Category Archives: Senior

AAI Games and Graded Meet

Club News, Results, Senior

Eric Keogh put up a brave performance when finishing 3rd in the AAI Games 3000m at Santry on Sunday. In the process he recorded a new PB time of 8.24.17, a full ten seconds off his previous best time. Eric raced conservatively through the first two kilometres before gaining to 3rd position. At the bell he was just a couple of meters behind Colm Rooney (Raheny) who kicked on to win in 8.19.19 and runner-up Thomas Fitzpatrick (Tallaght AC) who posted a time of 8.21.56. Two notable scalps for Eric were Gary Thornton (Galway AC) in fourth and Kevin Maunsell (Clonmel AC) in fifth.

Ray Hynes, another important member of the developing Donore Harriers A squad, recently ran two 3000m Steeplechase races in France. Ray placed second in a time of 9.14.00 at Rouen on the 4th May. On the 18th May he set himself a target of 9.05 in a race at Limoges, but found himself isolated in 2nd place after only 500m and in 26 degree heat struggled home in a time of 9.21.00 maintaining second position.

In the midweek Graded Meeting at Irishtown and there were some impressive performances.  In 400m, Adam Halpin and Sean O’Broinn were 1st and 2nd in their races.  Maura Kearns unleashed her trademark final sprint in the mile where there was a blanket 3-way finish and she was awarded 2nd.  Twins Ide and Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill were 1st and 2nd in their mile race and brother Aogan finished 3rd in the 5k where there some impressive runs by a number of our runners, – full results below

400m
Paul cummins 54.06
Adam Halpin 56.02
Sean O’Broinn 56.38
Zak Higgins 66.15

Mile women
Maura Kearns 5.21.57
Ide Nic Dhomhnaill 5.27.98
Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill 5.29.68
Janette Strickland 5.55.44

Men’s mile
Emmet O’Briain 4.37.53
Luke Boland 4.57.53
Jim McNamara 6.28.56 new Irish M75  record

5000m
Aodghan Nic Dhomhnaill 15.39
Michael McMahon 15.51
Gavin Keogh 15.58
Oisin Fitzgibbon 16.08
Chris Muldoon 16.11
Ken Norgrove 16.39

The day before, there were many good performances at the BHAA Government Services 5 mile race around the quiet country roads of Dunboyne on a pleasant evening, results as follows

Fergal Swaine 27.12
Sean Fox 28.01
Fred Kiernan 28.11
Tony Barry 28.25
Eoin Hannon 28.31
Florence Curley 31.20 3rd W40
Tom Fagan 32.19
Barry Potts 33.02 1st M65
Frank McNally 34.51
Nicola Dowdall 35.55 PB
terry Mee 36.10 1st M70

 

Na Fianna AC / Bob Heffernan 5km

Club News, Results, Senior

A total of 500 runners took to the roads around Johnstonebridge in County Kildare on Tuesday evening in pursuit of glory and personal bests. The event was the Na Fianna AC/ Bob Heffernan 5 kilometres road race. A host of Donore Harriers athletes came to the fore with Aogan MacDomhnaill (15.27) placing 3rd overall and in the process led the Donore Harriers team to first place. John Dunne M35 7th in 15.42 and Gavin Keogh 13th in 15.57 ensured the team prize for Donore Harriers.

With 19 scoring teams the final result read:

1. Donore Harriers 23 points;

2. Star of the Sea AC 30;

3. Mullingar Harriers 48 

4. Dunboyne AC 89.

Other Donore Harriers athletes included: – 15th Chris Muldoon M35 (16.13); 19th Oisin Fitzgibbon (16.15) winner of Junior category; 30th Fergal Whitty M35 (16.33); 32nd Andy Kinane (16.34); 37th Garvan Smith M40 (16.45); 41st Ken Norgrove M45 (16.51); 48th Sean Fox (16.58); 51st Des Tremble M40 (17.04); 59th & 5th junior Sam Gallagher (17.16); 61st Tony Barry (17.21); 70th Bob Blake M40 (17.33); 121st Stephen Dawson (18.34); 147th Bernard Byrne (18.54) and 158th Joe Murphy (19.07).  

Donore Harriers also won the women’s team competition. It was great to see Barbara Cleary back in the Donore vest (16.21) being the overall female winner whilst placing 20th overall in the race. Barbara was supported by Breda Mahony (19.42) in 15th place and Rhona Duane (19.57) in 17th.

