After 3 laps or 6000m of the Men’s Inter-Club Cross Country Championship race at Dundalk IT on Sunday March 2nd, the team placings were very much in the mix. Clonliffe Harriers, the reigning champions, were coming under pressure from Dundrum South Dublin for the team prize. Raheny Shamrocks 59 (2, 13, 20, 24) were holding a slender 4 point advantage over Donore Harriers 63 (4, 11, 21, 27) in the competition for the bronze team position.

Another lap further on, at 8000m, the race for bronze was nip and tuck! John Travers had consolidated 4th position behind Mick Clohisey, who was not only leading the race – but was spearheading the Raheny team. An in-form Lee Van Haeften had marginally slipped back from 11th to 13th, whilst Eric Keogh had gained 3 places to lie 18th. John Dunne, who had placed 3rd overall in the National Master’s cross-country championship a week earlier, was running gutsy to hold onto 27th spot. The 3rd place team score with 2 laps remaining was Raheny 61(1, 16, 20 & 24) and Donore 62 (4, 13, 18, 27).

At the start of the penultimate lap the two teams were tied on 62 points. Raheny’s 3rd man had slipped two places, whilst their 4th man had gained one. It was all down to the last lap! 2000 more metres of mud and undulations and Donore supporters screaming the team scores from the side-line: “keep digging, every point counts”. This was the great sport of cross-country at its very best!

Mick Clohisey of Raheny Shamrocks maintained his lead and won his first National XC Championship in a time of 39.09s – ahead of Gary Thornton of Galway City Harriers (39.18s). John Travers held onto 4th position in the time of 40.12s. Lee Van Haeften (41.07s) ran a brilliant race to place 13th, 3 places ahead of the second Raheny finisher. Eric Keogh (42.00s) gained to 17th position with a fast finish. In the points marker Donore held an advantage, but it was all down to the 4th and final man for each team.

And there he was! Digging deep into his reserves of human endeavours, John Dunne (42.40s) rounded the final bend and fought for each place with a gritty determination! The ‘Dunner the Runner’ had done good! He gained to 25th (although he was really 24th after diving over the finish line and losing a place or two in the funnel), whilst the last scorer for Raheny had slipped back to 29th. The final teams scores were:
1. DSD 34
2. Clonliffe Harriers 35
3. Donore Harriers 59
4. Raheny Shamrocks 68
5. East Cork 84
6. Rathfarnham 105
This was Donore’s first team medal in the Men’s National Inter-Club XC since 1993.

The scoring 4 runners were well complimented by the other members of the team. Ken Nugent (44.09s), who is still getting back after a long lay-off through injury, had a fine run to place 37th. Gavin Keogh (44.37s), having lost weeks of training due to illness, dug deep to come home in 42nd spot. Michael McMahon (44.45s), a newcomer to the team and running in only his second race for the club following last week’s National Intermediate XC, came a more than creditable 45th. Colm Hill placed 59th in 47.08s in only his second race of the season.

The ladies also sent a team to Dundalk, the 3 NicDhomhnaill sisters, the Curley sisters and Breda Mahony took to the line in a high quality field which saw Clonliffe’s Sarah McCormack, Michelle McGee of Brothers Pearse and DSD’s Maria McCambridge sprinting it out for top honours.

In a tough 8000m course, the Donore ladies worked well together with Ide NicDhomhnaill first home in 33:06, right behind Ide was Anne Curley 33:12, Aisling NicDhomhnaill ran brilliantly as she continues to rebuild following injury in 33:55. Florence Curley and Sorcha NicDhomhnaill came home close together again with 34:36 and 34:43 and Breda Mahony followed up a strong run after last weeks National Masters Championships with another great run in 36:01.

The Bohermeen half marathon is growing in popularity, especially for those building towards Spring marathons and Donore didn’t disappoint with the numbers turning up to battle it out on a wet morning in Meath. Niall Lynch and Philip Hennessy battled it out for club honours finishing just 4 seconds apart in 1:15:37 and 1:15:41 respectively. Barry Potts took to the road and pulled out a strong run to finish in a very impressing 1:33:24 which was enough for second male place in his category.

