HIGHLIGHTS: Men’s team win a fantastic gold at the National Intermediate XC Championships, women’s team only one point away from bronze. Barbara Cleary runs a course record at the Lees Road Parkrun in Ennis. Plenty of good results on 1st day of Dublin Juvenile Indoors.

 

 

NATIONAL INTERMEDIATE CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS: Good team packing ensured team gold for the Donore Harriers men’s team in the Intermediate Grade at Avondale Park in Rathdrum on Saturday (08.02.2020). The team was led home by Josh O-Sullivan-Hourihan in 7^th place, with Dublin intermediate champion Matthieu Proffitt next in 16^th spot. The scoring 4 was completed by Eoin Durkan in 23^rd with Rossa Hurley just one place back. The Donore Harriers finished on 70 points, just 2 ahead of Leevale AC with Clonliffe Harriers 3^rd on 91. Matthieu Proffitt and Rossa Hurley were members of the Dublin County team that won gold in the inter-county championship. The non-scoring team member was Rory Burke, who placed 33^rd in a field of 85 finishers. The 8km race was won by Conor O’Mahony of Riocht AC.

The women’s intermediate (5km) team (97) just missed out on bronze medals, finishing just one point behind 3^rd placed Raheny Shamrocks AC (96). Maura Kearns (20.52) ran her best cross-country race of the season to place 7^th. The scoring team was completed by Audrey Gahan (22.32) in 26^th, Aoife Ni Thuathail (22.44) in 30^th and Barbara Murray (23.19) in 34^th. Caroline McCarthy (23.44) came 39^th from 50 finishers. The team competition was won by Crusaders AC (63), who had the runaway winner in Niamh Allen (18.58).

 

NATIONAL MASTERS CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS: Niall Lynch (26.24) in 31^st place was first Donore athlete home in the 7km men’s race. Next came marathon specialist Fergal Whitty (26.36) in 35^th with Danny O’Sullivan (26.48) in 41^st and Gavin Keogh (27.00) in 53^rd completing the scoring 4. The M35 team (160) came 6^th of 22.

The M50-64 team was led home by Phil Hennessy (29.07) in 125^th place. Peter Nugent and Peter Gaffey were separated by just one-second as they closed in 168^th and 169^th, with Tom Fagan (31.25) the 4^th team scorer in 198^th. The quartet came 5^th on a score of 660. Raheny Shamrocks AC (428) were 1^st of 11 competing teams. Hennessy and Gaffney were the 3^rd and 6^th scorers on the Dublin M50+ team that came 2^nd in the inter-county competition behind Donegal.

The other Donore Harriers athletes in the field of 258 finishers were Des Tremble (27.04) in 57^th, Alan Keogh (28.41) in 104^th, Tony Griffin (33.40) in 238^th, Des Gill (34.33) in 244^th and Frank McNally (36.36) in 253^rd.  The highest placed age-category finisher was Niall Lynch, who came 6^th in the M45 class.

In the 4km master women’s race that incorporated the Men’s 65 and plus age categories Barry Potts (21.10) placed 151^st overall and 4^th in the M70 class. Sinead O’Reilly (18.13) led the Donore women’s team home in 19^th place with Ariana Ball just one-second and one-place behind. Claire Mulligan (19.02) came 91^st as Cliodhna Carthy (19.24) filled 100^th position. This scoring four came 11^th (of 15) on 322 as Galway City Harriers (106) took team gold. The non-scoring Donore athlete was Mary McDermott (22.37) in 172^nd and 24^th in the W50 class.

Here is an insightful account of the day from Ann Curley, who took on a spectator role: Great day of racing today at the National Masters and Intermediate in Rathdrum, one of the toughest cross country courses there is: the fittest people in the country from young to old pushed themselves to exhaustion scrapping it out with rivals and producing some outstanding performances, some were happy, others disappointed, medals were won and lost… athletes discussed the usual race post-mortem with the wisdom that comes after the event… should’ve trained harder, should’ve rested up more, shouldn’t have gone out so hard… many of the new running boomers would be oblivious to the action in Rathdrum today where the true spirit of our sport showed it’s far from dead… Highlight of the day was the performances of our gold winning intermediate men Josh, Mattheu, Eoin, Rossa and Rory. Our girls Maura, Audrey, Aoife, Barbara and Caroline just missed bronze by one agonizing point, that’s the way it goes…. Our master runners Sinead, Arianna, Clare, Cliodhna and Mary were fantastic as were our men Barry P, Niall, Fergal, Danny, Gavin, Des T, Peter G, Philip, Alan K, Peter N, Tom, Tony, Des, and Frank.

