HIGHLIGHTS: Women’s team bag bronze in the Dublin Senior cross-country championships. Barbara Cleary 4^th individual. Men’s team 5^th. Under 13 girls win team gold in the Dublin Juvenile Uneven Ages championships. Team bronze for Under 11 and Under 19 Boys’ teams. Individual gold for Matei Ursachi (U13 Boys) and Annabella Omozee (U9 Girls), with silver to Abdel Laadjel (U17 Boys), Emily Bolton (U13 Girls) and Olyver Whelan (U9 Boys) and bronze to Thomas Bolton (U15 Boys) and Eva Crowe (U13 Girls).

 

REPORT: 46 years-old Barbara Cleary put in another teak-tough performance to finish a fine 4^th in the DUBLIN SENIOR CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS on Sunday (03.11.2019) – and in the process she spearheaded the Donore Harriers women’s team to take the bronze medal position. The undulating Santry Demesne course and heavy rainfall on the previous day ensured that the races were a proper cross-country test. Cleary (23.47) settled quickly into 4^th position but she became isolated and was unable to bridge the gap to the top three. The race held over 4 by 1.5km laps, was son by Catherina Mullen of Metro St. Bridget AC in 23.01. Middle-distance specialist Maura Kearns (24.42) was next team member home in 11^th spot. The team was completed by Grace Kennedy-Clarke (26.47) and Niamh O’Neill (26.52) who placed 25^th and 27^th respectively. This was a particularly fine effort from Kennedy-Clarke, coming just one-week after completing the Dublin Marathon in a 3 hours and 5 minutes. Crusaders AC (41) won the team event, with Donore Harriers (67) in bronze position – 9 points clear of 4^th placed Dublin City Harriers.

The Donore Harriers men’s team (122) finished well outside the medals in 5^th. First team member home after 10 kilometres was Matthieu Proffitt (37.09) in 23^rd position. Niall Lynch (37.40) rallied well in the latter half of the race and gained to 27^th spot, with Luke Boland (37.40) just one place behind. The team was closed by Gavin Keogh (39.11) in 44^th place. With 4 athletes in the top 6, including winner Efrem Gidey (32.28), Clonliffe Harriers convincingly won the team gold.

 

In the preceding DUBLIN JUVENILE UNEVEN AGES CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS, the Donore Harriers Under 13 Girls team easily won the team event after 2.5km. Indeed, it proved to be a ‘tour de force’ with the scoring 4 in the top 7. Emily Bolton, who won the Under 12 race two weeks previous, came 2^nd behind Saoirse Fitzgerald of Lucan Harriers. A strong finish saw Eva Crowe gain to the bronze position. Less than 10 metres back was Julie Cleary in 5^th place. This was Cleary’s debut race for the club and there can be little doubt about her future potential. The team gold was secured by Lorraine O’Connor, who overcame a stomach bug, to place 7^th. The non-scoring team member was Eleanor Hopkins in 28^th spot.

In the first race of the day Annabella Omozee won the Under 9 Girls race over 800 metres with a gutsy gun to tape run. In the same race Siun Costello placed 38^th.

Olyver Whelan had to settle for silver as a number of athletes contested at the front of the Under 9 Boys 800m race. Mark Nunan came 39^th.

The Under 11 Girls race over 1,500 metres had 5 Donore athletes competing. First home was Amber Lynch, who was edged out of two positions in a sprint finish and placed 6^th. Ruby Blake came 48^th, Emily Farrell (stepping-up) 56^th, Melody Omozee 63^rd and Petra Cunningham (stepping-up) 72^nd.

Good team packing in the Under 11 Boys race (1,500m) saw the Donore Harriers team take the bronze team medals. Cillian McCooey (8^th), Jamie Kavanagh (15^th), Sebastian Ursachi (16^th) and Danny Colgan (21^st) were the scoring 4. Daniel Browne (41^st) and Caolan Costello (66^th) were the non-scoring team members. The team might well have got better coloured medals, had not talented athlete Luuk Jackson retired from the race due to illness.

Matei Ursachi proved strongest in a competitive Under 13 Boys race to secure individual gold after 2.5 kilometres. James Dunne and Mario Omozee (step-up) came 40^th and 79^th behind Ursachi.

