ATHLETICS REPORT – for week ending 21st July 2019

THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS: Both the men’s and women’s teams lose out on the podium by narrow margins in the finals of the Premier Divisions of the National League. Aoife Lynch is the star with PBs in both the 100m and 200m. At the Euro Under 20s Jack Raftery and his Irish team-mates reach the final of the 4 x 400m placing 7th. Louis O’Loughlin fails to shine in the Euro 800m. NOTE: missing results (unavailable) will be added later.

NATIONAL TRACK & FIELD FINALS at TULLAMORE (20.07.2019)

It was a case of so near and yet so far for Donore Harriers in their respective premier division finals of the National Track & Field League at Tullamore on Saturday (20.07.2019), as both the men’s team and the women’s team came agonisingly close to getting amongst the medals.

The club’s president Iain Morrison was full of praise for the teams afterwards, acknowledging the contributions of the coaches, team captains and club director Maurice Ahern. In relation to the contest he said: “We had two teams out there today who challenged for medals up until the very last event (4 x 400m relays). The fact that we had two teams contest the final so keenly makes us one of the strongest clubs in the country”.

The men’s team captain David Campbell and women’s team captain Leonie Newman were also full of praise for their team members. Campbell told them: “You gave your all out there today, I could not have asked for anything more”, whilst Newman said: “We just need to build on this and come back stronger next year”.

Both teams made positive starts with Eva McPartlan (17.13) running a strong middle section of the 100m Hurdles that was key to getting 2nd position, whilst David Slupko (15.42) got maximum points with a very efficient effort in the 110m Hurdles.

Anne Gormley (10.07.63) came 6th in the Women’s 1.5km Walk, before Sean Kinsella (18.59.65) put himself in at the deep end on his national league debut to place 4th in his maiden 3km Walk, gaining a valuable 5 points.
Caoimhe Mackey (1.09.57) gained to 3rd place from Lane 1 in the 400m Hurdles after a steady start. New national junior champion Daragh McAuley (57.57) came an excellent 4th in a competitive men’s hurdles. The 4th track event, the 4 x 100m relay, saw mixed fortunes for the Donore teams. The women’s quartet of Robyn O’Keeffe, Sarah Lahiff, Emily Geoghegan and Suzi O’Farrell came 6th in 52.10, whilst David Slupko, Zak Higgins, David Campbell and Paul McDermott produced a great finish to come 2nd in 43.15.

Out in the field Alex Conway (14.62m) placed 6th in the Hammer, with Sean Chann (5.83m) gaining to 5th place with his 4th and final effort in the Long Jump. Despite a below par performance from Lara O’Byrne in the High Jump, her 3rd attempt clearance of 1.55m was still good enough for 2nd place. Hammer specialist Lauren O’Keeffe (7.48m), stepped into the breach in the Shot Putt, but could only manage 7th position.

At this point Clonliffe Harriers had opened a gap at the top of the men’s leader-board with 52 points, with Donore Harriers (35) in 4th behind Raheny Shamrocks (39) and Galway City Harriers (36). The women’s contest saw DSD AC (48), ahead of Galway County (40) and Tipperary County (32) with Donore Harriers (30) next.

In the next action on the track Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill (4.45.17) put in a solid performance to get 3rd position in the 1,500m. Michael Ryan (4.22.10) could not be faulted for effort but fell back to cross the line 7th over the same distance. Lauren Flaherty (1.04.22) and Zak Higgins (51.34) came 7th and 5th respectively over 400m. The ever-consistent Barbara Cleary (10.20.88) ran 3rd in the 3,000m. Moyle Park student Gavin Curtin (10.23.83) again lowered his personal best time to place a fine 4th in a competitive 3k steeplechase.

Nobody epitomizes the heart and spirit of the Donore teams more than sprinters Paul McDermott and Aoife Lynch. McDermott, having already ran a super last leg in the 4 x 100m relay, came 3rd in both the 100m and 200m in times of 11.00 and 22.07. Lynch (24.17) narrowly lost out to Sharlene Mawdsley of Tipperary County in the 200m and then had a photo-finish with Kate Doherty of DSD AC in the 100m as both were timed at 11.99. Despite the two runner-up spots Lynch had the satisfaction of gaining two personal bests, confirming her steady progress towards the top echelon of Irish sprinting.

