HIGHLIGHTS: Juvenile member Laura Nunan 2nd scorer on Irish team in the HOME COUNTRIES JUNIOR MOUNTAIN RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIPS in Cumbria. Wayne Waldron and Barry Potts were among the medallists at the NATIONAL HALF-MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIPS at Ratoath.

REPORT: <report/results by Gerry Naughton & Florence Curley> Juvenile member Laura Nunan represented Ireland in the recent BRITISH & IRISH JUNIOR MOUNTAIN RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIPS at Rothay Park, Ambleside, Cumbria (03.09.2022). She came 28th in the Under 17 girls race over a 5,700m course with almost 300 metres ascent. The challenging route included a very steep uphill stretch at the start before moving onto the trails which were a combination of rocky, grassy, boggy, mucky, undulating stretches before looping back to the final descent along the tarmac. Laura was the 2nd scorer on the Irish team that came 5th of 5 in the Home Countries championship. England were convincing winners.

The NATIONAL HALF-MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIPS was incorporated into the RATOATH HALF-MARATHON on Saturday with a small Donore Harriers representation coming away with a silver and bronze medal.
An improving Wayne Waldron, still a first-season athlete, finished 20th overall in a personal best time of 1.14.23 and in the process claimed the bronze medal in the national M35 category.
The silver medal was won by Barry Potts in the M70 age group, but he was only a few strides short of gold. The winner was Patrick Sweeney (1.39.01) of Mayo AC, who finished just two-seconds ahead of the Donore Harriers athlete. Potts later admitted that he hadn’t realised that Sweeney was so close, otherwise he would have made it a sprint for the line. Sweeney placed 367th overall in the race, with Potts in 369th spot.
Ken Nugent (1.16.14) came 33rd overall and was 6th in the M35 category. The next clubman home was Danny O’Sullivan (1.20.08) in 79th and 20th M40. He was followed by Oliver O’Hara (1.36.54) in 337th and 49th M45, then Des Gill (1.38.50) 365th and 19th M55.
Suzie Henley-Willis (1.43.00) ran a stormer to knock 5 minutes of her previous best time as she placed 447th of 834 finishers and was 23rd in the W40 category.
The men’s team of Wayne Waldron, Ken Nugent and Danny O’Sullivan placed 4th in both the senior/open and the M35 categories with a combined time of 3.50.51. They were just 45-seconds behind 3rd placed team Galway City Harriers in the M35 class.
The race started and finished at the Fairyhouse horse-racing venue and took in mostly flat minor country roads with the finishing 2-mile section around the racecourse. Bright sunshine and no wind meant that conditions were suited to fast times. The overall race was won by Yared Derese of Carrick Aces in 1.05.29.

Abdel Laadjel made a disappointing start to his cross-country season Stateside with a DNF in the FRIARS INVITATIONAL 8KM MEN’S RACE at Highland Park in Attleboro, Massachusetts on Friday. It was a combination of an exuberant start and a head-cold that saw Laadjel withdraw around the 2km mark.
The Providence College men’s team, that included Michael Morgan from Sligo AC, came 2nd behind Stonybrook. “I thought our guys were a little bit too aggressive at the start of the race and it hurt us at the end – lesson learned from that,” Coach Ray Treacy said. “We have some work to do over the next three weeks.” Abdel and his team will be back in action in the LEHIGH PAUL SHORT INVITE at Bethlehem, PA on the 30th of September.

In PARKRUNs juvenile member Dylan McKenna chalked up his 10th first finisher position at WATERSTOWN and master athlete Maura Kearns was the overall winner at NAAS. Another juvenile Eoin Mooney was 4th at CORKAGH.
More results below.

Results in brief:
BRITISH & IRISH JUNIOR MOUNTAIN RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIPS at Rothay Park, Ambleside, Cumbria (03.09.2022)
U17 GIRLS 5,700m: 28th Laura Nunan (30.16)
PROVIDENCE COLLEGE FRIARS INVITATIONAL 8KM MEN’S RACE at Highland Park, Attleboro, Massachusetts (09.09.2022)
DNF Abdel Laadjel
RATOATH HALF-MARATHON, incorporating NATIONAL HALF-MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIPS (10.09.2022)
20th & 3rd M35 Wayne Waldron (1.14.23 PB) BRONZE
33rd & 6th M35 Ken Nugent (1.16.14)
79th & 20th M40 Danny O’Sullivan (1.20.08)
337th & 49th M45 Oliver O’Hara (1.36.54)
365th & 19th M55 Des Gill (1.38.50)
369th & 2nd M70 Barry Potts (1.39.03) SILVER
447th & 23rd W40 Suzie Henley-Willis (1.43.00 PB)
834 finishers
MEN’S TEAM: 1. Crusaders AC (3.46.16), 4. Donore Harriers <Waldron, Nugent, O’Sullivan> (3.50.51)
M35 TEAM: 1. North Sligo AC (3.49.10), 4. Donore Harriers <Waldron, Nugent, O’Sullivan> (3.50.51)
PARKRUN (10.09.2022)
CASTLETOWN: 49th Joan McTernan W60 (27.54), 71st Anna McMahon W35 (31.23)
CORKAGH: 4th Eoin Mooney M11-14 (19.40 PB)
NAAS: 1st and 1st woman Maura Kearns W40 (18.53)
NEW ROSS: 27th Eugene Mac Curtain M55 (24.56), 40th Liz Mac Curtain W55 (28.09)
WATERSTOWN: 1st Dylan McKenna M15-17 (19.23)

HIGHLIGHTS: Barbara Cleary 1st woman in the IRELAND WEST 3-QUARTER MARATHON. Laurence O’Neill 10th in the WEST WATERFORD AC GREENWAY HALF-MARATHON. Ryan Aikins and Gavin Keogh 4th and 6th in the LUCAN AC 5-MILE. Donore Harriers men’s and women’s teams confirmed as DUBLIN 10 MILE CHAMPIONS. Emily Bolton a fine 9th overall in the recent AAA U15 CHAMPIONSHIPS.

REPORT: <report/results by Gerry Naughton & Florence Curley> Barbara Cleary continues to regain her 2021 form after a six-month injury enforced absence from competition by winning the IRELAND WEST 3-QUARTER MARATHON at Swinford on Saturday. She placed 8th overall in a time of 2 hours and 5 minutes and had more than 7 minutes to spare over runner-up Aoibhin Flatley of Swinford AC. She also won the W40 category.
The race was run in wet conditions and took a route along a relatively fast East Mayo course that passed the iconic Meelick Round Tower, Ballylahan Castle and the River Moy.
The club’s other competitor was Owen Robinson (2.32.31) who placed 43rd overall and was 22nd in the M40 class. There were 193 finishers.

In the WEST WATERFORD AC GREENWAY HALF-MARATHON on Saturday Laurence O’Neill (1.15.20) came an excellent 10th in a field of 539 finishers. The race was won by Pat Hennessy from the host club in 1.09.04. Hennessy formerly trained at Donore Harriers. The race was run along the old Waterford to Dungarvan railway line, which in 2017 was turned into a cycling and walking route.

Ryan Aikins (27.27) came 4th in Sunday’s LUCAN HARRIERS AC 5 MILE ROAD RACE with Gavin Keogh (28.20) two places behind and 2nd in the M40 age group. Club president Charlie O’Neill (44.05) came 168th of the 269 finishers.

Emily Bolton was part of a 43 strong Athletics Ireland juvenile team that travelled to Bedford to compete in the ATHLETICS ENGLAND U15 & U17 CHAMPIONSHIPS on Saturday 27th of August. Emily came 3rd in a very competitive Under 15 Girls 800m heat in a time of 2.16.88. There were 8 in the field and the winner was Natasha Wynn (2.13.19) from the Woodford Green & Essex Ladies club. The young Donore Harriers star ranked 9th overall and narrowly failed to progress to the final.

Kane Collins recently competed in the ROCHESTER MINNESOTA HALF-MARATHON (27.08.2022). He led until the 8-mile stage, but a combination of humidity and a hilly, meandering course meant that he had to settle for runner-up spot in a disappointing time of 1.13.44.

Donore Harriers won both the men’s and women’s team in the recent DUBLIN 10 MILE CHAMPIONSHIPS that was incorporated into the Frank Duffy 10. Individual medals were won by Josh O’Sullivan-Hourihan senior men gold; Grace Kennedy-Clarke W35 gold; Niamh Clifford senior women silver; Peter Gaffney M50 silver; Barbara Cleary senior women bronze; Wayne Waldron M35 bronze; Fergal Whitty M45 bronze and Barry Potts M65 bronze. That’s a total of 4 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze. See results lists below.

Four club athletes were first homers in this week’s PARKRUN events. At NAAS Maura Kearns ran 18.33 to finish as 3rd overall and 1st woman finisher. Caroline McCarthy (24.45) returned to competition with an encouraging 10th place and 1st woman at PORTERSTOWN. Mark Dooley (17.30) was another returning to competition and got 1st place at ORANMORE. Juvenile member Dylan McKenna (20.18) was 1st at WATERSTOWN.
More results below.

Results in brief:
IRELAND WEST 3 QUARTER MARATHON at Swinford, Co. Mayo (03.09.2022)
8th & 1st woman, 1st W40 Barbara Cleary (2.05.00)
43rd & 22nd M40 Owen Robinson (2.32.31)
193 finishers
WEST WATERFORD AC GREENWAY HALF-MARATHON (03.09.2022)
10th Laurence O’Neill (1.15.20)
539 finishers
ATHLETICS ENGLAND U15 & U17 CHAMPIONSHIPS at Bedford (27.08.2022)
U15 GIRLS 800M HEAT 3: 3rd Emily Bolton (2.16.88)
LUCAN HARRIERS AC 5 MILE ROAD RACE (04.09.2022)
4th Ryan Aikins (27.27)
6th & 2nd M40 Gavin Keogh (28.20)
168th Charlie O’Neill M60 (44.05)
269 finishers
ROCHESTER MINNESOTA HALF-MARATHON (27.08.2022)
2nd Kane Collins (1.13.44)
DUBLIN 10 MILE ROAD CHAMPIONSHIPS incorporated into the FRANK DUFFY 10 (20.08.2022)
SENIOR WOMEN: 2nd Niamh Clifford (1.00.30), 3rd Barbara Cleary (1.01.56)
W35: 1st Grace Kennedy-Clarke (1.04.57)
SENIOR MEN: 1st Josh O’Sullivan-Hourihan (51.22)
M35: 3rd Wayne Waldron (57.48)
M45: 3rd Fergal Whitty (1.00.29)
M50: 2nd Peter Gaffney (1.02.25)
M65: 3rd Barry Potts (1.17.04)
WOMEN’S TEAM: 1. Donore Harriers <Niamh Clifford 3, Barbara Cleary 5, Grace Kennedy-Clarke 8, Ariana Ball 20> 36; 2. Raheny Shamrocks AC 66; 3. Crusaders 85
MEN’S TEAM: 1. Donore Harriers <Josh O’Sullivan 2, Wayne Waldron 17, Kenneth Nugent 18, Luke Boland 30> 67; 2. Raheny Shamrocks AC 126; 3. Crusaders AC 142
PARKRUN (03.09.2022)
BUSHY: 82nd Thomas Halton M65 (31.55)
HARTSTOWN: 5th Fergal Whitty M45 (20.19)
NAAS: 3rd and 1st woman Maura Kearns W35 (18.33)
ORANMORE: 1st Mark Dooley MS (17.30)
PORTERSTOWN: 10th & 1st woman Caroline McCarthy W35 (24.45)
SPORTS CAMPUS IRELAND: 10th Paul Nunan M45 (22.15)
WATERSTOWN: 1st Dylan McKenna M15-17 (20.18)

HIGHLIGHTS: Donore Harriers M35 team of Alasdair Brown, Alan Keogh, and Craig Scott 2nd in the LEINSTER HALF-MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIPS at Tullamore. Ian Fitzgerald (1.14.27) 18th overall in the EAST COAST OPEN HALF MARATHON in Co. Antrim with Sorcha Loughnane (1.18.57) 3rd woman and 1st in the W45 class

REPORT: <report/results by Gerry Naughton & Florence Curley> The Donore Harriers M35 team came 2nd in the LEINSTER HALF-MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIP that was incorporated into the TULLAMORE HARRIERS AC QUINLAN & DELANEY CUP CHAMPIONSHIP RACES on Saturday afternoon.
Alasdair Brown led the time home in 26th spot in a time of 1.17.54. Next came Alan Keogh (1.18.15) just one place further back – with team captain Craig Scott closing out the scoring three in 45th place in a new personal best time of 1.19.15.
The M35 team came 2nd on 87 points, just 9 behind winners Crusaders AC and 15 clear of 3rd placed Mullingar Harriers. 20 teams closed in this category.
M45 athlete Didier Da Costa placed 45th overall in a PB of 1.19.18. His tally added to the first three Donore athletes home gave an overall team score of 154. Thus, the team came 6th of 23 teams in the Quinlan Cup competition that was won by the host club on a score of 74.
Chris Muldoon (1.22.45) was the first non-scorer in 47th place. Sinead O’Reilly (1.29.08) came 93rd and was the 6th woman finisher. The other club athletes in a field of 397 finishers were David McGrath (1.32.45) in 121st, John Paul O’Hanlon (1.35.59) in 147th and the evergreen M70 athlete Barry Potts (1.40.04) in 175th spot.

