Category Archives: Results

Race Round-Up inc. Results from Limerick, Madrid, Tallaght & More

Club News, Results

The Spring marathon season continues as a number of Donore runners made the trip to Madrid in Spain for the half and full marathon. Training partners Ken Cronin and Tony Griffin tackled the full marathon in impressive times with Ken finishing in 3.35.34 and Tony in 3.37.52. A number of runners did the half marathon too – Lou McCurtain 1.51.18, Arthur Connick 1.53.25, Charlie O’Neill 1.55.53, Dave Hudson and Joan Mcternan finished 2.03.07 and Liz McCurtain 2.07.24. Over in Hamburg Germany, Chris Muldoon ran an excellent 2.38.24.

Back in Ireland, Peter Bonnar did his second marathon in a fortnight tackling the fearsome Connemarathon in 4.22.48. In Longford , Laura Murray did her second ultramarathon along the Royal Canal – a 53k distance – and finished 6th woman in 5.52.25.

The second race in the Meet and Train road league took place in Waterstown Park Palmerstown – relocated there after a late change of venue. 6 runners took to the line on this tough and hilly lap which sweeps down into the Liffey Valley with a tough climb back up covering a distance of 5k – identical to the parkrun which takes place here every Saturday. First over the line for the club was Elaine Verdon 17th in 22.59, Caren Crowley 20th in 23.07, Lee Chambers 24th in 23.25, Ruth Chambers 25th 23.41, 33rd was Mary Murphy in 24.29 and Sue Lynch 44th in 27.05. After this race the A team now lies in 4th so the next race could push the team into top 3 position.

The outdoor track season is now officially underway with the first meeting of the Dublin graded series in Morton Stadium on an unseasonably cold and windy night. Some of our athletes from the relays were in action and our younger athletes who are gearing up their summer season were out in numbers too. In the field events, Lucy Hurley and Lara O’Byrne jumped 1.45 in the High Jump and Max Carey jumped 1.6 in his competition. Andie Maguire jumped 4.92 in the Long Jump.

On the track, Adam Halpin ran 11.84 to come 4th place in the 100m B race and Sean O’Broinn was 5th in 12.53. In the C race, Ben Iveagh came 5th in 12.03. Maura Kearns ran a season opener of 2.24 in the 800m A race finishing in 10th. In the B race, Joan Kalemi ran 2.50.22 finishing in 11th. In the 800m men’s B race, Paul Cummins finished 8th in 2.06.46, and Kevin Nolan 9th 2.06.49. Sean Fox ran 9.39.70 in the men’s 3000m.

The next day saw the long-running Clonliffe 2 mile race – now run on Santry Demesne and finishing in Morton Staium, it used to go through Glasnevin and finish at the Gravediggers pub. There was a good result for Donore with 3rd place for Lee Van Haeften in 9.41. Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill, also fresh from the national relays, had a blistering win in a time of 10.58 (PB). Terry Mee finished in 13.59

At the Virgin Media night run around Dublin City centre, 7000 runners took to the streets – amongst them a number of Donore runners – Dean Glennon ran 45.00, Susan Clarke 55.36 (PB), Deirdre Coyle 56.13 and Jennifer Hogan 64.34.

The club had a good showing in the Tallaght AC 5K which also doubled as the Dublin Novice Road championship. Starting near Tallaght AC clubhouse and on a single loop with a hill at 4k and finishing on the track – first home was Barbara Murray 1st W40 in 19.27.43 despite a stop at 4k. Stephen Dawson was close behind in 19.29.58. The ever-improving Audrey Gahan got another PB in 20.29.07 which earned her overall novice bronze. Next in on that team was new member Fiona Barrins with another PB in 22.18 Terry Mee was 1st M65 in 22.58. Caren Crowley was the third novice member home in 23.35. Mary Murphy had a storming finish in 24.17 with Catherine McKeon some seconds behind in 24.27 followed by Michelle Dawson 25.28, Susan Clarke 26.00 and Ann Woodlock 29.31. The novice team were out of the team medals in 5th but thanks Willie Smith for the support on the day!

Down in Limerick, the club fielded two teams in the marathon relay event of a festival of races. Team one were 9th in a cumulative time of 3.07.05. The all ladies team of Elaine Verdon, Ariana Ball, Nicola Dowdall, Grainne Nolan and Marie came 11th and got a cumulative time of 3.17.05 – exactly 10 minutes between the teams – well done all.
In the half marathon event, Pat Egan did his best time over the distance in a number of years running 97.11.
The increasingly popular Boyne 10k which runs through the historic centre of Drogheda and out to Oldbridge along the river and back had 2 Donore runners – Ian Redican 44.42 and Sian O’Connor working her way back into racing in 51.27.

