HIGHLIGHTS: Matthieu Proffit won the Dublin Intermediate Cross-Country title and led the Donore Harriers team to gold. Our Women’s team gained bronze. Individual winners Annabella Omozee, Luuk Jackson, Emily Bolton, Eva Crowe and Oliver Hopkins were ‘High Five’ in Dublin Juvenile League Match 3. Magnificent Anne Curley won the Clonakilty Waterfront Marathon.

 

Donore Harriers had plenty to cheer about at a mud-laden Tymon Park on Sunday (01.12.2019). Matthieu Proffit won the DUBLIN INTERMEDIATE CROSS-COUNTRY MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS over 8km. After 2 of 4 laps Proffit and Kevin Donagher of Rathfarnham AC were side by side having built a lead on their pursuers. The Donore man was strongest over the second part of the race to run out a convincing winner. His coach and a previous winner of the title Iain Morrison said of the improving Proffit “Matthieu is getting better and better. He always throws himself into races even when he has other goals. He has a positive attitude about racing and never complains about being tired of stress. Incredible guy and a great club man”.

Proffit led the men’s team to victory. The cause was greatly helped by the 6^th place finish of debutant Rory Burke. Luke Boland worked his way through the field to place 14^th with Alasdair Brown closing the scoring in 15^th. The team competition proved to be a tense battle. At the 6km mark Crusaders AC were just 6 points behind Donore and a strong rally by the Irishtown club narrowed the gap to just 4 points as Donore Harriers held out to win by 36 points to 40. Raheny Shamrocks AC were 3^rd on 56. The non-scoring Donore Harriers athletes were Paul Cummins in 21^st and Des Tremble in 38^th.

 

The women’s team rallied magnificently to win a surprise bronze in the WOMEN’S 5km INTERMEDIATE CHAMPIONSHIP. Aoife Ni Thuthail (21.47) led the team home in 8^th place, followed closely by Audrey Gahan (21.58) in 10^th. A determined run by Claire Mulligan (22.26) got her home in 17^th spot, with Ariana Ball (23.20) putting in a huge effort to close the team as the 28^th finisher. Club Captain Florence Curley described Ball’s performance as being “heroic” due to the athlete being sick in the week leading up to the race. Clonliffe Harriers (34) won the team competition by one point, with Rathfarnham AC (35) in 2^nd and Donore Harriers (63) in 3^rd. Sportsworld AC were 16 points adrift of Donore Harriers in 4^th place.

 

In the 3^rd and final round of the DUBLIN JUVENILE CROSS-COUNTRY LEAGUE at Tymon Park (01.12.2019) there were five winners for Donore Harriers on the day. Annabella Omozee got the day off to a ‘flyer’ with a gun to tape win in the Under 9 Girls race over 600m. Sophie Farrell came 30^th. An impressive Luuk Jackson won the Under 11 Boys over 1 kilometre, with Eoin Mooney in 8^th and Caolan Costello in 24^th. The new Under 12 national champion Emily Bolton convincingly won her age-group race over 1km, with Ava Hoare in 27^th and Tara Hoare in 39^th. In the Under 13 Girls race over 1.5km Eva Crowe showed good form ahead of the National Juvenile Uneven-Ages championships in two weeks time. Her victory augurs well for the upcoming ‘national’, as did the fine running of Julie Cleary in 3^rd place and Eleanor Hopkins in 8^th. Donore’s fifth winner on the day was Oliver Hopkins who had to hold off the late challenge from a Dundrum South Dublin AC athlete to win the Under 15 Boys race over 2 kilometres.

Thomas Bolton came 2^nd in the Under 14 Boys race over 1.5km, with Dylan McKenna in 11^th spot. A determined Chloe Andrews came 4^th in the Under 18 Girls 2km race.

The other Donore Harriers athletes were: – Mark Nunan 9^th in the Under 9 Boys (600m), Emily Farrell, Ruby Blake and Petra Cunningham who placed 8^th, 12^th and 22^nd in the Under 10 Girls (800m), Phillipe Gaudin 32^nd in the Under 10 Boys (800m), Melody Omozee 40^th in the Under 11 Girls (1km), Rory Gaudin 28^th in the Under 12 Boys (1km), Conan Mackey 24^th in the Under 13 Boys (1.5km), and Honor Lynch and Laura Nunan 6^th and 11^th in the Under 14 Girls (1.5km).

<A report on overall individual awards for the league will follow>.

