HIGHLIGHTS: Sorcha & Ide NicDhomhnaill 2nd & 3rd in WOMEN’S MINI-MARATHON and led Donore Harriers to Dublin team victory. Sorcha Loughnane 2nd woman & 1st W45 in CORK CITY MARATHON, Anne Curley was 2nd in W50 category. Louise Kelly, Suzie Henley-Willis & Katherine Marsh all completed their maiden 26.2 miles in the STOCKHOLM MARATHON. Emily Bolton & Oliver Hopkins took 1,500m gold in the ALL-IRELAND SCHOOLS T&F CHAMPIONSHIPS. Newcomer Chinonye Okwara won silver & bronze in the Discus & Shot Putt claiming two club U/20 records in the process.
REPORT: <by Gerry Naughton & Florence Curley>
It was all to play for at the 5km marker! Only 5-seconds separated a group of 6 leading athletes. Both Sorcha and Ide NicDhomhnall were in the mix! The outcome of 2022 VHI WOMEN’S 10km MINI-MARATHON was about to be decided. First to go off the back was 2019 winner Aoibhe Richardson, followed by Leevale AC athlete Sinead O’Connor. With 3 kilometres remaining Nakita Burke of Letterkenny AC failed to keep pace and slipped back to eventually finish 4th. Going into the final 2km and the relentless pace of Sorcha NicDhomhnaill and Aoife Richardson of Sligo AC saw Ide lose touch with the front two. The race was going to the wire! The two leaders were side by side going down Baggot Street towards the finish line. With just 100 metres to go Richardson used her superior middle distance pace to gain a couple of metres lead, but Sorcha (NicDhomhnaill) chased her all the way to the line without being able to close the narrow margin. Both women were timed at 33.06, with Ide (NicDhomhnaill) 3rd in 33.26.
Next home for the Donore Harriers team was Niamh Clifford (37.20) in 23rd position – and she was followed by Florence Curley (40.33) in 41st place and 7th in the W45 category. Florence competed in her first Mini-Marathon in 2002 and said: “I was very happy with how it went today. It was a great day for the Donore Harriers team”.
Not too far behind Curley was Pam White, who placed 47th overall with a new personal best time of 41.17. White said: “I’m delighted! I broke my PB by over 2 minutes set at Dunboyne in March. As I approached the finish, I thought the race clock must be wrong”. Junior member Claudia Redmond (50.35) came 315th in 50.35. Diorela Escalera-Claros had a bad day at the office! Despite being entered for the Dublin 10km Championship she was placed in a starting wave of joggers and walkers. Thus, she had to manoeuvre her way through walls of people and finished with a race time outside 58 minutes. She placed 937th overall. Her net (chip) time for the race was 45.05. NOTE: If this race is to continue as the Dublin 10km Championship then the organisers must ensure that all club athletes start in the same wave.
With the Dublin team championship still unconfirmed it is expected that the Donore Harriers quartet of S. NicDhomhnall, I. NicDhomhnaill, Clifford and Curley won the team gold. Update next week.
Donore Harriers athletes again excelled in the ALL-IRELAND SCHOOLS TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS at Tullamore last Saturday.
Emily Bolton was one of the stars in an action-packed day of athletics. Bolton made her intentions known early in the Junior Girls 1,500m by taking an early lead. The Mount Sackville College student (4.36.53) continued to open a gap on her pursuers and crossed the line with 10-seconds to spare over runner-up Cora Scullion of Loreta Omagh.
It was an equally impressive win for Oliver Hopkins in the Intermediate Boys 1,500m. Hopkins took the race out early – and seemingly came under pressure from Arturo Sanchez of Colaiste Chillian Athlone on the penultimate lap. However, the St. Declan’s student rallied with a strong last lap to win comfortably in a time of 4.05.24 – more than 5-seconds clear of 2nd placed Eoghan O’Connor of Rochestown College.
Eva Crowe, Edmund Rice College, picked up a bronze medal in the Junior Girls 800m. Crowe (2.17.01) took the lead at the 200m mark and stayed at the front of the field until the closing 100 metres when she was passed by Emma Bonar (2.16.24) of Loreto Letterkenny and Maria Zakharenko of Avondale CC. It was a very brave effort by Crowe!
