The spring road season is now in full swing all over the country. Donore runners are also travelling abroad for the Spring marathon season.

The BHAA road league started with the 2 mile and 4 mile races in the St Anne’s Park in Raheny. In the 2 mile race Aisling Swaine was very impressive coming 4th place in the 2 mile in 11.28. Maura Kearns finished in 12.09 in 9th place – both runners are getting geared up for the National Road Relays coming soon. Janette Strickland ran 14.27 and Ann Woodlock was 1st W75 in 17.45. In the 4 mile men’s race, there were 3 Donore runners in the top 6 – Chris Muldoon 4th in 21.45, Fergal Swaine 5th 21.54 and 2nd M40 , Robert Clougher was 6th in 22.08. Alasdair Brown is making a comeback from injury and was 24th in 24.00.

The next day, several Donore runners took to the roads of the Phoenix Park for the Great Ireland Run/National 10k. Before the 10k was the Great Ireland 5k and Emmet Ó Briain had a great win here in a time of 16.49. Neil Hand ran 18.22.

First off in the Great Ireland run were the elite women and AAI club women. The race is notorious for its tough second half which includes the uphills after the Wellington monument, the S-bends and the Furry Glen before a long run into the finish. First home for the Donore women and 2nd W35 Aislinn Nic Dhomhnaill who is back on the road scene with a bang – she finished in a super 38.27. Bronagh Elliott was next in 42.24 and Karla Doran is making a good comeback from injury finishing in 42.51. Together, this trio won team gold in the Masters division. Not far off was Audrey Gahan in just under 44 minutes a new PB for her, Angela Eustace ran 44.20, Mairead Kirby – new to road running in 44.27 (PB), Fiona Barrins first outing in the Donore singlet got a 46.14 (PB), Nicola Dowdall 46.52, Lee Chambers 47.13 (PB), Catherine MKeon 51.54, Dana Mackey was delighted with her 52.07 PB, Jo Hughes 53.52, Michelle Dawson 55.02, Ann Rush 58.14, Deirdre Brennan 69.29 Sarah Kelly 77.05. Among these results were a good contingent from the Fit4Life group.

In the next wave were the elite, the club men and the masses. First home for the men was Des Tremble 34.54 who just missed on bronze in the M45 class and Barry Potts and Terry Mee won medals in their agegroups – next in were
Patrick Byrne 36.29
Alan Farrell 36.39
Andrew wilson 37.48
Declan Lynch 38.15
Ciaran Ryan 41.19 (PB)
Craig Scott 42.02
Barry Potts 42.20 (2nd M65)
Giovanni Borza 42.40,
Stephen Dawson 43.02
Terry Mee 48.01 (1st M70)
Arthur Connick 49.44

At the Sonny Murphy 10 mile race in Kilnaboy Clare, Sinead Finn raced in her native county finishing in 75 minutes.

Meanwhile futher afield some Donore runners were running European marathons on what were hot conditions all over continental Europe. In a warm Rotterdam Anthony Flannery ran a super 2.36. Next in was Florence Curley in 3.10.39 – a little disappointed to be 3 minutes slower than last year. Peter Bonnar finished in 4.06 and is going in the Connemara marathon again next week! In the Paris Marathon, Guillaume Nolain had a tough day and finished in 4.24 – again hot conditions with temperatures climbing to 24 degrees there.

At the IUAA championships in Cork IT, Niamh O’Neill ran 11.34.81 (14th) in the 3000m.

Report by Florence Curley

Road report – great results at the K-Club and Dunboyne.

The two major races over the weekend were the BHAA K-Club 10K race and the long-running Dunboyne 4 mile race which has always been a successful one for Donore members.

On Saturday – hundreds of runners competed for their workplaces in the BHAA K-Club 10k around the roads of Straffan, Kildare – a race which has grown in popularity and is know as a fast course.

Great to see Rossa Hurley back from injury and coming 3rd in 32.55. In 15th and 16th place respectively were Chris Muldoon 34.00 and Sean Fox in 34.04. 20th was Eoin Hannon in 34.11 and Des Tremble was 23rd in 34.21 and the 2nd M45 so only seconds separating all these runners who came in very close in times.

