Category Archives: Events

Intervarsity 10km Victory for Travers

Club News, Events, Results

John Travers of Athlone IT has won the men’s 10,000m on the opening day of the Irish University Championships held at the newly refurbished Mardyke in Cork.

In a cat and mouse race, DCU’s Paul Robinson, better known as a middle distance racer, pushed the early pace, and was soon joined by Alan O’Shea, who went to the front midway through the race. Travers took over with a few laps to go, winning in a very respectable time of 30 minutes 36 secs. Robinson was second, with Liam Feely of UL passing O’Shea for third.

A Packed Weekend of Athletics

Club News, Events, Results, Senior

A packed weekend of fixtures with the great news that Donore has a set of new national champions. Our U14 boys 4×200 team of Kolade Abidon, Max Carey, Louis mcdonagh, James McDonagh and Jack Rafferty stormed to gold at the National juvenile relays in Athlone. The U18 team of Sean Lawlor, Rolus Olusa, Adam Halpin, Connor? and Aidan won bronze. Great runs too from our U15 boys and U14 girls teams. Congrats all round.

A day later in Raheny, it was great to see 5 Donore teams contest the National senior and Master road relays. Unfortunately there were no ladies teams on this occasion but they will regroup next week for the national 10k. The Donore A team of Eric Keogh, Lee Van Haeften, John Travers and Mark Dooley finished 5th in the senior with Our B team of Darragh Fitzgibbon, Rob Scanlon, Darren Hand and Ken Norgrove in 13th. 3 teams contested the Masters. John Dunne, fergal Whitty and Dave Heffernan were 7th, Donal Iremonger, Gerry McDonald and Tom Fagan were 14th and Des Gill, Dave Wogan and Ian Redican were 18th.

Over in the west, a contingent of Donore runners contested the gruelling Connemarathon races. Kudos in particular to Stephen Dawson who ran the 39 mile ultra event in a fantastic 5.23.86 and was 17th overall. In the marathon the constantly improving Angela Eustace did a super 4.08, Hilary O’Connor 4.26 and Michelle Dawson knocked 17 minutes off her time from last year to run 4.29. Fergal Swaine came an impressive 6th in the half in 86.19 and Deborah Duffy ran 2.30.

The first round of the Summer Meet and Train road league took place in Lucan over 3 miles and the Donore ladies aim to replicate the great team turnout of the winter league with many new members coming on board. First home was Cliodhna Carthy in 4th, Sharon Moore 5th, Karen Behan 6th and Rhona Duane 8th and well done Joan McTernan, Lee Chambers, Ann Woodlock, Laura Murray, Sue Lynch, Eilish Joyce, Lorraine, Suzanne, Jennifer O’Keeffe, Cristina Gonzalez, Aisling McDonagh.

Elsewhere, John Downes was the winner of the Doneraile 5k in 16.31; Brian O’Riordan flew the flag for Donore in the Paris marathon in a time of 2.58. At the BHAA 2 mile, Rhona Duane was 8th in 13.09 and Ann Woodlock was 1st W70. In the 4 mile Anne Curley ran 23.48, Donal Iremonger 23.58, Dave Wogan 24.39, Ian Redican 26.11 and Terry Mee 29.29 (3rd M65)

National Road Relays 2013

Club News, Events, Results, Senior

A fifth place finish by the Donore Harriers senior men’s team at the National Road Relay championship at Raheny last Sunday gives indication of more positive results in the future. A young Donore team was led out by Eric Keogh (splits of 4m.48 & 5m.09) who came back in 7th place after the first 2-mile leg. Lee Van Haeften (4m.46) ran a solid one-mile lap to maintain 7th position. Next on the road was John Travers, who gained to 5th after posting laps of (4m.46, 5m.09 and 5m.03). The final leg runner was Mark Dooley (5m.05 & 5m.02) who ran an even paced stage maintaining 5th position to the finish line. Sligo AC were the team winners with a total time of 38m.31s, ahead of Raheny Shamrocks 38m.34 and Clonliffe Harriers 38m.55. Donore Harriers came 5th in 39m.47.

The senior B team finished 14th with a total time of 43m.00. Daragh Fitzgibbon showed improved form covering the first leg in 10m.09 (laps of 5m.00 & 5m.09), before handing over to Sam Allen (5m.04) who maintained 10th spot after the 1-mile leg. Darren Hand showed true grit in his came-back race after a few weeks out through injury. Darren ran the mile lap in times of (5m.11, 5m.26 and 5m.26) to tap on to Tomas Griffin in 11th position. Tomas, however, found it tough going and fell back to 14th after laps of (5m.44 and 6m.00).

We had 3 teams in the Masters Race which was run over laps of 1-mile, 2 miles and then another 1- mile. The masters’ A team came an overall 7th with a cumulative time of 20m.27. John Dunne (4m.48), Fergal Whitty (5m.04 & 5m.43) and Dave Heffernan (4m.54) did the club proud in a very competitive field.