In the ANTRIM EAST COAST OPEN HALF-MARATHON at Larne on Sunday morning Ian Fitzgerald ran a super 1.14.27 to finish 18th overall. Wayne Waldron continues to show improved form with a PB of 1.16.06 to place 35th overall. Sorcha Loughnane (1.18.57) was the 3rd woman finisher when placing 66th overall and won the W45 age category. She also ran a PB time. The race had 1,442 finishers

Other club athletes in action during the week were Kieran Beausang who came 23rd of 52 finishers in the IMRA TOP OF COOM MOUNTAIN RACE at Kilgarvan in Co. Kerry on Sunday 21st of August. The race was over 11 kilometres with 350 metres of climbing;

Adam Foy (17.12) who marginally improved on his previous best club time when placing 32nd of 389 finishers in the CELBRIDGE AC 5KM ROAD RACE on Wednesday evening (24.08.2022); and two master athletes who competed in the last Business Houses AA race of the summer series on the same evening at Grangecastle in Clondalkin. Des Gill (20.49) came 59th and 5th M55 in the BHAA BFIZER 5KM ROAD RACE as Terry Mee (30.13) placed 180th and 3rd in the M75 category.

In PARKRUNs Sorcha Loughnane (24.11) was 1st woman finisher at FAIRVIEW and M75 runner Terry Mee got under 30 minutes with a 29.49 effort at CORKAGH. Fergal Whitty (17.55) was 3rd home at HARTSTOWN, with juvenile athletes Dylan McKenna (19.11), Lucas Collender (20.55) and Katie Delaney (24.56) up near the front at WATERSTOWN. More results below.

Results in brief:
IMRA TOP OF COOM at Kilgarvan, Co. Kerry (21.08.2022)
23rd Kieran Beausang M35 (1.12.55)
52 finishers
CELBRIDGE AC 5KM ROAD RACE at Celbridge (24.08.2022)
32nd Adam Foy MS (17.12)
389 finishers
BHAA PFIZER 5KM ROAD RACE at Grangecastle, Clondalkin (24.08.2022)
59th & 5th M55 Des Gill (20.49)
180th & 3rd M75 Terry Mee (30.13)
190 finishers
LEINSTER ATHLETICS HALF-MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIPS at Tullamore (27.08.2022)
26th Alasdair Brown M35 (1.17.54)
27th Alan Keogh M40 (1.18.15)
34th Craig Scott M40 (1.19.15 PB)
34th Didier Da Costa M45 (1.19.18 PB)
47th Chris Muldoon M45 (1.22.45)
93rd & 6th woman Sinead O’Reilly W40 (1.29.08)
121st David McGrath MS (1.32.45)
147th John Paul O’Hanlon M35 (1.35.59)
175th Barry Potts M70 (1.40.04)
397 finishers
M35 TEAMS: 1. Crusaders AC (78), 2. Donore Harriers <Brown, Keogh, Scott> (87), 3. Mullingar Harriers (102). 20 teams closed.
TULLAMORE HARRIERS QUINLAN CUP (4 to score): 1. Tullamore Harriers 74, 6. Donore Harriers <Brown, Keogh, Scott, Da Costa> 154. 23 teams closed
ANTRIM EAST COAST OPEN HALF-MARATHON (28.08.2022)
18th Ian Fitzgerald (1.14.27 PB)
35th Wayne Waldron (1.16.06 PB)
66th, 3rd woman and 1st W45 Sorcha Loughnane (1.18.57 PB)
1,442 finishers
PARKRUN (27.08.2022)
BUSHY: 98th Thomas Halton M65 (32.01)
CORKAGH: 84th Ciaran McCarthy M45 (29.26), 89th Terry Mee M75 (29.49)
FAIRVIEW: 17th & 1st woman Sorcha Loughnane W45 (24.11)
HARTSTOWN: 3rd Fergal Whitty M45 (17.55)
ST. ANNE’S: 9th Owen Robinson M40 (19.24)
WATERSTOWN: 2nd Dylan McKenna M15-17 (19.11), 4th Lucas Collender M15-17 (20.55, 14th & 2nd woman Katie Delaney W15-17 (24.56)

HIGHLIGHTS: Josh O’Sullivan-Hourihan 2nd overall and Niamh Clifford 3rd woman in the FRANK DUFFY 10 MILE ROAD RACE. They respectively came 1st man and 2nd woman in the incorporated DUBLIN CHAMPIONSHIP. Both Donore Harriers teams claimed gold (unconfirmed)

REPORT: <report/results by Gerry Naughton & Florence Curley> Josh O’Sullivan -Hourihan and Niamh Clifford finished 2nd overall and 3rd woman in the FRANK DUFFY 10 MILE ROAD RACE in the Phoenix Park on a warm and windy Saturday morning.
The race incorporated the DUBLIN CHAMPIONSHIPS with O’Sullivan-Hourihan elevated to winner and Clifford runner-up in the respective men’s and women’s contests. O’Sullivan-Hourihan, a regular member on the Irish orienteering team, was in a front group of 3 through the opening miles together with Peter Somba of Dunboyne AC and Martin Hoare of Celbridge AC. By the half-way mark Hoare lost ground on the leaders, with the Donore man staying on the heels of Kenyan native Somba. The race was decided over the final two miles as Somba (51.14) gradually increased his narrow advantage to seven seconds. It was a tremendous effort by O’Sullivan-Hourihan (51.21), who was competing in his first ever 10-mile race. Hoare came 3rd in 52.10. Josh posted on his strava.com account afterwards: ‘Not entirely sure where that came from, but happy regardless! Given the course and conditions the time is better than the aim was! … Obviously happy with the outcome, a good performance just after starting my season off. 2 good race weekends back-to-back. Big PB. Took 2:30 off my 10-mile split during Charleville (half-marathon) 2 years ago’.
The women’s race was more clear-cut from the opening miles as Kate Purcell (59.31) of Raheny Shamrocks AC opened a gap on Caitlyn Harvey (1.00.09) of Annadale Striders. The race for the bronze medal became a contest between two Donore Harriers athletes – Niamh Clifford and Barbara Cleary. Cleary, returning to competition after a six-month absence due to injury, ran her usual gutsy race and held a clear 3rd place at the 3 miles point. But a lack of race sharpness meant that she was unable to hold form and she was passed by Clifford before the half-way mark and ultimately had to settle for 5th place in a time of 1.01.53. She won the W45 category by almost 7 minutes ahead of Sinead Tighe of Brothers Pearse AC.
Clifford (1.00.20), who recently won the Run Killarney half-marathon, closed the gap on Annadale’s Harvey in the closing stages to just 11 seconds – having been half-a-minute behind at the halfway point.
As Somba and Harvey are members of clubs outside of Dublin County then O’Sullivan-Hourihan and Clifford finished as the men’s winner and women’s runners-up in the incorporated Dublin 10-mile championships.
With the team scores yet to be confirmed a crunching of the numbers suggests that Donore Harriers won both the men’s and women’s titles.
Wayne Waldron (57.45) knocked more than 2 minutes of his personal best time to finish 17th overall and 5th in the M35 category. He was followed home by two Waterhouse Byrne Baird shield winners as Ken Nugent (57.57), the winner in 2021, occupied 18th place and was the 6th M35 – with the 2019 winner Luke Boland (58.43) closing out the scoring 4 in 30th place. Boland, who also missed several months of competition, ran a well-judged race to place 7th in the M35 category.
The women’s scoring team members, behind Clifford and Cleary, were Grace Kennedy-Clarke (1.04.44) 140th overall and Ariana Ball (1.09.28) in 302nd position. Kennedy-Clarke’s time suggests that she has returned to her fine racing form of a few years ago. She was the 8th woman finisher and came 2nd in the W35 category. Ball knocked nearly a minute of her previous best time and was the 20th woman finisher and 5th in the W35 age-group.
Fergal Whitty (1.00.27) came home in 54th spot and placed 6th in the M45 category. Peter Gaffney placed 84th in a time of 1.02.19 and narrowly lost out on 3rd place in the M50 class to John Reilly of Drogheda & District AC.
Chris Muldoon (1.03.56) came 126th and 13th M45 and Declan Lynch was 138th and 46th in the M40 class in a time of 1.04.57. The next clubman home was Kevin Odgers (1.05.17) who placed 156th overall and 19th in the M45 category. He was followed in by Tony Barry (1.05.49), competing for the first time since the 2019 Dublin Marathon, in 170th spot and 53rd in the M40 age-group. Cian Dowdall (1.09.02) was 297th and the 58th senior male finisher.
Pamela White (1.11.33) must be ranked as the most improved club runner this year as she continues to take minutes of her PB times. Despite the windy conditions and the undulating course, she knocked 11 minutes of her previous best time and placed 374th overall. She was the 29th woman finisher and came 9th in the W35 category.
Tony Griffin (1.12.04) came 395th and 6th M60, Owen Robinson (1.12.18) placed 422nd overall and was the 102nd M40 athlete, and Des Gill (1.16.32) was 569th and 22nd in the M55 category.
Barry Potts (1.17.00) added to his impressive medal collection by placing 589th and was the winner of the M70 class.
Also, among a field of more than 2,500 finishers were John Gleeson (1.21.19) in 919th and 79th in the M50 category – and Dana Mackey (1.37.30) who was the 521st woman to cross the line.

Among the PARKRUN competitors this week were W80 athlete Ann Woodlock who came 45th at BRICKFIELDS in a time of 37.17 – and M75 member Terry Mee (31.03) who came 74th at CORKAGH. More results below.

Results in brief:
FRANK DUFFY 10 MILE ROAD RACE, INC THE DUBLIN CHAMPIONSHIPS (20.08.2022)
2nd & 1st in Dublin Championships Josh O’Sullivan-Hourihan (51.21 PB)
17th & 5th M35 Wayne Waldron (57.45 PB)
18th & 6th M35 Ken Nugent (57.57)
30th & 7th M35 Luke Boland (58.43)
54th & 6th M45 Fergal Whitty (1.00.27)
55th, 3rd woman & 2nd in Dublin Championships Niamh Clifford (1.00.20)
72nd, 5th woman & 1st W45 Barbara Cleary (1.01.53)
84th & 4th M50 Peter Gaffney (1.02.19)
126th & 13th M45 Chris Muldoon (1.03.56)
138th & 46th M40 Declan Lynch (1.04.47)
140th, 8th woman & 2nd W35 Grace Kennedy-Clarke (1.04.44)
156th & 19th M45 Kevin Odgers (1.05.17)
170th & 53rd M40 Tony Barry (1.05.49)
297th & 58th MS Cian Dowdall (1.09.02)
302nd, 20th woman & 5th W35 Ariana Ball (1.09.28 PB)
374th, 29th woman & 9th W35 Pamela White (1.11.33 PB)
395th & 6th M60 Tony Griffin (1.12.04)
422nd & 102nd M40 Owen Robinson (1.12.18)
569th & 22nd M55 Des Gill (1.16.32)
589th & 1st M70 Barry Potts (1.17.00)
919th & 79th M50 John Gleeson (1.21.19)
1,805th, 480th woman & 72nd W35 Louise Kelly (1.35.02)
1,918th, 521st woman & 127th W45 Dana Mackey (1.37.30)
DNF Louise Kelly & Ian Fitzgerald
2,559 finishers
INCORPORATED DUBLIN CHAMPIONSHIPS – full results to follow
MEN’S TEAM: 1. Donore Harriers (unconfirmed)
WOMEN’S TEAM: 1. Donore Harriers (unconfirmed)
PARKRUN (20.08.2022)
BRICKFIELDS: 45th Ann Woodlock W80 (37.17)
BUSHY: 95th Thomas Halton M65 (31.39)
CORKAGH: 30th & 8th woman Nicola Dowdall W45 (25.56), 74th Terry Mee M75 (31.03)
HARTSTOWN: 9th Mark Devine M45 (23.23)
MALAHIDE: 2nd Alasdair Brown M35 (17.38)
NEW ROSS: 42nd & 10th woman Liz MacCurtain W55 (28.49), 43rd Eugene MacCurtain M55 (28.50)
TYMON: 30th & 9th woman Sarah NiRuairc W40 (27.16)
WATERSTOWN: 48th Andrew Maguire M55 (48.58)

HIGHLIGHTS: Men’s team came 4th in the final of the NATIONAL TRACK & FIELD LEAGUE premier division with strong performances from Jack Raftery, Paul McDermott, Daragh McAuley, James Bolton, Rory Burke, Niall Allen and Didier Da Costa. Niall Allen 3 gold medals, a silver for Emmet O’Briain and bronze for both Fiona Smith-Keegan and Faith Hopkins (and a new club record) in the NATIONAL MASTERS TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS. Abdel Laadjel 4th in the BOBBY DOYLE 5-MILE ROAD CLASSIC in Rhode Island.