 

DUBLIN JUVENILE INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS Day One of at the Indoor Arena in Abbotstown on Wednesday (05.02.2020) focused on the 600m/800m event. Large numbers meant that most age-grades were qualifying races based on winners only and then best times.

Cillian McCooey and Luuk Jackson both qualified as winners from their Under 12 600m heats, with Eoin Mooney just missing out as runner-up in Heat 2. Double national cross-country champion Emily Bolton dominated her race in the first heat of the Under 13 Girls 600m. Mario Omozee qualified as the winner of Heat 2 in the Under 13 Boys 600m, with newcomer Liam Morris just losing out when 2^nd in Heat 1.

Donore Harriers had 3 impressive winners in the Under 14 age-group over 800m, as Eva Crowe, Lorraine O’Connor and Matei Ursachi qualified to next Saturday’s (15.02.2020) finals. Joining them will be Thomas Bolton who won his Under 15 Boys heat, Oliver Hopkins who qualified 2^nd in his heat of the Under 16 Boys, and Sean Kinsella who had a close-call to hold on to 3^rd and last ‘automatic’ place in the Under 17 Boys. Chloe Andrews (3.03.52) contested the final of the Under 19 Girls 800m placing 9^th. Remainder of club contestants are listed in the results section.

 

FLY HIGH LILY REMEMBRANCE 5km RUN: 13 years old Honor Lynch (21.50) was 17^th overall and 3^rd woman in this race held in the Phoenix Park on Saturday morning (08.02.2020). Caoimhe O’Regan (22.11) came 20^th and 4^th woman, with Samuel Heaney-Clancy (28.25) 109^th of 425 finishers. The race remembered 7 years old Lily Daly, a student at Gaescoil Inse Chor (Inchicore) who died last year due to sudden complications associated with hydrocephalus. The run raised funds for Spina Bifida Ireland.

 

PARKRUNS. In the 5km (08.02.2020) series :

Barbara Cleary ran a new course record of 17:58 at the Lees Road Parkrun in Ennis. Paul Cummins (18.35) came 2^nd at Brickfields. This was his 5^th consecutive runner-up position at Brickfields in 2020, all run in 18 something. More parkrun results below.

 

RESULTS IN BRIEF:

DUBLIN JUVENILE INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS DAY 1 at NATIONAL INDOOR ARENA, ABBOTSTOWN (05.02.2020)

QUALIFYING ROUND

U12 Girls 600m

Heat 3 – 3^rd Melody Omozee

Heat 4 – 5^th Rachel Dowling-Barnes

Heat 5 – 5^th Amber Lynch

Heat 6 – 10^th Zoe Conroy

U12 Boys 600m

Heat 1 – 4^th Danny Colgan

Heat 2 – 2^nd Eoin Mooney

Heat 3 – 1^st Cillian McCooey Q

Heat 4 – 4^th Elliot Whelan

Heat 5 – 6^th Caolan Costello

Heat 6 – 1^st Luuk Jackson Q

U13 Girls 600m

Heat 1 – 1^st Emily Bolton (1.47) Q

Heat 2 – 9^th Ellie Ryan

Heat 3 – 4^th Abigail Tolan, 8^th Claire O’Hanlon

Heat 4 – 11^th Ava Hoare

Heat 5 – 9^th Tara Hoare

U13 Boys 600m
Heat 1 – 2^nd Liam Morris

Heat 2 – 1^st Mario Omozee 1.59 Q
Heat 3 – 5^th Liam Blair

Heat 4 – 7^th Liam O’Donoghue

U14 Girls 800m

Heat – 1^st Eva Crowe Q

Heat – 1^st Lorraine O’Connor Q

Heat – 8^th Eleanor Hopkins (hamstring injury)

