HIGHLIGHTS National League final, National 50k, masters cross country, Jack Raftery goes into the all time indoor top 400, Abdel and Louis in the US, Dublin Juveniles, Leinster Schools and more! (Photos AAI, Popupraces, Leonie Newman, Suzie Henley Willis, Ben McShane – Sportsfile, Amy Moriarty)

National Masters Cross Country
(thanks women’s captain Anne Curley for the details)
The women’s masters team was missing some people due to injury and work schedules but we still fielded a team finishing 8th out of 13. The course in Gowran Kilkenny was dry for this time of year but the ground was uneven with some deceptive drags, overall there was some great running on it and the pace was fast from the getgo, Sorcha got her money’s worth out of the trip with two gold medals, she ran strongly from the gun mixing it in the top ten from the start, working her way to the top of the field finishing in an amazing 6th place, holding off a fast finishing Caroline Donnellan all the way to the line. She beat the cream of the country and won her W45 age group taking some serious scalps in her wake, she also led the Dublin county team to gold, showing how good Sorcha is over the short races too! She was followed in by Audrey who ran a solid 51st in a stacked field, she was delighted with her run beating some opponents, Amy wasn’t far behind and finished strongly too, she is slowly coming back to form this year and great to see her racing regularly on the country. She admitted it wasn’t her best day but the marathon strength got her through it. Mary McDermott is showing her old flair on the country lately and brought the team home in a super strong run. It was an enjoyable day out and while there was no team medal today all were happy and high on endorphins post race. In the men’s Master race our sole competitor was club treasurer Des Tremble who finished 5th M50 in a very tough field and he also bagged a Dublin county team M50 medal.

National 50k
(thanks men’s Captain Josh O’Sullivan Hourihan for this report)
The 10 laps in Donadea on Saturday 11th February 2023 was the culmination of weeks and months of hard work for Ian Fitzgerald, Wayne Waldron, Didier Da Costa and Sean Fox where the theme of the day was “win the moment you’re in”. The race conditions were perfect, the ground was dry, the weather was clear and the temperatures were just right for racing. From the early stages the trend of the race was quite clear as Tudor Moldovan (Clonliffe Harriers) dictated from the lead while extending his gap on each lap along the way to finish in a fantastic 2:59:04.
Ian had the company of a small group until about the halfway point and he was looking smooth and fuelling well. Unfortunately in the last 10-15k some stomach issues and cramps came to the fore and slowed his pace but the message from his support crew on the side-lines was quite clear “you’re safe in second, you have one hand on a national medal, just consolidate and hold what you’ve got”. This performance was Ian’s first National Senior medal and comes off the back of a really impressive and consistent block of training.
Wayne was carrying a calf issue the final two weeks of prep for Donadea which impacted his training load heavily but like Ian he executed a near perfect race strategy given the cards he was dealt. He stuck to the plan and built through the race picking off the runners ahead and moving up to the podium places with 3 laps to run and clear air behind him. It adds to his impressive and ever growing palmarès over the last 6 months.
Didier positioned himself well in the early stages and went about his work quietly but efficiently throughout the first half of proceedings. When the squeeze came towards the back end he had the experience and power in his legs from longer ultramarathons, both in Ireland and abroad, and the mental fortitude to keep grinding towards the finish line despite a testing last lap.
Sean ran, in my opinion watching as a spectator/water boy extraordinaire, the race of the day with exceptionally even splits from start to finish. He was metronomic and looked in control of everything when he passed me on each lap. He actually ran the fastest last lap of any Donore athlete on the course, and the 5th fastest last lap of anyone even able to finish with a little jump and a heel click that would not have been out of place in “The Wizard of Oz”
Overall the guys finished up as
– Ian Fitzgerald – 2nd Overall & PB – 3:11:18
– Wayne Waldron – 3rd Overall, 1st O35 & PB – 3:15:41
– Didier Da Costa – 6th Overall, 2nd O45 & PB – 3:26:06
– Sean Fox – 7th Overall, 3rd O45 & PB – 3:27:24
It was a pleasure to watch these guys perform so well on a day when it really counts and they secured individual honours, PB’s and impressively they won the National 50k Team Title for 2023. Not only that but they supported each other along the journey through the training, the highs, the lows and I think this was most evident when Wayne finished and embraced Ian as they shared the end of a can of coke……the glitz and glamor of ultra-running!
Ian and Wayne now have a few weeks to recover and finalise their preparations for the Anglo Celtic Plate 100k in April.

