Easter Roundup inc. BHAA K-Club 10k & Leinster 10 mile champs

Club News, Results, Senior

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

Great Win for Íde at Dunboyne 4 Mile

Club News, Results, Senior

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

Club cross country championships

Club News, Events, Results

Club cross country championships, Jim McNamara and Faugh a Ballagh cups

Report by Florence Curley

10th March marked the 2nd anniversary of the passing of Jim McNamara. Starting last year, the club created the Jim McNamara cup for the winner of the club cross country championship in tandem with the Faugh-a-Ballagh cup which was awarded to the senior men’s winner for the first time in 1907. Today the races were held on the traditional 2 mile lap, starting opposite the papal cross. Willie Smith marked the course with club President Iain Morrison setting the runners on their way. Women completed 4 miles (2 laps) and men 3 laps (4 miles). In the women’s race, Maura Kearns established a lead early on, with Amy Moriarty and Ariana Ball next and these were the top 3 placings in the end. In the men’s race, a group of 3 broke away, Alan Farrell, Jonathan Farrell and new member Michael Edward O’Connor. In the end , Alan Farrell prevailed pulling away on Jonathan in the last lap, with Michael third. First O50 runner was Tom Fagan. And it was great see Ann Woodlock coming back to racing after her accident some months ago.

33 runners competed in all and it was good to see some club members of old at the race and the presentation.

Members of Jim McNamara’s family were there at the clubhouse and the late Harry Thomas was also remembered. Present also were members of the national 1961 U18 cross country championship in Belfield- Paddy Nevins and Sean Corrigan, Willie Smith was on that team too. And Brendan Dunne one of the famed Dunne brothers was presented with a replica medal of his 1962 gold medal for the u19 cross country national title – the medal went missing years ago and Willie Smith organised a replacement.

Thanks to everyone who organised and supported the day and helped to commemorate Jim’s memory.

2 Gold 2 Silver 1 Bronze! National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2 Report

Club News, Juvenile, Results

It’s been a long time coming! Jack Raftery could have been described as the ‘nearly man’ in juvenile athletics after a succession of 4th place finishes in 2017. However, he showed his potential with a bronze in the national under 17 Boys 400m final last July. It was a question of perseverance and hard work… On Sunday (18.03.2018) he had the confidence to front run the final of the National Indoor Under 18s Boys 400m at the Athlone Arena. Running from the outside lane he went through the 200m in 24 seconds and withheld the late challenges of Ciaran Carthy (50.42) of DSDAC and Cormac O’Rourke (50.47) of Lagan Valley AC to win his first individual national gold medal in a personal best time of 50.17.

The prolific Louis O’Loughlin chalked up his 15th national title by winning the 1500m. He made his intentions known from the gun by opening a huge lead through 400m, reached in 57 seconds. By the 800m (2.02) mark he had widened the gap on his pursuers but was visibly slowing obviously feeling the effects of the tough All-Ireland school’s race on the previous week. His 3rd 400m section of the race was run in 69 seconds. However, his sheer tenacity saw him home in a personal best time of 4.01.87, with Brian Maguire (4.06.06) of DSDAC and Jake Bagge (4.06.75) of Ferrybank AC next.

Multi-event athletes Lara O’Byrne and Max Carey both won silver medals despite not performing to their normal high standards. O’Byrne opened her Girls Under 19s Long Jump account with a 4.76m leap that put her into 2nd position. However, Laura Cunningham of Craughwell AC had subsequent jumps of 4.83m and 4.87m to relegate the Donore athlete to 3rd. But a final jump of 4.91m saw O’Byrne regain the silver medal position behind Vicki Cusack (5.16m) of Liscarrol AC. Max Carey had a best clearance of 3.40m to win the silver medal in the Under 19 Boys Pole Vault behind Ben O’Dwyer of Moycarkey Coolcroo AC.

Alex Leonard made it 5 medals for Donore Harriers on the first day of the championships. Leonard won his heat in the Under 12 Boys 60m in 8.70 seconds and was the 4th ranked athlete going into the final. He improved his time to 8.54 in a close final to win the bronze medal. His time was equal to Richard McGrath of Galway City, but the Donore athlete lost out on countback – being 5-hundredths of a second slower in heat time. Darragh Fahy of Loughrea AC won in 8.53. Abdel Laadjel (4.23.85) and Sekeriye Ahmed (4.15.74) both got personal bests and 6th positions in their respective finals of the Under 16 Boys and Under 19 Boys 1500m finals.

Isabella Kelly (8.78) placed 4th in her heat of the Under 13 Girls 60m, whilst Lucy Kirwan (8.44) was 5th in heat 2 of the Under 17 Girls 60m. Lucy Hurley (8.61) placed 4th in Heat 1 of the Under 19 Girls 60m. Sean Kinsella could not go higher than 1.45m in the final of the Under 15 Boys High Jump and was disappointed with 15th position.

