HIGHLIGHTS: A record 51 took part in the CAPTAINS RACE with Josh O’Sullivan-Hourihan and Barbara Cleary the first home. Oliver Hopkins claimed edition 2 of the incorporated MAURICE B AHERN CUP. John Travers placed 3rd in the DUHALLOWS AC NEWMARKET 5KM as Kane Colins broke the 15 minutes barriers at the same venue. Alasdair Brown PBed in the INTERSPORT BURMARRAD 10KM in Malta.
REPORT: The club hosted its pre-Christmas traditional CAPTAINS RACE at the Garda Loop on Saturday morning. The 2nd edition of the MAURICE B AHERN CUP competition was incorporated into the Captains Race for the first time. Willie Smith, as he has done so many times in the past, marked out the course with the assistance of Emmet O’Briain. Three laps over a flat, soft course. The distance of 5 kilometres accurately measured by esteemed coach Willie. The venue was the Old Garda Sports Pavilion located on the green field between Chesterfield Avenue and the Kyber Road. The weather was kind for December, being overcast and with only a mild chill in the air. Florence Curley, Willie Smith, and Dr. Iain Morrison were ready as timekeepers. The scene was set!
The race, open to all club members and invited guests, had a record field of 51 starters/finishers. The Captains Race is a blend of all the various distance groups within the club – with 72 years-old club stalwart Barry Potts competing with 11 years-old young athletics enthusiast Rosie-May Morris.
Among the spectators was Abdel Laadjel, invited as a guest of honour following his excellent 6th place finish in the European U/20 Cross-Country Championships and leading the Irish team to 2nd place.
Club President Charlie O’Neill sounded the start hooter at 10.30am. An order was quickly established with Josh O’Sullivan-Hourihan, Gavin Curtin and James Bolton to the fore. Barbara Cleary was the leading woman, with juvenile members Emily Bolton and Lorraine O’Connor next.
As the race entered to the 3rd lap O’Sullivan-Hourihan and Curtin had opened a lead of about 10 metres on Bolton. With less than one-kilometre remaining Curtin suffered a stitch, his effort reduced to a jog. O’Sullivan-Hourihan powered on to win in 16.02, with Bolton next over the line in 16.23.
Ken Nugent (16.30) ran a measured race to finish 3rd, with Curtin (16.58) being relegated to 4th in the closing stages. Curtin, who won the inaugural MB Ahern Cup sealed handicap race at Waterstown Park in December 2020, had to settle for 3rd place this time as the scratch athlete.
Oliver Hopkins (17.07), 5th overall in the Captains Race, with an adjusted time of 15.37 claimed the gold medal in the incorporated MB Ahern Cup for athletes in the Junior & Under 23 age categories.
James Bolton with an amended time of 15.43 came 2nd – just 6 seconds shy of Hopkins. Sean Kinsella came 4th.
Barbara Cleary placed 10th overall in the Captains Race and was the first woman home.
Kevin Nolan (18.02) and Emmet O’Briain (18.03), both masters athletes who compete middle-distance on the track, produced a race highlight with a sprint duel to the line to settle 11th and 12th positions.
Fresh from their successes in the National Juvenile Cross-Country championships training partners Emily Bolton and Lorraine O’Connor (both 18.34) also produced a sprint to line to settle 15th and 16th positions.
Full results are listed below.
Post the race Abdel Laadjel presented the MB Ahern Cup and winners medal to Oliver Hopkins. James Bolton and Gavin Curtin were presented the silver and bronze medals.
Charlie O’Neill made a special presentation to Abdel and spoke approvingly about the club’s rising star: “He’s both a great young man as a person and as an athlete. I have watched his athletics journey with great interest. We were here only a short time ago to wish him well at Providence – and now he has come back and made us all so proud and happy by his performance last Sunday”.
Abdel in reply thanked Charlie and the club for all the support and said: “I will be back in the summer to wear the club singlet and do well in races”.
Gerry Naughton, a club coach, then spoke about the “process” of Abdel joining the club and developing an interest in running. He paid special tribute to Abdel’s mother Houria who was central in encouraging Abdel to follow a path in athletics rather than soccer: “He used to play for Esker Celtic and his mother told me that he wanted to make a name for himself in sport, so I had to convince him that he was better at running than football”.
Naughton also thanked the other club coaches who helped shape Abdel’s running path – including Ciaran O’Flaherty, Lee Van Haeften, Graham Hopkins, Donal Iremonger, and Thomas Delaney. He finally paid a special tribute to Gavin Curtin: “Gavin is a very committed and hard-working athlete. He placed 9th in the national junior cross-country championship – the trial for the Ireland Under 20 Euro X team – but he was just 5 seconds short of 6th place and a place on the Ireland team”.
A great club morning was concluded by the traditional choosing of gifts as men’s captain Craig Scott read out the race finishing order.
Maurice Ahern, club director, later described the event: “What a good turn-out this morning and great buzz. What a lovely lad Abdel is, very composed and measured in his response”.
FOOTNOTE from Gerry Naughton: Charlie O’Neill praised my race reports in his speech after the Captains Race on Saturday. I want to say thank you to Charlie for his kind words. I also want to say thank you to Florence Curley, the Club Captain, who keeps a watchful eye over all the distance athletes and groups in the club. Florrie seems ubiquitous when it comes to who raced where, when, how, etc. You can run, but you can’t hide! I believe that thanks to Florrie we have one of the best club results service in the country.