The masters’ B team came 18th with Donal Iremonger (5m.19), Gerard McDonald (5m.41 & 5m.45) and John Gleeson (6m.01) coming home in a total time of 22m.46. The C team came 25th and was represented by Des Gill (5m.46), Dave Wogan (5m.51 & 6m.00) and Ian Redican (5m.53) for a total time of 23m.30.

Gerry Naughton

Busy St. Patrick’s Weekend of Road Racing

Club News, Events, Results, Senior

We had a very busy weekend of road racing over St Patrick’s weekend and first off was the St Patrick’s Festival 5k in the city centre where we had a huge number of members running, the day saw perfect conditions and multiple pbs gained:

First Donore man home was Kevin English in 16.04 followed by Fergal Whitty 16.18, John Dunne 16.20, Lee Van Haeften 16.25, Max Van Haeften 17.34, Stephen Gavin 17.39, Tomas Griffin 17.55, Dervila Holmes (10th woman) 18.14 (pb), Aoife Rickard 18.53 (pb), Niall O’Reilly 18.58, Desmond Gill 19.05 (pb), Richard Beades 19.09, Joe Murphy 19.23, Dave Wogan, Tom Fagan 19.30, Ryan Van Haeften 19.45, Gerard Morris 19.48, Breda Mahony 20.04, John Gleeson 20.16, Rhona Duane 20.32, Michelle O’Hagan 20.39, Lisa Carley 20.40, Sean O’Connor 21.14, Sinead Graham 21.15, Eva Campion 21.57, Caren Crowley 22.16, Sarah Ni Ruairc 23.18, Linda Curtin 25.30, Deborah Duffy 25.47, Tony Jenkins, Anna Van Haeften 29.00. Well done all!

We had 4 athletes in the Street Of Portlaoise 5km on the same day: John Downes (2nd o/45) 16.44 followed by Daragh Fitzgibbon (2nd Jnr) 17.00, George Brady 17.00 and Oisin Fitzgibbon (3rd Jnr) 17.23

In the Barcelona Marathon we had Conor McCauley running a big pb of 2.54.46, In the Rome marathon we had Jonathan Daly running 2.49.30 and Cristina Gonzalez running 4.24.11, well done Conor, Jono and Cristina!

In The Mallow 10 we had Anne Curley 3rd woman 60.41 followed by Florence Curley 7th woman (1st O35) 65.28, Kim Hickey 69.56, Maedbh Peavoy 70.31 (pb), Peter Duggan 72.49, Jim McNamara 1st O70 73.00.

Weekend Roundup

Club News, Events, Results, Senior

Very well done to John Travers who was 2nd in the IUAA (Intravarsities) cross country championships in Jordanstown, he competed for Athlone Institute of Technology and he was followed in by Eric Keogh (running for UCD) in a brilliant 11th place. Jona Kalemi competed for DCU in the women’s race to finish in 42nd  place.

On the road Eoin Durkan easily won the Malahide Parkrun 5k in 17.06 and Dervila Holmes continued her great racing form to finish second woman in the Enniscrone 10k on a very tough course (no times available).
In the BHAA Maynooth the last cross country race of the season we had Ian Redican, Terry Mee 1st O65 and Ann Woodlock 1st O70.

National Senior Cross Country Championships Tullamore

Club News, Events, Results, Senior

A crisp cold but very pleasant bright day saw some great racing in Charleville Estate in Tullamore. The course was tough with a steady uphill start and some tough climbs throughout but conditions underfoot overall were quite dry with some nice downhill stretches.

