It was a cold sometimes blustery but sunny day in Navan for the Leinster Novice cross country championship. Held at Navan adventure centre and racecourse for the second year running, the ground was dry but it was a course with a lot of twists and turns and started and finished on an uphill. In the women’s 4k race with 106 runners, 2 big laps, Fiona Hegarty was 1st Donore home in 38th, and aoife Ni Thuathail made good ground in 48th. Audrey Gahan was 8 seconds behind in 53rd. Fiona Barrins had a solid run in 71st and Lee chambers in 88th. The team finished in 9th place

In the men’s 6k race over 4 laps 7 Donore men took to the line in a field of 115 and for a time Alan Farrell , Alasdair Brown, Jonathan Farrell and Paul Cummins were closely matched. In the end, Alan was first home in 34th with Alasdair 7 seconds behind in 40th and Paul Cummins one second behind in 42nd. Jonathan Farrell was next in 52nd, Javier Romero Ferrera 69th , Craig Scott 96th and Andrew wilson 106th bringing the team to 8th.

Every road or track fixture for the last couple of weeks has been ran in the blazing heat so quite a challenge for our endurance runners but they have been out in numbers.

Two of our women even aced PBs, Joan Lennon was 5th Woman in the Pride run 5k in the Phoenix park in 22:12 and Pam White who has been hitting PBs all year got another one here in 22:16 and was 6th woman.

The next day one of the classics of the road calendar, the Michael Manning Dunshaughlin 10k, took place on a hot summer evening and Eric Keogh’s fine run of form continued where he finished 7th in 30.49.98 – very little separated 1-7 so this was excellent. Next in was the ever strong Fergal Whitty 33.18 (3rd M40) and 24th , Des Tremble 34.07, Ken Norgrove 34.20 and they made up the 4 scorers of the second placed team. The next 2 runners Sean and Andy weren’t far off the scorers. Sole Donore lady on the night was Ariana ball. Well done to:
Sean Fox 34.28
Andy Kinane 34.51
Chris Muldoon 37.35
Craig Scott 40.20
Joe Maguire 42.11
Ariana Ball 42.23

Many opted instead for the Irish Runner 5 mile around the Phoenix park on Sunday morning again in hot sun and thanks Fiona Barrins for providing some of the detail here!

Donore Harriers were well represented. Eoin Durkan 27:43, Peter Gaffney 28:30, Tony Barry 29:42, Fred Kiernan 31:31.
Despite the hot temperatures and bug alerts, Audrey Gahan achieved a speedy time of 34:09 followed by Barry Potts at 35:09. Fiona Barrins had a PB coming in at 36:10. On her first outing as a ‘grown up’ with Donore, Molly Murphy O’Kane did a great time of 38:41 followed by Catherine McKeon at 43:23 and Michele Murphy at 45:58. Treasa Boylan is coming back gradually from injury and she ran 45:34. The Fit4life group had runs from Liam Hickey 34:47 Deirdre Brennan 47:17 and Adrienne seery 48:53.

There was great support from Donore members who were out on their Sunday morning run, cheers were heard on many parts of the course, it was very much appreciated and helped to keep the momentum and the feet moving in the heat. The group enjoyed some well deserved treats after in the visitors centre and We can report nobody was bitten, however the key lesson from the day was ‘always wear sunscreen’ (there may have been some very red shoulders and necks later that day).

Dublin Athletics Graded Series Meeting Number 4 @ Morton Stadium, June 6th

It was a perfect evening for running at the Dublin Athletics Graded Series Meeting Number 4 in Morton Stadium, June 6th, with Bandon AC’s Phil Healy running 10.91 and a new national 100m record in the second race of the evening. While the cancellation of the hammer competition meant that the Donore Hammiers didn’t get the chance to throw their weight(s) around, Donore were otherwise well-represented.

The 400m races featured 3 Donore athletes, with David Campbell finishing 4th in the B1 race in 54.23. Adam Halpin (55.15) and Javier Romero (57.71) finished 3rd and 5th respectively in the B2 400m.

