Dublin Masters XC Championships

Look back to Dublin Masters cross country in St. Anne’s Park Raheny which saw record numbers competing and a large Donore contingent in action.

202 women ran the women’s 3k race over 2 laps of the fast flat course, no wind and no extreme cold either. Raheny Shamrock track runner Siobhan Eviston set the pace and was the eventual winner in a fast and furious race. Making a great comeback to this race after missing it for 2 years was Anne Curley who finished in 21st place and won bronze W45. Finishing within seconds of each other were Audrey Gahan in 30th who had her best race in a long time with Florence Curley a second behind in 31st, Ariana Ball 33rd in 3 seconds later, Claire Mulligan in 34th in 2 more seconds. Great comeback too for Bronagh Elliott after a long injury last year in 36th. Next in was Fiona Barrins in 71st and Julia Hackett 4 seconds later in 75th. Angela Eustace was 93rd and great to see Mary McDermott back competing in this race as a W50 finishing in 137th. The team finished outside the medals in 4th but with 18 teams this was an excellent team performance.

Next up was the men’s race 6k for the men (3k for M65+) with a record 292 runners. From the start men’s captain Rossa Hurley was right in the mix and looked to be almost holding back in the first lap, sure enough by the end of the second lap he had pulled ahead of the Raheny and Rathfarnham runners and he powered on in the last lap to a great victory, first over the line and 1st M35.

In 23rd place and a fast finish was Gavin Keogh making a good comeback, Alan Farrell in a fine 34th with Donal Iremonger 59th, 89th was Craig Scott and Peter Nugent 147th. The team was missing some members on the day so finished out of the medals in 6th but great to have the overall winner.

The men’s M50 Team finishers were spearheaded by Des Gill 154th and Tom Fagan 155th who finished within a second of each other, Tony Griffin 214th , ken Cronin 227th and frank McNally 234th to finish in 10th place

Barry Potts had a great win in the M65 race winning gold by 13 seconds.

The support out there was brilliant, thanks all who came from far and wide to cheer, hold T-shirts, collect numbers and provide general encouragement!

Leinster Masters Championships

Newly-crowned Dublin Masters champion Rossa Hurley won another title earlier this month, the Leinster Masters Championship in Gowran Kilkenny. There was no M35 team but Gavin Keogh competed well and was 19th. The M50 team of Tom Fagan, Des Gill, Tony Griffin and Barry Potts was 10th – Tony Griffin won Bronze m60 and Barry Potts, Gold M65.

BHAA XC

The 2019 BHAA Cross Country season is now underway and there have been some impressive results for Donore athletes running for their workplaces. Sinead Lambe had a great win at the Eir BHAA XC in Cherryfield Park, in the ladies 2 mile she finished nearly 30 seconds ahead of the second placed runner. Mary McDermott, great to see Mary back racing regularly came 29th. With a quick turnaround, Sinead then took the start line for the 5 mile men’s race! This also featured women seeking a longer distance and she finished a highly impressive 35th in that. Well done to Shane McAuley who was 23rd home and to Ian Redican and Rhona McHugh, full details below,

2 Mile Women’s race 45 finishers

1st Sinead Lambe 11.54
29th Mary McDermott 15.11

5 Mile Race – 141 finishers
23rd Shane McAuley 29.44
35th Sinead Lambe 30.49
78th Ian Redican 34.56
83rd Rhona McHugh 35.20

The week before was the 6k combined cross country race in Tymon Park on a blustery day but with good ground over 2 laps of 3k. Alasdair Brown was 12th man in a fine run. Florence Curley worked her way through the field to finish 3rd woman and 59th overall. Rhona McHugh 6th woman and 73rd overall. Ian Redican was 86th.

Separately, in the IMRA hellfire mountain race, Audrey Gahan was 9th woman.

Return of the Women’s Meet and Train League

The long awaited return of the women’s meet and train league is finally over – last weekend 166 women competed in race 1 of the cross country league in Tymon Park with 14 Donore women toeing the line. Stricter insurance demands had stymied the league in the past few years but thanks to a committed group of people from across the athletic club community, this difficulty has been resolved. Hats off to Mary Butler, some members of Crusaders AC on the insurance, and our own Mary Murphy and Caren Crowley on the Committee and of course Sue Lynch – who for so many years ran this league on a wing and a prayer!
Tallaght AC put on a terrific event. A 2 mile course with one small lap, 2 big laps and plenty of challenges thrown in for the runners, hills, bumpy ground in parts, rainfall in the middle, real cross country! But the M&T unique mix of competition and camaraderie ensures that nobody feels intimidated and everyone gets encouragement.