REPORT: <report/results by Gerry Naughton & Florence Curley> It was a gallant effort, but it wasn’t meant to be! The Donore Harriers men’s team came 4th of 8 teams in the final of the NATIONAL TRACK & FIELD LEAGUE premier division at Tullamore on Sunday.
With several of the club’s leading athletes not available it was always going to be a tall order for the team to get among the medals. The event became a day of honest endeavours with several athletes heroically attempting events for the very first time in search of those valuable league points.
Didier Da Costa was certainly a hero! The 49 years-old Frenchman, who is more at home running ultra-distance races, did his first race-walk practice just 5 days before taking on an entirely new athletics challenge – the 3,000m Race Walk. He settled early into 2nd place and remained unperturbed by the issue of a warning card at the halfway stage. Didier later explained: “I just decided to lower my pace a little and focus on my technique”. It worked! Da Costa completed the 7 and a-half laps in 20.52.23, placing 2nd and took a wonderful 7 points for the team.
When Oran O’Brien and then Alex Conway became unavailable to compete in the Hammer and Shot Putt a last-minute call went out for club newcomer Emmet Naughton to compete. Naughton struggled to get to grips with the Hammer technique and fouled his opening throw. He then played it safe and threw a couple of ‘markers’ – the best of 10.28m getting him 6th place from 6 competitors – and 3 points.
Naughton then competed in his first Shot Putt event and used the basic standing pose and fast arm technique to throw a first effort best of 7.75m to place 5th of 8 competitors. He was just one-centimetre shy of 4th placed athlete Hugh Finnegan of Ratoath AC. His combined 7 points, coupled with Da Costa’s 7, helped to keep Donore Harriers in touch with the leaders on the scorecard.
The very consistent Daragh McAuley took 2nd place and 7 points in the 400m Hurdles, narrowly losing out to Sean Carmody (57.72) of Leevale AC. He managed to withhold the challenge of both Timmy Crowe (58.70) of Clonliffe Harriers and Robert Hayes (59.67) of DSD AC in one of the most exciting races of the day.
The club’s leading male sprinter Paul McDermott also put himself in the deep end by competing in the Long Jump for the very first time. A fourth and last round effort of 5.38m elevated McDermott from 8th to 5th place and secured 4 points towards the overall score.
The 4 x 100m relay team of Adam Halpin, Zak Higgins, Paul McDermott, and Jack Raftery came 4th in 43.50 and picked up 5 points.
The team did not have a competitor in either the 110m Hurdles or the Pole Vault, thus after 8 events Clonliffe Harriers led on 53, with Leevale AC on 42, Nenagh Olympic on 35, and Donore Harriers on 26.
Despite running from the inside lane, a dominant Jack Raftery (48.27) picked up the team’s only 9-pointer by winning the 400m sprint ahead of James Ezeonu (49.27) of Leevale AC.
In the 1,500m seventeen years old James Bolton (4.03.96) ran within a fraction of his personal best to place 4th in a competitive field. The race was won by Johnny Wahn (3.59.52) of Clonliffe Harriers with Irish international Paul O’Donnell (4.02.09) of DSD AC just one place in front of Bolton.
Likewise, it was a full-hearted run by Rory Burke in the 3,000m steeplechase to get 4th place in a personal best time of 10.12.58. This was Burke’s second time to compete in the steeplechase, the first being two weeks previous when he ran 10.39.46 in the league qualifier at Athlone. The only dampener on his run was being caught on the line by 3rd placed Shane Spring of Raheny Shamrocks.
Next on the track for Donore was Paul McDermott (22.13) who narrowly lost out in a three-way dive for the line to James Ezeonu and Andrew Egan of Galway City Harriers – both of whom were timed at 22.09.
Michael McCarthy got a first-attempt clearance over 1.50m to finish 6th in the High Jump and Niall Allen gained 5 points with 4th in the Discus throw with a best of 30.61m.
After 14 of the 21 events were completed Clonliffe Harriers were on 92, Leevale AC 84, Nenagh Olympic 74 and Donore Harriers 63. The next best was DSD AC on 46.
Jack Byrne was up next in the 800m. What a brave run! He gave it socks! He took an early lead, kept it, momentarily lost it at the 500m point – but then quickly surged to regain the top spot. If only the race was 750m and not 800m! The big hitters charged in the final 50m to relegate Byrne (1.59.64) to 5th, as Fintan Kerins (1.57.79) of Clonliffe Harriers sprinted to victory.
In the 5,000m race Josh O’Sullivan-Hourihan (15.16.02) ran a track PB to pick up 6 points behind Robert Frewen (15.07.39) of Raheny Shamrocks AC and Ian Guiden (15.11.87) of Clonliffe Harriers. The Nenagh Olympic athlete James Tanner came 4th, thus Donore were making little gains here and there in the battle for the bronze – but those gongs seemed more and more elusive as the day progressed.
Out in the field, Niall Allen (5.96m) – tired from competing in 3 events in the previous day’s National Masters – only made a mark with the 3rd of his 4 attempts. It was good enough to get him 2nd position and 7 points, albeit Nenagh Olympic took 6.
Zak Higgins, competing in the Javelin for only the second time, came 6th with a best of 33.11m – and Michael McCarthy (11.51m) was 5th in the Triple Jump.
With just two events remaining Donore Harriers were 12 points down on Nenagh Olympic. Paul McDermott (11.09) ran a brilliant 2nd in the 100m sprint to claw back 3 points.
The 4 x 400m relay became the Jack Raftery show! Conor Fox opened, then it was Jack Byrne, and then Daragh McAuley who gained from 5th to 4th. Raftery, the recent World Mixed Relay finalist, took the baton a distant 4th and started to ‘eat up the ground’. Suddenly the impossible became possible! He gained to 2nd place with a 47.7 (hand-timed) circuit. Ratoath AC won in 3.26.34 with Donore Harriers on 3.27.41 and Nenagh Olympic AC 3rd with 3.28.50.
When the points were tallied, and the 4 lowest events discarded from each team the final score (subject to clarification) read 1. Clonliffe Harriers 126, 2. Leevale AC 112, 3. Nenagh Olympic 103, 4. Donore Harriers 95, 5. Ratoath AC 71, 6. DSD AC 70, 7. Raheny Shamrocks AC 68, 8. Galway City Harriers 32.

On the previous day the NATIONAL MASTERS TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS took place at the same venue in almost 30 degrees of heat. Niall Allen came away with three gold medals. He won the M45 2kg Discus with a best of 29.01m ahead of Ronan McKenna (26.27m) of Glaslough AC.
Allen (11.32m) also overcame the challenge of McKenna (9.62m) to win the Shot Putt. His third gold medal came in the 56lb Weight-For-Distance with a best mark of 6.26m, thus relegating the challenge of Colm Donoghue (5.40m) of Lusk AC to the runner-up spot.
Emmet O’Briain (4.23.12) took silver in a competitive M45 1,500m race won by Lee Fulcher (4.21.09) of Liffey Valley AC with Paul Fleming (4.23.75) of Rathfarnham AC narrowly failing to beat the Donore man in the sprint finish.
Aidan O’Rourke, in his first race of the year, found himself in a tactical M35 800m final. The 6-man field passed the halfway mark in a slow 72 seconds, so the final 300m became a burn-up. Pre-race favourite James Ledingham (2.08.42) of Kilkenny City Harriers took top spot with O’Rourke having to settle for 5th place in 2.13.39 after a 61 seconds final lap.
Fiona Smith-Keegan and Faith Hopkins were busy in field events, and they won a bronze medal each. Smith-Keegan (0.95m) came 3rd in the W45 High Jump – and Hopkins (6.73m) came 3rd in the W45 Shot Putt.
Smith-Keegan (13.32) placed 4th in the 1kg W45 Discus and 5th (19.03m) in the 600g Javelin. Hopkins (10.85m) came 7th in the Javelin and 4th in the 28lb Weight-For-Distance. Despite the disappointment of just missing a medal in the latter, Faith had the satisfaction of improving her club record for the event set two weeks ago by 16 centimetres. The new mark is 4.48m.
An interesting competitor in the championships was Christina Smith from Moy Valley AC. Smith, a W80 category athlete and the mother of Fiona Smith-Keegan, took a late decision to enter to 3 events. She won all 3! Her best marks in the Shot Putt and Javelin were 3.04m and 5.49m, whilst she ran the 100m sprint in 42.59.
Also in attendance at the championships was regular club race-walker Anne Gormley, who was Team Manager for the successful 89 strong Irish team at the World Masters Championships held in Tampere, Finland in June 2022.

First season athlete Wayne Waldron (17.20) took 9th place in last Friday evening’s inaugural KELLS HERITAGE 5KM ROAD RACE. The winner was Peter Somba (15.08) of Dunboyne AC. 364 runners completed the out and back course.

Abdel Laadjel opened his 2nd season in the States with 4th place in the BOBBY DOYLE 5-MILE CLASSIC at Narragansett, Rhode Island on Sunday evening. The scenic race in memory of the Long Island running legend Bobby Doyle was run in 33 degrees heat. Laadjel ran a time of 24 minutes flat and can claim a club Under 20 record for the distance.

Also Stateside was Suzie Henley-Willis who placed 129th and 34th woman in the ADVENT HEALTH 5KM ROAD RACE at Orlanda, Florida on Saturday.

Top performances in this week’s PARKRUNs were Dylan McKenna, an Under 17 category athlete, who was first finisher at WATERSTOWN. Jean Murphy W35 and Katie Delaney U17 were 1st and 3rd woman home at the same venue. Sinead O’Reilly was the 2nd woman finisher at the Royal Canal Parkrun in KILCOCK. More results below.

Results in brief:
KELLS HERITAGE 5KM ROAD RACE (12.08.2022)
9th Wayne Waldron MS (17.20)
364 finishers
NATIONAL MASTERS TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS at Tullamore (13.08.2022)
M35 800m FINAL: 6th Aidan O’Rourke (2.13.50)
M45 1,500m FINAL: 2nd Emmet O’Briain (4.23.12) SILVER
W45 HIGH JUMP: 3rd Fiona Smith-Keegan (0.95m) BRONZE
W45 1kg DISCUS: 4th Fiona Smith-Keegan (13.32m)
M45 2kg DISCUS: 1st Niall Allen (29.01m) GOLD
W45 4kg SHOT PUTT: 3rd Faith Hopkins (6.73m) BRONZE
M45 7.26kg SHOT PUTT: 1st Niall Allen (11.32m) GOLD
W45 600g JAVELIN: 5th Fiona Smith-Keegan (19.03m), 7th Faith Hopkins (10.85m)
W45 28lb WFD: 4th Faith Hopkins (4.48m PB & club record)
M45 56lb WFD: 1st Niall Allen (6.26m) GOLD
NATIONAL TRACK & FIELD LEAGUE FINAL at Tullamore (14.08.2022)
MEN’S PREMIER DIVISION
100M: 2nd Paul McDermott (11.09) – 7 points
110M HURDLES: no competitor
200M: 3rd Paul McDermott (22.13) – 6 points
400M: 1st Jack Raftery (48.27) – 9 points
400M HURDLES: 2nd Daragh McAuley (58.27) – 7 points
800M: 5th Jack Byrne (1.59.64) – 4 points
1,500M: 4th James Bolton (4.03.96) – 5 points
5,000M: 3rd Josh O’Sullivan-Hourihan (15.16.02 PB) – 6 points
3,000M STEEPLECHASE: 4th Rory Burke (10.12.58 PB) – 5 points
3,000M WALK: 2nd Didier Da Costa (20.52.23) event debut – 7 points
LONG JUMP: 5th Paul McDermott (5.58m) event debut – 4 points
HIGH JUMP: 6th Michael McCarthy Snr (1.50m) – 3 points
TRIPLE JUMP: 5th Michael McCarthy Snr (11.51m) – 4 points
POLE VAULT: no competitor
SHOT PUTT: 5th Emmet Naughton (7.75m) event debut – 4 points
DISCUS: 4th Niall Allen (30.61m) – 5 points
HAMMER: 6th Emmet Naughton (10.28m) event debut – 3 points
JAVELIN: 6th Zak Higgins (33.11) debut – 3 points
56LB W4D: 2nd Niall Allen (5.96m) – 7 points
4 x 100m RELAY: 4th Donore Harriers <Adam Halpin, Zak Higgins, Paul McDermott, Jack Raftery> 43.50 – 5 points
4 x 400m RELAY: 2nd Donore Harrriers <Conor Fox, Jack Byrne, Daragh McAuley, Jack Raftery> 3.27.41 – 7 points
MEN’S TEAM SCORE: 1. Clonliffe Harriers 126, 2. Leevale AC 112, 3. Nenagh Olympic 103, 4. Donore Harriers 95, 5. Ratoath AC 71, 6. DSD AC 70, 7. Raheny Shamrocks AC 68, 8. Galway City Harriers 32.
ADVENT HEALTH 5KM ROAD RACE at Orlanda, Florida (13.08.2022)
129th & 34th woman Suzie Henley Willis (22.28)
BOBBY DOYLE 5-MILE CLASSIC at Narragansett, Rhode Island (14.08.2022)
4th Abdel Laadjel (24.00 club U20 record)
PARKRUN (13.08.2022)
BRICKFIELDS: 28th Ciaran McCarthy M45 (30.54)
CASTLETOWN: 53rd Joan McTernan W60 (26.24)
CORKAGH: 92nd Terry Mee M75 (32.08)
GRIFFEEN: 51st Charlie O’Neill M65 (26.13)
HARTSTOWN: 8th Tom Fagan M50 (21.29)
MARLAY: 12th Patrick Moriarty M45 (19.01)
ROYAL CANAL, KILCOCK: 6th & 2nd woman Sinead O’Reilly W40 (21.03)
WATERSTOWN: 1st Dylan McKenna W15-17 (20.41), 6th & 1st woman Jean Murphy W35 (25.00), 13th & 3rd woman Katie Delaney W15-17 (26.55), 47th Andrew Maguire M55 (48.44)

HIGHLIGHTS: Niamh Clifford 1st woman home in the RUN KILLARNEY HALF-MARATHON. Ide & Sorcha NicDhomhnaill 1st and 2nd in the STREETS OF GALWAY 8KM. Faith Hopkins threw a Shot Putt PB to take 2nd place in DUBLIN GRADED/CHAMPIONSHIP. Robert Murphy 2nd and 1st M40 in the KILBEGGAN 10 MILE. Daragh Keegan (7th overall) and Pam White were M35 & W35 age category winners in the STREETS OF ATHBOY 5KM.

REPORT: <report/results by Gerry Naughton & Florence Curley> Donore Harriers had 3 members compete in the RUN KILLARNEY HALF-MARATHON on Saturday morning. The race started and finished at the Gleneagles Hotel and took a picturesque out and back route along the N71 which took in views of Lough Leane and Muckross Lake, before turning around at the edge of the Upper Lake.
Niamh Clifford (1.20.01) – who was 16th overall – was the first woman home in a time of 1.20.01, finishing well clear of runner-up Eva Garcia-Morales (1.23.10) from Spain. The time places Clifford 9th in the Irish half-marathon list for 2022.
One place ahead of Clifford in the overall race was Alan Keogh (1.19.33) who ran a PB despite making a last-minute decision to enter the race. He placed 6th in the M40 category.
An improving Katherine Marsh (1.47.59) ran the race despite an ankle niggle and placed 271st overall from the 869 finishers and was the 24th woman home.

