Category Archives: Results

St. Patricks Festival 5K

Club News, Results, Senior

John Travers excellent win in the St. Patrick’s Festival 5km Road Race was marred by suspicion that the route was about 100 metres short. The race usually starts and finishes on Dawson Street, but due to road works this year’s version had the gantry on St. Stephen’s Green North.

On a bright and breezy morning Travers (14.07) was always in command at the front opening up a gap of 30 metres on Colm Rooney (Clonliffe Harriers 2nd in 14.23) and Kevin Maunsell (Clonmel AC 3rd in 14.43) as the race hit the half-way mark along the Grand Canal (Herbert Place). Thereafter he stretched out his lead and won comfortably with almost 100 metres to spare at the finish line.

Ray Hynes (15.02) came an excellent 5th and can be encouraged by his return to form after several months out with injury. Next to finish for Donore Harriers was Aogan MacDhomhnaill (15.17) in 9th place, with Michael McMahon (15.42) finishing strongly to hold off the challenge of Bernard Roe of Raheny to gain 17th spot.

With 3 in the top 10 and the fourth finisher in the top 20 the team prize was ‘won by Donore Harriers on the road’. However, as Aogan MacDhomhnaill is a transfer pending athlete he was not eligible in the team competition, thus Raheny Shamrocks were declared as team winners. The consolation is that the fine running of Ray, Aogan and Michael – all relatively new to the club – augurs well for team going forward…

Further down the field there were some very encouraging early season results from the other Donore athletes: – Tomas Griffin (18.17) 89th; Niall O’Reilly (18.34) 108th; Joe Murphy (18.46) 117th; Des Gill M45 (19.10) 133rd; Gary Fitzgerald M40 (20.42) 225th; and Tom Halton M55 (22.45) in 353rd.

Forthcoming races for the men’s section are: – the Dunboyne 4 mile on the 30th March; the Great Ireland Run/National 10km on the 6th April; and the National Road Relay (primary target) at Raheny on the 13th April.

The Donore ladies also produced some great results in this race with plenty of talk of PB’s after the race. The Nic Dhomhnaill’s Aislinn was 9th overall with 17.19, Ide (18.18) and Sorcha (17.42) were the first 3 home for the ladies. Rhona Duane put her fantastic recent training to the test with a huge PB, breaking 20 minutes for the first time with 19.28.
Janette Strickland shook of a recent illness to run 20.10, Sinead Graham 20.29, Lorraine O’Shea 20.35, Eva Campion 20.34, Sian O’Conor 20.46, Kim Strickland 21.37 and Michelle Dawson 23.08 rounded off the PB’s for the day.

John Travers had another fine race in the National Inter-Varsities Cross Country championships at Cork on Saturday the 8th March 2014. John (27.12) finished a fine 3rd and led the Athlone IT team to place 3rd in the team category. Eric Keogh (28.50) came 15th and was a scoring member of the UCD team that placed 2nd. Cathal McCarron, also representing Athlone IT, came 68th in 32.23.

Meanwhile, at the BHAA cross country meeting on the 8th at Maynooth University Ray Hynes showed a return to form by winning the race in 21.13. Other Donore Harriers to compete were: – 3rd Niall Lynch 21.44; 5th Will Morris 22.14; 10th Graham Hopkins 22.50; 69 Ian Redican 26.06; 97th Fred English 29.00

A round up of recent results from February and March are listed below.

National Masters XC Championships at Dunboyne on 23/02/2014.

Team: 3rd on 109 points, behind Raheny Shamrocks 66 and Rathfarnham 76.
Scoring team: – 3rd (1st in M1 o/35 category) John Dunne 24.33; Niall Lynch
23rd 25.40; 38th Phil Hennessy 26.23; 45th Fergal Swaine 26.30.
Non-scoring runners: 66th Des Tremble 27.13; 78th Fergal Whitty 27.28;
81st Will Morris 27.23; 96th Henry English 28.10; 168th Bob Blake 30.19;
179th Peter Nugent 30.53; 193rd Ian Redican 31.35; 200th Barry Potts 31.55; 205th Des Gill 32.29;
o/65 4km championship: 5th (1st in M8 o/70 category) Terry Mee 19.51