Mary Murphy worked really hard at getting 2 Donore teams out and was a brilliant organizer and fulcrum for the team on the day. There was also a poignant minute’s silence for our dear departed teammate Karen Behan before the race – she made her mark in this league. We also remembered crusaders AC Stalwart John Fitzsimons.

Off they went at 11am and Cliodhna Carthy was very impressive showing her old flair at cross country to finish 7th. Sisters Ruth and Lee chambers finished practically together and Caren Crowley making a race return just behind. Mary McDermott did her second race of the weekend and Treasa Boylan competed on a Donore team for the first time. Catherine McKeon had a great finish as did Dana Mackey and Sarah Ni Ruairc. Mary Murphy was delighted with her fine finish and Michele Murphy too. Sue Lynch always has so much organizing to do pre the race, she often has to jump in with seconds to the start we but always powers to the finish line. Great to see Michelle Dawson come back from injury to compete and of course the 80 year old Ann Woodlock (who first competed in this league in 1983) was our final team finisher, and even had to beat off the challenge of a younger runner with seconds to the line! This league is a big part of the evolution of Donore’s women runners, practically every female Donore runner of note competed in it at some stage, it is a great team event and of course will be forever associated with Jim McNamara, a trophy in his honour was created for the league in 2016 so it will be great to present that again. Thanks all the supporters out there on the day too, Full results below and roll on the next one.

7th Cliodhna Carthy 14.02
35th Ruth Chambers 15.07
36th Lee Chambers 15.07
37th Caren Crowley 15.11
71st Mary McDermott 15.58
78th Treasa Boylan 16.08
82ns Catherine McKeon 16.14
98th Dana Mackey 16.57
101st Sarah Ni Ruairc 17.05
114th Mary Murphy 17.32
126th Michele Murphy 17.58
139 Sue Lynch 18.47
141st Michelle Dawson 18.53
155th Ann Woodlock 20.14

National Novice XC Dundalk Report

It was another incredibly competitive day at this year’s National Novice championships in Dundalk IT – this race attracts one of the biggest fields in the cross country calendar and has grown over the years.

The women’s race consisted of 2 x 2k laps and had 136 finishers- a fair course with some steep hills nonetheless and underfoot conditions were quite good. Alma Hanevy made her customary steady start working her way up through the field to finish in 39th which was an excellent placing in a field of 136 – she finished around runners who were top 10 in last year’s national masters giving an idea of the standard here. Barbara Murray was next in 67th though only 38 seconds separated her and Alma such was the volume of runners coming over the line. Bronagh Elliott was next 8 seconds later in 70th, Amy Dodd is growing in stature with every race and finished in 84th position. Julia Hackett is delighted to be running championship cross country again and finished in 107th and Medbh Peavoy also made a comeback in 120th. The team finished 10th out of 18th and will build on this for the races coming up in 2017.

The men’s teams were missing a few key people on the day unfortunately but we still had 10 runners out. Niall Lynch was delighted with his 31st placing in a 176 strong field in the 6k race – and he had been on site from early on supporting at the juvenile races. Rossa Hurley 2nd in the Dublin Intermediate last week was feeling the effects of a cold so took a while to find his feet but he still battled well and had a very fast finish in 33rd, in next were Eoin Hannon 75th and Des Tremble 87th (Fergal Swaine was forced to retire). The Donore A team finished 9th out of 19 teams. Donore B team featured a mix of experience and some new runners in their first cross country season for Donore: Andrew Wilson 116th, Alan Farrell 121st, Fergal Roche 132nd, Rob Clougher 169th and Des Gill 176th were 17th. The full complement of the team will be back for the Masters and Intermediate races in January and February.

Thanks to the supporters who travelled down (and tent builders who now have it down to a fine art!)

Road Round-Up

It’s not just all cross country racing at this time of the year…Donore runners have recorded some fine runs on the road in the past few weeks.