The team result was as follows: 

1. Donore Harriers 33 points;

2. Donadea RC 39

3. Portlaoise AC 54.

National League Round 1

Club News, Results, Senior

The Donore squad headed off to Sligo on Sunday the 18th May to take part in the 1st round of the national league. Teams of 11 men and 4 women represented the club brilliantly in very difficult conditions. The men’s team, affected by some injuries and withdrawals introduced some of our promising juveniles and juniors to senior competition. They rose to the occasion as if used to it all their lives. No fear,performances out of the top drawer. The young guns contributed  to a stunning team performance resulting in the team posting 13 individual wins and two seconds in their 15 scoring events to mass a hugely impressive total of 131 points to finish the day top of the pool in Sligo but also top of the league country wide.

The men started off the way they intended to finish, on top of the table with Eoin Molloy earning the vital 1st win for the team in the hammer throw. With things going better than anyone could have expected in the wind and rain, everyone was surprised with how dominant all of the lads were in each event. From the track to the triple jump pit, Donore were a force to be reckoned with. The day ended on a high with the 4×4 squad storming home to take the last win of the day in a great overall team performance.

The ladies had a smaller team than hoped for in the first round, but the depleted team performed miracles, leaving the team in a position, with more athletes on board for the second leg  on 22 June to make the final.

Maura Kearns who warmed up for the event in Tallaght last Wednesday, doubled up to run in the 800m and 1500m finishing second in both events ( 2.31.86 and 4.59.65), Lynda Ngankam finished third in both the 100m and 200m (13.05  and 27.48) and won the Triple Jump with a jump of (10.58 ), Grace Kennedy continued her comback to compete to win the 3000m (11.13.55 ) and the Shot (5.31 ), Anne Gormley completed the team, doubling up in throw events with the Hammer and Discus (16.03 and 13.13).

Full results:

100m (3rd) – Conor Fox

200m (1st) – Conor O’Ceallaigh

400m (1st) – David Campbell

400m hurdles (2nd) – Rolus Osala

800m (1st) – Eric Keogh

1500m (1st) – Eric Keogh

3km Walk (1st) – Kevin English

3km steeplechase (2nd) – Kevin English

5km (1st) – John Travers

Shot putt (1st) – Niall Allen

56lb (1st) – Niall Allen

Hammer (1st) – Eoin Molloy

Javelin (1st) – Jack Oosthuvan

Triple jump (1st) – Rolus Osala

Long jump (2nd) – Rolus Osala

4x100m (1st) – Conor O’Ceallaigh, David Campbell, Adam Halpin, Conor fox

4x400m (1st) –  David Campbell, Henry English, Rolus Osala, Adam Halpin

This was an exceptional performance for both teams, particularly the mens team who are determined to win the Division one this year having finished 3rd in the final for the past two years. It’s early days yet but with such brilliant team spirit and high level performances, they are going about it the right way.

Thanks to all the support, coaches, athletes and anyone that helped with the organisation it was a great success and hopefully we will see plenty of Donore faces supporting the team for the 2nd round in Santry on the June 22nd.

 

Good Weekend on the Roads for Donore and Graded Meet 2

Club News, Events, Results, Senior

The superlatives for Jim McNamara seem endless, but the great man continually breaks down barriers in what has been an encyclopaedic athletics career. In the second Dublin Open Graded meeting at Tallaght last Wednesday (14.05.14) Jim took a half-minute off the Irish M75 1500 record when placing 8th in the ‘D’ race in a time of 5.57.83. Jim later described the race as thus: “The young lads got away from me so I had to do the race as if it was a time trial”. Well done Jim!

Other club results from the same meeting include: – 200m ‘A’ 6th David Campbell 24.27; ‘B2’ 5th Connor Fox 24.52; ‘B3’ 4th Adam Halpin 25.27; ‘C’ Sean O’Broin 25.21. 1500m ‘C’ 2nd Henry English 4.18.64; 9th Luke Boland 4.27.48. Shot Pull 2nd Niall Allen 11.34m.  Taking to the track for Donore’s Ladies in the 1500m A was Maura Kearns 3rd (4.51.42), Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill 5th  (4.56.78), Karla Doran 12th (5.31.02). In the 1500m B we had  Ide Nic Dhomhnaill was 1st (5.02.00), Janette Strickland 9th (5.27.20), Sinéad Graham 11th (5.29.40) and Lynda Ngankam 6th in the 200m A (27.2)