Alan Farrell ran 36.00 on the button, Niall O’Reilly 39.44 was next. Barry Potts was 1st M65 in 41.15. Bronagh Elliott was delighted with her 41.28 PB and she won the 3rd W40 prize too. John Meegan got a PB too in 41.50. Joseph Maguire finished in 42.49, Raj Puchon 42.50, Angela Eustace was 2nd W45 in 43.46, Karen Behan 43.45, Nicola Dowdall 44.46 and Terry Mee was 2nd M70.

A day later in Dunboyne at the 4 mile race, there were great results including a ladies team win, 3rd placed male (Eric Keogh), 4th team for the men and a number of age-group successes, particularly Julia Hackett who had her best race in years. It was great to see new members John Meegan and Ciaran Ryan score on a Donore team for the first time too, full results as follows:

Eric Keogh 3rd 19.24
Lee Van Haeften 7th 20.22
Ide Nic Dhomhnaill 23.57
Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill 23.58
Aislinn Nic Dhomhnaill 24.18
Ciaran Ryan 25.29
Florence Curley 25.40 (3rd M40)
John Meegan 26.16
Julia Hackett 26,34 2nd W45
Colin Moore 26.34
Ian Redican 27.19
Sian O’Connor 30.20
Judy Rudden 39.49
Jennifer Hogan 40.00

Mention too for the Wicklow Gaol Break 10k and half marathon races – Eoin Durkan won the 10k in 36.29, new member Susan Clarke was delighted to achieve her goal of breaking one hour for 10k – she more than achieved that in 58.10.

World Master Indoors concludes with gold and silver for Ann Woodlock

At the end of a very successful World Masters Indoors in Daegu South Korea for the Irish team, Donore’s Ann Woodlock took home gold and silver in the W75 class. Mid-week she won gold in the 3000m in 16.45.57 with a very big lead on the second placed competitor. A few days later in the 1500m, she won silver in a time of 7,49.73 and was in fact faster than many of the younger runners.
Kudos too to anne Gormley who aced 2 seasons bests in her racewalking events 19.34 4th in the 3k walk and 69n minutes in 4th place for the 10k walk, all the while doing sterling work as a team manager and updating us all with the latest Irish team results .

St Patrick’s Weekend road round up.

Some excellent results over the weekend for the club starting with the Mullingar Half marathon on St Patrick’s Day. The Donore men had 3 runners in the top 15. Anthony Flannery continued his recent good run of form with a 2nd place finish in 73.40. Eoin Hannon was 6th in 76.09 with Chris Muldoon not far behind in 76.44

The popular MSB AC St Patrick’s festival 5k attracted Donore runners of all ages with the younger age groups particularly prominent. There was another great win for Barbara Cleary – her 4th road race victory in 2017 where she finished just outside the 17 minutes 17.04 to claim the first female prize beating Catherina McKiernan. First Donore runners over the line were two of our best juvenile middle distance runners (who competed in the Ireland schools cross country last week) Zakariya Ahmed 19th in 16.40 and teammate Fathi Aden in 16.58 23rd.
Robert Clougher was next in 17.18. Another of Gerry Naughton’s juvenile distance group Jack Raftery was next in 19.08. New member Guillaume Nolain had his first outing in the Donore singlet and ran an impressive 19.32. Craig Scott finished in 20.26, Ken Cronin 21.01, Des Gill 21.14, Michael Barry Junior 21.31, Jill Dempsey 22.21, Frank McNally 22.32, Ariana Ball 23.12, Caren Crowley 23.20, Declan Raftery 23.38, young Honor Lynch ran with her dad Niall in 24.32. Anthony Ferns finished in 34.07 – 2 day earlier he ran the Streets of Portlaoise 5k in 33.23. Over in New York at the NY half marathon – Alma Hanevy smashed her half marathon PB to finish in a super 87.53.

Indoor track report – 4 x 1 mile relay
On St Patrick’s Day, John Travers was part of another shot at the indoor 4 x 1 mile relay world record at Athlone IT. He was the second man on the team with Eoin Everard, Paul Robinson and SeanTobin. The meet was organised by the Believe and Achieve Organisation and Global Running Adventures – they didn’t manage to break the 16.12 record on this occasion – the collective time was 16.26. The event was live streamed – well done all.

Report by Florence Curley