At the Waterford Half marathon, Eric Keogh followed up his impressive showing at the National Senior cross country by breaking the 70 minute barrier at this sold-out fixture in Waterford town. He finished in 5th place in a time of 69.30. Four other Donore runners were there – suffering the effects of a cold Breda Mahony still finished in 98.40, Nicola Dowdall ran 1.40.25, not far off her lifetime best, Marianne Dunlevy had to stop mid-race but finished in 1.41.57 and Elaine Verdon was delighted with a PB of 1.42.30 – reaping the benefits of her Dublin marathon at the end of October. Later that day the ladies even got to meet Waterford’s own athletic legend Thomas Barr so a great finish to the weekend.
Rhona McHugh is coming back into good form with two 10 mile races lately – she finished in 73.04 at the Stook 10 mile in Kilkenny a testing race with a notorious hill in the middle. She followed this up with a PB in the Ballyroan Abbeyleix 10 mile in 69.30.
Meanwhile back in Dublin, Shane McAuley recorded an impressive 36.38 at the Aware 10k and Peter Nugent 39.56 in the same race.

Captain’s Race

This “cake race” club tradition usually happens on the last Saturday before Christmas after all the championship fixtures have finished for the year. A chance for various endurance groups to come together and race including the youngest runner 16year old Zak Ahmed – it is held over a three lap course which starts close to the army training grounds, up the horse gallop and back down at the stone bridge, 5k in all (and slightly more) Willie Smith marked the course, President Iain Morrison started the runners and captains Florence Curley and Rossa Hurley were there – injury prevented Rossa from running. First home was Eoin Hannon and first lady home was Barbara Cleary – Zak our youngest runner was 2nd overall. Afterwards, the runners gathered for mince pies and tea/coffee back at the clubhouse. Each runner brings a prize so everyone got to take home a festive gift. Results as follows:

1 Eoin Hannon 18.42
2 Zakariya Ahmed 19.08
3 Barbara Cleary 19.35
4 Neil McGettigan 19.41
5 George Brady 19.50
6 Andrew Wilson 19.52
7 Neil Hand 20.22
8 Donal Iremonger 21.44
9 Stephen Dawson 21.45
10 Des Tremble 22.39
11 Karen Behan 22.42
12 Rhona Duane 23.04
13 Bronagh Elliot 23.05
14 Craig Scott 23.28
15 Florence Curley 23.39
16 Des Gill 24.02
17 Angela Eustace 24.11
18 Sinead Graham 24.29
19 Aine Mahony 24.44
20 Ariana Ball 26.25
21 Sian o’Connor 27.03
22 Dana Mackey 27.33
23 Jennifer O’Keeffe 31.37
24 Eilish Funston 31.37

4 x 1 Mile World Record Attempt

Congratulations to our own John Travers who was part of the 4 x 1 mile relay indoor world record attempt at the Believe & Achieve meet in the Athlone Indoor arena – the culminating event of a development meet organised by Dermott McDermott of Corran AC and the Believe and Achieve team. The record has stood for 23 years 1993 at 16.16. John along with Kieran Kelly, Eoin Everard and Joe Warne (a late replacement for Paul Robinson) all made a great crack at it and John had the fastest split of the four at 4.04. Unfortunately, the team didn’t break the mark on this occasion, just missing it by 6 seconds but by all accounts it was a super event and thanks to the Donore supporters who also travelled down for an exciting evening of athletics. Earlier in the day at the same event, Sam Allen finished 5th in 9:06.9 in a high-class 3000m won by Alberto Sanchez in a 8:00.72 – well within the 8:05 qualifying standard for the 2017 European Indoor Championships in Belgrade.

Meet & Train Cross Country Report

The first two rounds of the long running Meet and Train Women’s Cross Country league took place on November 27th in Dunboyne and on 18th December in Tymon Park.

Always run in a competitive but friendly atmosphere, Donore Harriers own Sue Lynch has long been the mainstay of the league. It has always been a springboard for those new to cross country running and a great team event. Each race is 2 miles in length over various cross country courses around Dublin/Meath

Round 1 in Cowpark Dunboyne – a tough enough course on bumpy terrain had 11 Donore runners competing in a field of 112 runners

20th Audrey Gahan 14.31
28th Mairead Kirby 14.56
52nd Mary Murphy 15.45
60th Linda Curtin 16.21
62nd Mary Murphy 16.24
65th Ruth Chambers 16.31
68th Michelle Dawson 16.40
76th Teresa Brophy 17.03
80th Jennifer O’Keeffe 17.13
90th Sue Lynch 18.35
92nd Ann Woodlock 19.06

Round 2 took place on a sunny morning on Tymon Park on a new course the far end of Tymon which was also used for the Dublin Intermediate, this time 134 finished the race – results as follows:

12th Audrey Gahan 13.06
45th Michelle O’Hagan 14.02
60th Lee Chambers 14.31
68th Mary Murphy 14.48
83rd Linda Curtin 15.27
85th Lauren Brady 15.29
92nd teresa Brophy 15.47
93rd Sarah Ni Ruairc 15.52
103rd Jennifer O’Keeffe 16.23
106th Michelle Dawson 16.46
110th Sue Lynch 17.19
117th Ann Woodlock 18.01

Great running and good to see some making a return to cross country and others like Audrey in their first season. Thanks Sue Lynch and to Mary Murphy for her sterling work in organising teams!