Meanwhile, Roisin Rynn-Cahill (8.53m) could do no better than 8th place in the Triple Jump, but fine 2nd places by Ailbhe Healy (2.65m) in the Pole Vault and Lauren O’Keeffe (45.30m) in the Hammer kept the Harriers in contention for the podium. Rebecca Power (27.76m) consolidated the team’s challenge with 4th spot in the Javelin.

At this point DSD AC (76) led the women’s contest from Galway County (73) with Donore Harriers and Tipperary Country (both 57) tied in 3rd ahead of Louth County (51).

Niall Allen (10.80m) took 4th place in the Shot Putt, Alex Clarkin (1.50m) 8th in the High Jump and Oran O’Brien (35.38m) 5th in the Discus.

The men’s score card showed Clonliffe Harriers (80) ahead of Raheny Shamrocks (71) with Donore Harriers (59) in 4th behind Galway City Harriers (68)

The team took a boost when Elliot Slade (1.54.00) ran a well-judged race to secure victory in the 800m. Maura Kearns (2.23.58) gained two places in the sprint to the line to place 5th in the two laps event.

Irish orienteering international Josh O’Sullivan-Hourihan (15.24.14) knocked 18 seconds of his previous best time to place a gallant 5th in quality 5,000m race. Next on the track in the Donore colours was 16 years-old Ruby Kelly (13.21.23), gaining 4 points with 5th position in the 3km steeplechase.

In the remaining women’s field events Robyn O’Keeffe (22.95m) came 5th with a PB in the Discus and Lara O’Byrne (4.84m) placed 6th in the Long Jump. With 4 jumps allowed O’Byrne had marked the plasticine with her first 3 efforts, thus had to ‘play it safe’ with her last attempt.

Sean Kinsella (8.95m) had similar experience in the Triple Jump. Being a last-minute replacement with no experience he took technical advice from coach Ray O’Keeffe during the contest, thus enabling the young Donore athlete to make a mark with his final jump, albeit only good enough for 8th position.

There were decent points gained from the final two men’s field events as Edgar Rutins (56.42m) got 2nd in the Javelin and Niall Allen (6.64m) 3rd in the 56lb Hammer.

An absorbing contest saw the men’s competition for bronze medals coming down to the final event, the 4 x 400m relay, as Galway City Harriers and Donore Harriers were tied on 89 points. However, the best efforts of Zak Higgins, Conor Fox, Daragh McAuley and Elliot Slade fell just short in an exciting contest as team from the West placed 2nd behind Raheny Shamrocks, with Donore Harriers in 3rd. The margin of difference was less than 4 metres as GCH were timed at 3.23.19 and Donore Harriers 3.23.77.

The final team score in the Men’s Premier Division was thus: – 1st Clonliffe Harriers (124); 2nd Raheny Shamrocks (109); 3rd Galway City Harriers (96); 4th Donore Harriers (95) ;5th Crusaders AC (91); 6th Kildare County (84); 7th DSD AC (84); 8th St Abbans AC (32).

With DSD AC and Galway County well clear on the score-board the women’s team championships also had the most excitement in the battle for the bronze – with Donore Harriers (80) just one point behind Louth County (81) and one point ahead of Tipperary County (79) going into the all important 4 x 400m relay. Without a specialist 400m runner in the quartet it proved too difficult a task for Caoimhe Mackey, Sarah Higgins, Sarah Lahiff and Maura Kearns as they came 6th in 4.23.71. A 2nd place finish by the Tipperary County 4 x 4 team elevated them to the bronze medal position.
The final team score read – 1st DSD AC (106), 2nd Galway County (102), 3rd Tipperary County (86), 4th Louth County (83 + 2 wins), 5th Donore Harriers (83 + 0 win), 6th Kildare County (82), 7th St. Abbans AC (56), 8th Monaghan County (54)

EUROPEAN UNDER 20 CHAMPIONSHIPS at BORAS, SWEDEN (18-21.07.2019)

Two Donore Harriers athletes were in action in the European Under 20 championships held at Boras in Sweden between the 18th and 21st of July 2019.

Louis O’Loughlin (1.55.74) never got to grips when the 2nd semi-final of the 800m charged up after a moderate paced 1st lap run in 57/58 seconds. As the leaders raced out a 54 seconds last lap O’Loughlin could not raise a challenge and crossed the line 7th of 7. He later said: “I’m disappointed, but I will take from the experience”. His coach Gerry Naughton said: “There may be a number of factors as to why Louis did not run at his best. We will discuss. He has as much talent as anyone on the start line. What’s important is that his progression is gradual and not overloaded with the possibility of burnout”. Saveliy Savlukov (1.51.94) of Russia won Louis’ semi-final race.

