 22.42
12 Rhona Duane 23.04
13 Bronagh Elliot 23.05
14 Craig Scott 23.28
15 Florence Curley 23.39
16 Des Gill 24.02
17 Angela Eustace 24.11
18 Sinead Graham 24.29
19 Aine Mahony 24.44
20 Ariana Ball 26.25
21 Sian o’Connor 27.03
22 Dana Mackey 27.33
23 Jennifer O’Keeffe 31.37
24 Eilish Funston 31.37

4 x 1 Mile World Record Attempt

Congratulations to our own John Travers who was part of the 4 x 1 mile relay indoor world record attempt at the Believe & Achieve meet in the Athlone Indoor arena – the culminating event of a development meet organised by Dermott McDermott of Corran AC and the Believe and Achieve team. The record has stood for 23 years 1993 at 16.16. John along with Kieran Kelly, Eoin Everard and Joe Warne (a late replacement for Paul Robinson) all made a great crack at it and John had the fastest split of the four at 4.04. Unfortunately, the team didn’t break the mark on this occasion, just missing it by 6 seconds but by all accounts it was a super event and thanks to the Donore supporters who also travelled down for an exciting evening of athletics. Earlier in the day at the same event, Sam Allen finished 5th in 9:06.9 in a high-class 3000m won by Alberto Sanchez in a 8:00.72 – well within the 8:05 qualifying standard for the 2017 European Indoor Championships in Belgrade.

Meet & Train Cross Country Report

The first two rounds of the long running Meet and Train Women’s Cross Country league took place on November 27th in Dunboyne and on 18th December in Tymon Park.

Always run in a competitive but friendly atmosphere, Donore Harriers own Sue Lynch has long been the mainstay of the league. It has always been a springboard for those new to cross country running and a great team event. Each race is 2 miles in length over various cross country courses around Dublin/Meath

Round 1 in Cowpark Dunboyne – a tough enough course on bumpy terrain had 11 Donore runners competing in a field of 112 runners

20th Audrey Gahan 14.31
28th Mairead Kirby 14.56
52nd Mary Murphy 15.45
60th Linda Curtin 16.21
62nd Mary Murphy 16.24
65th Ruth Chambers 16.31
68th Michelle Dawson 16.40
76th Teresa Brophy 17.03
80th Jennifer O’Keeffe 17.13
90th Sue Lynch 18.35
92nd Ann Woodlock 19.06

Round 2 took place on a sunny morning on Tymon Park on a new course the far end of Tymon which was also used for the Dublin Intermediate, this time 134 finished the race – results as follows:

12th Audrey Gahan 13.06
45th Michelle O’Hagan 14.02
60th Lee Chambers 14.31
68th Mary Murphy 14.48
83rd Linda Curtin 15.27
85th Lauren Brady 15.29
92nd teresa Brophy 15.47
93rd Sarah Ni Ruairc 15.52
103rd Jennifer O’Keeffe 16.23
106th Michelle Dawson 16.46
110th Sue Lynch 17.19
117th Ann Woodlock 18.01

Great running and good to see some making a return to cross country and others like Audrey in their first season. Thanks Sue Lynch and to Mary Murphy for her sterling work in organising teams!

~ Florence Curley