Ladies 5th team: Anne Curley 13th 16.53, Breda Mahony 32nd 17.51, Florence Curley 33rd 17.52, Karen Behan 38th 18.10

National Intermediate XC Championships at Dunboyne on 23/02/2014.
Team: 6th on 163, behind winners Finn Valley 33 and r/up East Cork 48.
Scoring team: – 26th Michael McMahon (debut) 30.56; 38th Eoin Durkan 31.56;
47th Darren Hand 32.48; 52nd Eoin Hannon 33.33
Non-scoring: 74th Joe Murphy 36.48

Ladies 9th team: Emer Rattigan 40th 23.30, Bronagh Elliot 48th 24.20, Ashling Swaine 51st 24.39, Eva Campion 57th 25.14

Inter-Varsities XC Championships at Cork on 8/03/2014.
3rd John Travers (AIT) 27.12; 15th Eric Keogh (UCD) 28.50; 68th Cathal McCarron (AIT) 32.23. NOTE: UCD 2nd team & AIT 3rd team.

National Senior Indoor Championships at Athlone on 16/02/ 2014.
Men’s 3000m: 3rd John Travers 8.14.73

BHAA races – leading Donore results:

North County Farmers BHAA XC on 1/2/14: – 4th Gavin Keogh 27.27; 6th Niall Lynch 27.52; 8th Ken Nugent 28.48; 10th Will Morris 28.59; 15th Patrick Moriarty 29.09

Garda BHAA XC on 15/2/14: – 15th Ken Nugent 23.26; 20th Will Morris 23.58;
23rd Patrick Moriarty 24.04
Dublin Airport BHAA XC on 1/3/14: – 3rd Will Morris 30.00; 11th Patrick Moriarty 31.04
AIB /NUI Maynooth BHAA XC on 8/3/14: – 1st Ray Hynes 21.13; 3rd Niall Lynch 21.44; 5th Will Morris 22.14; 10th Graham Hopkins 22.50; 69 Ian Redican 26.06; 97th Fred English 29.00

 

National Inter-Club CC Championships and Weekend Round-Up

Club News, Juvenile, Results, Senior

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.

Leinster Indoor Championships

Club News, Juvenile, Results, Senior

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

Leinster Senior Cross Country Championships and Weekend Round-Up

Club News, Meet & Train, Results, Senior

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.

Masters Success in Raheny

Club News, Juvenile, Results, Senior

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/

Club Honours at the Leinster Star Awards

Club News, Results, Senior

Two Donore members were the recipients of honours at the Leinster Athletics Stars Awards night held in Tullamore last weekend.  Our young multi-eventer Jack Rudden Kelly who has had a fantastic year of competition was one of thr Dublin Region winners.  Former Donore President and former Dublin Athletics Board chairman Charlie O’Neill won an award for outstanding services to Athletics.  Charlie is a constant presence as an official at Dublin, Leinster and AAI National championship fixtures and still finds the time to compete.  These are significant honours for the club and we congratulate Jack and Charlie on their awards. On the competition side, we had one of the first cross country fixtures of 2014 at Tymon Park , the BHAA SDCC 2 mile and 4 mile.  Anne Curley finished 6th and 2nd W40 but lost places due to her shoe opening, Susan Walsh was 2nd W50 and Ann Woodlock 1st W75.  In the men’s 4 mile race well done to Ken Nugent 22nd, Patrick Moriarty, 25th, willie Morris 26th, Colm Hill 34th, Ian Redican, 92nd, terry Mee 1st M70 and Tom Halton.

Christmas Period Race Round-up

Club News, Results, Senior

Donore runners were busy over the Christmas period in races up and down the country. In the Farranfore Maine Valley 5k in Kerry on December 26th, Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill was the 2nd lady in 18.25. In the same race, Patrick Moriarty was 11th overall in 17.20 and Des Tremble 12th in 17.22. On the same day in Cavan town, Niall Lynch finished 3rd in the Cavan Christmas Dash in an excellent 15.56 and Rhona Duane was 5th lady in the Streets of Wicklow 5k in 20.38. Barbara Murray finished 2nd lady in the Emyvale 10k in her native Monaghan in time of 40.40.