In the Terenure 5 mile on Sunday (18.05.14) Phil Hennessy M40 led home a small Donore Harriers team in 26th position in a time of 27.44. Tony Barry (29.34) placed 51st, Stephen Dawson (31.25) 94th , M65 athlete Barry Potts (33.31) finished in 170th place from a field of more than 1300 runners and Frank McNally (34.49). We had some great runs from the ladies, Anne Curley was 6th overall in a time of (30.49), Florence Curley 18th in (32.37), Rhona Duane had another fantastic run with (33.45), Karen Behan (35.13), Medbh Peavoy making a tentative return  (36.03) and Mary Murphy (38.40).

Meanwhile at the Maynooth 10km, which starts in the grounds of St. Patrick’s College and finished inside the grounds of Carton House, Joe Murphy (40.48) placed 24th.

In the midweek Cheetah Run in Cork, Conor McCauley finished 8th with (22.39) and Tom Fagan in the BHAA Beach run 19:49.

A Good Weekend for our UK Based Athletes and Weekend Round-Up

Club News, Meet & Train, Results, Senior

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 10th 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 6thin the 3.000m, representing Herne Hill Harriers, in a PB time of 8.36.80.

Closer to home Des Tremble finished an excellent 9thoverall 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.

Long Weekend Brings Dublin and Leinster Success

Club News, Juvenile, Results, Senior

In the Tallaght AC 5km road race (4.05.14) Tony Barry (17.26) placed 20th with Sam Gallagher (a Junior) 25th in 17.29.  Bob Blake (M40) 31st in 17.52 and Stephen Dawson 58th in 18.58 also competed.

The ladies team ran brilliantly to hold onto the Dublin Novice gold. Packing well together Janette Strickland (20.24), Emer Rattigan (20.23) and Sinéad Graham entered the track together where a last push from Sinéad saw her finish first for Donore (20.19) and enough to nab individual bronze in the Novice race, Karla Doran completed the scoring with  (20.50). Also competing were Aisling Swaine (21.02),  Lorraine O’Shea (21.54), Kim Strickland (22.43), Olivia Strickland (23.39) and Mary Murphy (23.53).

Team captain on the day Graham Hopkins described it as “another good day at the office for Donore Harriers” after having led the team home to silver medals in the Leinster Masters Road Championship (6km) at Gowran, Co. Kilkenny on Monday last (5.05.14).

An in-form Newbridge AC team, fresh from their bronze medals success in the recent national road relays, were clear winners on 26 points with their four scorers inside the top dozen. But a solid performance from the Donore Harriers quartet saw them place second on 52 points ahead of 3rd placed St. Abbans AC on 64 The scoring four were: – Graham Hopkins (20.15) 7th overall, Will Morris (20.44) 13th, Garvan Smith (20.51) 15th and Des Tremble (21.02) 19th. Graham won a silver individual medal in the M40 category, with Garvan 5th and Des 7th in the same class. Will placed 7th in the M35 category. Graham Hopkins rounded off a clean sweep of silver medals when he joined Will Morris on the scoring Dublin county team. An unfortunate Fergal Swaine had to retire from the race on the second lap due to illness.

In the ARC Cancer Support 10km run in the Phoenix Park, also on Monday, Kevin English (35.08) was the winner with M45 athlete Tom Fagan placing 29th in 40.35.

There was an array of Donore Harriers athletes competing in the first Dublin Open Graded Meeting at Santry on Wednesday evening 30th April. Aogan MacDomhnaill came 3rd in an eventful 3.000m ‘A’ race recording a time  8.49.69 to post a massive Personal Best. John Dunne was running on target for a sub 9 minutes, but faded slightly in the final kilometre before placing 6th in 9.05.88.

Michael McMahon won out in an exciting race to the finish line in the B 3.000m race recording a time of 9.12.34. In the same race Emmet O’Briain (9.23.93) placed 5th; Chris Muldoon (9.29.48) 7th and Ken Norgrove (9.40.34) 10th.

In the 800m Henry English (2.07.01) came 7th in the B race; Luke Boland (2.11.73) 5th in the C; and Killian O’Hora (2.14.31) 2nd, Tom Fagan (2.30.45) 9th, Terry Mee (2.57.11) 10th and Jim McNamara (3.03.28) 11th  in the D race. Paul Cummins placed 7th in the B 100 metres in 12.51.