The NicDhomhnaill sisters Ide and Sorcha were back to the fore of Irish road running with another impressive one-two finish in the STREETS OF GALWAY 8KM ROAD RACE on Saturday. Ide (26.50) came 15th overall to win the women’s category with Sorcha (26.55) 17th and 2nd woman finisher. The Donore duo were pushed hard, particularly in the early stages of the race, by Providence College student Laura Mooney (27.08) of Tullamore Harriers.
Also, in a field of more than two-thousand runners were Alasdair Brown (27.29) in 23rd place and Simon O’Toole (28.46) in 45th.

An improving Daragh Keegan just missed out on breaking the 16 minutes barrier, but his 16.03 time was a personal best and good enough for 7th place overall and 1st M35 in the STREETS OF ATHBOY 5KM ROAD RACE on Friday evening. Adam Foy recorded a season’s best time of 17.06 when placing 18th, whilst Pamela White (20.30) took 13 seconds off her previous best time when crossing the line in 99th place. She was 16th woman home and 1st in the W35 category. There were 340 finishers
Robert Murphy (52.35) finished a fine 2nd in the KILBEGGAN 10 MILE ROAD RACE on Sunday. The race route followed the old N6 Galway Road to Horseleap Village before passing Clara village and returning to Kilbeggan.
Murphy used the race as part of his preparation for the Berlin Marathon which takes place on the 25th of September. He won the M40 category. The club’s other competitor was Chris Muldoon (1.05.06) who was 37th out of the 181 finishers and 20th M40.

In the 8th and final DUBLIN OPEN GRADED MEETING of the season held at the Lucan track last Wednesday Faith Hopkins threw a personal best in the Women’s Shot Putt of 7.09m to take the silver medal in the incorporated Dublin Championship. Jack Byrne (53.29) came 2nd in the Men’s 400 B grade race, whilst Michael McCarthy (57.70) won the 400m D grade.

Kieran Beausang and Ben Conroy completed the tough IRISH MOUNTAIN RUNNING ASSOCIATION’S LOG NA COILLE race on Sunday 31st of July. The 10.46km race had a total climb of 718 metres, with the event described as “a serious mountain challenge”. Beausang (1.21.28) placed 31st and Conroy (1.29.35) 35th of the 39 finishers. The race was part of the Irish championship league series.

The IMRA SUGAR BOWL race, held on Wednesday evening, included a circuit and a climb at the Sugar Loaf Mountain. Experienced mountain runner Niall Lynch completed the 7.5km route in 40.36 to place 17th of 169 finishers. Deirdre NicCanna (43.37) was 37th overall and 2nd woman finisher, whilst Honor Lynch (53.44) was the 1st junior woman when placing 95th overall. The race was run in pleasant conditions, which helped the athletes who faced a total of 450 metres of climbing.

Best club results in this week’s PARKRUNs were Sinead O’Reilly (20.25) 4th overall and 1st woman at KILCOCK, Florence Curley (21.37) 5th and 1st woman at HARTSTOWN, and Aisling Kirby (23.22) 9th and 1st woman finisher at FAIRVIEW. More results below.

Results in brief:
IMRA LOG NA COILLE, Camara Hill, Co. Wicklow (31.07.2022)
31st Kieran Beausang (1.21.28)
35th Ben Conroy (1.29.35)
39 finishers
IMRA SUGAR BOWL at the Sugar Loaf near Kilmacanogue (03.08.2022)
17th Niall Lynch (40.36)
37th & 2nd woman Deirdre NicCanna (43.27)
95th & 1st Junior woman Honor Lynch (53.44)
169 finishers
DUBLIN OPEN GRADED MEETING NO. 8 inc. DUBLIN CHAMPIONSHIPS at Lucan Track (03.08.2022)
WOMEN’S SHOT PUTT: 2nd Faith Hopkins (7.09m PB) SILVER
MEN’S B GRADE 400M: 2nd Jack Byrne (53.29)
MEN’S D GRADE 400M: 1st Michael McCarthy Snr (57.70)
STREETS OF ATHBOY 5KM ROAD RACE (05.08.2022)
7th & 1st M35 Daragh Keegan (16.03 PB)
18th Adam Foy (17.06)
99th, 16th woman & 1st W35 Pamela White (20.30 PB)
340 finishers
RUN KILLARNEY HALF-MARATHON (06.08.2022)
15th & 6th M40 Alan Keogh (1.19.33)
16th & 1st SW Niamh Clifford (1.20.01)
271st & 24th SW Katherine Marsh (1.47.59)
869 finishers
STREETS OF GALWAY 5KM ROAD RACE (06.08.2022)
15th & 1st woman Ide NicDhomhnaill (26.50)
17th & 2nd woman Sorcha NicDhomhnaill (26.55)
23rd Alasdair Brown (27.29)
45th Simon O’Toole (28.46)
2,034 finishers
KILBEGGAN 10 MILE ROAD RACE (07.08.2022)
2nd & 1st M40 Robert Murphy (52.35)
37th & 20th M40 Chris Muldoon (1.05.06)
181 finishers
PARKRUN (06.08.2022)
BUSHY: 102nd Thomas Halton M65 (33.07)
CASTLETOWN: 93rd Anna McMahon W35 (32.02)
FAIRVIEW: 9th & 1st woman Aisling Kirby WS (23.22)
GRIFFEEN: 51st Charlie O’Neill M65 (26.13)
HARTSTOWN: 5th & 1st woman Florence Curley W45 (21.37)
MARLAY: 4th Patrick Moriarty M45 (18.56)
NEW ROSS: 52nd Liz McCurtain W55 (29.00), 53rd Eugene McCurtain M55 (29.01)
ROYAL CANAL, KILCOCK: 4th & 1st woman Sinead O’Reilly W40 (20.25)
RUSSBOROUGH: 15th & 4th woman Nicola Dowdall W45 (26.13)
WATERSTOWN: 21st & 5th woman Delaney W15-17 (26.27), 78th Andrew Maguire M55 (57.44)

HIGHLIGHTS: Donore Harriers men’s team recorded a surprise win in the 2nd qualifying round of the NATIONAL TRACK & FIELD LEAGUE. The women’s team came 5th as Deirdre NicAnna (steeplechase) and Faith Hopkins (28lb WFD) set new club records. Amy Moriarty 3rd woman in IP TELECOM 10KM NIGHT RUN. Wayne Waldron 1st in INNER CITY RC HALF-MARATHON.

REPORT: <report/results by Gerry Naughton & Florence Curley> It was mixed fortunes for the Donore Harriers teams in the 2nd qualifying round of the NATIONAL TRACK & FIELD LEAGUE at Athlone Track on Sunday. The men’s team (127 points) recorded a notable win by edging out Clonliffe Harriers (125) and Ratoath AC (120) in a thrilling contest. A much-depleted women’s team – without stars Lara O’Byrne, Aoife Lynch and Caoimhe Mackey – came 5th on 64 points behind a strong Tipperary County team (155).
The men’s team did well in the throwing events. Oran O’Brien won the Hammer with a best of 28.45m and came 2nd in the Shot Putt with 12.14m. Likewise, Niall Allen (6.42m) took 9 points in the 56lb Weight-For-Distance and added seven more when 2nd in the Discus with a mark of 28.99m. Michael McCarthy (26.23m) came 3rd in the Javelin and his six points gave Donore Harriers a solid 38 points in the throws.
Gavin Curtin returned to competition after missing the summer season with injury and won a tactical 5,000m race in 15.43.22. Curtin closed with a 67-seconds last lap to overtake Stephen Cashin of Clonliffe Harriers. More maximum points were gained by Rory Burke (10.39.46) in his very first 3,000m steeplechase competition. Jack Byrne (2.00.87) came 3rd in the 800m, and Michael McCarthy (5.28.87) stepped into the breach to place 4th in the 1,500m to pick up a valuable 5 points.
Paul McDermott came 2nd in both the 100m and 200m. First, he narrowly lost out to Andrew Egan (21.87) of Galway City Harriers in the 200m by just six-hundredths of a second, and later ran 10.95 to finish 2nd to Chris Sibanda of Clonliffe Harriers in the 100m.
The ever-consistent Daragh McAuley (58.94) won the 400m Hurdles with plenty to spare. Conor Fox (56.23) came 4th in the 400m sprint to add another 5 points to the team total.
The recent World mixed-relay finalist Jack Raftery came equal first in the High Jump with a personal best effort of 1.80m. Having cleared all the heights from 1.50m to 1.75m he failed his first attempt at 1.80m. He touched the bar with his next effort, but it somehow managed to bounce up and rest back on the bar pegs, so the big man got to share top points with Keith Marks of Clonliffe Harriers.
The versatile and busy Michael McCarthy (11.46m) came 2nd in the Triple Jump and Zak Higgins (3.64m) was 4th in the Long Jump.
Donore Harriers came 2nd in the 4 x 100m relay in 43.91. The quartet included Adam Halpin, Paul McDermott, Conor Fox and the fast-finishing Jack Raftery.
The 4 x 400m relay team (3.39.10) of Daragh McAuley, Jack Byrne, Conor Fox and Adam Halpin came 4th after holding 2nd place for most of the race.
Despite coming a disappointing 5th, the women’s team came away from Athlone with two new club records. Deirdre NicAnna running in the 3,000m steeplechase for the first time had an excellent race helped by good hurdling technique to place 2nd behind Aine O’Farrell (12.17.16) of Galway City Harriers. NicAnna’s time of 12.23.18 is a new club record time for the event and well inside the previous club best time set by Ruby Jane Kelly in 2019.
Faith Hopkins, on her competitive debut, threw the 28lb Weight-For-Distance 4.32m to finish in 4th place. Her throw was 5 centimetres beyond the previous club record mark set by Michelle Pilkington in 2005. Hopkins also threw 6.64m to place 5th in the Shot Putt.
Anne Gormley, who began her competitive day by placing 6th in the 1,500m Race Walk in 10.47.93, came 4th in the Hammer with a best of 7.45m and 6th in the Discus with a 3rd throw effort of 14.22m.
Sarah Lahiff (17.64m) came 5th in the Javelin.
In the middle-distance races Audrey Gahan (5.44.36) came 5th in the 1,500m and Diorela Escalera-Claros (2.50.06) was 6th in the 800m.
Sophie O’Farrell (13.88) came 5th in the 100m sprint and Lauren Flaherty was 6th in the 200m in 28.19.
In the Jumps Sophie O’Farrell (3.94m) came 5th in the Long Jump, Sarah Lahiff (1.25m) 6th in the High Jump, and a busy Diorela Escalera-Claros (6.70m) came 5th in the Triple Jump.
The women’s team came 5th in both relays. In the 4 x 100m the quartet comprised of Lauren Flaherty, Sophie O’Farrell, Diorela Escalera-Claros and Sarah Lahiff and they recorded a time of 56.78. The 4 x 400m team had just one sprinter and 3 distance athletes, so it was a tall order against teams with national and international class athletes. The four who braved and returned a time of 4.57.82 and 4 points were Lauren Flaherty, Deirdre NicAnna, Diorela Escalera-Claros, and Audrey Gahan.
With the final team scores from the fixtures at Carlow and Athlone still to be confirmed the expectation is that the men’s team have qualified to the League final to take place in Tullamore on the 13th of August, whilst the women’s team return to compete in the premier division again next year.

Amy Moriarty made a positive return to competition by finishing 3rd woman in the IP TELECOM DUBLIN 10KM NIGHT RUN at Park West on Tuesday evening (26.07.2022). Her time was 43.37 and she placed 39th overall out of 280 finishers.

On the same evening the club had 4 competitors in the BHAA SOUTH DUBLIN SPORTS PARTNERSHIP 6KM RACE at Kiltipper Park (26.07.2022). Padraig McGreal (24.14) was 14th overall and 3rd in the M50 category. Next for Donore Harriers was Fred Kiernan in 23rd spot. He was 3rd in the M45s and recorded a time of 24.49. Des Gill (26.50) was 3rd M55 when finishing 35th overall, whilst Terry Mee (37.04) came 81st and 2nd in the M75 category.

Aideen Burke and Katherine Marsh competed in the IRISH MOUNTAIN RUNNING ASSOCIATION BALLINASTOE RACE at Ballinastoe Wood near Roundwood on Wednesday evening. The race distance was 10.5km with a total elevation of 500 metres. Burke (1.08.11) placed 49th of 118 finishers overall and was the 7th woman home. Marsh (1.20.50) came 82nd and was the 13th woman finisher.

In the CARTON TRAILS 6KM RACE at Carton House Estate near Dunboyne on Wednesday Mary McDermott placed 107th of 250 finishers in a time of 30.18. She came 5th in the W50 category.

Wayne Waldron won the INNER-CITY RUNNING CLUB 21.1KM RACE around a lapped course early on Saturday morning. His winning time was 1.17.07 and there were 72 finishers. The race started at Henrietta Street, went up Dorset Street past Drumcondra, turned onto Collins Avenue, then returned down Ballymun Road, Mobhi Road, Botanic Road, past Broadstone and looped again.

In the KINSALE REGATTA 5-MILE ROAD RACE on Saturday Aisling Kirby (36.27) came 111th out of 346 finishers and was 17th woman to finish.

In the PARKRUN series Will Morris (18.13) and his son Liam (18.27) were 1st and 2nd at CORKAGH, Alasdair Brown (18.10) was 1st at ORANMORE, whilst juvenile members Dylan McKenna (20.57) and Katie Delaney (26.05) were 2nd and 6th at WATERSTOWN. More results below.