Finally, in the Phoenix Park on bank holiday Monday there was a 1-2 for Donore in the 5k ARC charity race – Anthony Flannery won in 16.31 and Kevin Nolan was 2nd in 16.33.34. Ciaran Ryan got another PB for himself with a time of 19.23

Report by Florence Curley

Silver Lining to Strong Donore Performances at the National Road Relays

Club News, Results, Senior

Donore Senior men were agonisingly 1 second off a Second National Senior Relay Title in 2 years on Sunday. It capped a day of strong Donore performances which saw 7 teams all place strongly in Men’s and Ladies Senior and Masters events. Big improvements were noted in many performances on last year and are a testament to the dedication of athletes and coaches this year…….

Donore came to the Road relays in Raheny this year having won the Men’s senior 2 years ago and the Men’s Masters last year and with 4 ladies teams all of the members had shown great improvements over the winter, so hopes were deservedly high.

A great number of coaches and supporters, relatives and friends were there to cheer on the teams and it is no exaggeration to say the overall standard this year was phenomenal and definitely the best fields assembled in all the races in recent memory. We had A and B teams in every event except the Men’s Masters which was as good a participation as only one other club.

First up the Ladies Masters. Karen Behan (A) and Rhona Duane (B) had fine lead off runs and the intense nature of the competition was evident from a significant fall right on the very first straight. Our ladies were very solid and Karen brought back memories of her Dublin Intermediate cross-country win with her fast finish. Barbara Murray (A) had superb 2 mile leg running 12min 08 Julia Hackett(B) paced her race as she always does so well to leave the teams well placed. The final flourish was down to Bronagh Eliot and Audrey Gahan who were both debuting at the relays but showed their wonderful speed to bring the team’s home in 8th and 13th in a field of 25 teams.

The Masters Men featured a brand new A team to last year and gave a superb defence to the title the Masters men won last year. Fergal Swaine in a year where he has come right back to his very best form got stuck in from go and kept the lads in good contention with sub 5 opening mile. Rossa Hurley captain fantastic of the men’s squad this year did another captains performance with a superb 2 mile leg bringing the men right into reach of the medals taking several big scalps out on his leg with a 10mins 10 secs performance of superb pacing. Donal Iremonger who was part of the silver medal senior team from 2004 showed his class over middle distance with a great run and brought the home team in 5th in the end, despite huge pressure from several other clubs.

The senior ladies were next up Sorcha Ni Dhomhnaill (A) romped the girls right in the medal contention on her first mile with a 5min 17s. Her twin sister Ide had the tough task of the all-important 2 mile and gave a great performance running an 11min 19s. The gaps had begun to emerge in the field with several internationals having done that leg in the women’s race and Sinead Lambe was never under pressure from behind and the ladies A finished a very impressive 6th in a top class field. They were second Dublin club behind UCD a point worth noting and over a minute ahead of last years A team performance. Our B team had a great run Aisling Swaine running under her usual distance with a very solid 5min 44 mile, Aisling Ni Dhomhnaill with a 12mins 2 mile and Maura Kearns with a massively improve on last year mile of 5min 24 which bodes hugely well for the track season coming up. The B ladies were a very creditable 13th.

Finally the Senior men were ready to go, all kinds of rumours were abound, Ennis had a strong team, Raheny would always be the favourites, and Letterkenny were seen as a dark horse. The legs of 2, 1, 3, 2 miles respectively are a true test of clubs distance and middle distance strengths. The Donore A team was the guts of the superb winning team of 2 years ago, so the lads knew they were right in there. Lee Van Haeften led the men out just like two years ago. He has battled injury and illness and come back strong after Christmas and although not quite the run he had two years ago he did his job superbly keeping us right in striking range after the first leg just off the lead pack. Ray Hynes stepped down and aced the mile and brought us right into the thick of it, but gaps had opened and Raheny Shamrocks in particular had made a break. Kilkenny City Harriers and DSD were also ahead of Donore at this point. Up stepped our double reigning National Indoor and Outdoor 1500m champion John Travers for the tough all-important 3 mile leg. John ran not only a course record of 14min 04 but ran a supremely maturely paced 3 laps getting us into 2nd after lap 1 and surging passed Raheny on Lap 2 and held that lead handing off to Eric Keogh with 3 second gap. Was it enough, how would it play out.

Conor Dooney of Raheny bridged the gap leaving the nervous crowd to speculate if he could break Eric, or if Eric could hang on. Playing to his strengths Eric sat coolly in behind Conor. It was a titanic struggle with Conor doing everything to break Eric and he just got away with under a half a mile to go but Eric did not give up. Flat out and his legs reeling in lactic he grimly would not be shrugged off and one last unbelievable kick up the home straight brought him within a second of snatching a famous gold. It was a thrilling race and a momentous effort from our team who ran their hearts out only to taste the bitterness of so nearly winning. The team ran faster than they did to win in 2015 and Eric ran a 9min 20 leg faster by 20 second than his finishing leg 2 years ago that brought home the gold. It can only be said they left nothing behind and the Raheny team were pushed to the very edge and deserve great credit for their fine performance.