Jack Raftery, buoyed by his recent successes in the national junior and national juvenile championships over 400m, ran the 3rd leg for the Ireland 4 x 400m team that qualified to the final from Semi Final 2 in a time of 3.13.72.

In the relay final, the Irish 4 of Ciaran Carthy, Adam Hughes, Jack Raftery and David Ryan, came 7th in a season best time of 3.11.51. Raftery again ran the 3rd leg pressing the Ukraine 3rd leg athlete for 6th position as he ran his lap in a very fine 48 seconds. Turkey won in 3.08.34.

KBC NACHT EUROPEAN CLASSIC MEET at HEUSDEN-ZOLDER, BELGIUM (20.07.2019)

In the KBC Nacht Classic Meet at Heusden-Zolder in Belgium on Saturday (20.07.2019) Eric Keogh placed 1st in the E grade 5,000m with gaining a new personal best time of 14.15.44.

Daragh Fitzgibbon (3.51.40) came 3rd in Heat 1 of the 1,500m and John Travers (3.44.32) 8th in Heat 3.
​
BETTYSTOWN 5 MILE ROAD RACE (16.07.2019)

Sean Fox (28.26) was the 11st athlete home in the Bettystown 5-mile road race held on Tuesday evening (16.07.2019). He came 2nd in the M40 category. The other competing Donore Harriers athletes were – Craig Scott (30.18) in 22nd and 5th M40 and Kieran Beausang (30.57) in 31st position.

PARKRUNS

A number of Donore Harriers athletes put in fine performances in the Saturday morning Parkrun series, including Donal Iremonger (19.27) and Sam Allen (17.18) who were first placed finishers at Russborough and Naas. Barbara Murray W40 (20.33) was 3rd overall and first woman home at Monaghan. Alan Farrell (22.21), an Under-16 athlete knocked 2 minutes of his previous best time when placing 11th at Porterstown. Aidan Kelly U.19 came 3rd in the Fr. Collins Parkrun in a new PB time of 19.03.

RESULTS IN BRIEF:

BETTYSTOWN 5 MILE ROAD RACE (16.07.2019)
11th & 2nd M40: Sean Fox (28.26)
22nd & 5th M40: Craig Scott (30.18)
31st & 18 MS: Kieran Beausang (30.57)
EUROPEAN UNDER 20 CHAMPIONSHIPS at BORAS, SWEDEN (18-21.07.2019)
U.20 Men’s 800m Heat 2 of 3: 7th Louis O’Loughlin
U.20 Men’s 4 x 400m Relay H2 of 2: 3rd Ireland (3.13.72)
U.20 Men’s 4 x 400m Relay Final: 1st Turkey (3.08.34), 7th Ireland (3.11.51 SB)
NATIONAL TRACK & FIELD LEAGUE FINAL at TULLAMORE (20.07.2019)
WOMEN’S PREMIER DIVISION
100m: 2nd Aoife Lynch (11.99 PB)
200m: 2ND Aoife Lynch (24.17 PB)
400m: 7th Lauren Flaherty (1.04.22)
800m: 5th Maura Kearns (2.23.58)
1,500m: 3rd Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill (4.45.17)
3,000m: 3rd Barbara Cleary (10.20.88)
100mH: 2nd Eva McPartlan (17.13)
400mH: 3rd Caoimhe Mackey (1.09.57)
1,500m Walk: 6th Anne Gormley (10.07.63)
3,000m SC: 5th Ruby Kelly (13.21.23)
Long Jump: 6th Lara O’Byrne (4.84m)
High Jump: 1st Lara O’Byrne (1.55m)
Triple Jump: 8th Roisin Rynn-Cahill (8.53m)
Pole Vault: 2nd Ailbhe Healy (2.65m)
Shot Putt: 7th Lauren O’Keeffe (7.48m)
Discus: 5th Robyn O’Keeffe (22.95m PB)
Hammer: 2nd Lauren O’Keeffe (45.30m)
Javelin: 4th Rebecca Power (27.76m)
4 x 100m relay: 6th Donore Harriers (52.10)
4 x 400m relay: 6th Donore Harriers (4.23.71)
TEAM SCORE: 1st DSD AC (106), 2nd Galway County (102), 3rd Tipperary County (86), 4th Louth County (83), 5th Donore Harriers (83), 6th Kildare County (82), 7th St. Abban’s AC (56), 8th Monaghan County (54)
MEN’S PREMIER DIVISION
100m: 3rd Paul McDermott (11.00)
200m: 3rd Paul McDermott (22.07)
400m: 5th Zak Higgins (51.34)
800m: 1st Elliot Slade (1.54.00)
1,500m: 7th Michael Ryan (4.22.10)
5,000m: 5th Josh O’Sullivan-Hourihan (15.24.14 PB)
110mH: 1st David Slupko (15.42)
400mH: 4th Daragh McAuley (57.57)
3,000m: 4th Sean Kinsella (18.59.65)
3,000m SC: 4th Gavin Curtin (10.23.83 PB)
Long Jump: 5th Sean Chann (5.83m)
High Jump: 8th Alex Clarkin (1.50m)
Triple Jump: 8th Sean Kinsella (8.95m)
Pole Vault: no competitor
Shot Putt: 4th Niall Allen (10.80m)
Discus: 5th Oran O’Brien (35.38m) 2/4
Hammer: 6th Alex Conway (14.62m)
Javelin: 2nd Edgar Rutins (56.42m)
56lb Hammer: 3rd Niall Allen (6.64m)
4 x 100m: 2nd Donore Harriers (43.15)
4 x 400m: 3rd Donore Harriers (3.23.77)
TEAM SCORE: 1st Clonliffe Harries (124), 2nd Raheny Shamrocks (109), 3rd Galway City Harriers (96), 4th Donore Harriers (95), 5th Crusaders AC (91), 6th Kildare County (84), 7th DSD AC (79), 8th St. Abban’s AC (32)
KBC NACHT CLASSIC MEET at HEUSDEN-ZOLDER, BELGIUM (20.07.2019)
Men’s 1500m Heat 1: 3rd Daragh Fitzgibbon (3.51.40)
Men’s 1500m Heat 3: 8th John Travers (3.44.32)
Men’s 5000m E Grade: 1st Eric Keogh (14.15.44 PB)
PARKRUNS
Russborough: 1st Donal Iremonger M45 (19.27)
Naas: 1st Sam Allen (17.18)
Monaghan: 3rd & 1st woman: Barbara Murray W40 (20.53)
Kilcock: 8th Niall O’Reilly M35 (21.39)
Fr. Collins: 3rd Aidan Kelly U.19 (19.03 PB)
Porterstown: 8th Jonathan Farrell (21.46); 11th Alan Farrell U.16 (22.21 PB); 13th Tom Fagan M50 (22.36)
Griffeen: 119th Anna McMahon W35 (31.54)
Bushy: 104th Tommy Halton M60 (27.43)

National Indoor League Round 1 Reports

Thanks to the two track and field captains Leonie Newman and David Campbell for these reports. After round 1, the women’s team is in 3rd place and the men are in 4th in a close contest. This Saturday in Athlone will be the second round.

Our women’s team had a great start to the Indoor League in Abbotstown 2 weeks ago. Lara O’Byrne started us off with a third place in the 60m hurdles in 9.45 and then went on to finish 6th in the Long Jump. Aoife Lynch kicked of her indoor season with a second place finish in the 60m with Joan Healy winning, another second place was Ailbhe Healy in pole vault with a jump of 2.70. Louise Murray made her debut for the women’s team in the 800m a shorter distance than she’s used to running, finishing a fine 8th and gaining valuable points .Robyn O’Keeffe finished 7th in shot put. It was a great day for the team they finished in 3rd position when points were redone,

The Donore men have a great reputation in this competition having won bronze medals last year and they were keen to start strong. The first event of the day was the 60m hurdles and David Slupko showed huge dedication to his club Donore Harriers. Earlier in the morning David was in action on the rugby pitch where he played the first half of his match, came straight to Abbotstown and with a minimal warm up he pulled off a fantastic performance. David finished 4th in a time of 8.81 seconds amongst a high quality field where national u23 champion Matthew Behan took first place in 8.11 seconds. David is an excellent hurdler and his coaches are very excited to see him in action during the outdoor season.

Next up was the cool and confident character of Kolade Abiodun in the long jump. Having not trained in over 12 months, Kolade produced a superb jump of 6.36cm and took 2nd place overall. These points were a huge bonus for the club and it proves that with more training this year we will no doubt see plenty more impressive jumps from Kolade come outdoors.