~ Florence Curley

The Highgate Harriers track on the edge of the Parliament Hill Fields in North London was the setting for the ‘Night of the 10.000m PBs’ event on Saturday 10^th May 2014 and our own Lee Van Haeften proved to be noteworthy winner of the ‘B’ category race in a Personal Best time of 31.37.19. A field of 23 runners had to endure wet and blustery conditions, but the close attention of runner-up Bill McKay (31.40) of Bedford & County AC pushed a gritty Lee to achieve his PB.

Meanwhile at a British Athletics League Division One fixture at Eton Mark Dooley came 6^thin the 3.000m, representing Herne Hill Harriers, in a PB time of 8.36.80.

Closer to home Des Tremble finished an excellent 9^thoverall in the Lucan Harriers Tom Byrne 5km road race (11.05.14) recording a time of 17.06. Des came second in the M40 category. Good run here also for Sue Lynch. Caren Crowley was 3rd lady at the Clanna Gael 5k beach run.

At the IMC Meet in Greystones on Saturday, Sean Lawlor ran brilliantly to win the senior 200m race in a time of 22.23.

In the mid-week Womens Meet and Train 5k in Irish town the Donore ladies were, once again, out in force. Great results for Donore with Emer Rattigan 2nd, Janette Strickland 3rd, Aisling Swaine 5th, Bronagh Elliot 6th and Karla Doran 8th. Also running, Kim Strickland, Angela Eustace, Ruth Chambers, Angela Mellenor, Christina Gonzalez, Mary Murphy, Olivia Strickland, Laura Murray, Anne Woodlock, Deirdre Brennan, Lavinia Kirwan and Sue Lynch.

It was close order from start to finish with Raheny Shamrocks edging out Donore Harriers over the final 400 metres whilst Newbridge AC were always hot on the heels of the two more fancied Dublin teams.

At the National Road relay championships at Raheny last Sunday (13.04.14) Donore Harriers ‘put all their eggs in one basket’ with all four competing teams entered in the Masters M35 category. Thus there was a sense of expectation, but relay running is very much about pace judgement; giving it your all and ultimately fine margins!

Emmet O’Briain (4.46) ran a fantastic first leg, recording the fastest mile stage in the race, to give Donore ‘A’ an early lead ahead of Crusaders and Newbridge. Over the 2 mile stage Mick Traynor of Raheny used his familiarity of the course to bring Raheny level with Donore despite another very fine race from John Dunne (10.11).  Henry English (4.54) “gave it all out there” in the final one-mile leg (the circuit is a little over one mile), but the strength and experience of Brian Leahy of the home club proved decisive in the latter few hundred metres. The final team times of: 1. Raheny 19.46; 2. Donore Harriers 19.51 and 3. Newbridge 19.54 showed that this had been an excellent contest.

Crusaders AC (20.01) came 4^th with Donore Harriers ‘B’ an excellent 5^th. The ‘B’ team was led out by Fergal Swaine (4.53) who tapped on to Niall Lynch in 6^th position. Niall (10.14) maintained the team’s outside chance of getting into the medals by closing his 2-mile leg in equal 5^th. Will Morris (4.59) kept the tempo going to consolidate 5^th place. The Donore Harriers B team finished just 12 seconds behind 3^rd placed Newbridge indicating the strength in depth of the squad.

The Donore Harriers ‘C’ team (21.24) held 14^th position at the end of each stage having been led out by newcomer Garvan Smith (5.09). Fergal Whitty (10.51) ran an even-paced 2-mile leg with Des Tremble (5.24) closing strongly on the final mile stage.

The ‘D’ team (23.15) came 18^th. Tom Fagan opened with 5.43; with Gerard McDonald recording 11.30 for the 2-mile stage; and Des Gill (6.02) closing a great squad effort from Donore Harriers.

