Eleven Glendalough AC athletes did well wherever they went this weekend with five PBs, three top-10 placings and four category podiums as our runners roved from the hills of Wicklow to the roads of Connemara, London, and Wexford to the forest trails of Copenhagen.
WICKLOW GLACIER LAKES
Graham Bush put in a real honest shifts in one of the roughest mountain races on the IMRA calendar – the 41.6km connecting of all Wicklow’s glacier lakes finishing 7th and 2nd in the M55 category in an exclusive field of 23 runners! (yes it’s not for the faint-hearted!).
| RESULT |
| 1. Andrew Tees (BARF) 4:44:00 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 7. Graham Bushe 6:15:00 (2nd M50) |
ECOTRAIL COPENHAGEN 20K
Rene Borg and Diarmuid Kavanagh joined a contingent of 17 other Irish residents for a trip to EcoTrail Copenhagen and our two athletes were taking on the 20 km distance through the bumpy forest trails North of Copenhagen city.
Two strong French athletes separated from the field early and Clement le Touze would go on to win by a minute. The EcoTrail regular had a hard time when he visited Wicklow in 2019 languishing in 53rd place but on Danish soil and with 4 more years running in his leg, he was a different man.
Rene reports from behind them:
“Diarmuid said ‘”they are in a rush aren’t they” as we settled into the main chasing pack. Aggressive running from both of us whittled that pack down to three: the two of us and former orienteering world champion Jamie Stevenson. Diarmuid held the lead until 7k after which I took over until about the 14k mark. Myself and Jamie worked together and talked for a little while before he built a break on the toughest of the later hills. From here it was pure attrition as Diarmuid’s second wind saw him begin to chase me down. I thought I had fourth nailed and kept a faint hope of 3rd in my heart when I took a wrong turn that cost 600m. Diarmuid managed to correct the error earlier but not before a Norwegian runner snuck in between us. Desperate and on fading legs I tried to take my position back but the lads kept what they had got and it was a respectable 4th and 6th place for us. With legs up we saw our travelling companion Julie McNamee (a runner of mine in Running Coach Ireland) take 2nd place after Enda Cloake – of Slaney Olympic – had won the 48k earlier. Great day for the Irish and the Hiberno-Norse. I was also happy to finish first Dane – beating all my countrymen in the race at least.”
| RESULT |
| 1. Clément Le Touze (France) 1:21:46 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 4. Diarmuid Kavanagh 1:31:18 (3rd MS) |
| 6. René Borg 1:31:39 (2nd M40) |
WEXFORD 10 KM AND HALF-MARATHON
In Wexford club captain Marcus Murphy was our first man home in the half-marathon breaking his 2017 PB by 2 minutes and 19 seconds despite carrying a few niggles going into the race. This was his 2nd PB of the year in what is proving a productive season. Gavin Kennedy got himself a 93 minute finish and also a PB despite not quite reaching his aspiration of sub-90.
Aoife Joyce nearly missed the start of the 10k and had to make a sprint for it but still managed 3rd in the F45 category with Colm Kenna following within the minute.
| RESULT – 10k |
| 1. Dmytro MUSIIATCHENKO () 0:32:01 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 63. Aoife Joyce 0:47:00 (3rd F45) |
| 103. Colm Kenna 0:47:59 |
| RESULT – HALF-MARATHON |
| 1. Sean Hehir (Croghan AC) 1:10:31 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 30. Marcus Murphy 1:27:38 (PB, M40 PB) |
| 80. Gavin Kennedy 1:33:53 (PB, M45 PB) |
CONNEMARATHON (AND HALF!)
Paul Duffy took 2.5 minutes off his PB from Wicklow Gaol-Break despite the tough Connemarathon course dipping under the 90 minute barrier for the first time with Nora Butler running within two minutes of her own PB on the course too.
| RESULT |
| 1. John Lee () 1:16:39 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 22. Paul Duffy 1:29:33 (PB) |
| 185. Nora Butler 1:49:22 |
Eoin Phelan took part in the full marathon finishing solidly in the middle of the field in 4:28:29 and dipping under this 4:33:30 PB from Dublin last year – a great sign of progressgiven the much tougher course.
| RESULT |
| 1. George Snee () 2:36:21 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 236. Eoin Phelan 4:28:29 (PB) |
LONDON MARATHON
Finally, Wicklow Wolf RC alumni David Murphy was in action in the London Marathon (a covetted spot) where all the drama unfolded this weekend and where the world saw the second-fastest ever marathon time run. David got a tidy PB of 4:24:21 running with his brother.
| RESULT |
| 1. Kelvin Kiptum (Kenya) 2:01:29 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 25422. David Murphy 4:24:21 (PB) |
Glendalough AC 