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Over in Kinvara, Deirdre Healy and Des Tremble donned their Donore vests. Des ran a great time of 1:18:27 to finish in 6th place, while Deirdre ran 1:54:23, while Maura Kearns battled it out in the BHAA Cross Country at Dublin Airport, continuing her good form just missing out on a 3rd place finish.

In a week that saw Eric Keogh, John Travers and Eamon Fahey perform brilliantly in the Inter Varsities in the wonderful indoor stadium in Athlone, more of our young athletes and not so young headed for the Leinster Track and Field championships at the same venue.

The Performance of the day came from the renewed Sean Lawlor who having won his heat impressively ran a magnificent final to take the Junior title in a personal best time of 22.30. Sean later teamed up with juniors Adam, Conor and Senior captain Dave to take silver in the Senior men’s 4×100 m relay. For the ladies seniors, Linda celebrated her 21st birthday with bronze medals in the Senior ladies triple jump and 60m, both Personal bests. Alesia finished 4th in her heat in the semi final of the Junior girls 60m, receiving a shoulder injury in the process. Cathal O’Brien jumped 1.80 in the Junior High jump finishing in 4th place. Both Terry Mee and Henry kept the flag flying for the men’s masters. David Campbell finished third in the men’s senior 400m championship in a pb of 51.7.

A good days work by all and a lovely birthday cake from Jennifer o’Keeffe to surprise ” Lovely Linda

Well done to Alex Clarkin who got his season off to a fantastic start in the Under 16 All Ireland indoor Pentathlon in Athlone on Saturday. A strong performance saw Alex earn a silver medal & achieving 3 personal bests in the hurdle sprint, shot putt & 800m.

Our Masters men performed brilliantly in the Dublin Masters Cross Country championship in a record and very competitive field in Raheny on Sunday. All of our men were up to the challenge in tough conditions and continued the great stream of success emanating from our men this winter. Lead brilliantly by John Dunne, the spirit of the team was unquenchable with each man working his socks off for the team. Up front John Dunne bided his time in the top 6 until eventually there were only two vying for the gold medal. With only 600 yards to go John was still 30 yards down on the leader. But John unleashed a killer sprint on Paul Fleming to reel him in and recorded a magnificent victory-his first Dublin title. Not far behind, the team were packing like wolves. Niall Lynch lead the charge finishing in 5th place, closely followed by the brilliant Dave Heffernan in 9th place. Another great run from the fast improving Fergal Swaine in 19th place completed the 4 scoring athletes. Dark horse Willie Morris put in a big run in 28th place, closely followed by the flying Philip Hennessy and Fergal Whitty in 30th and 34th places. Next came vice-captain Henry English in 41st position, Des Trimble 49th, Gerry Mc Donald 82nd, Barry Potts 101st, Ian Redican 106th , Des Gill109th and the indefatigable Terry Mee kept it all together in 143rd place.

The team position was very impressive, what an effort!.
1st Donore 1, 5, 9,19 Total 34 points
2nd Clonliffe 4,11,15, 25 Total 55 points
3rd Rathfarnham 2, 8, 16, 32, Total 58 points

Category medalists were;
John Dunne 1st M35
Niall Lynch 2nd M.40
Barry Potts 2nd M60
Terry Mee ist M70

Donore had a record 10 competitors in the ladies 3k masters race over 2 laps in St Anne’s Park. There was a very fast start with the Donore ladies taking out the pace with the rest of the 82 strong field. Anne Curley twice a silver medallist in this race didn’t run to her usual form and a misjudgement on the second lap gave her competitors the advantage in the closing stages so she finished 8th but still 2nd W40. Our next finishers packed very well throughout and in a storming race first time master Alma Hanevy finished 11th with some seconds to spare on Breda Mahony in 13th. The ever improving Janette Strickland was a super 15th and Karen Behan a few seconds behind in 16th. Bronagh Elliott had a strong finish in 19th and Sam Conroy worked through the field to 22nd. Florence Curley had a bad start but managed to finish 28th. Next was Eva Campion in 38th and Ann Woodlock now in the W75 category finished 89th. The team won bronze and just missed the silver by 2 points, this was a great result from a new look Masters Team and well done Alma and Janette on first time cross country medals.