Results in brief:
IP TELECOM DUBLIN 10KM NIGHT RUN at Park West (26.07.2022)
39th & 3rd woman Amy Moriarty (43.37)
280 finishers
BHAA SOUTH DUBLIN SPORTS PARTNERSHIP 6KM RACE at Kiltipper Park (26.07.2022)
14th & 3rd M50 Padraig McGreal (24.14)
23rd & 3rd M45 Fred Kiernan (24.49)
35th & 3rd M55 Des Gill (26.50)
81st & 2nd M75 Terry Mee (37.04)
85 finishers
IMRA BALLINASTOE 10.5KM at Ballinastoe Wood, Roundwood, Co. Wicklow (27.07.2022)
49th & 7th woman Aideen Burke W35 (1.08.11)
82nd & 13th woman Katherine Marsh (1.20.50)
118 finishers
CARTON TRAILS 6KM RACE at Carton House Estate, Dunboyne (28.07.2022)
107th & 5th W50 Mary McDermott (30.18)
250 finishers
INNER CITY RUNNING CLUB 21.1KM RACE (30.07.2022)
1st Wayne Waldron (1.17.07)
72 finishers
KINSALE REGATTA 5-MILE ROAD RACE (30.07.2022)
111th & 17th woman Aisling Kirby (36.27)
346 finishers
NATIONAL TRACK & FIELD LEAGUE 2ND QUALIFYING ROUND at Athlone (31.07.2022)
WOMEN’S PREMIER DIVISION
100M: 5th Sophie O’Farrell (13.88) 4 points
100M HURDLES: no competitor
200M: 6th Lauren Flaherty (28.19) 3 points
400M: no competitor
400M HURDLES: no competitor
800M: 6th Diorela Escalera-Claros (2.50.06) 3 points
1,500M: 5th Audrey Gahan (5.44.36) 4 points
3,000M: no competitor
3,000M STEEPLECHASE: 2nd Deirdre NicAnna (12.23.18 PB & club record) 7 pts
1,500M WALK: 6th Anne Gormley (10.47.93)
LONG JUMP: 5th Sophie O’Farrell (3.94m) 4 points
HIGH JUMP: 6th Sarah Lahiff (1.25m) 3 points
TRIPLE JUMP: 5th Diorela Escalera-Claros (6.70m) 4 points
POLE VAULT: no competitor
SHOT PUTT: 5th Faith Hopkins (6.64m) 4 points
DISCUS: 6th Anne Gormley (14.22m) 3 points
HAMMER: 4th Anne Gormley (7.45m) 5 points
JAVELIN: 5th Sarah Lahiff (17.64m) 4 points
28LB W4D: 4th Faith Hopkins (4.32m PB & club record) 5 points
4 x 100m RELAY: 5th Donore Harriers <Lauren Flaherty, Sophie O’Farrell, Diorela Esclera-Claros, Sarah Lahiff> (56.78) 4 points
4 x 400m RELAY: 5th Donore Harriers <Lauren Flaherty, Deirdre NicAnna, Diorela Escalera-Claros, Audrey Gahan> (4.57.82) 4 points
WOMEN’S TEAM SCORE: 1. Tipperary County (155), 2. Galway County (129), 3. Sligo County (112), 4. Clonliffe Harriers (109), 5. Donore Harriers (64), 6. Monaghan County (54)
MEN’S PREMIER DIVISION
100M: 2nd Paul McDermott (10.95) 7 points
110M HURDLES: no competitor
200M: 2nd Paul McDermott (21.93) 7 points
400M: 4th Conor Fox (56.23) 5 points
400M HURDLES: 1st Daragh McAuley (58.94) 9 points
800M: 3rd Jack Byrne (2.00.87) 6 points
1,500M: 4th Michael McCarthy Snr (5.28.87) 5 points
5,000M: 1st Gavin Curtin (15.43.22) 9 points
3,000M STEEPLECHASE: 1st Rory Burke (10.39.46 PB) 9 points
3,000M WALK: no competitor
LONG JUMP: 4th Zak Higgins (3.64m) 5 points
HIGH JUMP: =1st Jack Raftery (1.80m PB) 8 points
TRIPLE JUMP: 2nd Michael McCarthy Snr (11.46m) 7 points
POLE VAULT: no competitor
SHOT PUTT: 2nd Oran O’Brien (12.14m) 7 points
DISCUS: 2nd Niall Allen (28.99m) 7 points
HAMMER: 1st Oran O’Brien (28.45m) 9 points
JAVELIN: 3rd Michael McCarthy Snr (26.23m) 6 points
56LB W4D: 1st Niall Allen (6.42m) 9 points
4 x 100m RELAY: 2nd Donore Harriers <Adam Halpin, Paul McDermott, Conor Fox, Jack Raftery> (43.91) 7 points
4 x 400m RELAY: 4th Donore Harriers <Daragh McAuley, Jack Byrne, Conor Fox, Adam Halpin> (3.39.10) 5 points
MEN’S TEAM SCORE: 1. Donore Harriers (127), 2. Clonliffe Harriers (125), Ratoath AC (120), 4. Galway City Harriers (88), 5. Crusaders AC (00)
PARKRUN (30.07.2022)
BUSHY: 89th Thomas Halton M65 (32.31)
CASTLETOWN: 31st Joan McTernan W60 (28.01)
CORKAGH: 1st Will Morris M45 (18.13), 2nd Liam Morris M11-14 (18.27), 45th Nicola Dowdall W45 (25.44)
ORANMORE: 1st Alasdair Brown (18.10)
WATERSTOWN: 2nd Dylan McKenna M15-17 (20.57), 6th & 1st woman Katie Delaney W15-17 (26.05)

HIGHLIGHTS: Lara O’Byrne won the NATIONAL SENIOR HEPTATHLON with 3 new club records. Zion Osawe and Melody Omozee competed well in their U14 GIRLS PENTATHLON. Ide & Sorcha NicDhomhnaill took gold and silver in the NATIONAL 10,000m CHAMPIONSHIP. Kane Collins 10th in the MEN’S 10,000m. Jack Raftery won the AAI GAMES 400m, as Paul McDermott & Daragh McAuley both ran well in 100m and 400mH events. Donore Harriers 1st Men’s team and 3rd Women’s team in the TALLAGHT/DUBLIN NOVICE 5km ROAD CHAMPIONSHIPS. David McConn individual silver. Des Tremble 1st M50. Daire McCarthy and Arlen Szeb-Szabo 3rd and 4th in the U16 category. Honor Lynch 3rd in IMRA TRIALS for selection to Irish team to compete in the British & Irish Mountain Championships.

REPORT: <report/results by Gerry Naughton & Florence Curley> It was another busy weekend of competition at the Tullamore Harriers track with the AAI GAMES, the NATIONAL 10,000m TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS, and the NATIONAL COMBINED EVENTS for various categories.
Lara O’Byrne had another productive weekend on her athletics journey. She won the Irish senior Heptathlon championships, broke the five-thousand points mark for the first time, and set three new club records.
It all began early on Saturday morning as the NATIONAL MULTI-EVENTS CHAMPIONSHIPS commenced. O’Byrne was delighted when she won her first event – the 100m Hurdles with a new personal best and club record time of 14.33. That effort earned her 932 points. She then cleared 1.63m and 1.66m in the High Jump but after 3 efforts she failed to match her PB of 1.69m. The 1.66m clearance earned her another 806 points.
The Donore Harriers star then threw a solid 10.45m in the Shot Putt to bag another 559 points. She rounded out Day 1 with a personal best of 25.64 to win the 200m and add 829 points to her tally.
Day 2 began well for O’Byrne when she won the Long Jump with a PB and club record jump of 5.38m. That earned her 665 points. She picked up a leg injury but was on a roll and decided to continue in the competition. She was pleased to get the Javelin throw out beyond 30 metres with a best of 30.89m and that added 493 points to her scorecard. She was on course to break the 5,000 points target but it required a good 800m run. If a leg injury was one problem a torrential downpour added to her anxiety. But Lara O’Byrne is a supreme competitor! She ran from the front in the 800m passing at the bell in a minute and 12 seconds and then kept on running strong to the finish line to win in 2.27.94. It was six seconds short of her PB, but the statistic that really mattered was that the 719 points gained got her a final score of 5,003 points. The new mark was not only a personal best, but also a club and Dublin County record. She won all 7 events and finished exactly one-thousand points in front of silver medallist Louise King of St. Colman’s South Mayo AC.
Zion Osawe and Melody Omozee competed in the Under 14 Girls Pentathlon placing 9th and 11th overall. Osawe scored 2,022 points and Omozee got 1,830 points. Osawe was best in the 75m Hurdles when she came 2nd in Heat 2 in 12.59. She then came 3rd in the Long Jump with 4.59m and in the penultimate event she cleared 1.47m to finish 2nd in the High Jump. Omozee came 4th in the 75m Hurldes in 12.94 and picked up good scores when finishing 8th in the both the Long Jump (4.11m) and High Jump (1.30m). Additional results for the girls are listed below.
Both Zion and Melody are talented young athletes. They will have been inspired by watching Lara O’Byrne compete in the senior heptathlon championship. Lara joined the club in 2010 when aged 9 and a-half. Her commitment to her sport and the club has been inspirational.
Jack Raftery, just back after competing so well in the World Athletics Championship mixed relays, starred on Day 2 of the AAI GAMES by winning the 400m A race in 46.51 ahead of Callum Rorison (47.17) of Australia and the 2nd ranked Irish 800m athlete John Fitzsimons (47.98).
Daragh McAuley came up against top class international opponents in the 400m Hurdles. His cause was not helped by being given the outside lane. The Donore man, however, ran close to his best to finish 6th in 57.62. The race was won by Niklas Strohmayer-Dangl of Austria in 51.25. with Patrik Domotor (51.72) of Slovakia the runner-up.
Paul McDermott, whose season was badly hampered by injury, placed 4th in the Men’s 100m Grade B race one in 10.90. Despite a poor pick up from the blocks he ran marginally faster in race two and placed 5th in 10.88.

Saturday’s AAI Games programme also included the NATIONAL 10,000m CHAMPIONSHIPS. Ide and Sorcha NicDhomhnaill formed a lead group with Jessica Noble with each athlete taking a turn at the front of the race. The Australian athlete dropped out at the halfway point leaving the Donore Harriers pair to trade the lead as they vied for the gold medal spot. Ide won out in 34.10.05 with Sorcha a stride behind in 34.10.28. Sinead O’Connor of Leevale AC was 3rd in 35.09.93.
Kane Collins contested the Men’s 10,000m in hot and humid conditions. He ran a steady race to gain from 15th place after the opening few laps to finish 10th in 32.22.69. Matthew Neill of Strive Racing AC won in 30.43.35.

The DUBLIN NOVICE 5KM ROAD CHAMPIONSHIPS was incorporated into the TALLAGHT 5KM RACE on Sunday morning. It was a sunny, humid morning and strong winds made personal bests difficult to gain.
David McConn (16.29) was 4th overall. He won the silver medal in the Dublin Novice and was 1st in the M40 category. It was a good morning for McConn as he also led Donore Harriers to team gold in the novice competition.
The next scoring member was Daragh Keegan (16.55) in 12th place. Keegan ran a wholehearted race and held 9th position until the final 30 metres when he no longer had the legs to hold position. The scoring four was completed by Alasdair Brown (17.00) in 17th spot and Des Tremble (17.04) in 19th place and 1st in the M50 age group. The team scored 28 to finish well clear of runners-up Liffey Valley on 62 with Crusaders AC 3rd on 63.
Ian Fitzgerald fell back after a strong start to place 21st in 17.13 – and he was followed home by new member Matteo Leguen (17.14) in 23rd. Simon O’Toole (17.37) came next in 26th position.
Two Under 15 athletes came next for Donore Harriers. Daire McCarthy (18.38) knocked 7 seconds off his previous best time to place 39th and finish 3rd in the Under 16 category. Arlen Szep-Szabo chalked up a 5km time for the season with 19.11 that brought him over the line in 47th place and 4th in the U16s. His caused was not helped by a dreaded stitch in mid-race.
The other club male finishers were John Paul O’Hanlon (20.44) in 78th, John Curran M45 (20.49) in 79th and Ciaran McCarthy M45 (22.11) in 97th.
The women’s team took the bronze medals in the Dublin Novice. Deirdre NicCanna (20.37) was first finisher for the team placing 73rd and 11th in the women’s category. Next in the black and white of Donore Harriers was Jean Murphy (20.47) in 76th place and 14th woman. Louise Kelly (21.50) came 94th and was the 21st female finisher. Suzie Henley-Willis (22.10) came 96th and 22nd woman, but she was ineligible for the novice competition having recently being a scoring member on the Donore Harriers team that won the National 10-mile road championship. Thus, the scoring four was closed out by Aisling Kirby (22.43) who came 108th overall and 26th woman. There were 203 finishers, including 73 women. Crusaders AC won the women’s team on 30. Brothers Pearse AC were 2nd on 34 and Donore Harriers 3rd on 50.

An improving Wayne Waldron (59.26) came 20th in the MULLINGAR 10-MILE ROAD RACE on Sunday morning. The other competing club members were Ken Nugent (1.01.28) in 24th, Ollie Kearney M45 (1.07.24) in 49th and Chris Muldoon M45 (1.04.42) in 50th. There were 193 finishers.

In the penultimate DUBLIN OPEN GRADED MEETING of the summer season at Tallaght Track on Wednesday Donore Harriers had just the two competitors. Maura Kearns came 8th in the A grade women’s 1,500m in 5.09.78 and David Campbell was 5th in the B grade 200m in 24.68.

On the same evening Aideen Burke came 52nd overall and 4th woman in the IMRA COILLTE CRONE CAPER race that started at the Powerscourt Waterfall. The 10.5km race that went up the Maulin climb via Crone Wood had a total climb of 572 metres. Regular mountain runner Ben Conroy (1.14.53) came 64th of the 121 finishers.

In Sunday morning’s IMRA BRITISH & IRISH JUNIOR TRIALS at Camaderry above Glendalough Honor Lynch (29.16) came 9th overall and 3 junior woman over a tough 5km course that had a total elevation of about 500 metres. Honor is now in line to be selected on the Irish team to compete in the British & Irish Junior Mountain Running Championship to take place at Ambleside in the English Lake District on the 3rd of September.