Back in Dublin on New Year’s Day a large Donore contingent took part in the Tom Brennan Liffey Valley 5k in the Phoenix park. Mark Dooley continued his run of good form finishing a decisive 3rd in the race and leading the men’s team to 2nd place with Fergal swaine finishing 9th and 1st M40 and Philip Hennessy next. First Ladies home were Rhona Duane and Karen Behan in a close finish. Full results below.

Mark Dooley 15.47
Fergal Swaine 16.35
Philip Hennessy 16.59
Luke Boland 18.10
Tony Barry 18.21
Conor McCauley 18.45
Stephen Dawson 19.07
Rhona Duane 20.39
Karen Behan 20.41
Fred English 20.46
Charlie O’Neill 20.58
Mary McDermott 21.46
Sharon Moore 22.36
Tom Halton 24.01
Michelle Dawson 24.09
Jennifer O’keeffe 24.44
Peter Daly 25.24
Deborah Duffy 27.22

National Novice and Weekend Round Up

Club News, Results, Senior

We had two teams and all of them ran themselves into the ground in windy wet conditions over an extremely difficult course which included a steep hill.Our team was quietly confident of taking the honours as they had trained and performed impressively in recent months. However it has to be delivered on the day which was done in spades.

When John Dunne (20:34) stormed home in 18th position in the National Novice cross country championships held at the Waterford IT Sports Campus on Sunday he was closing the scoring for both the winning Donore Harriers and Dublin county teams. John, who is an M35 Master, only took up running in a serious way about 15 months ago after having previously played football. On Sunday his recent Dublin marathon training and his fine leg-speed gained from years of playing football came into full effect on the last half of the 6km race, held over four 1.5km laps, when he gained from 35thposition to safely finish within the top 20.  It was a great personal achievement and a real bonus for the Donore team.

In front of John three Donore athletes placed in the top 15 – and, thus, the inter-club team victory seemed assured. And so it proved! Mark Dooley 19:59 ran a solid race to finish 7th, whilst both Eric Keogh 20:21 and Lee Van Haeften 20:24 in respective 12th and 14th positions ran tenaciously to ensure a comprehensive team win.

The final team result saw Donore Harriers as clear winners on 51 points, with Dublin rivals Rathfarmham second on 124 and Leevale third on 139.

Mark, Eric, Lee and John made up 4 of the 6 scorers on the winning Dublin team (76 points); ahead of Cork (132) and Tipperary (201).

Niall Lynch 21:12 was the 5th Donore Harrier home in 45th. Next home were Darren Hand 21:46s in 78th (and first scorer in his native county Cavan team) just one place and one second ahead of Graham Hopkins. Fergal Swaine 22:14 closed for the ‘A’ team in 107th spot.

Emmet O’Briain 22:05 found the hilly and soft underfoot conditions to be tough going and could replicate his excellent run in the recent Jingle Bells 5km road race. However, he led home the Donore ‘B’ team in a respectable 96th position. Emmet was supported by Des Tremble 23:06 in 145th; Gerard McDonald 23:47 in 169th; Stephen Dawson 24:46 in 202nd; and Joe Murphy 25:26 in 212th. The Donore ‘B’ team placed 21st of 24 teams.        

Ciaran O’Flaherty, the Team Manager, gave the following comment post the race: “This squad is going from strength to strength and the success of recent times bodes well for the future”. The team now targets the National Senior Cross Country championship in early March. Let’s hope for more team glory! And some words of credit to John Downes, Iain Morrison and Mick Bourke, who continue to do sterling work in coaching and motivating the squads.  A great day for Donore and the Long Term Development team.

In the Women’s race held over 4.000m Breda Mahony was Donore’s lone competitor. Breda ran a steady race throughout and finished in the top half of a large field in 59th place.

Jack Rudden-Kelly gained a silver medal with the Irish team at the Schools International Pentathlon held at the Emirates Stadium in Glasgow on Saturday. Despite stepping-up an age group Jack put in a valiant performance to finish sixteenth overall recording a 9.71s time in the 60m Hurdles; 5.31cm in the Long Jump; 10.45cm in the Shot Putt; and 2.32s in the 800m. In the under 16s category the Irish team finished second behind England, but ahead of Wales and hosts Scotland.