In the DCU Helix 5km on the 30th April 2014 Declan Raftery placed 14th in 20.39.

Also competing over the long weekend, Anne Curley finished as second lady in the BHAA RTE 5 mile (30.43), Patrick Moriarty 11th overall (28.20), Terry Mee (36.35), Ann Woodlock (43.51) and Tommy Halton (40.37). Breda Mahony was 5th in the Waterford2Tramore race and Nicola Dowdall and Eilish Joyce ran well in the Boyne 10k.

In the recent Boston Marathon Sean Fox recorded a time of 2.59.28 whilst Shane McAuley completed the course in 3.05.31, Joan McTernan also took part in the historic race with a time of 4.24.54. Well done to all.

 

 

John Travers Represents Ireland at Penn Relays and Weekend Round Up

Club News, Results, Senior

After opening for the Irish Team in the Penn Relay International Distance Medley Relay (DMR) at Franklin Field in Philadelphia on Saturday, John Travers described it as  “ an absolutely unbelievable experience”. John (3.01.99) mixed it early with David Torrence (2.59.43) of the USA and Ryan Gregson (3.29.86) of Australia in the first (1200m) leg before handing the baton to 400m specialist Brian Cregan (46.31) in 3rd position.

The DMR is made up of four legs: 1,200m, 400m, 800m and 1 mile. The Irish quartet was completed by Paul Robinson 800m (1:48.59) and John Coghlan 1600m (4.05.95). The final team result saw the USA winning the event in a time of 9.28.27 with Australia second in a time of 9.30.74, then Ireland 3rd in 9.42.83 and Mexico 4th in 10.00.41.

Much closer to home Will Morris had a fine race in the Samsung Night Run in Dublin City Centre on Sunday evening. Will held 9th position from early on before a sprint finish saw him win the spoils for 8th place. Also in the race were Kenneth Cronin (43.07) and Conor McCarthy (43.12).

At the Wexford 10km Road Race on Sunday, Gavin Keogh showed a return to form when placing 2nd in 34.07. Bob Blake (37.49) came 9th.

In the recent Bonniconlon 5km road race the Fitzgibbon brothers were out in force. Oisin, who is a Junior u/18s athlete, was a clear winner of the event in an excellent 16.38. Behind him there was a sibling battle for 11th place with Tadgh (u/16s) narrowly edging in front of Ruairi (u/15s) near the finish tape. Both recorded times of 20.35.
Another recent result saw coach Mick Bourke M65 record a time of 15.32 at the Letterkeny AC Easter 3km.

In Easter Monday’s rejuvenated Leinster 10 mile Championship hosted by Raheny Shamrocks as part of the Brian Boru festival, Anne Curley ran a brilliant race to finish first with 62.42. Also competing on the day Terry Mee 76.16, Tony Griffin 72.19 and Charlie O’Neill 73.26. Kevin English was 2nd in the Laura Lynn Half Marathon on Good Friday in 76:38, Sian O’Connor 1:47:53 and Elaine Verdon 1:47:30 ran also.

National Road Relays, Spring Marathons and Weekend Round Up

Club News, Meet & Train, Results, Senior

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

The Donore Harriers ‘C’ team (21.24) held 14th 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 18th. 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 7th 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 (76th 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 14th 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 75th

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

Road Season Kicks Off At National 10K

Club News, Juvenile, Results, Senior

The high profile Great Ireland Run, which incorporated the National 10 kilometres road championships, proved big in organisation and poor in its results service! If Dunboyne AC had set the bar in displaying all results minutes after the finish of their race in the previous week then the AAI fell far short in their showcase road running championship. It is simply not good enough that results are delayed so as to appear first in a national newspaper on the following day – and then we face, yet again, problems with the team scores! This unprofessionalism does nothing to promote our wonderful sport at club level!

The correct team result in the M35-50 category should read: – 1. Donore Harriers 1.43.06; 2. Raheny Shamrocks 1.44.35 and 3. Sligo AC 1.44.52. Please note that this result is yet to be confirmed.