PARKRUNS – M75 athlete Terry Mee ran a time of 31.24 at the CORKAGH PARKRUN. Jean Murphy was first woman home at WATERSTOWN whilst Mary McDermott was 2nd woman at NAAS. Juvenile member Dylan McKenna was 3rd home in WATERSTOWN.
More results below.

Results in brief:
DUBLIN OPEN GRADED MEET NO. 7 at Tallaght Track (20.07.2022)
WOMEN’S 1,500m GRADE A RACE: 8th Maura Kearns W35 (5.09.78)
MEN’S 200m GRADE B RACE: 5th David Campbell (24.68)
IMRA COILLTE CRONE CAPER 10.50KM at Powerscourt Waterfall, Co. Wicklow (20.07.2022)
52nd & 4th woman Aideen Burke W35 (1.10.57)
64th Ben Conroy M50 (1.14.53)
121 finishers
AAI GAMES DAY 1 at Tullamore (23.07.2022)
SENIOR WOMEN’S NATIONAL 10,000m FINAL: 1st Ide NicDhomhnaill (34.10.05), 2nd Sorcha NicDhomhnaill (34.10.28)
SENIOR MEN’S NATIONAL 10,000m FINAL: 10th Kane Collins (32.22.69)
NATIONAL COMBINED EVENTS CHAMPIONSHIPS DAY 1 at Tullamore (23.07.2022)
SENIOR WOMEN HEPTATHLON: Lara O’Byrne lead after Day 1
1st 100m Hurdles (14.33 PB & club record) 932 points
1st High Jump (1.66m) 806 points
1st Shot Putt (10.45m) 559 points
1st 200m sprint (25.64 PB) 829 points
NATIONAL COMBINED EVENTS CHAMPIONSHIPS DAY 2 at Tullamore (23.07.2022)
SENIOR WOMEN HEPTATHLON: 1st Lara O’Byrne (5,003 points) PB, club record & Dublin County record
1st Long Jump (5.38m PB and club record) 665 points
1st Javelin (30.89m) 493 points
1st 800m (2.27.94) 719 points
NATIONAL COMBINED EVENTS JUVENILES at Tullamore (24.07.2022)
U14 GIRLS PENTATHLON: 9th Zion Osawe (2.022 points), 11th Melody Omozee (1.830 points)
75m HURDLES Heat 1: 4th Melody Omozee (12.94) 574 points
75m HURDLES Heat 2: 2nd Zion Osawe (12.59) 610 points
LONG JUMP: 3rd Zion Osawe (4.59m) 451 points, 8th Melody Omozee (4.11m) 333 points
SHOT PUTT: 9th Melody Omozee (7.27m) 352 points, 12th Zion Osawe (6.28m) 289 points
HIGH JUMP: 2nd Zion Osawe (1.47m) 588 points, 8th Melody Omozee (1.30m) 409 points
800m: 12th Melody Omozee (3.25.91) 162 points, 13th Zion Osawe (3.39.98) 84 points.
AAI GAMES DAY 2 at Tullamore (24.07.2022)
MEN’S 100m GRADE 2 race 1: 4th Paul McDermott (10.90)
MEN’S 100m GRADE 2 race 2: 5th Paul McDermott (10.88)
MEN’S 400m GRADE 1: 1st Jack Raftery (46.51)
MEN’S 400m HURDLES GRADE 1: 6th Daragh McAuley (57.62)
TALLAGHT 5KM ROAD RACE, incorporating DUBLIN NOVICE ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIPS at Tallaght (24.07.2022)
4th, 1st M40 & 2nd Dublin Novice David McConn (16.29)
12th Daragh Keegan (16.55)
17th Alasdair Brown (17.00)
19th & 1st M50 Des Tremble (17.04)
21st Ian Fitzgerald (17.13)
23rd Matteo Leguen (17.14)
26th Simon O’Toole (17.37)
39th & 3rd U16 Daire McCarthy (18.38 PB)
47th & 4th U16 Arlen Szep-Szabo (19.11)
73rd & 11th woman Deirdre NicCanna (20.35)
76th & 14th woman Jean Murphy (20.47)
78th JP O’Hanlon (20.44)
79th & 7th M45 John Curran (20.49)
94th & 21st woman Louise Kelly (21.50)
96th, 22nd woman & 5th W40 Suzie Henley-Willis (22.10)
97th & 9th M45 Ciaran McCarthy (22.11)
108th & 26th woman Aisling Kirby (22.43)
203 finishers, inc 73 women.
DUBLIN NOVICE MEN’S TEAM: 1st Donore Harriers <McConn, Keegan, Brown & Tremble> 28, 2nd Liffey Valley AC 62, 3rd Crusaders AC 63. 6 teams closed.
DUBLIN NOVICE WOMEN’S TEAM: 1st Crusaders AC 30, 2nd Brothers Pearse AC 34, 3rd Donore Harriers <NicCanna, Murphy, Kelly, Kirby> 50. 5 teams closed.
MULLINGAR 10-MILE ROAD RACE (24.07.2022)
20th Wayne Waldron (59.26)
24th Ken Nugent (1.01.28)
49th Ollie Kearney M40 (1.07.24)
50th Chris Muldoon M40 (1.07.42)
193 finishers
IMRA BRITISH & IRISH JUNIOR TRIALS at Camaderry (24.07.2022)
SHORT COURSE 5km: 9th and 3rd junior woman Honor Lynch (29.16)
11 finishers
PARKRUNS 5km (23.07.2022)
BRICKFIELDS: 19th Daire McCarthy M11-14 (25.15)
BUSHY: 99th Thomas Halton M65 (32.27)
CORKAGH: 40th & 6th woman Nicola Dowdall W45 (26.08), 45th & 7th woman Sarah Ni Ruairc W40 (26.37), 86th Terry Mee M75 (31.24)
MARLAY: 129th Charlie O’Neill M65 (26.21)
NAAS: 22nd & 2nd woman Mary McDermott W50 (24.06)
NEW ROSS: 38th & 12th woman Liz McCurtain W50 (28.33)
PORTERSTOWN: 4th Tom Fagan M50 (21.22)
WATERSTOWN: 3rd Dylan McKenna M15-17 (21.04), 5th and 1st woman Jean Murphy W35 (22.13), 30th Katie Delaney W15-17 (29.38)

HIGHLIGHTS: Jack Raftery was “sensational” with two sub-46 seconds relay legs as Ireland qualified 2nd in their heat and then came 8th in the 4 x 4 mixed relay final at the WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS at Eugene, Oregon. Lara O’Byrne one gold (Javelin) and three silvers (100mH, High Jump, Shot Putt), Louis O’Loughlin gold (800m) and Daragh McAuley (400mH) bronze in the NATIONAL U23 TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS. Oliver Hopkins 4th in the 1,500m in the SIAB SCHOOLS INTERNATIONAL at Belfast. U14 relay team 8th in final of NATIONAL JUVENILE RELAYS. In the FINGAL 10KM ROAD RACE Grace Kennedy-Clarke 3rd in W35 and Tony Griffin 3rd in M60. Maura Kearns ran 18.45 in the NAAS PARKRUN.

REPORT: <report/results by Gerry Naughton & Florence Curley> Jack Raftery became only the third Donore Harriers athlete to compete in the 19th WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS when he lined up for Leg 3 on the Irish 4 x 400m mixed relay team on the opening morning (14.07.2022) of the 10-day event. It was the 2nd qualifying heat and Ireland were pitched against Olympic silver medallists Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Spain, Germany, Brazil, and the Bahamas. After a fast 1st heat won by the USA it was realistically just going to be the first three teams home in the automatic qualifying spots that would progress. Starting in Lane 4 Chris O’Donnell of North Sligo AC got the team off to a solid start. With the Dominicans (Lidio Feliz 47.37) leading the way O’Donnell (46.33) ran close to Demish Gaye (46.22) of Jamaica and handed the baton to Sophie Becker of Raheny Shamrocks AC in 3rd place. Becker (52.38) ran strongly and held position until the home strait when she got passed by Sara Gallego of Spain and Corinna Schwab of Germany.
Raftery took the baton in 5th place about 4 metres down on the leading 4 teams who were all vying for the lead position. He put himself in the mix with 120 metres to go and having to go wide he passed the German athlete Marvin Schlegel (46.17) and closed up to the leading 3 teams. He was the fasted Leg 3 runner with 45.37 and Ireland were now less than 4-tenths of a second behind leaders Dominican Republic. What great excitement as a Donore Harriers athlete handed the baton to a brilliant young sprinter from Tallaght AC on a World stage!
Rhasidat Adeleke (49.80) was the 2nd quickest athlete on the final leg. First, she passed the Spanish athlete Eva Santadrian (52.10) and then matched Tiffany James (50.06) of Jamaica down the home strait before edging into 2nd place in the closing metres to qualify Ireland to the final. The Dominican Republic won in 3.13.22 ahead of Ireland (3.13.88) with Jamaica 3rd in 3.13.95.
The evening final (early morning in Ireland) proved to be a fait accompli for the Irish team once Adeleke was withdrawn from the race due to illness. To add to the enormity of the task some of the strong country teams brought in their big hitters. The Netherlands brought in Femke Bol, Poland added Natalia Kaczmarek, and the USA put in the legendary Allyson Felix in her very last major athletics race. The heat in the Hayward Field Stadium in the University of Oregon campus in Eugene was 28° C with 41% humidity for the first track final of the championships.
Chris O’Donnell (46.26) ran an excellent opening leg to hand the baton to Sophie Becker in 3rd place. Becker (52.24) put in another solid effort, but again lost ground on the home strait. Raftery (45.90) ran another brilliant lap but was unable to gain on 7th position against world-class athletes such as Alexander Ogando (Dom Rep), Tony Van Diepen (Netherlands), Vernon Norwood (USA), Kajetan Duszynski (Poland) and Karanje Bartley (Jamaica). Charlene Mawdsley (St. Colman’s South Mayo AC) closed for the Irish team, narrowly losing out on the battle for 6th position to Nigeria (6th) and Italy (7th). Mawdsley timed 52.46 for her leg.
At the front of the field both the Dominican Republic (3.09.82) and the Netherlands (3.09.90) passed the USA (3.10.16) in the closing stages to win the gold and silver team medals. The winners recorded the 2nd fastest time ever for the event and the Dutch team set a new national record. Ireland came 8th in 3.16.86.
The Donore Harriers athletes who competed in the World Athletics Championships were Valerie McGovern in the women’s 10,000m at Tokyo in 1991 – and Roman Linscheid in the Hammer throw at Goteborg in 1995 and Athens in 1997. Aoife Lynch competed in the World Athletics Relays in Chorzow, Poland last year.
The wonderful Jim McNamara had his finest championships as a master athlete in the World Masters at the same hallowed Hayward Field track – better known as Tracktown USA – in 1989. Jim won the M50 5,000m gold in 15.35.46, the 10,000m M50 gold in 32.13.65, and the M50 1,500m silver in 4.13.28. A true Legend!
Back to our own Big Jack! This was Jack’s first time in a major championship setting. He’s still only 21 and his progress since 2018 has been awe inspiring. Formerly coached by Gerry Naughton and Donal Iremonger in the LTDP Juvenile distance group and then by the Late John Geoghegan and Paul Clarkin in the Donore sprints squad the DCU student is now coached by Jeremy Lyons and Ger O’Donnell in the Dublin sprints group. His training commitment and his race temperament makes him one of the most exciting talents on the Irish athletics scene right now. Here’s what Tim Hutchins said in commentary on the World Athletics Live Stream as the athletes lined up for the final: “What a performance by the Irish this morning to make this final. Jack Raftery on the 3rd leg was sensational”. Indeed, he was!
Donore Harriers captain David Campbell believes that Jack can go to the Olympics! A graph of Jack’s progress since 2018 indicates an athlete that is on a distinguished journey in athletics. His personal best for 400m in 2018 was 49.45, which he improved to 48.40 in 2019. His best for 2020 was 48.87 indoors, but he did not have an outdoor season due to covid-19 lockdowns and injury. He improved to 47.02 in 2021 and lowered his PB to 46.17 in the International Flanders Meet at Oordegem in May 2022. His two back-to-back sub-46 relay legs at the World Athletics Championships is further proof of Jack’s enormous potential in the sport.
Here’s a bit of trivia on Jack! Jack’s first taste of ‘international’ was when he represented the Ireland Development U18 relay team in the Celtic Games International at Santry on the 5th of August 2017. The team also included Jack Hayden, Ben Jones and Ciaran McManus. They came 3rd of 4 in 3.30.04.

The SIAB SCHOOLS INTERNATIONAL TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS took place at the Mary Peters Track in Belfast on Saturday. Oliver Hopkins, who was denied his Irish schools’ international singlet when he won the All-Ireland schools’ junior cross-country race back in March 2020 due to the first covid-19 lockdown, was on the start line this time in the Boys 1,500m event. The race was won by English schools’ champion Henry Dover, a member of Colchester & Tendring Athletics Club, who ran a 3 seconds PB of 3.51.64. 2nd placed Oliver Patton from Scotland also set a PB of 3.54.46. Hopkins was involved in the battle for 3rd place but lost out to William Rabjohns of England. The Donore Harriers athlete ran a time of 3.59.51, just a fraction of a second off his PB. There were 8 athletes in the field.

Donore Harriers had just one team compete in the NATIONAL JUVENILE RELAY CHAMPIONSHIPS at Tullamore on Saturday. The U14 Boys 4 x 100m relay team of Elliott Whelan, Luuk Jackson, Conor Garvey, and Luis Blinco progressed from Heat 2 as fastest losers when placing 5th in a time of 54.37. The same quartet came 8th in the final in 55.16.