Club newcomer Chinonye Okware (The King’s Hospital) has already made her mark as a very fine thrower. She came 2nd in the Senior Girls Discus with a best throw of 35.05m and 3rd in the Shot Putt with 10.46m. Both marks are club under 20 records. One to watch!
Another athlete to show great potential was Reuben McCormick. McCormick (2.06.84) came 4th in the Junior Boys 800m. He’s fairly new to competitive running, but he showed great maturity in pressing into 3rd place with 300m to go. However, a massive last lap by eventual winner Sean Corry of St. Michael’s Enniskillen who came thru from 5th place relegated McCormick to place a creditable 4th. He PBed by 4 seconds.
Julie Cleary (Loreta Stephen’s Green) just missed out on a PB when placing 8th in the Intermediate Girls 3,000m. Cleary missed a large part of her winter training with injury and one of her coaches Joe Kelly said afterwards: “Julie was a bit disappointed after the race but when the dust settles, she’ll realise that 3rd in Leinster and 8th nationally is a great place to be when you think that most of the runners in the field were older and Julie is eligible for the inter grade next year”.
Mount Sackville College, with 3 Donore Harriers members in their quartet, won a surprize bronze medal in the Junior Girls 4 x 100m relay. Isabella Jackson got the team off to a strong start on the opening leg, a non-club member ran leg 2 – and she handed the baton to Emily Bolton – with Roisin Kirby completing the anchor leg. The team did not have their regular 4th member present at the venue and were destined to go home without making the start line. But middle-distance star Emily Bolton came to the rescue and her fine sprint on the 3rd leg kept the team in medal contention. Kirby did the rest!
In Saturday’s STOCKHOLM MARATHON three club members took to the endurance distance. Louise Kelly (3.46.44) was the 343rd woman finisher and came 63rd in the W40 age category knocking a whole hour off her previous time from before joining the club. Not too far behind was Suzie Henley-Willis (3.53.13) also a Pb who was 432nd woman and 72nd in the W40 class. Katherine Marsh (4.00.55) came 589th out of 2,236 female finishers. All three, who are coached by Willie Smith, will benefit from the experience, and have established good benchmarks to improve upon in future marathon races.
Our star multi-distance athlete Sorcha Loughnane pressed 2016 Olympian Lizzie Lee for top stop in the CORK CITY MARATHON on Sunday morning. The Leevale AC athlete admitted afterwards that it was a hotly contested race between herself and Sorcha: “I only won by 30 to 40 seconds. The last mile was hell…”. Loughnane (2.45.12) took several minutes of her personal best and placed 18th overall and 1st in the W45 category. Lee’s winning time was 2.44.54, so the margin was just 18 seconds.
Anne Curley (3.12.05) came 2nd in the over 50s category. Curley had a lot of disruption to her training routine prior to the event and was forced to make a stop of over 2-minutes along the way, so a time closer to 3.10 would seem more realistic for a true club stalwart. She came 152nd overall and was the 5th woman home.
Ian Fitzgerald (2.38.52) also had a fine run to place 12th overall. The former Waterstown Warrior can realistically target a sub 2.30 time going forward. There were 1,734 finishers on a damp and overcast morning.
Ryan Aikins (26.42) came 7th in the BUSINESS HOUSES ATHLETICS ASSOCIATION DUNBOYNE 5-MILE ROAD RACE on Tuesday (31.05.2022). He was followed home by Sean Fox (27.32) who came 11th overall and 2nd in the M45 class. Club road and cross-country captain Craig Scott (28.06) crossed the line in 14th position. M40 athlete Liam Keane (28.45) took 29th spot. Maura Kearns was the first woman finisher placing 46th overall in a time of 30.22. Next came Grace Kennedy-Clarke (31.46) in 60th position and 1st in the W35 category. Kenneth McKeown (33.16) came 78th and Terry Mee (53.38) placed 244th and 1st in the M70 age-class.
In the TRIATHYATHLON at Athy on Sunday Sinead O’Reilly came 3rd in the women’s sprint in an overall time of 1.15.46. O’Reilly completed the 0.75km swim in 14.25 (7th), the 20km cycle in 53.42 (2nd) and the 5km run in 19.35 (1st). She came 18th overall from 504 competitors.
Club athletes were to the fore in PARKRUN events last Saturday. Simon O’Toole was 1st home at Brickfields, likewise Fergal Whitty was first finisher at Hartstown. Junior athlete Ruby Kelly was first woman home at Castletown, and master member Mary McDermott was 2nd woman at Naas. Juvenile member Daire McCarthy was first overall at Gorey, with other juveniles Lucas Collender 3rd overall at Waterstown and Katie Delaney 10th overall and 1st woman home at the same venue.
