The 28th Jingle Bells 5k took place Saturday, December 1st. We had our biggest field ever at just under 1,500 participants with almost 1,200 chipped finishers and almost 300 under 16s. Well done to all and congratulations to winners Eoin Everard, 14:36, (Kilkenny City Harriers) and Teresa Doherty, 16:13 (Finn Valley AC). Runners up in the Men’s were Efren Gidey (Clonliffe Harriers), 2nd in 14:43 with Colin Maher (Ballyfin AC) in 14:44, 3rd. In the Women’s race Sarah Healy (Blackrock AC) was 2nd in 16:24 and Sinead O’Connor (Leevale AC), 3rd in 16:48.
In the team categories. Leevale AC won the Women’s team prize, followed by Donore Harriers, 2nd and Raheny Shamrock AC 3rd. The Men’s team results were Clonliffe Harriers as winner followed by Crusaders AC, 2nd and UCD AC in 3rd. Congratulations to Eirgrid as the winners of the corporate team challenge.
2018 marks the 125th anniversary of Donore Harriers and to celebrate the occasion we had the added dimension of a flying mile competition. Sponsored by our race timing partners, Pop Up Races, we had a €125 prize to the fastest man and the fastest woman over the final mile. The fastest man was race winner, Eoin Everard (Kilkenny City Harriers) in 4:24 and the fastest woman was Sinead O’Connor (Leevale AC) in 5:01.
A very big thank you to all who volunteered to help with stewarding and other duties on the day and in the planning of the event. A special thank you to our sponsor, Bill Griffin Motors, to Brogan’s Bakery for their delicious Kerrygold butter shortbread biscuits and to Dunnes Stores for their contribution. A particular thank you to the OPW and the Phoenix Park Rangers whose permission, help and support in running the event is greatly appreciated. Thank you also to An Garda Siochana and to the Civil Defence for their assistance and professionalism once again. Thank you to Pop Up Races for their excellent timing services and to Fintan Reilly for his commentary. A massive thank you as well to the Blanchardstown Brass Band for their entertainment on the morning. Finally thank you to all our participants, we hope you enjoyed it and we hope to see you all next year.
Full results and category results are available here.
https://www.popupraces.ie/race/jingle-bells-5k-2018/
Photos by Alasdair Brown: https://www.flickr.com/photos/78663851@N07/sets/72157700984104632