The strong winds and change of temperatures during the race made conditions difficult, not to mention the undulations of the testing Phoenix Park course. The ever consistent John Dunne was first Donore Harriers man home in 33.28, placing 25th overall and winning the silver medal in the M35 category (also waiting confirmation); Ken Nugent continues his return to form and ran a very fine 33.57 and placed 35th overall; Aogan MacDomhnaill (34.10), a transfer pending athlete, was 38th; Niall Lynch 34.19 and Gavin Keogh 34.27 ran stride to stride until the final kilometre before finishing 42nd and 46th respectively; Niall came 4th in the M40 age group. Eoin Durkan (56th in 34.38) was another with a very encouraging run and a return to form after missing a lot of training due to injury. Graham Hopkins (35.13) completed the scoring trio for the successful Donore Harriers masters team when placing 68th overall and 9th in the M40 category.

The other Donore Harriers to finish were: – Andy Kinane 35.27;  Des Tremble 36.14 (14th in M40); George Brady 37.38; Tony Barry 38.08; Niall O’Reilly 40.38; Tom Fagan 41.02; Ian Redican 42.08; Des Gill 44.20; Jim McNamara 45.38 (1st in M70) and Terry Mee 48.52 (2nd in M70)

The race was won by Japhet Korir of Kenya in 28.12, ahead of Andy Vernon (GB) 29.19 and Michael Shelley (Australia) 29.33. The Irish 10km championship result was: – 1st. Mark Hanrahan (Leevale AC) 30.20; 2nd Mick Clohissy (Raheny) 30.46 and 3rd Thomas Fitzpatrick (Tallaght AC) 30.47.

The ladies race produced a high quality field where Fionnula Britton fought it out with regular Cross Country rival Sophie Duarte. Fionnula finishe just outside the podium places in 4th but won the National 10K with veteran Catherina McKiernan showing great form to finish second.

First home for Donore ladies producing another fantastic run following injury was Aislinn Nic Dhomhnaill with 39.08, not far behind was Anne Curley (39.16), Florence Curley (41.46), Breda Mahony (42.45), Karen Behan (42.54), Emer Rattigan (43.24), Sinead Graham (43.51), Lorrain O’Shea (46.26),  Sian O’Connor (47.24), Mary Murphy (51.12), Dana Mackey (53.29) and Laura Murray (58.58).

In the Great Ireland Mile Race John Travers (4.04) again proved that he is a class act when finishing second behind Paul Robinson (4.02). From the AAI website: – ‘After an up and down indoor season a resurgent John Travers (Donore Harriers) finished in second place in a time of 4.04, impressive performances by both athletes in wet and windy conditions’.

Britain’s Ross Murray who came third in 4.06

In a very wet and windswept Connemara, two brave Donore runners tackled the half marathon; Bronagh Elliott was 5th lady in a highly impressive 98.09 on what is a very tough course and Liagh Miller ran 1.58.11

The Spring marathon season has started and we had a trio of runners in the Paris Marathon – in her first marathon Rachel Burke finished in 4.04.27, also making her marathon debut Eilish Joyce finished in 4.33.30 and Hilary O’Connor finished in 4.40.34 – well done girls.

Some of our track runners got their outdoor season off to a good start at the Leevale Open Sports at CIT track in Bishopstown Cork – results as follows:

Sean Lawlor 3rd – section 1 200m 23.07

Lynda Ngakam 2nd – section 2 100m 12.96

Lynda Ngakam 4th – section2 200m 27,26

David Campbell 7th – section 1 400m 53.45

Ailise Keating 8th 100m heats – 14.00

In the BHAA Dublin City Council 4 mile race at St. Anne’s Park on Saturday it became a battle of the two Fergals! Fergal Whitty placed 6th in 21.53 with Fergal Swaine just one second and one place behind.  Frank McNally was 65th in 26.46 and Tommy Halton ran 30.59.

World Masters, Dunboyne 4 mile and National Indoors

Club News, Juvenile, Results, Senior

Long an inspirational figure for Donore and the ladies in particular – Ann Woodlock turned 75 late last year and competed in this age group for Ireland on the world stage for the first time at last week’s World Master Indoors in Budapest.  Firstly she won silver in the 3000m in 16.03.58 and clocked a faster time than many of the W70 competitors.  A few days later was the 1500m and she won bronze in a time of 7.31 in a closely fought contest where the 3 medallists were only separated by little over 2 seconds.  Congratulations Ann, a great achievement.  Despite missing a block of training in the run up to the championship due to a car crash, racewalker Anne Gormley finished 11th W50 in the 3k walk and 9th in the 10k road walk.