In the women’s 1500m A race, Niamh O’Neill finished 9th in 4:53.22, which bodes well for the rest of her season. Unfortunately, Maura Kearns suffered an injury during the same race and was forced to drop out. Karla Doran ran a smart race in the first of the combined B & C Grade 1500s, finishing 3rd in 5:11.99, while Jona Kalemi clocked 5:51.68 to finish 7th in the second.

In the men’s 1500m races, Emmet Ó Briain was first into action finishing 9th in 4:15.67 in the first Championship ‘A’ race. The second ‘A’ Championship race featured four Donore athletes, with Donore’s Daragh Fitzgibbon and Ray Hynes involved in a tactical battle at the front up against Clonliffe’s Colm Rooney. After a swift 62-second first lap, the three leaders shut down the pace in the second lap, which pulled the chasing pack, including Michael Ryan and Jamie Cullen, back into the race. The final lap featured a three-way burn-up with Clonliffe’s Rooney edging out Daragh (N/T) and Ray (4:01.92) for the win. Michael Ryan ran a strong last 300m to finish 6th and dip under 4:10 for the first time in 4:09.45, with Jamie Cullen finishing 10th in 4:11.93.

In the B2 race, Donal Iremonger, moving up from his usual 400m and 800m distances, backed himself to run a quick time from the gun, sticking with an early pace and holding it to finish strongly in 4:31.12. In the final race of the evening, Des Gill also ran an astutely-judged 1500m in the ‘D’ grade, working his way into the race over the course of the 3 and 3/4 laps to finish in 7th in 5:22.65.

Dublin Athletics Graded Series Meeting Number 5 @ Tallaght AC, June 20th

The Dublin Athletics Graded Series continued with Meeting Number 5 last Wednesday, June 20th out in Tallaght on another pleasant, but windy, evening for athletes.

The programme of races featured the 200m, 800m, and 3000m on the track, as well as Pole Vault, Long Jump, Hammer and Javelin in the field, with 12 Donore athletes participating across the events.

First up on the track was Adam Halpin, who was racing in the B1 200m, which unusually featured only two athletes. Into a stiff headwind on the home straight, Adam ran 25.32 to finish 2nd.

Next were the 800s, with Maura Kearns representing Donore in the Women’s Championship ‘A’ race, finishing 6th in 2:26.44. Having raced 4 days previously, and with a day of multi-eventing ahead of him at Round 1 of the National League, Track & Field captain David Campbell ran an even-paced 2:09.73 to finish 5th in the B2 race.

Donore vests were particularly prominent in the final event of the track programme, the 3000m, with 8 athletes competing across 4 races in *arguably* the most demanding flat track event.

The single women’s 3000m combined the ‘A’ Championship race with the B & C Grades, with Niamh O’Neill, Karla Doran and Aoife Ní Thuathail all competing. The highlight of the night was Niamh O’Neill’s performance in this race finishing 3rd in 10:33.86 and securing a Dublin Senior Championship Bronze, days after running a 5:04.69 1500m at the IMC/Le Chéile meet. Karla Doran finished 9th in 11:03.41 and Aoife Ní Thuathail making her Donore debut (I think!), finished 13th in 11:54.55.

The men’s 3000m races featured another 5 Donore athletes. First up, at contrasting ends of the race, were Rossa Hurley and Emmet Ó Briain in the Championship ‘A’ race. Marking his seasonal track debut, Rossa was looking to break the 9-minute barrier for the first time which, despite the conditions, he did by some distance, running a 10-second pb to finish 6th in 8:50.69. Emmet finished 13th in 9:20.17, also recording a small pb.

The second men’s race included Paul Cummins and Kevin Nolan, who was making a return to track action after a long lay-off. With the field widely spread from the first 600m, both were racing into the wind for long stretches, with Kevin ultimately finishing 5th in 9:42.43 and Paul 7th in 9:48.64.