 

Two Donore Harriers athletes were on the start-line of the 10^th version of the CLONAKILTY WATERFRONT MARATHON on Saturday morning (30.11.2019). This marathon takes in the spectacular view of Inchydoney Island, Galley Head, the causeways, postcard pretty Rathbarry village, Red Strand, Ardfield, the dramatic coastline of Duneed Strand, Dunmore Headland and the coastline around Clonakilty Bay. There is a total elevation gain of 475 metres. It’s a toughie!

Anne Curley (3.18.32) placed 25^th from a field of 432 finishers and in the process won both the women’s and W40 categories. This was a tremendous effort coming just one-month after completing the Dublin Marathon in 3.09.20. Curley described her experience “… despite the never relenting wind, rain and never-ending lung busting hills, my God so many hills, I enjoyed it. The scenery was so magnificent in places. A slow time but a strong race. From 15 miles I got into the leading woman position but then the pressure was on to hold it, a head to head battle in places, made it to the line relieved…”. Jacqui Dunphy (3.21.39) of Portmarnock AC was 2^nd woman home. The race was won by Freddy Sitturk of Raheny Shamrocks AC in 2.47.23. Donore Harriers other competitor was Ian Redican (4.29.31) in 295^th position.

 

In the CLONTARF HALF-MARATHON (30.11.2019) M50 athlete Des Gill (1.40.12) placed 245^th and Amy Moriarty (1.44.38) 365^th.

 

In the latest PARKRUN SERIES (01.12.2019) Sinead Lambe (18.46) was first home at Carlanstown in Co. Meath. Mary McDermott (23.58) and Kate Cleary (22.03) were first women finishers at Naas and Poppintree. Juvenile athlete Dylan McKenna (21.28) put in a sprint finish to place 2^nd at Waterstown, with another juvenile Katie Delaney (24.21) 16^th overall and 4^th woman home. Other results below.

 

At the IRISH LIFE HEALTH NATIONAL ATHLETICS AWARDS at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Blanchardstown on Thursday 28.11.2019 Sean Egan was recognised with the ‘Services to Coaching’ award. He coaches the Hammer through Athletics Ireland and Schools programmes.

Egan competed in the Hammer event at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow when aged 23. With 12 going through to the final round Egan threw 63.94m in the qualifying round and placed 16^th overall. The three podium places were taken by Soviet Union athletes, with Yuriy Sedykh throwing a world record 81.80m to win the gold medal. With the 4^th and 5^th places going to East German athletes and 3 other athletes from the Eastern Europe bloc in the top 12 the validity of the event will always remain ‘suspicious’.

Egan had a distinguished career in athletics and represented Ireland 30 times. He won seven Irish hammer titles, in 1978 (65.56m, whilst a member of Kildare AC), 1980 (66.80m), 1981 (67.86m), 1982 (69.04m), 1984 (69.12m), 1986 (65.60m) and 1987 (53.86m). Indeed, at that Irish Track & Field championships on the 23^rd July 1978 the big red-haired Army Private broke John Lawlor’s Irish record. He made several improvements on the mark and remains 6^th on the Irish all-time list. He was also Irish champion in the 56lb Weight for Distance event in 1992 (7.04m).

Sean Egan was born on the 18^th October 1956 and attended national school at Templetouhy in Co. Tipperary. His father served in the Army and was a peacekeeper with the United Nations in Cyprus. Sean attended secondary school at the Curragh, before his family moved to Ballyragget in Co. Kilkenny. He attended the Kilkenny Technical School in Kilkenny City. He spent six years in the Army and quickly showed potential and determination to become the best hammer thrower in Ireland.

After his first national title in 1978 the Army arranged specialized training for him at Darmstadt in Germany, where he came under the wing of West German hammer coach Everhard Gaede. He improved his personal best mark to 68.76m at an event in Darmstadt on the 5^th May 1978 and less than 2 weeks later threw 68.82m at the same venue. On the 12^th April 1980 at Darmstadt he threw 70.24m in what was his first competitive event in that year, a distance that qualified him to the Moscow Olympics with 24cm to spare. He achieved his last Irish record at an event in Frankfurt on the 1^st of May 1980 with a best throw of 71.10m.

Here is an extract from an article by Tom O’Riordan in the Sunday Independent dated 7^th February 1982

‘In 1978 Egan was awarded one of the ten Cement Roadstone Olympic grants which would give him a minimum of 1,000 PUNTS each year leading up to the ’80 Olympics. However, the Army stepped in and said they would provide the necessary finance for such training. That was fine for the first year but then after certain Ministerial changes in the Government that supply was cut off. In fact, he was due to go back to Germany in January 1980 on paid leave and ended up having to take leave of absence from the Army and never did get his salary. It was no surprise he left the Army the following October. NATURAL STRENGTH. A slightly trimmed 16st. 6lb Egan has great natural strength, much of it built up when he worked as a young man on the building sites near his home in Ballyragget, Co. Kilkenny. He left school at 14 and this has influenced him in not accepting the scholarships which he has been offered over the past year by the University of Texas, Washington State and Boston University. “I’m prepared to do the work and I’m delighted to be going back to train under Mr. Gaede” said Sean as he disappeared into the evening dusk to warm up for another lonely session in the weights room. He surely needs greater support in an era where there is so much sponsorship. Perhaps in a couple of years we will appreciate the sacrifices this man is prepared to make to reach the top. Athletics can sometimes be a very lonely sport’.

