The two big events of the weekend were the first national event of the year with round 1 of the National Indoor League and the Dublin Master cross country championship
Dublin Masters Cross country report
(Thanks women’s road and cross country captain Anne Curley for the report)
The ground was surprisingly dry after so much rain so the pace was going to be torrid on the flat trails of St Anne’s Park. Due to the numbers this was the first year that the women’s field was split into the O50’s (with O65’s men) and O35’s so club stalwarts Mary McDermott, Julia Hackett , Anne Curley and Barry Potts went out of the traps first. The first 20 metres was a bit of a bottleneck but then levelled out, Annette Kealy took it out at a fast pace which never let up. Mary and Julia finished 27th and 30th with Barry second O70 , Anne unfortunately became a casualty of her longstanding IAE condition mid race making multiple stops and finished a distant 51st. Nevertheless it was good to get an O50 women’s team out in this very enjoyable event which kick starts the year for most Dublin club master runners. The race was won by the in form Annette Kealy who at 55 is showing so signs of slowing any time soon.
Our o35s women’s team finished in 5th spot, highly commendable considering the white hot competition. Grace was our first woman in, and despite recent flu and marathon heavy legs meant she was probably lacking a bit of speed and sharpness for a fast flat 4k but she ran incredibly well as a serial marathon runner she was out of her comfort zone but the marathon strength got her a superb 17th spot, Next in was Audrey Gahan ten places behind with her best race of the season so far, great to see Audrey getting back after being thwarted with an injury in November when she was in PB shape in the autumn. Club President Florence Curley has missed a lot of training since the marathon and was under the weather in the lead up so her race was superb in the circumstances, she gritted it out right to the line passing a Crusader runner with that trademark killer grimace!
Close behind Audrey and Florence was Caroline McCarthy who was next in. Great to see Caroline back, she was showing great form just before covid hit and back from a maternity break, this supermum is going to move quickly up the field when she gets a good block of training behind her, she ran a fabulous and is a fearless and very competitive runner…and then we had Suzie Henley Willis who brought the team home with another super strong run, Suzie has only been training with the group since 2021 and already is a club legend partly for her great work with the junior athletes, she has improved hugely since last year and will continue to do.
Our O50’s men had a solid team and were lead home by club Treasurer Des Tremble in 5th spot, A very strong run from Des who is one of the best M50 road runners in the country. Next in was club secretary and long standing club stalwart Donal Iremonger who is making a great comeback after a serious foot injury wiped out most of 2022 for him. A very promising start to 2023 and great to see him back in action. Tom Fagan was next in followed closely by his sparring partner Peter Nugent. Two very popular members they worked together to have a great battle. The ever improving and very popular Dean Fullston brought them home, they were out of the medals but all were happy out to have ran their best. The pace of the race was flat out from the gun led out and won by the in form Shane O’Neill winner of the 50s title in the recent British Irish Masters
Our 35’s men were unlucky to finish out of the medals but can be proud of a very strong showing out there, first in Dave McConn who has made a an incredible improvement since he joined us only a couple of years ago, his first outing on the country he took it out hard and maybe paid for it in latter laps but ran a brave race at the business end the whole way hanging on for 11 in top quality field, tracking him all the way was Ken Nugent who was 3rd in this race last year, not quite in the same shape this, it was nevertheless a big improvement on his recent form. he wa followed closely in by Emmet O Briain who is having one of his best seasons in years and with a withering kick finished in a great …place earning himself a bronze m45 medal, Danny O’Sullivan ran himself into the ground to hold off a fast finishing runner when it looked like a team medal was in the balance and it almost was the way they all packed so well, a super run from Danny. Not far off was long time member Gavin Keogh picked up a lot of places to finish just three places off Danny. Craig Scott who had a great 2022 on the roads was a solid 49th. JP Hanlon brought them all home in a brave run, his first outing on championship cross country, well done all, the Donore singlet was prominent there on Sunday and while there was no team medal, they all looked the part
Huge thanks to all the support we had out on the course. A positive start to the year.