In Sunday’s NATIONAL UNDER 20 & UNDER 23 TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS, also at Tullamore, Donore Harriers athletes claimed six medals – all in the Under 23 category.
Lara O’Byrne had a busy day competing in four events. The multi-eventer began by claiming a silver medal in the Shot Putt with a 3rd attempt best effort of 10.22m. Ciara Sheehy of Emerald AC was the winner and Fiona Hennessy of Templemore AC was 3rd. O’Byrne was next up in the High Jump. She made first attempt clearances at 1.55m and 1.60m before equalling her personal best with a second effort clearance over 1.65m. She failed to clear 1.70m, thus conceded the gold medal to Ciara Kennelly (1.70m) of Killarney Valley AC. Louise King (1.60m) of St. Colman’s South Mayo AC took the bronze.
The Donore Harriers athlete finally struck gold in the Javelin. It was a tense contest with O’Byrne getting her best mark when her 3rd throw was measured at 29.86m. Abbey Fitzgerald of Leevale AC did her level best with her final two throws to overtake the Donore Harriers star, but her best of 28.86m was a metre short of O’Byrne’s mark. Sasha Barrett-Ferris of City of Lisburn AC came 3rd with 26.06m.
Daragh McAuley hurdled to a new personal best time of 56.84 to claim a bronze medal in the U23 Men’s 400m hurdles final. McAuley ran very well in the middle of the race and narrowly failed to catch runner-up Eoin Sharkey (56.67) of Tir Chonnaill AC. The winner was Ciaran Nugent (53.64) of Carraig-Na-bhFear AC.
Next on the track for Donore Harriers was Louis O’Loughlin who was defending the national under 23s 800m title. His main rival Jake Bagge took out the race for the opening 600m passing the 400m point in 55 seconds. O’Loughlin stayed within 3 metres of the Ferrybank AC athlete and then moved to the front with 200m remaining and eased away from his rivals down the final strait to win in 1.51.21. Bagge (1.53.95) took silver in front of Kyle Moorhead (1.55.62) of Craughwell AC.
Lara O’Byrne having already bagged a gold and two silver medals in field events next lined up in the final of the U23s Women’s 100m Hurdles. She ran a time of 14.41, just one-hundredth of a second off her own club record time, to finish a close second behind Niamh O’Neill (14.32) of St. Colman’s South Mayo AC. Bevan McCaffrey (15.80) of Annalee AC was 3rd.
James and Thomas Bolton were the club’s only Under 20 competitors. Both competed in a star-laded 3,000m race with 3 members of the Irish team that placed 2nd in the European cross-country championships on the start line. James Bolton who won the Under 19 championship over the same distance a week earlier competed well to finish in 8th place in a time of 8.54.61. His younger brother Thomas, who still has 3 years to compete in the age class, came 14th in 9.30.59.

David McConn was first home for Donore Harriers in the FINGAL 10KM ROAD RACE at Swords on Sunday morning. Sunny, humid conditions and an undulating course that started and finished on the Main Street made for some arduous running. McConn (34.58) came 24th overall and placed 4th in the M40 category. Next in black and white singlet was Grace Kennedy-Clarke (38.47) who placed 106th overall and finished as 10th woman and 3rd in the W35 age group.
Gavin White (41.20) was 213th overall and 51st in the senior men’s category. The other Donore Harriers finishers were Chris Muldoon (41.35) 225th and 28th M45, Ariana Ball (42.07) 251st and 5th W35, Tony Griffin (42.46) 275th and 3rd M60, John Paul O’Hanlon (43.32) 309th and 67th M35, Dean Fullston (44.21) 349th and 10th M55, Patrick Farrell (45.46) 425th and 100th M40, and Mark Devine (47.41) 553rd and 83rd M45. There were 1,933 finishers. The race winners were Peter Somba (30.47) of Dunboyne AC and Grace Lynch (34.00) of Iveragh AC, Co. Kerry.

Ann Woodlock was the club’s sole competitor in the BUSINESS HOUSES DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL 5KM ROAD RACE at Irishtown on Wednesday (15.07.2022). The race started and finished on the Irishtown track and included 3 laps of Ringsend Park. Woodlock completed the course in 34.37 to place 113th overall and 1st W80.

In the IMRA DJOUCE THE AYLING ABYSS mountain race in Co. Wicklow last Wednesday Ben Conroy came 65th in a time of 1.17.20 and Honor Lynch was 1st junior woman when placing 87th overall in a time of 1.27.12. The race distance was 10.64km and the total climb was just over 600 metres. There were 121 finishers.

In PARKRUNS Maura Kearns (18.45) was 3rd overall and 1st woman at NAAS. Ian Fitzgerald (17.18) was first home at CASTLETOWN and Fergal Whitty (18.06) was 1st at HARTSTOWN. Ann Woodlock completed her second race of the week when placing 35th at BRICKFIELDS. Juvenile members Eoin Mooney (20.17) and Dylan McKenna (19.56) came 3rd respectively at CORKAGH and WATERSTOWN.
More results below.

Results in brief:
BHAA DCC RINGSEND 5KM ROAD RACE at Irishtown (13.07.2022)
113rd & 1st W80 Ann Woodlock (34.37)
117 finishers
IMRA DJOUCE THE AYLING ABYSS 10.64KM at Co. Wicklow (13.07.2022)
65th Ben Conroy M50 (1.17.20)
87th & 1st Junior woman Honor Lynch (1.27.12)
121 finishers
WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS at Eugene, Oregon (15.07.2022)
MIXED 4 x 400m RELAY HEAT 2: 1st Dominican Republic 3.13.22, 2nd Ireland (Leg 3 Jack Raftery 45.37) 3.13.88, 3rd Jamaica 3.13.95
MIXED 4 x 400m RELAY FINAL: 1st Dominican Republic 3.09.82 WL, 2nd Netherlands 3.09.90 NR, 3rd USA 3.10.16, 8th Ireland (Leg 3 Jack Raftery 45.90) 3.16.86
SCHOOLS INTERNATIONAL ATHLETICS BOARD INTERNATIONAL at Mary Peters Track, Belfast (16.07.2022)
BOYS 1,500m: 4th Oliver Hopkins (3.59.51)
NATIONAL JUVENILE RELAY CHAMPIONSHIPS at Tullamore (16.07.2022)
U14 BOYS 4 x 100m RELAY HEAT 2: 5th Donore Harriers <Elliott Whelan, Luuk Jackson, Conor Garvey, Luis Blinco> 54.37 q.
U14 BOYS 4 x 100m RELAY FINAL: 8th Donore Harriers <Eliott Whelan, Luuk Jackson, Conor Garvey, Luis Blinco> 55.16
NATIONAL UNDER 20 AND UNDER 23 TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS at Tullamore (17.07.2022)
U20 MEN’S 3,000m FINAL: 8th James Bolton (8.54.61), 14th Thomas Bolton (9.30.59)
U23 WOMEN’S 100m HURDLES FINAL: 2nd Lara O’Byrne (14.41) SILVER
U23 MEN’S 400m HURDLES FINAL: 3rd Daragh McAuley (56.84 PB) BRONZE
U23 MEN’S 800m FINAL: 1st Louis O’Loughlin (1.51.21) GOLD
U23 WOMEN’S HIGH JUMP: 2nd Lara O’Byrne (1.65m) SILVER
U23 WOMEN’S SHOT PUTT: 2nd Lara O’Byrne (10.22m) SILVER
U23 WOMEN’S JAVELIN: 1st Lara O’Byrne (29.86) GOLD
FINGAL 10KM ROAD RACE at Swords (17.07.2022)
24th & 4th M40 David McConn (34.58 PB)
106th, 10th woman & 3rd W35 Grace Kennedy-Clarke (38.47)
213th & 51st MS Gavin White (41.20)
225th & 28th M45 Chris Muldoon (41.35)
251st & 5th W35 Ariana Ball (42.07)
275th & 3rd M60 Tony Griffin (42.46)
309th & 67th M35 John Paul O’Hanlon (43.32)
349th & 10th M55 Dean Fullston (44.21)
425th & 100th M40 Patrick Farrell (45.46)
553rd & 83rd M45 Mark Devine (47.41)
1,933 finishers – chip positions listed
PARKRUNS 5km (16.07.2022)
BRICKFIELDS: 35th Ann Woodlock W80 (36.16)
CASTLETOWN: 1st Ian Fitzgerald MS (17.18)
CORKAGH: 3rd Eoin Mooney M11-14 (20.17), 86th Terry Mee M75 (31.43)
GRIFFEEN: 44th Joe Kinsella M15-17 (24.47)
HARTSTOWN: 1st Fergal Whitty M45 (18.06)
NAAS: 3rd and 1st woman Maura Kearns W35 (18.45)
POPPINTREE: 99th Eilish Joyce W40 (34.30)
SPORTS CAMPUS: 8th Tom Fagan M50 (22.19)
WATERSTOWN: 3rd Dylan McKenna M15-17 (19.56)

HIGHLIGHTS: Niamh Clifford & Sorcha Loughnane 2nd & 3rd in the IRISH RUNNER/NATIONAL 10-MILE. Women’s team 1st, Men’s team 2nd, M35 team 1st. David McConn 2nd M40, Des Tremble 2nd M50, Sorcha Loughnane 1st W45, Barry Potts 1st M70. Gold and championship records for James Bolton, Julie Cleary & Emily Bolton on DAYS 2 & 3 of the NATIONAL JUVENILE TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS. Louis O’Loughlin (800m) and Lara O’Byrne (Javelin) took gold in the DUBLIN SENIOR T&F CHAMPIONSHIPS. Daragh Keegan 2nd in the RUN KILKEE 10km ROAD RACE. Aoife Lynch returned to competition in the GULDENSPOREN MEET in Belgium.

REPORT: <report/results by Gerry Naughton & Florence Curley> More than 600 runners lined up on Chesterfield Avenue on a warm and sunny Sunday morning to face a challenging IRISH RUNNER / NATIONAL 10 MILE ROAD RACE. The undulating course included the Furry Glen, Chapelizod Gate/Road, Wellington Road, Chesterfield past the Zoo, the Kyber Pass, Military Road, the climb back up Glenn Road and then the long finishing strait back on Chesterfield Avenue.
The men’s race saw eventual winner Mick Clohissy of Raheny Shamrocks AC and 3 others form a lead group, whilst the women’s race quickly spread out with Ciara Toner of City of Derry AC in the lead followed by two Donore Harriers athletes Sorcha Loughnane and Niamh Clifford.
Toner pressed on to win in 1.00.26, whilst Clifford caught up to Loughnane with just about a mile to go and claimed the silver medal in 1.01.01 with Loughnane next in 1.01.17. Loughnane later admitted that she eased back on training following her excellent run in the Cork Marathon a month ago. She was full of praise for her fellow Kerry native Clifford “Fab running Niamh, you cruised past while I was dying due to poor pacing”. Clifford was 38th overall and Loughnane 40th.
The provisional team results show Donore Harriers as the winning women’s team on 33 ahead of Raheny Shamrocks AC on 36. The crucial 3rd member of the team was master athlete Suzie Henley-Willis who set out to run a sub 1 hour and 20 minutes time. Henley-Willis (186th overall) ran 1.17.18 on a tough course to finish as 28th woman overall and 6th in the W40 category. She has not been running all that long, but her commitment to training is reaping rewards.
The men’s team came 2nd behind Clonliffe Harriers. The 3 scoring members had their own personal battle as the race progressed and were running side by side with just 2 miles remaining. David McConn (58.43) took the bragging rights as he finished 18th overall and 2nd in the M40 category. Next was Des Tremble (59.04) in 20th spot and 2nd M50, and he was followed by Ian Fitzgerald (59.08) in 22nd place and 5th senior man. The trio scored 60 with Clonliffe on 38 and Raheny Shamrocks AC 3rd on 63.
The Men’s over 35 team won gold. Alasdair Brown (59.46) came 29th and 9th in the M35 age group, followed by Alan Keogh (1.00.43) in 34th and 4th M40. The team was closed out by Fergal Whitty (1.01.13) 39th overall and 4th in the M45s. Donore Harriers scored 99 to finish well clear of Raheny Shamrocks (167).
The masters scoring trio was well supported by Wayne Waldron (1.01.45) who came 43rd overall and 11th M35 and Declan Lynch (1.05.43) in 67th and 13th M40.
Next home for Donore was newcomer Cian Dowdall (1.09.37) in 117th place – and he was followed by John Paul O’Hanlon (1.14.16) in 150th and 16th M35.
Jean Murphy became unwell during the race but bravely battled on to finish 187th and 5th W35 in a time of 1.17.22.
The evergreen Barry Potts (1.19.09) added to his medal collection by winning the M70 class when he crossed the line in 210th place. Behind him were Angela Eustace (1.19.54) in 221st and 5th W50, Mark Devine (1.24.13) 266th and 14th M45 and Joan McTernan (1.28.53) 320th and 5th W60. There were 645 finishers.

Louis O’Loughlin blitzed to victory in the 800m A race in the 6th DUBLIN OPEN GRADED MEETING at windswept Tallaght on Wednesday evening (06.07.2022). The meet incorporated the DUBLIN SENIOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS and O’Loughlin (1.51.70) rolled back the clock to 2017 when he won this championship in a time that qualified him for the European Youth Olympics in Hungary. As 5 years previous the Donore Harriers man front ran the race to victory with Aaron Shorten (1.57.21) of St. Laurence O’Toole AC in 2nd and Luke Murphy (1.57.42) of Raheny Shamrocks in 3rd.
Jack Byrne came 3rd in the 800m A2 grade race in 2.00.72 and Aidan O’Rourke returned to competition with 7th place in the 800m B grade race in a time of 2.12.95.
Lara O’Byrne (26.59) came 4th in the Women’s A grade 200m and David Campbell (24.76) came 7th in the Men’s B grade 200m.
Lara also competed in the Javelin and won with a best effort of 30.18m to win a Dublin championship gold medal. In 2nd place came Faith Hopkins (16.05m) who only recently took up throwing events and who was making her debut in club colours.
Donore Harriers had two competitors in the Women’s 3,000m race with Maura Kearns (10.59.03) in 4th place and Audrey Gahan (11.43.36) in 10th. Gahan described her race as a “small victory” as it was her first sub 12 minutes time.