Meanwhile at the Intervarsities Track & Field championships at Waterford IT John Travers (Athlone IT) ran out an easy winner in the 5000m with a time of 14.54.90. Killian O’Hora (Blanchardstown IT) placed 7^th in the 800m Semi-Final in a time of 2.12.20

Another two of the big marathons took place at the weekend.  In Rotterdam we had 4 competitors.  First home was Conor McCauley in 2.59.09 – he had been aiming for a faster time but struggled with hydration issues throughout on a warm day – a brave run and Conor will bounce back in his next marathon in Autumn.  A trio of the ladies were next – Marianne Dunlevy made a super marathon debut finishing in 3.37.13, Angela Eustace is becoming one of the most seasoned marathoners in the club and she got yet another PB in 3.40.26 with Kim Strickland less than 20 seconds behind in 3.40.43 – congrats to all.  Kim’s sisters Janette and Olivia kept her company by racing the 10k event doing 44.19 and 51.59 respectively.  Over in London Phil Hennessy (76^th in M40 category) put behind him the disappointment of a DNF in Dublin last October and ran an excellent 2.47 having gone through the half-way mark in 1.20.55. At the recent Connemara marathon Hugh Brosnan recorded a time of 3.04.52 to place 14^th over a very demanding course.

The ever popular BHAA Kclub 10k took place in Straffan on a course which has always produced some very fast times – Lee van Haeften was 3rd and there were PBs from Stephen Dawson and Alma Hanevy – full details below

Lee Van Haeften 3rd 32.39

Tony Barry 37.31

Stephen Dawson 38.33

Joe Murphy 39.57

Alma Hanevy 40.36

Frank McNally 43.24

Ken Cronin 44.05

Nicola Dowdall 45.12

Jill Dempsey 45.29

Terry Mee 46.12

Ann Woodlock 55.30

Round 1 of the Meet and Train series took place over 2 mile on the paths of Griffeen Park Lucan and 10 runners took part – Ashling Swaine and Lorraine O’Shea made the top 10

Ashling Swaine 5th

Lorraine O’Shea 8th

Sian O’Connor 12th

Mary Murphy 29th

Ruth Chambers 30th

Mary Kingston 38th

Dana Mackey 50th

Ann Woodlock 64th

Deborah Duffy 68th

Sue Lynch 75^th

Earlier in the week, new member Karla Doran was 1st woman at the Campus 5k around the grounds of Trinity College in a time of 20.50.

Michael McMahon had 47 seconds to spare when winning the Leinster Society Aware 10km Road Race at the Phoenix Park on Saturday last with a time of 35.05 and Florence Curley was 1st lady in the 5k in 19.34

John Travers kicked off a fantastic weekend of racing on Saturday evening in Athlone indoor arena winning the mile in the fastest time ever run in Ireland for the indoor mile. Recording a time of 4.1 mins , John ran the second half of the race on his own and narrowly failed to dip under 4 minutes for the mile. This was a fantastic run by John with a new PB of 4:01:47s, it’s only a matter of time until he dips under the magical 4 minute barrier. Congratulations John.

John’s race can be found online Travers Mile AIT Arena 18-01-14

At the Leinster Senior Cross Country Championships on Sunday a five-man Donore Harriers’ team competed in mucky conditions over a 10,000m course in Co. Laois. A team of familiar names turned out as Ken Nugent, Colm Hill and Jonathon Daly returned to action following various lay offs, finishing in 4th place on 78 points, just one point and one place in front of Tullamore Harriers and behind winners Raheny Shamrocks. Gavin Keogh (36:41) was our first man home in 12th place. Ken  Nugent made a welcome return to racing following a very long period out of action due to an injury, Ken Had a very encouraging run finishing in 17th place (36:57). Likewise Colm Hill made a return to racing following a long lay off and also had a good run finishing up in 20th place (37:13). Darren Hand completed our scoring four, finishing in 29th place (37:53). Also, returning to competition was Jonathan Daly who completed the race in 50th place(40:34). Welcome back to racing lads and best of luck in getting back.

Raheny Shamrocks with 5 runners in the top 6 easily won the team event on 12 points, with St. Abban’s second on 52 and Liffey Valley third on 70.

