John Travers excellent win in the St. Patrick’s Festival 5km Road Race was marred by suspicion that the route was about 100 metres short. The race usually starts and finishes on Dawson Street, but due to road works this year’s version had the gantry on St. Stephen’s Green North.
On a bright and breezy morning Travers (14.07) was always in command at the front opening up a gap of 30 metres on Colm Rooney (Clonliffe Harriers 2nd in 14.23) and Kevin Maunsell (Clonmel AC 3rd in 14.43) as the race hit the half-way mark along the Grand Canal (Herbert Place). Thereafter he stretched out his lead and won comfortably with almost 100 metres to spare at the finish line.
Ray Hynes (15.02) came an excellent 5th and can be encouraged by his return to form after several months out with injury. Next to finish for Donore Harriers was Aogan MacDhomhnaill (15.17) in 9th place, with Michael McMahon (15.42) finishing strongly to hold off the challenge of Bernard Roe of Raheny to gain 17th spot.
With 3 in the top 10 and the fourth finisher in the top 20 the team prize was ‘won by Donore Harriers on the road’. However, as Aogan MacDhomhnaill is a transfer pending athlete he was not eligible in the team competition, thus Raheny Shamrocks were declared as team winners. The consolation is that the fine running of Ray, Aogan and Michael – all relatively new to the club – augurs well for team going forward…
Further down the field there were some very encouraging early season results from the other Donore athletes: – Tomas Griffin (18.17) 89th; Niall O’Reilly (18.34) 108th; Joe Murphy (18.46) 117th; Des Gill M45 (19.10) 133rd; Gary Fitzgerald M40 (20.42) 225th; and Tom Halton M55 (22.45) in 353rd.
Forthcoming races for the men’s section are: – the Dunboyne 4 mile on the 30th March; the Great Ireland Run/National 10km on the 6th April; and the National Road Relay (primary target) at Raheny on the 13th April.
The Donore ladies also produced some great results in this race with plenty of talk of PB’s after the race. The Nic Dhomhnaill’s Aislinn was 9th overall with 17.19, Ide (18.18) and Sorcha (17.42) were the first 3 home for the ladies. Rhona Duane put her fantastic recent training to the test with a huge PB, breaking 20 minutes for the first time with 19.28.
Janette Strickland shook of a recent illness to run 20.10, Sinead Graham 20.29, Lorraine O’Shea 20.35, Eva Campion 20.34, Sian O’Conor 20.46, Kim Strickland 21.37 and Michelle Dawson 23.08 rounded off the PB’s for the day.
John Travers had another fine race in the National Inter-Varsities Cross Country championships at Cork on Saturday the 8th March 2014. John (27.12) finished a fine 3rd and led the Athlone IT team to place 3rd in the team category. Eric Keogh (28.50) came 15th and was a scoring member of the UCD team that placed 2nd. Cathal McCarron, also representing Athlone IT, came 68th in 32.23.
Meanwhile, at the BHAA cross country meeting on the 8th at Maynooth University Ray Hynes showed a return to form by winning the race in 21.13. Other Donore Harriers to compete were: – 3rd Niall Lynch 21.44; 5th Will Morris 22.14; 10th Graham Hopkins 22.50; 69 Ian Redican 26.06; 97th Fred English 29.00
A round up of recent results from February and March are listed below.
National Masters XC Championships at Dunboyne on 23/02/2014.
Team: 3rd on 109 points, behind Raheny Shamrocks 66 and Rathfarnham 76.
Scoring team: – 3rd (1st in M1 o/35 category) John Dunne 24.33; Niall Lynch
23rd 25.40; 38th Phil Hennessy 26.23; 45th Fergal Swaine 26.30.
Non-scoring runners: 66th Des Tremble 27.13; 78th Fergal Whitty 27.28;
81st Will Morris 27.23; 96th Henry English 28.10; 168th Bob Blake 30.19;
179th Peter Nugent 30.53; 193rd Ian Redican 31.35; 200th Barry Potts 31.55; 205th Des Gill 32.29;
o/65 4km championship: 5th (1st in M8 o/70 category) Terry Mee 19.51
Ladies 5th team: Anne Curley 13th 16.53, Breda Mahony 32nd 17.51, Florence Curley 33rd 17.52, Karen Behan 38th 18.10
National Intermediate XC Championships at Dunboyne on 23/02/2014.
Team: 6th on 163, behind winners Finn Valley 33 and r/up East Cork 48.
Scoring team: – 26th Michael McMahon (debut) 30.56; 38th Eoin Durkan 31.56;
47th Darren Hand 32.48; 52nd Eoin Hannon 33.33
Non-scoring: 74th Joe Murphy 36.48
Ladies 9th team: Emer Rattigan 40th 23.30, Bronagh Elliot 48th 24.20, Ashling Swaine 51st 24.39, Eva Campion 57th 25.14
Inter-Varsities XC Championships at Cork on 8/03/2014.
3rd John Travers (AIT) 27.12; 15th Eric Keogh (UCD) 28.50; 68th Cathal McCarron (AIT) 32.23. NOTE: UCD 2nd team & AIT 3rd team.
National Senior Indoor Championships at Athlone on 16/02/ 2014.
Men’s 3000m: 3rd John Travers 8.14.73
BHAA races – leading Donore results:
North County Farmers BHAA XC on 1/2/14: – 4th Gavin Keogh 27.27; 6th Niall Lynch 27.52; 8th Ken Nugent 28.48; 10th Will Morris 28.59; 15th Patrick Moriarty 29.09
Garda BHAA XC on 15/2/14: – 15th Ken Nugent 23.26; 20th Will Morris 23.58;
23rd Patrick Moriarty 24.04
Dublin Airport BHAA XC on 1/3/14: – 3rd Will Morris 30.00; 11th Patrick Moriarty 31.04
AIB /NUI Maynooth BHAA XC on 8/3/14: – 1st Ray Hynes 21.13; 3rd Niall Lynch 21.44; 5th Will Morris 22.14; 10th Graham Hopkins 22.50; 69 Ian Redican 26.06; 97th Fred English 29.00