Back to the track for the men’s 60m was Ben Iveagh. The field was loaded with Ireland’s top sprinters and Ben gained valuable points for the team finishing 5th in a time of 7.59 seconds. The race was won in a very swift 7.03 seconds by Clonliffe Harriers Leo Morgan and this was a great opportunity for Ben to get valuable race experience with senior athletes of the highest level. Ben has been in excellent form all winter and his coaches are looking forward to seeing him drop fast times this indoor season.

The final track event was the men’s 800m with Jack Raftery opening his indoor season. Last year Jack had a fantastic season running 49 seconds for 400m and 1.53 for 800m which highlights how talented this juvenile athlete is. Jack is only recently back from injury and the race was a great way to test his fitness. Finishing 3rd in a time of 2.01.25 behind the winner Cillian Kirwan of Raheny Shamrocks A.C who ran 1.56.16. Jack’s 3rd place scored crucial points for the team and he will no doubt improve his times as the indoor season progresses.

The last field event of the day was shot put with Alex Conway was in action. Over the past few years Alex has been a huge help with the national league squads and proved once again what a great asset he is to the club. Alex finished an excellent 3rd place throwing 9.59m and the competition was won by Rolus Olusa of Clonliffe Harriers who threw 11.01m.

The next round of the national league takes place on Saturday 26th January in Athlone I.T and we encourage all club members to come and support both the men and women in their efforts to bring home national medals. The men are currently in 4th place overall, just four points of 3rd position which means it’s all to play for in the next round. A big thank you to all the athletes, coaches and supporters who made round 1 such a success and we look forward to a stronger round 2 as we eye up medals for a 2nd consecutive year!

There is no final this year so it’s all to play for on Saturday best of luck to all . Don’t forget there is guest races on the day for anyone looking to get an indoor time . Supporters more than welcome.

National Junior Indoor Combined Events Title for Lara

On Saturday Lara O’Byrne added another national title to her tally which goes to show how she was awarded the Dublin Juvenile star for last year when she won the National Junior Indoor Combined Event in Athlone. Lara won all 5 disciplines and finished with some new personal bests too: 60m Hurdles (9.26), Long Jump (4.65), Shot Put (9.65, PB), High Jump (1.62) and 800m (2.27, PB).

John Travers gets 3000m qualifier time

Great news, John Travers has achieved the qualifying time for the European indoors athletics championship in Glasgow in early March. He was 3rd in the Cardiff Met Athletics/Non Thomas indoor meet in a time of 8.01.04, & only a second off 2nd; a few weeks ago he ran 2 seconds slower in Scotland. But this time he did the business in a race which was won in 7.55 by UK rising star Kieran Clements. Well done John, Glasgow beckons!

Dublin Intermediate XC

The day after our own Jingle bells 5k, there was no slacking for some of our hardworking volunteers. They had to to tackle a testing course in Tymon Park for the Dublin intermediate cross country championship. An unfortunate last minute injury and unavailability for some runners meant that the women did not have a full team on the day but admirably the three runners decided to compete anyway. A 5k course with one small lap and two big laps was the test for the 60 runners out. First home was Audrey Gahan who worked through the field well to come in 20th place, Ariana Ball had her first race since her excellent Dublin marathon and she was not far behind in 27th, claire mulligan in her second championship race for the club ran a very controlled race picking lots of people off to finish 30th. Winners of the team and individual title were Sportsworld.

The men were next up tackling 4 big laps 8k. By the first lap Matthieu Profitt was in a good position near the top. Two Rathfarnham runners (eventual Gold and silver Mitchell Byrne and Robert Murphy) started to string the field out though and get ahead but Matthieu was in the second bunch and eventually got out on his own finishing an excellent 6th. Emmet O’Briain can always rely on his track speed in these races and he had a strong run to finish in 14th. Paul Cummins had an excellent run and was well pleased with his 21st placing. Alan Farrell who had a hectic day coordinating at the jingle Bells (and being a Chief Elf!) the day before gave it everything to finish 31st and Alasdair Brown likewise in 37th. They all just got in before the heavens opened in Tymon Park! As we tried to dry off at race HQ in Templeogue United there was an anxious wait for the men’s team results as it became clear there may be a tie for first place. Nonetheless Donore Harriers were delighted to secure the bronze with 72 points, 9 ahead of Sportsworld. Brothers Pearse beat Rathfarnham WSAF on countback.

Well done all and see some of these runners back in action for the national novice this weekend.