In the BHAA 5 miles cross-country race on Saturday Phil Hennessy showed good form ahead of next month’s National Masters championship. In a highly competitive field Phil placed a fine 16th in a time of 29.20s for the tough 5 miles route at Cherryfield Park. The other members of Donore Harriers who competed despite the persistent rain were: Patrick Moriarty (29:39) 21st, Will Morris (29:44) 22nd, Joe Murphy (32:57) 62nd, Peter Nugent (33:27) 69th, Ian Redican (33:45) 75th, Terry Mee (38:26) 142nd and Conor McCarthy (40:50) 165th.

The Womens Meet and Train CC league continued with the third race of the year in Griffeen Park, Lucan. Once again, the ladies turned out in big numbers to compete in this ever popular women’s league with a fantastic 23 ladies taking to the start line. First home for Donore in second place, continuing her fantastic run of form was Karen Behan just 2 seconds behind Hollie Gelson of Lakeshore Striders. Sinéad Graham 6th, Rhona Duane 9th, Eva Campion 13th and Aisling Swaine 16th also competed. Also competing was Lorraine O’Shea, Mary Murphy, Christina Gonzalez, Michelle Murphy, Lee Chambers, Michelle Dawson, Ann Woodlock, Deborah Duffy, Rachel Burke, Linda Curtin, Sarah Ní Ruairc, Sian O’Connor, Mary Kingston, Sue Lynch, Angela Eustace and Julia Hackett. Full results not available yet but congratulations to all the ladies, always great to see so much black and white dominating the field.

Best of luck to our young athletes taking place on Thursday next in the West Leinster Schools cross-country championships in the Phoenix Park.

Get well soon to Gerry Carroll who is in hospital fighting an illness and good wishes also to Albert Prenderville recovering from a freak accident.

All members are reminded of our Annual Awards night in the Spa Hotel on Friday night at 7.30 pm sharp. Tickets will be available at the door. We have had a fantastic year of competition at all levels. Let’s celebrate the great performances and those individuals, teams, coaches and back room people who made it such a memorable year for the club in its 120th year.

The final team score looked familiar as the Donore Harriers’ men’s team (53 points) achieved 3rd place behind winners Clonliffe Harriers (28) and second-placed Raheny Shamrocks (41) when the Dublin Intermediate Cross Country championships took place at Tymon Park on Sunday. Last month’s Dublin Senior XC championship saw the same teams had finished in the same order.

A sprint-finishing John Dunne (29:09) placed 6th, less than 10 seconds shy of 3rd spot. An excellent run! Next home was Graham Hopkins (29:41) in 14th, with Fergal Whitty (29:46) 16th. An in-form Fergal Swaine (29:49) completed the scoring quartet when placing 17th.  The first thee home for the Harriers competed in the recent Dublin Marathon and all clearly benefitted from the training workload.

The remaining team finishers in the 8km race were: – Paul Cummins (31:29) 32nd; Rob Scanlon (32:22) 38th; Gerard McDonald (32:57) 41st; Niall O’Reilly (34:16) 47th; and Ian Redican (35:34) 50th.

In the 4km Women’s race the ever improving Janette Strickland (17:52) led home the team in 17th position. The scoring team was completed by Sinead Graham (18:04) 20th; Emer Rattigan (18:11) 24th; and Rhona Duane (18:40) 30th. The team placed 6th on 91 points behind winners Raheny Shamrocks.

Eva Campion (19:00) 33rd and Ashling Swaine (19:23) 35th also competed.

Over in Dunboyne a little earlier in the day,  despite some team members being double booked in Tymon Park another 14 ladies ran in the 2nd race of the Meet and Train Winter League. Karen Behan continued her fantastic recent form with another 3rd placed finish in 12:40 over the tough 2 mile course in what provd to be a good battle between the top 3, Karen finished just behind Hollie Geslon of Lakshore Striders 12:36 and Claire Ní Fhaircheallaigh of Dunboyne in 12:37. Also featuring for Donore was marathon ladies Lorraine O’Shea (11th), Lee Chambers (15th), Suzanne McCarthy (23rd) and Angela Eustace (24th). Cliodhna Carthy (14th) joined Lorraine and Karen to make up the A team.  Michelle Murphy, Meadbh Campbell, Sarah Ní Ruairc, Eilish Joyce, Mary Murphy, Sue Lynch, Ann Woodlock and Maisie Byrne made up the numbers for Donore.

Down in Waterford, Sinéad Lambe had a hugely impressive half marathon debut finishing in 1:25:42, just 2 minutes ahead was Ronan Lambe making a solid return in his comeback race with 1:23:52. Anne Curley completed the hat trick for Donore finishing just behind Ronan with 1:24:02.