More results below.
Results in brief:
BHAA DUNBOYNE 5 MILE ROAD RACE (31.05.2022)
7th Ryan Aikins (26.42)
11th & 2nd M45 Sean Fox (27.32)
14th Craig Scott M40 (28.06)
29th Liam Keane M40 (28.45)
46th & 1st woman Maura Kearns (30.22)
60th & 1st W35 Grace Kennedy-Clarke (31.46)
78th Kenneth McKeown (33.16)
244th & 1st M70 Terry Mee (53.38)
247 finishers
ALL IRELAND SCHOOLS TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS at Tullamore (04.06.2022)
JUNIOR GIRLS 800m FINAL: 3rd Eva Crowe (Edmund Rice School) 2.17.01 BRONZE
JUNIOR GIRLS 1,500m FINAL: 1st Emily Bolton (Mount Sackville) 4.36.53 GOLD
JUNIOR GIRLS 4 x 100m RELAY: 3rd Mount Sackville (Leg 1 Isabella Jackson, Leg 3 Emily Bolton, Leg 4 Roisin Kirby) BRONZE
JUNIOR BOYS 800m FINAL: 4th Reuben McCormick (St. Patrick’s GS) 2.06.84 PB
INTERMEDIATE GIRLS 3,000m FINAL: 8th Julie Cleary (Loreta Stephen’s Green) 10.41.04
INTERMEDIATE BOYS 1,500m FINAL: 1st Oliver Hopkins (St. Declan’s College) 4.05.24 GOLD
SENIOR GIRLS SHOT PUTT: 3rd Chinonye Okwara (The King’s Hospital) 10.46m BRONZE
SENIOR GIRLS DISCUS: 2nd Chinonye Okwara (The King’s Hospital) 35.05m SILVER
STOCKHOLM MARATHON (04.06.2022)
343rd & 63rd W40 Louise Kelly (3.46.44) PB
432nd & 72nd W40 Suzie Henley-Willis (3.53.13) PB
589th woman Katherine Marsh (4.00.55)
2,236 women finishers
CORK CITY MARATHON (05.06.2022)
12th Ian Fitzgerald (2.38.52)
18th, 2nd woman & 1st W45 Sorcha Loughnane (2.45.12 PB)
152nd, 5th woman & 2nd W50 Anne Curley (3.12.05)
1,734 finishers
VHI WOMEN’S MINI MARATHON 10KM at Dublin Merrion Square (05.06.2022)
2nd Sorcha NicDhomhnaill (33.06)
3rd Ide NicDhomhnaill (33.26)
23rd Niamh Clifford (37.20)
41st & 7th W45 Florence Curley (40.33)
47th Pam White (41.17 PB)
315th Claudia Redmond (50.35)
937th Diorela Escalera-Claros (45.05)
12,264 finishers
PARKRUNS 5km (04.06.2022)
ARDGILLAN: 38th Joe Murphy M40 (26.44)
BRICKFIELDS: 1st Simon O’Toole MS (18.57)
CASTLETOWN: 19th & 1st woman Ruby Kelly W18-19 (22.17) 59th Joan McTernan W60 (25.53)
CORKAGH: 24th & 5th woman Nicola Dowdall W45 (24.39)
GOREY: 1st Daire McCarthy M11-14 (18.45 PB)
GRIFFEEN: 48th Charlie O’Neill M65 (26.15), 75th Terry Mee M75 (32.36)
HARTSTOWN: 1st Fergal Whitty M45 (18.26)
MARLAY: 8th Patrick Moriarty M45 (18.36)
NAAS: 24th & 2nd woman Mary McDermott W50 (24.20)
NEW ROSS: 12th Eugene McCurtain M55 (23.49), 37th Liz McCurtain W55 (29.20)
OLDBRIDGE: 6th Kenneth McKeown M35 (20.49)
SPORTS CAMPUS, ABBOTSTOWN: 7th Paul Nunan M45 (23.27)
WATERSTOWN: 3rd Lucas Collender M11-14 (20.08 PB), 6th Dylan McKenna M15-17 (21.10), 10th & 1st woman Katie Delaney W15-17 (24.10)