National Track and Field indoor league final
A 14-strong men’s team took on all 16 events at the final of the National indoor league on Saturday 11th February in the national indoor arena.. The opposition was going to be tough with teams like Clonliffe and Leevale out in force and some last minute changes to the team meant that athletes might have to go outside their usual events as often happens in league competition!. Every point counts as we know, so it was good to get those top 3 points in a few events. Fresh from national Masters success the week before, Niall Allen won the WFD achieving top points and 3rd in the shot put. John Travers came 2nd in the 1500 and went on to run a leg of the 4x400m relay. Paul McDermott ran a fine 200m in his race to come 2nd and 3rd overall on time when the second race was included. Michael McCarthy was delighted to get a PB and 3rd place in the triple jump. Jack Byrne ran a very gutsy 800m and got an indoor PB and 4th place despite being under the weather during the week. Coach Daniel Hernon did a fine high jump. In the 4x400m. Sean Chan started the day’s competition with the 60m hurdles – then with the points gained in the 3000m and men’s captain David Campbell going way outside his comfort zone to take on the pole vault and the 1500m walk winning 4 more points, the scores were coming in consistently. In the 60m flat, Paul McDermott ran and went on to do two more events that day. Young multi eventer Oisin Cummins Weiss – a medallist at the juveniles the week before took on the long jump. Last event of the day was the 4x200m with Adam Halpin, Conor Fox, Paul McDermott and up coming 200m runner Alex Leonard – an unfortunate handover error meant that the team was eventually DQ’d but they bravely saw the race out. This didn’t make a change to the overall placing of the Donore team who eventually finished on 65 points (Clonliffe won on 110, Leevale 94, Nenagh 85) thanks to all those who competed in the earlier rounds too

US race report (thanks Gerry Naughton)
Abdel Laadjel continues with his excellent indoor season in the United States. He was involved in a helter-skelter Section 3 of the men’s 3,000m at the DAVID HEMERY VALENTINE MEET at the Boston University Track on Saturday evening (11.02.2023). Competing in the colours of the Providence (College) Friars, Laadjel found himself caught in traffic after a conservative start in a big field of 20-plus athletes. He said afterwards: “My coach (Ray Treacy) wasn’t pleased that I had got myself boxed in more than once”. However, the Donore Harriers member gained to 3rd place in the final few circuits, before placing 4th in a personal best time of 7.54.51. Despite a strong last 400 metres run in 59.2 seconds, he was passed in the closing stages by Takato Suzuki of Team Puma who covered the final 200m in 27.9. The race was won by Benjamin Godish (7.52.02) of Northeastern University. This was Laadjel’s first time to break the 8 minutes barrier and follows his sub-14-minutes 5,000m (13.50.03) achieved at the same venue two weeks earlier.

In the MUSIC CITY CHALLENGE MEET at Nashville on Saturday afternoon Louis O’Loughlin contested Heat 5 of the seeded Men’s 800m finishing 3rd in a time of 1.50.13. The race was won by Austin Leitz (unattached) in 1.48.53. Running for the Auburn Tigers college team the Donore Harriers athlete was 6th at the 500m mark and gained to 3rd place by covering the final 300m in 42.26.