In the CORK SPORTS INTERNATIONAL TRACK & FIELD MEETING at the University Athletics Track at Bishopstown on Tuesday evening (05.07.2022) Kane Collins came 10th of 25 finishers in the Men’s Open 3,000m race in a time of 8.43.18. Collins said afterwards: “I was satisfied with that. I’ve had a long season and I haven’t done that much speed work in preparation for such a fast race”.

Donore Harriers had plenty to cheer in the 3,000m finals on DAY 2 of the NATIONAL JUVENILE TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS at Tullamore on Saturday with gold medals won by James Bolton and Julie Cleary – both recording championship best performances and both won their first national titles.
Bolton (8.40.84) ran a very measured race and finished strongly to knock almost 15 seconds of his previous best time to win the Under 19 Boys age group with 30 seconds to spare over runner-up Daniel Ryan-Ellis of Nenagh Olympic.
Bolton’s time was inside the long-standing championship record achieved by the Late Jamie McCarthy (8.41.71) of Riverstick Kinsale AC in 2003. McCarthy was on the Irish junior team that won silver medals in the European Cross-Country championships at Edinburgh in 2004 and won a national junior 3,000m title. He died in a car accident in South Carolina in 2018.
Julie Cleary (10.20.29) was in a group of 3 that included runner-up Dearbhla Allen of St. Peter’s AC and 3rd placed Caoimhe Flannery of Skibbereen AC through the opening 2 kilometres. It was then that Cleary (10.20.29) moved to the front, and she went on to win comfortably ahead of Allen (10.26.85) knocking 15 seconds of her PB in the process. She knocked almost 5 seconds off the old championship record held by Roisin Treacy (10.25.57) of Ashford AC since 2017.
Earlier in the day Luis Blinco (10.51) came 3rd in Heat 1 of the Under 14 Boys 80m and narrowly failed to reach the final. Multi-events athlete Zion Osawe (11.25) came 7th in heat 1 of the Under 14 Girls 80m.
Roisin Kirby ran a PB of 13.36 for 4th place in the Under 16 Girls 100m and Romeo Omozee (55.37) also recorded a PB when placing 5th in the Under 17 Boys 400m Heat 1. Whilst both athletes failed to reach their respective finals, they can be happy at having made steady progress over the season.
In field events Melody Omozee (14.72m) came 13th in the Under 14 Girls Discus and Eimear Finn (3.89) got a marginal PB when placing 14th in the Under 18 Girls Long Jump.

The NATIONAL JUVENILE TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS continued with DAY 3 back in the Tullamore Harriers track on Sunday. Again, the weather conditions were favourable with sunshine and a mild breeze.
Emily Bolton won her 2nd gold medal and the club’s 5th in the Under 15 Girls 1,500m. Her biggest rival going into the race was Emer McKee of Willowfield Harriers. McKee, who lost out to Bolton in the 800m a week earlier, put the challenge to the Donore Harriers athlete by front running the opening 1,300m in a brave bid for glory. However, Bolton had her own plan and took to the front over the final 200m to win in a new championship best time of 4.35.46 with McKee (4.37.71) having to settle for 2nd place. The previous championship best time was held by Aimee Hayde (4.35.62) of Newport AC since 2017. Emily’s time is also a new club Under 20 record as she bettered the previous mark (4.40.4 h-t) set by Aisling Smith at a Dublin Graded Meet in Santry in June 1991.
Lily Clarke-Hanrahan improved her best time by 9 seconds when placing 15th in the Under 14 Girls 1,500m. Also contesting 1,500m finals were brothers Thomas and James Bolton. Thomas came 7th in the Under 17 Boys race in a time of 4.16.01, whilst James – just one day after his heroic 3,000m race – came 4th in the Under 19 Boys in 4.05.44.
In the Under 15 Boys 1,500m final Reuben McCormick (4.31.86) came 9th and Daire McCarthy (4.37.23) came 13th. Both are first-season athletes, and both set PBs.
Another first-season athlete is Luis Blinco. Blinco reached the final as a fastest-loser when he came 5th in Heat 2 of the Under 14 Boys 200m. He was marginally slower (26.33) in the final coming home in 8th place. He’s another very promising young athlete who can be satisfied with a fine first summer in the sport.
Alex Leonard (24.21) improved on his Leinster Schools winning time to place 4th in Heat 2 of the Under 16 Boys 200m. He came 7th in the final in 24.41. Roisin Kirby (27.60) came 7th in Heat 2 of the Under 16 Girls 200m and failed to progress to the final. Kirby also threw a best of 16.34m to place 11th in the Discus Throw.
Also, in the field Oisin Cummins-Weiss (10.59m) came 5th in the Under 17 Boys Shot Putt and Eimear Finn came 8th in the Under 18 Girls High Jump.
Donore Harriers won 5 medals – all gold – in the 2022 National Juvenile Track & Field Championships. The gold medal winners are: –
U14 Girls High Jump: Zion Osawe
U15 Girls 800m: Emily Bolton with a new club record
U15 Girls 1,500m: Emily Bolton with a new championship record & club U20 record
U16 Girls 3,000m: Julie Cleary with a new championship record
U19 Boys 3,000m: James Bolton with a new championship record

Aoife Lynch returned to competition for the first time since the indoor season after an injury lay-off when she competed in the GULDENSPOREN MEETING at Kortrijk, Belgium on Saturday. She came 6th in Heat 2 of the women’s 100m in a time of 12.29 but did not contest the final as a precaution due to a niggle.

Daragh Keegan contested the RUN KILKEE 10KM ROAD RACE in County Clare on Saturday. The race which started and finished in the village of Kilkee took in breath-taking scenery in an undulating course that took in the Loop Head Peninsula. Keegan (35.44) came 2nd behind Jake O’Regan of St. John’s AC with 452 finishers.

The club had 4 athletes compete in the IRISH MOUNTAIN RUNNING ASSOCIATION DJOUCE (EARL’S DRIVE) TRAIL RACE at Old Long Hill, Co. Wicklow on Wednesday evening 6th of July. The 7.8 kilometres race was held over an interesting and challenging course that included forest trails, steams, and a total elevation of 118 metres. Rory Burke (29.14) came 3rd overall, with 3 others club members among the 153 finishers. Ben Conroy (40.13) came 67th, Katerine Marsh (42.12) was 85th and Louise Kelly (42.22) 86th.

In the DUNLEER 4-MILE ROAD RACE on Sunday debutante Melissa Harding placed 147th in the time of 45.52. There were 155 finishers

In PARKRUNs the inspiring Ann Woodlock (34.43), a W80 age category athlete, ran 34.43 at BRICKFIELDS. John Curran M45 (20.00) was 2nd finisher at HARTSTOWN and Louise Kelly W35 was 4th overall and 1st woman at the same venue.
More results below.

Results in brief:
CORK SPORTS INTERNATIONAL TRACK & FIELD MEETING at Bishopstown (05.07.2022)
MEN’S 3,000m: 10th Kane Collins (8.43.18)
25 finishers
DUBLIN OPEN GRADED MEET NO. 6, incorporating DUBLIN SENIOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS at Tallaght (06.07.2022)
WOMEN’S JAVELIN: 1st Lara O’Byrne (30.18m) GOLD, 2nd Faith Hopkins (16.05m)
WOMEN’S 200m A GRADE RACE: 4th Lara O’Byrne (26.59)
MEN’S 200m B GRADE RACE: 7th David Campbell (24.76)
MEN’S 800m A1 GRADE RACE: 1st Louis O’Loughlin (1.51.70) GOLD
MEN’S 800m A2 GRADE RACE: 3rd Jack Byrne (2.00.72)
MEN’S 800m B1 GRADE RACE: 7th Aidan O’Rourke (2.12.95)
WOMEN’S 3,000m AB GRADE RACE: 4th Maura Kearns (10.59.03), 10th Audrey Gahan (11.43.36 PB)
IRISH MOUNTAIN RUNNING ASSOCIATION DJOUCE (EARL’S DRIVE) 7.8km TRAIL at Old Long Hill, Co. Wicklow (06.07.2022)
3rd Rory Burke MS (29.14)
67th Ben Conroy M50 (40.13)
85th Katherine Marsh WS (42.12)
86th Louise Kelly WS (42.22)
153 finishers
NATIONAL JUVENILE TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS DAY 2 at Tullamore (09.07.2022)
U14 GIRLS 80m HEAT 1: 7th Zion Osawe (11.25)
U14 BOYS 80m HEAT 1: 3rd Luis Blinco (10.51)
U14 GIRLS DISCUS THROW: 13th Melody Omozee (14.72m)
U16 GIRLS 100m HEAT 3: 4th Roisin Kirby (13.36 PB)
U16 GIRLS 3,000m FINAL: 1st Julie Cleary (10.20.29 PB & championship record) GOLD
U17 BOYS 400m HEAT 1: 5th Romeo Omozee (55.37 PB)
U18 GIRLS LONG JUMP: 14th Eimear Finn (3.89m PB)
U19 BOYS 3,000m FINAL: 1st James Bolton (8.40.84 PB & championship record) GOLD
NATIONAL JUVENILE TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS DAY 3 at Tullamore (10.07.2022)
U14 GIRLS 1,500m FINAL: 15th Lily Clarke-Hanrahan (5.18.15 PB
U14 BOYS 200m HEAT 2: 5th Luis Blinco (26.22) q.
U14 BOYS 200m FINAL: 8th Luis Blinco (26.33)
U15 GIRLS 1,500m FINAL: 1st Emily Bolton (4.35.46 PB & championship record, club U20 record) GOLD
U15 BOYS 1,500m FINAL: 9th Reuben McCormick (4.31.86), 13th Daire McCarthy (4.37.23)
U16 GIRLS 200m HEAT 2: 7th Roisin Kirby (27.60)
U16 BOYS 200m HEAT 2: 4th Alex Leonard (24.21) q.
U16 BOYS 200m FINAL: 7th Alex Leonard (24.41)
U16 GIRLS DISCUS: 11th Roisin Kirby (16.34m)
U17 BOYS 1,500m FINAL: 7th Thomas Bolton (4.16.01)
U17 BOYS SHOT PUTT: 5th Oisin Cummins-Weiss (10.59m)
U18 GIRLS HIGH JUMP FINAL: 8th Eimear Finn
U19 BOYS 1,500m FINAL: 4th James Bolton (4.05.44)
GULDENSPOREN MEETING at Kortrijk, Belgium (09.07.2022)
WOMEN’S 100m HEAT 2: 6th Aoife Lynch (12.29)
RUN KILKEE 10KM ROAD RACE at Kilkee, Co. Clare (09.07.2022)
2nd Daragh Keegan M35 (35.44)
452 finishers
IRISH RUNNER 10 MILE ROAD RACE, incorporating the NATIONAL 10-MILE ROAD CHAMPIONSHIPS at Phoenix Park (10.07.2022)
18th & 2nd M40 David McConn (58.43) SILVER
20th & 2nd M50 Des Tremble (59.04) SILVER
22nd & 5th MS Ian Fitzgerald (59.08)
29th & 9th M35 Alasdair Brown (59.46)
34th & 4th M40 Alan Keogh (1.00.43)
38th, 2nd woman, 1st WS Niamh Clifford (1.01.01) SILVER
39th & 4th M45 Fergal Whitty (1.01.13)
40th, 3rd woman, 1st W45 Sorcha Loughnane (1.01.17) BRONZE
43rd & 11th M35 Wayne Waldron (1.01.45)
67th & 13th M40 Declan Lynch (1.05.43)
117th & 8th MS Cian Dowdall (1.09.37) club debut
150th & 16th M35 John Paul O’Hanlon (1.14.16)
186th & 6th W40 Suzie Henley-Willis (1.17.18)
187th & 5th W35 Jean Murphy (1.17.22)
210th & 1st M70 Barry Potts (1.19.09) GOLD
221st & 5th W50 Angela Eustace (1.19.54)
266th & 14th M45 Mark Devine (1.24.13)
320th & 5th W60 Joan McTernan (1.28.53)
645 finishers
SENIOR WOMEN’S TEAM: 1st Donore Harriers <Clifford, Loughnane, Henley-Willis> 33, 2nd Raheny Shamrocks AC 36, 3rd Celbridge AC 74.
SENIOR MEN’S TEAM: 1st Clonliffe Harriers 38, 2nd Donore Harriers <McConn, Tremble, Fitzgerald> 60, 3rd Raheny Shamrocks AC 63
M35 TEAM: 1st Donore Harriers <Brown, Keogh, Whitty> 99, 2nd Raheny Shamrocks AC 167, 3rd Rathfarnham WSAF AC 172
DUNLEER 4-MILE ROAD RACE (10.07.2022)
147th Melissa Harding W40 (45.52)
155 finishers
PARKRUNS 5km (09.07.2022)
BRICKFIELDS: 44th Ann Woodlock W80 (34.43), 57th Anthony Ferns M55 (57.32)
BUSHY: 69th Thomas Halton M65 (32.34)
CORKAGH: 40th Nicola Dowdall W45 (26.06)
HARTSTOWN: 2nd John Curran M45 (20.00), 4th and 1st woman Louise Kelly W35 (21.27)
NEW ROSS: 20th & 4th woman Liz McCurtain W55 (28.32), 25th Eugene McCurtain M55 (29.26)
SPORTS CAMPUS: 10th Paul Nunan M45 (24.27), 11th Mark Nunan M11-14 (24.28)
WATERSTOWN: 36th Andrew Maguire M55 (45.59)