In 1976, longtime Donore women’s coach Jim Mcnamara qualified for the Olympic marathon in the trial which is staged in Limerick that year. So in 2018, it was good to see a Donore Harriers female on the marathon podium in Limerick. It was a hot day for the BSH great limerick run which incorporates 4 events. Grace Kennedy ran a perfectly paced race and gradually got herself into 3rd position where she finished strongly in 3.09.01. It’s a first podium finish for Grace, more to come from this tough competitor who is making her mark on the marathon! Florence Curley finished in 3.28.30, unfortunately forced to jog and walk the last 6 miles with quad problems.

There was also Donore success in the 6 mile event. John Travers was the winner in 29.40 ahead of Kevin Maunsell. Ide Nic Dhomhnaill was 2nd woman in 36.37 and twin Sorcha 3rd in 37.19 following on from their 2, 3 at the Clonliffe 2

Fergal Whitty was 7th in the half marathon event in 74.19 and Pat Egan finished in 1.40.12

A long overdue full report of the national road relays in Raheny. It was a poignant start to the competition on the traditional one mile loop around All Saints Road. Raheny Shamrock AC’s Pat Hooper paid tribute to Karen Behan who would have been competing in the master ladies division and led a minute’s round of applause in her memory. Her teammates and fellow club members were there in force to join in and compete in her memory. There were 3 ladies masters teams in action in the first event. Many wished to compete in Karen’s memory so for some it was their first experience of relay running.

Karla Doran finished really well up in the first mile clocking an excellent 5.52, handing over to Rhona McHugh for the 2 Mile leg 13.00 and Ariana Ball brought it home in the last mile 6.12 which brought the team to 7th. Audrey Gahan led off the 2nd team in 6.22 for the first mile, julia Hackett got the 2 mile in 14.23 and handed over to Barbara Murray who covered the last mile in 6.16 bringing them to 12th place. Relay debutante Michelle O’hagan back training with the club ran 6.46 for the mile handing over to Angela Eustace who despite carrying an injury ran 15.00 and then Michele Murphy making her relay debut in 7.54 bringing the team to 13th. A great combined team effort on an emotionally charged day.

The most exciting event of the day was the men’s masters race. The first team was under incredible pressure from the off. Emmet Ó Briain gave it everything to finish first in the mile in 4.49. This was crucial as from hereon in, Donore had to maintain this lead with other clubs literally breathing down their necks. Rossa Hurley did brilliantly to keep the lead over his 2 mile lap which he covered in 9.50. It was all then dependent on Tristan Druet’s last mile which culminated in an eyeballs out sprint finish in 4.53 and a Donore victory (our 2nd in 3 years!). Our 2nd team of Donal Iremonger 5.10, Gavin Keogh 10.52 and Alan Farrell 5.16 finished 13th. For the first time in many years there was an M50 team Des Gill 6.07, Tom Fagan 12.50 and frank McNally 6.28

In the ladies senior contest, we were missing some runners but also had some new faces this year. Niamh O’Neill had a great first mile in 5.36 and handed over to Sinead Lambe who covered the 2 mile in an excellent 11.41 and Amy Moriarty brought it home in 6.05 for the mile bringing the team to 9th. On the 2nd team, Roisin Harkin clocked 6.03 for the first mile, with fiona Hegarty who competed in a tough national 10k the week before taking on the 2 mile in 13.22 and finally Mairead Kirby bringing it home in the last mile in 6.28

Final event of the day was the senior men; with Donore silver last year and gold the year before, the pressure was on. This year’s field was also jam packed with many more internationals and Olympians. Darragh Fitzgibbon led off for the 2 mile and finished 9.55 , off the leading bunch. Ray hynes took up the mile in 4.38 and then over to John Travers for the 3 mile. The leading 3 had got ahead so it was always going to be hard for him to close that gap when they were going equally fast and in a battle. John finished the leg in 14.41 and then it was over to Eric Keogh to keep it up in the remaining 2 miles and he finished in 9.42 bringing the team to 4th. (top 3 was Raheny, DSD, KCH)

The second team of Michael Ryan 10.25, teenager Sekeriye Ahmed 4.48, ray Lonergan 16.03 and Paul Cummins 11.20 finished 19th

It was an exceptionally busy long weekend on the road race front, including both the BHAA K-Club 10k and the Leinster 10 Mile Road Championships amongst many races taking place.

There was a superb win for Rossa Hurley against a high-quality field at the BHAA K-Club 10k in Straffan (which was 150 metres too long!) in 32.30. This was a target race for the men’s squad so there was a big representation from the club. In there too was Anthony Flannery (33.40), Seán Fox (1st M40 – 34:25), Des Tremble 34.51 (1st 45), Gavin Keogh (35:23), Philip Hennessy (2nd M45 – 35.28), Jonathan Farrell (37.21), Paul Cummins (37.26), Alan Farrell (37.39), Michael Edward O’Connor (39.24), Stephen Dawson (40.31), Craig Scott (43.02), Ian Redican (43.12), and Joe Murphy (43.54). Sinéad Lambe was the 3rd lady in 38.01 and we had Cliodhna Carty 47.01 and Michelle Dawson 54.52. Full results at: https://bhaa.ie/race/kclub-10km-2018/

Elsewhere Shane McAuley won the Na Fianna 5k in 18.21.
Ariana ball was 1st W35 and 7th Lady at the Fr Murphy AC 10k in Kildalkey in 42.43
Ken McKeown 40.16 at the Longford 10k
Philip Hennessy 5th and 35.31 at the rosslare 10k
Mary McDermott 24.52 at the Naas 5k

Michael Ryan and Ray Lonergan raced in the Streets of Kilkenny 5K on Thursday evening, finishing 7th and 9th in 16.02 and 16.09 respectively.