Meanwhile our Men’s senior B team with road relay Donore debutants all, Kevin Nolan, Michael Rickard, Paul Cummins and Tristan Druet (our new joint senior men’s coach) had a fine run finishing strongly and with good individual times. They are all aiming for 1500 or lower on the track so their runs will stand to them as the season goes on.

It was noticeable that nearly everyone’s individual performance was up on last year across all the teams and given we had 7 teams and consistently featured with our A teams in all events Donore had one of the strongest representations of any club. We certainly had a huge number of supporters and their encouragement really spurred the teams on. It is a great tribute to great work from Willie Smith as Ladies coach filling the shoes of Jim McNamara this year and the hard work of all the ladies that we fielded I think our best Ladies teams in years. There was great team spirit from our men who targeted this championship and with Ciaran O’Flaherty and Tristan Druet now setting the coaching plan for the men we hope to see even more of a great squad we have down at training partaking in all the club championship events.

A fine day for Donore indeed.

Report by Iain Morrison

April Round-Up #2 – Boston success & PBs at home

Club News, Results

Fergal Whitty has ran some super marathons in the past few years but he excelled himself again on the streets of Boston on Monday April 17th by acing a personal best of 2.31.37 – this knocks a few minutes of his previous time and while the ultimate goal was to break the 2.30 this was a great run and the fastest marathon by a Donore man in 7 years (when Diarmuid O’Sheaghdha ran 2.28 in Dublin)

Living in Melbourne at the moment but doing some travelling and taking in the Boston marathon was Dervila Holmes who ran 3.24.27 despite not having full training in preparation for this so very impressive!

Back in Ireland over the Easter weekend Ariana Ball was delighted to smash her 10k PB in the Kildalkey 10k Fr Murphy race with a time of 43.15. Aislinn Nic Dhomhnaill was first woman in the hilly and windy Shanagolden 5k race where she did an impressive 18.07 – worth a sub-18 on a kinder day.
St Anne’s Park Raheny was the venue for the Brian Boru 10 mile race which also doubled as the Leinster 10 mile championship. Angela Eustace showed her flair over the longer distances once again and had a super run of 71.14, a PB and bagged silver in the Leinster W45 agegroup. Joseph Maguire ran 70.15, Rhona McHugh 73.26, Des Gill 74.02 and Terry Mee 78.18 and 1st M70.

Report by Florence Curley

April Roads & Track Round-Up #1

Club News, Results

The spring road season is now in full swing all over the country. Donore runners are also travelling abroad for the Spring marathon season.

The BHAA road league started with the 2 mile and 4 mile races in the St Anne’s Park in Raheny. In the 2 mile race Aisling Swaine was very impressive coming 4th place in the 2 mile in 11.28. Maura Kearns finished in 12.09 in 9th place – both runners are getting geared up for the National Road Relays coming soon. Janette Strickland ran 14.27 and Ann Woodlock was 1st W75 in 17.45. In the 4 mile men’s race, there were 3 Donore runners in the top 6 – Chris Muldoon 4th in 21.45, Fergal Swaine 5th 21.54 and 2nd M40 , Robert Clougher was 6th in 22.08. Alasdair Brown is making a comeback from injury and was 24th in 24.00.

The next day, several Donore runners took to the roads of the Phoenix Park for the Great Ireland Run/National 10k. Before the 10k was the Great Ireland 5k and Emmet Ó Briain had a great win here in a time of 16.49. Neil Hand ran 18.22.

First off in the Great Ireland run were the elite women and AAI club women. The race is notorious for its tough second half which includes the uphills after the Wellington monument, the S-bends and the Furry Glen before a long run into the finish. First home for the Donore women and 2nd W35 Aislinn Nic Dhomhnaill who is back on the road scene with a bang – she finished in a super 38.27. Bronagh Elliott was next in 42.24 and Karla Doran is making a good comeback from injury finishing in 42.51. Together, this trio won team gold in the Masters division. Not far off was Audrey Gahan in just under 44 minutes a new PB for her, Angela Eustace ran 44.20, Mairead Kirby – new to road running in 44.27 (PB), Fiona Barrins first outing in the Donore singlet got a 46.14 (PB), Nicola Dowdall 46.52, Lee Chambers 47.13 (PB), Catherine MKeon 51.54, Dana Mackey was delighted with her 52.07 PB, Jo Hughes 53.52, Michelle Dawson 55.02, Ann Rush 58.14, Deirdre Brennan 69.29 Sarah Kelly 77.05. Among these results were a good contingent from the Fit4Life group.