First off were the women and Barbara Cleary and Sinead Jennings were dominant in the first lap of the 4 lap undulating course. As the race settled down Barbara pushed on and mixed it with the elite group which earned her a fantastic 9th place, she is continuing to return to her best form after a recent break from racing but there is lots more to come from Barbara and no doubt she will show her true form on the road in the months to come. Next in was Sinead Jennings who had a powerful run to finish in 20th place. She went out fast and never gave up holding off fierce competition from far more experienced runners.  This was her first cross country race since the National Intermediate in 2007 but it was no surprise that she could pull out such a gutsy run as giving it 120% is Sinead’s known trademark, it is great to have her back as part of the team and we hope to see more of her if she can find the time with her very busy rowing schedule not to mention being a mother to two young children.  Not far behind Sinead was Anne Curley in 25th place who was running very strongly for most of the race before hitting a bad patch and losing a few places but it was a good run coming off a tough marathon schedule. She was followed in by the ever improving Dervila Holmes who had a fine run in 29th, there was probably  a few more places there for the taking but Dervila will show her recent great form again in the months ahead and is fastly making a name for herself in senior women’s running.  Íde NicDhomhnaill ran brilliantly in her first ever outing over 8k in 31st, it was probably a baptism of fire for Íde over the longer 8k distance but it was a fine end to what was a superb cross country season for her.  Sinead McCauley was next in and probably paid for her very fast and brave earlier pace to finish in a very decent 40th but Sinead and Íde will be the backbone of senior teams in the future when they get more experience of senior cross country running under their belts.  Not far behind was Florence Curley who was delighted to be back running on a national senior team after a long spell of below par running, she is definitely coming back to her old self and ran around with a smile on her face to finish in a solid 43th , hopefully there is a good road season ahead for Florence.  The stalwart experienced Samantha Conroy completed the team in 53rd place and found the going tough on the day. It wasn’t a good day for Samantha who has scored on previous silver and bronze medal teams in this race in 2008 and 2009 but no doubt she will be back showing her true form on the road in the next few months. This was a superb team effort from everybody with our strongest ever team  of 8 women running, unfortunately it wasn’t enough to secure a medal on the day where the competition was white hot but 4th place wasn’t bad on a day that saw the most competitive women’s Interclubs race in years.
Next off were the men who had 6 gruelling laps and we just had the bare four brave souls Darren Hand, John Downes, Fergal Whitty and Jonathon Daly who put themselves on the battle line. All had superb performances and 6th place was excellent considering the team was sorely depleted. Darren had a superb run in 36th and is continuing to improve on his recent great form, he was followed in by the evergreen John Downes whose teak toughness and years of experience got him around in 40th place, he looked to be enjoying himself on the tough course as he left much younger competitors struggling behind him, closing him down was the teak tough Fergal Whitty who seemed to struggle early on but rallied brilliantly in the second half of the race to push through the field finishing in 46th, He was followed closely by Jonathon Daly who had been been ahead for much of the race but tired a little in the latter stages probably due the effects of his  recent marathon training, nevertheless he rallied to finish strongly in  49th. Less than a minute separated our four finishers who packed brilliantly in a what was a solid team effort. This is superb running in one of the toughest days in the racing calender and well done to all who turned out. A big thanks to everybody who came down to support us and to Maurice Ahern, Tom Byrne and John Geogheghan who got down to Charleville Estate early to get the tent set up on a bitter cold day!

Awards Night Kicks off Donore Harriers’ 120th Celebrations

Club News, Events

The first event of the Clubs 120th year celebrations took place in the West County Hotel on Friday night. The club’s first Annual Awards night was a brilliant success as all the various sections of the club came together to celebrate a host of magnificent athletes and athletic performances over the last 12 months.  A  packed venue was treated to a brilliant display of photographs, an exhibition of articles and photos from 50 years ago, and a slide show of recent photographs all added to the vibrant atmosphere. The expectation when the nominations for the various awards heightened the atmosphere, with the phrase “And the winner is” releasing a raucous roar of approval. M.C. Albert Prendiville to kept  the show rolling along until the final award ” Club Person of the Year” was Presented to Joan McTernan by former President Tommy Hayward. Senior team of the year was won by the Ladies national half marathon champions, who included Barbara Cleary,who was awarded Female Athlete of the Year. Dervila Holmes took the award for most improved lady athlete.  The Juvenile Team of the Year was won by the 4x100m u13 girls relay team-  Dublin champions and national bronze medalists. Included in this team was Suzi O Farrell, National champion over 100m. Emily Geoghegan,  Sean Lawler and Adam Halpin were popular winners of the u18 category in track and field , while Senior National champions Eamon Fahey – Long jump and Simon Taggart 110 hurdles were joint men’s senior athletes of the year. The middle distance c/c.c awards went to Enya Ritchie, Oisin Fitzgibbon and Stephen Gavin. Masters winners were Ann Curley and Ian O’ Leary. Nicola Dowdall took the honours in the Fit 4 life category while Karen Behan won the Meet and Train award. Others winners included Sean Kinsella, Alan Reid, Brian Barry, Kaladay Abidon and Jack Rudden-Kelly.  What a wonderful set of winners and nominees. The club is so proud of them.

Following the awards and photographs, very welcome food was devoured. Then onto the disco, where the energy levels soared to heavenly heights. The packed floor was bombarded and punished as never before as an army of fit athletes let loose all their pent up energy. Can Donore dance! The night was very enjoyable and succeeded in bringing the various strands of the club into one impressive whole. The organising committee under the leadership of Linda Mc Donnell did a fantastic job, so thanks very much to them for their hard work. Take a bow Leonie, Linda, Jennifer, Natalie and Maurice.

The following Tuesday night Fergal Whitty was a late but deserved recipient of the award for most improved male athlete of the year. It was overlooked on the night and the presentation was made in the clubhouse prior to training.

More celebratory events are being planned for the near future and they will be announced in the coming weeks. In this year of our 120 celebrations, we hope that all our teams and individuals will make a special effort to perform even better this year.