Thanks also to other results, photo and news contributors – including Leonie Newman, Suzie Henley-Willis, Iain Morrison, Willie Smith, Declan Bolton, Ben Conroy, David O’Connor, Donal Iremonger, Charlie O’Neill, Sinead Lambe, Niall Lynch, Faith & Graham Hopkins, David Campbell, Craig Scott, Ann O’Byrne – and sorry if I missed anyone out.
Donore to the core!
John Travers and Kane Collins put in fine efforts in the DUHALLOW AC NEWMARKET 5KM ROAD RACE on Sunday (19.12.2021). Duhallow is a barony located in the north-western part of Co. Cork, bordering both Kerry and Limerick. The out and back course from Newmarket village was promoted as being “fast” and sunny, brisk weather made for the ideal race conditions. Travers contested the race at the front of the field, but had to settle for 3rd position in the time of 14.17 behind US based winner Evan Byrne (14.06) of Togher AC and runner-up Ryan Creech (14.12) of Leevale AC. Kane Collins (14.57) was “delighted” to break the 15-minutes barrier for the first time. It earned him 10th spot in a strong field. Collins, a native of Cork, has been making steady progress since joining Donore Harriers in the spring.
NOTE; YouTube link here, although does not show front of the field
In the DROGHEDA & DISTRICT AC CHRISTMAS 5KM ROAD RACE on Sunday Julia Hackett (22.47) and Frank McNally (22.48) crossed the line in 166th and 167th places out of 531 finishers.
In the recent INTERSPORT BURMARRAD 10KM ROAD RACE (08.12.2021) in Malta Alasdair Brown came 11th of 118 finishers with a new personal best time of 34.52.
In this week’s PARKRUN series Sorcha Loughnane was first home at Poppintree – and Dylan McKenna 2nd finisher at Waterstown. Other results listed below.
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THE CAPTAIN’S RACE incorporating the MAURICE B AHERN CUP at the HORSE GALLOPS, PHOENIX PARK (18.12.2021)
1st Josh O’Sullivan-Hourihan (16.02)
2nd James Bolton JNR (16.23)
3rd Ken Nugent (16.30)
4th Gavin Curtin JNR (16.58)
5th Oliver Hopkins JNR (17.07)
6th Rory Burke (17.22)
7th Rossa Hurley (17.30)
8th Ryan Aikins (17.43)
9th David Fox (Leevale AC) 17.48
10th Barbara Cleary (17.51)
11th Kevin Nolan (18.02)
12th Emmet O’Briain (18.03)
13th Des Tremble (18.30)
14th Danny O’Sullivan (18.33)
15th Emily Bolton JUV (18.34)
16th Lorraine O’Connor JUV (18.34)
17th Liam Morris JUV (18.39)
18th Donal Iremonger (18.46)
19th Sinead Lambe (19.07)
20th Craig Scott (19.07)
21st Simon O’Toole (19.19)
22nd Alan Farrell (19.25)
23rd Peter Brennan (19.45)
24th Arlen Szabo-Szlep JUV (19.54)
25th Tara Kennedy (Raheny Shamrocks AC) 20.02
26th Daniel Hughes JUV (21.14)
27th Amy Moriarty (21.17)
28th Peter Nugent (21.23)
29th Maria Murphy (21.28)
30th Claire Mulligan (21.30)
31st Laura Nunan JUV (21.41)
32nd Tom Fagan (22.04)
33rd Oliver O’Hara (22.09)
34th Eoin Mooney JUV (22.10)
35th Ariana Ball (22.12)
36th Dean Fullston (22.13)
37th Joe Kinsella JUV (22.23)
38th Aisling Kirby (22.24)
39th Treasa Ryan (22.26)
40th Lucas Collender JUV (22.27)
41st Tony Griffin (22.28)
42nd Sean Kinsella JNR (22.30)
43rd Audrey Gahan (22.50)
44th Eleanor Hopkins JUV (23.01)
44th Mark Devine (23.21)
45th Barry Potts (23.43)
46th Suzie Henley-Willis (23.59)
47th Louise Kelly (23.59)
48th Bridget Kiely (25.04)
49th Rosie-May Morris JUV (25.48)
50th Colin Moore (25.53)
51st Angela Eustace (26.18)
INCORPORATED MAURICE B. AHERN CUP – SEALED HANDICAP RACE FOR ATHLETES U/17s TO U/23s
1st Oliver Hopkins (17.07 adjusted to 15.37)
2nd James Bolton (16.23 adjusted to 15.43)
3rd Gavin Curtin (16.59 scratch runner)
4th Sean Kinsella (22.30 adjusted to 21.00)
DUHALLOW AC 5KM ROAD RACE AT NEWMARKET, CO. CORK (19.12.2021)
3rd John Travers (14.17)
10th Kane Collins (14.57 PB)
424 finishers
DROGHEDA & DISTRICT AC CHRISTMAS 5KM ROAD RACE (19.12.2021)
166th Julia Hackett W50 (22.47)
167th Frank McNally M50 (22.48)
531 finishers
INTERSPORT BURMARRAD 10km ROAD RACE, MALTA (08.12.2021)
11th Alasdair Brown M35 (34.51 PB)
118 finishers
PARKRUNS 5km (18.12.21)
ARDGILLAN: 41st Joe Murphy M40 (26.23)
BUSHY PARK: 79th Thomas Halton M65 (31.38)
CASTLETOWN: 95th Joan McTernan W60 (27.33)
POPPINTREE: 1st & 1st woman Sorcha Loughnane W45 (17.53)
ROYAL CANAL KILCOCK: 73rd Anna McMahon W35 (33.13)
TOLKA VALLEY: 3rd Owen Robinson M35 (19.15)
WATERSTOWN: 2nd Dylan McKenna M15-17 (19.46)