In the next wave were the elite, the club men and the masses. First home for the men was Des Tremble 34.54 who just missed on bronze in the M45 class and Barry Potts and Terry Mee won medals in their agegroups – next in were
Patrick Byrne 36.29
Alan Farrell 36.39
Andrew wilson 37.48
Declan Lynch 38.15
Ciaran Ryan 41.19 (PB)
Craig Scott 42.02
Barry Potts 42.20 (2nd M65)
Giovanni Borza 42.40,
Stephen Dawson 43.02
Terry Mee 48.01 (1st M70)
Arthur Connick 49.44

At the Sonny Murphy 10 mile race in Kilnaboy Clare, Sinead Finn raced in her native county finishing in 75 minutes.

Meanwhile futher afield some Donore runners were running European marathons on what were hot conditions all over continental Europe. In a warm Rotterdam Anthony Flannery ran a super 2.36. Next in was Florence Curley in 3.10.39 – a little disappointed to be 3 minutes slower than last year. Peter Bonnar finished in 4.06 and is going in the Connemara marathon again next week! In the Paris Marathon, Guillaume Nolain had a tough day and finished in 4.24 – again hot conditions with temperatures climbing to 24 degrees there.

At the IUAA championships in Cork IT, Niamh O’Neill ran 11.34.81 (14th) in the 3000m.

Report by Florence Curley

March Results Round-Up inc. K-Club, Dunboyne & World Masters

Club News, Results

Road report – great results at the K-Club and Dunboyne.

The two major races over the weekend were the BHAA K-Club 10K race and the long-running Dunboyne 4 mile race which has always been a successful one for Donore members.

On Saturday – hundreds of runners competed for their workplaces in the BHAA K-Club 10k around the roads of Straffan, Kildare – a race which has grown in popularity and is know as a fast course.

Great to see Rossa Hurley back from injury and coming 3rd in 32.55. In 15th and 16th place respectively were Chris Muldoon 34.00 and Sean Fox in 34.04. 20th was Eoin Hannon in 34.11 and Des Tremble was 23rd in 34.21 and the 2nd M45 so only seconds separating all these runners who came in very close in times.

Alan Farrell ran 36.00 on the button, Niall O’Reilly 39.44 was next. Barry Potts was 1st M65 in 41.15. Bronagh Elliott was delighted with her 41.28 PB and she won the 3rd W40 prize too. John Meegan got a PB too in 41.50. Joseph Maguire finished in 42.49, Raj Puchon 42.50, Angela Eustace was 2nd W45 in 43.46, Karen Behan 43.45, Nicola Dowdall 44.46 and Terry Mee was 2nd M70.

A day later in Dunboyne at the 4 mile race, there were great results including a ladies team win, 3rd placed male (Eric Keogh), 4th team for the men and a number of age-group successes, particularly Julia Hackett who had her best race in years. It was great to see new members John Meegan and Ciaran Ryan score on a Donore team for the first time too, full results as follows:

Eric Keogh 3rd 19.24
Lee Van Haeften 7th 20.22
Ide Nic Dhomhnaill 23.57
Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill 23.58
Aislinn Nic Dhomhnaill 24.18
Ciaran Ryan 25.29
Florence Curley 25.40 (3rd M40)
John Meegan 26.16
Julia Hackett 26,34 2nd W45
Colin Moore 26.34
Ian Redican 27.19
Sian O’Connor 30.20
Judy Rudden 39.49
Jennifer Hogan 40.00

Mention too for the Wicklow Gaol Break 10k and half marathon races – Eoin Durkan won the 10k in 36.29, new member Susan Clarke was delighted to achieve her goal of breaking one hour for 10k – she more than achieved that in 58.10.

World Master Indoors concludes with gold and silver for Ann Woodlock

At the end of a very successful World Masters Indoors in Daegu South Korea for the Irish team, Donore’s Ann Woodlock took home gold and silver in the W75 class. Mid-week she won gold in the 3000m in 16.45.57 with a very big lead on the second placed competitor. A few days later in the 1500m, she won silver in a time of 7,49.73 and was in fact faster than many of the younger runners.
Kudos too to anne Gormley who aced 2 seasons bests in her racewalking events 19.34 4th in the 3k walk and 69n minutes in 4th place for the 10k walk, all the while doing sterling work as a team manager and updating us all with the latest Irish team results .

St Patrick’s Weekend road round up.