In Saturday’s Aware 5K, Michelle Dawson continued her return to racing with 24:32. In the BHAA 5k Cross Country on Sunday Maura Kearns ran will to finish in 19:53, Ian Redican 20:18, Florence Curley 20:37, Frank Mc Nally 21:27, Linda Curtin 25:52, Ann Woodlock 27:30

 

National Uneven Age Cross Country Championships

Club News, Juvenile, Results

Oisin Fitzgibbon relished the mud and the hills that confronted all the runners in the National Juvenile Uneven Age Groups Cross Country championships at Waterford IT Sports Campus on Sunday. Oisin, competing in the Boys u/17s race held over 5.000m, made a conservative start and then used his strength to work his way through the competitive field to place an excellent 11th crossing the finish line. He was the 3rd scorer on the Dublin team that won the inter-county championship and that also finished 2nd in the regional contest. Well done Oisin! A great reward for the hard work put into training.

The Girls u/15s team gave a very creditable performance when placing 7th of 14 closing team in what proved a very eventful race held over 3.500m of ‘real’ cross country terrain. The challenging course proved a much stiffer task than the recent Dublin championship race, but all 4 members of the team could not be faulted for determination. Lucy McCann led the team home in 27th position despite being hampered with a stitch in the latter stages of the race. Next in was Keeva Murray. Keeva made great gains after a conservative start and was challenging for a top 20 spot with just one of the 3 laps to go. However she put in an ambitious burst of speed causing a lactate concentration upsurge and she struggled home in 38th place. Keeva was the fourth of 6 scorers on the Dublin team that won bronze medals behind Cork and Wicklow. Next home for Donore was Eliza Ni Thighearnaigh in 64th place, whilst Roisin Rynn-Cahill struggled to come to terms with the soft underfoot conditions and she placed 91st in a field of well over 100 competitors.

The inter-club team prize went to Inbhear Dee AC of Wicklow Town on 64 points. DSD (110) and Omagh Harriers (125) came next with Donore Harriers 7th on 220.

The other Donore Harriers athletes who competed on the day were: – Sam Allen 34th in the Boys u/19s race over 6.000m; Ryan Kiernan who was forced to drop out of the same race due to a recurring injury; Stephen Gavin 39th in the Boys u/17s race; and Niamh Dowling 45th in the Girls u/19s over 4.000m.

Jingle Bells 2013

Club News, Events, Results

It was a brilliant day for the 23rd Annual Jingle Bells 5K. The weather played it’s part too in providing us with near perfect running conditions. The race got away sharp at 11am, with over 1,400 runners and walkers sent on their way to the festive tones of the Blanchardstown Brass Band.
By the midway point the lead pack consisted of 3 athletes including Mark Christie of Mulingar Harriers, John Coglan of MSB and Eoin Everard of Kilkenny City Harriers.  When it came to elbow with just over 100 metres to it was Mark Christie who was clear from John Coghlan and went on to win in 14.22 with Coghlan 2nd in 14.35 and Everard 3rd in 14.40.

In the Women’s race it was Michelle McGee of Brothers Pearse who took the honours in 16.54 from Kate Cronin of Raheny Shamrock AC, 17.06 and Fiona Roche also of Raheny Shamrock AC 3rd in 17.24.

A very big thank you to all who took part and a special thank you to all our members and friends of Donore who helped out yesterday and over the last few weeks. Thank you to Championchip Ireland, the Blanchardstown Brass Band, the OPW and Park Rangers, An Garda Síochána, the Civil Defence, Last Lap cafe, Caffrey’s and the Chocolate Warehouse, the BHAA, Dublin Marathon, the Garda Boat Club, Amphibian King Ashtown and to Debra Ireland. A thank you also to our club sponsor Zurich Insurance.

Full results are available here:  Jingle Bells 2013 Results

If you would like to buy the Blanchardstown Brass Band’s Christmas CD it can be purchased here:
www.blanchardstownbrassband.com/index.php/store

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