The cold winds finally ceased and the rain stayed away on Sunday 30th March as the town of Dunboyne celebrated its fine athletics club as the 45th annual edition of their 4 mile road race proved as popular as ever. More than one thousand runners made their way to the start line and it was great to see the black and white singlets of Donore Harriers out in force.At the business end of the race Thomas Fitzpatrick of Tallaght AC gave a commanding performance to front run from gun to tape and win in a time of 18.55. With prizes for the first 6 men finishers the competition behind Fitzpatrick was fierce! But Lee Van Haeften (19.44) rose to the challenge and climbed from 6th to 4th in the latter half of the race. After his recent excellent performance in the National Inter-Clubs cross country race the Irish athletics community is taking note of Donore’s much improved athlete. Darragh Rennicks (19.36) of Bohermeen AC was 2nd and Paul Stephenson (19.42) of Rathfarnham 3rd.

Lee was well supported in the early stages of the race by Ray Hynes. Ray (19.55) ran a very consistent race maintaining 7th place throughout. With two in the top 10 Donore Harriers had a chance of winning the team trophy! Rathfarnham had 3 in the top 12, whilst Raheny packed 5 runners between positions 18 and 22. Host club Dunboyne were also showing their colours at the finish line. But strong running from Graham Hopkins (29th in 21.41) and Will Morris (32nd in 22.01) ensured the team prize for Donore. The final team score read: – 1. Donore Harriers 66; 2. Raheny Shamrocks 78; and 3. Dunboyne AC 78.

Graham placed second in the M40 age group, whilst the ever improving Des Tremble (37th in 22.07) was 3rd and Garvan Smith (43rd in 22.28) 4th in the same category. This was Garvan’s debut race for Donore Harriers and he is already proving to be a fine addition to a vibrant master’s squad.

Tony Barry (23.10) was next Donore man home in 59th place. Sixteen years-old Sam Gallagher, another debutante, also gave indication of a promising future in the sport when placing 66th overall in a time of 23.25.

The other Donore Harriers finishers included: – Bob Blake M40 (23.55) 73rd; Tom Fagan M45(24.49) 95th; Joe Murphy (25.23) 108th; Des Gill M45 (25.52) 109th; Ian Redican M40 (25.36); Bernard Byrne (26.04) 130th; and Thomas Halton M55 (31.20) 359th.

The ladies were also out in force in Dunboyne and ran well again to help Donore to the double also taking first team. In a strong field led home by Catherina McKienan (21.22) and DSD’s Sarah Mulligan (21.42), First lady home was Anne Curley in a solid 24.12 a little slower than she hoped but she is in marathon training and was 6th lady overall in a quality field. Karen Behan continued her recent blistering form with a fantastic 26.10 and and it was great to see Ashling Swaine score on the team with a time of 27.04.

Also running for the ladies, Sam Conroy (27.14), Lorraine O’Shea (27.28), Eva Campion (28.22), Michelle Dawson (30.49), Sarah Ni Ruairc (32.49) and Pauline Fagan (35.21)

In the One Mile Juvenile Race for athletes aged 15 and under (also at Dunboyne) Lucy McCann came an excellent second in the girl’s race in a time of 5.36. Ruairi Fitzgibbon 5.47 and 13 years-old Niamh Clarke 6.24 both ran well in the same race. Oliver Hopkins came 10th in the under 9’s race. Lauren Kennedy and Ava Clarke, aged 15, ran the 4 mile race and recorded times of 34.53 and 34.57. Well done to all!

We sent 5 relay teams to the last day of the the National Indoors. Well done to all of our relay teams who competed in Athlone over the weekend. The boys under 15 won their heat and went on to the final where they took home the silver medal, Jack Rafferty did brilliantly to step up an age group to compete with the under 15s.

The boys under 16 made it to the finals where they were unlucky to finish in 5th, Kalade who had run in the earlier race with the under 15’s stepped in as a sub to race again. The under 19s performed well and were very unlucky not to make their final.

Our girls teams of under 15 and 16 unfortunately did not progress to the finals both teams ran exceptionally well under difficult circumstances with Katie Coombes taking a hard fall and bravely picking herself up to get the baton around to her team mate. Well done to all the teams and again the supporters and subs who travelled and not forgetting the coaches.

On Wednesday evening 26th March Will Morris (17.53) and Graham Hopkins (18.04) came 2nd and 4th respectively in the North County Farmers Business Houses AA race. Fred Kiernan (19.33), returning after injury, came 24th and Ian Redican placed 49th.