HIGHLIGHTS: Sorcha Loughnane 6th in the IUA EUROPEAN 50KM CHAMPIONSHIPS in Spain. Barbara Cleary & Grace Kennedy-Clarke 1st & 3rd in the IRISH 3-QUARTER MARATHON at Longwood with 11 from Donore Harriers in the field. Danny O’Sullivan & Craig Scott ran PBs in the CHICAGO MARATHON. Daragh Keegan 2nd in the FASTLANE HALF-MARATHON. Deirdre NicCanna and Ryan Aikins were the club’s first finishers in the DUBLIN NOVICE CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS. Emily Bolton, Lorraine O’Connor & Thomas Bolton won their respective age category races in Fixture 2 of the DUBLIN JUVENILE XC LEAGUE.
REPORT: <report/results by Gerry Naughton & Florence Curley>
Sorcha Loughane finished a fantastic 6th in the INTERNATIONAL ULTRA-RUNNERS ASSOCIATION EUROPEAN 50KM CHAMPIONSHIPS at Avila, Spain on Saturday morning.
Loughnane, who was recently accredited with the World W45 record time for the distance, trained diligently for the event. A recce of the course prior to the race indicated that she would have to tackle almost 1,900 feet of elevation and deal with some sharp bends on the 5km (x 10 laps) circuit. She lined up with 30 other women from Great Britain, Poland, the Czech Republic, Spain, Croatia, Denmark, Latvia, Netherlands, Slovenia, Romania, and Ukraine. She also had former Irish Olympic marathon runner Catriona Jennings – one of the pre-race favourites – in the field.
Kerry native Loughnane covered the opening 5km laps at an average close to 20.15. She described this part of the race: “I locked in with Catriona and some others for the first few laps but once Catriona created a gap from the group, I fell off a little and found myself running the second half solo”.
The difficult part of the run was the mid-section as she was cut adrift in 7th position. She explained: “I had my usual mid race conversation about whether I should just quietly drop out… and my breathing was pretty ragged after a few days with a head cold, and unsurprisingly I wasn’t really enjoying myself”.
However, Sorcha Loughnane is an absolute warrior! She added: “I just gritted out the last few laps at a pace I was comfortable with… The last 3 laps felt OK, and I picked off one of the runners, and was annoyingly close to catching another. A top 5 finish would have been nice, but I am satisfied with my effort and now I am hungry for more!”
Catriona Jennings won the race in 3.19.42 ahead of Alison Lavender (3.21.26) of Great Britain. The pity is that Ireland did not have a 3rd runner to score a team! Sorcha will next target the World 50km Championships due to take place at Port Elizabeth, South Africa on 23rd of May 2023.
Several Donore Harriers athletes competed in the IRISH 3-QUARTER MARATHON at Longwood, Co. Meath on Sunday. The evergreen Barbara Cleary won the women’s category with a time of 2.03.59 for the 31.64km distance. She withheld a stiff challenge from Isobel Oakes (2.04.32) of Sligo AC, with another Donore Harriers stalwart Grace Kennedy-Clarke (2.11.37) the 3rd woman home. Cleary placed 14th overall in the race, whilst Kennedy-Clarke was 39th.
This was the 11th running of the event and the 5th time to be staged at the Longwood venue. The scenic route twice crossed the Boyne and Blackwater rivers and the Royal Canal – and passed the historical sites of Castlerickard Church, the Boyne Aqueduct and the Royal Canal greenway. Many athletes were using the race as a final ‘distance’ workout before the Dublin Marathon later this month.
The first club finishers were Ian Fitzgerald and Wayne Waldron who occupied 7th and 8th places – both with a time of 1.58.12. Then came Barbara Cleary in 14th stop.
Ken Nugent (2.04.35) placed 17th, with Peter Gaffney (2.04.55) in 20th and Chris Muldoon (2.10.22) in 27th. Tony Barry (2.11.29) led a group of runners home in 30th spot, that included the aforementioned Kennedy-Clarke in 39th.
The other Donore athletes among the 834 finishers were J.P. O’Hanlon (2.31.12) in 137th and Noel Davis (3.02.54) in 450th. The race was won by Gary O’Hanlon of Clonliffe Harriers in 1.51.33.
Danny O’Sullivan and Craig Scott, both M40 athletes, set new personal best times in Sunday’s CHICAGO MARATHON. O’Sullivan was probably too quick over the opening half of the race as he passed the halfway mark in 1.22.14. However, he battled bravely over the second half of the race to finish 721st overall in 2.47.38. He was 100th in the M40 category.
Craig Scott ran a more measured race with halves of 1.26.28 and 1.26.18. He came 1,091st overall and 1,006th and 161st in the M40s.