With the ladies in third place, it was a great day of cross-country for the club. A huge thank you goes out to the fab supporters who turned up in great numbers. It was appreciated by all our athletes. It was a day for the tent. Many thanks to those who put it up. It’s all about team effort.

Members are reminded that the awards night takes place on January 24th in the Lucan Spa Hotel. Details on the night can be found http://www.donoreharriers.com/2014/01/donore-harriers-awards-night/

Jack Rudden Kelly arrived in Athlone on Saturday for the AVIVA all Ireland schools combined event representing Castleknock Community College. After a disappointing long jump Jack showed true resilience by not letting it affect the rest of his day as he went on to attain three personal bests in the shot putt, 200m and 800m and running a solid 9.15 in the 60m hurdles.  After the five grueling events he finished in 4th position which qualifies him to represent Ireland in the SIAB schools international combined event in the Emirates Arena, Glasgow on the 14th of December.

On the same day, Donore Harriers had two representatives in the Irish team at the British & Irish Masters Cross Country International at Cardiff. Niall Lynch finished 33rd overall in the Men’s 35-49 age category, but placed 12th in the M40-45 group and helped the Irish team (43 points) to silver medal position behind England (13) and ahead of |Scotland (51). Niall recorded a time of 25:46 for the 8.000m race. In the o/65 race, run over 6.000m, Terry Mee placed 22nd overall in 25:18 – but came an excellent 5th in the o/70s category and he led home the 3-scoring Irish o/70s team that finished in 4th position.

4 athletes competed in the National Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships held at Santry Demense on Sunday 17th of November

In the Senior Women’s Race held over 8000m Sinead Lambe (31^st in 30:49)  had a solid run and finished as second scorer for the Wexford team that finished as 4^th county overall with 4 to score.

John Travers placed 12^th in the Senior Men’s race in a time of 32:18. John was very much to the fore at the half way stage of the 10.000m, 6-lap course that included a mixture of soft and firm underfoot conditions. Then, as eventual winner Paul Pollock (Antrim) made his break, John’s grip on a top 10 placing faded – but he dug deep to place as 4^th of 6 scorers in the winning Dublin team. He also achieved his goal for selection on the Irish team for the European Cross Country championships due to take place in Belgrade, Serbia on the 8^th of December 2013 when he placed 2^nd overall in the u/23s category losing out by inches to Ryan McDermott (same time as John) who was representing Antrim.

Eric Keogh (51^st overall in 34:05) acquitted himself very well to place 11^th in the u/23s competition. This was Eric’s first appearance in a national championships and his progress over the last year has been significant and   indication of better results to come.

Darren Hand shook off the Dublin marathon cobwebs to put in a solid race representing his native Cavan. Darren placed 92^nd in 36.05s and helped his county team to 4^th place in the ‘B’ category.

A short drive away and a little earlier in the day, we had 17 ladies in total racing in the first race of the Meet and Train Winter XC League. Karen Behan continued her magnificent form and was first home for Donore in 3rd place in great time of 12:30, followed by Janet Strickland 5th, Sinead Graham 6th and Rhona Duane 12th,  Eva Campion 16th, Cliodhna Carthy 26th, Lee Chambers 27th, Cristina Gonzalez 33rd, Lind Curtin 58th, Sarah Ni Ruairc 66th, Meadbh Campbell 67th, Eilish Joyce 68th, Dana Mackey 74th, Mary Murphy 75th, Michelle Dawson 93rd, Deborah Duffy 104 and Sue Lynch 119.

Everyone ran and packed really well and the Donore Team A easily won the first race of the Winter League.

Last weekend, in the Remembrance Run 5K, Ian Redican was first home with 19:51,  followed by Lee Chambers doing a little recovery run after her marathon heroics in 22:26, Michelle Dawson made a welcome return to the roads to come home in 24:40. Mary O’Donoghue and Lorraine Doran also ran with 31:10 and 55:53.

Well done to all!