For the first time in several years years the club was represented by both the men and ladies teams. What a tremendous day it turned out to be with the ladies 3rd in their group with some brilliant performances and a total of 88 points. Our men showed their determination to win Division I this summer and gain promotion to the Premier Division. At the end of the day, they  were in first position with an impressive total of 123 points with Sligo County on 113 points and Co Wexford 102 points.

Wins for Darragh Fitzgibbon 800m, Rolus Osala 400h and triple jump, Simon Taggart in 110h and high jump, Jaco Oosthuysen javelin,  Jim Mc Namara in the walk and David Campbell in 400m were so influential. While 2nd placed Lee Van Haeften 1500m, Eric Keogh 5,000m, Eamon Fahey in the long jump and 100m, Kevin English steeplechase, Eric Brady 56 Lb and both relay teams, Simon in Discus and Sean Lawler  3rd place in  the 200m all contributed to a very impressive total  to proceed into the 2nd leg in July.

For the ladies, Anne Gormley did the 1500m walk and the hammer, Sinead McCauley, making her track debut, competed in the 400m in 68 secs while Sorcha NicDhomhnaill won her 800m race in 2:28.  Sinead Mc Cauley also ran the 1500m and finished in a very impressive 3^rd place and Jona Kalemi ran as a guest in the same race. Florrie ran the 3000m, running well to finish 7^th. In the 4x400m Jona, Florrie, Sinead and Sorcha all performed brilliantly and picked up valuable points for the team and our female sprinters Jenny, Megan, Emily and Linda had a superb race to win the 4 x 100m and Linda also won her individual 100m race.

Overall a brilliant day for the club with fantastic commitment shown by all our athletes and wonderful team spirit and support. Well done to all our athletes, team managers and coaches and club officials who acted as officials for specific events and to all those members who came out to support the teams. It was a memorable day.

The Meet and Train Summer League came to a conclusion last Wednesday with the 4 mile race hosted by Donore in the Phoenix Park. We had a very strong showing from once again with an impressive 31 ladies turning out in the white and black on the night.

Bernadette Kiernan Of Clonliffe was the overall winner of the Meet and Train Road League 2013,  while Donore’s Rhona Duane and Karen Behan were 2nd and 3rd respectively. Congratulations to all the girls who competed in the league, the strong numbers that turned out for these races saw all four Donore teams place well. Donore A (Rhona, Cliodhna, Karen, Sharon, Alma and Janette) won the gold category. Donore B (Joan, Lee, Christina, Aisling, Sinead and Rachel) were second in the silver section. Donore C (Lorraine, Suzanne, Emer, Jennifer, Orla and Caren) won the bronze category and Donore D (Laura, Sue, Ann, Eilish, Angela and Michelle) finished 4th in the bronze category. A big thanks to everyone who contributed to making this a great race.

Well done also to Tony Dunne who ran 1:53 in the Strawberry half marathon at the weekend.

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Twenty six ladies donned the Donore vest for the 2nd leg of the M&T Summer league last Wednesday 8th May in Irishtown.
The 3 mile road race, which was hosted by Crusaders was held in lovely surroundings with great sea views as the athletes made their way along the route.

There was great packing from the ladies at the front with Cliondha Carthy first home for Donore in 2nd place followed by Sharon Moore 4th, Alma Hanevy, who is just off the back of great marathon run was 5th and Rhona Duane 6th, Sinead Graham 7th, Karen Behan 11th, Janette Strickland 14th, Cristina Gonzalez 16th, Caren Crowley 18th, and the ever improving Angela Eustace a fantastic 20th. Also great runs from Aisling McDonagh 25th, Lorraine Roche 27th, Suzanne McCarthy, Orla Crosse, Joan McTernan, Emer Fogherty, Lee Chambers, Jennifer O’Keeffe, Rachel Burke, Eilish Joyce, Kim Strickland, Micelle Dawson, Deborah Duffy, Hilary O’Connor, Anne Woodlock, Sue Lynch and Lavina Kirwan.

Very well done to all, it is great to see such a big number of Donore ladies participate and do so well. Thanks also to the support from Des, Dave and Sinead and Florrie and to Anne Curley who ran down to give her support but missed us – sorry Ann.

Well done also to Sarah Ni Ruairc who took part in the IMRA Wednesday night mountain running league race at Tibradden.