Daragh Keegan came 2nd in the FASTLANE HALF-MARATHON at Clondalkin on Sunday morning. He recorded a new personal best time of 1.15.24 to finish less than a minute behind winner Peter Thompson (1.24.27) of Victoria Park & Connswater AC – a club based in East Belfast.
In the FASTLANE 3-QUARTER MARATHON there was strong running from Ariana Ball (2.30.42) who placed 57th overall and 7th woman. Tony Griffin (2.39.21) was 102nd of 313 finishers
The DUBLIN NOVICE CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS were hosted by Sportsworld AC at Tymon Park on Sunday. In the women’s race over 4km a strong finish by Deirdre NicCanna (16.24) saw her finish in 14th position. Audrey Gahan was next in 26th spot in a time of 16.24. The 3rd Donore Harriers finisher was Aisling Kirby (17.37) who placed 26th. The scoring four was completed by debutante Saoirse Groves-Murphy (18.21) in 51st position. The non-scoring athlete was Treasa Boylan (19.02) who came 57th of 69 finishers. The Donore Harriers team came 7th of 9 closing teams.
In the Men’s race over 6km Ryan Aikins placed 20th in a time of 20.15. Emmet O’Briain (21.53) and Simon O’Toole (22.46) placed 34th and 52nd respectively. Alan Kinsella withdrew from the race after completing just one of 4 laps with an illness, thus Donore Harriers did not complete a team. There were 108 finishers.
The women’s race was won by Faye Dervan (15.00) of Dublin City Harriers, whilst the men’s race had a manic finish between Shane Spring (19.30) of Raheny Shamrocks and Eddie O’Connor (19.30) of Brothers Pearse AC with both athletes diving over the line in what was judged a draw.
In the 2nd fixture of the DUBLIN JUVENILE CROSS-COUNTRY LEAGUE at the same venue there were conclusive successes for Emily Bolton in the Under 15s, Lorraine O’Connor in the Under 16s and Thomas Bolton in the Under 17s.
A full programme of cross-country running began with Rachel McCarthy and Farrah Blake finishing 21st and 25th in the Under 9 Girls race over 500 metres.
Then an improving Ruairi Quinn came 12th in the Under 9 Boys over the same distance with Eli Henley-Willis placing 24th.
Michael McCarthy Jnr was the club’s only Under 10 competitor, and he came 20th in the Boys race over 700 metres.
Anna Whelan was involved in a melee to the line and came 3rd in the Under 11 Girls race after 900 metres. Lola Blake in 53rd and Lola Nagle-Mullaly in 55th contested the same race.
Conor O’Hara made his debut in the Under 11 Boys 900m race and placed 35th and seems a fine prospect.
Next up Anabella Omozee came 11th in the U12 Girls race over a distance of 1,200 metres and was supported by Bella Rose Waldron in 56th and Tess O’Donoghue in 58th. Max Henley-Willis was the club’s sole contestant in the Under 12s 1,200m race and he came home in 26th spot.
In the Under 13 Girls race (1,200m) Ruby Blake placed 29th, Lauren Tolan 35th and debutante Kim Sutcliffe 52nd.
Lily Hanrahan-Clarke and Eoin Mooney showed more progress in the Under 14 races. Lily came 6th in the Girls race and Eoin 3rd in the Boys race. Both races were over 1,500m.
Emily Bolton had a gun to finish line win in the Under 15 Girls race over 2,000m.
The club had 6 finishers in the Under 15 Boys – also over 2,000m – with Reuben McCormick leading the group home in 4th place, followed by Arlen Szeb-Szabo in 10th, Daniel Hughes in 12th, Aryell Sheedy in 16th, Sam Clancy in 22nd and Ross Cassidy in 29th.
Lorraine O’Connor was a convincing winner in the Under 16 Girls race over 2,500m with Eva Crowe in 4th place.
In the Under 16 Boys 2,500m race Lucas Collender lost out on 6th place in a sprint finish and had to settle for 7th spot.
Thomas Bolton made a conservative start in the Under 17 Boys race over 4,000m. He was 4th after the first kilometre, then gained to 3rd by halfway before stretching away to victory in the latter half of the race.
In the BROTHERS IN ARMS SCHOOL CROSS-COUNTRY RACES at Santry Demesne last Wednesday Lily Hanrahan-Clarke came 4th in the Under 15 Girls race over a 1,500m route – with Amber Lynch placing 14th. Both girls were representing Loreta Stephen’s Green. The event was organized by Clonliffe Harriers.