Egan left the Army to take up employment as a gymnasium supervisor at UCD. He later became a landscape contractor and part-time wood turner in Kilmacud, Dublin.

Footnotes: In Sean’s schooldays in the Curragh he played guitar in a band whose drummer was Niall Power. Power later played for one Bob Geldof. The current Irish record for the Hammer is 77.80m set by Declan Hegarty at Walnut, United States on the 28^th April 1985.

Several members of the club were present to support Sean Egan as he was officially recognised for his contribution to the sport of athletics, including our excellent sprints coach John Geoghegan and his wife Una. John is recovering from cancer and the generosity of leading names in Irish athletics was greatly appreciated as Sonia O’Sullivan, Ciara Mageean, Brid Golden and Thomas Barr were among those who gave their well wishes to John on the day.

RESULTS IN BRIEF:

CLONAKILTY WATERFRONT MARATHON (30.11.2019)

26^th & 2^nd woman & 1^st W40 Anne Curley (3.18.32).

295^th Ian Redican M40 (4.29.31)

432 finishers.

CLONTARF HALF-MARATHON (30.11.2019)

245^th Des Gill M50 (1.40.12)

365^th Amy Moriarty SNR (1.44.38)

1,453 finishers

DUBLIN INTERMEDIATE CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS at TYMON PARK (01.12.2019)

WOMEN’S 5KM RACE

8^th Aoife Ni Thuathail, 10^th Audrey Gahan, 17^th Claire Mulligan, 28^th Ariana Ball.

56 finishers

TEAM: 1^st Clonliffe Harriers (34)m 2^nd Rathfarnham AC (35), 3^rd Donore Harriers <Ni Thuathail, Gahan, Mulligan & Ball> (63).

9 teams.

MEN’S 8KM RACE

1^st Matthieu Proffit, 6^th Rory Burke, 14^th Luke Boland, 15^th Alasdair Brown, 21^st Paul Cummins, 38^th Des Tremble.

84 finishers

TEAM: 1^st Donore Harriers <Proffit, Burke, Brown & Boland> (36), Crusaders AC (40), 3^rd Raheny Shamrocks (56).

11 teams.

DUBLIN JUVENILE CROSS-COUNTRY LEAGUE (MATCH 3) at TYMON PARK (01.12.2019)

U9 GIRLS (600m): 1^st Annabella Omozee, 30^th Sophie Farrell

U9 BOYS (600m): 9^th Mark Nunan

U10 GIRLS (800m): 8^th Emily Farrell, 12^th Ruby Blake, 22^nd Petra Cunningham

U10 BOYS (800m): 32^nd Phillipe Gaudin

U11 GIRLS (1km): 40^th Melody Omozee

U11 BOYS (1km): 1^st Luuk Jackson, 8^th Eoin Mooney, 24^th Caolan Costello

U12 GIRLS (1.5km): 1^st Emily Bolton, 27^th Ava Hoare, 39^th Tara Hoare

U12 BOYS (1.5km): 28^th Rory Gaudin

U13 GIRLS (1.5km): 1^st Eva Crowe, 3^rd Julie Cleary, 8^th Eleanor Hopkins

U13 BOYS (1.5km): 24^th Conan Mackey

U14 GIRLS (1.5m): 6^th Honor Lynch, 11^th Laura Nunan

U14 BOYS (1.5km): 2^nd Thomas Bolton, 13^th Dylan McKenna

U15 BOYS (2km): 1^st Oliver Hopkins

U18 GIRLS (2km): 4^th Chloe Andrews

PARKRUNS (30.11.2019)

Carlanstown: 1^st & 1^st woman Sinead Lambe SNR (18.46)

Corkagh: 119^th Nicola Dowdall W45 (37.40)

Griffeen: 100^th Terry Mee M75 (28.42)

Naas: 32^nd & 1^st woman Mary McDermott W50 (23.58)

Poppintree: 9^th & 1^st woman Kate Clearly W45 (22.03)

Waterstown: 2^nd Dylan McKenna U14 (21.28), 16^th & 4^th woman Katie Delaney U14 (24.21)