Honor Lynch and Laura Nunan put in battling performances to finish 11^th and 15^th respectively in the Under 15 Girls race over 3.5km. In the Under 15 Boys race over the same distance Thomas Bolton (stepping up) and Oliver Hopkins were in a breakaway group of 5 athletes at the fore of the race. The big moves were made in the final kilometre with the Donore Harriers duo unable to stay with the lead pace. It still proved a very fine effort as Bolton finished in bronze medal position with Hopkins in 4^th.

Abdel Laadjel took up the lead in the early stages of the Under 17 Boys 5km race but was eventually overtaken by Scott Fagan of Metro St. Bridget AC, and finished an isolated 2^nd. Behind him James Bolton, also stepping up an age group, had an eventful race. Bolton gained to 9^th place in mid-race but suffered from a stitch and fell back to 14^th position. However, a late rally saw him gain to 12^th by the finish line.

There were 4 Donore Harriers athletes in the combined Under 19 Boys and Junior category race held over 6 kilometres. The team was led home by Gavin Curtin (21.26) who placed 6^th in a very competitive U19 contest and 8^th in the Junior category. Fathi Aden (21.41), making a welcome return to competition, came 7^th (U19) and 10^th (Jnr). The team was completed by Aidan Kelly (25.09) in 19^th/25^th and Keenan McDonnell (26.25) in 21^st/27^th. In the Under 19 team championship the Donore Harriers quartet came 3^rd, whilst in the Junior contest they placed 4^th – just 3 points behind 3^rd placed Raheny Shamrocks.

 

In the NEW YORK CITY MARATHON (03.11.2019) Ian Martin (2.51.31) placed 733^rd of more than 50,000 starters. He passed the half-way mark in 1.23.36. M45 athlete Ian Redican completed the 26.2miles in 4.33.02.

The NATIONAL, DUBLIN and LEINSTER MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIPS results incorporated into last week’s DUBLIN MARATHON (27.10.2019) saw plenty of medals coming the way of Donore Harriers athletes. Barry Potts made it a clean sweep winning the National, Dublin and Leinster gold in the M70 age category. Aislinn Nic Dhomhnaill took national silver in the Women’s over 40 age-group and claimed gold and silver medals in the Dublin & Leinster senior women’s championships respectively. Nic Dhomhnaill, together with Grace Kennedy-Clarke and Anne Curley, led the women’s team to gold medals when winning both the county and provincial titles, but the team narrowly missed out in the national championship – placing 4^th.

Ray Hynes, who came 5^th in the national M35 category, led the Donore Harriers M35 team to team victory in the Dublin championships. The team, completed by Fergal Whitty and Peter Gaffney, also won silver medals in the Leinster competition. Whitty won the M40 individual gold in both Dublin and Leinster, whilst Gaffney claimed gold and silver in the county and provincial M50 class.

Individual medals were also won by Anne Curley, silver in the W45, and Ariana Ball, bronze in the W35, in the Dublin marathon championships.

PARKRUN SERIES (02.11.2019): In the Parkrun series (02.11.2019) juvenile athlete Katie Delaney (23.53) was first woman home at Waterstown.

 

RESULTS IN BRIEF:

DUBLIN SENIOR, JUNIOR & JUVENILE UNEVEN-AGES CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS at SANTRY DEMESNE (03.11.2019)

SENIOR WOMEN 6km

4^th Barbara Cleary (23.47)

11^th Maura Kearns (24.42)

25^th Grace Kennedy-Clarke (26.47)

27^th Niamh O’Neill (26.52)

TEAM: 1^st Crusaders AC (41), 2^nd Raheny Shamrocks AC (45), 3^rd Donore Harriers <Cleary, Kearns, Kennedy-Clarke, O’Neill> (67)

SENIOR MEN 10km

23^rd Matthew Proffitt (37.09)

27^th Niall Lynch (37.40)

28^th Luke Boland (37.45)

44^th Gavin Keogh (39.11)

TEAM: 1^st Clonliffe Harriers (13), 2^nd DSD AC (31), 3^rd Rathfarnham AC (44), 5^th Donore Harriers <Proffitt, Lynch, Boland, G. Keogh> (122)

JUVENILE UNEVEN AGES

U9 Girls 800m: 1^st Annabella Omozee, 38^th Siun Costello

U9 Boys 800m: 2^nd Olyver Whelan, 39^th Mark Nunan

U11 Girls 1.5km: 6^th Amber Lynch, 48^th Ruby Blake, 56^th Emily Farrell (step-up), 63^rd Melody Omozee, 72^nd Petra Cunningham (step-up)

