It’s hard to imagine two surfaces more different than the pristine boards of the Abbotstown National Arena’s indoor track and the soft grass and mud of Shanganagh Park but managing this contrast was a task that fell to a lot of Wicklow athletes (including two of our own) this weekend past as Wicklow Athletics hosted it’s 22/23 Wicklow Masters XC Championship on Sunday 8th. Less than 24 hour earlier, a busy program of indoor track events were held as part of the Wicklow Indoor Championship 23.
WICKLOW INDOOR TRACK
This event was primarily focused on juvenile and junior athletes but some seniors and masters turned up to run in distances from 60m to 1500m as well as the throwing, putting and jumping events. Diarmuid Kavanagh made history for our club by becoming our first indoor track competitor in the 800m race. His time of 2:21.6 thus stands as the new club record and a Bronze medal in the Men’s senior race – his first for the club.
RESULT
1. Drew O’Donohue (Bray Runners) 0:02:08
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
8. Diarmuid Kavanagh 0:02:22 (3rd MS)
A few hours later, a bit more micro-history awaited as first Donna Quinn and then Diarmuid Kavanagh and club coach Rene Borg took to the start in the 1500m races. Donna was our first female indoor competitor and all three were the first runners to race over the 1500m distance in a Glendalough AC singlet.
Donna raced well to work her way through a field of largely younger competitors and claim the Gold medal in the F40 category. Diarmuid and Rene swiftly followed suit running 5:08 and 5:11 respectively to win the MS and M40 categories both passing out a few runners as they ran steady laps around the track. For Rene this was his first indoor track race since 2010 (and the first he completed – having dropped out of his first attempt).
All three runner’s times stand as either overall club records or age category records.
| RESULT |
| 1. Finn Buck (Parnell AC) 0:04:35 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 11. Diarmuid Kavanagh 0:05:09 (1st MS, club record – overall and MS) |
| 13. René Borg 0:05:11 (1st M40, club record – M40, M40 PB) |
| 18. Donna Quinn 0:05:29 (1st F40, club record – women) |
WICKLOW MASTER’S CROSS-COUNTRY
Traditionally, this is the most popular cross-country championship among our runners and many were glad to be back at the flat and fast course in Shanganagh for the first time since 2019. Rachel, Donna, and Aoife were first up in the 4 km ladies race. This was Rachel’s first cross-country race since 2019 and she promptly improved both her time on the same course (16 seconds) and her overall position (3rd moving up from 4th). Last time she had taken the F35 Gold which she exchanged with F40 Silver this time around. Donna Quinn – perhaps feeling the 1500m – finished 5th (like in 2019). Aoife took Bronze in the F45 and help the lady’s team to Silver behind Parnell in the teams.
the men’s race ended up doing an extra early lap resulting in the course growing from 6 km to 6.6km – it was a tight battle for most of the race with John Conway, Angus Tyner and Rene Borg close for large portions. Angus Tyner eventually managed to mow his way past John in the last corner to follow. Graham Bushe was first man across the line and got silver in the M50 category with Marcus Murphy securing his first cross-country medal (Bronze in the O40) with a very fine run. Gavin Kennedy had to pull out with a groin strain on the final lap meaning the men’s team unfortunately didn’t rank – but 3rd place (and medals) were out of reach at that point as the team sat comfortable in a distant fourth.
| RESULT |
| 1. Darren Mooney (Parnell AC) 0:23:52 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 9. Graham Bushe 0:25:11 (2nd M50) |
| 16. Marcus Murphy 0:26:07 (3rd M40) |
| 20. Angus Tyner 0:26:28 |
| 21. John Conway 0:26:28 |
| 26. René Borg 0:26:48 |
| 37. Anthony Breen 0:27:46 |
| RESULT |
| 1. Catherine O’Connor (Parnell AC) 0:15:40 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 3. Rachel Wisdom 0:16:25 (3rd overall, 2nd F40) |
| 5. Donna Quinn 0:16:33 (3rd F40) |
| 15. Aoife Joyce 0:19:03 (3rd F45) |
Glendalough AC 