Some excellent results over the weekend for the club starting with the Mullingar Half marathon on St Patrick’s Day. The Donore men had 3 runners in the top 15. Anthony Flannery continued his recent good run of form with a 2nd place finish in 73.40. Eoin Hannon was 6th in 76.09 with Chris Muldoon not far behind in 76.44

The popular MSB AC St Patrick’s festival 5k attracted Donore runners of all ages with the younger age groups particularly prominent. There was another great win for Barbara Cleary – her 4th road race victory in 2017 where she finished just outside the 17 minutes 17.04 to claim the first female prize beating Catherina McKiernan. First Donore runners over the line were two of our best juvenile middle distance runners (who competed in the Ireland schools cross country last week) Zakariya Ahmed 19th in 16.40 and teammate Fathi Aden in 16.58 23rd.
Robert Clougher was next in 17.18. Another of Gerry Naughton’s juvenile distance group Jack Raftery was next in 19.08. New member Guillaume Nolain had his first outing in the Donore singlet and ran an impressive 19.32. Craig Scott finished in 20.26, Ken Cronin 21.01, Des Gill 21.14, Michael Barry Junior 21.31, Jill Dempsey 22.21, Frank McNally 22.32, Ariana Ball 23.12, Caren Crowley 23.20, Declan Raftery 23.38, young Honor Lynch ran with her dad Niall in 24.32. Anthony Ferns finished in 34.07 – 2 day earlier he ran the Streets of Portlaoise 5k in 33.23. Over in New York at the NY half marathon – Alma Hanevy smashed her half marathon PB to finish in a super 87.53.

Indoor track report – 4 x 1 mile relay
On St Patrick’s Day, John Travers was part of another shot at the indoor 4 x 1 mile relay world record at Athlone IT. He was the second man on the team with Eoin Everard, Paul Robinson and SeanTobin. The meet was organised by the Believe and Achieve Organisation and Global Running Adventures – they didn’t manage to break the 16.12 record on this occasion – the collective time was 16.26. The event was live streamed – well done all.

Report by Florence Curley

Round-Up: National Masters & Leinster Indoors, IUAA XC & Road Results

Club News, Fit 4 Life, Results, Senior, Uncategorized

Track report
There was good news from the National Masters Indoors Championships in Athlone on Sunday. There was a double success for Donal Iremonger in the M45 class. He won silver in the 800m in an excellent time of 2.09.34 and he won the 400m in 55.18.

Anne Gormley won gold in the W50 3000M walk in a time of 19.53 which is a season’s best.

Last week there were multiple medals in the Leinster track and field indoors (results took a while to go up so here they are in full). Notable here was the silver for John Travers in the senior men’s 800m in 1.55.33 – a last sharpener before he went to Belgrade for the European Indoors. Ray Hynes got silver in the 3000m in 8.35.55 – great to see him back in the frame. In masters competition, there was gold M45 for Donal Iremonger in the 400m in 55.94. In the men’s 4×200 relay there was team silver – congratulations David Campbell, Adam Halpin, Conor Fox and Jack Rudden Kelly
David Campbell 400m 52.84 7th
Adam Halpin 400m 53.43 10th
Kevin Nolan 4.22.52 1500m 7th
Rory Owens 9.27.83 3000m 6th

Road and cross country roundup

The big result of the weekend was Daragh Fitzgibbon’s bronze medal in the IUAA cross country championships in a soggy Abbotstown – terrific run for Darragh who is going from strength to strength and he also helped his UCD Bears team to the silver team medal. Having a fine run in the women’s race was Jona Kalemi running for DCU in 38th place.

On the road there was a good run from Rossa Hurley in the Longford 10k who came 2nd in 33.35 coming back well from his injury. Belated well done to last week’s winners – Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill was the ladies winner in the Adare 10k back in her native Limerick – this race attracted over 500 runners and she had a very tight finish to win by 3 seconds (38.30) on a tough, hilly course. Brother Aogan came 5th overall in 34.25. Seán Fox finished 3rd overall – and 1st M40 – in the very hilly Windmill 10k in Garristown on Sunday.

Ken McKeown was first home for Donore in 15th in the Kinvara 10k. Also representing the club in Kinvara was a crew of 15 Fit4Lifers from Donore, including coach Barry Potts, 13 of whom tackled the half with another 2 Fit4Lifers racing the 10k. Niamh O’Reilly did 1.48.08 and Neil Maddox did 1.45.19 in the half-marathon (both PBs).

Over in her native county Clare, Barbara Cleary was 1st woman and 3rd overall in the Michael Egan 5 mile in Quilty on another hilly lap – she won in 29.29

Report by Florence Curley with additional detail by Deirdre Healy
Picture courtesy of Deirdre Healy

John Travers Gets The Gold & A Super Silver for Lynda Ngankam: National Senior Indoors Report

Club News, Results, Senior

There were two medals for Donore in this year’s National Senior Indoor Championships – the first to be held in the new facility in Abbotstown.