DONORE 0/50 SQUAD UPDATE – Leinster 10 Mile Championships
Report by Des Gill

In what could be best described as awesome weather for ducks our 0/50 men’s squad ran the Leinster 10 mile championship this morning at St Anne’s Park Raheny and finished 4th narrowly missing out on a bronze medal. With the first three to count, Tom Fagan, Ken Cronin and Tony Griffin led the team home on this occasion.

Tom Fagan 1:09:43
Kenneth Cronin 1:10:19
Tony Griffin 1:10:37
Frank McNally 1:16:19.

Also a big shout out to other Donore runners on the course today.
Karen Behan 1:14:10
Angela Eustace 1:18:40
Orlaith McMahon 1:30:03
Shiofra McCarthy 1:41:28
Anna McMahon 1:50:33

Íde Nic Dhomhnaill recently recorded a super win at the Dunboyne 4 Mile road race. She was 1st woman in an impressive 22.05. Sinead Lambe was 5th woman in a new PB of 23.16. First Donore man over the line was Seán Fox (2nd M40). There were also category prizes for Emmet Ó Briain (3rd M40), Peter Gaffney (3rd M45) and James Murphy (2nd MJ) and an unexpected team prize for 4th men’s team of Seán Fox, Emmet Ó Briain, Peter Gaffney and Andy Kinane.

Full Results below:

Seán Fox 21.17 (2nd M40)
Emmet Ó Briain 21.50 (3rd M40)
Peter Gaffney 22.03 (3rd M45)
Íde Nic Dhomhnaill 22.05 (1st W)
Andy Kinane 22.08
Sinead Lambe 23.16 (5th W)
James Murphy 23:23 (2nd MJ)
Ian Redican 27.05
Sian O’Connor 29.25
Jennifer Hogan 37.55

John Travers became the first Irishman to run a sub-4 indoor mile on Irish soil when he finished 3rd at the AIT Grand Prix tonight.

In an exciting race in an atmospheric and packed AIT featuring Olympian and Australian national record holder Ryan Gregson, John was in the mix from the start and when Gregson piled on the pressure in the last 2 laps, Travers was on his tail, only tying up in the home straight when the Polish runner Gregor Kalinoski pipped him. His finish time was 3.59.40, just 2 seconds off winner Gregson.

In the post race interview on TG4, John expressed his satisfaction with the race, it comes after a hectic week with the Armagh 5k, then winning the National 3k indoors.

Here is John with Donore’s Charlie O’Neill postrace!

National Senior Indoors – 3000m title for John Travers

After a fine run in Armagh on Thursday night, John Travers became the national indoor 3000m champion at the weekend. He faced down 2nd placed Eoin Everard in an exciting race, clocking a time of 8.25.21. A revelation in this race was 4th placed Darragh Fitzgibbon in 8.29.96, just a second off bronze. Darragh was in Iten Kenya earlier in January so the hard training paid off here! Eamonn Fahey reached the final of the 60m, he ran 7.06 seconds in the heats and then 7.00 in the final. In the pole vault, Ailbhe Healy finished joint 11th with a best vault of 2.70m
On the first day, David Campbell ran at 800m for the first time at national indoor and ran his heat in 2.06.05

Armagh International Race Report

The Brooks Armagh international race night has a reputation for its high class fields and fast times. This year a staggering 91 men went under the 15 minutes barrier and 2 were Donore men. John Travers was on the Irish team and finished up 17th overall in 14.16. 20 seconds behind was Eric Keogh in 47th place and he was delighted to get a new PB of 14.36. In the ladies 3k race, Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill ran an excellent 10.19.

Roads-roundup

We have had some good results over the past few weeks on the road, notably Fergal Whitty 54.55 (17th) and Ray Lonergan 55.54 (25th) who made the top 25 at the John treacy Dungarvan 10 Mile.

Gavin Keogh came 6th at the Enniscorthy 10k in 35.15. A sizeable contingent ran the Trim 10 Mile including 4th placed Anthony Flannery 55.06, Chris Muldoon 62.20, Tony Barry 63.17, Niall O’Reilly 65.15, Florence curley 67.59, Tony Griffin 71.57, Sinead Oreilly 75.25, Joseph Maguire 80.16, Deirdre Healy 84.04, Ann Rush 86.21, Jo Hughes 88.11. Finally, Dean Glennon finished 21.45 at the Esker 5k.

Reports by Florence Curley