The 28th Jingle Bells 5k took place Saturday, December 1st. We had our biggest field ever at just under 1,500 participants with almost 1,200 chipped finishers and almost 300 under 16s. Well done to all and congratulations to winners Eoin Everard, 14:36, (Kilkenny City Harriers) and Teresa Doherty, 16:13 (Finn Valley AC). Runners up in the Men’s were Efren Gidey (Clonliffe Harriers), 2nd in 14:43 with Colin Maher (Ballyfin AC) in 14:44, 3rd. In the Women’s race Sarah Healy (Blackrock AC) was 2nd in 16:24 and Sinead O’Connor (Leevale AC), 3rd in 16:48.

In the team categories. Leevale AC won the Women’s team prize, followed by Donore Harriers, 2nd and Raheny Shamrock AC 3rd. The Men’s team results were Clonliffe Harriers as winner followed by Crusaders AC, 2nd and UCD AC in 3rd. Congratulations to Eirgrid as the winners of the corporate team challenge.

2018 marks the 125th anniversary of Donore Harriers and to celebrate the occasion we had the added dimension of a flying mile competition. Sponsored by our race timing partners, Pop Up Races, we had a €125 prize to the fastest man and the fastest woman over the final mile. The fastest man was race winner, Eoin Everard (Kilkenny City Harriers) in 4:24 and the fastest woman was Sinead O’Connor (Leevale AC) in 5:01.

A very big thank you to all who volunteered to help with stewarding and other duties on the day and in the planning of the event. A special thank you to our sponsor, Bill Griffin Motors, to Brogan’s Bakery for their delicious Kerrygold butter shortbread biscuits and to Dunnes Stores for their contribution. A particular thank you to the OPW and the Phoenix Park Rangers whose permission, help and support in running the event is greatly appreciated. Thank you also to An Garda Siochana and to the Civil Defence for their assistance and professionalism once again. Thank you to Pop Up Races for their excellent timing services and to Fintan Reilly for his commentary. A massive thank you as well to the Blanchardstown Brass Band for their entertainment on the morning. Finally thank you to all our participants, we hope you enjoyed it and we hope to see you all next year.

Full results and category results are available here.

https://www.popupraces.ie/race/jingle-bells-5k-2018/

Photos by Alasdair Brown: https://www.flickr.com/photos/78663851@N07/sets/72157700984104632

Congratulations to our medalists from the Dublin marathon who were presented with their medals at the clubhouse this week.

Taking home the biggest medal haul was Fergal Whitty who was National, Leinster and Dublin gold individual M40 winner and winner of National masters team bronze, Leinster masters team silver and Dublin masters team gold.

In the group photo left to right is:
Peter Gaffney – National masters team bronze, Leinster masters team silver, Dublin masters team gold.
Fergal Whitty
Ariana Ball – Dublin individual gold W35, Leinster senior team silver, Dublin senior team gold
Anne Curley – National W45 individual bronze, Leinster W45 gold, Dublin W45 gold, Leinster team silver, Dublin senior team gold
Grace kennedy – Dublin individual senior silver, Leinster senior team silver, Dublin senior team gold
Other winners who couldn’t attend last night were Tony Griffin who won Dublin M60 bronze
Ken Norgrove – Dublin M45 bronze, national masters team bronze, Leinster masters team silver, Dublin masters team gold.

Dublin Senior Cross Country win

History was made on Santry Demesne today when Ide Nic Dhomhnaill became the first Donore Harriers woman to win the Dublin senior cross country championship. A mild day with no wind and a dry course with 1500m laps which the women did 4 laps of, 4 Donore women took to the line.

Ide ran a smart race, staying back from the early pace when Crusaders runner Niamh Allen took it out. But she closed her down as the race went on and put daylight between her and Allen who faded to 5th. In the end Ide prevailed and won by a very good margin on DSD’s Meghan Ryan in an historic victory. Ide’s twin Sorcha came 7th and for a large part of the race ran in tandem with Crusaders Orla Drumm. Next in 8th place was Sinead Lambe who had the difficult task of running a large part of the race on her own. Maura Kearns worked her way through the field and had her trademark sprint finish finishing 17th. It was enough to bring the team a bronze medal, just 6 points off silver.

Winner of the team gold and Jim McNamara cup were Crusaders. Jim’s son James and daughter Andrea were on hand to make the presentation afterwards in the Clonliffe bar.

In the men’s race, there wasn’t a complete Donore team but Niall Lynch was 20th (after running the marathon last week), Emmet Ó Briain 32nd and Javier Romero 45th