Road report – great results at the K-Club and Dunboyne.
The two major races over the weekend were the BHAA K-Club 10K race and the long-running Dunboyne 4 mile race which has always been a successful one for Donore members.
On Saturday – hundreds of runners competed for their workplaces in the BHAA K-Club 10k around the roads of Straffan, Kildare – a race which has grown in popularity and is know as a fast course.
Great to see Rossa Hurley back from injury and coming 3rd in 32.55. In 15th and 16th place respectively were Chris Muldoon 34.00 and Sean Fox in 34.04. 20th was Eoin Hannon in 34.11 and Des Tremble was 23rd in 34.21 and the 2nd M45 so only seconds separating all these runners who came in very close in times.
Alan Farrell ran 36.00 on the button, Niall O’Reilly 39.44 was next. Barry Potts was 1st M65 in 41.15. Bronagh Elliott was delighted with her 41.28 PB and she won the 3rd W40 prize too. John Meegan got a PB too in 41.50. Joseph Maguire finished in 42.49, Raj Puchon 42.50, Angela Eustace was 2nd W45 in 43.46, Karen Behan 43.45, Nicola Dowdall 44.46 and Terry Mee was 2nd M70.
A day later in Dunboyne at the 4 mile race, there were great results including a ladies team win, 3rd placed male (Eric Keogh), 4th team for the men and a number of age-group successes, particularly Julia Hackett who had her best race in years. It was great to see new members John Meegan and Ciaran Ryan score on a Donore team for the first time too, full results as follows:
Eric Keogh 3rd 19.24
Lee Van Haeften 7th 20.22
Ide Nic Dhomhnaill 23.57
Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill 23.58
Aislinn Nic Dhomhnaill 24.18
Ciaran Ryan 25.29
Florence Curley 25.40 (3rd M40)
John Meegan 26.16
Julia Hackett 26,34 2nd W45
Colin Moore 26.34
Ian Redican 27.19
Sian O’Connor 30.20
Judy Rudden 39.49
Jennifer Hogan 40.00
Mention too for the Wicklow Gaol Break 10k and half marathon races – Eoin Durkan won the 10k in 36.29, new member Susan Clarke was delighted to achieve her goal of breaking one hour for 10k – she more than achieved that in 58.10.
World Master Indoors concludes with gold and silver for Ann Woodlock
At the end of a very successful World Masters Indoors in Daegu South Korea for the Irish team, Donore’s Ann Woodlock took home gold and silver in the W75 class. Mid-week she won gold in the 3000m in 16.45.57 with a very big lead on the second placed competitor. A few days later in the 1500m, she won silver in a time of 7,49.73 and was in fact faster than many of the younger runners.
Kudos too to anne Gormley who aced 2 seasons bests in her racewalking events 19.34 4th in the 3k walk and 69n minutes in 4th place for the 10k walk, all the while doing sterling work as a team manager and updating us all with the latest Irish team results .
St Patrick’s Weekend road round up.
Some excellent results over the weekend for the club starting with the Mullingar Half marathon on St Patrick’s Day. The Donore men had 3 runners in the top 15. Anthony Flannery continued his recent good run of form with a 2nd place finish in 73.40. Eoin Hannon was 6th in 76.09 with Chris Muldoon not far behind in 76.44
The popular MSB AC St Patrick’s festival 5k attracted Donore runners of all ages with the younger age groups particularly prominent. There was another great win for Barbara Cleary – her 4th road race victory in 2017 where she finished just outside the 17 minutes 17.04 to claim the first female prize beating Catherina McKiernan. First Donore runners over the line were two of our best juvenile middle distance runners (who competed in the Ireland schools cross country last week) Zakariya Ahmed 19th in 16.40 and teammate Fathi Aden in 16.58 23rd.
Robert Clougher was next in 17.18. Another of Gerry Naughton’s juvenile distance group Jack Raftery was next in 19.08. New member Guillaume Nolain had his first outing in the Donore singlet and ran an impressive 19.32. Craig Scott finished in 20.26, Ken Cronin 21.01, Des Gill 21.14, Michael Barry Junior 21.31, Jill Dempsey 22.21, Frank McNally 22.32, Ariana Ball 23.12, Caren Crowley 23.20, Declan Raftery 23.38, young Honor Lynch ran with her dad Niall in 24.32. Anthony Ferns finished in 34.07 – 2 day earlier he ran the Streets of Portlaoise 5k in 33.23. Over in New York at the NY half marathon – Alma Hanevy smashed her half marathon PB to finish in a super 87.53.
Indoor track report – 4 x 1 mile relay
On St Patrick’s Day, John Travers was part of another shot at the indoor 4 x 1 mile relay world record at Athlone IT. He was the second man on the team with Eoin Everard, Paul Robinson and SeanTobin. The meet was organised by the Believe and Achieve Organisation and Global Running Adventures – they didn’t manage to break the 16.12 record on this occasion – the collective time was 16.26. The event was live streamed – well done all.
Report by Florence Curley