Results

TRACK:
U/12 Boys 60m Final – 3rd Alex Leonard (8.54) bronze. Alex won qualifying Heat 2 in 8.70
U17 Girls 60m Heat – 5th Lucy Kirwan (8.44)
U/19 Girls 60m Heat – 4th Lucy Hurley (8.61)
U/13 Girls 60m Heat – 4th Isabella Kelly (8.78)
U/18 Boys 400m Final – 1st Jack Raftery (50.17 PB) gold. Jack won qualifying Heat 1 in 52.75; Daragh McAuley 4th in qualifying Heat 3 in 54.89
U/16 Boys 1500m Final – 6th Abdel Laadjel (4.23.85 PB)
U/18 Boys 1500m Final – 1st Louis O’Loughlin (4.01.87 PB) gold. Louis won qualifying Heat 1 in 4.27.05
U/19 Boys 1500m Final – 6th Sekeriye Ahmed (4.15.74 PB)
FIELD:
U/15 Boys High Jump Final – 15th Sean Kinsella (1.45m)
U/19 Girls Long Jump Final – 2nd Lara O’Byrne (4.91m) silver
U/19 Boys Pole Vault Final – 2nd Max Carey (3.40m) silver

Great Road Results on St Patrick’s Day

Club News, Juvenile, Results, Senior

The weather forced the cancellation of many sports fixtures today including the MSB 5k but yesterday there were some impressive runs around the country from Donore.

John Travers won the Tubbercurry 10k in his adopted county of Sligo in a time of 31.34 and Rossa Hurley was 3rd in 33.07. Eric Keogh had one of his best races of recent times when he came 2nd in the Portlaoise 5k in 14.41.95 only one second off winning the race (DSD’s Hiko Tonosa) and ahead of many international runners like Mick Clohisey, Sean Hehir and Kevin Maunsell. Anthony Ferns finished in 32.44
At the Mullingar half marathon, Chris Muldoon finished faster here 77.27 than in last week’s Bohermeen half marathon achieving 12th place.

Report by Florence Curley

Roads Roundup 23 Feb – 10 March

Club News, Juvenile, Results, Senior

There have been some notable wins and fine runs on the roads over the past few weeks.

On March 10 in the small Meath village of Bohermeen, the men’s team were victorious on the 2 lap course in the half marathon winning the Rennicks cup Anthony Flannery came 6th and Fergal Whitty 7th and 1st M40 with Niall lynch and Des Tremble the next scorers. The ladies were 3rd team with Florence curley in 9th Place, Elaine Verdon aced a PB too.

Full results

Anthony Flannery 72.54
Fergal Whitty 73.07
Niall lynch 74.51
Des Tremble 75.38
Shane Russell 80.31
Shane McAuley 81.55
Chris Muldoon 84.02
Florence Curley 88.47
Grace Kennedy 89.43
Anne curley 91.15
Tony Griffin 92.20
Ken Cronin 94.24
Elaine 1.40.41 PB
Marianne Dunlevy 1.41.51
Charlie O’Neill 1.48.53 2nd M60
10k – David McGrath 46.51

Up in Bundoran John Travers easily won the Cara Bundoran 10mile in 53.07
Rhona McHugh had a great run in the SSE Derry City 10 Mile 5th woman in 68.44
The same weekend in Barcelona Ciaran Ryan ran an excellent 3.08 in the marathon.

Gavin Keogh won the Adamstown CC 5k in Lucan in 17.08 in late February.
Ariana Ball was 4th in the Duleek 5k in 20.19

Report by Florence Curley

Leinster Indoor & National Master Indoor round-up

Club News, Juvenile, Results, Senior

A look back to the last few events of the indoor season in February and March where Donore athletes were in action

There was a good haul at the Leinster championships where in the junior rankings, Alex Clarkin won 60MH gold in a time of 8.10; Aoife Lynch won 200m silver in 24.70 and Lara O’Byrne won silver in the long jump with a best leap of 4.96. She also came 4th in 60MH in 9.40. Caoimhe Mackey and Clodagh Martin contested the 400m finishing in 62.54 and 62.84 respectively.

In the senior ranks Zak Higgins won 400m bronze in 51.45 with Adam halpin 53.10 in the same race.
David Campbell ran 2.04.37 in the 800m. Jona Kalemi the 1500m in 5.39.66.

At masters level Donal Iremonger won the M45 400m in 57 seconds exactly and got bronze in the 800m 2.11.95. Thrower Niall Allen won gold in the m40 weight throw with 6.88m

The national masters was a week later than usual because of the snow. Donal Iremonger repeated his feat at the Leinsters with even faster times winning the 400m in 56.84 and bronze in the 800m in 2.11.78. Anne Gormley won gold in the W50 3k walk.

