The Gerry Farnan CC race held in honour of the Eamonn Coghlan’s late coach on the traditional “Munich” hill loop in the Phoenix Park is always an exciting prospect, representing the first cross country outing of the season for many.

It was a fine sunny day but blustery at times and the deceptively energy-sapping mile-long lap was tackled three times in the ladies race.  Sinead Lambe was our first lady home and she had an excellent race against seasoned senior runners in a top field who are aiming at European and Masters selection.  She moved well through the field to finish 30th and 9 seconds behind was Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill in 36th place – boding well for the Dublin Seniors in a fornight’s time.  Janette Strickland will be well pleased with her 63rd place in only her 3rd ever cross country race and it will set her up for next week’s Leinster Masters CC.

In the men’s race, Niall Lynch’s marathon training paid off in the 5 mile race where he finished 45th and also gained selection on the M40 team for the British and Irish Masters CC in Cardiff as did Terry Mee in the M70 category.  Well done too to Andy Kinane 77th, Des Tremble and Gerry McDonald 101st.

On the roads, Ian Redican came 10th in the Clane GAA 5k in 19.49 while Tom Fagan ran 41.49 in the 10k event on the same day.  George Brady warmed up for the Dublin marathon in the Defib for Kidz Laurels 10k in Corkagh Park in very wet conditions finishing 2nd man in 35.51.  Grace Kennedy continued her impressive racing comeback in 38.50 which made her the first lady home.

At the World Masters Track and Field in Porto Alegre Brazil, Anne Gormley representing Ireland was 8th in the W50 5k race walk in 34.36.31 in hot conditions and she will be competing again during the week

Staplestown, County Kildare was the venue for the 6th running of the Donadea 10km road race held on Saturday last. In the bright clear crisp autumn morning over 300 runners completed the course with the final 7km being run over a 2 lap trail inside the Donadea Forest.

 Eric Keogh put the disappointment of finishing 4th in the Dublin Novice cross-country championship behind him when racing to an excellent 2nd place. Brian McMahon of Clonliffe Harriers, recently 3rd in the Dublin half-marathon, won the race by about 100 metres in a time of 31.46s. Eric (32.05) always maintained his form and held off the challenge of third-placed John Frazer (32.09s) of St. Malachy’s AC.

Lee Van Haeften (32.55) continues to show a return to form by placing 5th, only 4 seconds behind Gary O’Hanlon. Lee can feel satisfied with matching O’Hanlon, as the Clonliffe man has chalked up a 2.28.05s PB when winning the Waterford Viking marathon earlier this year. Next to cross the line was Dave Heffernan (33.11s), who had 13 seconds to spare over 6th placed finisher David Fitzpatrick of Tallaght AC.

The cross country season is now in full swing and the first BHAA fixture took place at Castleknock College.  In the men’s 4 mile race, Feargal Swaine was 9th and 2nd M40, Fred Kiernan was 14th and Willie Morris 24th.  Only a fortnight after doing the Berlin marathon, Ian Redican ran too, and Terry Mee was 1st M70.  In the women’s 2 mile race   we had Cliodhna Carthy, Susan Walsh, Jenny O’keeffe and Ann Woodlock 1st W70.

Across the city in Santry, Clonliffe Harriers hosted a ladies 5k CC race to celebrate 50 years of the club’s ladies team; Rhona Duane had a fine race and came 8th with Eilish Joyce 21st.  At the Simon 5 in the Phoenix Park Rene Kilraine finished in 30.07

This year’s Dublin Novice cross country moved from its traditional Phoenix Park venue to St Anne’s Park Raheny.  It was a mild day and quite dry underfoot, earlier the Donore juvenile runners showed the way with some great runs in the juvenile league.

After a 20 minute delay the ladies 3k race got underway, and it was a debut championship cross country outing for some of our 8-strong team.  With 71 finishers and 12 teams it was a particularly competitive race this year.  Janette Strickland had the race of her life in only her 2nd championship outing moving steadily through to finish 18th overall, Marianne Dunlevy held off a number of runners at the finish in 29th place and not far behind was Rhona Duane in 33rd.  Bronagh Elliott did her first ever cross country race and was a solid 35th, Eva Campion had a fine run and was 37th with Ashling Swaine next in 40th.  Medbh Peavoy was further down the field than she would have liked in 42nd but she will bounce back as always and Cristina Gonzalez was 50th.  The girls finished 8th team so no medals this time but this team will gain in strength and experience as the season continues.