5^th Katie Delaney

U14 Boys 800m

Heat – 1^st Matei Ursachi Q

U15 Girls 800m

Heat – 5^th Honor Lynch

Heat – 5^th Katie Delaney

U15 Boys 800m

Heat – 1^st Thomas Bolton Q

Heat – 9^th Joe Kinsella

U16 Boys 800m

Heat – 2^nd Oliver Hopkins (2.16) Q

U17 Boys 800m

Heat – 3^rd Sean Kinsella (2.07) Q

FINAL

U19 Girls 800m

Final – 9^th Chloe Andrews (3.03.52)

NATIONAL INTERMEDIATE & MASTERS CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS at AVONDALE PARK, RATHDRUM (08.02.2020)

INTERMEDIATE WOMEN 5km

7^th Maura Kearns (20.52)

26^th Audrey Gahan (22.32)

30^th Aoife Ni Thuathail (22.44)

34^th Barbara Murray (23.19)

39^th Caroline McCarthy (23.44)

50 finishers

TEAM: 1^st Crusaders AC 63, 4^th Donore Harriers <Kearns, Gahan, Ni Thuathail & Murray> 97. 5 teams

INTERMEDIATE MEN 8km – <no times given>

7^th Josh O’Sullivan-Hourihan

16^th Matthieu Proffitt

23^rd Eoin Durkan

24^th Rossa Hurley

33^rd Rory Burke

85 finishers

TEAM: 1^st Donore Harriers <O’Sullivan-Hourihan, Proffitt, Durkan & Hurley> 70, 2^nd Leevale AC 72, 3^rd Clonliffe Harriers 91. 12 teams.

MASTER WOMEN & MASTER MEN M65+ 4km

65^th & 19^th W35 Sinead O’Reilly (18.13)

66^th & 20^th W35 Ariana Ball (18.14)

91^st & 33^rd W40 Claire Mulligan (19.02)

100^th & 17^th W45 Cliodhna Carthy (19.24)

151^st & 4^th M70 Barry Potts (21.10)

172^nd & 24^th W50 Mary McDermott (22.37)

206 finishers.

TEAM W35: 1^st Galway City Harriers 106, 11^th Donore Harriers <O’Reilly, Ball, Mulligan & Carthy> 322, 15 teams.

MASTER MEN 7km

31^st & 6^th M45 Niall Lynch (26.24)

35^th & 13^th M40 Fergal Whitty (26.36)

41^st & 16^th M35 Danny O’Sullivan (26.48)

53^rd & 19^th M35 Gavin Keogh (27.00)

57^th & 12^th M45 Des Tremble (27.04)

104^th & 33^rd M40 Alan Keogh (28.41)

125^th & 21^st M50 Phil Hennessy (29.07)

168^th & 41^st M50 Peter Nugent (30.28)

169^th & 42^nd M50 Peter Gaffney (30.29)

198^th & 51^st M50 Tom Fagan (31.25)

238^th & 13^th M60 Tony Griffin (33.40)

244^th & 68^th M50 Des Gill (34.33)

253^rd & 33^rd M55 Frank McNally (36.36)

258 finishers.

TEAM M35-49: 1^st Rathfarnham AC  87, 6^th Donore Harriers <Lynch, Whitty, O’Sullivan & G.

Keogh> 160. 22 teams.

TEAM M50: 1^st Raheny Shamrocks AC 428, 5^th Donore Harriers <Hennessy, Nugent, Gaffney

& Fagan> 660. 11 teams.

FLY HIGH LILY REMEMBRANCE 5km RUN at PHOENIX PARK (08.02.2020)

17^th & 3^rd woman Honor Lynch U15 (21.50)

20^th & 4^th woman Caoimhe O’Regan (22.11)

109^th Samuel Heaney-Clancy (28.25)

425 finishers

PARKRUNS (08.02.2020)

Brickfields: 2^nd Paul Cummins (18.35)

Bushy: 230^th Tommy Halton M60 (28.38)

Castletown: 65^th Helaine Kelly W45 (26.35), 78^th David Hudson M60 (27.09), 95^th Joan McTernan W60 (28.11)

Corkagh: 6^th Aidan Kelly JNR (20.01), 45^th Nicola Dowdall W45 (24.53)

Lees Road : 1^st Barbara Cleary (17:58)

Tolka Valley: 7^th Owen Robinson M35 (21.31)