Report by Florence Curley

(Donal Iremonger pictured by Sportsfile at the national masters Athlone)

Tribute to Harry Thomas (6th Jan. 1935 – 10th Feb. 2018)

Club News

Thanks to Willie Smith for this tribute to Harry Thomas (6th Jan. 1935 – 10th Feb. 2018)

It was with sadness and regret that the death was announced of Harry Thomas at the age of 83 on the 10th February,2018. While Harry joined Donore Harriers in late 1961, it was with Inchicore AC as a 16 year old in early 1951 that he commenced his athletic career. He immediately showed his promise as a runner when finishing 3rd in the Co.Dublin NACA Youth’s c-c c’hips, within 2 months of joining Inchicore. Over the next 3 years he progressed up through the grades winning individual titles in cross-country at Co Dublin & Leinster in Youths, Novice, and Junior(inter) level. Inchicore won many of these team titles .

After the track season of 1953, he joined Clonliffe Harriers which was affiliated to the Amateur Athletic Union (A A U). Harry was always trying to improve, & at 18 years of age he would have had ambitions of attaining International level. As the AAU were the recognised body by the IAAF to run athletics in the 26 counties, by joining Clonliffe Harry saw this move as a means of achieving his ambition.

He immediately made an impact, finishing 4th in the AAU novice and 3rd in the Junior(Inter) c-c c’hips 53/54 c-c season. Over the next 4 years he gained many honours with Clonliffe, including a member of their winning teams in the 1955 AAU Junior(Inter) and Senior c-c c’hips.He was also a member of the Clonliffe team that finished 2nd behind Donore in the IAAB All-Ireland senior c-c, in 1957. He was also making his mark on the track , road relay races, and club c-c races.

He moved back to Inchicore in 1958, and over the following 4 years won many individual and team titles on the track and c-c at Dublin, Leinster , and All-Ireland level. 1958 & 1959 were golden years for Harry. He was 3rd in the 1958 Dublin c-c c’ship, but was successful in 1959. Also in 1958 he was 2 mile champion in the Dublin, Leinster, and All-Ireland c’ships, and was successful in the Leinster 880yds, 1500m and 3 miles c’ships. In 1959 he won the All-Ireland 880yds in Iveagh grounds. He was 3rd behind another stalwart (Harry Gorman) in the All-Ireland 10miles in Belfield. In 1961 on the grass track in Belfield, he ran one of his best races when finishing 2nd in the 2miles in 9mins 12.8secs, behind Kevin Gormley(9-09.2). Both were inside the NACA record.

In late 1961 Harry joined Donore Harriers, and once again made an immediate impression with his new club. In Jan ’62 he finished 6th in the IAAB All-Ireland Junior(Inter) c-c c’ship. With Mick Neville in 1st place, Donore with 6 to score were comfortable team winners. He followed this performance with 8th place in the AAU senior c-c, with Donore again team winners.He was a member of the Donore teams that made a clean sweep of the Spring road relays.

During the 1962 track season he helped Donore win the G. V. Ryan T & F team trophy for the first time, when finishing 3rd in the one mile. Also at this meeting he was a member(along with his former club-mate in Inchicore, Basil Clifford) of the Donore 4x880yds team that set an Irish club record 7mins46.6secs.

His highlights over the next 3 years with Donore were;
1963: 4 x 880yds 7-45.4, Irish club record.
IAAB All-Ireland 4x880yds Donore Gold.
IAAB = 4X One mile = Gold. Irish club record 17mins 20.8secs.

On all of the above 4 track relays Basil Clifford and Jim McNamara were teammates!

Harry was a member the Donore teams that won the 61mile 12-stage Lagan Valley road relay in 1963, ’64, & ’65. On each occasion Donore set course records, with him recording fast times on each of his stages. The above is a snapshot of Harry’s athletic career. Over 15 years he competed in a huge number of races over track, road and cross-country. He was a stylish runner who ran with distinction with Inchicore, Clonliffe, and Donore, and was a valued member of those clubs.

In Oct 2012, Donore celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 1962 Opening cross-country Run. As Harry was in that Opening run, he was delighted to be contacted, and enjoyed renewing old friendships at the Reunion. He took a keen interest in the club’s activities, especially the under age juveniles. He subsequently attended further reunions. Donore Harriers wish to extend our condolences to his wife, Terry, and children, Harry, Linda, Yvonne, Mark, and David.

We also thank Terry and David for access to Harry’s scrap book.

John Travers sub 4 at AIT Grand Prix

Club News, Results, Senior

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!

IMG_4374

Results Round-Up: National Senior Indoors, Armagh 5k & Roads Round-Up

Club News, Results, Senior

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