The final Donore athlete on the track was Des Gill, who seems to be embracing the track more and more with each successive race on the tartan. Having run 11:52 for 3000m in the first Graded meeting of the season, Des improved on this substantially, running 11:19.69 to finish 14th, which suggests there is considerably more to come as the track season continues.

Meanwhile, on the field, and back in the throwing circle, was Orlaith Read, perhaps Donore’s most vocal advocate of all things throwing (espeically hammers!). Orlaith’s best throw on the night of 25.89 ensured her a first place in the women’s hammer competition.

Next up on the track is Graded Meeting 6 which is on Wednesday 4th July in Morton Stadium Santry. The programme of events features the 100m, 800m, and 5000m on the track, as well as Triple Jump, Discus and Javelin in the field.

Photo credit: Paul Kelly (https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulelwoodkelly/)

June Roads, Trail, Track (Trinity & UK) Round-Up

Roads & Trail

Des Gill started a busy week by being the sole representative of Donore at the Patrick Bell Bohermeen AC 5k, which took place on Friday June 8th, finishing in 19:25. And was back in action at the DBRC summit 5 mile in Howth, running 35:48.

On 16th June, at the Castleknock 5k, we had a number of runners, Fergal Whitty was 4th in 16:41, Ken Norgrove 17:10, Karla Doran a fine 19:52 with Joseph Maguire getting an identical time 19:52! Next was Audrey Gahan 21:04 and 2nd W40, then Rhona McHugh 21:20.

Sinead Lambe finished 3rd lady in 18:22 at the Braveheart trail race run by Trim AC.

Trinity Track

The annual BHAA races in Trinity College on Wednesday, June 13th attracted a small but high-quality Donore entry, with stellar performances by Des Gill and Karla Doran in particular. For those unfamiliar with the event, it usually involves running two different distances on the grass track at College Park, a famous venue that once launched the career of club legend Willie Dunne.

Participants are graded according to previous BHAA runs, here or elsewhere. And this year the races were over the classic distances: 800 and Mìle.

The outstanding Donore performance of the night was by Des Gill who, after being close to a place in a hard-run 800, lined up again an hour later for the mile and won it in fine style: moving gradually into contention on the second and third laps, tracking the leader up the back straight on lap 4, and then leaving him for dead with a sprint off the last bend.

In Karla’s mile, the eventual winner set a fierce pace early on to open up a big lead. Karla then spent two laps reeling her in, and with 250 meters to go, looked certain to win what had become a two-horse race. Then the front-runner found another gear and kicked on, leaving Karla a brave second after another brilliant run.

Elsewhere, Frank McNally and Terry Mee ran both the 800 and mile and both improved on recent performances. Frank found the 800 hard work but finished in about 2:52, which was a few seconds quicker than in 2017. The mile felt somehow easier – those timed runs on the Donore track recently must have helped. The BHAA still haven’t posted all the results, except Des’s mile, which was 5:57 close to his recent run on the club track, but probably better, being on grass

UK Track

On June 12th, Eric Keogh continued his outdoor track season and raced at the British Milers Club meet at Stretford where there is always high level competition and a graded system. Eric raced in the fastest 1500m of the evening and finished 9th in 3.51.56, not as fast as his 3.46 in Belgium a few weeks previously but still a fine run where only 6 seconds separated 1st and 9th place.

In Horwich, also in the North of England Anne Gormley competed at the Horwich festival of running which incorporates the British masters 5k racewalk championship. Anne finished 3rd W55 in 35:47 and she will be back in action at the national league this weekend where she has been a stalwart member of the ladies league team for years now.

At last weekend’s Loughborough British Milers Club meet, there was another great win for John Travers. He finished in 3.40.74 in the 1500m A race in a season’s best and agonizingly close to the European championship standard of 3:40. John just shaved the 5000m standard a few weeks ago so no doubt he will be back in action very soon and hopefully continue the winning streak.