The Lap of the Gap Marathon kept our club sufficiently busy that this report has been delayed for a while leaving us 11 (!) races, 2 DNFs, 5 podiums, 2 club records and two county medals….
CLUB RUNNERS HITTING 50 AND 100 RACES
Also of note club coach Rene Borg hit ’50 caps’ in the Glendalough jersey with the recent run-out at EcoTrail Copenhagen. the next to approach milestones are Colm Kenna (three races from 100), Claire Thompson (2 from 50) and Richard Costelloe (3 from 50). Only eight members have run 50 or more races for the club and only Angus Tyner and Torben Dahl more than 100.
DYSART WOODS
We begin our catch up nearly a month back on 30th April where Lillian Deegan kicked off her season finishing 47th in Dysart Woods.
| RESULT |
| 1. Barry McEvoy () 0:26:44 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 47. Lillian Deegan 1:00:55 |
ARDGILLAN
The more northerly races are always less popular among our runners but we did have Torben Dahl and James Heggie in action around the Ardgillan estate and James Heggie leads our ‘most prolific racer’ now with 11 races this year.
| RESULT |
| 1. Mark McAdden () 0:35:39 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 32. Torben Dahl 0:42:28 |
| 122. James Heggie 0:50:42 |
CARRICK MOUNTAIN
A week later at Carrick, the local troops were out in force and this time it was Kevin Ferguson’s time to lead the men home followed by Graeme Warren and a welcome outing for Loraine Creane.
| RESULT |
| 1. Peter Roche (Dunbyone AC) 0:38:41 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 34. Kevin Ferguson 0:50:09 |
| 40. Graeme Warren 0:51:03 |
| 52. Alan Kennedy 0:51:49 (3rd M55) |
| 77. Loraine Creane 0:58:04 |
| 163. James Heggie 1:22:08 |
WICKLOW OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD 1500M AND 5K
We had intended to bring our biggest group yet to several events at the Wicklow Track and Field but a mixture of illness, dog-bites and niggles, meant only Diarmuid Kavanagh (5k) and Paul Duffy (1500m) ended up competing. This was productive for Paul who claimed a gold medal in the M40 category (meaning our club now holds the m40 Indoor AND Outdoor titles for 2023), a personal best and a club record!
For Diarmuid – in the new 5000m distance at the championships – it was a third track medal of the year (this time silver) to accompany a 5K PB.
1500m
| RESULT |
| 1. Finn Buck (Parnell AC) 0:04:24 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 17. Paul Duffy 0:04:58.5 (1st M40, PB, Club Record, Individual Gold) |
5000m
| RESULT |
| 1. Robin Mooney (Inbhear Dee AC) 0:16:21 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 7. Diarmuid Kavanagh 0:18:37 (2nd MS, PB) |
UTS 50K / BEARA WAY ULTRA
Duncan Barrett started his season big going to the prestigious and stacked Ultra Tour Snowdonia to take part in the ‘fun run’ over 50k finishing in a very decent 460th position in a large field full of DNFs!
Only eight days later he toed the line in the inaugural Beara Way Ultra and perhaps that a few mountains too far as he was the one succumbing to the DNF rate on that occasion.
Ultra Tour Snowdonia 50k
| RESULT |
| 1. Thomas Evans (Adidas Terrex) 5:27:11 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 460. Duncan Barrett 11:17:22 |
Beara Way Ultra
| RESULT |
| 1. Stephen Mangan () 21:53:52 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 30. Duncan Barrett DNF |
SCARR
We had an impressive 9 runners testing out the newly revised course from Gaffney’s Lane where Brian Lydon continued a recent trend of being our ‘first man across the post’ followed by an impressive run by Kevin Ferguson who is really beginning to find his hill legs and Angus Tyner securing another podium in his newly minted M55 category.
It was also a welcome return to the Leinster League for Aoife Joyce – 12 years after her last Leinster League race, the 2008 league winner was back.
| RESULT |
| 1. Eoin Flynn () 0:42:57 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 26. Brian Lydon 0:50:59 |
| 29. Kevin Ferguson 0:52:12 |
| 39. Angus Tyner 0:53:32 (3rd M50) |
| 44. Torben Dahl 0:54:15 |
| 47. Philip O’Brien 0:54:29 (WW RC) |
| 53. Alan Kennedy 0:55:16 (WW RC) |
| 67. Aoife Joyce 0:59:48 |
| 124. Keith Mulvey 1:13:43 |
| 166. James Heggie 1:29:51 |
GOLDEN TENLOOP DELFT
Catherine Devitt took husband Richard’s ticket for the well-attended 10 km in Delft (with his consent we believe) for her 10th race of the season finishing 5th woman in a field of over 2500 runners!
| RESULT |
| 1. Dominic Bersee (Ruitenberg Accountants) 0:30:51 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 101. Catherine Devitt 0:39:15 |
GLEN TO GLEN HALF / LAP OF THE GAP MARATHON
We hope to do a separate race report on a memorable 6th edition of our club fund-raiser Lap of the Gap which saw a new marathon course record and record numbers for the 6th consecutive edition (the race now having grown every year!).
With most of our runners playing key roles in organisation it was left to a select few to make their mark on the competition and Rachel Wisdom did so brilliantly securing our first podium in the event since 2017 whilst finishing 2nd in the women’s half-marathon race.
Graeme Warren knocked 18 minutes off his best for the full marathon course to finish a fine 12th in the fastest field ever assembled on ‘Ireland’s highest road marathon’ continuing a good tradition for us in this race which was won by Torben Dahl in 2016 and saw a 9th place finish by Anthony Breen in 2017. New member Aaron Kedward also completed his long build-up for the race successfully dipping well under the 5 hour barrier.
GLEN TO GLEN
| RESULT |
| 1. Marc Augustin (Le Cheile AC) 1:17:46 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 23. Rachel Wisdom 1:35:03 (2nd F40, 2nd woman) |
| 53. Alan Kennedy 1:45:23 (WW RC) |
| 193. Cameron Soane 2:16:33 (WW RC) |
LAP OF THE GAP
| RESULT |
| 1. Tudor Moldovan (Clonliffe Harriers) 2:33:16 (Course Record) |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 12. Graeme Warren 3:28:42 (3rd M50) |
| 110. Aaron Kedward 4:54:35 |
FASTLANE 10K
Leaving their duties at one of (or the?) toughest road race in Ireland behind, our PB hunting runners instead opted for the Fastlane 10k
| RESULT |
| 1. Jake Russell-Carroll () 0:32:10 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 11. Blaise Kinsella 0:38:02 (PB, M40 PB) |
| 17. Paul Duffy 0:39:25 (PB, M40 PB) |
| 346. Sile Keane 1:03:37 (PB, F40 PB) |
GREAT SUGARLOAF
A slightly new course, mapped out by club man Graham Bush, was on offer as the Great Sugarbowl race arrived earlier than normal in the Leinster League. Angus led home with another M55 podium ahead of Ben Lewis and James Heggie with Lillian Deegan conceding a DNF.
| RESULT |
| 1. Peter Roche () 0:36:37 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 34. Angus Tyner 0:46:45 (2nd M55) |
| 80. Ben Lewis 0:52:59 |
| 160. James Heggie 1:13:44 |
| 170. Lillian Deegan DNF |
NEXT UP
This week the Wicklow Road Championship 5k is on Wednesday doubling up as always as a counter in our club championship before Aran Lynham takes on the Cork Marathon over the weekend….
Glendalough AC 