The men’s 6k race had 87 runners and 13 teams in the mix, Donore had 12 men competing. A last lap rush by Niall Lynch (8th in 19.26), Graham Hopkins (17th in 19.58) and Emmet O’Briain (22nd in 20.10) saw the Donore Harriers men’s team climb into a medal position.

The team was lying 4th at the end of lap 3 (at 4.500m), but the trio all gained places over the final 1,500 metres loop to gain bronze medals in the team competition. An independent counter had Donore on 65 points after lap 3 with Raheny Shamrocks on 60. However, Donore gained to 51 points at the end, whilst Raheny slipped to 62. The team competition went to Clonliffe Harriers on 29 points with Crusaders second on 47 points.

The Donore team was led home by Eric Keogh (4th in 19.08), who was 4th in this race last year and was aiming for a medal this time – after 2 strong laps at the top of the race Eric was in contention, the eventual winner Clonliffe’s Ian Guiden however started to stretch the field out and Eric dropped back, hampered perhaps by the effects of a cold during the week, and he finished 4th once again but still an excellent run. The other Donore team members to finish the flat 6km route in the dry and humid conditions were: – Fred Kiernan (29th in 20.25); Eoin Hannon (39th in 20.48); Fergal Swaine (46th in 21.09);  Luke Boland (51st in 21.26); Bob Blake (55th in 21.33); Padraig McGreal (60th in 22.05); and Stephen Dawson (66th in 22.33).

There was great support for the teams out there too so thanks to all who made the journey out to spectate.

On the roads, some of those training for Autumn marathons tested themselves on the Athlone 3/4 marathon and had great success.  Kim Hickey was 2nd lady in a super 2.30.29, NY marathon-bound Alma Hanevy was 3rd in 2.31.06  – and new member Liagh Miller did 3.12.53.

It was a busy weekend of races ranging from 5k to the marathon.  Anne and Florence Curley made the trip to Moone Kildare for the Jim Roche race festival 26.2k Kilomarathon event.  On a warm day and an undulating course with an uphill finish Anne showed her customary flair over the distance to finish 1st woman and 11th overall in 1.47.48 , sister Florrie finished 3rd woman in 1.54.47.

Another runner preparing for the marathon is Nicola Dowdall and she ran a very good 2.47.40 at the Eco 2 run 20 mile at Eastpoint.  Amandine Devine ran 1.48.46 in the 10 mile run simultaneously.

The big race of the weekend in Dublin was the Rathfarnham 5k with 1300 participants.  Donore had some great performances, PBs and 2nd team placing for the ladies and 3rd for the men.  Dave Heffernan was 1st home in a super 15.33, Feargal Swaine was 2nd M40 in 16.23 and Fred Kiernan next in 16.44.  Sinead Lambe probably suffered a little from an early fast pace but still ran 18.30 and finished 7th woman.  Barbara Murray is making a great comeback and will be well pleased with 19.11 and 1st W40 place.  Sinead Graham was delighted with her 20.17 PB and Karen Behan and Rhona Duane finished practically together not long after- results in full are listed below.

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Over in Berlin, 5 of our runners did us proud in one of the world’s biggest and fastest marathons with Ken Norgrove leading the way with an excellent 2:37:05, all results below.

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The Dublin Marathon race series came to a close on Saturday with the Half Marathon which had a great turnout from Donore Runners and supporters. On an unseasonably warm day, we had some fantastic performances from all our athletes. Next up for many of these athletes will be the Dublin Marathon on the October Bank Holiday Monday.

Leading the club home was John Dunne putting in another strong performance to finish 11th overall in 1:14:40, Niall Lynch was hot on his heels with 1:14:41 for, Darren Hand 1:16:57. John Dunne and Niall Lynch did well to win their respective categories. First home for the ladies was Lisa Carley in 1:39:39  and Karen Behan in her first half marathon was part of a pack of Donore ladies , finished in a fantastic 1:45:14. Full results below.

Fergal Whitty, took to the roads in Cork the next day in the increasingly popular Charleville Half Marathon and ran extremely well to finish 8th against some very tough competition with a superb 1:13:13

Well done to all.

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