The most exciting finish of the championship involved our own John Travers in a thrilling showdown with St Coca’s Paul Robinson in the 1500m final. Both easily got through their heats the day before and in the final lap, Robinson had edged ahead but was chased down relentlessly by John and it was down to the wire with John getting the win on the line in 3.50.44 from Robinson’s 3.50.55. So congrats John Travers on a new national title! Next up for John is the 1500m at the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade.

In the triple jump there was a super silver medal for Lynda Ngankam who jumped a best of 11.27 in her first jump to clinch the second place. This is a great result for Lynda who was been steadily making waves in this event over the last couple of years, finishing fifth in last year’s senior outdoors, and a senior national medal is a great breakthrough for her – congrats to her and coach Gerry Ronan.

In the 3000m, we had Ray Hynes and Eric Keogh in action but unfortunately Eric had to retire with 800m to go. Ray finished in 10th place in 8.38.55 – good to see him back after a series of injuries.

On day 1 we had competitors in the High Jump, 400m and 800m heats. Lara O’Byrne was one of the youngest competitors and this was good experience for her in senior competition – she cleared 1,45m in a competition won by Sommer Lecky. Adam Halpin and David Campbell were in separate heats in the 400m where only the winner of each heat was guaranteed to make the final – Adam ran 56.07 and has ran faster this year but will be back in action again, David came third in his heat in 52.51. Sinead Lambe was in contention in the 800m heats – it was quite a messy race with 9 runners so the pace moved up and down considerably – she finished in 2.24.24 outside her best but in a very tactical race!

Well done all and thanks to those who came to support both days.

Report by Florence Curley.
Thanks to Brendan Ahearne for picture.

Raheny 5 Report & January Cross-Country Round-up

Club News, Results, Senior

Raheny 5 Report

The biggest ever Raheny 5 mile race took place today (over 3,500 in the main race) and it turned into an historic day for the club with the first ever time a Donore lady – Barbara Cleary – finished first woman in one of Ireland’s most prestigious road races. There was some rainfall but not enough to play havoc with the race and there was no wind – so we saw a rake of great times and PBs on the day

Before the main event we had great runs today by the Donore young juveniles. Sean Kinsella was 2nd in the 8-12 group 800m. With excellent runs from Oliver Hopkins (4th), Michael Barry (12th) followed by Joe Kinsella. Our only girl today and on her debut run was Jenny Walsh, great running and as always smiling.

In the main race, we had 23 runners out and it was a great mix of some newly-minted members and club stalwarts like Tommy Halton who has done 30 Raheny’s in a row we think???

Star of the day was Barbara Cleary whose ladies victory was never in doubt from the start. Her time was a scintillating 27.34 which is a new PB – beating by a big margin Olympian Catherina McKiernan and Sarah Mulligan who has also represented Ireland. It’s the first time a Donore woman has claimed this victory, but no surprise to many – Barbara is on a winning streak and hasn’t put a foot wrong in recent races – her 3rd win in January alone. Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill came 5th woman in a super 29.16 – another PB. Barbara also led the Donore ladies team (Barbara, Sorcha, Grace Kennedy, Bronagh Elliott to first place – beating Crusaders by 2 points. It’s been a good few years since the Donore girls won this so absolutely brilliant.

First in for the club overall was Eoin Durkan in 26.27 – super running and Kevin Nolan and Eoin Hannon were in next in the low 27s – then Chris Muldoon not far off. It was encouraging to see many runners who have joined Donore in the past year including some of the above and Ciaran, John, Fiona, Audrey, Ken – some wearing the black and white for the very first time. Thanks to the supporters too out there – always an exciting race to watch and one with some great Donore memories over the years

Full results below
Eoin Durkan 26.27
Kevin Nolan 27.09
Eoin Hannon 27.24
Barbara Cleary 27,34
Chris Muldoon 27.58
Robert Clougher 28.03
Andrew Wilson 28.49
Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill 29.16
Ken McKeown 30.55
Stephen Dawson 31.00
Grace Kennedy 31.29
Ciaran Ryan 31.54
Bronagh Eliott 33.15
John Meegan 33.26
Karen Behan 34.56
Audrey Gahan 34.59
Frank McNally 36.31
Elaine Verdon 37.02
Fiona Barrins 37.48
Michelle Dawson 38.40
Tom Halton 41.11
Laragh Stevens 45.54
Siofra McCarthy 46.37