Results for Dublin MASTERS
035’S MEN 4th team
Race won by Mick Clohisey
first three teams Raheny Shamrocks, Clonliffe Harriers, Rathfarnham WSAF
11th Dave McConn M40
13th Emmet O’Briain 3rd O45
14th Ken Nugent M35
27th Danny O’Sullivan M40
30th Gavin Keogh M40
49th Craig Scott M40
147thJP O’Hanlon M35
O50’s men 8th team,
race won by Shane O’Neill and first three teams Rathfarnham WSAF, Metro St Brigids, Dundrum South Dublin
5th Des Tremble
17th Donal Iremonger
52nd Tom Fagan M55
55th Peter Nugent
66th Dean Fullston M55
O50’s women 9th team (with same points as 8th team),
overall winner Annette Kealy and first three teams Raheny Shamrocks, Rathfarnham WSAF, Lucan Hrs
27th Mary McDermott
30th Julia Hackett
51st Anne Curley 9th
Barry Potts 2nd O70
Women O’35s 5th team
overall winner Kate Purcell and first three teams Sportsworld, Raheny Shamrocks and Crusaders AC
17th Grace Kennedy-Clarke(V35)
27th Audrey Gahan (V45)
32nd Florence Curley (V45)
40th Caroline McCarthy (v35)
64th Suzie Henley Willis (v40)
Over in the national indoor arena in Abbotstown on the same day we had a men’s and women’s team in round 1 of the National Indoor league. This was a first outing for most of the athletes in this indoor season and also a track and field debut for some – and for the youngest athletes a first outing at a national level like this
The competition was formidable particularly in the women’s event where there were 16 teams and 10 in the men’s events
The women were able to fill every event except the pole vault so there was a great team turnout . Our new women’s captain Eva McPartlan led the team and was 3rd in her own 60m race
Results as follows
Eva McPartlan, 3rd in heat 2 of 60m in 8.12
Caoimhe Mackey, 2nd in heat 2 of 200m in 26.81
Ruth Chambers, 8th in heat 2 of 800m in 2.55
Katherine Marsh, 12th in 3000m in 13.24.11
Caoimhe Mackey, Isabella Jackson, Louise Kelly and Ailbhe Healy 4th in heat 3 of 4×4 in 4.39.23
Fiona Keegan Smith threw 5.93m placing 12th in shot put
Eimear Finn jumped 3.47 in long jump placing 14th
The men’s competition was a mix of youth and experience – again every event filled bar the pole vault and a welcome return to competition for some of the endurance runners such as Kevin and Oliver.
Liam Tobin, 5th in heat 2 of 60m running 7.52secs.
Daragh McAuley, 4th in heat 3 of 200m running 23.64secs.
Kevin Nolan, 4th in heat 2 of 800m running 2.09.24secs.
Oliver Hopkins, 5th in 3k running 9.27.83secs.
Niall Allen, 2nd in Shot Putt throwing 11.19m
Oisin Weiss Cummins jumped 5.02m in long jump.
Mens 4x400m relay, 2nd in heat 1 in a time of 3.45secs. Team made up of Alex Leonard, Conor Fox, Mario and Romeo Omozee
The women finished up with 43 points in 14th place in an extremely competitive round where Ratoath, Clonliffe, Craughwell finished top. In the men’s competition Donore, Raheny and Crusaders all tied on 36 points in joint 6th. Clonliffe, Ratoath and Nenagh were top 3 in the round. Next round of the league is on 22nd January in Athlone where another strong set of performances will be needed to reach the final
Thanks to track captains Eva and David and the coaches and supporters in Abbotstown on the day.
BMC Sheffield
John Travers opened his indoor account for 2023 with a 3000m at the British Milers Club meet in Sheffield on January 8th. An exciting race which featured world 1500m champion Jake Wightman – until the last 3 laps John was mixing it in the top 4 with Wightman, and Phil Seseman who finished 2nd Briton in the London marathon, and was on sub 8 minute pace.. An injection of pace in the last 3 laps saw John detach from the lead group and he eventually finished 7th in 8.03.10. Seseman beat the world champion Wightman in a dramatic finish with the latter falling across the finish line!
In other race news
Sorcha Loughnane finished first woman and third overall in the Griffith Park Resolution Run Half Marathon in LA at the weekend
BHAA 6k cross country race Tymon Park
37th Fred Kiernan
41st Padraig McGreal (117 finishers)
Parkruns
Brickfields 73rd Ann Woodlock 33.18
Castletown 66th Joan McTernan 26.40
Poppintree 43rd Paul Nunan 25.05
Waterstown 1st Dylan McKenna 19.14, 6th John Curran 22.30