TEAM: not in first 3

U11 Boys 1.5km: 8^th Cillian McCooey, 15^th Jamie Kavanagh, 16^th Sebastian Ursachi, 21^st Danny Colgan, 41^st Daniel Browne, 66^th Caolan Costello

TEAM: 3^rd Donore Harriers (60)

U13 Girls 2.5km: 2^nd Emily Bolton (step-up), 3^rd Eva Crowe, 5^th Julie Cleary, 8^th Lorraine O’Connor, 28^th Eleanor Hopkins

TEAM: 1^st Donore Harriers (18)

U13 Boys 2.5km: 1^st Matei Ursachi, 40^th James Dunne, 79^th Mario Omozee (step-up)

U15 Girls 3.5km: 11^th Honor Lynch, 15^th Laura Nunan

U15 Boys 3.5km: 3^rd Thomas Bolton (step-up), 4^th Oliver Hopkins

U17 Girls 4km: No entry

U17 Boys 5km: 2^nd Abdel Laadjel, 12^th James Bolton (step-up)

U19 & Junior Girls 4km: No entry

U19 & Junior Boys 6km: 6^th / 8^th Gavin Curtin (21.26), 7^th / 10^th Fathi Aden (21.41), 19^th / 25^th Aidan Kelly (25.09), 21^st / 27^th Keenan McDonnell (26.25)

TEAM U19 Grade: 1^st Clonliffe Harriers (30), 2^nd DSD AC (42), 3^rd Donore Harriers (53)

TEAM Junior Grade: DSD AC (22), 2^nd Clonliffe Harriers (32), 3^rd Raheny Shamrocks AC (67), 4^th Donore Harriers (70)

NEW YORK MARATHON (03.11.2019)

733^rd Ian Martin (2.51.31)

24, 254^th Ian Redican M45 (4.33.02)

53,508 finishers.

DUBLIN MARATHON CHAMPIOHSHIPS (27.09.2019) incorporated championships results

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS leading individual results & medal winners

WS: 12^th Grace Kennedy-Clarke

W35: 17^th Ariana Ball

W40: 2^nd Aislinn Nic Dhomhnaill

W45: 9^th Anne Curley

M35: 5^th Ray Hynes

M40: 4^th Fergal Whitty

M50: 4^th Peter Gaffney

M70: 1^st Barry Potts

TEAMs:

SW: 4^th Donore Harriers <Nic Dhomhnaill, Kennedy-Clarke & Curley 9.04.31> 71 teams

MS: 9^th Donore Harriers <Hynes, Whitty, Andy Kinane 7.43.37> 112 teams

M35: 17^th Donore Harriers <Chris Muldoon, Ken Nugent, Sean Fox 8.32.05> 165 teams

M50: 23^rd Donore Harriers <Gaffney, Potts, Arthur Connick 10.59.31> 59 teams

DUBLIN CHAMPIONSHIPS medal winners

SW: 1^st Aislinn Nic Dhomhnaill

W35: 3^rd Ariana Ball

W45: 2^nd Anne Curley

M40: 1^st Fergal Whitty

M50: 1^st Peter Gaffney

M70: 1^st Barry Potts

TEAMs:

SW: 1^st Donore Harriers <Nic Dhomhnaill, Kennedy-Clarke, Curley 9.04.31>

M35: 1^st Donore Harriers <Hynes, Whitty, Gaffney 7.50.03>

LEINSTER CHAMPIONSHIPS medal winners

SW: 2^nd Aislinn Nic Dhomhnaill

M40: 1^st Fergal Whitty

M50: 2^nd Peter Gaffney

M70: 1^st Barry Potts

TEAMs:

SW: 1^st Donore Harriers <Nic Dhomhnaill, Kennedy-Clarke, Curley 9.04.31>

M35: 2^nd Donore Harriers <Hynes, Whitty, Gaffney 7.39.53>

PARKRUNS (02.11.2019)

Bushy: 98^th Tommy Halton M60 (27.58)

Corkagh: 34^th Nicola Dowdall W45 (24.14)

Griffeen: 74^th Terry Mee M75 (27.59)

Naas: 32^nd Mary McDermott W50 (24.35)

Poppintree: 9^th & 2^nd woman Kate Cleary W45 (21.57)

Porterstown (26.10.2019): 5^th & 2^nd woman Caroline McCarthy (20.53)

Waterstown: 4^th Dylan McKenna U14 (21.50),10^th & 1st woman: Katie Delaney U14 (23.53); 25^th Michael Barry M35 (27.58)