Cross country report – Schools, BHAA and Meet & Train

It’s been an exciting week for the club on the indoor track and road but the cross country season is still very busy. During the week many of our teenage endurance runners were in action competing for their schools in the West and East Leinster cross country championships. Phoenix Park was the west Leinster venue and it was a bitterly cold day at the Pope’s Cross area, Avondale House Rathdrum was the East venue and that features a fearsome hill for some of the races. There were many top 10 and top 20 results in these event. Fathi Aden led his inter race for a time and finished 2nd eventually with the up and coming Graham Gilshinan in 8th, and Jack Raftery 10th. Suzanne Masterson made the top 10 in the senior race in Rathdrum – full results below

>
> WEST LEINSTER SCHOOLS XC AT PHOENIX PARK 26.01.2027
> Minor Girls = 33rd Hannah Bermingham
> Junior Girls = 19th Amelie O’Hanlon; 24th Niamh Gannon
> Intermediate Girls = 13th Roisin Brady
> Minor Boys = 25th Cillian Gleeson; 50th Michael Barry Jnr
> Junior Boys = 114th Rowan D’Souza
> Intermediate Boys = 2nd Fathi Aden; 8th Graham Gilshinan; 10th Jack Raftery; 18th Barney Kelly; 76th Lorcan O’Ceallaigh
> Senior Boys = 29th Daniel Brady
> EAST LEINSTER SCHOOLS XC AT RATHDRUM 26.01.2016
> Intermediate Boys =?? Sekeriye Ahmed
> Senior Girls = 10th Suzanne Masterson; 19th Eliza Ni Thighearnaigh

Race 3 of the winter Meet and Train women’s XC league attracted a huge field of 140 in Griffeen Park Lucan. Donore had 14 runners in action over the 2 mile race – ably managed by Mary Murphy who has been great at getting the troops out. There was also a loyal band of supporters out there First home was Mairead Kirby – full results below

Mairead Kirby 15th 13.29
Audrey Gahan 34th 14.09
Lee Chambers 49th 14.43
Caren Crowley 53rd 14.50
Elaine Verdon 69th 15.11
Mary Murphy 72nd 15.17
Catherine McKeon 89th 16.04
Michelle Dawson 90th 16.08
Linda Curtin 99th 16.30
Teresa Brophy 102nd 16.36
Sarah Ni Ruairc 105th 16.50
Jennifer O’Keefe 114th 17.09
Sue Lynch 123rd 17.51
Ann Woodlock 129th 18.28

At the BHAA XC in Cherryfield Park, Maura Kearns had an impressive run in the ladies 2 mile race finishing 3rd in 12.27.

In the men’s 5 mile race well done to
Shane McAuley 19th 29.35
Fergal Roche 20th 29.39
Kieran Beausang 54th 32.27
Joe Murphy 66th 33.28
Ian redican 79th 34.35
Tom Halton 151st 45.12
Terry Mee 156th 49.10 1st M70

Race reports by Florence Curley and thanks to Faith Hopkins for the Raheny 5 juvenile report input.

Christmas & New Year Results Round-Up

Club News, Results

Christmas Races

Donore athletes were busy racing in various locations across Ireland over the Christmas period.

On St Stephen’s Day, Eric Keogh – who has got a call up for the Irish team in the Antrim International Cross Country – had a decisive win in Wicklow Town at the Inbhear Dee Streets of Wicklow 5k in a time of 15.11. In Kerry, Farranfore Maine Valley AC hold an annual 5k race on St Stephens Day and Des Tremble was 14th in this in a time of 16.57 while Ide Nic Dhomhnaill is coming back well after being injured recently to finish 4th lady in 18.32.

The day after, at the Robbie Byrne 5k in Navan, Andy Kinane came third in 16.50, while over in Kilbeggan, Westmeath, at the 6k race, Kevin Nolan was 4th in 20.37. Laura Murray ran the Ardagh 10 mile race in Longford on the 27th in 87.51 (having completed the Clonakilty marathon in 4.23 at the start of December).

Suttonians Rugby Club held their annual Fat Turkey Run 10k on a tough course on December 28th which takes in the hill of Howth and Anthony Flannery ran 35.38 there with Des Gill running 45.22 and Jill Dempsey 47.47.

George Brady ran his umpteenth marathon of the year on the 28th in the East of Ireland marathon series in Howth where he ran 3.01 on the hillly course and Grace Kennedy ran the half marathon event in 92 minutes.

New Year Races

Sinead Lambe was in Seville with a group of Leevale runners at New Years and she had a great win to be the first woman in a 5k race in the Andalucian city beating the Spanish opposition (the actual length of the race apparently was 5.4k really). Sinead went through 5k in 18.38 and finished the race in 20 minutes.

There was another win for Barbara Murray in her native Monaghan in the Jolly Joggers 10k in 40.06 where she finished first woman.