In this week’s PARKRUN series Fergal Whitty was the first finisher at HARTSTOWN in a time of 17.57. More results below.
Results in brief:
I.U.A EUROPEAN 50KM CHAMPIONSHIP at Avila, Spain (08.10.2022)
6th Sorcha Loughnane (3.26.46)
31 starters
FASTLANE HALF-MARATHON at Clondalkin (09.10.2022)
2nd Daragh Keegan (1.15.24 PB)
204 finishers
FASTLANE 3-QUARTER MARATHON at Clondalkin (09.10.2022)
57th & 7th woman Ariana Ball (2.30.42)
102nd Tony Griffin (2.39.21)
313 finishers
IRISH 3-QUARTER MARATHON at Longwood, Co. Meath (09.10.2022)
7th Ian Fitzgerald (1.58.12)
8th Wayne Waldron (1.58.12)
14th Barbara Cleary W40 (2.03.59)
17th Ken Nugent (2.04.35)
20th Peter Gaffney M50 (2.04.55)
27th Chris Muldoon M40 (2.10.22)
30th Tony Barry M40 (2.11.29)
39th Grace Kennedy-Clarke (2.11.37)
105th Oliver O’Hara M40 (2.25.28)
137th JP O’Hanlon (2.31.12)
450th Noel Davis M40 (3.02.54)
834 finishers
CHICAGO MARATHON (09.10.2022)
721st & 100th M40 Danny O’Sullivan (2.47.38 PB)
1,091st & 161st M40 Craig Scott (2.52.46 PB)
DUBLIN NOVICE CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS at Tymon Park (09.10.2022)
WOMEN’S 4KM RACE:
14th Deirdre Nic Canna (16.24)
26th Audrey Gahan (17.06)
35th Aisling Kirby (17.37)
51st Saoirse Groves-Murphy (18.21) club debut
57th Treasa Boylan (19.02)
69 finishers
TEAM: 1. Dublin City Harriers 20, 7. Donore Harriers 126. 9 teams closed
MEN’S 6KM RACE:
20th Ryan Aikins (20.15)
34th Emmet O’Briain (21.53)
52nd Simon O’Toole (22.46)
DNF Alan Kinsella
108 finishers
BROTHERS IN ARMS SCHOOL CROSS-COUNTRY at Santry Demesne (05.10.2022)
U15 GIRLS 1,500m RACE:
4th Lily Hanrahan-Clarke
14th Amber Lynch
NOTE: some results may be missing – please forward
DUBLIN JUVENILE XC LEAGUE FIXTURE 2 at Tymon Park (09.10.2022)
U9 GIRLS 500m: 21st Rachel McCarthy; 25th Farrah Blake (debut)
U9 BOYS 500m: 12th Ruairi Quinn (debut), 24th Eli Henley-Willis
U10 BOYS 700m: 20th Michael McCarthy
U11 GIRLS 900m: 3rd Anna Whelan, 53rd Lola Blake, 55th Lola Nagle-Mullaly
U11 BOYS 900m: 35th Conor O’Hara (debut)
U12 GIRLS 1,200m: 11th Anabella Omozee, 56th Bella Rose Waldron, 58th Tess O’Donoghue
U12 BOYS 1,200m: 26th Max Henley-Willis
U13 GIRLS 1,200m: 29th Ruby Blake, 35th Lauren Tolan, 52nd Kim Sutcliffe
U14 GIRLS 1,500m: 6th Lily Hanrahan-Clarke
U14 BOYS 1,500m: 3rd Eoin Mooney
U15 GIRLS 2,000m: 1st Emily Bolton
U15 BOYS 2,000m: 4th Reuben McCormick, 10th Arlen Szeb-Szabo, 12th Daniel Hughes, 16th Aryell Sheedy, 22nd Sam Clancy, 29th Ross Cassidy
U16 GIRLS 2,500m: 1st Lorraine O’Connor, 4th Eva Crowe
U16 BOYS 2,500m: 7th Lucas Collender
U17 BOYS 4,000m: 1st Thomas Bolton
PARKRUN (08.10.2022)
BRICKFIELDS: 65th Ciaran McCarthy M45 (32.18)
BUSHY: 116th Thomas Halton M65 (32.23)
CASTLETOWN: 39th Joan McTernan W60 (27.38)
CORKAGH: 47th Nicola Dowdall W45 (25.55), 111th Terry Mee M75 (31.34)
GRIFFEEN: 22nd Aidan Kelly MS (22.10)
HARTSTOWN: 1st Fergal Whitty M45 (17.57)
MARLAY: 15th Patrick Moriarty M45 (18.52)
WATERSTOWN: 49th Andrew Maguire M55 (47.17)