Results
MUSIC CITY CHALLENGE MEET at Nashville TN (11.02.2023): Men’s 800m Heat 5 – 3rd Louis O’Loughlin (1.50.13)
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS DAVID HEMERY VALENTINE, Boston MA (11.02.2023): Men’s 3,000m Heat 3 – 4th Abdel Laadjel (7.54.51 PB)

Niamh Clifford placed 9th overall and 1st woman in the TRALEE 10-MILE ROAD RACE on Saturday morning. She ran a personal best time of 1.00.35 to finish almost 6 minutes ahead of runner-up Mary O’Shea (1.06.27). Clifford’s time was 3 and a half minutes faster than her winning 2022 effort.

Track and Field Live
Jack Raftery had another scintillating 400m indoors at the National Indoor arena at Track and Field Live. He won the elite 400m easily in a new PB of 46.75 moving in to the Irish indoor top 10. He then helped the 4×400 U23 relay team to a new national record later in the meet. Eva McPartlan competed in the 60m in 8.15

Dublin Juveniles indoor Day 3 (thanks to Suzie Henley Willis and Leonie Newman for details)
This week it was the turn of the younger agegroups to shine at the Dublin juvenile indoors.
The National Indoor arena on Sunday 12th was heaving with competitors – there were 180 competitions when all the heats were taken into account! and kudos to the hardworking coaches and volunteers – some of who were in the arena til 730pm! We had a very good turnout – some of the children were competing for the first time. Full results are not available and we don’t have all the details but well done to everyone who competed especially Annabella Omozee gold (hurdles) Anna Whelan and Ruby Blake silver and bronze in the hurdles – we had finalists in several events Leo Garry, Dylan O’Connor, Farrah Blake , Rachel McCarthy, Michael McCarthy jr, Cadel Senyk, Bobby Farrell, Ruairi Quinn , Jamie Keegan made it to semi finals – worth noting that the amount of people in the heats was phenomenal so getting to those stages was great and well done Sam Quinn, Eli Henley Willis, Patrick King, Matilda Reilly, Eli Hanley, Mae OGorman, Sally McGowan, Abbie Keogh, Olivia Brady in their heats.

Leinster Schools Cross country championships
We had 16 runners competing across various age groups in the Leinster schools cross country races in Santry Demesne. The Leinster schools can often be even more competitive than some club cross country races! The top 15 individuals and top 3 teams qualify so we had 8 athletes who now go on to National competition. There were some top 4 positions and several helped their schools to team medals. There were also a few who narrowly missed out on making nationals but had great runs. Well done athletes and coaches.

Armagh International road races
A unique yearly nighttime set of races in the town of Armagh, back for the first time since the COVID 19 pandemic, the Armagh international road races are fast and furious attracting quality fields from Ireland and abroad. A flat lap with some tight turns 3 times around the centre of the city of Armagh – this year 130 men broke the 15 minute barrier in the men’s 5k race.. One of those was Kane Collins who equalled his PB of 14.54 in 123rd place and thought the race was “great fun”. In the 3k race, young Arlen Zsabo was 87th in 10.03

Tralee 10 Miler
Niamh Clifford placed 9th overall and 1st woman in the TRALEE 10-MILE ROAD RACE on Saturday morning. She ran a personal best time of 1.00.35 to finish almost 6 minutes ahead of runner-up Mary O’Shea (1.06.27). Clifford’s time was 3 and a half minutes faster than her winning 2022 effort.

IMRA
Kieran Beausang was 39th in the IMRA Mount Hillary In Cork out of 113 runners on February 5th

Parkruns
Bushy – Course record for Robert Murphy at Bushy in a super 15.35 – breaking his own record on this course
Waterstown 1st Dylan McKenna 19.22
Brickfields Ann Woodlock 55th 32.28
New Ross Liz McCurtain and Eugene McCurtain 55.47
Porterstown Tom Fagan 10th 21.49
Corkagh Nicola Dowdall 25.44 4th female
Greenway parkrun Sydney Australia Charlie O’Neill 27.29
Killarney House Owen Robinson 8th 20.52
Jesmond Dene Daire McCarthy 10th 19.56, Ciaran McCarthy 142nd 31.18