It was a great start to 2017 for Barbara Cleary who had a decisive win in the popular Tom Brennan 5k in the Phoenix Park organised by Liffey Valley AC. A 2 lap course which attracted nearly 600 runners on a very cold morning and a headwind in parts, Barbara was ahead of the 2nd woman by over a minute finishing in a time of 17.19.

First over the line for Donore in the race was Fergal Swaine in 16.56 with Des Tremble finishing in 17:00 on the button. One of our newer members Robert Clougher finished with Barbara in 17.19 and he did an identical time in the Clonliffe Christmas Cracker days earlier on December 27th.

The full list of our finishers was a good mix of the new and established members over various age-groups (including Tony Griffin winner of the Waterhouse Byrne Baird shield on St Stephens day) and some of these will be in action again next week at the Dublin Masters XC – well done all!

Fergal Swaine 21st 16.56
Des Tremble 17.00
Robert Clougher 17.19
Barbara Cleary 17.19
Declan Lynch 18.29
Stephen Dawson 19.47
Craig Scott 19.54
Ciaran Ryan 20.12
Tony Griffin 20.51
Barry Potts 21.01
Frank McNally 23.14
Charlie O’Neill 23.44
Michelle Dawson 25.20
Tom Halton 27.03

~Florence Curley

Griffin Victorious in 120th Running of the Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield

Club News, Events, Results

The 100th consecutive running of this historic open handicap race (the race was started in 1896 but not held in 1916) had a field of over 35 pre-entered and saw 30 competitors on the day slog it out over the 5 x 2 mile lap cross-country course in the Phoenix Park.

Early starter Dana Mackay off her handicap of 35 mins led the field into the penultimate lap only to be passed by Tony Griffin and Cliodhna McCarthy just before the bell. Ian Redican, a winner from 2 years ago, was confounding the handicappers with an impressive performance and was chasing hard. With 5 mins gap to the fastest man on the course Niall Lynch, Tony had to work really hard to maintain his lead. Cliodhna just faded and Ian and Niall closed to within 45 seconds but couldn’t overhaul Tony, whose marathon work this year clearly stood him in good stead.

Alan Farrell defended his ownership of the shield well with a fourth place. Florrie Curley, Ladies Captain, showed her return to form with the fastest lady’s time on the day and Niall Lynch won the inaugural Tommy Hayward Trophy for the fastest 10 mile time in the Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield presented by Tommy’s son Eric Hayward.

~Iain Morrison

photo credit: Frank McNally

WATERHOUSE BYRNE BAIRD SHIELD RESULTS
POSITION NAME FINISH TIME RACE TIME HANDICAP START TIME
1 Tony Griffin 12:26:53 1:14:23 22’30” 11:12:30
2 Ian Redican 12:27:15 1:12:15 20’ 11:15:00
3 Niall Lynch 12:27:34 59:34 7’ 11:28:00
4 Alan Farrell 12:28:18 1:05:18 12’ 11:23:00
5 Declan Lynch 12:28:30 1:07:30 14’ 11:21:00
6 Fergal Whitty 12:28:30 1:02:00 8’30” 11:26:30
7 Cliodhna Carthy 12:28:58 1:18:58 25’ 11:10:00
8 Tom Fagan 12:29:35 1:11:35 17’ 11:18:00
9 Karen Behan 12:29:41 1:16:41 22’ 11:13:00
10 Florrie Curley 12:29:46 1:12:16 17’30” 11:17:30
11 Neil Hand 12:29:56 1:07:56 13’ 11:22:00
12 Noel Conway 12:30:12 1:11:12 16’ 11:19:00
13 Donal Iremonger 12:30:42 1:10:42 15’ 11:20:00
14 Barbara Murray 12:31:13 1:16:13 20’ 11:15:00
15 Philip Hennessy 12:31:18 1:06:18 10’ 11:25:00
16 Elaine Verdon 12:31:29 1:24:29 28’ 11:07:00
17 Angela Eustace 12:31:45 1:20:45 24’ 11:11:00
18 Peter Bonnar 12:31:58 1:25:58 29’ 11:06:00
19 Dana Mackay 12:32:40 1:32:40 35’ 11:00:00
20 Colin Moore 12:34:31 1:22:31 23’ 11:12:00
21 Neil McGettigan 12:36:56 1:13:56 12’ 11:23:00
FASTEST 10 MILE TIME
Niall Lynch 59’34”
FASTEST WOMAN TIME
Florrie Curley 72’16”
DNFs LAPS
Barry Potts 4/5 - 8 miles
Charlie O’Neill 3/5 - 6 miles
Stephen Dawson 3/5 - 6 miles
Eilish Funston 3/5 - 6 miles
Anne Curley 2/5 - 4 miles
Patrick Byrne 2/5 - 4 miles